Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors ix

Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xvii

Abbreviations xix

1 The “Art” of the “Ancient Near East” 1
Ann C. Gunter

PART I Approaches and Methods of Analysis and Interpretation 23

2 Art and Material Culture 25
David Wengrow

3 Meaning and Interpretation 49
Astrid Nunn

4 Style 75
Margaret Cool Root

5 Connoisseurship and Classification 103
Eleonora Pappalardo

6 Visual Culture 129
Sarah B. Graff

7 Technical Examination and Material Analysis 153
Deborah Schorsch

8 Gender and Sexuality 179
John D. M. Green

9 Semiotics, Reception Theory, and Poststructuralism 209
Marlies Heinz

PART II Critical Terms and Concepts 231

10 Representation 233
Dominik Bonatz and Marlies Heinz

11 Narrative 261
Paul Collins

12 Ideology 283
Beate Pongratz‐Leisten

13 Ritual 309
Carolyn Nakamura

14 Agency 333
Sophy Downes

15 Aesthetics 359
Gebhard J. Selz

PART III Materials, Media, and Artistic Environments 383

16 Statuary and Reliefs 385
Claudia E. Suter

17 Glyptic 411
Adelheid Otto

18 Religious Architecture 433
Jean M. Evans

19 Palaces and Elite Houses 457
Andreas Schachner

20 Rock Reliefs and Landscape Monuments 483
Ömür Harmansa̧ h

21 Reconstructing Artistic Environments 507
Mehmet‐Ali Ataç

PART IV Interactions with Neighboring Regions and Artistic Traditions 531

22 The Ancient Near East and Egypt 533
Betsy M. Bryan

23 The Ancient Near East and the Bronze Age Aegean 565
Marian H. Feldman

24 Near Eastern Art in the Iron Age Mediterranean 585
James Whitley

PART V Intersections with Archaeology, Collecting, and Cultural Heritage 613

25 Archaeology and the Art of the Ancient Near East 615
D. T. Potts

26 Cultural Heritage across the Middle East, Ancient and Modern 637
Geoff Emberling and Katharyn Hanson

Index 661

About the Author

Ann C. Gunter, PhD, is Professor of Art History at Northwestern University. She is also the former curator of ancient Near Eastern art at the Freer and Sackler Galleries, Smithsonian Institution, where she organized numerous exhibitions.