The Mouseion · Ancient Worlds · Mesopotamia & Persia

Mesopotamia & Persia

Between the Tigris and the Euphrates people built the first cities and wrote the first words, pressed into clay. Assyrian palace reliefs, cylinder seals and Persian gold show empires that ruled from the Mediterranean to the Indus.

Walk inThe whole museum

On the walls this month

• 
  Beaker with birds on the rim — ca. late 3rd–early 2nd millennium BCE, Electrum
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Textile fragment: walking ram with a neckband and fluttering ribbons — ca. 7th century CE, Wool, cotton
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Weight in shape of frog — ca. 2000–1600 BCE, Diorite or andesite
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Kaftan — ca. 7th–9th century CE, Silk, linen, fur
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Foundation peg in the form of the forepart of a lion — ca. 2200–2100 BCE, Copper alloy
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Funerary relief — ca. 150–200, Limestone
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Funerary relief — ca. 150–200, Limestone, paint
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Funerary relief — ca. 150–200, Stone
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Relief panel — ca. 883–859 BCE, Gypsum alabaster
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Relief panel — ca. 883–859 BCE, Gypsum alabaster
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Relief panel — ca. 883–859 BCE, Gypsum alabaster
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Funerary relief — ca. 50–150, Limestone
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Relief panel — ca. 883–859 BCE, Gypsum alabaster
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Funerary relief — ca. 200–273, Limestone
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Relief panel — ca. 883–859 BCE, Gypsum alabaster
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Relief fragment — ca. early 1st millennium BCE, Basalt
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Funerary relief — ca. 50–150, Limestone
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Funerary relief — ca. 150–200, Limestone
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Funerary relief — ca. 150–200, Limestone
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Funerary relief — ca. 150–200, Limestone
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Funerary relief — ca. 200–273, Limestone
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Openwork furniture plaque with a grazing oryx in a forest of fronds — ca. 9th–8th century BCE, Ivory
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Funerary relief — ca. 200–273, Limestone
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Human-headed winged bull (lamassu) — ca. 883–859 BCE, Gypsum alabaster
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Funerary relief — ca. 125–150, Limestone
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Funerary relief — ca. 125–150, Limestone
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Funerary relief — ca. 125–150, Limestone
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Relief panel — ca. 883–859 BCE, Gypsum alabaster
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Relief panel — ca. 883–859 BCE, Gypsum alabaster
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Three-Part Pitcher — c. 800–700 BCE, earthenware, unglazed slip
  Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
• 
  Spout in the form of a man's head — ca. 1st–2nd century CE, Ceramic, glaze
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Beaker with birds and animals — ca. 4th century BCE, Silver
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Furniture support: female sphinx with Hathor-style curls — ca. 18th century BCE, Ivory (Hippopotamus), gold foil
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Button-Based Situlas — 900–700 BCE, bronze, repoussé, punched, incised
  Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
• 
  Statue of Gudea — c. 2144–2124 BCE, dolerite
  Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
• 
  Bowl — 500–700 CE, silver
  Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
• 
  Seal Amulet in the form of a Lion's Head — 3800–3500 BCE, agate
  Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art

More of Ancient Worlds

• Egypt & Nubia — For three thousand years the Nile valley made art for eternity: statues to house the spirit, painted coffins, amulets…
• Greece & Rome — Painted vases that told the myths, portraits of emperors, and bronzes small enough to hold. Greece set the ideal of…

Where the works come from

Every work in the Mouseion is a real piece, out of copyright everywhere, shown from the open collections of the museums that hold it — each label names the original’s museum and links to its page there.

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art — Open Access
• The Art Institute of Chicago — public-domain collection
• The Cleveland Museum of Art — Open Access
• Wikimedia Commons — public-domain photographs of works held elsewhere