Goals - HCC Learning Web

1

Goals

• Understand the cultural changes in the Neolithic Revolution as

they relate to the art and architecture.

• Understand the concept of civilization and the importance

of Sumer in the ancient Near East.

• Examine the artistic materials, techniques, subject matter,

styles and conventions developed in the ancient Near East.

2

Mesopotamian Religion, Mythology, Gods and Goddesses

• How are ancient Near Eastern ideas about religion different

from Paleolithic and earlier Neolithic ideas?

• Explore how these ideas are depicted in Sumerian sculpture,

seals, and funerary objects.

• How does the visual representation of the human form

evolve in ancient Near Eastern art? Does it retain any

elements of the Paleolithic and earlier Neolithic periods?

3

The Ancient Near East

Map 2-1 Ancient Mesopotamia and Persia.

Gateways to Art: Understanding the Visual Arts, Second Edition, Debra J. DeWitte, Ralph M. Larmann, and M. Kathryn Shields

PART 3

HISTORY AND CONTEXT

Chapter 3.1 The Prehistoric and Ancient Mediterranean

Mesopotamia: The Cradle of Civilization

“The land between the rivers” (Tigris and

Euphrates) often called “Cradle of

Civilization”

Early urban centers

Earliest forms of writing

Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, and

Assyrians battled for control

The role of King is now developed


PART 3

HISTORY AND CONTEXT


Sumerians

First great power in Mesopotamia

Cuneiform

Earliest known form of writing

Wedge-shaped symbols

Probably invented the wheel

Polytheistic

Buried treasures with their leaders-and more

6

CUNEIFORM

Figure 2-2 White Temple and ziggurat, Uruk (modern Warka), Iraq, ca. 3200–3000 BCE.

7

8

Figure 2-15 Ziggurat (looking southwest), Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2100 BCE.

The ziggurat and temple complex served as the seat

of not only religious life, but civil and commercial

as well. Made of mud brick and plastered white.

Height equates to closer to the gods

9

Figure 2-5 Statuettes from the Square Temple at Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar), Iraq, ca. 2700 BCE. Gypsum, shell, and black

limestone, male figure 2’ 4 ¼” high, woman 1’ 11 ¼” high. National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad.

ABU MONUMENT FIGURES OFTEN CALLED THE TELL ASMAR HOARD –

not gods, but “idealized” mortals making offerings. Some have inscriptions-

prayers, supplicant’s name. Large, oversized eyes are linked to many theories-ever-

watchful, vigilance, knowing, “star-struck”, etc.

10

Figure 2-7 War side of the Standard of Ur, from Tomb 779, Royal Cemetery, Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2600-2400

BCE. Wood, shell, lapis lazuli, and red limestone, 8” x 1’ 7”. British Museum, London.

HEIRARCHICAL SCALE

11

Figure 2-8 Peace side of the Standard of Ur, from Tomb 779, Royal Cemetery, Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2600-

2400 BCE. Wood, shell, lapis lazuli, and red limestone, 8” x 1’ 7”. British Museum, London.

Wooden box with inlaid shell, lapis lazuli, and red limestone

Discovered in Royal Cemetery of Ur

Early Example of narrative art

War side: ruler and his soldiers

Peace side: a banquet with musicians

12

Figure 2-9 Bull-headed harp with inlaid sound box,

from the tomb of Pu-abi (tomb 800), Royal Cemetery,

Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2600-2400 BCE.

Wood, gold, lapis lazuli, red limestone, and shell, 3’ 8

1/8” high. British Museum, London.

13

Figure 2-10 Sound box of the bull-headed harp from

tomb 789 (“King’s Grave”), Royal Cemetery, Ur

(modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2600-2400 BCE.

Wood, lapis lazuli, and shell, 1’ 7” high. University of

Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and

Anthropology, Philadelphia.

Original panel made of lapis lazuli

and shell

Depicts fusion of humans and

beasts. Earliest known depiction

of animals doing human activities

Meaning is not fully understood:

sacred event or realm of the dead

The top register has a heraldic

composition-symmetrical figures

border central figure

14

Figure 2-13 Victory stele of Naram-Sin, set up at Sippar,

Iraq, found at Susa, Iran, 2254–2218 BCE. Pink sandstone,

6’ 7” high. Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Shown leading his army, King

Naram-Sin is wearing the

horned headdress signifying

divinity

First time Mesopotamian king

shown as a god

Three stars overhead, looks like

he is scaling his way to the

heavens

Not in a horizontal format, but

still hierarchical in scale

•THE AKKADIANS

Stele of Hammurabi.

c. 1760 BCE. 7 ‘ x 28”

Hammurabi, King of Babylon reunited

Mesopotamia and instituted the Code of

Hammurabi, a comprehensive set of laws

addressing nearly all aspects of both civil and

criminal offenses.

Hammurabi is portrayed receiving the laws

directly from Shamash the sun god. (a parallel

to Moses). Shamash is the dominate figure—

he is seated on his throne, wears a crown and

has flames issuing from his shoulders.

Although Hammurabi is subservient to the god

he still makes a powerful authority statement

by addressing the god directly. Even though he

has his hand raised in reverence he shows that

he has a personal relationship with the gods

while mere mortals do not.

16

Hammurabi and Shamash

detail of the stele of Hammaurabi, (fig. 2-18),

from Susa, Iran, ca. 1780 BCE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w5NGOHbgTw

Stele discussion

•THE

BABYLONIANS



17

Figure 2-24 Ishtar Gate (restored), Babylon, Iraq, ca. 575 BCE.

King Nebuchadnezzar restored Babylon to glory with this and the gardens of Babylon-one of

the seven wonders of the ancient world and the Tower of Babel. The dragon represents the

gods, Marduk and Nabu and the bull, represents the god, Adad. One of eight gates.


PART 3

HISTORY AND CONTEXT


Ishtar Gate from Babylon

Main entrance to the streets and

temples of Babylon

Golden animal reliefs symbolize gods

Background of blue glazed bricks

Processional Way ran through Ishtar

Gate to the local ziggurat

Etemenanki ( TEMPLE OF THE FOUNDATION OF HEAVEN AND EARTH)– The ziggurat linked to the story of the Tower of Babel,

seen today, above and recreated.

ETEMENANKI

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

21

Figure 2-20 Lamassu

(man-headed winged bull), from

the citadel of Sargon II, Dur

Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad),

Iraq, ca. 721–705 BCE.

Limestone, 13’ 10” high. Musée

du Louvre, Paris.

The Horned crown of

divinity Another example

of the man-animal mix

•THE ASSYRIANS

Documents

Goals - HCC Learning Web