Ancient Near East Art: Summary Notes

Description: Limestone stele from Sippar (found at Susa), dating to c. 2254-2218 BCE.
Significance: Illustrates the power and prestige of ancient Near Eastern rulers through symbolic visual language and hierarchic scale.
Hierarchic Scale: Naram-Sin is the largest figure, signifying his importance.
Symbolism: He wears a horned helmet (divinity), carries weapons (military strength), and is depicted in an eroticized pose (male potency).
Historical Context: Commemorates a military victory, showing the Akkadian army and defeated Lullubi people.

Early Development: Discuss the early art and architecture in Sumer.
Power and Art: Explain how art from Akkad, Ur, Lagash, and Babylon reflected the power of rulers.
Design and Meaning: Characterize the design and meaning of palace complexes sponsored by Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian rulers.
Persian Impact: Appraise the impact of the Persian conquest on ancient Near Eastern architecture.

Fertile Crescent: Domestication of grains occurred in this area.
Mesopotamia: The land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (present-day Iraq).
City-States: Agricultural villages evolved into cities, forming city-states with their own gods and governments.
Social Hierarchies: Development of specialized skills led to social hierarchies and increased trade.
Political Instability: Mesopotamia's wealth made it vulnerable to political upheaval and shifts in power between various groups (Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians).

Vulnerability of Art: Art is vulnerable during social unrest (e.g., looting in Baghdad's Iraq National Museum).
Spoils of War: Art objects are often taken as military trophies (e.g., Stele of Naram-Sin and Stele of Hammurabi taken to Susa).
Museum Acquisitions: Museums acquire works through military conquest or archaeological discovery (e.g., Rosetta Stone, Elgin Marbles).
Cultural Artifacts: Debates surround the appropriateness of taking revered cultural artifacts as spoils of war.

Location: Cities and city-states along the rivers of southern Mesopotamia (c. 3500-2340 BCE).
Inventions: Credited with the wagon wheel, plow, and copper/bronze casting.
Writing: Invention of writing on clay tablets around 3100 BCE, evolving from pictographs to phonograms.
Cuneiform: Mesopotamian writing using wedge-shaped marks made by a stylus.

Ziggurats: Stepped pyramidal structures with a temple or shrine on top, symbolizing wealth and stability, and serving as bridges between earth and heavens.
Polytheism: Worship of many gods and goddesses, each city having a protective deity.
Temple Complexes: Clusters of religious, administrative, and service buildings in each city's center.
White Temple: A whitewashed brick temple built on top of Anu's ziggurat around 3100 BCE.
Carved Vessel: Alabaster vessel depicting stories in registers; lower register shows water and plants, middle shows men carrying food, and top shows Inanna accepting an offering.
Ritual Marriage: Scene may represent the reenactment of the ritual marriage between Inanna and Dumuzi.

Votive Figures: Limestone statues from the Square Temple in Eshnunna (c. 2900-2600 BCE), dedicated to the gods by wealthy worshipers.
Conventions: Stylized forms emphasizing cylindrical shapes, stocky bodies, and clasped hands.
Inlaid Eyes: Bold, glaring eyes reflecting the importance of an attentive gaze when approaching deities.

Lyre: Harp found in a royal tomb (c. 2600-2500 BCE), combining wood, gold, lapis lazuli, and shell.