art 207
Orontes river most vividly documents the transition from a Luwian to an
aramaean ruling class. In the case of Damascus in the late 9th century B.c.,
an aramaean regional power emerged practically on its own. Beginning
in the 9th century, all these cities, city-states, and smaller monarchies
progressively fell under the sway of the expanding neo-assyrian empire,
which provided an important external impetus for the local production
of sculptural works. Finally, elements adopted from phoenician and even
egyptian culture broadened the range of creative possibilities, transform-
ing art production into an increasingly complex and open process. In this
eventful history of art, one finds little coherence.
1.2 Archaeological Research and the Limits of the Present Overviewthere are only a handful of excavation sites in the aramaean centers in
syria that have yielded a significant number of sculptural works. these are
Zincirli (ancient samʾal), tell halaf (ancient Guzana), tell aḥmar (ancient
til Barsib), arslan tash (ancient hadattu), and hama (ancient hamath).
at all these sites, excavations began in the first half of the 20th century,
and although they have resumed in recent years at tell aḥmar, Zincirli,
and tell halaf, only a few individual finds have expanded the repertoire
of monumental artworks. as shown by the temple in aleppo with its rich
sculptural program, many of the spectacular new discoveries lie outside
the bounds of “aramaean art”.9 In other cases, such as the monumental
temple in the citadel of tell afis (identified as the aramaean city of haz-
rak), only a few sculptural remains were unearthed.10 For the most part,
this survey must therefore content itself with reassessing long-known
sculptural works. these works are part of a historical context that must
be frequently reevaluated due to new readings and interpretations of texts
as well as progress in the research of architectural and stylistic history.
the time frame under investigation begins shortly after the emergence
of the aramaean city-states in syria in the 11th century and extends to
their demise around 720 B.c. the subsequent drastic decline in art pro-
duction in all cities with a residual aramaean population is linked to the
fact that the different forms of both monumental and minor art (including
9 Kohlmeyer 2000. aro 2003: 304f, 312f discusses the sculptures and the temple.
10 For the temple, see Mazzoni 2006–2007: 23–26 fig. 2 and soldi 2009: 106 figs. 6–7.
the fragments of carved basalt stones from the area of the temple may indicate that there
were several sculptures on display that were taken away once the area began to serve as
an open quarry (soldi 2009: 108 fig. 8b–d).