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CONTENT AREA 2:
THE ANCIENT
NEAR EAST
APAH – GARDNER CHAPTER 2-1
PP. 31-42
And so they traveled until they reached Uruk.
There Gilgamesh the king said to the boatman:
“Study the brickwork, study the fortification;
climb the ancient staircase to the terrace;
study how it is made; from the terrace see
the planted and fallow fields, the ponds and orchards.
One league is the inner city, another league
is orchards; still another the fields beyond;
over there is the precinct of the temple. . . . ,
Three leagues and the temple precinct of Ishtar.”
Measure Uruk, the city of Gilgamesh
—Tablet XI
Chapter 2
ANCIENT NEAR EAST
Gardner’s 11th ed., p. 16
http://hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/waymac/History%20A/A%20Term%201/4.%20Sumerians/slides.htm
The Ancient Near East
The Neolithic Revolution = the move from hunter and gathering to farmer and
herder
Began in Mesopotamia -> the land between the Tigris and Euphrates
The Fertile Crescent
Birth place of
1.
Judaism
2.
Christianity
3.
Islam
KEY PERIODS: “SANBAN-P”
Sumerian Art: 3500-2332 BCE
Akkadian Art: 2332-2150 BCE
Neo-Sumerian Art: 2150-1600 BCE
Babylonian Art: 2150-1600 BCE
Assyrian Art: 1600-612 BCE
Neo-Babylonian Art: 604- 559 BCE
Persian Art: 525-330 BCE -> Height of Persia ends with destruction of Persepolis
by Alexander the Great
3500-2332 BCE
Founded the world’s first city-states
between the Tigris and Euphrates
Sumerian rulers – gods’ rep. on earth
Specialization of labor
Invented writing in the 4th millennium
PICTOGRAPHS
CUNEIFORM
Epic of Gilgamesh
SUMER
3200-3000 BCE
Sumerian temple
architecture -> mud
brick building on a
colossal scale
White wash used to
disguise the mud
appearance -> tapers
down so rainwater
washes off
Flashcard
(2-12/1) White Temple and its ziggurat
Uruk (modern Warka, Iraq)
Sumerian
c. 3000-2920 B.C.E
Mud brick
(2-12/2) White Temple and its ziggurat
Uruk (modern Warka, Iraq)
Sumerian
c. 3000-2920 B.C.E
Mud brick
The White Temple at Uruk
Temple stands atop a ZIGGURAT
BENT-AXIS PLAN
Dedicated to the sky god Anu
CELLA = central hall – stepped altar
where priests await coming of the deity
Flashcard
Temple (cella)
Ziggurat
Reconstruction drawing of the White Temple and ziggurat
Bent Axis
White Temple and ziggurat, Uruk
ZIGGURAT
The ziggurat is an ancient
architectural form, unique to
Mesopotamia. Predating the
Egyptian pyramid by several
centuries, it is a load-bearing structure
in the shape of a stepped platform
with inward-sloping walls that have
few or no openings. At the summit sat
a shrine, approached by stairs built
along the outer walls of the ziggurat.
In some cases, a steep ramp for
hauling carts and sacrificial animals
led straight up one of the ziggurat
walls onto the open landing of the
platform .
WARKA VASE
Warka Vase from Uruk
First great work of narrative relief
sculpture
Religious festival in honor of goddess
Reliefs dived into bands = FRIEZES or
REGISTERS
New type of composition
Votive offering = gift of gratitude to a
deity
Twisted perspective
Hierarchy of scale
Warka Vase
Hierarchy of Scale
Votive Offering
Registers
Composite
Perspective
(AKA Twisted Perspective)
Frontal
Side View
(2-14) Statues of votive figures, from the Square
Temple at Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar, Iraq)
Sumerian
c. 2700 B.C.E.
Gypsum inlaid with shell and black limestone
Soft gypsum inlaid with shell and black limestone
Range from under a foot to 30 inches
Mortals – hands folded in front holding goblets
Name of the donor, god, sometimes prayer
Form – cone, cylinders
Oversized eyes – eternal wakefulness – duty was to offer constant
prayers to the gods
Flashcard
ESHNUNNA
STATUETTES
SUMERIAN VOTIVE OFFERINGS
Statuettes of
Worshipers
Votive Figures
STELE OF THE VULTURES
STELE = carved stone slab to
commemorate and event or mark
a grave
Cuneiform recording of military
victory
(2-16/1) The Standard of Ur, Peace
Standard of Ur, peace side and war side
Sumerian
c. 2600-2400 B.C.E.
Wood inlaid with shell, lapis lazuli, and red limestone
Peace side – food brought
in a procession to
banquet; musician plays a
lyre; hierarchy of scale
Reflects extensive trading
network -> lapis lazuli from
Afghanistan, shells from
Persian gulf, red limestone
from India
Example of historical
narrative
Flashcard
(2-16/2) The Standard of Ur, War
Standard of Ur, peace side and war side
Sumerian
c. 2600-2400 B.C.E.
Wood inlaid with shell, lapis lazuli, and red
limestone
Found at Royal Cemetery at Ur
Rectangular box decorated with
shell, lapis lazuli, red limestone
Woolley – said it was a war
standard/sign carried into battle
War side – Sumerian king who is
taller descends from his chariot to
inspect captives; chariots
advance over the dead in lowest
register
Flashcard
Standard of Ur
Narrative
Registers
Bull-Headed Lyre
and Soundbox
Heraldic
Composition
(symmetrical)
Registers
Animals are
in profile
Composite
View
BULL-HEADED LYRE
CYLINDER SEALS
Cylinder seal found at Ur
Inch or so in ht.
Pierced for attachment to a cord
Made of various stone
Prized objects/worn
INTAGLIO = incised
Raised pattern used to roll in soft
clay
AKKAD AND THE THIRD DYNASTY
OF UR
Akkadian Empire takes control of
region 2300
Sargon of Akkad -> great king and
conqueror
Semitic peoples -> but adopted
Sumerian culture
New concept of royal power -> all
obedience to the king not to the
city state
HEAD OF AN AKKADIAN KING
Political work of art – 2200 BCE
Found at Nineveh
Damaged -> eye gouged out,
beard broken off
Balance between naturalism and
stylization
First great work of bronze cast
sculpture
Head of an Akkadian
Ruler
(2-additional) Stele of Naram sin
Susa, Iran
Akkadian
2254-2218 B.C.E.
Pink sandstone
Commemorates an Akkadian
victory
Depicts grandson of Sargon
leading his troops up wooded
slope
Hierarchy of scale
Twisted perspective
First landscape
Figures shown in successive tiers
within the landscape -> not
horizontal registers
Flashcard
Victory Stele of Naram-Sin
ZIGGURAT, UR
2000 BCE
Neo-Sumerian architecture
Akkadians are replaced by a
resurgent Sumeria under the kings
of Ur
Ziggurat of Ur
Bent Axis
Reconstruction drawing of the
Ziggurat of Ur
Seated Statue of Gudea
Holding Temple Plan
GUDEA OF LAGASH
Neo-sumerian art
Seated sculpture of Gudea ->
governor of Lagash
Votive statues
Less regal than the Sargon statues
-> plain, simple dress
2100 BCE
Carved of diorite
17 ¼ “ high