Key Ideas/Information from Reading 4: Below is a list of key phrases and sentences in the latest reading, the one on the ziggurat of the ancient Near East (Mesopotamia), and pyramids (etc.) of ancient Egypt. These are clues to how the reading adds to tor helps further illustrate he ideas and information we already have covered in class. If you do not understand these connections, be sure to list your questions and ask them in class on Tuesday. (I’m spoon-feeding you, so you’d better eat.) Page 1 Near East/Ziggurat: to connect the earth and the sky perennially at war its mass exaggerated, its face embelllished The walls advance … every possible way. [entire sentence] seeks immortality … and finds at the end that only his work in the city remains It is he who ascends … bull-horned itself. [entire sentence] heartless and wholly irresponsible Their flood is brought about for no particular reason. Egypt: the concept of Maat, which is justice itself … cosmic justice … an ordered land … no warring cities … never-failing periodicity of the Nile’s flood (!!!) Page 2(this page discusses the stepped pyramid at Saqqara – older than those at Giza [see textbook or look it up]) The afterlife will naturally be just the same they did so willingly tombs … in the sand on the west bank no drama… no heroic action is required unlike Mesopotamia… plan is utterly abstract, static, fixed the .. Mesopotamian plan is pushed in and out, embodying every kind of change over time, and endless competition at Saqarra the (stepped) pyramid shows exactly on axis … its mass wholly dematerializes … like weightless stairway … avoids the muscular drama of Ur (Near East) escape from every limitation … even from earthly weight … dominated Egyptian thinking about the pyramid Page 3(discusses pyramids at Giza, except last paragraph) the entire plane slants weightlessly away … sheathed in gleaming white limestone … transformed into pure sun’s rays It was into light…loaded. [entire sentence] Once shaped, … the temple type hardly changes over the centuries. TEST 2 – Essay Portion Due Thursday, 2/25, in class The following are groups of questions which ask you to weave together various pieces of information into a coherent answer that covers all of the question— but is organized into a paragraph or two in whatever way makes sense to you (you don’t have to answer the parts of each question in the order they are asked, for instance). Each group of questions will require you to draw terms, concepts and facts from handouts, notes and readings to make the fullest answers possible. On the other hand, write concisely, as you only have – two sides of one sheet, typed, single-spaced, any font but sized like this that you are reading (this is Helvetica 9). And be sure to print your answers and bring the hard copy to class; e-mailed or uploaded answers will not be accepted. Plan ahead in ord ...

1. Key Ideas/Information from Reading 4:
Below is a list of key phrases and sentences in the latest
reading, the one on the ziggurat of the ancient Near East
(Mesopotamia), and pyramids (etc.) of ancient Egypt. These are
clues to how the reading adds to tor helps further illustrate he
ideas and information we already have covered in class. If you
do not understand these connections, be sure to list your
questions and ask them in class on Tuesday. (I’m spoon-feeding
you, so you’d better eat.)
Page 1
Near East/Ziggurat:
to connect the earth and the sky
perennially at war
its mass exaggerated, its face embelllished
The walls advance … every possible way. [entire sentence]
seeks immortality … and finds at the end that only his work in
the city remains
It is he who ascends … bull-horned itself. [entire sentence]
heartless and wholly irresponsible
Their flood is brought about for no particular reason.
Egypt:

2. the concept of Maat, which is justice itself
… cosmic justice
… an ordered land
… no warring cities
… never-failing periodicity of the Nile’s
flood (!!!)
Page 2(this page discusses the stepped pyramid at Saqqara –
older than those at Giza [see textbook or look it up])
The afterlife will naturally be just the same
they did so willingly
tombs … in the sand on the west bank
no drama… no heroic action is required
unlike Mesopotamia… plan is utterly abstract, static, fixed
the .. Mesopotamian plan is pushed in and out, embodying
every kind of change over time, and endless competition
at Saqarra the (stepped) pyramid shows exactly on axis
… its mass wholly dematerializes
… like weightless stairway
… avoids the muscular drama of Ur
(Near East)
escape from every limitation … even from earthly weight …
dominated Egyptian thinking about the pyramid
Page 3(discusses pyramids at Giza, except last paragraph)

3. the entire plane slants weightlessly away
… sheathed in gleaming white limestone
… transformed into pure sun’s rays
It was into light…loaded. [entire sentence]
Once shaped, … the temple type hardly changes over the
centuries.
TEST 2 – Essay Portion Due Thursday, 2/25, in class
The following are groups of questions which ask you to weave
together various pieces of information into a coherent answer
that covers all of the question— but is organized into a
paragraph or two in whatever way makes sense to you (you
don’t have to answer the parts of each question in the order they
are asked, for instance). Each group of questions will require
you to draw terms, concepts and facts from handouts, notes and
readings to make the fullest answers possible. On the other
hand, write concisely, as you only have –
two sides of one sheet, typed, single-spaced, any font but sized
like this that you are reading (this is Helvetica 9).
And be sure to print your answers and bring the hard copy to
class; e-mailed or uploaded answers will not be accepted. Plan
ahead in order to be sure to be able to print properly ON ONE
SHEET OF PAPER and in time.
Do not screw up these format requirements; essays that
don’t meet them will not be accepted.
So, that means you don’t need an introduction or a formal
concluding paragraph; just get to answering the questions as
directly and clearly as you can. The trick is to be concise (not
over-wordy, complex) – but complete; and make a larger point.

4. 1. a) Compare the Great Pyramids at Giza to the Nanna Ziggurat
at Uruk. Address how each represents the culture which
produced it – specific beliefs, philosophy of life, approach to or
character of design for each society – as they are expressed in
morphology and organization (layout), size/scale, setting, and
primary function of these structures. Then relate each structure
more directly to the natural environment of the region it is set
in, in terms of it’s design characteristics, features and
constituent elements – which in turn could possibly be linked
back to the “personality” of the culture in ways you may not
have already mentioned. Be sure to mention how the culture of
each society reflected the influence of its natural environment
and geography; and also the idea of treating natural forms or
features in the landscape as sacred and powerful, and how those
forms might be symbolically involved in these two structures.
b) Now talk about the evolution of these two specific forms –
the faceted pyramid and the ziggurat – over time. Are the two
structures you have been comparing at the end, the beginning,
or somewhere in the middle of the evolution that we discussed
in class? In other words, what form or specific version of the
building type comes before and/or what comes after each
building in this evolution of the form, and what was the impact
of this evolution on the effect or character of the building type?
Why would each of the two civilizations wish to evolve this
form in this way? (This is perhaps more clear for one of the
civilizations/forms than for the other, so you may have more to
say n one of these.)
You should also find and state a connection between this
evolution idea and the two other structures on the outline list ---
Queen Hatshepsut’s Temple Complex and the Citadel of Sargon
II.

5. 2. What aspects of the portrayal of the human form in the
Palette of Narmer and the Stela of Naramsin are most similar,
and what are most different? What do the similarities tell us
about these two civilizations, and about civilizations in general;
and then what do the main differences say? Also discuss the
overall design of these two works, especially in terms of
organization or composition: what is similar, what is different,
and what might that indicate? You should feel free to refer to or
restate any of the points you made in question #1 above that are
relevant to this explanation. Finally, talk about the element of
time as it is involved in these two works, and how that fits the
religious beliefs and the life philosophies of each of the two
civilizations.
3. What are the writing systems of the ancient Egyptians and of
the ancient Mesopotamians of the Near East called, and which
one led directly to the writing system you are reading right
now? Talk about what we discussed about the evolution of each
writing system, very briefly and generally, and how each
particular evolution might reflect the concerns and character of
each respective civilization. How does the appearance or use of
either of these systems relate to these two civilizations’
“personalities” and tendencies in design – how are they
“Egyptian” and “Near Eastern”, respectively? What kind of
writing system is each, according to the writing system terms
we went over?