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Chapter 2 THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST

theocraticpolytheisticpropitiateshrinecuneiformiconographycone mosaicssteleregistersreliefconventionstylizationinlaidcompositeprofilefrontalisometricinlaid

Architecture fortifiedmud brickfacingzigguratload-bearing citadel fortificationcellaaltar

Chronology of Ancient Near East and Principal SitesNeolithic Era (c. 9000-4500/4000 BCE) ..............…. Jericho; Çatal HüyükMesopotamia…………………………………………. modern Iraq

Uruk (c. 3500-3100BCE)………………. UrukSumer…………………………………… SumerEarly Dynastic (c.2800-2300 BCE)….. Tell Asmar; UrAkkad (c.2300-2100 BCE)……………. AkkadNeo-Sumerian (c.2150-1800 BCE)… LagashBabylon………………………………… Babylon

Old Babylonian (c.1830-1550 BCE)Neo Babylonian (c. 612-539 BCE)

Assyrian Empire (c.1100-612 BCE)… AssurAnatolia…………………………………………………. modern Turkey

Hittite Empire (c.1450-1200 BCE)… Hattusas (modern Boghazköy)Ancient Iran……………………………………………. modern Iran

Achaemenid Persia (539-331 BCE)… Persepolis (near modern Shiraz)Scythian (c.800-550 BCE)…………………………… modern Russia and Ukraine

cylinder sealincisedglyptic artvotive figurehierarchical proportionsdynastyattributeanthropomorphiccult

columncapitalbaseshaftimpost blockCyclopaeanmasonryelevationplinthApadana

Neolithic plastered skull, from Jericho, c. 7000 BCE

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Çatal Hüyük, Turkey

Anatolian goddess giving birth from Çatal Hüyük, Turkey

c. 6500-5700 BCE

baked clay

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Cone mosaics, from Uruk,

Uruk period, c. 3500 BCE

Carved cult vase (Warka Vase), from Uruk

Uruk period, c. 3500-3000 BCE

Alabaster; 36 inches

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Carved cult vase (Warka Vase), from Uruk, details

Uruk period, c. 3500-3000 BCE

Alabaster; 36 inches

Female head, from Uruk

Uruk period, c. 3500-3000 BCE

white marble; 8 inches

The White Temple on its ziggurat, Uruk

Uruk period, c. 3500-3000 BCE

Stone and polished brick

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The White Temple on its ziggurat, Uruk, diagram

Uruk period, c. 3500-3000 BCE

Stone and polished brick

Cylinder seals and impressions

Uruk

c. 3500-3000 BCE

Greenish black serpentine

Mesopotamia

8th-7th century BCE

Chalcedony

Clay tablet with pictograph text that preceded cuneiform, likely from Iraq

Mesopotamian, c. 3000 BCE

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Cuneiform tablet with cylinder seal

Mesopotamian, c. 3100-2900 BCE

clay

Votive figures from the Abu Temple at Tell Asmar

Sumerian, c. 2700-2500 BCE

Limestone, alabaster and gypsum

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Lyre sound box, from the tomb of Queen Puabi, Ur

Sumerian, c. 2685 BCE

Wood with inlaid gold, lapis lazuli, and shell

Head of an Akkadianruler (Sargon I?),

from Nineveh, Iraq

Akkadian, c. 2300 BCE

Bronze

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Victory stele of Naram-Sin, from Susa

c. 2254-2218 BCE

Pink sandstone

Head of Gudea, from Lagash, Iraq

Neo-Sumerian, c. 2100 BCE

Diorite

Gudea with a temple plan, from Lagash, Iraq

Neo-Sumerian, c. 2100 BCE

Diorite

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Nanna ziggurat, Ur

Neo-Sumerian, c. 2100-2050 BCE

Mud brick faced with baked brick embedded in mortar made of bitumen

Nanna ziggurat, Ur

Neo-Sumerian, c. 2100-2050 BCE

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Stele inscribed with the law code of Hammurabi, Susa

Babylonian, c. 1792-1750

Basalt, approx. 7 ft

Lion Gate (Royal Gate), Hattusus, Boghazkoy, Turkey

Hittite Empire, c. 1400 BCE

Stone

King Assurnasirpal II hunting lions, from Nimrud, Iraq

Assyrian, c. 883-859 BCE

Alabaster relief

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City attacked with a battering ram, palace of King Assurnasirpal II, Nimrud, Iraq

Assyrian, c. 883-859 BCE

Alabaster relief

Dying Lioness (detail from the Great Lion Hunt), from the palace of King Assurbanipal II, Nineveh,

Assyrian, c. 668-627 BCE

Alabaster relief

Plan of Sargon II’s palace

Assyrian, c. 720 BCE

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Lamassu, from the gateway, Sargon II’s palace at DurSharrukin, (now Khorsabad, Iraq)

Assyrian, c. 720 BCE

Limestone

Ishtar Gate (reconstructed), from Babylon

Neo-Babylonian, c. 575 BCE

Glazed brick

Beaker, from Susa

Ancient Iran, c. 5000 – 4000 BCE

Painted pottery

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Kneeling bull holding a spouted vessell

Ancient Iran, c. 3100 – 2999 BCE

Silver

Stag, from Kostromskaya, Russia,

Scythian, 7th century BCE

Chased gold

Apadana (Audience Hall) of Darius, Persepolis (in modern Iraq)

Achaemenid Persia, c. 500 BCE

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Royal guards, relief on the stairway to the Audience Hall of Darius, Persepolis

Achaemenid Persia, c. 500 BCE

Bull capital, Persepolis

Achaemenid Persia, c. 500 BCE

Achaemenid drinking vessel

Persian, 5th century BCE

gold