3.7,3.8,3.9 Mesopotamia - The Akkadians, Assyrians, Babylonians

Akkadian Empire

• considered to be the first true empire that ruled over the plains of Mesopotamia.

Sargon I

According to legend, the Akkadian empire was established by ________, a man from a lowly family who eventually rose to power.

Cylinder seals

stamps invented by ancient Mesopotamian peoples as a way to affix their personal signatures

Head of an Akkadian Ruler

An image of an unidentified Akkadian ruler (some say it is Sargon I, but no one knows) is one of the most beautiful and terrifying images in all of Ancient Near Eastern art

Victory Stele of Naram-Sin

A pink limestone relief sculpture depicting King Naram-Sin of Akkad leading the Akkadian army to victory over the Lullubi

Assyria; Babylonia

After the fall of the Akkadian Empire, the people of Mesopotamia eventually grouped into two major Akkadian-speaking nations: ______ in the north, and a few centuries later, __________ in the south.

Ashur

The Assyrian Empire began from the city of _______ where trading merchants became increasingly wealthy, allowing for the growth and prosperity of the city.

Assyrian

______ society was entirely militaristic and was notorious for its fighting force and cruelty.

Nineveh

was transformed into the new capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire by King Sennacherib.

Nineveh

Some scholars believe that the gardens at _______ are the true “Hanging Gardens” instead of the popularly believed Babylonian version.

Ashurbanipal

the last great king of the Assyrian Empire.

Ashurbanipal

Apart from his excellent military campaigns, he was also a great patron of the arts and established the greatest library of the ancient world, containing over 30,000 clay tablets.

Lamassu

huge animals or anthropomorphic figures (typically lions and winged beasts with human heads, sculpted in high relief on two sides of a rectangular stone block, with the heads effectively in the round) that flanked royal gateways, or other fortified entrances.

Ashurbanipal Hunting Lions

The gypsum wall carvings of ____________________ in the North Palace at Nineveh are considered to be the finest carvings of Assyrian art. 

20

Following the death of Ashurbanipal, it took just under ___ years for the empire to crumble.

Babylon

first came to prominence as the royal city of King Hammurabi

Hammurabi

The known history of Babylon begins with its most famous king: __________, whose successful military campaigns and crafty alliances transformed the city and expanded it into a kingdom that conquered all of Mesopotamia.

Nebuchadnezzar II

_____________ rebuilt Babylon to become the largest ancient settlement in Mesopotamia, a center of great scribal learning and produced writings on divination, astrology, medicine, and mathematics.

Ishtar Gate

was the most elaborate of the inner-city gates constructed in Babylon in antiquity.

Ziggurat of E-temenanki

• dedicated to the chief Babylonian god, Marduk.

• suggested as the possible inspiration for the biblical story of the Tower of Babel.

Hanging Gardens of Nebuchadnezzar

Allegedly built by Nebuchadnezzar II for his Median wife, Queen Amytis, the garden was supposedly constructed to remedy the queen's homesickness because she missed the green hills and valleys of her homeland. 

Hanging Gardens of Semiramis

According to other literature, the Hanging Gardens were sometimes referred to also as the ___________________ after the semi-legendary and semi-divine female Assyrian ruler thought by the Greeks to have extensively rebuilt Babylon in the 9th century BCE.

Battle of Opis

In 539 BCE, the babylonian empire fell to the Persians under Cyrus the Great at the _______________.

White

describes light, shining, radiance, brightness, holiness, purity, and sometimes, the lack of color.

Black

encompasses all darker hues, from dark grey to deep blue to pitch black. It is the opposite of white, representing the night, gloom, and the shadows.

Red-Brown

usually defines what is modern red, but in the context of Mesopotamian art, it leans more towards dark red to brown. It represented divinity, particularly in describing the physical features of gods.

Green-yellow

conveys notions of freshness, fertility, and ripeness.

lapis lazuli

The blue of ____________ symbolizes the opulence and holiness of both kings and deities.

Polychrome

the combination of colors, was a separate color concept in its own right