Download Understand the cultural changes in the Neolithic Revolution as they

Goals
• Understand the cultural changes in the Neolithic Revolution as
they relate to the art and architecture.
• Understand the concept of civilization and the importance
of Sumer in the ancient Near East.
• Examine the artistic materials, techniques, subject matter,
styles and conventions developed in the ancient Near East.
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Mesopotamian Religion, Mythology, Gods and Goddesses
• How are ancient Near Eastern ideas about religion different
from Paleolithic and earlier Neolithic ideas?
• Explore how these ideas are depicted in Sumerian sculpture,
seals, and funerary objects.
• How does the visual representation of the human form
evolve in ancient Near Eastern art? Does it retain any
elements of the Paleolithic and earlier Neolithic periods?
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The Ancient Near East
Map 2-1 Ancient Mesopotamia and Persia.
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Chapter 3.1 The Prehistoric and Ancient Mediterranean
PART 3
HISTORY AND CONTEXT
Mesopotamia: The Cradle
of Civilization
 “The land between the rivers” (Tigris and
Euphrates) often called “Cradle of
Civilization”

Early urban centers

Earliest forms of writing
 Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, and
Assyrians battled for control
 The role of King is now developed
Gateways to Art: Understanding the Visual Arts, Second Edition, Debra J. DeWitte, Ralph M. Larmann, and M. Kathryn Shields
Chapter 3.1 The Prehistoric and Ancient Mediterranean
PART 3
HISTORY AND CONTEXT
Sumerians
 First great power in Mesopotamia
 Cuneiform

Earliest known form of writing

Wedge-shaped symbols
 Probably invented the wheel
 Polytheistic
 Buried treasures with their leaders-and more
Gateways to Art: Understanding the Visual Arts, Second Edition, Debra J. DeWitte, Ralph M. Larmann, and M. Kathryn Shields
CUNEIFORM
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Figure 2-2 White Temple and ziggurat, Uruk (modern Warka), Iraq, ca. 3200–3000 BCE.
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Figure 2-15 Ziggurat (looking southwest), Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2100 BCE.
The ziggurat and temple complex served as the seat
of not only religious life, but civil and commercial
as well. Made of mud brick and plastered white.
Height equates to closer to the gods
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Figure 2-5 Statuettes from the Square Temple at Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar), Iraq, ca. 2700 BCE. Gypsum, shell, and black
limestone, male figure 2’ 4 ¼” high, woman 1’ 11 ¼” high. National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad.
ABU MONUMENT FIGURES OFTEN CALLED THE TELL ASMAR HOARD –
not gods, but “idealized” mortals making offerings. Some have inscriptionsprayers, supplicant’s name. Large, oversized eyes are linked to many theories-ever9
watchful, vigilance, knowing, “star-struck”, etc.
Figure 2-7 War side of the Standard of Ur, from Tomb 779, Royal Cemetery, Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2600-2400
BCE. Wood, shell, lapis lazuli, and red limestone, 8” x 1’ 7”. British Museum, London.
HEIRARCHICAL SCALE
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Figure 2-8 Peace side of the Standard of Ur, from Tomb 779, Royal Cemetery, Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 26002400 BCE. Wood, shell, lapis lazuli, and red limestone, 8” x 1’ 7”. British Museum, London.
Wooden box with inlaid shell, lapis lazuli, and red limestone
Discovered in Royal Cemetery of Ur
Early Example of narrative art
War side: ruler and his soldiers
Peace side: a banquet with musicians
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Figure 2-9 Bull-headed harp with inlaid sound box,
from the tomb of Pu-abi (tomb 800), Royal Cemetery,
Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2600-2400 BCE.
Wood, gold, lapis lazuli, red limestone, and shell, 3’ 8
1/8” high. British Museum, London.
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Figure 2-10 Sound box of the bull-headed harp from
tomb 789 (“King’s Grave”), Royal Cemetery, Ur
(modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2600-2400 BCE.
Wood, lapis lazuli, and shell, 1’ 7” high. University of
Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and
Anthropology, Philadelphia.
Original panel made of lapis lazuli
and shell
Depicts fusion of humans and
beasts. Earliest known depiction
of animals doing human activities
Meaning is not fully understood:
sacred event or realm of the dead
The top register has a heraldic
composition-symmetrical figures
border central figure
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•THE AKKADIANS
Figure 2-13 Victory stele of Naram-Sin, set up at Sippar,
Iraq, found at Susa, Iran, 2254–2218 BCE. Pink sandstone,
6’ 7” high. Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Shown leading his army, King
Naram-Sin is wearing the
horned headdress signifying
divinity
First time Mesopotamian king
shown as a god
Three stars overhead, looks like
he is scaling his way to the
heavens
Not in a horizontal format, but
still hierarchical in scale
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Stele of Hammurabi.
c. 1760 BCE.
7 ‘ x 28”
Hammurabi, King of Babylon reunited
Mesopotamia and instituted the Code of
Hammurabi, a comprehensive set of laws
addressing nearly all aspects of both civil and
criminal offenses.
Hammurabi is portrayed receiving the laws
directly from Shamash the sun god. (a parallel
to Moses). Shamash is the dominate figure—
he is seated on his throne, wears a crown and
has flames issuing from his shoulders.
Although Hammurabi is subservient to the god
he still makes a powerful authority statement
by addressing the god directly. Even though he
has his hand raised in reverence he shows that
he has a personal relationship with the gods
while mere mortals do not.
•THE
BABYLONIANS
Hammurabi and Shamash
detail of the stele of Hammaurabi, (fig. 2-18),
from Susa, Iran, ca. 1780 BCE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w5N
GOHbgTw
Stele discussion
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Figure 2-24 Ishtar Gate (restored), Babylon, Iraq, ca. 575 BCE.
King Nebuchadnezzar restored Babylon to glory with this and the gardens of Babylon-one of
the seven wonders of the ancient world and the Tower of Babel. The dragon represents the
gods, Marduk and Nabu and the bull, represents the god, Adad. One of eight gates.
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Chapter 3.1 The Prehistoric and Ancient Mediterranean
PART 3
HISTORY AND CONTEXT
Ishtar Gate from
Babylon
 Main entrance to the streets and
temples of Babylon
 Golden animal reliefs symbolize gods
 Background of blue glazed bricks
 Processional Way ran through Ishtar
Gate to the local ziggurat
Gateways to Art: Understanding the Visual Arts, Second Edition, Debra J. DeWitte, Ralph M. Larmann, and M. Kathryn Shields
ETEMENANKI
Etemenanki ( TEMPLE OF THE FOUNDATION OF HEAVEN AND EARTH)– The ziggurat linked to the story of the Tower of Babel,
seen today, above and recreated.
The Hanging Gardens of
Babylon
•THE ASSYRIANS
Figure 2-20
Lamassu
(man-headed winged bull), from
the citadel of Sargon II, Dur
Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad),
Iraq, ca. 721–705 BCE.
Limestone, 13’ 10” high. Musée
du Louvre, Paris.
The Horned crown of
divinity Another example
of the man-animal mix
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