Art of the Ancient Near East

Stele of Vultures (2460 BCE)

5ft x 4ft; 4'“

carved on both sides: obverse (mythological) and reverse (historical)

was a single slab limestone, now in 7 pieces

once stood in a temple and was not meant for public consumption

Divine Justification

Stele of Naram-Suen

6.5 ft x 5ft

limestone

carved on one side only

2250 BCE (Akkad)

Victorious Ruler

Figures depicted mostly from the side, some combine angles

Linear perspective doesn’t exist

Statue of Gudea, ENSI of Lagash (2120 BCE)

Ur III period

diorite

17” tall

Pious Ruler

Narmer Palette (3200 - 3000 BCE)

siltstone, sedimentary stone

carved on both sides

25” x 17” 

some of the earliest hieroglyphic writing

Old Kingdom Period

Triad Statue of Menkaure

Old Kingdom Period

2550 BCE

3ft x 2ft

Graywacke

found in Menkaure’s valley temple with others in Diospolis Parva in 1908

Youthful Ruler

Tomb Reliefs of Kagemni (2400 BCE)

Saqqara

Limestone

first bas-reliefs in the Old Kingdom

Edenic Afterlife

Pepi I statue (2300 BCE)

5” x 2”

Graywacke

provenance unknown

eyes: alabaster, obsidian, copper

the uraeus was once attached

Old Kingdom Period

Pious King

Rock Cutting of Iddin-Suen of Simurrum

2000 BCE

limestone rock relief

3.5 ft x 3.2 ft

Old Babylonian Period

Texts and images can “play” off each other"

Palace Fresco of Zimri-Lim

Mari

1770 BCE

7ft high

fresco, not a relief

found in 5 rooms of the palace 

Old Babylonian Period

Stele (Codex) of Hammurapi

1750 BCE (Old Babylonian Period)

diorite

7.5 ft

282 laws

back of the stele with laws

contains laws found later in the Bible

placed in temple courtyard

inscription is written sideways

must be read out loud to enact judgement

Presentation or Investiture Type Scene

Burney Relief / Queen of the Night Relief

Old Babylonian Period

1800 - 1750 BCE

terracotta relief

20” x 15” x 2”

mold stuffed with clay and chaff

fired in a kiln

provenance is unknown, probably southern iraq

Funerary Stele of Maati

Thebes

2050 BCE

Limestone

23” x 15” x 3”

Sunken relief

Middle Kingdom

Senwosret I

1940 BCE

Middle Kingdom

Thebes

Limestone and paint

Sat on a 10ft tall statue

Senwosret III

1850 BCE
Middle Kingdom

Red quartzite

17 3/4” x 13 1/2” x 17”

Amennemhet III

1830 BCE

Graywacke

Middle Kingdom

18” x 7”

Block Statue of Min-hotep

1700 BCE

Middle Kingdom

Lisht, south of memphis

Diorite

7” x 4” x 6”

Osirian pose

most common dedicatory statue for non-royals in temples for 1800 years

Funerary Stele of Amenemhet and Yatu

limestone and paint

23 1/4” x 16 3/4” x 4 1/4”

frame imitates ceramic tiles

Middle Kingdom

Models of Daily Life

Middle kingdom

wood and paint

Assurnasirpal II

884-859 BCE

Khorsabad

Gypsum Palace Bas-Relief

Neo-Assyrian Period

Tilglath-Pileser III

745-727 BCE

Khorsabad

Gypsum Palace Bas-Relef

Neo-Assyrian Period

Sargon II

721-705 BCE
Khorsabad

Neo-Assyrian Period

Gypsum Palace Bas-Reliefs

Sennacherib

705 - 681 BCE
Nineveh

Neo-Assyrian Period

Gypsum Palace Bas-Reliefs

Image is not divorced from text

Assurbanipal

668-627 BCE
Nineveh

Neo-Assyrian Period

Gypsum Palace Bas-Reliefs

Hatshepsut (1482-1479 BCE)

New Kingdom Period

5ft x 1.25 ft x 2.5 ft

Diorite

Deir el-Bahari

Daughter of Ra

Good Goddess, Lady of the Two Lands

no attempt to mask her femininity

Hatshepsut (1482-1479 BCE)

New Kingdom Period

5.5 ft x 1.3 ft x 3 ft

granite

1368 lbs

nemes headdress

Maatkara”The being of Ra is in Order” 

Lady of the Two Lands & Bodily Daughter of Ra

Hatshepsut (1482-1479 BCE)

New Kingdom Period

7 ft x 1.5 ft x 4 ft

1.375 tons

limestone

still female in body and titles

nemes headdress and royal kilt

Seti I’s Battle Bas Reliefs

New Kingdom Period

Karnak

1290 - 1279 BCE

Fought the Shasu, Yanoam, Qadesh, Libya, and Hatti

first of the great Ramesside war monuments

first visual narrative display of foreign campaign

Rameses II Reliefs of the Battle of Qadesh

New Kingdom Period

1279 - 1213 BCE

best documented battle of ancient history

26 ft x 70 ft, takes up an entire wall