AP Art History: – Ancient Mediterranean (copy)

12. White Temple and its ziggurat

• 3500–3000 BCE

• Sumerian

• Mud Brick

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• Mountains were considered powerful, mainly because water for agriculture came from there

  • The earth goddess is associated with mountains

• Elevation of religious architecture

• Built in ten stages over centuries

  • Final height of ziggurat (mountain-like structure): 40ft

• Function: meeting place between gods and humans

• Required constant maintenance (like Mosque of Djenne)

• Corners point in cardinal directions

• Bent-axis plan: makes approach more challenging, standard for Sumerian architecture

13. Palette of King Narmer

• 3000–2920 BCE

• Predynastic Egyptian

• Greywacke

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• One side depicts pre-unified Egypt, the other depicts newly unified Egypt (function: ceremonial)

• An example of newly standardized visual canon, hieroglyphs, and religion under Narmer

  • Divided into registers (each representing a moment in time)

  • Heavy usage of hierarchy of scale

  • Usage of hieroglyphs

• Falcon iconography is in reference to god Horus; pharoahs are considered to be an earthly embodiment of him (divine justification)

• Papyrus flowers are iconography of Lower Egypt

• Bull is iconographic of Narmer

• Low relief

• Establishes conventions in accordance with Ma’at

14. Statues of votive figures, from the Square Temple at Eshnunna

• 2700 BCE

• Sumerian

• Gypsum inlaid with shell and black limestone

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• Sumerian cities were erected to serve and labor for gods

• Votive: a religious gift accompanied with a plea

• Function: surrogate worshippers that offer constant prayer

• Forms have some convention but typically vary due to inlays

  • Geometric shapes make up the body

• Eyes are wide, an “open window to the soul,” represents piety

• These are not portraits, but are individualized

15. Seated Scribe

• 2620–2500 BCE

• Saqqara, Egypt

• Painted limestone

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• Function: a ka statue that provides a scribe for Pharoah in the afterlife

  • Ideals>likeness → less about individuality, more about occupation in society

• Softer physique indicates that he isn’t a laborer

• Eyes show alertness and obedience

• Uses limestone because it’s cheaper and more porous for painting

16. Standard of Ur

• 2600–2400 BCE

• Sumerian

• Wood inlaid with shells, lapis lazuli, and red limestone

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• Cities like Ur set the modern urban model (stands even today)

• Each side depicts wealth (idealized representation of economy) and war (soldiers leading prisoners to doom or slavery) because, for Sumerians, waging and winning wars was directly connected to their wealth and tradition

• Despite the title, this is likely not a standard, because the scenes are meant to be viewed up close.

• Organized in registers with continuous narrative for both sides

• Gathering of materials required agricultural surplus, which created classes, and that would lead to structure of power and control

• The variety of materials indicates the distances the Sumerians traveled: lapis lazuli was from Afghanistan, limestone was from India, and shells were from the Gulf

• On the war side, the king’s head breaches the frame (hierarchy of scale)

17. Great Pyramids (Menkaura, Khafre, Khufu)

• 2550–2490 BCE

• Giza, Egypt

• Cut limestone

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• Tomb practices revolve around beliefs concerning the afterlife

• Mastabas were the precursor to pyramids, and were originally used for elite burials

  • Pharoahs needed something far bigger than mastabas, so they initially decided to start stacking multiple mastabas to create stepped pyramids

• They were succeeded by true pyramids: equilateral triangles rising from a square base to meet at a point (this point was meant to evoke the sun, and also carried the Benben stone, which is iconographic of Ra)

• Function: a place of rebirth, a monument, and protection of the body, as well as the afterlife palace

• There was a distinct lack of open space and a false tomb chamber at the bottom to protect Pharoah/his things from thieves.

• Relieving blocks were used to protect the burial chamber from the weight of the top by diverting weight down and out.

17. Great Sphinx

• 2550–2490 BCE

• Giza, Egypt

• Cut limestone

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• Made through living bedrock

• Face is made from ashlar masonry

• Form represents what pharoahs were expected to be: smart as a human, strong as a lion

18. King Menkaura and Queen

• 2490–2472 BCE

• Old Kingdom Egyptian

• Greywacke

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• This is a portrait, which is supposed to represent the physical likeness of people; in this case, it reveals information about the idealized version of them → potraits are determined by role, not individuality

• The portrait uses symmetry to represent the Egyptian canon based on the principle of ma’at (beauty and importance in balance)

• Carved using the subtractive method

• Meant to be seen up front

• Function: ka statue: funerary statue that was meant to be eternal

  • Stone and greywacke gave stability to the form, as well as the Egyptian sculptural stance: one foot in front of the other, weight on back foot

    • This visually creates parallel lines

• Nemes and false beard: symbolic of pharaonic power

19. The Code of Hammurabi

• 1792–1750 BCE

• Susian (Babylonian)

• Basalt

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• This was a steele – similar items were all over

• Function: to display the law code to everyone

• This was the first written and displayed law code in history

• Application of this law (i.e, judgement/punishment depended on gender and economic status)

• Depicts Hammurabi w/ sun god Shamash, who hands the “rod of ruling” to Hammurabi at the top, while the rest of the steele has the written laws

• Hierarchy of scale: Shamash would be significantly taller if he were standing

• First ever usage of foreshortening (more naturalistic depiction of space)

20. Temple of Amun-Re and Hypostyle Hall

• Temple: 1550 BCE, hall: 1250 BCE

• Karnak, near Luxor, Egypt

• Cut sandstone and mud brick

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Temple:

• Function: principal religious center of god Amun-Re, to hold precincts of gods Mut and Montu, and a working estate for teh priestly community

• Connected to the creation of the world

• Increases in elevation as you get further into the temple (represents ascension from the horizon to the god)

• Initially a modest structure, but new importance placed on the city of Thebes made Pharaohs want to make their mark on Karnak

• The tallest obelisk in Egypt stood at Karnak; it was dedicated by female Pharaoh Hatshepsut

Hall:

• The hall would’ve been brightly painted

• 134 sandstone columns; the center 12 stand at 69 ft.

• Allowed for clerestory lighting (a section of the wall that allowed light and air to pass hrough an otherwise dark space

  • Earliest example of clerestory lighting

• Restricted access

21. Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut

• 1473–1458 BCE

• Near Luxor, Egypt

• Sandstone, partially carved into a rock cliff, and red granite

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• Built to honor Egypt’s first major female pharaoh; she assumed the power of a king (rather than the traditional regent), asserting her political and divine legitimacy (she created.

• Function: a resting place and temple for dead honoring and god worship

• She commissioned many works; she used art to convey her royal authority

• Axial design: even architecture follows ma’at

• Statue of Amun-Re was brought to the temple across the Nile once a year

• 20 yrs after Hatshepsut’s death, her nephew/stepson Thutmose destroys all images of her, which took an extremely amount of time and effort

22. Akhenaton, Nefertiti, and Three Daughters

• 1353–1335 BCE

• New Kingdom (Amarna) Egyptian

• Limestone

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• Sunken relief technique: stone is carved away until the form is sunken

• Reflects the Amarna Revolution: monotheistic worship of Aten replaces traditional gods.

• Relaxed, intimate family scene replaces formal court imagery—highly unusual for Egypt.

• Function: instrument of Aton worship and to communicate change (the best way to do this was visually)

23. Tutankhamun’s tomb, innermost coffin

• 1323 BCE

• New Kingdom Egypt

• Gold with inlay of enamel and semiprecious stones

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• King Tut restored polytheism amidst external pressure

• When he died, no tomb had been prepared because he was so young

• Employed Mummification: maintaining the body for successful rebirth

  • 70 days process, overseen by Anubis

• “Egg nesting doll” → a coffin inside many other coffins

• Solid gold, unlike other outer coffins

24. Last Judgement of Hu-Nefer

• 1275 BCE

• New Kingdom Egyptian

• Painted papyrus scroll

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• Function: Illustration from the Book of the Dead, an Egyptian book of spells and charms that acted as a guide for the deceased to make his or her way to eternal life (included in the tomb).

• Combines text and image in continuous narrative → important example of Egyptian storytelling

• Shows gods Anubis, Thoth, Osiris, and protective goddess Ma’at, reinforcing religious order.

25. Lamassu from the citadel of Sargon II

• 720–705 BCE

• Neo-Assyrian

• Alabaster

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• Composite creaatures, very similar to the Sphinx

  • intelligence, strength, and mobility

• Pan-near Eastern

• Would be in the reception hall @ doorway

• Function: to intimidate, to show king’s power, apotropaic

• Variety of textures highlighted through paint

• Context: Assyrian kings were known to be ruthless, borderline sadistic

• Meant to be sen dead on or @ the side so leg count is correct at all angles (extra legs)

26. Athenian Agora

    

• 600 BCE– 150 CE

• Archaic through Hellenistic Greek

• Plan

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• Function: Town square of Athens; there’s one in every Greek city-state

  • Any functions (government, entertainment, etc.)

  • Number of spaces grow with the population, and it increases in articulation

• Includes Bouleuterion, a government meeting spot, as well as temples and shrines

• The Panathenaic Way cuts through along a hilly terrain from the northwestern to the southeastern corners.

27. Anavysos Kouros

    

• 530 BCE

• Archaic Greek

• Marble with remnants of paint

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• Greek art: depiction of the male body slowly transitions from abstract to more naturalistic

  • Generally low plasticity, but it’s much higher than any given past sculpture

• Function: grave marker and votive sculpture

• Form resonates with Egyptian pharaonic canon, except it’s naked

• Egyptians used copper (soft metal) to chisel greywacke and basalt (hard metal), while Athenians use iron (hard metal) to model marble

• Nudity is a “costume” → it’s an expression of the idea of kalokagathia (“beautiful goodness”: strong body, beautiful soul)

28. Peplos Kore

• 530 BCE

• Archaic Greek

• Marble, painted details

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• Form is more petite than male counterpart Kouros

• Represents ideal Greek woman: beautiful and demure

• Persians toppled these when they attacked around 480 BCE – the Greeks buried them not long after, effectively preserving them

29. Sarcophagus of the Spouses

• 520 BCE

• Etruscan

• Terra cotta

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• Etrustcans were pretty much aboriginal Romans, chronologically overlapped with Greece

  • Etruscan do a lot with terra cotta

  • They were also incredibly wealthy due to mining, agriculture, and trade

  • Their culture was an amalgam of Indigenous, Greek, and Near Eastern cultures

• Prioritized communication with hands

• Function: held bones, bodies, ashes, etc.

• Form is similar to Greek kouroi and korae, but depiction is intimate – definitively different from Greece

30. Audience Hall of Darius and Xerxes

• 520–465 BCE

• Persepolis, Iran/Persian

• Limestone

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• Persian empire was multicultural; it practiced cultural and religious tolerance to rule through soft power

• Entire complex was placed on top of 40ft stone platform (elevation/visual strike)

• Decorated with many visuals, like Persian generals flanked by lions, hunting, “immortals,” taxes being paid by various peoples, etc.

• Limestone was from Lebanon

• Could accommodate thousands with overflow

• Hypostyle halls: 72 columns initially, only 13 remain.

  • The capitals of columns are animals

• Highly geometric: clear straight lines laid out on rectangular plan

• Function: Complex

31. Temple of Minerva

• 510-500BCE

• Master Sculptor Vulca

• Wood, mud brick, or tufa; terra cotta sculpture

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• Tuscan column: Etruscan; Composite column: Roman; Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian column: Greece

• Tuscan columns (stuccoed and painted) frame 3 cellae, created for three gods: Juno, Jupiter, and Minerva

• Prostyle: columns are just in the front

• Akroteria (decorative statue) has more dynamism than kouros statue, but only because of difference in material

32. Tomb of the Triclinium

33. Niobides Krater

34. Doryphoros (Spear Bearer)

• 450-440 BCE

• Polykleitos

35. Acropolis

35. Acropolis, pt. 2: The Parthenon

36. Grave stele of Hegeso

• Commemorates the death of Hegeso; an inscription identifies her and her father.

• Genre scene is that Hegeso examines a piece of jewelry from a jewelry box handed to her by a standing servant; may represent her dowry.

37. Winged Victory

38. Great Altar of Zeus

39. House of the Vettii

• Second century BCE; rebuilt 62-70 CE

• Pompeii, Italy

• Cut stone and fresco

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40. Alexander Mosaic

41. Seated Boxer

42. Head of a Roman Patrician

43. Augustus of Prima Porta

44. Colosseum (Flavian Ampitheater)

45. Forum of Trajan

46. Pantheon

47. Ludovisi Battle Sarchophogus