Art History Survey I – Ancient Near EastARTS 1303.51001

P32712PM-1:20PM

Professor Paige Prater

Ancient Near Eastern Cultures/Capitols/Timeperiods

• Sumerian – Uruk (Warka, Iraq) – 5000 BCE-26 CE, flourished 3600-2100 BCE

• Babylonian – Babylon – 1st mention: 2200 BCE• Assyrian – Kalhu (Nimrud, Iraq), flourished 900-800

BCE• Neo-Babylonian – Babylon, flourished 605-312

BCE• Persian – Persepolis, est. 515 BCE

Notable Historical Details: Sumer

• 3500-2340 BCE• Feuding city-states• Developed writing: CUNEIFORM• Wagon wheel & plow (?)• Epic of Gilgamesh

Notable Art Objects: Sumerian

• Warka Head• White Temple Ruins• Uruk Vase• Votive Figures• Nanna Ziggurat• Great Lyre with Bull’s Head

Warka Head, 3300-3000 BCE

• Iraq Museum, Baghdad • (stolen/recovered 2003)

White Temple (Ruins) 3300-3000BCE

• Present day Warka, Iraq

Uruk Vase 3300-3000 BCE

• Alabaster, 36” high; Iraq Museum, Baghdad (recovered 2003)

• Registers, stylized, ¾ profile

Votive Figures 2900-2600 BCE

Nanna Ziggurat 2100-2050 BCE

• Moon god, Nanna (aka “Sin”) • 205’ x 141’ feet; mud brick; built over earlier

temple

Great Lyre with Bull’s Head 2550-2400BCE – Royal Tomb, Ur

Akkad

• From north of Uruk (specific city undiscovered)

• Sargon I, ruled Mesopotamia: 2332-2279 BCE• Spoke a Semitic language

Head of an Akkadian Ruler: 2300-2200 BCE

• Earliest known major work of hollow-cast copper sculpture in the Ancient Near East

The Stele of Naram-Sin: 2200-2184 BCE

• 6’ 6” high, limestone. Found at Susa.

• Celebrates Sargon’s grandson’s military victory

• Hieratic scale• Wavy registers

Notable Historical Details: Babylon

• Mesopotamian region reunited under the Amorites, with ruler Hammurabi (reigned 1792-1750 BCE).

• WRITTEN LEGAL CODE

The Code of Hammurabi (1792-1750 BCE)

Notable Historical Details: Assyria

• 1400BCE-600BCE – by end of 9th century, they controlled most of Mesopotamia

• Huge palaces on high platforms in the capitals• Mud bricks with alabaster or limestone

veneers• Good irrigation• Three notable kings:– Assurnasirpal II (883-859 BCE)– Sargon II (721-706 BCE)– Assurbanipal (669-627 BCE)

Assyria: Art from Assurnasirpal’s reign

• Assurnasirpal II Killing Lions, 850 BCE

Assyria: Art from Sargon II

• Citadel and Palace Complex of Sargon II (721-706 BCE)

Assyria: Art from Assurbanipal’s Reign

• Assurbanipal and his Queen in the Garden (647 BCE). Palace at Nineveh (Kuyunjik, Iraq).

Notable Historical Details: Neo-Babylonian

• 612 BCE: Medes (western Iran), Scythians (nomadic people from northern Asia,) and Babylonians captured Nineveh.

• Nebuchadnezzar II (ruled 605-562 BCE) –transformed Babylon (2 sections straddling the Euphrates river by a bridge!)

• Huge empire from Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean

• Glazed bricks used

Neo-Babylonia: Ishtar Gate (575 BCE)

Notable Historical Details: Persia

• 559BCE – Cyrus II the Great (ruled until 530 BCE)• Darius I (ruled 521-486 BCE) – “I am Darius, great King, King of

Kings, King of countries, King of this earth.” (Only the Greeks stood against them.)

• Organized government; local/native leaders/customs left in place.

• 515 BCE: Parsa/Persepolis constructed; new style reflective of many cultures

Daric Coin minted under Darius I, 4th century.

Persia: Apadana of Darius and Xerxes (518-460 BCE)

• Grid of 1500 x 900 feet (total palace complex) on 40’ raised platform.

Persia: Apadana of Darius and Xerxes (518-460 BCE) – Receiving Tribute

• Detail