Download Near Eastern - Sprague High School

APAH: Near Eastern Art
Mesopotamia – Fertile Crescent – Tigris & Euphrates Rivers
[Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Israel, Egypt]
River based settlement – agricultural areas
Control of floods/development of strong towns
[Egypt, China, India]
Oldest villages
Jericho, Israel (c. 8,000 BC)
~2,000 people by 7,000 BC
First known stone fortification – technical development
Çatal Höyük, Turkey (c. 7,000 BC)
Buildings adjoined – no streets
Shrines: Wall paintings, plaster reliefs, cult statues, bull heads
Settlements = Organized Societies:
Evolution of culture – hunter/gatherer to sedentary farming
Freed from subsistence ∴ specialization of skills
Government – laws and bureaucracy
Formal Religion – systematized, hierarchical
Writing – cuneiform (c. 2900 BC)
Great Rock of Behistun [Rosetta Stone of cuneiform writing]
Mathematics
Crafts: Pottery, Metalwork
Anthropomorphic Stele (c. 4th millennium BC)
Arabian Peninsula, El-Maakir-Qaryat al-Kaafa
Sandstone
Burial or religious ritual
Abstract (feels modern)
Beaker with Ibex motifs (c. 4200–3500 BC)
Susa, Iran
Painted terra cotta
Animal imagery – power
Themes in Near Eastern Art
1. Art reinforced political power
2. Art used for narrative storytelling
3. Art reflected beliefs of organized religion
Sumerian Art
1st major civilization
From City-States to Kingdoms
Centrality of Religion
Gods replace magic – personified by nature
Organized, systematic
Priests – hierarchy
City-state religion – king as representative of god
Patron deity for each city
Political-religious Government
City planning
Temple – religious, economic, political center
Ziggurats
Link to heaven / political statement
White Temple and Ziggurat (late 4th millennium BC)
Uruk (Iraq)
First cities and written language
Mud-brick construction – forced labor
40’ high / whitewashed temple on top
Dedicated to sky god Anu
Warka head
Sculpture: Sense of self-identity, awareness
Beautiful, unique, skilled
Importance of eyes (larger than real)
Inlaid features, wig
Temple statuary figure
Cult statue?
Tell Asmar figures (c. 2700 BC)
Gypsum inlaid w/ shells and black limestone
Stylized Sumerian beards
Convention (generalization)
Simplification of forms, story
Reduced to essential traits
Votive figures
Pious image
Hands clasped around cup
Eyes in admiration, eyes watchful, eyes ward off evil
Stand-in for others
Priests? Wealthy? Gods?
Standard of Ur (c. 2600-2400 BC)
Royal Cemetery at Ur
War & Peace
Registers
Narrative
Hierarchy of scale
Lapis lazuli
From area of Afghanistan/Iran
Importance of trade
Akkadian Art
Consolidation of power in a regional king
Sargon conquers/unifies Sumerians (c. 2,300 BC)
Introduces concept of ‘Royal Power’
Absolute loyalty to king not city-state
New pantheon of gods
Use of art to establish his power
Naram-Sin (Sargon’s grandson)
Absolute control over cities
God-like sovereignty
Head of Akkadian Ruler
Naram-Sin?
Sumerian traits
Kingly visage – calm, eternal
Metalwork – casting, engraving
Damage – destroys power of rulers
Victory Stele of Naram-Sin
Stele: carved stone slab or pillar
King: taller, enemies underfoot, higher, wearing horns
1st king to deify himself
Landscape (first since Catal Höyük)
Gods as stars/suns
City-state period
Ziggurat of Ur (c. 2,100 BC)
Highest point for many miles
Biblical Tower of Babel?
Constructed of baked bricks
Religious and administrative center of city
Gudea statue
Ruled city-state of Lagash
Attributed good fortune to gods
Faithful to ritual/service to gods
Humble, pious
Pose similar to Tell Asmar clasped hands
Diorite – hard, rare, expensive
From Omani Peninsula
Babylonian Art
Babylon city-state → conquers Mesopotamia
Hammurabi (1,792 BC)
Code of Hammurabi
Common law throughout the empire
Carved on stone column
Stele of Hammurabi (c. 1792-1750 BC)
Basalt
God-given wisdom
God (Shamash) seated with mountains at feet
Composite or dual perspective
Hammurabi listening
Profile perspective
Human form to gods
Assyrian Art
Assyria extends dominance in Near East (ca. 900 BC)
King as military commander
Advanced weaponry/tactics
Military state
Art / Architecture as propaganda – public proclamations of power
Creation of citadel-palace
Citadel of Sargon II
Lamassu (c. 720-705 BC)
Alabaster
Guardian imagery
Walled, exclusive
Winged human-headed bulls
Front view at rest/side view in motion
Part in round/part in relief
Relief Sculpture
Palace wall decoration
Continuous reliefs
Record of greatness
Victories
Easy to read
Strong, muscular figures
Assyrian Archers Pursuing Enemies
King Ashurnasirpal
Conflated perspective / scale
Narrative purposes
Ashurbanipal Hunting Lions
Controlled hunt
Overcoming nature
Power of the ruler
Persia
Audience Hall (Apadana) of Darius and Xerxes (c. 520-465 BC)
Persepolis
Large empire – tolerant of conquered peoples
Apadana – Reception hall
Limestone
Tribute reliefs of subject people
Massive columns with bull capitals