Материал: bardinskaia_tr_angliiskii_iazyk_v_sfere_kulturologii

UNIT 10.

P E R S I A N A R T

Lead-in

1.Answer the questions.

1.Do you know the former name of modern Iran?

2.Where is the collection of Scythian gold kept?

3.Who of the Russian Tsars started the Scythian collection?

2.Discuss with your partner.

1.The style based on representation animal figures is called the animal style, isn’t it?

2.How popular is the animal style nowadays?

3.How can you prove that the greatest achievement of the Persian master is their woven silks?

Persia, the mountain-fringed high plateau to the east of Mesopotamia, takes its name from the people who occupied Babylon in 539 BC and became the heirs of the former Assyrian Empire. Today the country is called Iran.

Inhabited continuously since the prehistoric times, Iran always served it gateway for the migratory tribes from the Asiatic steppes to the north as well as from India to the east.

The Persians didn’t leave any permanent monuments of written records. So we can trace their wanderings only by careful study of the objects they buried with| their dead. Such objects of bone, wood, or metal represent a distinct kind of portable art, for example, weapons, bridles for horses and other articles of adornment, cups, bowls etc. They have been found over a vast area from Siberia to central Europe, from Iran to Scandinavia. They have in common not only a jewel-like concentration of orna-

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mental design but also a form known as the “animal style”.

The main feature of the animal style, as the name suggests, is the decorative use of animal motifs, in a rather abstract and imaginative manner. We can see this style in the small bronzes of Luristan region. The pole top ornament, for example, consists of a symmetrical pair of rearing ibexes with vastly elongated necks and horns. By and for whom the Luristan bronzes were produced remains a mystery.

There we can be little doubt, however that they are linked with the animal style metalwork of the Asiatic steppes, such as splendid Scythian gold stag from southern Russia. The animal’s body has a great similarity to the real one, but the antlers have been elaborated into an abstract ornament. Looking at this typically Scythian piece we should mark that the Scythians surely learned a good deal from the bronze-casters of Luristan during their stay in Iran.

The Persians belonged to a group of nomadic tribes. The Persians had no religious architecture because they retained their own religious belief. This was the faith based on dualism of Good and Evil, embodied in Ahuramazda (Light) and Ahriman (Darkness). The cult of Light was centered on fire altars, which they built in the open air.

The style of Persian carvings seems at first glance to be only a softer and more refined echo of the Mesopotamian tradition. But we should mention that the Persians enriched their heritage:

1) there is no precedent in Near East sculpture for the layers of overlapping garments, for the play of finely pleated folds such as we see in the “Darius and Xerxes” relief; 2) the arms and legs are pressed through the fabric.

Persian art is a remarkable synthesis of many diverse elements but, yet it lacked a capacitу for growth.

Another period of flourishing of the Persian art was under the Sassanians. The greatest figure in this dynasty was Shapur I. This ruler commemorated his victory over two Roman emperors in an enormous relief, hewn into the living rock. The formal source of this scene of triumph is a well-known composition of Roman sculpture but the ornamental elaboration indicates the Persian quality.

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The chief glory of the Persian art is woven silks. We can see their wealth of colours and patterns. They were exported to Constantinople and to the Christian West.

E X E R C I S E S

I. Enlarge your vocabulary.

Try to remember correct pronunciation of the new words.

III. Match the words to their synonyms.

IV. Fill in the correct word from the list given below. Use each word only once.

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a n i m a l ■ s y m m e t r i c a l ■ g o l d ■ a b s t r a c t

r e l i g i o u s ■ i m a g i n a t i v e ■ n o m a d i c ■ w o v e n

d e c o r a t i v e ■ p o r t a b l e

1 . … … … … … . m a n n e r

2 . … … … … … . s t y l e

3 . … … … … … s i l k s

4 . … … … … … p a i r

5 . … … … … … . o r n a m e n t

6 . … … … … … . b e l i e f

7 . … … … … … . u s e

8 . … … … … … . a r t

9 . … … … … … . t r i b e

1 0 . … … … . . s t a g

V . E n r i c h y o u r v o c a b u l a r y b y u s e f u l e x - p r e s s i o n s a n d i d i o m s .

a ) T r a n s l a t e i n t o R u s s i a n a n d r e m e m b e r .

1. to leave permanent monuments;

2. portable art;

3.animal style;

4.to be elaborated into an ornament;

5.to learn a good deal from (somebody);

6.there is no precedent;

7.to commemorate the victory over (somebody);

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