Unit 2 (Part 1)

#12- White Temple and its Ziggurat (Uruk, modern Warka Iran, 3,500-3,000 BCE, mudbrick)

  • city life and writing present within the temple and the city

  • dedicated to sun god Anu

  • made to connect to the gods above

  • tripartied and bent-axis approach

  • a religious center and center of the city, religion very important to the sumerians 

  • cella: main room of temple

  • temple was whitewashed with bitumen

#13 - Palette of King Narmer (predynastic Egypt, 3,000-2,920 BCE, greywacke)

  • created for religious and funerary purposes, mix eyeliner in the afterlife

  • palette engraved with cultural references 

  • the way king narmer was positioned shows hierarchy of scale and pharaonic style

  • scenes divided through registers

  • king wears crown of upper egypt

  • the palette shows the unification of upper and lower egypt along with the war for unification

#14 - Statues of Votive Figures (Square Temple at Eshnunna at Tell Asmar, Iraq, Sumerian, 2,700 BCE, gypsum inlaid with shell and black limestone)

  • dedicated to Abu, god of vegetation

  • meant to pray in place for a person

  • male and female figures represented

  • near eastern patterning in the beard and the clasped hands prominent in near eastern art (not egyptian) 

  • buried in groups

#15 - Seated Scribe (Saqqara, Egypt, old kingdom, fourth dynasty, 2,620-2,500 BCE, painted limestone with paint and wooden nipples)

  • statue at work, the way the body is positioned is not pharaonic, the statue shows prominent body fat and a natural body

  • the scribe is an important figure in ancient egypt

  • funerary for pharaoh, scribe for the afterlife

  • alert and frontal

#16 - Standard of Ur (Tell el-Muqayyar, Iraq, Sumerian, 2,600-2,400 BCE, wood inlaid with shell, lapis lazuli, red limestone)

  • trade is evident (lapis from Afghanistan, limestone from India)

  • shows wealth and power

  • found in a royal tomb

  • shows civilization and specialization of labor, hierarchy of scale, historical narrative, and divided via registers

  • displays advanced military technology 

#17 - Great Pyramids and Great Sphinx (Giza, Egypt, old kingdom, fourth dynasty, 2,550-2,490 BCE, cut limestone)

  • built on the Giza plateau over a span of generations with a seasonal crew of 2,000

  • blocks slid from quarry to pyramid on surface or wet silt or floated

  • Khufu is the largest and would’ve been topped with a gold pyramidion, shows desire to heighten association with the sun/sky

  • has a corbeled vault instead of the post and lintel

#18 - King Menkaura and Queen (Egypt, old kingdom, fourth dynasty, 2,490-2,472 BCE, greywacke)

  • positioned in an architectural niche to appear as if they were emerging, also displayed the egyptian pose with the left foot out

  • frontal, (mostly) symmetrical, formal, pharaonic

  • identity of queen is questionable

  • canon: a system of proportions 

#19 - Code of Hammurabi (Babylon, modern Iran, Susian, 1,792-1,750 BCE, basalt with cuneiform writing)

  • written in Akkadian cuneiform

  • top depicts Hammurabi receiving code from Shannash (Shannash is shown in composite perspective, or combining viewpoints)

  • text of stele divided between 3 parts 

  • laws are divine and shows Hammurabi’s divine right to rule

  • may be influence for the 10 commandments

#20 - Temple of Amun-Re and Hypostyle Hall (Kamek, near Luxor Egypt, new kingdom, 18-19th dynasties, temple:1,500 BCE, hall:1,250 BCE, cut sandstone and mudbrick)

  • pylon temple facade

  • clerestory lighting (natural light from the sun)

  • floor slopes up the emulate creation of life and time mythology

  • access is limited to the pharaoh

  • ceiling emulates the sky (stars and birds)

  • columns designed with lotus, papyrus, and palm plants to create a marshlike environment

#21 - Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut (near Luxor Egypt, new kingdom, 18th dynasty, 1,473-1,458 BCE, sandstone partially carved into a rock cliff and red granite)

  • designed by architect and consort Senmut

  • hatshepsut ruled as 2nd female pharaoh, but displayed as male to legitimise her rule and conform to the pharaonic art style

  • carving similar to middle kingdom tomb

  • made to legitimise her rule and connection to Amun-Re

  • mathematical proportions and order over chaos

#22 - Akhenaton, Nefertiti, and 3 Daughters (new kingdom Egypt, Amarna period, 18th dynasty, 1,353-1,335 BCE, limestone)

  • Amarna style: curvilinear lines, protruding bellies, domestic scenes, androgynous males, elongated heads)

  • used in private alter

  • monotheistic religion worshiping sun disk god Aten/Aton

  • throne representing upper and lower egypt

#23 - Tutankhamun’s Tomb, innermost coffin (new kingdom, 18th dynasty, 1,323 BCE, gold inlay of enamel and semi precious stones)

  • inner coffin made from solid gold with Nekhbet and Wadjet carved in along with stones

  • crook and flail on the tomb represent right to rule

#24 - Last Judgement of Hu-Nefer, from his tomb (new kingdom, 19th dynasty, 1,275 BCE, painted papyrus scroll) 

  • reads left to right in narrative

  • displays the mythology surrounding death and HN’s journey into judgement

  • placed in tomb to guide into the afterlife 

  • thoth records the proceedings, showing the importance of written text to egyptians

#25 - Lamassu and the Citadel of Sargon II (Dur Sharrukin, modern Khorsabad, Iraq, neo-Assyrian, 720-705 BCE, alabaster)

  • created during period of warring civilizations

  • creature has 5 legs on front and side, are complete, masc and fem, protects entrance to royal residence