Transcript Pre-Historic and Ancient Civilizations through Classical Greece and

Pre-Historic/Ancient
Near East
Pre-Historic Civilizations
The Paleolithic Period –
30,000 B.C.E. to 10,000
B.C.E.
Pre-Historic Civilization (Cont.)
Earliest examples of creativity of
mankind
Visual Arts – Sculptures and
Cave Painting
Painting – The Cave of Lascaux
France
Characteristics of Cave Paintings
• Animal Images in Profile
• Black Outlines
• Limited Colors (Red, Yellow, Ochre,
Brown, Black)
• Attempt at Naturalism and Realism
• Purpose: Ritual (Hunting)
Human Figures in Cave Paintings
• No attempt at naturalism
• More stick-like in appearance
Not creating realistic images of humans
is probably from superstitions/beliefs in
powers of images.
These beliefs are still present in some
cultures today.
Sculpture
• Human and Animal Sculptures
-Most common human figures were
fertility figures and “Venus” figures.
• Most sculptures were “found objects” that
required very little manipulation
• Used for Ritual Purposes
Bison Licking Its Flanks
ca. 14,000 BC
Dordogne, France
Venus of Willendorf
c. 24,000-22,000 BCE
Oolitic limestone
4 3/8 inches (11.1 cm) high
Architecture
• Post and Lintel Construction
• Use of Megalithic Stones
• Purpose: Ritual
Stonehenge
between 3000 and 1700 B.C.E.
•Built in three stages
•Circular Arrangement
•Post and Lintel Construction
Music, Dance, and Drama
Minimal Physical Evidence
• Footprints in dance-like patterns on
cave floors (Dance)
• Objects possible used as instruments
found in caves (Music)
• Images of masked figures
(Drama/Storytelling)
Purpose: Ritual
Mesopotamia
The Fertile Crescent/The
Cradle of Civilization
Earliest Civilizations in area
between Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers
Known Civilizations of this Region
(in Chronological Order):
Sumerian
Assyrian
Akkadian
Neo-Babylonian
Neo-Sumarian
Persian
Babylonian
Cuneiform – Writing System
Writing with WedgeShaped Characters on
Clay Tablets created by
Sumerians
Sumerian Visual Art
Examples
• Sculpture
• Ceramics
• Jewelry
Tell Asmar Sculptures
Free-Standing Sculptures of Human Figures
Large Eyes (Windows to the Soul)
Posed Frontal, Stiff and Formal
Size Shows Rank or Importance
Beards and Pleated Skirts Symbols of
Power
• Hands Clasped as if Praying, Looking
Upward
• Purpose - Ritual
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•
•
•
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Tell Asmar Statues
Sumerian Sculpture
Use of Image of a Bull
Common in Sumerian
and other cultures
Symbolic of Power and
Strength
Ceramics Example
ca. 3100-2900 B.C.
Baked clay, painted
17.2 cm H, 23.5 cm W
Jewelry Example
Puabi's headdress ca. 2550–2400 B.C
Architecture - Ziggurats
Temples in the
form of Stepped
Mounds of earth
and brick.
Symbolic of man
reaching toward
the gods in
heaven.
Ziggurat of Ur
c. 2100 B.C.E.
built by the king
Ur-Nammu
Sumerian Musical Instrument
Bull-Headed
Lyre - Lyre of
Queen Puabi,
Ur, c. 2685
BCE
Dance and Drama
• Evidence of Singing and Dancing in Written
Sumerian Texts and on Relief Sculptures –
Usually Religious in Nature.
• Dance by both Men and Women in Religious
Ceremonies and for Social Purposes in Assyrian
Culture
• Babylonians had Religious Dance where Dancers
Performed in a Ring around a Sacred Sculpture
Egyptian
Civilization
3100 B.C.E. – 322
B.C.E
• 3 Kingdoms – Old, Middle, and New
• Kingdoms divided into Dynasties
– a Single Family in Power
• Following Last of Dynasties,
Ruled by Hellenistic Greece
• 30 B.C.E – Egypt becomes a
province of Rome
Egyptian Culture
Dependence on the Nile River
Life and Culture Centered on Religion
Belief in Life After Death
Pharoah (ruler) a God on Earth
Ka (soul) reborn after death to join the
gods in the afterlife
• Body preserved to house the ka
(mummification and pyramid burial)
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•
Egyptian Painting
• Most for Tombs and Temples
• Scenes First Carved in Low Relief into
Limestone Walls, then Painted in Bright
Colors on Top of a Layer of Dry Plaster.
• Scenes Reflected Egyptian Dieties and
Daily Life – Necessary to Ease the Journey
to the Land of the Dead and to Provide for
them in the Afterlife
Painting Rules
Body in Correct Proportion
Faces and Legs in Profile
Eyes, Shoulder, and Torso from Front
Pharoahs and Nobles in Stiff Poses, Standing or
Sitting on Lines Representing the Ground
• Persons of Less Importance in Comfortable
Movement and Natural Poses.
• Flesh of Men – Dark Red or Brown
• Flesh of Women – Yellow, White, or Pale Brown
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•
•
•
Egyptian Painting (cont.)
Paintings from the tomb of Unsu
New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty
Sculpture
• Commemorate a Person or Event or
Substitute for a real person
• Huge in Scale
• Stone and Wooden Statues placed in
tombs to represent the dead
• Relief carvings and model figures of daily
life or activities of the dead in the next
world
Old Kingdom Sculpture
• Pharaohs – Seated with hands on knees or
Standing, one leg forward, arms at side or
crossed in front.
• Stiff, Formal, and Solemn
• Size to show social order:
Pharaohs larger than life
Scribes and Court Officials life-sized
Workers/Peasants smallest, always
shown working
• Statues of Gods as Animals reflecting their
personalities
Khafre!
Middle Kingdom
New Kingdom
The Great Sphinx
Facts about the Sphinx
• Head of Sphinx carved in about 2500 BC
Face is that of the Pharaoh Khafre,
measures 4.1 m wide
• Sphinx is 73 m long, 20 m high. Carved
from the rock, different layers eroding at
different rates. Head cut from harder
strata than the lower body.
• Guards Khafre’s Pyramid
Egyptian Architecture
• Primary focus was creation of temples
and tombs
• Most famous tombs, the pyramids,
were built to protect the bodies of
Pharoahs for the afterlife and to serve
as a symbol of the pharoah’s power.
Development of Pyramids: Phase
One
Developed from
Mastabas which
were flat roofed,
single story
buildings with
sloping sides.
“Cities of the dead”
Phase Two– Stepped Pyramids
Most
Commonly
had four
or six steps
Stepped Pyramid of Djoser,
2600 B.C.E.
Designed by Imhotep
Phase Three – True Pyramids
The Great Pyramids at Giza
(Menkaure, Khufu, Khafre – left to right)
Inside Khufu’s Pyramid
Egyptian Dance, Drama, and Music
• Egyptians the first great culture to make
music and dance a part of life for all social
classes
• Music and Dance also used for
religious/ritual purposes
• Tomb and Temple paintings show
evidence of music and dance, but no
written music survives.
Egyptian Drama, Dance, and Music
(cont.)
• Egyptian music based on Pentatonic scale
of 5 whole steps (no half steps)
• Choreography of Egyptian dance appears
to consist of complex range of movements
from acrobatics (splits, cartwheels, and
backbends) to slow, elegant, and more
formal dance steps.
• Drama – religious performances of drama
and Satirical plays
Evidence of Music in Egyptian Art
Works
African Culture
• Tribal Based Culture
• Animism – belief that all animals, plants,
and objects have souls
• Respect for nature
• Ancestor worship
• All arts had a functional purpose relating
to needs of everyday life and religion
African Dance, Drama, and Music
• All relative to ritual and worship
• Drama – Storytelling to:
1. Pass on history and beliefs
2. Show respect for ancestors
• Music and Dance accompanied storytelling
in celebrations
• Masks worn and faces and bodies painted
for ritual celebrations
What they celebrated:
• Milestones of Life: Death, Birth,
Marriage, Reaching Adulthood
• Successful Hunt or Harvest
• Success in Battle
• Change of Seasons
Examples of African Art & Masks
Ashanti King
Stool
Dan Mask
More Examples of African Art & Masks
Bakota
Reliquary
Guardian
Tsonge
Bakongo
Mask
Fetish Figure
African Drums
• Drums accompanied ceremonies and were
used in communication
• Certain beats from the drummers
determine the steps that are performed by
dancers
• The lead drummer plays the Djembe, and
determines the rhythm patterns to be
played as well as the tempo
African Drums
Talking
Drum
Djembe
https://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=ZwFtbFF7CQ
Characteristics of African Dance
• Dances begin and end with bowing and
touching the ground to show respect for
the earth, the ancestors, the drummer, and
the teacher of the dance
• Chanting by dancers and audience in call
and response format accompanies the
dancing
• Movements are very angular and low to
the ground
Characteristics of African Dance (cont.)
• The pattern being performed by the
drummer and the tempo determine the
steps to be performed.
• Movements correspond to the purpose of
the dance and what is being chanted
• Movements may be synchronized or
independent
• Group dances often are circular
representing unity and the earth
Resources
• http://www.culture.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/
• http://witcombe.sbc.edu/willendorf/willendorfdiscovery.html
• http://w3.salemstate.edu/~ckramer/bison.html
•
http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/Stonehenge/pic_suns
et1.html
• http://www.upennmuseum.com/cuneiform.cgi
• http://www.coconino.edu/apetersen/_ART201/sumeria.htm
• http://www.coconino.edu/apetersen/_ART201/sumeria.htm
•
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/7357/mesoart1.htm
• http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/First_Cities/clothing_
mesosyria_object_61ae.asp
Resources (cont.)
• http://www.multimedialibrary.com/FramesML/IM4/IM4page6.asp
• http://www.multimedialibrary.com/FramesML/IM4/IM4page11.as
p
• http://www.louvre.fr/llv/oeuvres/detail_notice.jsp?CONTENT%3C
%3Ecnt_id=10134198673393291&CURRENT_LLV_NOTICE%3C%
3Ecnt_id=10134198673393291&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=98527
23696500807&fromDept=false&baseIndex=28&bmUID=11508232
91644&bmLocale=en
• http://www.egyptarchive.co.uk/html/sphinx_02.html
• Images from Collection of Melisa Gano
• http://www.genuineafrica.com/