Ancient Near Eastern Art

Ancient Near Eastern Art

a. What are the significant differences between prehistoric art and ancient Near Eastern art? b. What developments occur as civilization develops?c. How does the notion of civilization change the way people see themselves, each other, and their history?d. What are the important art works of this period and how did they personify the era?

ESSENTIAL QUES:

Map of Ancient Near East - Mesopotamia

Describe this work in detail.

What is the “story” of this work?

Votive StatuesSquare Temple at Eshnunna, Iraqca. 2700 BCEgypsum inlaid w/shell and black limestonemale fig. approx. 2’ 6” highIraq Museum, Baghdad

• These worshipper or “votive” figures are found in the cemeteries of the Sumerian people. They were available to anyone who had the means to purchase them; they were not reserved for only royalty or its kin.

• Why do the figures appear as they do? What explains their small hands and strange wide-eyed stares?

Female Head (Inanna?)Uruk, Iraqca. 3200 - 3000 BCEmarbleapprox. 8” highIraq Museum, Baghdad

• Who was Inanna? What was her role in the lives of the Sumerians? Why might this represent her?

• How would this head have appeared in its original context?

Standard of Ur (War side)Tomb 779, Royal Cemetery, Ur, Iraqca. 2600 BCEwood inlaid w/shell, lapus lazuli, and red limestoneapprox. 8” x 1’ 7”British Museum, London

• Consider the Bird Man with Bison image from Lascaux, which we considered as a possible early narrative in art. Now look at this piece and think about how it shows a narrative.

• Characterize the stylized nature of the figures in the registers.

• Where and how does the artist create a sense of depth in the images?

Standard of Ur (Peace side)Tomb 779, Royal Cemetery, Ur, Iraqca. 2600 BCEwood inlaid w/shell, lapus lazuli, and red limestoneapprox. 8” x 1’ 7”British Museum, London

• How does the “Peace” side differ from the “War” side of the standard? What is the story being told here?

• Are animals portrayed differently from human figures? If so, how?

• Assuming that the figures portrayed are of greater and lesser importance, how does an audience know that this is true?

Sound Box of the Bull LyreTomb 789 (“King’s Grave”) Royal Cemetery, Ur, Iraqca. 2600 BCEwood w/inlaid gold, lapus lazuli, and shellapprox. 1’ 7” highUniversity Museum, University of Pennsylvania, PA

• This is the front of the sound box of the Bull Lyre. It is divided into registers.• What does this animation of animals remind you of? Is there anything in our

contemporary culture where we see this kind of anthropomorphizing of animals?

• What physical objects are evident in each of the registers?• In the uppermost register, what is significant about the appearances of the

animals and man?

Head of Akkadian RulerNineveh, Iraqca, 2250 -2200 BCEcopper1’ 2 3/8” highIraq Museum, Baghdad

• Is this a realistic rendering of a human head? In what ways, if any, is it stylized?

• From looking at this face, what sense do you get of the man it represents?• What is the man’s most significant feature, and what do you think it means

that it’s sculpted as such?

• DO NOW 2: – What are some of the elements of

“narrative” art? Describe a work from Mesopotamia that uses the “narrative” form.

Victory Stele of Naram-SinSusa, Iran2254 - 2218 BCEpink sandstoneapprox. 6’ 7” highLouvre, Paris

• What is a stele?• What narrative is being told in this piece?• How does the artist compose the figures so that an audience

understands the relationships among the figures?• How does the artist incorporate landscape and skyscape into the work?

What does its inclusion do to the meaning of the work?

Victory Stele of Naram-Sin (detail)

Ziggurat (northeastern façade with restored stairs)Ur, Iraq; ca. 2100 BCE

• What is this building, and what is its function?• What are the noteworthy architectural features of the building and how

do they relate to the building’s purpose? In other words, what is the relationship between form and function?

Seated Gudea holding temple planGirsu, Iraq; ca. 2100 BCEdiorite; approx. 2’ 5” highLouvre, Paris

• There are three power centers represented in this figure; what are they, and why is each considered a power center?

• What is the most noteworthy quality about the material diorite, out of which this work is sculpted? What could be important about the use of diorite in this work?

Prompt:

1. Describe this work. Use specific terms.2. What is the “story” in this work?

Stele with the law code of HammurabiSusa, Iranca. 1780 BCEbasalt; 7’ 4” highLouvre, Paris

• What is the narrative portrayed at the top of the stele?• Write down five laws that you think have directly affected our own laws?• What do the bulk of the laws concern?

DO NOW 4

Many works exhibit power in their presence.

Describe how this work might use specific traits to display power.

Assyrian archers pursuing enemies (relief from the Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal II)Kalhu, Iraq; ca. 875 - 860 BCEgypsum; 2’ 10 1/2” highBritish Museum, London

• This relief sculpture is in a style called bas-relief.• Most Assyrian art work is bas-relief and it generally displays, in some

fashion or another, the art of war.• What war technologies are shown in this relief?

Ashurbanipal hunting lions (relief from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal)Nineveh, Iraq; ca. 645- 640 BCEgypsum; 5’ 4” high; British Museum, London

• This bas-relief sculpture is from the tradition of the Assyrian relief• What is the content of this relief? What is the narrative?• Who is the main figure and how is he portrayed?• Count the number of dead animals. How many are there?• How does the artist render the animals, and why does he make them

appear as such?

Lamassu (winged, human-headed bull) from the Citadel of Sargon IIDur Sharrukin, Iraqca. 720 - 705 BCElimestoneapprox. 13’ 10” highLouvre, Paris

• The lamassu is a form of protector. They were placed in pairs at entrances to palaces and other homes of royalty.

• What makes the lamassu so threatening? Consider all its attributes.

• In what ways does the artist adopt a descriptive (versus optical) view of this beast? Look at the legs.

• What repeated motifs do we see in how this and other figures/animals are represented in this geographical area and time period?

Comparison

StyleSubject

Significance

Ishtar Gate (restored)Babylon, Iraqca. 575 BCEglazed brickStaatliche Museen, Berlin

• The Ishtar Gate was said to be found in Neo-Babylonia, a rich reincarnation of the original Babylon.

• Name the three types of animals that appear on the gate. What does each represent?

• What is the architectural shape of the central portal? How does it differ from other building techniques we have studied to date?

Map of Ancient Near East - Mesopotamia

Ancient Near Eastern Art Key Concepts

• If prehistoric art pointed towards the need to survive, then the art of the ancient (but historical) civilizations of the near east point towards the development of urban civilization as we know it.

• After the Neolithic period, societies formed with organized religions and governments, all of which were reflected in their temples and renderings of their gods, rulers, and laws.

• The Sumerians were the first people to create written language, build the wheel and the plow, and organize themselves into a race of people. They were followed by others: Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Persians, et al.

• The Greeks (and subsequently the Romans) would borrow heavily from the people of Mesopotamia in creating their own art in the 9th and 8th c. BCE.

• The art of the near east became what we know as Islamic art after the Arabs of the 7th century CE took control of the region.