Remembering and forgetting in ancient Mesopotamia : ziggurats, royal sculpture, and the shaping of the Akkadian legacy during the Ur III period / Marian H. Feldman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Feldman, Marian H., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Art, Akkadian.

Ziggurats.

Ur (Extinct city).

Iraq--History--To 634.

Iraq.

ziggurats.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, [2025]

Summary:

"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"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

The memory of space at the end of the third millennium BCE

Digging down : foundations and the erasure of history

Changing a feeling of belonging : architectural atmospheres and collective memory

Curating a legacy : the discursive power of Akkadian royal sculpture.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (De Gruyter Brill, viewed January 27, 2026).

Other Format:

Print version: Feldman, Marian H., Remembering and forgetting in ancient Mesopotamia

ISBN:

9780226842868

022684286X

OCLC:

1565482042

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license