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Ancient Near East
U.S. Marines topple statue of Saddam Hussein, April 2003, Iraq
Relief of Ashburbanipalca. 660 BCE, Assyria
Ancient Near East
MapsAncient NearEast & Middle East
Ancient Near East• 3500-330BCE• “Fertile Crescent” of
Mesopotamia (land between Tigris and Euphrates Rivers)
• Foundation of Western civilization
• City-states and empires• Agriculture (wheel & plow;
control floods and irrigate fields)
• Specialized labor and social& religious hierarchies
• Writing, mathematics, architecture
• Centralized worship (polytheistic) and government
• Competed for power
Map of Ancient Near East
Persia
Ziggurat at Ur, ca. 2100BCE. Fig. 1-11.
Ancient Near East - Sumer
Sumerian inscription, 2600 BCE
Cuneiform = a system of writing using wedged-shaped characters incised a soft clay tablet, then baked or allowed to harden
• God’s temple as
city center (religious, economic, administrative)
• Ziggurat platform
• Ur most notable and best-preserved
• Monumental mud-brick construction
• Base 50 ft high, ramps converge on gate with adjacent towers
• Temple for god on top (no longer there)
• Cella (central hall) in temple for priests (only allowed exclusive few)
• Votive offerings placed inside (gendered, offer specific prayer to deity on donor’s behalf
Ziggurat at Ur, ca. 2100BCE. Fig. 1-11.
Statuettes of two worshippers. 2’ 6”
gypsum inlaid with shell and
limestoneca. 2700BCE
Fig. 1-13.
Ancient Near East - Sumer
Axis Mundi – From Earth to Heaven
Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Tower of Babel1563, Dutch, oil
John Hancock Center, Chicago, 1965-68
Standard of Urca. 2600 BCE
Fig. 1-14.
Ancient Near East - Sumer
“War side”
“Peace side”
Chariots trample enemies
Soldiers march captives and present them to king
Men carry provisions on back; animalsand fish broughtto banquet (top register)
• Burial good accompanying aristocracy/royalty (cemetery at Ur)
• Rectangular box (function uncertain)
• Mounted on pole as military standard?
• Inlaid with shell, lapus lazuli (rich blue stone) and red limestone
• Historical narrative on two sides (read from left to right and bottom to top)
• War , conquest & victory celebration (banquet)
• Registers of space (3 bands)
• Hierarchy of scale (king)
Standard of Ur (from side)ca. 2600BCE Ancient Near East - Sumer
From Giotto’s Arena ChapelItaly, 1305
ChrisWarefromCinefamilyCa. 2008
Ancient Near East -
Akkad
Head of an Akkadian ruler, ca. 2250-
2200BCE. Fig. 1-15.
Menkaure and Khamerernebty(?),ca. 2490-2472 BCE, Egyptian
• Divine kingship and its attributes• Stele (carved stone slab, commemorates
an event or marks a grave)• Shows defeat of Lullubi (an Iranian people)• Naram-Sin leads his army up a mountain
while trampling his enemies• Wears horned helmet (attribute of a god)• Organization of army vs. versus disarray of
enemy• Composite view (frontal helmet, head
profile, chest frontal, legs in profile)• Axis mundi (reaching toward heavens)• Figures on tiers within landscape
(innovative) • Hierarchy of scale
Victory Stele of Naram-Sin, ca. 2254-2218BCE, Fig. 1-16.
Ancient Near East -
Akkad
Ancient Near East - Babylon
Hammurabi and Shamash, detail of the stele of
Hammurabi, ca. 1780BCE. Fig. 1-17.
Ancient Near East - Babylon
Martin Heemskerck, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, 16th century
D.W. GriffithIntolerance
(The Fall of Babylon)1916
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgQpI-jpJao
• Hammurabi most powerful king
• A ruthless leader, now known for his law code (282 commercial & property laws)
• Cuneiform below (3,500 lines)
• King Hammurabi and god Shamash (sun god, flames from shoulders)
• Hieratic scale (Shamash larger)
• Symbols of authority (measuring rod)
• Composite view with some foreshortening (diagonal bands in beard)
Stele of Hammurabi, ca., 1780BCE
Ancient Near East – Babylon
22. If any one is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death.
129. If a man's wife be surprised (in flagrante delicto) with another man, both shall be tied and thrown into the water, but the husband may pardon his wife and the king his slaves.
196. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.
Ancient Near East: Assyria
Lamassu, from citadel of Sargon II, Khorsabad, Iraq, 720 BCE, 13’10”
in High relief
Appear still from front and moving from side(5 legs,conceptual representation)
Ancient Near East: Assyria
Ashurbanipal hunting lions, North Palace, Ninevah, Iraq, ca. 645-640BCE. Fig. 1-19.
• Low relief sculpture• In palace citadels• Narrative scenes• Naturalism (man &
animal)• Controlled hunt
(lions released from cages in arena)
• Warfare and hunting to show ruler’s power
• Lions appear heroic despite their agony
• Sympathy or celebration of king?
Ashurbanipal hunting lions, ca. 645-640BCE. Fig. 1-19.
Ancient Near East: Assyria
U.S. Congressman Paul Ryan
Images of Authority
President George W. Bush, from “Mission Accomplished”, 2003
The Situation Room, Pete Souza,May 1, 2011
Ancient Near East: Achaemenid Persia
Persepolis, ca. 521-465BCE. Iran. Fig. 1-21.
Ancient Near East: Achaemenid Persia
Persepolis, ca. 521-465BCE. Fig. 1-21.
• Citadel complex• Home to king and court• Fortified and elevated (on high
plateau)• Enter through monumental
gateway (“Gate of All Lands”)• Assyrian-inspired man-bulls
(like lamassu) flanked entrance
• Audience hall (apadana) could hold thousands
• Relief sculpture of processions (include nobles, reps of subject nations bringing gifts)
• Influence of Greek art through trade (drapery)
• Destroyed by conqueror Alexander the Great (Greek)
From apadana, detail of processional frieze,Persepolis
Active Learning Project
Persepolis
Marjane Satrapi, 2000-07
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1LPToZPf5c&feature=related
From Satrapi’s Persepolis, 2003
From “The Key” (pg. 102)Marjane SatrapiPersepolis2003
