Download Humn 110 Week 2:Chapter 1

Humn 110 Week 2:Chapter 1
Prehistoric Period and Mesopotamian
Earliest Cultures of the Prehistoric Period
Culture: Way of thinking/living established by a group of people
and transmitted from one generation to the next. Collective values
are expressed in the arts, writings, customs, and intellectual pursuits.
The first evidences of culture can be traced back millions of years
to our first hominin ancestors, when they first began to make tools:
Homo habilis: First tool maker (Choppers, scrappers, hammer stones)
Homo erectus: Make of the bi-faced hand ax
Homo sapiens: Spears, bows, hooks, and refined tools
The material culture, however was not considered complex…
capable of being transmitted until the last part of the Paleolithic
(35,000 to 10,000 B.C.E).
The Paleolithic is more commonly known as the “Old Stone Age.”
The Paleolithic period (35,000 to 10,000 B.C.E)
The Paleolithic period corresponds to the geological Pleistocene
era, or ICE AGE era.
During this ice age period glaciers moved south over the European
and Asian continents, forcing the inhabitants of the areas to move
south, into the Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and African areas.
Cultural advancements include:
Wall Paintings: Animal life, with paintings done in black, browns,
reds, and yellow. Colors came from mineral oxides and charcoal.
Ritual and Religion: Attempts to control nature and humans was
explored through prayer, music, dance, art, meditation, and magic.
Sculpture: Cultures most important values and ways of being
would further be materialized in stone
The Paleolithic period (35,000 to 10,000 B.C.E)
The Lascaux paintings of France
• 15,000 to 10, 000 B.C.
• Southern France
• Animals depicted with
notable realism.
• Bison, mammoth,
reindeer, boars, wolves,
and horses.
• Painted under the light of
oil lamps.
• One theory suggest that
they were symbolically
painted to initiate mating
in real life.
Paint
The Paleolithic period (35,000 to 10,000 B.C.E)
The Lascaux paintings of France cont…
The Paleolithic period (35,000 to 10,000 B.C.E)
The Woman of Willendorf, Austria
ca. 25,000 – 20,000 B.C.E, limestone, 4 3/8” (11cm)
• “Venus” figurine.
• Enlarged breast and
abdomen.
• Possible in pre-birth
state.
• Intended to promote
fertility.
• Heads, arms, and hands
stylized.
Sculpture (ceramic)
The Neolithic period (8,000 B.C.E to 3,000 B.C.E)
The Neolithic period post-dates the Paleolithic period. It is a period
when people of the old stone age began to farm, plow, plant seeds,
grow crops, and domesticate animals. Hunters and gatherers
became herders and farmers and permanent settlement developed.
Wall paintings, ritual and religion, and sculpture continue to
flourish through trade and interaction.
ADVANCEMENTS OF THE NEOLITHIC PERIOD
Metallurgy
(the working of metals)
• The mining of tin and
copper, and combining
these to create bronze,
to make weapons, tools,
and jewelry.
• Stone too continues to
be refined through craft.
Architecture
• Buildings and structures were constructed
using stone, tree/plant material, and mud.
3rd Millennium BC silver cup from Marvdasht, Fars, with linear-Elamite inscription. Iran provenance…
Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England
The Neolithic period (8,000 B.C.E to 3,000 B.C.E) cont.
Shang Dynasty two-handled bronze gefuding gui
Mycenaean sword found in Romania
Assorted Celtic bronze castings (Bronze Age)
Grenoble (French) cuirass
An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools.
Neolithic stone implements are by definition polished and, except for specialty items, not
chipped.
Reconstruction of Neolithic house in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Skara Brae, Scotland. Evidence of home furnishings (shelves). Also, take note
of the post and lintel system…
Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, Wilshire, England, completed 2000 B.C.E.
Computer rendering of the overall site
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzLHZJWsKUA
Plan of Stonehenge in 2004. After Cleal et al.
and Pitts. Italicised numbers in the text refer to
the labels on this plan. Trilithon lintels omitted
for clarity. Holes that no longer, or never,
contained stones are shown as open circles.
Stones visible today are shown coloured…
Mesopotamia: The Cradle of Civilization
Mesopotamia civilization (complex society) developed in the valley
between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. It is a Greek word
meaning “the land between two rivers.” Mesopotamian society
begin sometime between 3,500 and 3,000 B.C.E. by the Sumerians.
MESOPOTAMIA
(major peoples)
1. The Sumerians
2. The people of Akkad
3. The Babylonians
4. The Assyrians
Sumer, the Sumerians (zenith 2800-2700 B.C.E) lived at
the Southern end of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
1. Each Sumerian city-state had
its own local god and its own
local ruler/prince.
2. Each city-state buildings and
structures circling the temple
of the city’s god.
3. Sumerians were polytheistic,
that is there were many gods.
4. People often embodied the
gods and their energies…
5. Most well known King was
GILGAMESH (ca. 2700 B.C.E)
of Uruk…
The Sumerians at the Musée de Louvre, Paris
The Sumerians at the Musée de Louvre, Paris cont..
The Sumerians at the Musée de Louvre, Paris cont..
The Sumerians at the Musée de Louvre, Paris cont..
The Sumerians at the Musée de Louvre, Paris cont..
The Sumerians at the Musée de Louvre, Paris cont..
The Sumerians at the Musée de Louvre, Paris cont..
The Sumerians at the Musée de Louvre, Paris cont..
The Sumerians at the Musée de Louvre, Paris cont..
The Sumerians at the Musée de Louvre, Paris cont..
The Statue of Ebih-Il is a 25th-century BC
statue of the praying figure of Ebih-Il,
superintendent of the ancient city-state of
Mari in Eastern Syria.
The Sumerians at the Musée de Louvre, Paris cont..
The Sumerians at the Musée de Louvre, Paris cont..
By about 3,000 B.C.E., the
Sumerians were using a
written language, that today is
largely known from clay
tablets. The writing is known
as CUNIFORM
• Began as a pictograph
system…
• Shown as wedge-shaped
characters.
• Developed to keep track of
agricultural records.
The Sumerians at the Musée de Louvre, Paris cont..
The cuneiform script underwent considerable changes over a period
of more than two millennia. The image below shows the
development of the sign SAG "head" (Borger nr. 184, U+12295 𒊕
).
Stages:
1. Shows the pictogram as it was drawn around 3000 B.C.E.
2. Shows the rotated pictogram as written around 2800 B.C.E.
3. The abstracted glyph in archaic inscriptions, from c. 2600 B.C.E.
4. Is the sign as written in clay, contemporary to stage 3.
5. Represents the late 3rd millennium.
6. Represents the early 2nd millennium, as adopted into Hittite.
7. As written by Assyrian scribes in the early 1st millennium.
The Sumerians at the Musée de Louvre, Paris cont..
The Sumerians at the Musée de Louvre, Paris cont..
The Sumerians at the Musée de Louvre, Paris cont..
Mesopotamian map drawing exercise... Page 4, Map 1.1
The Semitic people of Akkad (zenith 2350-2200 B.C.E)
conquered all of the city-states of Sumer.
1. Sumerian cities, under Akkadian
rulership, lived oppressively…
1. Only a few Akkadian monuments
exists, and no structures.
1. There is record in cuneiform, as
this tradition continued.
1. The city is referenced in Genesis
ַ ( Accad).
10:10 ‫ד‬
‫‬‬א ַכ ‫‬
1. King SARAGON I and his
grandson/successor NARAM-SIN
are best known…
Ishtar was the goddess of love, war, fertility, and sexuality.
The Semitic people of Akkad (zenith 2350-2200 B.C.E) cont.
The Semitic people of Akkad (zenith 2350-2200 B.C.E) cont.
Victory Stele of Naram-Sin, ca.
2300-2200 B.C.E, 6’- 6”, Musée du Louvre, Paris.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY79AuGZDNI WATCH NOW!
The people of Akkad at the Musée de Louvre, Paris
The people of Akkad at the Musée de Louvre, Paris cont.
The people of Akkad at the Musée de Louvre, Paris cont.
The people of Akkad at the Musée de Louvre, Paris cont.
The people of Akkad at the Musée de Louvre, Paris cont.
Gudea, prince/ruler of Lagash
(ca. 2144-2124 B.C.)
• Under Gudea the arts and
commercialism flourished.
• Woman owned land…
• Debts.' were forgiven…
The people of Akkad at the Musée de Louvre, Paris cont.
The people of Akkad at the Musée de Louvre, Paris cont.
The city-state of Babylon (1900 B.C.E to 1600 B.C.E) and
HAMMURABI (r. 1792-1750 B.C.E)… first great King...
1. Around 1900 B.C.E a nomadic
tribe known as the Amorites
from the Arab peninsula
established a city in Babylon.
2. In 1792 B.C.E Hammurabi,
took power, uniting Sumerian
and Akkadian city-states.
3. Babylon was the largest city
from c. 1770 to 1670 B.C.E.
4. In the Hebrew bible the name
appears as ‫ ָבבֶל‬, in the book of
Genesis (11:9), it means bilbél,
"to confuse”.
The city-state of Babylon (1900 B.C.E to 1600 B.C.E) and
HAMMURABI (r. 1792-1750 B.C.E). cont…
The Law Code of Hammurabi
ca. 1760 B.C.E, basalt, 7’ stele, 28”.
1. Code consists of 282 laws
arranged in six chapters…
•
•
•
•
•
•
Personal property
Land
Trade and commerce
Family
Maltreatment
Labor
2. Hammurabi code is the earliest
known written code of laws.
The city-state of Babylon (1900 B.C.E to 1600 B.C.E) and
HAMMURABI (r. 1792-1750 B.C.E). cont…
The Law Code of Hammurabi
ca. 1760 B.C.E, basalt, 7’ stele, 28”.
The relief at the top shows
Shamash, the Sun God who
controlled plant life and
weather. He is shown
elevated and seated, handing
Hammurabi the law code.
Hammurabi is poised,
standing, ready to receive
the laws…
The city-state of Babylon (1900 B.C.E to 1600 B.C.E) and
HAMMURABI (r. 1792-1750 B.C.E). cont…
The Law Code of Hammurabi
ca. 1760 B.C.E, basalt, 7’ stele, 28”.
§ 8 – If any one steal cattle or sheep, or an ass,
or a pig or a goat, if it belong to a god or to the
court, the thief shall pay thirtyfold therefor; if
they belonged to a freed man of the king he
shall pay tenfold; if the thief has nothing with
which to pay he shall be put to death.
§ 59 – If a man cut down a tree in a man's
orchard, without the consent of the owner of
the orchard, he shall pay one-half mina of silver.
§ 196-201 – If a man destroy the eye of another
man, they shall destroy his eye.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w5NGOHbgTw
The city-state of Babylon (1900 B.C.E to 1600 B.C.E) and
HAMMURABI (r. 1792-1750 B.C.E). cont…
The fall of Babylon (1550 B.C.E), the Neo-Babylon (648
B.C.E) and the Assyrians (1250 B.C.E to 612 B.C.E).
1. Assyrian culture began sometime
in 1250 BC, but was at its height
900 B.C.E to 612 B.C.E
2. It was an imperialistic culture
mobilized for land conquest.
3. Much of Assyrian sculpture
(reliefs and statues in the round)
show Assyrians in battle and lions
with wings and human heads.
4. The Assyrians undertook a major
rebuilding of Babylon, and by
648 B.C.E it was flourishing…
Assyrian head of winged bull, 9th c. B.C.E
The fall of Babylon (1550 B.C.E), the Neo-Babylon (648
B.C.E) and the Assyrians (900 B.C.E to 612 B.C.E).
Nineveh, capital city of the the Assyrian empire
Human-Headed Winged Lions (lamassu) at the Musée du
Louvre, Paris, France.
Human-Headed Winged Lions (lamassu) at the Musée du
Louvre, Paris, France. cont…
Human-Headed Winged Lions (lamassu) at the Musée du
Louvre, Paris, France. cont…
Human-Headed Winged Lions (lamassu) at the Musée du
Louvre, Paris, France. cont…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GrvBLKaRSI
Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon (r. 604-562 B.C.E)
Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon (r. 604-562 B.C.E)
Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon (r. 604-562 B.C.E) cont..
Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon (r. 604-562 B.C.E) cont..
Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon (r. 604-562 B.C.E) cont…
Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon (r. 604-562 B.C.E) cont…
Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon (r. 604-562 B.C.E) cont…
Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon (r. 604-562 B.C.E) cont…
Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon (r. 604-562 B.C.E) cont…
Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon (r. 604-562 B.C.E) cont…
Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon (r. 604-562 B.C.E) cont…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marduk-zakir-shumi_I
END