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The plant in the axial composition in ancient Near Eastern iconography : humanity and the 'tree of life'
Thesis (PhD)--University of Stellenbosch, 1994.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | en_ZA |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2012
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| _version_ | 1867613880753061888 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Watson, Stewart James |
| author2 | Cornelius, Izak |
| author_browse | Cornelius, Izak Watson, Stewart James |
| author_facet | Cornelius, Izak Watson, Stewart James |
| author_sort | Watson, Stewart James |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Thesis (PhD)--University of Stellenbosch, 1994. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/58601 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | en_ZA |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:43:10.408Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publishDateRange | 2012 |
| publishDateSort | 2012 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/58601 The plant in the axial composition in ancient Near Eastern iconography : humanity and the 'tree of life' Watson, Stewart James Cornelius, Izak Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Ancient Studies. Idols and images -- Middle East Plants in art Composition (Art) Art -- Middle East Dissertations -- Ancient Near Eastern Studies Thesis (PhD)--University of Stellenbosch, 1994. Contents: Vol. 1. Text -- v. 2. Axi-base : iconographic catalogue. This dissertation is investigating aspects of a visual enigma from the ancient Near East that has baffled researchers for over a century: A significant number of visual sources from the ancient Near East depicts humans or deities in artistic compositions that seem to imply that they were involved in a special relationship to plants. Most prominent among these compositions are probably those that depict anthropoids that are flanking plants in a kind of axial composition. In reference to the biblical story of Adam and Eve, it soon became convenient for scholars to refer to the plant as a "tree of life" which it, most probably, is not. In some instances the anthropoids that appear in close proximity to the plant carry certain utensils, in other instances they perform an action, while many appear to be totally passive. To complicate matters further this composition is not the product of one particular culture at one specific period but rather emerges from various geographical areas, ranging from Failaka island in the Persian Gulf to single examples from Egypt; and from a wide chronological horizon, ranging from 3300 BC to 300 BC. While the primary focus of many previous works on this subject was focused on the meaning of this composition, and primarily had a theoretical approach to the problem, this research focuses on comparative analyses of the characteristics of the contents of individual objects. This is done in order to understand the "behaviour" of the subject matter. The rationale of such an approach is to deduce the rules that apply to aspects of the axial composition before attempting to theorize on the meaning of the composition. This approach resulted in a massive manual search of published material, ranging from excavation reports to auction catalogues, for visual sources depicting specific versions of axial compositions. The selected sources were then indexed into a large graphical, relational database that was specifically developed for this purpose. A total of 460 visual sources were analyzed, dated and indexed. In order to provide the "blind" graphical database with some limited power of vision to physically compare aspects of graphical images with each other, an additional method was created that was able to provide numerical analyses of the proportions of anthropoid bodies relative to the length of the face. A statistical analysis of these relative proportions indicates that various artistic styles each had specific proportional characteristics. In the study of the characteristic "behaviour" of the contents of the axial composition there is, of course, a necessity to understand the "structural mechanics" that were applied in the creation of this composition. Comparative analyses of the indexed sources indicate that the creators of these compositions made use of mirroring principles when allocating specific actions to specific hands of anthropoids in the axial composition. The analysis indicated that these mirroring effects were not to be interpreted as carrying any meaning because their primary functions were, on the one hand, to create esthetically pleasing compositions and, on the other hand, to maximize the use of available space in the ancient compositions. The same mirroring effects also prescribed the placement of the legs and the orientation of the shoulders of anthropoids. An insight in the "structural mechanics" of the axial composition is beneficial because it is not only clear about what aspects of composition are not to be interpreted, but, more important, it resulted in the establishment of a specific rule that specifies under what circumstances deviations in the "structural mechanics" can (and should) indeed be interpreted as valuable sources of information. With this rule at hand and the discovery of relevant textual sources, it was possible to contradict the widely accepted interpretation that Assyrian versions of the axial composition, where winged genies hold cone-shaped objects and buckets towards a stylized plant, depict the pollination of the female flowers of date palms by means of a male inflorescence. In this research it is proven that this specific composition depicts the ritual purification of a stylized plant (probably symbolizing the Assyrian king) with two utensils: A bucket with water and a pine cone that is used as a sprinkling device. Other versions of the axial composition are also interpreted, although their strict adherence to the mirroring principles made it clear that the "structural mechanics" of these compositions were not to be used as a source of information regarding their meaning. Instead, other factors, such as the actions of anthropoids, the characteristics of the plants, the cultural background of the compositions and the economic factors inherent in the area where specific compositions originated, were taken into account, which also proved to be valuable sources of information. Doctoral 2012-08-27T11:39:03Z 2012-08-27T11:39:03Z 1994 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/58601 en_ZA Stellenbosch University 2 v. : ill. application/pdf application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Idols and images -- Middle East Plants in art Composition (Art) Art -- Middle East Dissertations -- Ancient Near Eastern Studies Watson, Stewart James The plant in the axial composition in ancient Near Eastern iconography : humanity and the 'tree of life' |
| title | The plant in the axial composition in ancient Near Eastern iconography : humanity and the 'tree of life' |
| title_full | The plant in the axial composition in ancient Near Eastern iconography : humanity and the 'tree of life' |
| title_fullStr | The plant in the axial composition in ancient Near Eastern iconography : humanity and the 'tree of life' |
| title_full_unstemmed | The plant in the axial composition in ancient Near Eastern iconography : humanity and the 'tree of life' |
| title_short | The plant in the axial composition in ancient Near Eastern iconography : humanity and the 'tree of life' |
| title_sort | plant in the axial composition in ancient near eastern iconography humanity and the tree of life |
| topic | Idols and images -- Middle East Plants in art Composition (Art) Art -- Middle East Dissertations -- Ancient Near Eastern Studies |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/58601 |
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