Unit 2 Notes


White Temple & Its Ziggurat


  • Unknown Artist

  • Sumerian

  • c. 3517—3358 B.C.E.

  • Architecture/Temple


Form: A raised platform with sloping sides is called a ziggurat. The White Temple is situated on a 40-foot-high ziggurat platform and has 60-foot-long walls composed of whitewashed mud bricks. The compass's cardinal points are aligned with the four corners. A ziggurat is a constructed elevated platform that resembles a pyramid with four sloping sides. Since stone is scarce in the Near East, mud-bricks are the preferred building material for ziggurats.


Content: The temple interior included a cella and smaller rooms. The sides of the ziggurat were very broad and sloping but broken up by recessed stripes or bands from top to bottom (see digital reconstruction, above), which would have made a stunning pattern in morning or afternoon sunlight. The only way up to the top of the ziggurat was via a steep stairway that led to a ramp that wrapped around the north end of the Ziggurat and brought one to the temple entrance. The temple gets its name for the fact that it was entirely white washed inside and out, which would have given it a dazzling brightness in strong sunlight.


Function: It functioned as a space for rituals, not for prayers or ceremonies. The White Temple's (relatively) small size suggests that it was a place where a chosen few would communicate with the gods rather than a place for the general public to gather and worship.


Context: Ancient Mesopotamians created the first sophisticated systems of writing, math, and religion, after all. Uruk was the first of the early Mesopotamian cities. It was a thriving settlement with 40,000 people.The city was associated with the god Anu (god of the sky). The temples built to honor him were the center of the urban landscape.


Statue of Votive Figures


  • Unknown Artist

  • Sumerian

  • c. 2900—2600 B.C.E.

  • Sculpture


Form: The pupils are black limestone, the eyes are inlaid shell. The incised eyebrows may once have also been inlaid. The votive statues are of various sizes and usually carved in gypsum or limestone. They depict men wearing fringed or tufted fleece skirts, and women wearing fringed or tufted dresses draped over one shoulder.


Content: The male and female figures stand with their hands clasped in a gesture of respect or prayer. These votives had clasped hands and exaggerated eyes to suggest attentiveness to prayer. Figures are of various heights to denote hierarchy of scale. The woman wears a rope draped over her left shoulder, while the man wears a simple tufted skirt.“It offers prayer” is inscribed on the back.


Function: Ancient Sumerians built figurines in their likenesses and left them in sacred spaces as votive offering to the god Abu. Access to the small central shrines was probably limited, most likely to the priests who served the god’s needs. It was perhaps due to this lack of access that the elite commissioned images of themselves to be carried into the god’s presence. These statues embodied the very essence of the worshipper so that the spirit would be present when the physical body was not.


Context: Almost 5000 years ago somebody buried a small group of alabaster figures on the floor of a temple. Hundreds of votive figurines like these have been discovered buried beneath the temple floors. 12 figures in all were buried in Eshnunna in the Northern part of ancient Mesopotamia, what i snow called Tell Asmar. The temple was dedicated to the god Abu.



The Standard of Ur


  • Unknown Artist

  • Sumerian

  • c. 2600—2400 B.C.E.

  • Mosaic


Form: The Standard of Ur takes the form of a wooden art piece covered with bitumen (essentially tar), and decorated with small pieces of carved shell, red limestone, and lapis lazuli.


Content: There are three rows on each elongated side of the standard, showing the common man, soldiers, and the king. The standard depicts times of war and peace, respectively, on each side, ranging from the bottom of the social hierarchy to the top. There two main sides are the “peace” and “war” side.


Function: A “standard” is a ceremonial or military flag. Woolley thought that the hollow box structure would have been carried on a pole during times of war or during a victory procession. Today, art historians believe the Standard of Ur was a music box, although its true function unclear. Leonard Woolley, the excavator at Ur, imagined that it was carried on a pole as a standard, hence its common name.


Context: Sumerians of the city-state Ur built the object nearly 4500 years ago. Mesopotamia developed from "the land between two rivers" into a powerful, thriving civilization. Close to temple buildings at the center of the city of Ur, sat a garbage dump built up over centuries. Unable to use the area for building, the people of Ur started to bury their dead there. The artifact was found in one of the largest royal tombs in Ur, tomb PG 779, associated with Ur-Pabilsag, a king who died around 2550 BC.


The Code of Hammurabi


  • Unknown Artist

  • Babylonian

  • 1792—1750 B.C.E.

  • Sculpture/Relief Sculpture/Manuscript


Form: At the top of the stele, a small relief depicts Hammurabi receiving the Code from the Sun god, Shamash. Hammurabi and Shamash are equal in size, suggesting their equal importance. Carved in composite view. Shamash sits on a throne, and hands a sceptor and ring to Hammurabi.


Content: The Code of Hammurabi, carved below the figures, consists of 282 laws and represents one of the most significant finds in the ancient Mediterranean because it contains evidence of an organized written language. Ancient Babylonians wrote the Code in Akkadian using cuneiform script. The sun god Shamash appears resting on a Ziggurat and handing Hannurabi a rope, ring and rod of kingship. Shamash wears a crown of 4 rows of horns.


Function: Illegal actions are listed, and followed by a consequence. The epilogue speaks to the posterity of the king and his importance. It acts as a type of moral code, or set as laws for the society.


Context: Hammurabi of the city state of Babylon conquered much of northern and western Mesopotamia and by 1776 B.C.E., he is the most far-reaching leader of Mesopotamian history, describing himself as “the king who made the four quarters of the earth obedient.” Hammurabi understood that uniting the entire region of Mesopotamia would take a consolidation of the various laws governing all the city-states—a project that turned into the Code of Hammurabi. Though Hammurabi carefully drafted his legal code himself, he portrayed it as divinely inspired and told everyone he'd been chosen by the gods to set forth these new laws.



Lamassu From the Citadel of Sargon II


  • Unknown Artist

  • Assyrian

  • c. 721—705 B.C.E.

  • Sculpture/Relief Sculpture/Architectural Sculpture


Form: The artist carved the Lamassu sculptures from megaliths, or single pieces of massive stone. The Lamassu sculptures stand approximately 13 feet tall. They feature the body of a bull with the face of a bearded man, most likely the king, with incredibly detailed facial features. The eyes gaze in an intense stare; the beard covers the face in ringlets.


Content: The Lamassu are guardian figures created to guard the palace of the Assyrian king. It depicts a five legged beast, a sign of wealth and power to Assyrian enemies.


Function: On the bottom of the sculpture, cuneiform text declares the king the ultimate ruler and protector of the palace. In fact, the Lamassu sculptures guarded the gates of the king's palace, so they were like the protectors of the protector of the palace.


Context: Due to the threat of violence, ancient Assyrians lined their palaces with these "protective" sculptures. The cuneiform on the Lamassu sculptures speaks to the king's authority and power—they have a bull's body because the animal symbolized fierceness and strength to the ancient Assyrians. For the kings of ancient Mesopotamia, nothing was more important than demonstrating their strength and power.


Audience Hall (apadana) of Darius and Xerxes


  • Unknown Artist

  • Persian

  • c. 518—330

  • Stone, Limestone


Form:  Originally 72 columns, only 14 that remain standing today, created a hallway-esque structure that was open to the air on three sides. The building was 65.6 feet, or 6 stories, high


Content: Two giant staircases, located on the north and east sides, gave people access to the hall. These staircases were heavily decorated with reliefs that depict the ambassadors of the many nations that were under the rule of Darius. The figures were all carved with a great attention to detail, so archaeologists and art historians have been able to learn a lot about the various cultures that made up the Persian empire by studying these reliefs. The stairs featured carvings of the Kings Guard.


Function: Xerxes I, one of the most famous architects in the ancient world, designed the structure. These halls were most likely used for banquets and receptions, and it was here that the king would have received tribute.


Context: The ancient Persians tolerated the diversity of cultures and languages of the people they conquered. It turns out that not forcing people to give up their cultures and ways of life made them happier and less likely to rebel. The apadana exemplifies the peaceful, cultural exchange that occurred between the ancient Mediterranean and the Near East. Just as Greek and Roman architecture is characterized by public structures, the audience hall of Darius and Xerxes parallels the import and focus given to monumental structures by the Persians. Besides serving as a receiving place, the audience hall is also thought to have been the site of major festival, the details of which have been lost to history.


Material/Technique: Form: Function: Content, ca01001129.schoolwires.net/cms/lib/CA01001129/Centricity/domain/289/ap%20art%20history/lecture%20notes/Chapter%201%20and%202%20lecture%20notes.pdf. Accessed 24 Sept. 2025.