Exam 1: Mesopotamia

Question 1

Key Connections to European Development

Answer 1

• trade links: Greece and Rome
• Oral epic tradition: Gilgamesh
• legal traditions: Stele of Hammurabi
• Art and Architecture: style, technique, canon of proportions

Question 2

Common Threads

Answer 2

• cuneiform writing
• art and architecture styles
• cultural norms
• religious beliefs

Question 3

River Valleys (why?)

Answer 3

• water: irrigation, travel

- beer: drink b/c kills bacteria (didn’t know that)

Question 4

Art from Lagash City on Euphrates River

Answer 4

• Eannatum of Lagash
• Gudea of Lagash
• Both: votive statues, cuneiform (labeled)
• Head of the Goddess Inanna (cult statue)

Question 5

Votive Statue

Answer 5

• ruler of city praying to deity
• pias: bare foot w/ elaborate clothes
• smaller than life
• clasped hands: prayer
• unibrow (wide), enhanced eyes

Question 6

Cult Statue

Answer 6

• marble ($)
• big eyebrows/ eyes
• cult statue: deity
• chink in head = headdress
• bigger in context to votive statue

Question 7

Votive vs. Cult Statues

Answer 7

• praying to deity vs. deity
• small vs. big (in context)
• not different style

Question 8

Art from Royal Tombs of Ur

Answer 8

• Bull Headed Lyre
• The “Royal Standard” of Ur
• Stele

Question 9

Bull Headed Lyre

Answer 9

• reconstructed

- long/ elaborate beard (common)

Question 10

The “Royal Standard” of Ur

Answer 10

• peace and war side

- most important/ ruler = biggest - hierarchal scale (bigger = more important)

Question 11

Hierarchal Scale

Answer 11

in artwork bigger means more important

Question 12

Stele

Answer 12

• mountains = holy place
• hierarchy of scale (Narin Sin)
• going to Mountains

Question 13

Ziggurats

Answer 13

• artificial mountains in Tigris/ Euphrates
• from Mesopotamian word for “mountain”
• huge
• Top: temple to gods

Question 14

Elite

Answer 14

• made most of the art

- expensive

Question 15

Head of Akkadian Man

Answer 15

• lost wax casting
• eyes missing: valuable filling, defacing
• intricate
• bronze casting: very expensive

Question 16

Stele of Hammurabi (Babylon)

Answer 16

• cuneiform writing in middle
• relief carvings at top
• bottom is blank: for display
• relief
  
  • sitting = more important (big w/ scepter) = god
  • standing = Hammurabi receiving law from gods

Question 17

Stele

Answer 17

large free standing w/ relief carvings usually in monument

Question 18

Law Code

Answer 18

Hammurabi codified law so its not a work in progress

Question 19

The Epic of Gilgamesh

Answer 19

• Legendary king of Ur, ca. 2100 BC
• Preserved on tablets
• Revised 1200 BC and kept in Assurbanipal’s library at Nineveh
• Rediscovered in 19th century

Question 20

Key Epic Features

Answer 20

• Repetitive Language
• Mythological Heroes
  
  • interact with heroes
  • royal/ unusual background
  • strong
  • go on journeys
  • slay monsters
  • face (and defeat) death