Remembering and Forgetting in Ancient Mesopotamia: Ziggurats, Royal Sculpture, and the Shaping of the Akkadian Legacy During the Ur III Period

A study of how our understanding of Akkadian history has been shaped by subsequent dynasties. In this innovative new study of ancient Mesopotamian art and architecture, Marian H. Feldman examines the complex legacy of the Akkadian dynasty, which spanned ca. 2350-2150 BCE in the region now known as southern Iraq. The Akkadian state played an essential role in the formation and expression of subsequent political entities in the region, yet our understanding of this period is based primarily on the historical lens of their successors, in particular the rulers of the Third Dynasty of Ur (ca. 2100-1000 BCE). Focusing on four remaining ziggurats in Ur, Eridu, Uruk, and Nippur, as well as surviving statues and steles, Feldman examines how the Ur III rulers selectively curated and erased Akkadian structures and monuments to serve their own political ambitions. Analyzing the archaeological evidence of Ur III building practices and the display of Akkadian royal sculpture, she considers the role of sacred spaces in our knowledge of the period and imagines how the cultivation of the Akkadian narrative helped the Ur III dynasty centralize its power. In so doing, this book proposes a new way to understand the impact of the survival—or erasure—of architectural and artistic remains on collective and historical memory.

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations Author’s Note 1. Introduction Memory, Representation, and Atmosphere Parameters of the Study Overview of the Book 2. The Memory of Space at the End of the Third Millennium BCE Historical Overview Material Manifestations of Late Third Millennium Southern Mesopotamia Ur III Period Ziggurats Akkadian State Temple Building in Southern Mesopotamia The Case of Nippur The Curse of Agade and the Power of Sacred Space 3. Digging Down: Foundations and the Erasure of History Evidence of Earlier Building Under the Ur III Ziggurats at Uruk, Ur, and Eridu Nippur Foundations Foundation Deposits Conclusions 4. Changing a Feeling of Belonging: Architectural Atmospheres and Collective Memory Architectural Atmospheres in Akkadian Sacred Spaces Architectural Atmospheres in Ur III Sacred Spaces Bodily Experiences of Architectural Spaces The Curation of Monuments Access and Audience at the Ur III Temple Complexes Conclusions 5. Curating a Legacy: The Discursive Power of Akkadian Royal Sculpture Akkadian “Naturalism” The Materiality of Musculature The Materiality of Fabric Medium and Scale Akkadian Royal Sculpture and a Charisma of Materiality Conclusions 6. Conclusions Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Marian H. Feldman is the W. H. Collins Vickers Chair in Archaeology and holds a joint appointment in the Departments of the History of Art and Near Eastern Studies at Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of Diplomacy by Design: Luxury Arts and an “International Style” in the Ancient Near East, 1400–1200 BCE and Communities of Style: Portable Luxury Arts, Identity, and Collective Memory in the Iron Age, both published by the University of Chicago Press.  

Review :
“Feldman convincingly argues that the Akkadian period has been described as memorable precisely because of the efforts of Ur III rulers to preserve it in a reshaped form. She successfully weaves together several different methodologies—including archaeological analysis of stratigraphy, art historical analysis of architecture, materiality, and form, and literary or textual analyses—and supports them with careful step-by-step arguments. Original and meticulously researched, Remembering and Forgetting in Ancient Mesopotamia adds novel and important contributions to the study of the Mesopotamian past.” “Feldman’s scholarship is impeccable as she grapples with the full range of existing literature, including archaeological reports, theoretical approaches, and relevant text extracts. Feldman considers how the Ur III kings exploited Akkadian traditions to legitimize their aspirations, offering new and original elements to the discussion by underlining physical aspects and introducing the concept of the ‘charisma of materiality.’ The result is an impressive and compelling piece of research.” “How did the rulers of the Ur III empire maintain, adjust, or erase the memory of their Sargonic predecessors, and how did that curated memory express itself in architecture and the display of royal statuary? Considering such questions, Feldman eloquently demonstrates that material culture has its own intriguing voice in writing a history of this crucial period.”