Brian Brown
Ancient Middle East Education and Research Institute, AMEERI, Department Member
- Archaeology, Semiotics, Visual Culture, Near Eastern Archaeology, Ancient Near East, Urbanism, and 12 moreIdeology, Near Eastern Studies, Propaganda, Football (soccer), Urbanism (Archaeology), Social Inequality (Anthropology), Empires, Syria (Archaeology), Assyrian Empire, Colonialism, Imperialism, and Empire(Ideology, Near Eastern Studies, Propaganda, Football (soccer), Urbanism (Archaeology), Social Inequality (Anthropology), Empires, Syria (Archaeology), Assyrian Empire, Colonialism, Imperialism, and Empire)edit
- My research focused on political control, social identities, and ideology in the ancient Near East, primarily in the ... moreMy research focused on political control, social identities, and ideology in the ancient Near East, primarily in the Late Bronze and Iron Ages (ca. 1600-550 BCE). I was interested in how the built and natural landscapes were shaped to constrain and direct human behavior within political and social communities of all sizes. My main areas of interest were the Assyrian empire, in the 1st millennium BCE, and the small states of North Syria, whose art served as a link between the LBA and the Iron Age.(My research focused on political control, social identities, and ideology in the ancient Near East, primarily in the Late Bronze and Iron Ages (ca. 1600-550 BCE). I was interested in how the built and natural landscapes were shaped to constrain and direct human behavior within political and social communities of all sizes. My main areas of interest were the Assyrian empire, in the 1st millennium BCE, and the small states of North Syria, whose art served as a link between the LBA and the Iron Age.)edit
Research Interests:
Despite the political decentralization of the period, the early Iron Age in North Syria (ca. 1200-900 BCE) was also an era of cultural and social innovation. One index of this creativity was the development of a distinctive urban... more
Despite the political decentralization of the period, the early Iron Age in North Syria (ca. 1200-900 BCE) was also an era of cultural and social innovation. One index of this creativity was the development of a distinctive urban monumental style in North Syria combining large architecture with carved and decorated stone slabs. The ruling elites of these city-states created an environment for the display of ideologies that both influenced and were influenced by the region’s new social, cultural, economic, and political realities. This monumental urbanism provided the setting for the development of new regional identities and also had a large influence on the public face of the cities of the Neo-Assyrian empire.
Chapter 1 is an overview of the history of the region, history of research, and the main issues to be investigated. Chapter 2 describes the theories and methodologies guiding the analysis of the data. This framework draws upon perspectives developed for the analysis of signification in general (semiotics), ideology, ethnicity, and architecture. Chapter 3 presents arguments indicating how the reliefs and the meaning-rich urban architecture (such as gates, palaces, and temples), as permanent orientating points on the landscape, played an important part in forming identity groups. References to religion and, especially, ancestors were major components in the discourses involved in molding social identities. Chapter 4 considers the relationship between North Syria and Assyria. While Assyria was influenced to a substantial degree by North Syria’s urbanism, it did not “borrow” the specific elements in a rote manner but rather adapted and transformed them to meet its imperial requirements. North Syrian adoption of Assyrian styles and forms may be described as emulation, but evidence exists that this process was not entirely subservient but could incorporate expressions of resistance.
The Catalogue contains the data forming the basis for the analyses in Chapters 3 and 4. In it, I look closely at three aspects of the Iron Age North Syrian cities on a site- by-site basis: the overall urban morphologies, the monumental architecture, and the accompanying reliefs. I also propose chronologies by site using the available archaeological, art historical, and inscriptional evidence.
Chapter 1 is an overview of the history of the region, history of research, and the main issues to be investigated. Chapter 2 describes the theories and methodologies guiding the analysis of the data. This framework draws upon perspectives developed for the analysis of signification in general (semiotics), ideology, ethnicity, and architecture. Chapter 3 presents arguments indicating how the reliefs and the meaning-rich urban architecture (such as gates, palaces, and temples), as permanent orientating points on the landscape, played an important part in forming identity groups. References to religion and, especially, ancestors were major components in the discourses involved in molding social identities. Chapter 4 considers the relationship between North Syria and Assyria. While Assyria was influenced to a substantial degree by North Syria’s urbanism, it did not “borrow” the specific elements in a rote manner but rather adapted and transformed them to meet its imperial requirements. North Syrian adoption of Assyrian styles and forms may be described as emulation, but evidence exists that this process was not entirely subservient but could incorporate expressions of resistance.
The Catalogue contains the data forming the basis for the analyses in Chapters 3 and 4. In it, I look closely at three aspects of the Iron Age North Syrian cities on a site- by-site basis: the overall urban morphologies, the monumental architecture, and the accompanying reliefs. I also propose chronologies by site using the available archaeological, art historical, and inscriptional evidence.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Built in the early 9th century BCE, the Northwest Palace at Nimrud presented a new “imperial” architecture and iconography that was related to Assyrian expansionism at this time. Yet it also contained specific points of contact with the... more
Built in the early 9th century BCE, the Northwest Palace at Nimrud presented a new “imperial” architecture and iconography that was related to Assyrian expansionism at this time. Yet it also contained specific points of contact with the past via the royal Assyrian ancestors. A monument in the throneroom, the “center” of the state, provided the “public” view of this ideology, while one of the palace's more secluded wings was devoted to the performance of ancestral cult. Through these and other means, rapid and fundamental socio-political change was accompanied by the idea of a logical and direct continuity with the history of Assyria.
Research Interests:
An inscribed relief orthostat commissioned by Kilamuwa, ruler of the North Syrian state of Sam’al in the 9th century, provides evidence for some of the complex socio- cultural and political changes impacting the region during the early... more
An inscribed relief orthostat commissioned by Kilamuwa, ruler of the North Syrian state of Sam’al in the 9th century, provides evidence for some of the complex socio- cultural and political changes impacting the region during the early Iron Age. This innovatory relief broke with previous practice at Sam’al, and was in some respects unique in the entire region, in terms of its architectural setting, language, iconography and style. The object drew together elements from various regional traditions to pro- vide a visual statement of Kilamuwa’s political policies as well as his view of his group identity –what we might today call ethnicity. Although the Kilamuwa relief was an expression of group and ethnic identity from an elite, upper-class perspective, it nev- ertheless indicates and was part of society-wide changes in the earlier part of the Iron Age in the Near East.