Download Chapter 2

The Ancient
Near East
Neolithic 9000 - 4000 BCE
Mesopotamia: “land between two rivers”
Assyrian Rule 1300 - 612 BCE
Sumerian Rule 3500-2300 BCE
Neo-Babylonian Rule 612 - 539 BCE
Akkadian Rule 2300 - 2100 BCE
Persian (Achaemenid) Rule 539 - 331 BCE
Old Babylonian Rule 1900 - 1600 BCE
Sumerian culture
Cuneiform
Sumerian culture
(Sumerian Rule: c. 3500 - 2300 BCE)
Pictograph
Tablet
Early form of
writing, developed
for accounting
Cuneiform Tablet
Sumerian Sculpture
3D objects
Cylinder Seals c. 3500-3000 BCE
Sumerian Architecture
Temple of sky god Anu
(White Temple) on a ziggurat
(ziggurat = temple platform),
Uruk (modern Warka, Iraq),
3500-3000 BCE
Sumerian Architecture
Nanna Ziggurat
c. 2100-2050 BCE
Sumerian Sculpture / 3D objects
Face of a Woman
(Inanna?)
c. 3500-3000 BCE
alabaster, height approx. 8”
Sumerian Sculpture / 3D objects
Face of a Woman
Artist reconstruction
Sumerian Sculpture / 3D objects
Uruk Vase
c. 3300-3000 BCE
alabaster, 36”
Sumerian Sculpture / 3D objects
Votive Statues from
Abu Temple at
Tell Asmar
c. 2700-2500 BCE
Limestone, alabaster
and gypsum
Height of largest 30”
Sumerian Sculpture / 3D objects
Sumerian Sculpture / 3D objects
Bull’s Head Lyre
c. 2685 BCE
Sumerian Sculpture / 3D objects
Akkadian Sculpture / 3D objects
Head of Sargon I (?) Bronze, height 12” c. 2300 BCE
Akkadian Sculpture / 3D objects
Stele of Naramsin
Limestone, 6’6”
c. 2254-2218 BCE
Akkadian Sculpture / 3D objects
Stele of Naramsin - details
Babylon
(Babylonian Rule 1800 - 1400 BCE)
Stele of Hammurabi
Susa (Iran), c 1792-1750 BCE
Basalt, approx. 7’
(height of carved relief approx. 28”)
Assyria
(Assyrian Rule 1400 - 600 BCE)
Lamassu guardian figures
reign of Assurnasirpal II c. 880 BCE
reign of Sargon II c. 720 BCE
Assyria
Artist conception of lamassu guardian figures
in the throne room of Assurnasirpal II
Assyrian Palace reliefs
1. Assurnasirpal II
Hunting Lions
c. 850 BCE
2. City Attacked
with a Battering
Ram c. 850 BCE
3. Dying Lioness
c. 650 BCE (King
Assurbanipal)
King Assurnasirpal II
c. 883-859 BCE
Assyria - Palace reliefs
c. 850 BCE
Assurnasirpal II Hunting Lions
Assyria - Palace reliefs
c. 850 BCE
City Attacked with a Battering Ram
Assyria - Palace reliefs
Dying Lioness
c. 650 BCE
Neo-Babylonia
(Neo-Babylonian Rule
612-539 BCE)
Reconstruction drawing
of Babylon in the
6th century BCE
Neo-Babylonia
Ishtar Gate c. 575 BCE, glazed brick
(restoration)
Neo-Babylonia
Ishtar Gate reconstruction
Achaemenid Persia
(Persian Rule 539 - 331 BCE)
Current excavation of Persepolis (Iran) c. 500 BCE
Persia
Ceremonial complex, Persepolis
View facing the Apadana (audience hall)
Persia
Persia
Wall relief from Apadana:
Lion Attacking a Bull
Persia
Artist conception of palace interior note structural function of bull capitals
Column capitals with bull imagery
Persia
Darius and Xerxes receiving Tribute
Apadana stairway, ceremonial complex, Persepolis
Limestone, 8’4” 491-486 BCE