Ancient Near East

1. 08/29 Warm-Up
• What role does religion
play in politics? Why do
you think faith is seen as
an important trait of
leaders?
• How might faith be a
hindrance to good
governance?

2. Principles of Design Quiz
• Teams of 4
• Arrange your elements of art in order
to achieve the following in turn:
– Assymetrical Balance
– Bilateral Symmetry
– Radial Symmetry
– Emphasis
– Rhythm

3. Neolithic Revolution
• Human, no longer a hunter
gatherer
• Now a farmer and herder
• Mesopotamia – core of a
region called
• Turkey, Syria & Iraq
• Humans learned how to use
the plow and wheel (Anchor
date: 3500 BCE)

4. Sumerian Gov’t Layout
• City States
• Each state is under the
protection of a different
Mesopotamian Deity.
• City planning and
Religion- Sumerian City
Plan reflected role of local
god in the daily life of the
occupants

8. Uruk – White Temple
• Sumerians built towering stepped platforms of mud bricks called
Ziggurats w/ a temple on a 50 foot man made mound with a city
around it
• Could not hold many worshippers
• Central hall was set for deity
• The Sumerian idea that gods reside above the world of humans is
central to most of the worlds religions
•

9. White Temple and Ziggurat –
Uruk – Iraq 3200-3000BCE

10. Sculpture from Sumer
• Goddess of Love & War
• Hard stone
• Possibly attached to
wood
• Probably had more items
attached to her head- a
wig, jewels and fabrics
Female head (possibly Inanna)
from Uruk (modern Warka) Iraq
ca. 3,200-3,000 B.C.E.
marble
approximately 8 in. high

11. Warka Vase
from Uruk (modern Warka) Iraq
ca. 3,200-3,000 B.C.E.
alabaster
approximately 3 ft. high
RECOVERED

12. Warka Vase –
Alabaster – Hard stone 3200-3000BCE
• Depicts a religious festival
to honor a goddess
• Blessing from deity
• Crops, water, male,
female
• Frieze ( 3 sections)
• Communicates a point,
showing Conceptual
Representation

13. Warka Vase
from Uruk (modern Warka) Iraq
ca. 3,200-3,000 B.C.E.
alabaster
approximately 3 ft. high

14. Statuettes of worhippers
from Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar) Iraq
ca. 2,700 B.C.E.
gypsum, shell, black limestone
tallest 30 in. high
SOME MISSING

15. Statuettes of worhippers
from Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar) Iraq
ca. 2,700 B.C.E.
gypsum, shell, black limestone
tallest 30 in. high

16. Statuettes of worshippers
from Eshnunna (modern Tell
Asmar) Iraq
ca. 2,700 B.CE.
gypsum, shell, black limestone
tallest 30 in. high

18. Statuettes of Two Worshippers from the Square Temple
@ Eshnunna – Iraq – 2700 BCE
• Found under the floors
• Praying
• Man and woman
• Waiting for a deity to
appear
• Child like
• Simple forms, cylinders,
inlaid eyes with shells
• Approx 3 feet high
• Eyes larger than hands

19. Bull-headed lyre
from Tomb 789, Royal Cemetery Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar)
ca. 2,600 B.C.E.
wood, gold leaf, lapis lazuli
approximately 65 in. high

21. 09/05 Timed Writing
• The visual representation of deities and
holy personages is a feature of religious
beliefs and practices throughout the
world.
• Select and fully identify two examples of
representations of deities or holy
personages, in any medium, from two
different cultures. Using specific visual
evidence, analyze each work in relation
to the religious beliefs and practices
within its culture.
• (10 minutes)

22. Bull-headed lyre
from Tomb 789, Royal Cemetery Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar)
ca. 2,600 B.C.E.
wood, gold leaf, lapis lazuli
approximately 65 in. high

23. Ram in a thicket
from Tomb 789, Royal Cemetery Ur (modern Tell
Muqayyar) Iraq
ca. 2,600 B.C.E.
gold, silver, lapis lazuli, copper, shell, red limestone,
bitumen
42.6 cm. high

24. Ram in a thicket
from Tomb 789, Royal Cemetery Ur
(modern Tell Muqayyar) Iraq
ca. 2,600 B.C.E.
gold, silver, lapis lazuli, copper, shell, red limestone, bitumen
42.6 cm. high

25. Standard of UR-
War & Peace 2600BCE
• Spoils of War and success in farming,
brought considerable wealth to some
of the city – states in ancient Sumer
• Historical Narrative
• 3 Horizontal bands reads from left to
right
• War side – Donkeys
• Stripped soldiers, prisoners
• King figure centralized
• Carrying booty – victory and
celebration

26. Debate Question 3
• Choose one side and
defend your answer
with Art examples:
• “Which type of art is
better: Art that unites
a people, or Art that
emphasizes a
people’s differences”.

27. Cylinder Seals

29. Head of an Akkadian ruler
from Ninevah (modern Kuyunjik) Iraq
ca. 2,250-2,200 B.C.E.
copper
14 3/8 in. high

30. Akkadian/ Neo Sumerian/
Babylonian & Hittite Art
• Sargon of Akkad
• Copper Head – 2250-2200BCE
• Deliberate mutilation
• Gouged eyes
• Slashed ears
• Naturalism and abstract patterns

31. Naram- Sin – 2254- 2218
• Godlike sovereignty of Akkaid – Victory stele
• Grandson of Sargon –
• Grandson leads his victorious army up the
slopes of a wooded mountain
• Routed enemies fall, die and beg for mercy
• King is alone and larger
• Naram -sin scaling ladder to heavens

32. Victory stele of Naram-Sin
from Susa, Iran
ca. 2,254-2,218 B.C.E.
sandstone
79 in. high

34. Ziggurat
at Ur (modern Tell
Muqayyar) Iraq
ca. 2,100 B.C.E.
mud brick

35. Ziggurat (restored)
at Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar) Iraq
ca. 2,100 B.C.E.
mud brick

36. Ziggurat – 2100BCE
Largest Ziggurat of UR-
• Mud brick solid mass
• Lad in bitumen –
sticky substance
binds together
• Temple stairs
• Resurgence of Sumer
• Bent-Axis Plan

37. Seated statue of Gudea holding temple plan
from Girsu (modern Telloh) Iraq
ca. 2,100 B.C.E.
diorite
29 in. high

38. Seated – Gudea 2100BCE
• Seated or standing
• Dressed in a long
garment
• Diorite

41. Babylonian Art

44. Stele with code of Hammurabi
from Susa, Iran
ca. 1,780 B.C.E.
basalt
88 in. high

45. Stele with code of Hammurabi
from Susa, Iran
ca. 1,780 B.C.E.
basalt
88 in. high

46. Law Code of Hammurabi-
1780BCE
• Sumer Resurgence –
short lived
• Centralized gov’t formed
– Mesopotamia, Babylon.
• Hammurabi, famous for
his conquests and his
Law code
• Penalties for everything
• Black Basalt stele
• Hammurabi is with
Shamash the sun god
• Fore shortening- god at a
angle

47. Stele with code of Hammurabi
from Susa, Iran
ca. 1,780 B.C.E.
basalt
88 in. high

48. Babylon Empire sacked by Hittite
• Hitittes leave strong
city walls behind
• Very different from the
brick arch that was
common in Babylonian
art
• Lions = guardians
(7 ft)
• Trend of protecting
area with a magical
beast or monster( like
in Egypt, Greece)

49. Middle Elamite and Assyrian Art
• This city is stated in the bible (Elam)
• Elamites take the Hammurabi and
Naram – sins steles, re-erect them in
city of Susa – King Ashurbanipal
destroys Elamin 641Bce
• Elamin would rise again as Persian
empire

50. Statue of Queen Napir- Asu –
1350Bce
• Queen wife of powerful
Elamite kings
• Cost
• Bronze
• Curse written on statue
• Characteristics
• -cylindrical
• Strict frontality
• Firm crossed hand
• Feminine softness

51. Assyrian Fortress Palaces
-Citadel of Sargon II 720-705BCE
• City walls – fears of
outsiders
• 25 acres- 200 courtyards
• Giant figures of the king
• Guard rooms, service
quarters, 7 stories?, ramp
spiraled around building
• Built -2000 yrs after
Temple of Uruk

52. Lamassu – 720Bce

53. • Winged man -headed
bulls ward off kings
enemies
• Monster has 5 legs
• A quarter view
• Conceptual not
optical
• High relief, partially in
the round

57. • Archers and hunting were depicted in art to
display an important part of power and piety
• Battlefield victories and slaying of wild animals
Assyrian archers pursuing enemies – relief
from the NW palace of Ashurnaisrpal II –
875 -860bce

59. Ashurbanipal Hunting lions – Iraq –
@ Ashurnasirpal II Palace
645-640BCE
• Clear story telling
• King, hunting – Why?

60. Ishtar Gate
Reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate and Processional Way, Babylon, c.
575 B.C.E., glazed mud brick (Pergamon Museum, Berlin)

62. • Glazed bricks, molded reliefs of
animals
• Real and imaginary
• Nebuchadnezzar II – restored
Babylon to its rank of a great
city
• Hanging gardens and enormous
Ziggurat were created

63. • Find the unique
MARCS of the
following artwork:

65. Head of an Akkadian ruler
from Ninevah (modern Kuyunjik) Iraq
ca. 2,250-2,200 B.C.E.
copper
14 3/8 in. high

66. Akkadian/ Neo Sumerian/
Babylonian & Hittite Art
• Saragon of Akkad
• Copper Head – 2250-2200BCE
• Deliberate mutilation
• Gouged eyes
• Slashed ears
• Naturalism and abstract patterns

67. Naram- Sin – 2254- 2218
• Godlike sovereignty of Akkaid – Victory stele
• Grandson of Sargon –
• Grandson leads his victorious army up the
slopes of a wooded mountain
• Routed enemies fall, die and beg for mercy
• King is alone and larger
• Naram -sin scaling ladder to heavens

68. Victory stele of Naram-Sin
from Susa, Iran
ca. 2,254-2,218 B.C.E.
sandstone
79 in. high

70. Ziggurat
at Ur (modern Tell
Muqayyar) Iraq
ca. 2,100 B.C.E.
mud brick

71. Ziggurat (restored)
at Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar) Iraq
ca. 2,100 B.C.E.
mud brick

72. Seated statue of Gudea holding temple plan
from Girsu (modern Telloh) Iraq
ca. 2,100 B.C.E.
diorite
29 in. high

73. Seated – Gudea 2100BCE
• Seated or standing
• Dressed in a long
garment
• Diorite

75. 09/06 Timed Writing
• The visual representation of deities and holy personages
is a feature of religious beliefs and practices throughout
the world.
• Select and fully identify two examples of representations
of deities or holy personages, in any medium, from two
different cultures. Using specific visual evidence,
analyze each work in relation to the religious beliefs and
practices within its culture.
• (20 minutes)

77. Babylonian Art

79. Ziggurat – 2100BCE
Largest Ziggurat of UR-
• Mud brick solid mass
• Lad in bitumen –
sticky substance
binds together
• Temple stairs
• Resurgence of Sumer

82. Stele with code of Hammurabi
from Susa, Iran
ca. 1,780 B.C.E.
basalt
88 in. high

83. Stele with code of Hammurabi
from Susa, Iran
ca. 1,780 B.C.E.
basalt
88 in. high

84. Law Code of Hammurabi-
1780BCE
• Sumer Resurgence –
short lived
• Centralized gov’t formed
– Mesopotamia, Babylon.
• Hammurabi, famous for
his conquests and his
Law code
• Penalties for everything
• Black Basalt stele
• Hammurabi is with
Shamash the sun god
• Fore shortening- god at a
angle

85. Stele with code of Hammurabi
from Susa, Iran
ca. 1,780 B.C.E.
basalt
88 in. high

86. Babylon Empire sacked by Hittite
• Hitittes leave strong
city walls behind
• Very different from the
brick arch that was
common in Babylonian
art
• Lions = guardians
(7 ft)
• Trend of protecting
area with a magical
beast or monster( like
in Egypt, Greece)

87. Middle Elamite and Assyrian Art
• This city is stated in the bible (Elam)
• Elamites take the Hammurabi and
Naram – sins steles, re-erect them in
city of Susa – King Ashurbanipal
destroys Elamin 641Bce
• Elamin would rise again as Persian
empire

88. Statue of Queen Napir- Asu –
1350Bce
• Queen wife of powerful
Elamite kings
• Cost
• Bronze
• Curse written on statue
• Characteristics
• -cylindrical
• Strict frontality
• Firm crossed hand
• Feminine softness

89. Assyrian Fortress Palaces
-Citadel of Sargon II 720-705BCE
• City walls – fears of
outsiders
• 25 acres- 200 courtyards
• Giant figures of the king
• Guard rooms, service
quarters, 7 stories?, ramp
spiraled around building
• Built -2000 yrs after
Temple of Uruk

90. Lamassu – 720Bce

91. • Winged man -headed
bulls ward off kings
enemies
• Monster has 5 legs
• A quarter view
• Conceptual not
optical
• High relief, partially in
the round

93. • Archers and hunting were depicted in art to
display an important part of power and piety
• Battlefield victories and slaying of wild animals
Assyrian archers pursuing enemies – relief
from the NW palace of Ashurnaisrpal II –
875 -860bce

95. Ashurbanipal Hunting lions – Iraq –
@ Ashurnasirpal II Palace
645-640BCE
• Clear story telling
• King, hunting – Why?

96. Ishtar Gate

97. • Glazed bricks, molded reliefs of
animals
• Real and imaginary
• Nebuchadnezzar II – restored
Babylon to its rank of a great
city
• Hanging gardens and enormous
Ziggurat were created

98. 09/06 Timed Writing
• The visual representation of deities and holy personages
is a feature of religious beliefs and practices throughout
the world.
• Select and fully identify two examples of representations
of deities or holy personages, in any medium, from two
different cultures. Using specific visual evidence,
analyze each work in relation to the religious beliefs and
practices within its culture.
• (20 minutes)