Sumerian

Uruk (Warka) Vase

• Made of alabaster

• Found in the temple of Inanna, goddess of love, fertility, and war

• First (from bottom to top): grain and reeds → Two most important agricultural harvests

• Second: rams and ewes → Being herded → Agrarian economy

• Third: blank, might have been painting faded away

• Fourth: carrying products of the Mesopotamian agricultural system (fruits, grains, wine, and mead)

  • Naked and muscular → Humble and low status → Servants or enslaved individuals (the band above, displays the owners of the enslaved figures).

• Fifth: A man and a woman face each other, a smaller naked male stands between them holding agricultural produce which he offers to the woman. The woman had an elaborate crown on her head at one point.

  • Two reed bundles → symbols of the goddess Inanna

  • Two-horned and bearded rams carrying statues

    • One statue is carrying a cuneiform

    • The other statue is carrying a reed bundle

    • Rams carrying vases like the Uruk Vase

• King celebrating Inanna

  • Sacred marriage between the king and the goddess

Votive Statues

• Iraq

• Found below the temple

• Deeply focused, staring straightforward, some with very large eyes, most with hands clasped, some holding cups.

• Adorants, mortals worshiping the god of the temple

• Inscribed on the back or bottom with a personal name and prayer or “one who offers prayers.”

• Represents elite people, both men and women

• One that stands out

  • Tallest one

  • Rough image carved at the base

    • Anzu bird holding two horned animals → associated with Ninurta (god of thunder) and Abu (god of vegetation)

Bull-Headed Lyre

• One of the oldest string instruments discovered

• Iraq

• Found in “The King’s Grave”

• Made of wood, lapis lazuli, gold, silver, shell, and bitumen.

• Soundbox, a quadripartite panel, and a sculpted bull’s head.

• Bull’s beard represents the power of the king and Shamash (god of the sun)

• May have been used to provide music for the ruler in the afterlife

Akkadian

Victory Stele of Naram-Sin

• Akkadian victory over the Lullibi Mountain people

  • Mountain people being thrown off the mountain

  • Someone under Naram-Sin’s foot with a spear in his neck

  • Someone running away

• New composition

  • Normally shown in registers

  • Still clear separation of status and hierarchy scale

    • Naram-Sin is “greater” in appearance and is associated with the gods.

      • Everyone in the stele is looking at him

      • Wearing the horned helmet → symbol of divinity

      • Rising into the realm of the heavenly

• Symbolic image that tells a story through symbols of the event

Babylonian

Stele of Hammurabi

• Carved in relief at the top

• Inscribed cuneiform at the bottom

  • Written in the language of Akkadian

    • Used for official government decrees

• Prologue

  • Describing the scene at the top

  • King (smaller) facing Shamash (god of the sun and justice)

    • Shamash is wearing a special horned crown

    • Flames or light that emanate from his shoulders (divine light like a halo)

    • Giving a scepter and ring to the king → sign of power

      • Hammurabi demonstrates that these are divine laws and his authority comes from Shamash

• Twisted perspective

• More than 300 laws

  • If you do X, Y is the consequence.

  • “An eye for an eye” or “A tooth for a tooth”

  • Shows what’s important to them

    • Agriculture, irrigation, family life, and points of tension in society.

• Epliogue

  • The prosperity of the king, the importance of his rule, and the idea that he will be remembered for all time.

Neo-Assyrian

“Garden Party” Relief

• Carved in alabaster

• Rare depiction of leisure in royal life

  • Often focuses on kings, war, and hunting.

  • A celebratory or relaxed moment after a victorious battle

    • Reminder of the king’s military conquests

  • King and queen are shown lounging in a lush garden

    • King reclines on a couch under a canopy, drinking wine, while his queen sits beside him.

    • Elaborate garments and headdresses → highlighting status

    • Surrounding them are servants, musicians, and attendants. → wealth and splendor of the royal court

• Trees, plants, and vines → Royal garden, relaxed atmosphere

  • Head of a defeated enemy king hanging from a nearby tree → power and ruthlessness of Assyrian rule.

Vocabulary

• Fertile Crescent

  • The boomerang-shaped region in the Middle East

  • Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, and Babylonia.

  • Named for its rich soils and was fertile due to its location between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and the Mediterranean Sea

  • Mesopotamia → "the land between the rivers"

  • Major crossroads for the exchange of goods and ideas

  • Birthplace of many technological innovations

    • Writing, the wheel, agriculture, and the use of irrigation.

• Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

  • Modern cities were built along their banks for transportation and water

  • Sacred and perform baptisms in its waters

  • A vital source of water, food, and transportation for the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia

  • Often flooded over onto the land → fertile land

• Uruk Period

  • First-state societies emerged and urban life began to develop

  • Development of large settlements with writing systems, administrative systems, ritual centers, and art.

    • The emergence of the cuneiform script, the decline of pottery painting, and the popularity of copper and cylinder seals.

  • Marked the beginning of the Sumerian civilization and the first great blossoming of civilization in the Fertile Crescent

• Shamash

  • Sun god and a primary deity who represented the power of light and good over evil and darkness

  • God of justice, truth, and equity, and was the judge of both gods and mortals.

  • Responsible for protecting travelers and ensuring that justice was served fairly

  • Associated with divination, often alongside the weather god Adad.

  • Believed to emerge from his underground chamber at sunrise and travel across the sky

• Cuneiform

  • “Wedge-shaped”

  • Ancient writing systems

  • Used for recording information such as business, trade, temple activities, stories, myths, and personal letters.

• Register/Frieze

  • Decorative band or panel

• Ziggurat

  • Ancient Mesopotamian temple tower consisting of a lofty pyramidal structure built in successive stages with outside staircases and a shrine at the top

• Frontal Eye

  • Associated with both good and evil, divine and devilish, and protective and destructive.

  • The major symbol in Mesopotamian art, religion, and spiritual beliefs

    • Wide eyes often represent attentiveness to the gods

    • Evil eyes could cause diseases, famines, disasters, and other damage to human lives and livelihoods.

• Twisted Perspective

  • The figure is shown mostly in profile, but a part of the figure is drawn facing the viewer.

  • Used to add energy, drama, and emphasis to a scene.

  • Allowed artists to be more descriptive in their illustrations of animal anatomy

• Polytheistic

  • Belief in many gods and goddesses

  • "Poly" means "many" and "theism" means "god or gods"

• Pictorial Narrative

  • Visual language that told stories about gods, rulers, and cosmic order.

  • Reflected Mesopotamian beliefs, myths, and social structures.

  • Proclaiming power, deterring war, and indicating that a battle and its outcome were justified.

• Votive

  • Objects given to a sacred place as a way to express gratitude or fulfill a vow

  • Paintings, sculptures, or figurines.

• Stele

  • Monuments made of stone or wood were used in ancient cultures to convey information through images, text, or both.

• Epic of Gilgamesh

  • The poem explores themes of the human condition, mortality, and the search for meaning in life.

  • Gilgamesh's journey from an arrogant king to a noble leader through self-discovery and pain

  • Deals with fundamental questions about human existence

  • Deals with values such as friendship, humbleness, and acceptance of weaknesses.

  • A timeless classic that laid the foundation for many Western heroic epics

• Hierarchy of Scale

  • Artistic technique that uses scale and proportion to indicate the significance of figures or objects in a composition

  • More important figures are depicted as larger than others

  • Emphasize certain elements and create a visual hierarchy

• Low Relief

  • Carving technique that depicts figures or scenes that project slightly from a background surface

  • Used to convey cultural and religious stories, and to represent important figures, deities, and events.

  • Common in ancient monuments and temples

  • Serve both aesthetic and symbolic purposes

  • Allows for intricate designs while conserving material and labor compared to fully three-dimensional sculptures

• Divine Kingship

  • The idea that a king was a sacred figure and a representative of the gods on earth

    • Descended from the gods

    • Divine favor

    • Superhuman abilities

    • Married a goddess

  • The concept of divine kingship was reflected in art and architecture and played a significant role in how rulers were depicted

• Aniconic

  • Absence of artistic representations of the natural and supernatural worlds, or certain figures in religions.

  • Cultural taboos that are often codified by religious traditions

  • When aniconism is enforced by the physical destruction of images, it becomes iconoclasm.

  • Played a significant role in shaping religious aesthetics and beliefs from ancient civilizations to modern religious practices

• Apotropaic

  • Type of protective magic that was used to ward off evil or misfortune.

  • “To ward off"