APARH Unit 02 | The Oldest Civilizations

White temple ziggurat

Uruk (modern Warka, Iraq). Sumerian. c. 3500-3000 BCE. Mud brick.

Palette of King Narmer

Predynastic Egypt. c. 3000-2920 BCE. Greywacke.

Votive statues

From the Square Temple at Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar, Iraq). Sumerian. c. 2700 BCE. Gypsum inlaid with shell and black limestone.

Seated scribe

Saqqara, Egypt. Old Kingdom, Fourth Dynasty. c. 2620-2500 BCE. Painted limestone.

Standard of Ur

From the Royal Tombs at Ur (modern Tell el-Muqayyar, Iraq). Sumerian. c. 2600-2400 BCE. Wood inlaid with shell, lapis lazuli, and red limestone.

Great Pyramids and Great Sphinx

(Menkaure, Khafre, Khufu) Giza, Egypt. Old Kingdom, Fourth Dynasty. c. 2550-2490 BCE. Cut limestone.

King Menkaura and queen

Old Kingdom, Fourth Dynasty. c. 2490-2472 BCE. Greywacke.

The Code of Hammurabi

Babylon (modern Iran). Susian. c. 1792-1750 BCE. Basalt.

Temple of Amun-Re and Hypostyle Hall

Karnak, near Luxor, Egypt. New Kingdom, 18th and 19th Dynasties. Temple: c. 1550 BCE; hall: c. 1250 BCE. Cut sandstone and mud brick.

Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut

Near Luxor, Egypt. New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty. c. 1473-1458 BCE. Sandstone, partially carved into a rock cliff, and red granite.

Kneeling statue of Hatshepsut

Near Luxor, Egypt. New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty. c. 1473-1458 BCE. Sandstone, partially carved into a rock cliff, and red granite.

Akhenaton, Nefertiti, and three daughters

New Kingdom (Amarna period), 18th Dynasty. c. 1353-1335 BCE. Limestone.

Tutankhamun's tomb, innermost coffin

New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty. c. 1323 BCE. Gold with inlay of enamel and semiprecious stones.

Last judgment of Hu-Nefer

From his tomb (page from the Book of the Dead). New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty. c. 1275 BCE. Painted papyrus scroll.

Lamassu

From the citadel of Sargon II, Dur Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad, Iraq). Neo-Assyrian. c. 720-705 BCE. Alabaster.