28. Treasure from Iraq Bronze Head C. 2250 BCE Iraq Museum, Baghdad Go to the Web to find out if this art work was saved or lost during the war in Iraq
63. Major Civilizationsin the Ancient Near East C. 4000-2340 BC Sumerian C. 1792-1595 BC Babylonian C.1000-612 BC Assyrian C. 612-539 BC Neo-Babylonian C. 539-331 BC Persian
Editor's Notes
Sumer ruled b priest kings , god’s earthly ruler and earth’s steward, A refined but abstract approach to representing the figure
Pictograms, or drawings representing actual things, were the basis for cuneiform writing. As shown in the chart, early pictograms resembled the objects they represented, but through repeated use over time they began to look simpler, even abstract. These marks eventually became wedge-shaped ("cuneiform"), and could convey sounds or abstract concepts. Five thousand years ago the people of Sumer began to write. They were the first, and they began not with poetry or stories or great literature, but rather with economic transactions. This tablet is one of the earliest on record. It describes the transfer of 300 acres of land between two parties. As the city states of Sumer grew in size, an increasingly complex social structure called for more sophisticated techniques to record and store accounts of economic transactions.
Administrative tablet with cylinder seal impression of a male figure, hunting dogs, and boars, 3100–2900 B.C.; Jemdet Nasr period (Uruk III script) Mesopotamia Clay
The ‘“White Temple” Uruk, Warka, of the sky god Anu, Iraq, c. 3500-3000 bCE
Ziggurat mudbrick mound built as foundation for temple, word means mountain top or height
Sits on a 40 foot mound ascent like ascent into heaven
Statues fom he Abu temle c. 2700-200 bce limestone alabester, inlaid with lapis lazuli and shells set in bitument, ac ancient texts tell us tht seeing was a major channl of communiation with gods and the sculptors ere resonding to the god’s awe inspiring nature with eyes wide open in adminrationStanding male worshipper, 2750–2600 B.C.; Early Dynastic period II; Sumerian styleExcavated at Tell Asmar (ancient Eshnunna), central MesopotamiaAlabaster (gypsum), shell, black limestoneH. 11 5/8 in. (29.5 cm) Fletcher Fund, by exchange, 1940 (40.156)In Mesopotamia, some gods were thought to be physically present in the materials and experiences of daily life, while others were ethereal and diffuse. Enlil, considered the most powerful Mesopotamian god during most of the third millennium B.C., was a "raging storm" or "wild bull," while the goddess Inanna reappeared in different guises as the morning and evening star. Deities were believed to inhabit their cult statues after the latter had been animated by the proper rituals, and fragments of worn statues were preserved within the walls of the temple.This standing figure, with clasped hands and a wide-eyed gaze, is a worshipper. It was placed in the "Square Temple" at Tell Asmar, perhaps dedicated to the god Abu, in order to pray perpetually on behalf of the person it represented, who was considered to be physically present in the statue. Similar statues were often inscribed with the names of rulers and their families.
Standard of Ur, 2600 bce heiaght 8 inWood, shell and limesone inlay, lapis lazuliShows a military and celebration or victory or ritual feast, war panel shows chariots running over enemies bodies in middle soldiers escort naked prisoners stripped of clothing and arnor On top soldiers spresent prisoners to large figure leader his head breaks thru frame to show imortance, hieratic scale
Iraq Museum Baghdad, 12 inStewards of the gods became ruling kings
Akkadian Ruler c. 2250 bce 12 inches highI Iraq Museum Baghdad
Stele of naram sin, c. 254 bce louvtr 6 ‘ 6”
C 2100 bCE
reigns of Hammurabi and his son Samsu-iluna (r. about 1750-1712 BC),
