Belt with Scenes of Bull and Lion Hunts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 2010

Title: Belt with scenes of bull and lion hunts

Period: Iron Age III

Date: late 8th-7th Century BC

Geography: Urartu

Medium: Bronze

Dimensions: 5.43 x 39.37 in. (13.79 x 100 cm)

Classification: Metalwork-Ornament

Credit Line: Gift of Norbert Schimmel Trust, 1989

Accession Number: 1989.281.18

On View

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/collection_database/ancien...

and

The Kingdom of Urartu

In the early first millennium BC, the kingdom of Urartu dominated much of the mountainous highland region in what is now northeastern Turkey and northwestern Iran. To the south were the Assyrians, whose records of their invasions into Urartian territory provide much of our knowledge of the history and geography of Urartu. The Urartian king Menua (ca. 810-781 BC) and his son Argishti I (ca. 781-760 BC) enlarged the borders and ensured that the kingdom remained powerful until the late seventh century BC. Excavations of fortified cities, temples, and tombs at such sites as Toprak Kale, Karmir Blur, and Altyn Tepe have revealed remains of Urartian material culture: finely crafted bronze helmets, shields, belts, pins, plaques, cauldrons, and gilded furniture attachments, often decorated with supernatural creatures combining human and animal elements. Urartian art exhibits Assyrian and distinctive local traits.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art plaque.