Near East & Egypt

Sumer of the Sumerians

Moden day Iraq; 4100-1750 BCE

First in Neolithic Revolution & writing, irrigation, math, THE WHEEL TIME

City-state & theocracy → rulers were gods’ representation on Earth → god in charge of making political decisions the ruler/king

Wrote Epic of Gilgamesh - tale of Uruk King

“White Temple and Ziggurat” Uruk (Iraq); Sumerian; c. 3000 BCE

Context: located at center of city; pop. of over 40K; theocracy; like Templo Mayor

Bent Axis Plan 

• Control crowd & monitor entry - only for elites

• Force the viewer to admire the architecture

Slae labor - like Inca

Ziggurat (plinth) - 2 functions

• closer to the gods

• separate from the profane world

Assuroam for“raised up”

• like Templo Mayor and Lakshmana Temple

Made to look like nearby mountains where Gods supposedly lived

• Lakshmana Temple

Spiritual belief: deity (most likely Anu of the sky) would descend into temple & talk to king to make political decisions (king goes in alone) -theocracy

Oriented towards cardinal points NSEW

INTERIOR:

Sacred Space

Small & Dark (controls light)

Foundation deposits of leopard and lion bones → indicated that there were likely animal sacrifices

Bitumen coated canals - flowing water into in center

“Eshnunna Votive Figures” c. 2700 BCE; Sumerian; Gypsum inlaid with shells and black limestone

Visual:

EYES are emphasized (for 2 theorized reasons)

• eyes are alert & active to PRAY ALL DAY (pray for patron)

• They are looking at deity itself

Beard & clothing indicate status

Function - worship by proxy

Hands holding “libations” to offer to the god

Context - buried beneath floor in Abu’s temple (fertility god)

• references earlier practice of burying people under the house

Mat’ls, such as the shell, used in the eyes to make it them look wet and alive

Standard of Ur” Sumerian; c. 2500 BCE; Wod inlaid with shell, lapis lazuli, and red limestone

Context - found in tomb w/ treasure. lapis is symbol of status

Visuals - blue for royalty, hierarchy of the individual (larger, more ornate clothing), narrative organized by registers

Peace side and war side - dual nature of ruler

Babylon 1800 BCE - 1000 BCE

“Gate of the Gods”

Cite-State

Cuneiform writing

Largest city in world - 200000 people

Conquered territories thrived under Hammurabi

“Stele of Hammurabi” Babylon; Iran; c. 1750 BCE; Basalt stone

First code of laws - 292 in cuneiform → enforced social hierarchies

Hammurabi entering supernatural world (like Lady Xoc) and receiving the code from Shamash (sun god of justice, flames coming from shoulder

the one sittin is Shamash

Figures in high relief, composit stance

Rod and ring - building tools, power symbols

Early foreshortening - diagonal lines in beard

Cuneiform is written in Akkadian, the conquered language → shows dominance

Over 7 feet tall

Hammurabi is a pious theocrat, and these are not his laws, he is just the administer of divine justice

Copied several times & placed in conquered cities for PROPAGANDA

Displayed in temples honoring Shamash

Assyria circa 2500 BCE - 600 BCE

Takes over Babylon

“Lamassu” Citadel of Sargon II; Assyrian; Alabaster Stone; c. 720 BCE

Context: placed at entrance of city; anthropomorphic, part bull, part human

Function: Guard the city at the entrance

Monolith! → such a feat of engineering that they told stories of it in relief carvings

Contrast of smooth skin and textured wings/hair

Blends strength and beauty (dual nature of rulers)

5 legs -both rigid AND in motion

• the rigid legs symbolize that is is judging you, and if it deems you worthy to pass, you can see the diagonal leg. The diagonal leg symbolizes that it is walking away

Iconoclasm - exploded by ISIS

Persian Empire

Conquers Babylon

AKA Archaemenid Empire

Persepolis is the citadel complex

• Perspepolis monumental architecture to legitimize rule and assert dominance. It followed the hypostyle hall design because it was filled with columns

Cyrus the Great - unprecedented tolerance for conquered cultures

• Kings and religion ould be kept, but the kings must have less authority than him

“Audience Hall of Darius and Xerxes” Persian; Persepolis, Iran; c. 520 BCE; Limestone

Context: situated on high plateau to overlook the plain

• dominance and visibility

Xerxes sacks Athenian Acropolis, Alexander the Great retaliates by destroying Persepolis

Content - reliefs show all conquered cultures (23) coming together to offer goods to ruler → shows harmony and submission, not war

Terraced construction - just like Machu Pichu

Also - advanced rain irrigation + sewage

Processional during persian New Year

Wide Stairwell - receives conquered cultures

Audience Hall:

Content: apadana (audience hall) that could hold 10k people, 72 collosal columns, had a roof

• large gathering area for conquered cultures

Capitals on top of columns influnced by Greek and Egyptian columns

Bull = royalty

23 subjugated nations shown in relief carvings - clothing indicated country of origin

Egypt - Old Kingdom

Nile River- great for irrigation for crops → success

Pharaohs are believed to be demi-gods or divine

Focused more on building than writing

Contextual practice - new pharaoh moves and builds new capital city

Polytheistic

Too powerful priests led to disorder & collapse

“Palette of King Narmer” Egypt; 3000 BCE; Greywacke

Narmer unifies North & South Egypt—interlocked necks of lions (interlocking and unification of Egypt)

• also wears white (Upper Egypt) and red (Lower Egypt) crown

King is young, strong, calm victor among chaotic casualties (seen in Last Supper too)

Enemies show nude (debasement) and barbarous (like Night Attack)

Organized by registers to show the sequence of battle

Function - huge eyeliner palette used during a ceremony, but for display, not a utilitarian purpose

Presence of Horace = divine favor (god of war)

Divine Narmer= barefoot on sacred ground and sacred war approved by Horace

• King NEVER set foot on gorund

• Smiting pose = ultimate power

“Seated Scribe” Saqqara; Egypt; Old Kingdom; c. 2500 BCE; painted limestone with crystal inlay (eyes) and wood (nipples)

Context - found in Pharaoh’s Tomb (not sure which)

Visual Characteristics -

• fat around the middle represents high status

• naturalistic

• Eyes emphasized with the gemstone inlay and eyeliner. The lapis lazuli and shell also make them look alive and alert

Function - Houses the Ka spirit & serves the Pharaoh in the afterlife

“Great Pyramids at Giza” Egypt; Old Kingdom; c. 2550 BCE; Cut Limestone

Context - shape based on triangle symbol (ben ben) for Sun God Re; improvement on mastaba stepped tombs

Sun rays = ladders pharaohs use to ascend to heaven

Function = tomb for deceased rulers, also A DISPLAY OF POWER (control a ton of resources and labor)

Tomb for pharaohs Khufu, Khafra, and Menkaura

Oriented NSEW and faces east to the rising sun, a reference to agriculture

Necropolis = royalty

“King Menkaura and Queen” Gize, Egypt; Old Kingdom; c. 2490 BCE; Greywacke

Contex - found in Menkaura’s tomb at Giza; pharaohs are part-god

Queen = MAYBE Queen Khamerernebty

Function - substitute home for ka (spirit) and serves as his body in afterlife

king = idealized; Queen = naturalistic

Gender roles define - strong masculinity w/ soft femininityRigid in motion - foot extended, attempt to appear active

• Stance - even distribution of weight (problem)

Great Sphinx

Portrays King (Khafre) as the sun god Re

Human intelligence + strength of beast

Divine Rule

Egypt - NEW Kingdom

1570 BCE - 1069 BCE

Expand empire thorugh military conquest, gains wealth

New capital - Thebes

Old Kingdom - pyramid tombs

New Kingdom- temples to honor rulers and gods

“Temple of Amun-Re” Karnak, Egypt; New Kingdom; c. 1550 BCE; Cut sandstone and brick

Statue f Amun (air) is bathed, dressed, given jewelry (like Shiva Nataraja & Jowo Rinpoche)

Central axis; Hypostyle hall

Created as a mound arising from sacred waters from beginning of time (like Borobudur temple)

Built by several different pharaohs over time, primarily Thutmose & Hatshepsut (like Forbidden City, which was built through Ming & Ching Dynasty)

Opet festival - agriculture exhausted gods and needed a fresh input of energy → surrounding area periodically flooded and people would get intentionally drunk

Problem - dark, sacred space with a lot of pillars and people are drunk → problem = people bump into columns

• needs some light

• SOLUTION - clerestory - windows at top allowing ofr illumination of the centre aisle, allowing ofr a focused light and not a flooding light because sacred spaces should be dark

Influence of the Clerestory seen in…

• Forum of Trajan - Rome

• Santa Sabina - Christianity

Southern Axis connects to Temple of Luxor Ram Heads Adorn Walkway (erase past ruler)

Relief carvings - Temple of Amun-Re

• tradition of divine kings (youthful, calm victors)

“Mortuary Temple of Hatashepsut” New Kingdom Period, Egypt; 1470 BCE

One of the first female Pharaohs

New funerary ritual - temple to HONOR her, does NOT contain her body

Built into cliffside, symmetrical - stability/power

Central axis - order; oriented/points toward her addition to Temple of Amun-Ra in Karnak

Colonnade - row columns, tiny caves

Interior Artworks:

Divine rule - Horus present

Composite stance, idealized portraits

Holding libations for Gods

Shown both Masculine + feminine - goatee, flattened chest, softer face

Originally placed throughout kingdom for propaganda

New Kingdom - Armana Period

Context - Akhenaton takes thrown and THROWS AWAY all Egyptin tradition

Pharaoh portraiture becomes moe feminine and naturalistic (og = idealistic)

Declared one god - Aton (sun disc)

“Akhenaton and Family” NK Armana Egypt; c. 1340 BCE; Limestone

Traditional - divine pharaohs, relief carving; hieroglyphs

Innovation - intimate family portrait (more emotional), monotheistic - Aton sun, overlapping, no registers

“Tutankhamun’s Tomb” NK c. 1323 BCE; Gold, enamel, precious stones

Context - Akhenaton is overthrown and Tut rules from 9-18

Return to tradition

Crook - shepard’s hook (shepard = pharaoh, sheep = ppl.)

Flail - weapon of submission

• Flail + Crook = sigs of Osiris - god of afterlife

• Dual nature of ruler

King Tut’s Death Mask:

Shows Pharaoh in his divine form

Believed to have gold skin, lapiz lazuli for hair, bones of silver

Coffin is covered with spell 151b from the Book of the Dead which guides the spirit through the afterlife

“Last Judgement of hu-Nefer” Page from the Book of the Dead; NK Egypt; c. 1275 BCE; Painted Papyrus Scroll

Context

• Papyrus grew plentifully along Nile, tradition of writing on it

• Scribes are high status

Function

• Document Hu-Nefer’s worthiness

• Historical document of ritual/belief