Ingenious Crafts | University of Tübingen

Ingenious Crafts. The Mimicry of Substances in Mesopotamian Language and Thought, ca. 1750-500 BCE

Dr. Shiyanthi Thavapalan
Supported by: Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
Participating Institution: University of Tübingen
Project duration: 2020-2022

In ancient Mesopotamia, the value of luxury objects was traditionally linked to the idea of authenticity. Akkadian texts frequently allude to the genuineness of substances, using various criteria—origins, aesthetic and symbolic qualities, monetary value—to define this concept. However, as technologies of imitation began to flourish in the late Bronze Age, making cheaper copies appear just as beautiful as the originals, this culture of authenticity came under attack. This project examines people’s shifting attitudes towards ‘genuine’ substances and their ‘imitations’, as well as the relative economic and social values attached to them, through an interdisciplinary study of glass and textiles in the late Bronze Age Near East (ca. 1750-500 BCE).

Fig. 1: EA4741. Core-formed glass vessel, Egypt (c. 14th cent. BCE) and lapis lazuli, Sar-e-Sang Deposit Mining District, Hindu-Kush Mountains, Afghanistan.

Fig. 2: 1894,1101.507. Core-formed glass vessel, Cyprus (7th cent. BCE) and striped engina (Engina mendicaria).

Previous studies have primarily focused on economic questions with regard to the ancient glass and textile industries in the late Bronze and Iron Ages. While addressing the changes in modes of production and consumption, they largely ignore the ensuing cultural and cognitive implications. Ingenious Crafts examines the role of materiality and sensory experience in defining ancient aesthetics through the lens of technologies of imitation. If the beauty of (artistic) objects was linked to the opulence of substances and their masterly execution, how was this idea affected by the mass-production and diffusion of synthetic imitations?

Closely tied to beauty were notions of luxury and exoticism: the rarity of a dye or the remote origins of a stone lent such substances prestige that translated to social capital. What happened when the boundaries delineating these ideas were blurred, as commodities like cheaply dyed garments and “stone” personal ornaments became more affordable and less rare? Can we discern a discourse about authenticity and the genuineness of materials reflected in contemporary texts? A further goal of this project is to open up Mesopotamian ideas about imitation (as well as related concepts such as artifice, ideality, similarity and alterity) to the existing discourse about mimesis that is largely dominated by Western traditions going back to Aristotle and Plato.