Relief

The art of rock relief in ancient Arabia: new evidence from the Jawf Province

“…The carving of rock reliefs was a widespread artistic technique for ceremonial and commemorative purposes throughout the ancient Near East, from Egypt and Iran to Mesopotamia and Turkey (Vanden Berghe 1983; Harmanşah 2015; Woods 2015). It was, however, relatively marginal in the Arabian peninsula during antiquity—with the notable exceptions of the Neo-Babylonian reliefs of Hâ’it, the carved lions of the Khuraybah tombs, and in the betyls and the majestic façades of the Nabataean tombs of Hegra, al-Bad‘ and Qaryat al-Dîssa (Jaussen & Savignac 1997: pls XXXIV–V; Râshid 2003; Nehmé et al 2015; Hausleiter et al forthcoming).…”