Tag Archives: ancient Near East

Kings (Ancient Egypt, Middle Kingdom)

Posted on January 27, 2016 by zjb

Art historians going back to Winckelmann in the 18th C. typically held up Greek art over Egyptian art. Greek art represented the apex of humanism, in contrast to Egyptian art, which was hieratic and static. Recently on view at the … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Body Viscus Goes Inside Canopic Jars (Ancient Egypt, Middle Kingdom)

Posted on January 26, 2016 by zjb

According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, these canopic jars “were made to contain the four internal organs removed during the mummification process (stomach, liver, intestines, lungs). Earlier examples had flat or domed lids, but human-headed lids were introduced by … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

(In A Box) Dead Wannabe Pharaoh (Middle Kingdom)

Posted on January 21, 2016 by zjb

Such a sad thing, this dead guy stuck in a box for the rest of time with nothing to do. He’s not stretched flat on his back, in state, as it were. What accentuates the presentation of this figure’s vulnerability … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Shrouded Royal Figure, Standing (Ancient Egypt, Middle Kingdom)

Posted on January 18, 2016 by zjb

I can’t call this one any better than the description of this “fully alive body”  online here at the Met.  I would only mention the modest power with which the now headless sandstone figure holds itself. I would also say something about the … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Nicked Neck & Figural Decomposition (Ancient Egyptian Middle Kingdom Sculpture)

Posted on January 16, 2016 by zjb

An image is a thin thing. In low or bas-relief, the painted figure extends just above the surface over which it appears to hew. Providing the appearance of depth, the passage of time disturbs the perfect look of this ancient Egyptian … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Monotheism & Empire in the Ancient Near East (Mark Smith)

Posted on July 9, 2015 by zjb

Building up what looks like a meta-thesis re: the ancient Near Eastern origins of biblical monotheism, Mark Smith turns with a strong hand to the question of empire. God in Translation: Deities in Cross-Cultural Discourse in the Biblical World is … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Baal Understands The Word of the Tree, The Whisper of Stone (Stories from Ancient Canaan)

Posted on July 7, 2015 by zjb

Texts from ancient Ugarit, a major Canaanite city-state, now called Ras Shamra on the northern Syrian coast, they require careful interpretation. They date some time before and around the destruction of the city in 1200 BCE. That means that there is … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged | 1 Comment

The God and The Gods Of Ancient Canaanite Israel (The Early History of God) (Mark S. Smith)

Posted on June 25, 2015 by zjb

Reading Mark Smith’s eminent study throws light on the way that The Early History of God, indeed the early history of God itself, is a history of the image in which that figure has been cast and recast over time. … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

(Canaanite Origins) Material Artifact (Ishba’al ben Beda)

Posted on June 16, 2015 by zjb

Clay jar from Khirbet Qeiyafa, an Iron Age site from around 1020 to 980 BCE inscribed with the name of Ishba’al son of Beda. It’s the same name but most likely not the same person identified as such in Chronicles … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

(Gods, Godesses, and God) Aniconic Politics in Ancient Israel (Othmar Keel and Christoph Uehlinger)

Posted on June 16, 2015 by zjb

I’m prepared to walk back anything in this post with sufficient critical pushback from experts in a field upon which I’m making such gross trespass. But I wanted to write about God, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel, which has … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment