Taking us back to the earliest days of cities—and the earliest days of human civilization—in Mesopotamia, Pedro Azara in Cornerstone offers a contemporary view on the rise and growth of early cities and urban culture. Investigating ruins and exploring archaeological sites, Azara helps us understand how the earliest cities looked and felt, what the first architects and their buildings were like, and what nascent aesthetic ideals they upheld. Azara’s scholarship is rigorous and far-reaching, but his writing is agile, direct, and entertaining as he not only brings the far-distant past to life, but teases out its relevance for our understanding of contemporary culture as well. The result is a fascinating glimpse into our history and a fresh new take on the origins of the civilization of some of our most ancient ancestors.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Acknowledgments
THE CITY
The (Imaginary) Origin of the City
Cult and the City
Settlement
From Town to City
The Artist, the Artisan and the City
The Size of the City
The City as an Island
Imagination and Space
THE ARCHITECTS
Enki Built on the Waters
And the King Surrounded Them
The Heavens are on Bricks
The First Female Architect
Straight and Upright
The Meaning of Things
The Architect’s Two Faces
The Architect and the Weaver
Foundations
The Depths
Apollo and the Bible
The Tablets of the Law
THE HOUSE
Vessel and Home
Guardians of the Home
The Maternal Home
House and Shadow
House and Night
The House of God
The House of the Rising Sun
Matriarchal Temples
Temples in Mesopotamia and Greece
The Tower of Babel and the Mesopotamian Ziggurat
The Threshold
The Brick of Destiny
Mesopotamian Space
AESTHETICS
The Image and the Model
The Image and its Double
The Idea and the Gods
The Divine Image
Art and Beauty
Aesthetics
The Foundational Poem of Gilgamesh
LAY OF THE LAND
Chronology
The Sumerian Pantheon
Cuneiform Writing
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
THE CITY
The (Imaginary) Origin of the City
Cult and the City
Settlement
From Town to City
The Artist, the Artisan and the City
The Size of the City
The City as an Island
Imagination and Space
THE ARCHITECTS
Enki Built on the Waters
And the King Surrounded Them
The Heavens are on Bricks
The First Female Architect
Straight and Upright
The Meaning of Things
The Architect’s Two Faces
The Architect and the Weaver
Foundations
The Depths
Apollo and the Bible
The Tablets of the Law
THE HOUSE
Vessel and Home
Guardians of the Home
The Maternal Home
House and Shadow
House and Night
The House of God
The House of the Rising Sun
Matriarchal Temples
Temples in Mesopotamia and Greece
The Tower of Babel and the Mesopotamian Ziggurat
The Threshold
The Brick of Destiny
Mesopotamian Space
AESTHETICS
The Image and the Model
The Image and its Double
The Idea and the Gods
The Divine Image
Art and Beauty
Aesthetics
The Foundational Poem of Gilgamesh
LAY OF THE LAND
Chronology
The Sumerian Pantheon
Cuneiform Writing
Bibliography