Carlo Lippolis

In 2002, on the eve of the Second Gulf War, the Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino, together with the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage of Iraq, the Central Restoration Institute in Rome and the Direction General for the Archaeological Heritage of Italy’s Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, began a campaign for documenting and verifying the state of conservation of the structures of the royal suite (rooms I, IV, V) of Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh. The purpose of the project, unfortunately interrupted by the war, was that of assessing the natural damage caused by atmospheric agents and the mechanical damage caused by man. The almost complete photographic survey produced at that time is now published in this volume together with some contibutions on the ninevite reliefs presented by archaeologists and restorers.

In spite of the substantial results obtained by archaeological research in Old Nisa in the last seventy years there are still many unanswered questions, both regarding the absolute chronology of the site’s building phases and the specific purpose of each individual structure within the fortification walls. The very interpretation of the entire site as a large ceremonial centre of the Arsacid dynasty, which is generally accepted today, needs further considerations that can be now considered in the light of the results of the excavations carried out during the last twenty years, particularly in its monumental central ensemble.
The most recent works carried out by the Italian Archaeological Expedition between 2000 and 2006 in the central compound revealed a large Parthian building of about 41 m on each side, opening on a large court, the Red Building. It has a square plan which conforms to a well-established Iranian tradition: the northern façade takes the form of a unusually deep portico with a single row of four wooden columns flanked by two projecting rooms probably added in a later phase of construction. Stone elements were largely used in the decoration of its main façade, a fact that is quite rare in Nisa. The entire front wall of the platform and the rear wall of the portico, in fact, were decorated with a series of stone slabs, carved with a bead-and-reel moulding and a pattern of rounded vertical flutings.

An interesting group of ten ostraca dating back to the Parthian period comes from two rooms of the so-called South-Western Building, in Old Nisa (Turkmenistan). These ostraca record quantities of oil stored in the North-Eastern sector of the building and provide information on methods of storage and the chronology of relevant structures.

En el museo de Antigüedades de Turín (Italia), actualmente se exhibe de nuevo el famoso retrato de Sargón II (donado por P.E. Botta a su ciudad natal a la par que otro retrato de un cortesano) junto con unos cuantos fragmentos pequeños de otros relieves murales asirios menos conocidos de Jorsabad y Nínive. En el presente artículo exponemos algunas consideraciones sobre los dos relieves de Botta, valorando en particular los códigos de representación utilizados por los artistas en la composición de los retratos asirios reales.Palabras clave: Relieves asirios - códigos de representación visual - Khorsabad - cabeza de Sargón II At the Museum of Antiquity in Turin (Italy) is now again exhibited the famous portrait of Sargon II (donated by P.E. Botta to his hometown, along with another portrait of a courtier) together with a few small fragments of other lesser-known Assyrian wall reliefs, from Khorsabad and Nineveh. In this paper we present some considerations on the two Botta’s reliefs, ...

Although a more-in-depth study of the historical and geographical setting of Baqarat has yet to be undertaken, and we do not have conclusive data regarding the ancient name of the site, we propose in this paper the identification of modern Tūlūl al Baqarat (mound TB1) with ancient Keš.

This paper presents some results of a study on the topography and settlement of the area of al-mada’in, in central mesopotamia, one of the largest and most important complexes of ancient settlements in the world. research was conducted following a multitemporal approach in which photo-interpretation of remote-sensing data is interpolated with the analysis of previous information of different nature (published and unpublished), collected during on-site surveys and excavations. settlement models, connectivity and hypotheses on the location of ancient mega-sites are particularly addressed. Further studies on the area will considerably advance our knowledge of environmental planning, impact assessment, land use and settlement of Central mesopotamia in the centuries preceding the muslim conquest.

This preliminary report concerns the archaeological activities of the Italian Expedition on the mounds n.7 and 8 (TB7, TB8) in the area of Tūlūl al Baqarat (Kut, Wasit). TB7-TB8 are the most ancient sites among the Tūlūl al Baqarat mounds. They appear as flat and rounded tells, close to each other and most likely part of the same archaeological settlement. An intensive survey was conducted on the sites followed by the opening of four soundings in the central and north-western parts of TB7. In the central sector of the site (S1, S2, S4), the excavations revealed the evidence of an artificial terrace with side rooms and jutting walls while in the north-western sector (S3) the remains of a multifunctional building (Building A) were investigated. The materials collected so far in the different trenches suggest a main chronological frame of the site within the Early Uruk period.

We are pleased to introduce "Intersections", a new survey meant to open our journal to colleagues from disciplines others than those which have been nourishing "Memoria e Ricerca" for its 25 year-long life. In view of a wider interdisciplinary dialogue and of the public engagement activity promoted by the Friends of "Memoria e Ricerca" Association, the workshop held in Ravenna on May 11, 2018 inspired by the 1/2018 issue on Iconoclasm in the Long 19th-Century offered a testing bench for a discussion with experts of Egyptian and Ancient Near East History: Christian Greco, Director of the Museo Egizio in Turin, Clelia Mora, full professor of Anatolian History in the University of Pavia, and Carlo Lippolis, associate professor of Archaeology and History of Art of the Near East in the University of Turin. In the framework of the 2018 European Year of Cultural Heritage, we publish the texts of their papers which approach the theme of destructions in ancient ...

The 2009 (11th) issue of the journal Parthica contains papers presented at the international conference held in Turin on 24 October 2007 on the occasion of an exhibition at the Museo di Antichita di Torino organized by the Fondazione per l’Arte della Compagnia di San Paolo. It contains contributions from: P. Cambon (“Le Musee Guimet et l’Afghanistan”), S. Saifi (“Testimonianze dal Museo di Kabul”), P. Bernard (“La decouverte et la fouille du site hellenistique d’Ai Khanoum”), A. Filigenzi (“L...

The present paper stems from the research activities carried out within the framework of EU funded project "EDUU - Educational and Cultural Heritage Enhancement for Social Cohesion in Iraq" (EuropeAid CSO-LA/2016/382-631). EDUU is an international project funded by the European Union. EDUU consists of an EU-Iraqi partnership in the area of education and cultural heritage enhancement, connecting Universities, secondary schools, and museums. This consortium operates with the aim of enhancing the pluralism of Iraqi civil society, raising awareness on the diverse and multicultural past of Iraq via developing initiatives for the promotion of the pre-Islamic cultural heritage.

Introduction By Donny George 1. Mesopotamian Art from Its Origins to the End of the Third Millennium BC By Jean-Daniel Forest and Natalie Gallois 2. Mesopotamian Art from the Second Millennium BC to the Fall of Babylon By Jean-Daniel Forest and Natalie Gallois 3. Hellenism in the Land of Two Rivers By Carlo Lippolis 4. The Parthian and Sassanid Periods By Roberta Ricciardi Venco 5. The Islamic Period By Giovanni Curatola Appendix: Key Sites of Mesopotamian and Iraqi Art Notes and Bibliography Index of Places and Monuments

Despite almost 80 years of scientific research, the dynamics of settlement in the territory of Parthian Nisa during the Hellenistic/Parthian period are still little understood. Recently, some aspects of the landscape and territory immediately surrounding the two ancient districts (Old and New Nisa) have been further investigated. Concerning the internal “urban” layout, today Old Nisa is comparatively well known, while very little is known about New Nisa: no extensive excavations have been ever conducted in the latter. Furthermore, the recent discovery of pottery fragments dated to pre- and proto-historical times seems to suggest the existence of ancient cultural levels at Old Nisa (3rd–2nd millennium BCE), albeit smaller and partially removed by the levelling work carried out during later phases.

Unlike the terracotta decoration and the clay sculpture, the stucco production in Old Nisa has been only marginally studied. This is mainly due to the scarcity of figured materials available. Anyhow, recent excavations have unearthed some fragments of sculptures in stucco and clay, along with double-moulds in gypsum mortar that shed new light on techniques for the manufacturing of sculptures. The manufacturing process of a sculpture is similar for both materials, since the modeling of the figure occurs through the gradual application of layers of clay or stucco (or both) more and more fine and purified. Moreover, for the two materials, is attested both the simple hand modeling and the use of moulds.

È già stato osservato come l'archeologia-che studia nel presente le tracce del passato attraverso manufatti concreti, monumenti e simboli-non sempre possa fornire interpretazioni definitive (Bernbeck-Pollock 2004): ciò la espone evidentemente a manipolazioni, usi e abusi. Passando dal piano fisico a quello simbolico ciascun oggetto può facilmente divenire una 'icona' per illustrare, consolidare, legittimare un messaggio politico. Questo utilizzo del passato e delle sue testimonianze facilmente sfugge al controllo dell'archeologo che spesso opera in contesti di regimi autoritari, di forti ideologie, di instabili equilibri politici e sociali.

This preliminary report presents an overview of the site, focusing on some mounds investigated by the Italian expedition sponsored by Centro Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino (CRAST), University of Torino and with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Although a more-in-depth study of the historical and geographical setting of Baqarat has yet to be undertaken, and we do not have conclusive data regarding the ancient name of the site, we propose in this paper the identification of modern Tūlūl al Baqarat (mound TB1) with ancient Keš.

The Show of Destruction and the Negativeness of the Past: the Case of Iraq. In last decades Iraq, one of the richest countries in the world for history, culture and monuments, witnessed the systematic destruction of its cultural heritage: wars, conflicts, radical ideologies and total absence of safeguard have led to the cancellation of a piece of the history of the peoples who inhabited Mesopotamia, an important chapter of the entire human history. A cultural disaster for the world community that has happened in different times and ways and has hopelessy damaged sites, monuments, museums and libraries. 1. La distruzione del passato Se è vero che i popoli e le nazioni costruiscono la loro identità attraverso realiz-zazioni artistiche, è anche vero il contrario, ovvero che costruiscano una propria identità attraverso la distruzione, cancellazione, strumentalizzazione del patrimonio culturale. La distruzione, la mutilazione, il saccheggio e il riuso di opere «artistiche» e monumenti hanno in Mesopotamia, come in molte altre parti del mondo antico, una numerosa serie di esempi che si possono considerare veri e propri atti di guerra e rituali codificati. Che i re mesopotamici fossero ben consapevoli della minaccia rappresentata dalle pratiche magico-religiose di cancellazione e oblio (qualcosa di più, in effetti, di una semplice damnatio memoriae), è evidente dalle formule iscritte di maledizione che spesso accompagnavano le loro opere, rivolte contro chi avesse osato danneggiare l'immagine raffigurata, alterare il testo che la accompagnava (e dunque il nome del sovrano) oppure deportarla. Del resto, gli antichi abitanti della «Terra tra i due fiumi» erano convinti che queste immagini fossero capaci di trascen-dere il tempo e lo spazio, mantenendo per sempre una loro capacità performativa, anche dopo la morte di colui che celebravano: erano insomma opere che mediavano tra il mondo umano e quello divino, tra passato, presente e futuro, capaci di influen-zare il campo dell'azione sociale e della memoria collettiva anche a notevole distanza e dopo molti anni. Ecco perché, nel corso della storia, singoli monumenti o interi centri della Meso-potamia furono oggetto di sistematici atti distruttivi che, però, non vanno interpre-tati solo come semplici gesti vandalici. È persino noto, fin dai tempi più antichi, il caso contrario: quello di monumenti presi come bottino di guerra e trasportati con cura altrove, per essere conservati e ricollocati solitamente nella capitale del vinci-tore. Questo perché le immagini conservavano, anche a distanza di secoli e dopo la

The paper recalls the history of archaeological investigations at Nisa and the scholarly debate on the identification of the two hills od Old and New Nisa with the Parthaunisa by Isidorus of Charax.
The Square House in Old Nisa was one of the first complex to be excavated (in 1948) by the soviet JuTAKE expedition in Old Nisa.

The great variety of terracotta depicting children from Seleucia testifi es to the profound impact of Greek culture, as the subject is extremely rare in pre-Hellenistic Mesopotamia. Some evidence suggests the special meaning and (or) function for at least some of the children’ figurines.
Moreover, a small group of them share an interesting detail: a hollow open mouth, cut-out with a tiny tool after the extraction of the statuette from the mould.