Chapter 2: Ancient Near East Definitions/Photos Flashcards
Hierarchic Scale
Use of differences in size to indicate relative importance
Stele
Stone slab placed vertically and decorated with inscriptions or reliefs
Cuneifrom
Early form of writing with wedge shaped marks impression into the wet clay with a stylus
Stylus
Instrument with pointed end making a delicate line or scratch
Ziggurat
Ancient mesopotamia, tall stepped tower of earthen materials, often supporting a shrine
Votive Figure
Image created as devotional offering to deity
Inlay
To set pieces of material into a surface to form a design
Lost-Wax-Casting
Method of casting metal such as bronze
High Relief
Depends upon the extent of projection of the image of the background
Low Relief
Depends upon the extent of projection of the image of the background
Crenellation
Alternating high and low sections of a wall, giving a notched appearance and creating permanent defensive shields on top of fortified buildings
City - State
Has its own government, consists of a city and the area around it
Lapis Lazuli
Bright blue metamorphic rock consisting largely of lazurite, used for decoration an jewelry
Alabaster
Fine- grained, translucent form of gypsum (mineral), typically white, often carved into ornaments
Lyre
Greek string instruments .. looks like a harp
Diorite
Speckled, coarse-grained igneous rock consisting essentially of plagioclase, feldspar, and homblende or other mafic miners
Pleasure Garden
Open to public for recreation and entertainment
Gold Leaf
Very thin sheets of gold
The Epic of Gilgamesh
Earliest surviving great work of literature, from ancient mesopotamia
Inanna, Nanna, Anu, Ishtar
Sumerian God’s
Inanna - Goddess of love, fertility, and warfare
Nanna - God of the moon
Anu - Sky god
Ishtar - Goddess of fertility, love, war, sex, and power
Enheduanna
Daughter of Sargon of Akkad, high priestess of the moon god Nanna
Hammurabi
6th king of the First Babylonian Dynasty, 1792-1750 BCE
Uruk
Ancient city of Sumer and later Babylonia
Sir Leonard Woolley
British Archaeologist best known for his excavations at Ur in Mesopotamia
Photo: Head of Woman
Uruk (present day Warka, Iraq) c. 3300-3000 BCE
-Could be attached to wooden head on full size wooden body
- Stripped of its original paint, wig, and the inlay set in for brows and eyes
- Shells for the whites of the eyes
- Lapis lazuli for pupils
Hair may have been gold
Photo: The ruins of Anu Ziggurat
3400-3200 BCE
- Sancturary (white temple)
- Altar
- Northwest terrace
Characteristics of the landscape:
- Flat Landscap
- produced by the overflow of the rivers
Photo: Carved Vessel
Uruk,c. 3300-3000 BCE
Organized into 3 registers or horizontal bands:
- Lower strip; sources of life in natural world, beginning with water and plants.
- Upper strip; alternating rams, and ewes march single file along solid grown in line
- Middle strip; naked men carry baskets of foodstuffs
- Top register; Goddess Inanna accepts an offering from 2 standing figures
- 2 men that face her are taught to be first naked priest or acolyte presenting an offering-filled basket, followed by partially preserved, ceremonially dressed figure of the priest king
Photo: Votive Figures
Square Temple Eshuanna, c. 2900-2600 BCE
- small votary statues dedicated to gods
- brows inlaid with shell, stone, or bitumen
- cylindrical male and female bodies with sturdy legs
Photo: Cylinder Seal Impression
Tomb of Queen Puabi. 2600-2500 BCE
- Replaced stamp seal
- Cylinders made of hard stone
- Banquet scene with women
Photo: Disk of Enhenduanna
2300-2275 BCE.
Excavated by Leonard Woolley at Ur in 1927
Phote: Head of Ruler
Nineveh. 2300-2200 BCE. Iraq musem, Baghdad.
- Earlistest known hollow-cast sculpture (lost-wax casting)
- Ryality indicated by heard and braided hair
- Beard and hair are also characteristics of ideal male
- Symbolic mutilation of ears and eyes
Photo: Stele of Naram-Sin
2254-2218 BCE
- Hierarchic scale
- Victorious akkadian ruler with horned helmet
- Handsome male form = mythical heroism and royal power (ancient mesopotamian culture)
- Native trees suggest real battle scene
- Small enemy figures
- Sun deities
Photo: The Lion Hunt
Assurnasirpal II, Kalhu. 875-860 BCE
- Low Relief
- Marks shift in Mesopotamian art for “.. a sense of timeless solemnity, and toward a more damatic, even emotional, movement witht he event portrayed.
Photo: Ceremonial Complex
518-460 BCE
- New capital of Darius I
- Multicultural stlyle combining many different traditions- Persian, median, mesopotamian, egyptian, and greek
- Assyrian platform
- Rectangular grid like Egyptian and Greek Cities
Photo: Ziggurat of the moon-god Nanna at Ur
2100 - 2050 BCE
- One site of earlier temple
- Mud brick faced with kin-dried brick and set with bitumen
- Rectangular base with 3 platforms and 3 flights of stairs
- Platform walls slop outwards
First 2 levels with retaining walls are recent reconstructions
Photo: The great Lyre with Bull’s Head.
Royal tomb. Ur, c. 2600-2500 BCE
- Bull decorated with gold and lapis lazuli
- Front panel of sound box made of wood with shell inlaid in bitumen
- Lyres played at funerals
- Lyres buried on top of female musicians who played for funeral
Photo: Votive Statue of Gueda
2090 BCE. Musee du Louvre, Paris.
- Compact Stylized figure
- Emphasis on body’s power centers: eyes, head, arms
- Cuneiform text on garment dedication of Gudea, the statue, and it’s temple to Geshtinanna, divine poet and interpreter of dreams
- Water flows from vessel in two streams with fish
Eye concentrate on deity
Photo: Steele of Hammurabi
Sippar, c. 1792-1750 BCE
- Sun god and god of justice Shamash gives the law to king Hammurabi
- Shamash identified by sun rays, conical horned cap throne measuring rod and rope circle
- Laws engraved in cuneiform on stele
- Innovative regulation of laws and punishments
Photo: Lion Gate
Hattusha, c. 1400 BCE
- High relief guardian figures carved from the building stones of the wall
- Hittite capital
Lions project some difference from the background (high relief)
Photo: Reconstruction Drawing of the Citadel and Palace complex of Sargon II
Khorsabad Iraq, c. 721-706 BCE
- New Assyrian capital
- Sargon II lived and ruled from quarters atop 40 degree platform
- Gate guardian figures (lamassus)
Ziggurat
Photo: Assurbanipal and His Queen in the Garden
Nineveh, c. 647 BCE.
- Pleasure garden victory celebration
- Enemy’s severed head hangs from tree
Photo: Nanna Ziggurat
Ur, c. 2100-2050 BCE
- Dedicated to moon god Nanna
- Created by king Urnammu
Photo: Assurnaspirpal II Killion Lions
Palace of Assurnaspirpal II, Kalhu,c. 8750860 BCE)
- Low Relief
- Marks shift in Mesopotamian art for “.. a sense of timeless solemnity, and toward a more damatic, even emotional, movement witht he event portrayed.
Naram Sin
ruled 2254-2218 BCE
- ruler of Akkadia
- First mesopotamian king know to have claimed divinity for himself
Sargon I
2232-2279 BCE
Ruled Akkadia after Naram-Sin
Assurnasipal II
883-859 BCE
- established capital at Khalu
- Created the Lions Gate
Neobuchadnezzar II
605-562 BCE
- most famous neobabylonian Ruler
- Suppression of the jews
Cyrus II
559-530 BCE
Ruler of persia
Darius I
521-486 BCE
Construction of Parsa (palace)
Xerxes I
485-465 BCE
Son of Darius I
- Made his own modifications to the palace after his father
Photo: Reconstruction Drawing of Citadel and Palace
Dur Sharukin
721-706 BCE
- new ass capital
- gate guardian figures
- ziggurat
- lived and ruled atop 40 deg plat
Photo: Reconstruction of Babylon in the 6th Century
- Ishtar Gate
- Blue glazed brick facing
- 4 Tower symbols of babylonian power
- Neobuchadnezzar II
Photo: Ishtar Gate and Throne Room Wall
- Babylon
- 575 BCE
- Coloured glass (lapis lazuli)
Photo: Arial view of the Ceremonial Complex, Persepolis
- Iran
- 518-460 BCE
- New capital of Darius I
- Multicultural Style
- Assyrian Platform
- Reconstruction grid like
Photo: Darius and Xerxes Recieving Tribute
- Stairway to Apadana
- Persepolis Iran
- 491-486 BCE
