MESOPOTAMIAN ART 1 Jericho, Catal Huyuk, Sumer, Akkad, and Babylon.

MESOPOTAMIAN ART 1Jericho, Catal Huyuk, Sumer, Akkad, and

Babylon

JERICHO: One of the Oldest Walls on earth

Jericho is one of the most ancient urban archaeology sites in the world.

Walls made of mud and hardened in the sun.

Walls were 5 feet thick and 16-17 feet high. Protected 2000 people.

Portrait Head

Bones have been found to be buried in the floors of their homes, suggesting an ancestor cult.

Further evidence are the portrait heads. These are human skulls that have then had plaster molded on top of it to represent the features of the deceased.

Catal HuyukCity without streets

CATAL HUYUK

Sizable city in Anatolia (modern day Turkey) around 6500 to 5500 B.C. Thriving obsidian trade.

City had no streets. Made it very easily defendable and tight-knit social structure.

People moved about rooftop to rooftop and came in through windows and down ladders.

shrine room

CATAL HUYUK

Insides were elaborately decorated.

Walls had bold geometric designs and animal scenes wit skulls and horns.

Found items suggesting worship of fertility goddesses but too little is known.Goddess Giving Birth Between Two Animals

SUMER (SUMERIA)

Culture of many “firsts.” First to invent wagon wheel and the plow. Invented casting objects of copper and bronze. And, most importantly, invented writing.

Main cities were Ur and Uruk. Located on the Euphrates river.

Ziggurats

Ziggurat of Ur

Stepped pyramid designed to look like a mountain with a temple of shrine on top.

Ziggurats started by building temples on elevated platforms to protect from flooding. Evolved into massive pyramids.

Meeting place for humans and immortals. Manned by priests and priestesses.

Not only was size impressive, but the exterior was painted or inlaid with tile mosaics.

Statuettes from Abu temple

The eyes were considered the windows to the soul.

votive statues

Standard of Ur

Detail from Standard of Ur

Detail from Bull Lyre

Bull Lyre

From the tomb of Queen Puabi. Made of wood, gold, lapis lazuli, and shell.

Bull head, though stylized, is quite naturalistic.

Below the head is a panel of four horizontal registers.

Bull Lyre Panels

Top panel, is athletic man with long hair, naked except for belt grabbing two human-headed bulls.

Next, animal attendants bringing food and drink for a feast. Wolf has a knife carries table full of pork. Lion brings wine jug and drinking bowl.

Animal musicians. Donkey plucks strings of bull lyre. Bear braces lyre. Jackal plays a rattle.

Man in scorpion dress holds ritual objects. Goat stands on legs and holds two cups.

Steps to Writing

Started by carving pictures into cylinders and rolling it across a clay tablet.

Then decided to just make marks directly onto the clay.

Used a wedge-shaped tool called a stylus to make the marks.

Cuneiform

Writing was first developed to keep

track of land for taxes. Sumerians developed it to record great epics

like the Epic of Gilgamesh.

AKKADThe Akkadians lived north of the Sumerians. Under the powerful leader, Sargon I (2232-2279 B.C. rule), they conquered Sumer and expanded their territory for a short time.

Sargon ruled from the city, Akkad. He had great power and elevated himself to the status of a God.

His daughter became the chief priestess for the two most important temples and elevated herself to the status of goddess. She united the religion with politics and set a precedent for the princess to be high priestess.

Bust of Man (Sargon I?)

Several brass heads have been found. Stylized to show ideal beauty rather than personal traits.

Stylized beard is typical for time.

Head was symbolically mutilated to destroy its power. Ears, eyes removed.

Babylon

After Sargon, the Akkadian empire lacked leadership. Mesopotamia fell into political turmoil for about 300 years.

Finally, a leader named Hammurabi emerged from the western deserts and united the land. His empire and kingdom were centered in Babylon. (1792-1750 B.C.)

His empire lasted longer than his reign, but was never as powerful as when he ruled.

Stele of Hammurabi

Basalt stele approximately 7’ high.

Upon it is carved Hammurabi’s law. One of the first ever records of political laws and punishments.

Depicts him receiving the law from the sun god, Shamash. Size shows importance.