State of the Art Statues

What distinguishes a statue from other objects? Something so basic that you wouldn't even consider it to be a feature of a statue? It was to be a free-standing, three-dimensional edifice in the instance of the Babylonians. Before the arrival of its masons, statues were essentially two-dimensional bas reliefs that protruded from walls. They were first constructed separately by the Babylonians, who also gave them a high level of realism.

Alabaster, diorite, and limestone were preferred by Babylonian stone carvers. With the tools of the time, none of these materials were particularly plentiful or convenient to ship, so highly skilled artisans were strongly preferred to anything resembling mass production. Additionally, their dynasty was among the first to decorate objects like clay pots. It comes as no surprise that Babylon was renowned for being possibly the most beautiful city in the world, even centuries before the fabled Hanging Gardens came and left, given the level of artistic development at the time.