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.
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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?
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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
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
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
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CUNEIFORM
Figure 2-2 White Temple and ziggurat, Uruk (modern Warka), Iraq, ca. 3200–3000 BCE.
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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Figure 2-13 Victory stele of Naram-Sin, set up at Sippar,
Iraq, found at Susa, Iran, 2254–2218 BCE. Pink sandstone,