Download Art of the Ancient World


Paleolithic/Old Stone Age
› The first stage in human culture

Neolithic/New Stone Age
› The second stage in human culture

Cuneiform
› A writing style made up of wedge shaped
markings that were pressed into damp clay

Civilization
› Advanced state of human development;
contain social, political, and cultural complexity

Pantheon
› A large group of gods; all the gods of a certain
culture/civilization

Hierarchy
› A system of persons or things ranked one above
another

Hieroglyphic
› Writing style made up of pictures and symbols

Polytheistic
› Having multiple gods
Goes back to over
1,000,000,000 BCE
 Humans…

› Were nomadic (moved from
place to place)
› Hunted and Gathered
› Discovered fire, clothing,
and simple social
organization
Between 8,000 and 3,000 BCE
 Also known as Agricultural Period
 Humans…

› Began to settle down
› Raised crops
› Saw improvements in stone tools, pottery
and textiles
› Learned to live together in small villages

Wide area of land in the “Fertile
Crescent”
› Between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
› Located in modern day Iraq
Considered to be the birthplace of
civilization
 Sumerians

› First civilization to emerge in the ancient
world

Hammurabi
› First great ruler to emerge in Mesopotamia

Babylon
› The capitol city Hammurabi chose for himself
and his people
› Hence, his people were known as Babylonians

The Code of Hammurabi
› A wide-ranged legal system
› Made up of 282 articles
› Meant to answer all of the legal questions of the
time
› “Eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”

Sumerians wrote using Cuneiform
› Writing style made up of wedge shaped
markings

Benefits of a Written Language
› Document the past
› Increased communication
› Keeping Records (taxes, irrigation patterns,
storage details, etc.)
› Strengthens government

Literacy indicated class and therefore
power
Sumerians were Polytheistic
 Life was the focus of their religion

› Gods were often given attributes of humans
and animals
› Individual gods served specific purposes
› Gods were placed in a hierarchy
 Some cities placed different gods at the top of
their hierarchy
› Kings answered to the gods alone
 Social classes were tied into religion as well
Egyptian civilization developed around
the same time as the Sumerians
 Settlements located along the Nile River
in modern day Egypt
 Egyptians depended on the annual
flooding of the Nile to plant crops


Literacy
› Used Hieroglyphics (picture writing)
› Each picture represents a syllable, not actual
words or objects

Religion
› Egyptians were Polytheistic
› Identified the pharaoh (king) with the sun
god
› Pharaoh was also physical manifestation of
the sky god
› Death opened the path to the afterlife
› The body had to be preserved in some way
for the soul to live on
 Mummification, embalming, etc.
Egyptian art and architecture focused
on Death or the Afterlife.
 Art and Architecture functioned as an
eternal dwelling place for the dead
 Egyptian mortuaries (funeral homes)
were highly decorated

› Mortuaries also contain funeral imagery and
narratives for those who dwelled there

Pharaohs were considered the link to the
afterlife
› Common citizens worked to secure the
pharaoh’s existence in the afterworld
 Offerings, sacrifices, etc.

Cave Paintings
› The Cave of Lascaux
 Discovered in 1940 by a group of children
 Cave was sealed off in 1963 to protect it from
atmospheric damage
 An exact replica exists in a quarry 600 ft. away
› Contains paintings of various bulls, horses,
and deer

The Tombs of Thebes
› Burial sites located in the ancient city of
Thebes
› Provides most of what we know about
Egyptian painting
› Comprised of funerary art (art made for
rituals of death)

The Tombs of Thebes cont.
› First discovered representations of the gods
› Portrayed everyday life as well
› Utilized four hues(colors) that never changed
in value
› Showed people in profile (viewed from the
side)
 No attempt at lifelikeness was made

Sumerian
› Focused on kings
 Usually performing
devotional (religious)
acts
› Sumerian court
(royalty) generated
sculptures out of gold
› Emphasized the
importance of religion
in Sumerian culture

Egyptian
› Major art form of the Egyptians
› Avoided lifelike sculptures for two reasons
 1.) A close likeness could capture the soul
 2.) Lifelikeness was too technically challenging
› Egyptians were very detailed with sculptures
of the human body
› Surfaces were painted for decoration

Egyptian cont.
› The Great Sphinx
 Carved out of the
natural rock
 Portrays the head
of the pharaoh on
the body of a lion
 Reinforces the
relationship
between the
pharaoh and the
gods

Egyptian cont.
› The Funerary Mask of Tutankhamun (King Tut)
 Made of solid gold
 Inlaid with semiprecious stone and colored
glass
 Meant to record his likeness and cover his
mummified head
 Reveals the royal nemes (headdress) and two
symbolic creatures that protect Egypt

Egyptian
Pyramids
› Oldest existing
buildings in the
world
› Filled with secret
passageways and
rooms
› Meant to protect
the bodies of the
pharaohs

Egyptian Pyramids cont.
› Usually constructed with a
nearby temple
› The pyramids at Giza have
a carefully planned layout
 Each pyramid’s faces
point directly north, south,
east, and west
 The size and position of the
pyramids may be
symbolizing the stars in
Orion’s belt

Sumerian
› Mostly used as a source of entertainment
› Mostly used stringed instruments
› Some vocal music with instrumental
accompaniment existed

Egyptian
› Instruments consisted of
 Harps, lyres, pipes, flutes, cymbals, and bells
› Harps were the basic instrument

Egyptian cont.
› Tamboura
 Similar to modern
violins or guitars
 Cat gut was used to
make strings for
instruments

Egyptian
› Stride Dances
 Formal style of dancing
 Typically consists of forward motions based on
rhythmic themes
 Were part of larger ceremonial dances for
funerals and fertility

Sumerian
› The Epic of Gilgamesh
 Oldest known story in the world
 Contains a story of a great flood much like the
story of Noah in the Bible
 A story about the physical and spiritual trials of
Gilgamesh

Egyptian
› The Book of the Dead
 Collection of mortuary texts
 Contained spells, magic formulas to protect
and serve the dead in the afterlife