Painting and sculpture art in ancient Mesopotamia

In this paper, the sculptures, the art works such as embossments including various subjects (reliefs), stela, plates and seals, and various objects that are used in the daily life (vases, ornaments (jewels) etc.) from the Ancient Mesopotamian people and Sumer, Akkad, Babylon and Assyria civilizations are discussed and evaluated based on our subject. The processes of creation of the art works by these civilizations, which engraved in the history and art, are examined. It is showed that the art was affected from the geographical, political and religious conditions. It is told that the art is not performed for the art or society but for government considering the statues of Sumerian King Gude (Fig. 1, 2), Adab king LugalDalu (Fig. 3), Sumerian priest and government officer Ebih-İl (Fig. 7) and the votive statues in Square Temple which especially, the Sumerians developed in sculpture art. The importance, given by Sumerians to the temple architecture, is understood from the embossment which portrays Lagash king Ur-Nanshe carries the brick with the basket on his head together with his wife and children to the temple construction (Fig. 36) and again, from the embossment in Ur-Nammu stela among the arts of New Sumerian Age that portrays the construction of a temple and ritual (Fig. 29). The art works were also created which the war scenes were described, and the work, called "Vulture Stela" of Sumerian King Eannatum (Fig. 28), was the most prominent example of them. The war and heroism subjects, which are clearly seen in the stelas of divinized King Naram-Sin, had maintained its impact throughout entire Akkadian art. The bottom and naked part of "Bassetki statue", which is estimated that it is the "head of Sargon" and statue of Naram-Sin, is considered among the works which include the artistic characteristics of that age. The reason why there are very less art works from Akkad to today is explained in a manner that Elams looted those art works during their attacks toward Akkadian cities and brought them to their capital city Sus. In contrary to Akkadians, Babylonian art didn't affect the Mesopotamian region with its magnificence and enrichment only, but also became the subject of records of other Ancient civilizations that occurred hundreds and thousands years after them. (Such as Herodotus History) As well as the art works of New Babylonian age such as "Istar Gate Ceremony Road with Lion" which the aesthetic comes to forefront in Babylon where the pleasure, splendor and wealth were experienced extremely, "Tier of Throne Room of Nabukadnezar II", "Hanging Gardens of Babylon" which it is said that Nabukadnezar II built up for his wife, Queen Semiramis who had longing for home and was tired of blistering of Mesopotamia, and "Babylon Tower" which it is believed that it was built up with the order from King in order to reach to the paradise and God, the art works of Ancient Babylon period, which were successful to reflect the reality such as "Hammurabi Stela" that Hammurabi laws also took place, are told. The palace embossments, which Assyrian wars and hunting scenes are portrayed that it is understood that their primary aim is to have the war booties in conquering the new places as being in Akkads, ornament entirely the palace walls of capital cities such as Nimrud, Korsabad and Ninive considering the order of palaces, and reflect the artistic characteristics such as sharp expression, reality, perspective and detail. In this paper which it is aimed to show that the Mesopotamian art was effected by the conditions of period; it is determined the effects of political, religious and geographical factors on creation of art works. It is concluded that one of the most important reasons why less number of work arts reached to today is that the clay, which is not durable material and is brought by Tigris and Euphrates, had been used in many art works from embossment to statue, since the stone was less in Mesopotamia. Keywords: Ancient Mesopotamia, painting, statue, art, religion.