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The Rhetoric of Achaemenid Art

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The Rhetoric of Achaemenid Art THE RHETORIC OF ACHAEMENID ART A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF GRAPHIC DESIGN AND THE INSTITUTE OF FINE ARTS OF BİLKENT UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF FINE ARTS By Burcu Asena May, 2002 I certify that I have read this thesis and that in my opinion it is fully adequate in scope and in quality as a thesis for the degree of Master in Art, Design and Architecture. ________________________________________________________ Assist. Prof. Dr. Mahmut Mutman (Supervisor) I certify that I have read this thesis and that in my opinion it is fully adequate in scope and in quality as a thesis for the degree of Master in Art, Design and Architecture. ________________________________________________________ Assoc. Prof. Dr. Marie-Henriette Gates (Supervisor) I certify that I have read this thesis and that in my opinion it is fully adequate in scope and in quality as a thesis for the degree of Master in Art, Design and Architecture. ________________________________________________________ Assist. Prof. Dr. Charles Gates I certify that I have read this thesis and that in my opinion it is fully adequate in scope and in quality as a thesis for the degree of Master in Art, Design and Architecture. ________________________________________________________ Assist. Prof. Dr. John Groch Approved by the Institute of Fine Arts. _________________________________________________________ Prof. Dr. Bülent Özgüç, Director of the Institute of Fine Arts ii ABSTRACT THE RHETORIC OF ACHAEMENID ART Burcu Asena Master in Graphic Design Supervisors: Assist. Prof. Dr. Mahmut Mutman Assoc. Prof. Dr. Marie-Henriette Gates May, 2002 Empires are like humans: they are born, they live and they die... In the middle of the sixth century B.C. a newly founded empire by the Achaemenid Dynasty began to dominate the Near East and its environment, which is known to be the treshold of civilization. The conquest of the vast territory was based on military power. However to provide the continuum of their rule Achaemenids created a new form of art, in their capital city Persepolis, which would be recognized and would imply the Achaemenid imperialistic ideology. In this thesis, the history and art history of the Achaemenid Empire was analyzed with modern data and applications in political propaganda, advertising and architecture. The analysis was mostly focused on the capital city Persepolis and its art works to reveal the parallels between the modern and the archaeological. The aim of this thesis is to discuss the unchanging nature of the events taking place in history, and human psychology throughout centuries, even millennia: after 2500 years, we see the same implications to effect people’s psyche. Keywords: Achaemenid History, Persepolis, Apadana Reliefs, Political Propaganda, Benetton Ads, Simulacra, The Notion of Gaze. iii ÖZET PERS SANATININ ANLAMI Burcu Asena Grafik Tasarım Bölümü Mastır Çalışması Danışmanlar: Yrd. Doç. Dr. Mahmut Mutman Doç. Dr. Marie-Henriette Gates Mayıs, 2002 M.Ö. altıncı yüzyılın ortalarında, Pers Hanedanı tarafından kurulan imparatorluk, medeniyetin beşiği olarak bilinen Yakın Doğu’ya ve çevresine hakim olmuştur. Geniş topraklar askeri kuvvetle ele geçirilmiştir. Persler, hükümdarlıklarının devamını sağlamak için, başkent Persepolis’te, Pers İmparatorluğu’nun ideolojisini simgeleyecek yeni ve farklı bir sanat formu yaratmıştır. Bu tezde, Pers İmparatorluğu’nun tarihi ve sanat tarihi, özellikle politik propaganda, reklamcılık ve mimari alanında, modern veriler ve uygulamalar temel alınarak incelenmiştir. İnceleme, yeni ve arkeolojik arasındaki paralellikleri ortaya çıkarmak için başkent Persepolis ve içinde barındırdığı sanat eserlerine odaklıdır. Amaçlanan, yüzyıllar, hatta binyıllar içinde olayların ve insan psikolojisinin değişmeyen doğasını tartışmaktır: 2500 yıl sonrasında bile insan ruhunu etkilemek için benzer yollara başvurulduğunu görmekteyiz. Anahtar Sözcükler: Pers Tarihi, Persepolis, Apadana Rölyefleri, Politik Propaganda, Benetton Reklamları, Bakış Unsuru. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Marie-Henriette Gates, who was one of my idols during the undergraduate period, for her precious comments and encouragement both during the preparation of this thesis and before, which led my interest towards Near Eastern archaeology. I would like to thank my primary supervisor, Assist. Prof. Dr. Mahmut Mutman, for his understanding my passion for archaeology and letting me to work on this subject. Also, I would like to thank Assist. Prof. Dr. John Groch and Assist. Prof. Dr. Charles Gates for their kind interest and help which led me very much. My cousin, with whom I have spent my childhood, Assist. Prof. Dr. Özgen Osman Demirbaş helped me and encouraged me, like he did throughout my life, who I thank very much for being beside me. I am greatful to my entire family for their sacrifices and devotion for the formation of my character which will shape my whole life. My father, Şevket Baran Asena, who portrays the one I would like to become, my mother Mine Asena who directed my interest in art, my sister Nurbanu Asena with whom I have lots of fun in hard times. My grandmother Fatma Hamzaoğlu took the responsibility of growing me and my sister up, still continues her “job” successfully with her delicious meals. Whereas my other grandmother Nebahat Asena encouraged me with her wise- words through phone calls whenever I needed, as if she felt I am having trouble. I would like to thank the whole Göğüş Family: Alphan, Korhan, Aysun and İlhan Göğüş. Especially I appreciate the patience and support of Korhan Göğüş, my business partner, my friend since my childhood, the one who became a part of me in the passed one year, whose optimistic attitude towards life makes me happy and thanks to whom many details of this thesis were completed including the preparation of figures. v TABLE OF CONTENTS SIGNATURE PAGE..............................................................................................ii ABSTRACT........................................................................................................iii ÖZET...............................................................................................................iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.......................................................................................v TABLE OF CONTENTS........................................................................................vi LIST OF FIGURES............................................................................................viiİ 1. INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................1 1.1. PROBLEM...............................................................................................1 1.2. SCOPE of THESIS....................................................................................3 2. ACHAEMENIDS on THE WAY TO EMPIRE......................................................5 2.1. FOUNDATION PROCESS of THE ACHAEMENID EMPIRE..............................5 2.2. PERSEPOLIS: THE ACHAEMENID CAPITAL CITY......................................17 3. THE ART of THE ACHAEMENIDS.................................................................21 3.1. ASSYRIAN, EGYPTIAN and GREEK INFLUENCES......................................21 3.2. ACHAEMENID ART and THE APADANA RELIEFS......................................38 4. ACHAEMENID ROYAL PROPAGANDA...........................................................51 4.1. ANALYSIS of PROPGANDISTIC ELEMENTS in THE APADANA RELIEFS.......51 4.2. THE PROPAGANDISTIC ATTEMPTS of ACHAEMENID EMPIRE COMPARED TO OTHER EMPIRES’..................................................................................62 4.3. BENETTON ADS and THE APADANA RELIEFS..........................................66 5. SIMULACRA..............................................................................................73 5.1. SIMULACRA CREATED THROUGH THE APADANA RELIEFS.......................74 5.2. SIMULACRA CREATED by THE FOUNDATION of PERSEPOLIS...................81 vi 6. GAZE NOTION..........................................................................................91 6.1. THE GAZE OF LAMASSUS.......................................................................92 6.2. THE APADANA RELIEFS ANALYZED WITH THE NOTION of GAZE.............99 7. CONCLUSION..........................................................................................104 8. REFERENCES..........................................................................................106 vii LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 1. Seal of Cyrus of Anshan (Cook, 1983: 10).......................................6 Fig. 2. Assyrian Orthostat from Kuyunjuk (Frankfort, 1970: 180)...............23 Fig. 3. Assyrian Stele from Kuyunjuk (Frankfort, 1970: 184).....................24 Fig. 4. Assurbanipal fighting a lion (Frankfort, 1970: 188).........................26 Fig. 5. Sandstone relief of King Ramesses II smiting a Lybian chieftain, in the main temple at Abu Simbel in Nubia, c. 1260 B.C. (Aldred, 1980: 188)............................................................................................29 Fig. 6. Painted limestone relief of soldiers rejoicing, from the Hathor Chapel in the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri, c. 1470 B.C. (Aldred, 1980: 153)...............................................................31 Fig. 7. Apadana, Achaemenian royal guardsmen, detail (Nylander, 1970: 135)............................................................................................34
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