Earspoon
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Made of bronze, this small ear spoon has a thin handle. It is undecorated except for two small rings flanking a bulb near the bowl. It was excavated at the Taq-i Kisra bath in the Ctesiphon area. The city of Ctesiphon was located on the east bank of the Tigris River, 20 miles (32 km) south of modern Baghdad in Iraq. It flourished for more than 800 years as the capital of the Parthians and the Sasanians, the last two dynasties to rule the ancient Near East before the Islamic conquest in the seventh century. Systematic excavations in the Ctesiphon area were undertaken by an expedition in 1928–29 sponsored by the German Oriental Society (Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft). The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Staatliche Museen, Berlin, undertook a joint expedition for one season in 1931–32. Several excavations were conducted, including at the main palace (Taq-i Kisra), in a small fortified area south of the palace at Tell Dheheb, at multiple houses at the mounds of Ma’aridh, and at additional houses at a small mound called Umm ez-Za’tir. The Ctesiphon area is most famous for the royal palace built by the Sasanian king Khusrau I (r. 531–79). Named Taq-i Kisra ("Throne of Khusrau") its reception hall is known for its 84 foot (26m) high parabolic barrel vault. The palace was more than just the reception hall and the palace complex included numerous buildings. The Ctesiphon Expedition excavated near the reception hall, to the south at a large building used as a palace, or a religious building, and to the west at a complex with several water features. The palace complex was famous in contemporary texts for its elaborate stucco reliefs, mosaic decorations and lavish decorations such as silk carpets and precious stones. Excavations on a small mound approximately 230 feet (70 m) to the west of the Taq-i Kisra revealed several water installations inside a large building including water channels, clay pipes, a well, and a possible rectangular pool. The Sasanian levels of the building were damaged by later Islamic construction making interpretation difficult. The excavators proposed that this building functioned as a royal bath house. Later interpretations have suggested that this may be a ritual building due the religious significance of water in the Sasanian court religion of Zoroastrianism.
Ancient Near Eastern Art
An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Met's Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art cares for approximately 7,000 works ranging in date from the eighth millennium B.C. through the centuries just beyond the emergence of Islam in the seventh century A.D. Objects in the collection were created by people in the area that today comprises Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean coast, Yemen, and Central Asia. From the art of some of the world's first cities to that of great empires, the department's holdings illustrate the beauty and craftsmanship as well as the profound interconnections, cultural and religious diversity, and lasting legacies that characterize the ancient art of this vast region.