mosaics

   Few mosaics were created in Mesopotamia before the infusion of Greek and Roman artistic influences in the last few centuries b.c. The earliest mosaic-like technique in the region, introduced by the Sumerians, used small baked-clay cones. These were painted bright colors and were inserted into cracks in brick walls so that they formed simple geometric patterns, such as zigzags and triangles. Examples dating from circa 3200 b.c. were discovered in the ruins of the city of Uruk. The famous Royal Standard of Ur, dating from the third millennium b.c., is an outstanding example of a mosaic in a more conventional style. Depicting a military victory and celebration, it was made by pressing small pieces of blue lapis lazuli, shells, and pearl into wet tar and glue. This artifact was one of a kind, however, and does not seem to have had any influence on later native Mesopotamian art. Eventually the Greek Seleucids introduced richly ornamented mosaics for the floors and walls of well-to-do homes and some public buildings, a style widely imitated later by the Parthians and the Sassanians.

   See also: crafts and craftspeople; Greeks; Royal Standard of Ur