ART HISTORY AP ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN ART

Civic design currently in use has been around since the 3rd millennium

o 9thc. BCE Assyrians were masters of impression and intimidations

o Ceremonial urbanism

o Reinforce and confirm the ruler’s absolute power

o High walls, imposing gates and temple platforms

o Homes of the priest kings= intermediary between the people and the gods

Lamassus: guardian-protectors of palace and throne rooms. Colossal gateway figures. 5 legs,

meant to be seen from front and from the side. Often twice a person’s height represents the

strength of the ruler. Exquisite detail.

Arts played an important political role

FERTILE CRESCENT AND MESOPOTAMIA

o PEOPLE IN Asia Minor and ANE domesticated grains before Europeans

o Fertile Crescent= stretches along the Lebanese mountain range then circles the

northern region of Tigris and Euphrates river (present day Turkey, Syria, and Iraq) down

through the Zagros mountains.

o Agriculture developed in the plans between the Tigris and Euphrates, known today as

Mesopotamia- the land between rivers.

o Flooding problems led to the development of systems used to control the water supply

o 4000-3000 BCE

Cultural shift= agricultural villages developed into cities, then surrounded by

city-states (each individually governed by their own gods)

Social hierarchies emerged (rulers vs. workers) along with specialized skills

Builders and artists labored to create government structures

Organized religion= worshipped numerous gods and goddesses. Each city had a

protective deity, fate of the city depended on them.

Similar discrepancies with names, as with Greek/Roman

Large gathering complexes developed in each city

o Sumerians first controlled the South. Center of power later shifted to the Assyrian in

the north and then back to Babylonians.

o Persian eventually forged what is currently known as the Near East

FIRST CITIES

o Jericho

Located in today’s West Bank

Biblical story of Joshua reference the walls of Jericho- earliest stone fortification

to date.

People had been living there since 8000 BCE- evolved from agricultural village to

a town of mud-brick houses

Town covered 6-10 acres by 7500 BCE, population of 2,000

Huge brick wall for fortification= 5ft thick, 20ft high. Also constructed a circular

stone tower 28ft high, 33ft in diameter

o Ain Ghazal

Present day Amman, Jordan= even larger then Jericho

Inhabited from about 7200 BCE to 5000 BCE, occupied 30 acres

Made of mortared stones- representative of American Southwest constructions

o Chatal Huyuk

Present day Turkey: Anatolia

Population of about 5,000

Thrived in obsidian trade (rare volcanic glass used from Paleolithic to modern

times)

Lived in single story building clusters- entry to houses through roofs

o Susa

Present day Iran

Flourishing farming region by 7000 BCE

4200 BCE Susa established. Later the capital of an Elamite kingdom

Known for their “war spoils”

THE ARTS

o Sculpture, painting, textiles, and pottery flourished during this time.

o Sculptures give hints about the technology and the culture of those who made them//to

historic times.

o Ain Ghazal= more than 30 painted plaster figures. Fragments suggest they were nearly

life size.

Sculptors molded the figures by applying wet plaster to reed-and-cord frames in

a human shape.

Eyes were inset cowry shells and small dots of black/tarlike substance= bitumen:

used frequently.

Figure probably work wigs and clothing and stood upright.

o Chatal Hayek= elaborately decorated building assumed to have been shrines.

o Bold geometric designs, painted animal scenes, actual animal skulls and horns, 3D

shapes resembling breasts and horned animals adorning walls.

o 1 chamber- leopard headed woman (high arched was area above3 large bull’s head,

giving birth to a ram. Likely suggests worship of fertility goddess.

o Like many early Near Eastern settlements- seems to be abandoned suddenly and never

reoccupied.

SOUTHERN MESOPOTAMIA

Sumerians 1st developed this area. Filled independent city states with new technology, literacy,

arts and architecture.

City states marked by constant feuds and eventually unified by other people.

o Akkadian united Mesopotamia

o Embraced Sumerian culture, later unification torn apart from invaders from the north

east.

o Lagash survived and revived under the ruler Gudea.

o Mesopotamia remained in turmoil for several centuries until order was restored by the

Amorites.

Migrated to Mesopotamia from the Syrian desert.

King Hammurabi= led rise to the city of Babylon.

Sumer

o Collective of cities and city-states developed along the rivers of southern Mesopotamia

between 3500-2340 BCE

o Credited with inventing the wagon wheel and plow, created a system of writing

(developed alongside that of Egypt’s)

o Writing

Cuneiform (wedge-shaped) symbols into clay tables with a stylus (pointed

writing instrument). Originally to keep business records.

Document the gradual evolution of writing and arithmetic (tools of commerce)

Organized system of justice

1st literary epic= The Epic of Gilgamesh

Origins are Sumerian, but the fullest version (written in Akkadian) was

found in the library of Assyrian king Assurbanipal (ruled 669-627 BCE) in

Ninevah

Records the adventures of Gilgamesh, legendary Sumerian king of Uruk,

and his companion Enkidu. Upon Enkidu death, Gilgamesh sets out to

find the secret of eternal life from a man and his wife who are survivors

of a great flood.

Describe/Discuss “flood” stories.

Ziggurats

Huge stepped structures with a temple or shrine on top.

May have developed from the practice of repeated rebuilding at a

sacred site

Elevating the building also protected the shrines from flooding.

Proclaimed the wealth, prestige and stability of a city’s ruler and

glorified the gods.

Symbolic function as a bridge between the earth and heaven (meeting

place for humans and gods).

o House of the Mountain, or Bond Between Heaven and Earth

Uruk

1st independent Sumerian city state

Had 2 large architectural complexes in the 1,000 acre city. One

dedicated to Inanna= the goddess of love and war.

o Inanna buildings seemed to have been administrative

complexes as well as temples.

o Sky god= Anu, other temple platforms, built up in stages over

the centuries.

o 3100 BCE whitewashed brick temple that archaeologist refer to

as the White Temple, was erected on top.

o Now in ruins, was a simple rectangle oriented to the points of

the compass.

o Statues of gods and donors were placed in the temples.

o Warka Head- may represent a goddess. Could have been

attached to a wooden head o a full-size wooden body.

Now stripped of original paint, wig, and inlaid brows

and eyes.

Stark white mask

Shells may have been used for eyes and lapis for the

pupils, hair may have been gold.

Carved alabaster vase found near temple complex of Inanna.

o Organized picture space into registers (horizontal bands) and

condensed narrative. Similar to modern comic strips.

o Stylized figures shown simultaneously with profile heads and

legs and with 3 quarter view torsos- making both shoulder

visible.

o Lower register shows the natural world

o Above plants, alternating rams and ewes stand on a goundline.

o Middle register, nude men carry baskets of foodstuffs

o Top register, Inanna in front of storehouse as priest-king

o Usually interpreted as the ritual marriage between the goddess

and human priest-king.

o Ritual meant to ensure the fertility of crops, animals, and

people

Votive Figures

o Limestone statues dated to about 2900-2600 BCE from the

Diyala River Valle of Iraq.

o Excavated in 1932-33

o Small figurines that would be placed in front of a larger god

figure for worship.

o Donors of temple may commission as a representation of

themselves (Discuss // to Christianity)

o Simple inscriptions “One who offers prayers”

o Served as Stand-ins

o Simplified faces and bodies, wit clothing that emphasized the

cylindrical shape.

o Stand solemnly with hands clasped in respect. Wide-open eyes-

approaching god with and intensive gaze.

o Characteristic arched brows and inlaid gaze.

o Male figures, bare chested dressed in sheepskin skirts. Stock

and muscular with heavy legs, large feet, big shoulders and

cylindrical bodies.

o Female figures are as massive as the men.

Nanna Ziggurat

o Also called Sin

o Mud-brick structure. Rectangular base of 205 x 141ft, 3 sets of

stairs converging at an imposing entrance gate atop the first of

what were 3 platforms.

o Platform walls slope outward from top to base- probably to

prevent rain water collection and erosion

Precious Metals

o From about 3000 BCE on= bronze and combination of other

materials.

o Decorated, or in the shape of, animals or animal/human/bird

hybrids

Cylinder Seals

o Clay stamps with incised surfaces to stamp textiles or bread

o Appeared about the same time as written records

o Sumerians dev eloped seals for identifying documents and

establishing property ownership

o 3300-3100 BCE record keepers redesign seal as a cylinder

Rolled across soft clay, applied to closure that was to be

sealed (i.e. a jar lid, knot securing a bundle or the door

to a rooms. Cylinder left a raised image of the design.

Usually less than 2 inches high. Made of hard stone

(marble or lapis lazuli)- elaborate designs and scenes

could not wear away.

Textiles

o Usually woman’s art, though famers produced the raw materials

(wool flax, and other fibers)

o Spun fabric

Fibers are cleaned, combed and sorted

Then twisted and drawn out under tension

Spun into long, strong flexible thread

Whorl- weight to rotate spindle

Distaff to hold the raw materials

o Weaving

Done on a looms

Warp are lead out at right angles to the weft threads-

passed over and under the warp

Tapestry looms

o Dyes

Made from natural pigments

Akkad

Settled north of Uruk. Adopted Sumerian culture but spoke a Semitic

language (same family of languages that includes Arabic and Hebrew).

Sargon I: powerful military and political figure (ruled 2332-2279 BCE,

known as “King of the 4 Quarters of the World”

Lagash and Gudea

2180 BCE, Guti conquered the Akkadian empire

Controlled most of the Mesopotamian plain for a brief time before

Sumerians regained control.

Lagash remained independent

Gudea (ruler) built and restored many temples, in which he placed

votive statues representing him as embodiment of just rule.

o Made of diorite (hard imported stone)

o Difficulty of carving the stone prompts compact simplified forms

for the portraits

o 25 of these figure remaining

Babylon

o For over 300 years, political turmoil alternated period of stable

government

o Amorites (Semitic speaking people for the Syrian desert, to the

west), reunited the region under Hammurabi (ruled 1792-1750

BCE)

o Capital city of Babylon

o Developed written legal code

HITTITES OF ANATOLIA

Established capital at Hattusha about 1600 BCE, city was destroyed

about 1200 BCE

Through trade and conquest, created an empire that stretched along

the Mediterranean Sea (Syria to Lebanon), potting them into conflict

with the Egyptian empire

May have been the 1st to work in iron= used for war chariots, weapons,

chisels, hammer

Noted for artistry in their metalwork and fortified gateways and palace

citadels

LATER MESOPTOAMIAN ART

o Assyria

Began to extend their power by 1400 BCE, after about 1000 BCE began

conquering neighboring regions. By the end of the 9 century BCE, controlled

most of Mesopotamia. By the early 7th extended their influence as far west as

Egypt. 600 BCE, empire collapsed

Built huge palaces on platforms inside fortified cities.

Palaces decorated with battle scenes- combat between men and beasts and

religious imagery.

o Kalhu (Nimrud)

Assurnasirpal II reigned from 883-859 BCE) established Kalhu (east band of Tigris

river)

Ambitious building program. City fortified with mud-brick walls 5 miles long, 42

ft. high.

Engineers constructed a canal that irrigate fields and provided water for the city.

Most of the building are made from mud bricks, limestone and alabaster were

used to veneer walls for architectural decoration

Lamassus- colossal guardian figures flanked major portals

Religious rituals, war campaigns and hunting expeditions depicted.

o Dur Sharrukin

Sargon II (ruled from 721-706 BCE), built the new Assyrian capital

Walled citadel (fortress containing several palaces and temples straddled the

city.

Palace complex (group of building where ruler governed and resided).

Demonstrates the use of art as propaganda to support political powers

Guarded by 2 towers

Ramp to main courtyard, flanked by service buildings on right and

temples on left

Heart of palace protected by reinforced walls

Narrative relief panels show tribute bearer- functioned as audience

halls.

o Ninevah

Assurbanipal (ruled 669-627 BCE), maintained capital of Nineveh after Sargon II

Relief decorations of palace – typical representations

Unusual- king and queen in garden relaxing. Apparently a victory celebration

o Neo-Babylonia

Medes, people from western Iran, allied with Babylonians and Scythians and

invaded Assyria. Conquered Nineveh in 612 BCE

Nebuchadnezzar

Most famous ruler (from 605-562 BCE), notorious today for his

suppression of the Jews as recorded in the Hebrew Old Testament, but

could have been confused with Nabonidus

Patron of architectures- transformed cultural, political, and economic

hub

Older eastern section= Processional Way- religious route. Honors

patron god- Marduk

Streets paved- some up to 66 ft wide. Ran from the Euphrates bridge

through the temple/palace district to the Ishtar Gate. Dark blue glazed

bricks (enamel use)

PERSIA

o Formerly nomadic Indo-Europeans, began to seize power by 6th century BCE

o Trace their lineage back to Achaemenids

o Empire

Expansion began in 559 BCE with Cyrus II (ruled 559-530 BCE). By his time of

death, Persian Empire included Babylonia, Media and some of the Aegean

islands. Only the Greeks stood against them.

Darius (ruled 521-486 BCE) claimed to be King of Kings. Organized Persian lands

into 20 tribute paying areas under governor. Allowed tolerance for diverse

native customs and religions.

Developed a system of air taxations and standardized currency

Susa as his 1st capital.

o Persian Coinage

Decorative arts- included ornamented weapons, domestic wares, horse trapping

and jewelry

Create refined coinage- served as an economic standard and propaganda

Learned to mint coinage from the Lydians

Gold daric- named for Darius. “archer”

Technique

Gold, silver, bronze and copper used to be weighed to determine value.

Lydians established a seal process (Sumerian invention) to designate

value

Only 1 side of the image until 525 BCE

2 faced coins- used a punch and anvil process. Held a die, or mold,

impressed on the coin.

o At its height, the Persian empire extended from Africa to India

o 334 BCE Alexander the Great of Macedonia defeated Darius III and annihilated the

Persepolis