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[CHP. 2: ANCIENT NEAR EAST]
P A G E | 1 Terms Apadana Cuneiform Lamassu Arch cylinder seal lapis lazuli Armature Diorite load‐bearing construction Attribute Facing Mud bricks Barrel vault Foreshortening Narrative Base Friezes or registers Pictographs bas‐relief Glaze Pillar Capital glyptic art Plinth Cella Ground line provenience or provenance Citadel Gypsum Register City‐state hierarchical proportions Repousse Column Historical narrative Shaft Composite view, profile view impost block Stele cone mosaic Intaglio Votive offering Convention Investiture Ziggurat Crenellated The Ancient Near East, c. 9000–300 B.C. Neolithic (c. 9000–5th millennium B.C.) Jericho skulls; Çatal Hüyük; polytheism Mesopotamia (c. 4500–c. 600 B.C.) •
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Ziggurats; urbanization; cylinder seals Cuneiform; the Epic of Gilgamesh Early Dynastic Period (Ur One) (2,900 – 2,334 BCE☺ Akkad: (Ur Two) (2,334‐2,150 BCE☺ •
Sargon; Naram‐Sin Neo‐Sumerian: (1,150‐2,112 BCE/ 2,112‐2,004 BCE: Ur Three/ Neo Sumerian Revival) •
Gudea Babylon: (,800‐1,600 BCE) •
Hammurabi's law code Assyrian Empire, Neo‐Babylonian Empire (1,300 – 630 BCE) International Period (1,600‐1,000 BCE:) Anatolia: Hittite Empire (c. 1450–1200 B.C.) Neo‐Babylonian Empire (612–539 B.C.) Iran (c. 5000–331 B.C.); Achaemenid Empire Scythians (8th–4th centuries B.C.); •
Animal Style: Ziggurat of King Urnammu, Ur c 2500 B.C. Ziggurat of King Urnammu, Ur (El Muqeiyar), Iraq. c 2500 BC (northeastern façade, with restored stairs), Photo© LaCour Slide Library Living With Art Slide Set Photo© LaCour Slide Library Living With Art Slide Set [CHP. 2: ANCIENT NEAR EAST]
P A G E | 2 Summary It is thought that the region of the Ancient Near East is where civilization first developed. Human civilization emerged in two separate places at the same time Mesopotamia and Egypt had distinct characters and were in contact from earliest beginnings and their destinies were interwoven. It is likely that the same pressures forced the inhabitants of each region to abandon village life. Symbolic language enhances will allow group members to relate to the powers of the universe and each other. The knowledge and application of writing reached: •
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Egypt with the pharaohs of the 1st dynasty c. 2850 BC Crete & Indus Valley c. 2500 BC China c. 1500 BC Mexico and Peru c. 100‐500 BC Understanding the art of Mesopotamia is an important base for the study of cultures throughout the world. Mesopotamia is called the "land between the rivers." This area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers gave birth to these remarkable changes. The river valleys of these early civilizations were very different. While the Nile was a narrow fertile strip protected by desert on each side, the Valley of Tigris and Euphrates was a wide shallow trough with few natural defenses. The valley is crisscrossed by two great rivers and tributaries and is easily encroached from any direction. The Mesopotamian geography tended to discourage uniting area under single ruler. The first rulers who tried to unite area after 1000 years of Mesopotamian civilization succeeded for only brief periods and with almost constant warfare. SO the political history of Mesopotamia has no underlying theme like the divine kingship in Egypt. Instead, the cultural history of Mesopotamia is filled with local rivalries, foreign incursions, sudden upsurge & sudden collapse of military power. Nonetheless, Mesopotamia displays a remarkable continuity of cultural & artistic traditions.In Sumer, the foundations of religious structure emerged. Major natural forces were personified—treated, that is, as though they were human, but with enormously greater power, including the power of eternal life. Each such personified force or god took his or her place in a divine political society, ruled over by Anu, god of the sky. Each year the great gods met on New Year’s day to decide what would happen that year. The god lived in a house—the temple—and inhabited a cult statue. He or she had to be fed, amused, praised, etc. The descendents of Sumeria—the Greeks, Romans, Celts, Germans, and Slavs—continued to honor gods of sky, thunder, sun, moon, and the rest whose powers and character had first been deified by the speculations of ancient Sumerian priests. In Sumer, the wheel first rolled upon a grid work of city streets and cuneiform writing was first inscribed on clay. The Sumerians were not merely master architects and super hydraulic engineers, they were also the inventors of the military phalanx, a devastating and seemingly omnipotent weapon. From out of their imaginations came deep‐sea merchants, formalized schools, epic poetry (The Epic of Gilgamesh), the arch, the city, traffic jams, pollution, and the world’s first great crisis in ecology. It was here, not Egypt, or Babylon, or Greece, or Rome, that men first codified rational laws to govern human behavior. The invented democracy, crude but recognizable, and the concept of empire, brutal and familiar. Founders of Mesopotamian tradition = SUMERIANS. They were called Sumerians after the region of Sumer the confluence of Tigris/ Euphrates. Fundamental. arts of all high civilizations invented: •
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writing simplifying pictures into signs angular wedge shaped cuneiform strokes pressed into wet clay split reed stylus several hundred letters mathematics monumental architecture systematic scientific observation of heavens Temple worship Head of an Akkadian ruler (Sargon I?), Nineveh, Iraq, c. 2300 B.C, Bronze, apx 12" tall Louvre, Paris LaCour Slide Library, Across Time Slide Set [CHP. 2: ANCIENT NEAR EAST]
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the kingly art of the government (dominant) Control of the region changed back and forth between non‐Semitic groups like the Sumerians and Semetic groups like the Akkadians, Babylonians, Elamites, Assyrians Common heritage= largely the creation of the founders of the Mesopotamian tradition = SUMERIANS Their religions, based on gods of nature and the earthly ruler as representative of the god determined the political structures of the region In many prehistoric rituals the male impersonated the role of the seed and so assumed the role of leader. P A G E | 3 [CHP. 2: ANCIENT NEAR EAST]
P A G E | 4 Questions General 1. When and where was domestic agriculture thought to have begun and what was its importance for art history? 2. Mesopotamia means ___________ _____________ _________ ____________ 3. Name the 2 rivers that designate the Mesopotamia area. It is helpful to locate key sites in the Ancient Near East on a map. •
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Jericho (Israel) Çatal Hüyük‐ Anatolia (Turkey) Tigris/ Euphrates (Iraq) Babylon (Iraq) Assyria (Iraq) Persia (Iran) Uruk Period (3500‐3100 BCE) •
Presentation of offerings to Inanna (Warka Vase), from Uruk (modern Warka), Iraq, ca. 3200–
3000 BCE. Alabaster, 3’ 1/4” high. Sumer Early Dynastic Period c. 2800‐2300 BCE) 1. Sumer occupied what modern day country? 2. What are the characteristics of Sumerian religion? 3. List at least 3 stylistic conventions used by Sumerian artists. 4. List 7 great contributions of Sumerian culture. 5. What materials did the Sumerians sue to construct their temples? 6. How did the ziggurat function? 7. What were its structural characteristics? How was it oriented? What is mean by the “bent axis” approach? 8. What is thought to be portrayed on the Standard of Ur? •
Statuettes of two worshipers, from the Square Temple at Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar), Iraq, ca. 2700 BCE. Gypsum inlaid with shell and black limestone, male figure 2’ 6” high. •
War side of the Standard of Ur, from Tomb 779, Royal Cemetery, Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2600 BCE. Akkad 1. How did the Akkadian political structure differ from the Mesopotamia? 2. What was a cylinder seal and how was it used? 3. The Head of an Akkadian Ruler combines both naturalism and formal abstract patterning. List 3 features that you are examples of each: Naturalism: Abstract Patterning: 4. What features of the Stele of Naram‐Sin indicate his super‐human status? •
Head of an Akkadian ruler, from Nineveh (modern Kuyunjik), Iraq, ca. 2250–2200 BCE. Copper, 1’ 2 3/8” high. •
Victory stele of Naram‐Sin, from Susa, Iran, 2254–2218 BCE. Pink sandstone, 6’ 7” high. Neo‐Sumerian (Gudea) 1. Gudea Worshipping from Telloh, Iraq 2. Gudea was a ruler from the city of ______________. 3. There are about _______ (number) of statues of Gudea that have survived. 4. These statues of Gudea were placed in the _________ to render perpetual services. 5. What type of stone was used to carve Gudea? ______________ What is the significance of this material? 6. Describe Gudea’s physical appearance. 7. Why is the statue cylindrical or conical? •
Seated statue of Gudea holding temple plan, from Girsu (modern Telloh), Iraq, ca. 2100 BCE. Diorite, 2’ 5” high. Statuettes from the Abu Temple, Tell Asmar, c. 2700 – 2500 B.C. Marble with shell limestone inlay LaCour Slide Library, Across Time Slide Set Head of an Akkadian ruler (Sargon I?), Nineveh, Iraq, c. 2300 B.C, Bronze, apx 12" tall Gudea with temple plan, Lagash, Iraq, c. 2100 B.C., from Lagash (Telloh), Louvre, Paris LaCour Slide Library, Art Across Time Slide set [CHP. 2: ANCIENT NEAR EAST]
P A G E | 5 Old Babylonian Period (1,800‐1,600 BCE) 1. What is the significance of the Stele of Hammurabi? •
Helpful Text Box—Hammurabi’s Law Code, Babylon: City of Wonders •
Stele with law code of Hammurabi, from Susa, Iran, ca. 1780 BCE. Basalt, 7’ 4” high. Stele inscribed with the Law Code of Hammurabi, Susa, (Iran), c. 1792 – 1750 B.C. Basalt, entire stele apx. 7’4” high, Louvre LaCour Slide Library, Art Through the Ages Slide set Assyria (1,300 – 630 BCE: Assyrian Period) 1. What subjects were commonly portrayed in Assyrian reliefs? Dying Lioness (detail of The Great Lion Hunt), from the palace of King Assurbanipal, Nineveh, c. 668 – 627 B.C LaCour Slide Library, Art Through the Ages Slide set Neo Babylonian (612‐538 BCE) 1. Who was Ishtar/Inanna? Goddess of ____________ and ____________ 2. Name 3 animals found on the Ishtar Gate and what they symbolize. Ishtar Gate (reconstructed), Babylon, c. 575 B.C. Source: AICT‐ Allan Kohl Persia (538 – 330BCE: Achaeminid dynasty) 1. Name 3 cultures that influenced the style of the Palace at Persepolis and its reliefs. 2. Name the Greek who burned the Palace at Persepolis. Why did he destroy it? Potential Unit Exam Essay Questions 1.
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Describe the stylistic conventions and iconography in ancient Near Eastern art. Cite examples and explain their function. Compare the seated statue of Gudea with the largest Tell Asmar statue. Consider the formal elements, the iconography, and the context. How is political power shown in ancient Near Eastern art? Discuss the victory stele of Naram‐Sin, the Law Code of Hammurabi, and the reliefs of King Assurnasirpal II. Describe some of the ways in which the Mesopotamians used art for political purposes. Cite specific examples. Discuss the representations of the human head in ancient Near Eastern art. Consider the Jericho skulls, the bronze head of Sargon, the female head from Uruk, and the head of Gudea. Discuss the representations of guardian figures in ancient Near Eastern art: the Hattusas lions and the Lamassu. Discuss the iconography of the lion in ancient Near Eastern art. What are the differences between the periods—mainly in terms of how the king was regarded? How did these differences manifest in the artwork of these periods? Bull capital from the royal audience hall of the palace of Artaxerxes II, from Susa, Persia, c 375 BC. Gray marble, 7'7" high, 12'3" wide. Louvre, Paris. (PERSIAN) AICT‐ Allan Kohl