Maria de Fatima Rosa - Reception of Mesopotamia on Film

Maria de Fátima Rosa

NOVA University LisbonLisbon, Portugal

This edition first published 2022

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: de Fátima Rosa, Maria, 1981- author.

Title: Reception of Mesopotamia on film / Maria de Fátima Rosa.

Description: Hoboken : John Wiley & Sons, Inc., [2022] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021009104 (print) | LCCN 2021009105 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119778646 (paperback) | ISBN 9781119778660 (pdf) | ISBN 9781119778653 (epub) | ISBN 9781119778677 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Civilization, Assyro-Babylonian, in motion pictures. | Iraq--In motion pictures. | Iraq--Civilization--To 634.

Classification: LCC PN1995.9.C517 D4 2022 (print) | LCC PN1995.9.C517 (ebook) | DDC 791.430935--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021009104LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021009105

Cover image: © Werner Forman/Contributor/Universal Images Group/Getty Images, © 32 pixels/Shutterstock

Cover design by Wiley

Set in 9.5/12.5 STIXTwoText by Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd, Pondicherry, India

For my brother Emanuel,

In memory of the movies of our childhood and the yearnings of our adult lives.

Until our reunion.

1 Cover

2 Title page Reception of Mesopotamia on Film Maria de Fátima Rosa NOVA University LisbonLisbon, Portugal

3 Copyright

4 Dedication

5 List of Abbreviations

6 Acknowledgements

7 Introduction 0.1 Reception Studies and Cinema 0.2 Why Cinema? What Cinema? 0.3 Orientalism and the Legacy of Ancient Mesopotamia

8 Part I: The Pre-Cinematographic Image: A Complex Plot Chapter 1: The Old Testament Paradigm and the Romanticism of the Classics 1.1 The Genesis of Confusion1.1.1 From Babylon to Babel1.1.2 In the Beginning, Nimrod1.1.3 Daniel and the Ruin of the Neo-Babylonian Empire1.2 Greek Ethnocentricity and the Emergence of Legendary Figures1.2.1 A discourse About the Other1.2.2 The Subversion of Roles: The Dilution of the Male/Female Binomial Chapter 2: Mesopotamia in Literature and on Stage 2.1 The Resurrection of Classical Legendary Figures2.2 Tragic Mesopotamian Heroes and Their Dramatization2.2.1 Semiramis from Manfredi to Rossini2.2.2 Sardanapalus, Myrrah and Their Fateful Destiny2.2.3 The Various Nabuccos Chapter 3: The Appropriation and Visual Reproduction of Assyria and Babylon 3.1 Mesopotamia Pre-Discovered: Testimonies from an Unknown World3.2 The Archaeological Exploration3.3 Mesopotamia Post-discovered: The Introduction of Assyrianizing Elements

9 Part II: The Portrayal of Mesopotamia in Cinema Chapter 4: Genres and Cinematographic Contexts 4.1 Why Antiquity?4.2 Early French Cinema and Its Motivations4.3 American Cinema, the Epic Genre, and the Judeo-Christian Legacy4.4 Italian Cinema and the Greco-Roman Heritage4.4.1 The First Golden Age4.4.2 Peplum and the Genesis of the West Chapter 5: Mesopotamia as the Seed of Evil 5.1 Resurrecting Ancient Near Eastern Demons5.2 Present Speeches From an Ancient Demoniacal Past5.2.1 Religious Narratives: The Apocalypse and the Whore of Babylon5.2.2 Political Narratives: Communism, Capitalism, Nazism, and Terrorism Chapter 6: Imagining the Land Between the Rivers: Urbanism and Culture 6.1 The City as a Privileged Setting6.1.1 The Hyperbolizing of Urban Architecture6.1.2 The Polarization of the City: Palace and Temple6.2 The Ziggurat Tower: Babel Intertwining Past and Present6.3 Exoticism and Modernism: Colliding Worlds in Mesopotamia6.3.1 Hybridism and Advance Machinery in the Era of Industrial Revival6.3.2 Universalizing Mesopotamia in Post-Fascist Italy Chapter 7: Exploring Mesopotamia’s Society and Politics 7.1 A Portrait of the King and Queen and Their Population7.1.1 Eastern Stereotypes and Socio-political Contexts7.1.2 The Mesopotamian Fascist vs. the Mesopotamian Apostle of Tolerance7.2 Religion and Politics7.2.1 Gods at War: Idolatry, Holocaust and the Judeo-Christian Faith7.2.2 It’s Every Man for Himself Chapter 8: Helping Without Hurting 8.1 Judith against Assyria8.1.1 Female Emancipation vs. Biblical Conservatism8.1.2 The Debate Regarding the “New Woman”8.2 The Two Semiramis8.3 Mesopotamian Bacchanals and Odd Rituals Chapter 9: Farewell Babylon, Farewell Nineveh

10 Bibliography

11 Index

12 End User License Agreement

1 Chapter 1Figure 1.1. James Tissot, The Flight of the Prisoners.Figure 1.2. Martyrs chrétiens, a film by Lucien Nonguet..

2 Chapter 2Figure 2.1. Woodcut illustration of Semiramis from an incunable German...Figure 2.2. SéSémiramis, a film by Camille de Morlhon.Figure 2.3. The Gate of Imgur Bel with Assyrian winged bulls...

3 Chapter 3Figure 3.1. Engraving by Gustave Doré entitled The..Figure 3.2. Still from the movie Metropolis (1927).Figure 3.3. Belshazzar’s Feast (1820) by John Martin. Public domain.