Syro-Hittite Monumental Art and the Archaeology of Performance : The Stone Reliefs at Carchemish and Zincirli in the Earlier First Millennium BCE / Alessandra Gilibert.

Based on a doctoral dissertation completed at the Freie Universitat of Berlin in 2008.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 139-158) and index.

1. Introduction -- 2. The Syro-Anatolian region in the Iron Age -- The urban landscape -- Questions of ethnicity -- Carchemish -- Zincirli -- 3. Carchemish -- Archaeological fieldwork -- The monumental contexts -- 4. Zincirli -- Archaeological fieldwork -- The monumental contexts -- 5. The Embedment of Monumental art in ritual performance -- Urban Setting -- Iconographic evidence -- Written evidence -- Monumental Art and ceremonial events -- 6. Art and ritual performance in diachronic perspective -- The arcaic transitional period (twelf to mid-tenth century BCE) -- The age of civic ritual (Late tenth to early ninth century BCE) -- The mature Transitional period (870-790 BCE) -- The age of court ceremony ( 790-690 BCE) -- 7. Conclusions.

The ceremonial centers of the Syro-Hittite city-states (1200-700 BC) were lavishly decorated with large-scale, open-air figurative reliefs – an original and greatly influential artistic tradition that has captivated the imagination of its contemporaries as well as that of modern scholars. This volume explores how Syro-Hittite monumental art was used as a powerful backdrop to important ritual events, and it opens up a new perspective by situating the monumental heritage in the context of large public performances and civic spectacles of great emotional impact. The first part of the volume focuses on the sites of Carchemish and Zincirli, offering a close reading of the relevant archaeological contexts. The second part of the volume discusses the embedment of monumental art in ritual performance and examines how change in art relates to change in ceremonial behavior, and how the latter relates in turn to change in power structures and models of rulership.