near east art history study

Here is a single-spaced, Quizlet-ready set in the same `term

definition` format as your last one. I prioritized the terminology and facts directly connected to your professor's study-guide questions and course materials. For example, your slides identify Mesopotamia as the Tigris-Euphrates region, date the Protoliterate/Uruk period to c. 4000–3100 BCE, and describe Sargon as the founder of the Akkadian Empire. Art History Near East Art History Near East Art History Near East

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Neolithic Art in the Near East

Art created by early settled agricultural communities in the Near East, including permanent architecture, sculpture, painting, and ritual objects.

Jericho

One of the world's earliest permanent settlements, located near the Jordan River in the ancient Near East.

Jericho original settlement

Natufian hunter groups settled at Jericho around 12,000 BCE

Jericho population

c. 9,400 BCE Jericho had more than 70 houses and approximately 1,000 inhabitants.

Jericho walls

Massive stone fortifications surrounding the settlement, including a wall about 3.5 meters high and nearly 2 meters thick.

Jericho tower

Massive stone tower reaching approximately 8.5 meters high.

Jericho construction materials

Walls and towers were constructed primarily from stone, while dwellings were made largely from mud brick.

Jericho dwellings

Permanent houses associated with one of the earliest large settled communities.

Unusual contents of Jericho dwellings

The dead were buried beneath house floors, and some skulls were removed, decorated, and preserved.

Plastered skulls of Jericho

Human skulls covered with plaster to recreate lifelike faces, probably representing deceased individuals.

Jericho plastered skull date

c. 7000 BCE.

Jericho plastered skull materials

Human skull, plaster, iron oxide pigment, shells for eyes, and painted details.

Purpose of Jericho plastered skulls

Exact purpose is unknown, but they may have commemorated or represented deceased ancestors.

Çatal Hüyük

Large Neolithic settlement in Anatolia, modern-day Turkey.

Çatal Hüyük date

Established around the 7th millennium BCE and flourishing around 6000 BCE.

Çatal Hüyük community

Densely packed settlement of adjoining houses with no normal streets between them.

Çatal Hüyük house entrances

People generally entered houses through openings in the roofs using ladders.

Çatal Hüyük construction materials

Primarily mud brick, timber, and plaster.

Çatal Hüyük rooftops

Roofs served as major pathways through the densely packed community.

Çatal Hüyük dwellings

Contained domestic areas as well as elaborate wall paintings, reliefs, animal remains, and burials.

Çatal Hüyük burials

The dead were often buried beneath the floors or platforms of houses.

Çatal Hüyük shrines

Rooms containing paintings, reliefs, animal horns, and other objects interpreted as having ritual significance.

Çatal Hüyük 2-D artwork

Wall paintings and murals depicting subjects such as hunting scenes, animals, and human figures.

Animal Hunt at Çatal Hüyük

Wall painting from a room or shrine depicting human figures hunting animals, c. 6000 BCE.

Mesopotamia

Ancient region between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, largely within modern Iraq.

Meaning of Mesopotamia

“Land between the rivers,” referring to the Tigris and Euphrates.

Mesopotamia's significance

Often called the cradle of civilization because some of the earliest complex urban centers developed there.

Sumer

Early civilization of southern Mesopotamia consisting of independent city-states.

End of the Neolithic in Mesopotamia

The Neolithic gradually ended as settlements developed into complex urban societies during the 4th millennium BCE.

What followed the Neolithic in Mesopotamia

The Uruk or Protoliterate period and the emergence of cities, writing, monumental architecture, and organized government.

Uruk Period

c. 4000–3100 BCE

Protoliterate Period

Another name for the Uruk Period, c. 4000–3100 BCE, when early writing and complex cities developed.

Mesopotamian religion

Polytheistic religion centered on numerous gods and goddesses associated with nature, cities, and human activities.

Polytheism

Belief in and worship of multiple gods.

Mesopotamian gods

Deities were believed to control natural forces, cities, fertility, war, weather, and other aspects of life.

Mesopotamian temples

Religious centers dedicated to patron gods and goddesses and often connected to political and economic life.

Registers

Horizontal bands used to organize figures and scenes in an artwork.

Uruk

Major Sumerian city-state and one of the world's earliest large urban centers.

Erech

Biblical name for the ancient Sumerian city of Uruk.

Iconography

Study or interpretation of the subjects, symbols, and meanings represented in art.

Ziggurat

Massive stepped temple platform constructed in ancient Mesopotamia.

Ziggurat function

Elevated a temple dedicated to a city's patron deity and served as a major religious center.

Inanna

Sumerian goddess associated with love, fertility, sexuality, and warfare.

Load-bearing construction

Construction in which walls or structural elements support the weight of the building above them.

Cylinder seal

Small barrel-shaped stone object carved with an incised design or cuneiform inscription.

Cylinder seal function

Rolled across soft clay or wax to indicate ownership, authenticate documents, or create identifying impressions.

Cylinder seals in Mesopotamia

Used extensively from the late 4th through the 1st millennium BCE.

Cuneiform

Mesopotamian writing system made by pressing wedge-shaped marks into wet clay with a stylus.

Meaning of cuneiform

From a term meaning “wedge-shaped,” referring to the appearance of its marks.

Pictograms

Simple pictures or symbols used to represent objects, ideas, or quantities.

Pictograms lead to

Increasingly abstract written symbols that eventually developed into cuneiform writing.

Development of Mesopotamian writing

Pictographs gradually became abstract signs and developed into cuneiform.

Epic of Gilgamesh

Ancient Mesopotamian epic about Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, exploring friendship, heroism, death, and the search for immortality.

Gilgamesh

Legendary king of Uruk and central hero of the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Tell Asmar

Ancient Mesopotamian site where a group of Sumerian votive statues was discovered.

Tell Asmar statues

Group of votive figures found in a temple context and representing worshippers.

Votive statue

Figure offered to a deity, often representing a worshipper in continual prayer.

Tell Asmar votive figures

Gypsum or limestone figures with clasped hands, enlarged inlaid eyes, and attentive poses.

Meaning of Tell Asmar figures

Demonstrate the importance of religion and continual devotion to the gods in Sumerian life.

Large eyes of Sumerian votive figures

Symbolize attentiveness and perpetual devotion to the gods.

Hierarchical proportions

Representing the most important person or deity as larger than less important figures.

Hierarchical scale

Another term for showing importance through differences in figure size.

Sargon I

Sargon of Akkad, ruler who united Sumerian city-states and created the Akkadian Empire.

Sargon of Akkad dates

Reigned approximately 2334–2279 BCE.

Akkadian Empire

Empire founded by Sargon after his conquest and unification of Sumerian city-states.

Importance of Sargon

Created the first major Mesopotamian territorial empire and introduced a new conception of powerful kingship.

Naram-Sin

Grandson of Sargon and one of the most important rulers of the Akkadian Empire.

Naram-Sin dates

Reigned approximately 2261–2224 BCE.

Stele of Naram-Sin

Victory monument showing Naram-Sin defeating his enemies and ascending a mountain toward divine symbols.

Purpose of the Stele of Naram-Sin

Celebrates the king's military victory, political power, and elevated status.

Naram-Sin on his victory stele

Shown larger than other figures and wearing a horned helmet traditionally associated with divinity.

Stele of Naram-Sin composition

Uses a diagonal mountain composition instead of arranging the entire scene in traditional horizontal registers.

Stele

Upright stone slab carved or inscribed to commemorate a person, event, law, or victory.

Neo-Sumerian Period

Period of renewed Sumerian political and cultural power after the decline of the Akkadian Empire.

Neo-Sumerian art

Known especially for religious architecture, ziggurats, and sculptures emphasizing piety and rulership.

Gudea

Ruler of Lagash from approximately 2144–2124 BCE known for building projects, religious devotion, and patronage of the arts.

Lagash

Important Sumerian city-state ruled by Gudea during the Neo-Sumerian era.

Gudea's accomplishments

Carried out city improvements, constructed temples and irrigation canals, and supported the arts.

Statues of Gudea

Numerous sculptures depicting Gudea as a peaceful, pious, and devoted ruler.

Great Ziggurat of Ur

Major Neo-Sumerian temple platform constructed at the city of Ur.

Great Ziggurat of Ur date

Built during the 21st century BCE.

Ur-Nammu

Neo-Sumerian king who began construction of the Great Ziggurat of Ur.

Shulgi

Son and successor of Ur-Nammu who completed the Great Ziggurat of Ur.

Hammurabi

Most famous king of the Old Babylonian period, known especially for his written law code.

Hammurabi's reign

c. 1792–1750 BCE.

Old Babylonian Period

Period when Babylon became a major Mesopotamian political power, especially under Hammurabi.

Amorites

Semitic-speaking people who established dynasties in Mesopotamia, including the Old Babylonian dynasty.

Law Code of Hammurabi

Collection of laws associated with King Hammurabi and inscribed on a monumental stone stele.

Significance of Hammurabi's Code

One of the most extensive surviving ancient written law collections and an important record of Babylonian society and justice.

Hammurabi's law stele

Monument containing the laws beneath an image of Hammurabi before the sun and justice god Shamash.

Shamash

Mesopotamian sun and justice god shown giving authority to Hammurabi on his law stele.

Anatolia

Region corresponding largely to modern-day Turkey.

Hittites

Ancient people who established a powerful kingdom in Anatolia.

Hittite fortified palaces

Large fortified citadels and palace complexes protected by massive walls.

Cyclopean walls

Massive fortification walls constructed from enormous irregular stone blocks.

Meaning of Cyclopean

Refers to masonry so massive that later people imagined only mythical Cyclopes could have built it.

Hittite sculpture

Known especially for monumental stone relief sculpture and guardian figures associated with architecture.