Wall art in the ancient civilization of Iraq during the first millennium BC

Abstract

Summary :

Art is the heritage of man over the ages and times, and it is the science that talks about the development of the arts and their artistic value since they came out of the hand of the man-maker (the artist) who drew and shaped them to the eye of the viewer who watched and evaluated them. Art also has a great role in defining the traditions and customs of every civilization, because arts are the mirror of society and the measure of civilization, and it is the guide to historical events and religious rituals, and to everything that is not recorded in history books.

The nature of Iraq, its political history and its civilizational development shaped its various arts, and the art of wall sculpture was one of the most important arts practiced by the ancient Iraqis, especially during the first millennium BC, as this art was the truest expression of artistic feelings, ideas and religious beliefs, and given the tyranny of personalities of kings during this period, Most of the murals were overshadowed by the stories of kings, their war campaigns, and their hunting scenes.

Hence the problem of the study, as some researchers saw that mural art during the first millennium BC was full of cruelty, violence and brutality, and had no aim and purpose other than serving and pleasing kings and depicting their wars and hunting scenes. This study came to shed light on the most famous murals of this period from all aspects of aesthetic, artistic and historical, as well as psychological and media, to highlight the greatness of innovation, mastery and sense of these mural scenes and their symbolic significance.

Through the analytical and descriptive approach followed by the researcher in this study, it was found that the art of murals, which was executed on the surfaces of walls and ceilings, represented the longest space in which artists tried to record the details of war events in a story tape that extends as a historical and decorative art to facilitate understanding and tracking. Artists of that period also revolutionized the history of artistic murals through world-famous hunting scenes and by suggesting depth within murals and their initial knowledge of perspective.

Keywords: wall panels, pictorial scenes, perspective science, hunting scenes, aesthetic indications.