unit 2 Mesopotamia

Chronology of the Near East and Sites
• Neolithic Era → c. 9000-4500/4000 BCE
• Mesopotamia (Modern Iraq):
o Uruk Period → c. 3500-3100 BCE, city of Uruk
o Sumer → (Early Dynastic Period) c. 2800-2300 BCE, cities of
Sumer, Tell Asmar, & Ur
o Akkad → c. 2300-2100, city of Lagash
o Babylon → The Old Period = c. 1800-1600 BCE, Neo-Babylonia
c. 612-539, city of Babylon.
o Assyrian Empire → c. 1300-612 BCE, city of Assur

Continued
• Anatolia
o Hittite Empire → c. 1450-1200 BCE, modern Turkey.
• Ancient Iran→ c. 5000-331 BCE, Modern Iran,
Persepolis (near modern Shiraz)
• The Scythians → 8th-4th century BCE, Modern Russia
and Ukraine.

White
Temple
and
ziggurat,
Uruk
(modern
Warka),
Iraq, ca.
3200–
3000
BCE.

Ziggurat → a trapezoidal stepped structure
representing a mountain in ancient
Mesopotamia
• Load-bearing structure → a system of
construction in which solid forms are
superimposed on one another to form a
tapering structure

Carved vessel from
Uruk, c. 3300-3000
BCE, 36” tall,
alabaster, Iraq
Museum

Statuettes of two
worshipers, from the
Square Temple at
Eshnunna (modern
Tell Asmar), Iraq,
ca. 2700 BCE.
Gypsum inlaid with
shell and black
limestone, male
figure 2’ 6” high.
Iraq Museum,
Baghdad.

Female head (Inanna?),
from Uruk (modern
Warka), Iraq, ca. 3200–
3000 BCE. Marble, 8”
high. Iraq Museum,
Baghdad.

Banquet scene, cylinder seal (left) and its modern impression (right), from the
tomb of Pu-abi (tomb 800), Royal Cemetery, Ur (modern Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca.
2600 BCE. Lapis lazuli, 2” high. British Museum, London.

Victory stele of Naram-
Sin, from Susa, Iran,
2254–2218 BCE. Pink
sandstone, 6’ 7” high.
Louvre, Paris.

Peace side of the Standard of Ur, from Tomb 779, Royal Cemetery, Ur (modern
Tell Muqayyar), Iraq, ca. 2600 BCE. Wood inlaid with shell, lapis lazuli, and red
limestone, 8” x 1’ 7”. British Museum, London.

War represented on the Standard of Ur

Bull-headed lyre
(restored) from Tomb
789 (“King’s Grave”),
Royal Cemetery, Ur
(modern Tell
Muqayyar), Iraq, ca.
2600 BCE. Lyre:
Gold leaf and lapis
lazuli over a wooden
core, 5’ 5” high.

Sound box (right):
Wood with inlaid gold,
lapis lazuli, and shell, 1’
7” high. University of
Pennsylvania Museum
of Archaeology and
Anthropology,
Philadelphia.

Head of an Akkadian
ruler, from Nineveh
(modern Kuyunjik),
Iraq, ca. 2250–2200
BCE. Copper, 1’ 2
3/8” high. Iraq
Museum, Baghdad.

Nanna (or Sin) Ziggurat, c. 2100-2050 BCE. Ur (present-day Muqaiyir, Iraq.

Seated statue of Gudea
holding temple plan,
from Girsu (modern
Telloh), Iraq, ca. 2100
BCE. Diorite, 2’ 5” high.
Louvre, Paris.

Stele with law code of
Hammurabi, from
Susa, Iran, ca. 1780
BCE. Basalt, 7’ 4”
high. Louvre, Paris.

Lion Gate, Hattusa (modern Boghazköy), limestone, Turkey, ca. 1400
BCE.

Lamassu (winged,
human-headed bull),
from the citadel of
Sargon II, Dur
Sharrukin (modern
Khorsabad), Iraq, ca.
720–705 BCE.
Limestone, 13’ 10”
high. Louvre, Paris.
Lamassus → a creature
with a bearded man’s
head and either a lion or
bull’s body with the
wings of an eagle.

Ishtar Gate
(restored),
Babylon, Iraq,
ca. 575 BCE.
Staatliche
Museen,
Berlin.
Crenellations:
notches for
weapons
within
architecture.