Customer Reviews

Assyrian Sculpture: Second Edition

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Assyrian sculpture is one of the highest points (as is gold jewelry discovered in Nimrod, so called Nimrod Gold) of Assyrian art. Animal depictions especially are vivid, powerful and rather realistic, which is a rare occurence in those times. The Russian writer Ljubimov wrote in his book about ancient art, that if there were only one sculpture of this nation (The wounded Lioness) discovered we would know that the Assyrians had great art and thus the great soul. This book's fime illustrations prove Ljubimov's point.

As for depicting the ancient Assyrians as cruel looters, etc, they have not done anything what was not customary during those times and they were not as cruel as the Bible depicts them. The Bible was written by a nation which was conquered by Assyrian, that's why we hear tales of Assyrian cruelty for more than 2500 years already. But writers of the Bible have done the same things to the nations they conquered - khanaan, etc. So stop it already!

Can't you just enjoy beautiful art without spilling out your ingrained historical hatred?

I was so pleased with how much I learned about Assyrian art and how interesting it was. I had seen pictures of Assyrian art before, but never knew enough to appreciate it.

The text gives background information to help understand the sculptures, etc. Embedded in the text are numbers corresponding to the images on each page--usually two or three, perhaps even four images. Thus, it is easy to actually see what is being discussed in the text.

The opening chapter, I suppose, is obligatory--recounting the various French, German, and British excavations. The reader could skip this chapter without suffering any loss the rest of the book .

If I could make only one trip to the British museum, I would read this book prior to the visit. As it is, my next trip will be even more interesting, having read the book.