Art History (Mesopotamia & Egypt)

(bolded parts are answers, underlines words are key terms)

-Built by many unnamed laborers, but designed/planned by King Ur Namma

-Name of this structure is the Ziggurat of Ur, and is a large stepped pyramid, and an example of an orthogonal plan (an architectural or urban plan in which streets or passages intersect at right angles, forming a grid pattern.)

-Built around 2100 BCE

-Built in the Neo-Sumerian Empire/the Third Dynasty of Ur

-Located in the City of Ur, which is in the Tell el-Muqayyar in Iraq

-Functions as a sanctuary for the moon god Nanna, primary site of religious worship, raised the holy shrine of gods and goddesses closer to the heavens

-Patron is ruler Ur Namma (or Nammu) of Sumer. We know it was built under him because each brick was inscribed in cunneiform with his name.

-Encased in baked mud bricks, which is local material, telling us that ancient mesopotamians made use of the abundance of clay/mud since hard stone or wood were extremely hard to come by.

-Built to encase earlier buildings with a tall structure in order to protect from weathering and rain.

-Artist unknown

-Named Seated Statue of Gudea

-Made 2120 BCE

-Gudea Period, Neo-Sumerian

-Originally located in the temples in Lagash

-dedicated to Ningishzida, god of vegetation and the Underworld

-Commissioned by Gudea, which is evident in the inscription on the figures robes saying “Let the life of Gudea, who built the house, be long,”\

-Material is Diorite

-Technique: carefully carving away at the hard stone.

(sectional drawing)

-Built by unnamed Egyptian laborers, designed by Khufu’s Vizier and architect Hemiunu

-named the Great Pyramid of Khufu

-made in 2589–2566 BCE, Old Kingdom, Fourth Dynasty Egypt

-Located in the Pyramids on the Giza plateau

-Functioned as a tomb for Pharaoh Khufu, there was a “queen’s chamber” but it only was named that because it was previously thought to be meant for the queen’s burial but we know the queens were buried in separate pyramids.

-Patron: Pharaoh Khufu

-Material: blocks of stone

-Technique: laborers were said to have dragged stone on wooden sleds to the structure. It is debated how the blocks were lifted but workers likely built a ramp up the structure which was then dismantled after construction was complete.

-Artist Unknown

-Named Khafre Enthroned, Depicts king Khafre sitting on a throne with a Horus falcon embracing is head from the back.

-2558-2532 BCE, Old Kingdom, Fourth Dynasty Egypt

-Originally located in the mortuary complexes of Khafre and Menkaure

-Functioned to house king Khafre’s spirit

-Patron: Khafre himself

-Material: Carved from gneiss, a valuable hard stone quarried from the nubian desert (about 400 miles south of where the structure is housed)

-Technique: Carved, blueish color of the gneiss contrasts the red of the mud from the nile.