Mesopotamia - The Art of the Ancient Near East Flashcards
What age is 3300 - 1200 BCE?
Bronze Age in the Ancient Near East
What age is 1200 BCE - 600 BCE?
Iron Age in the Ancient Near East
A Greek word meaning ‘between the rivers’. An ancient region of soulwest Asia between the Tigis and Euphates rivers in modern-day Iraq.
Mesopotamia
The delta could only be made by _______ and ______, which was managed first by a priestly class and then by godlike kings. Consequently the plentiful supply of food permitted the growth of large urban population.
Large-scale irrigation and flood control
Was not a unified nation but made up of independent city-states. Rulers and periests directed the communcal activities including canal construction, crop collection, and food distribution. Development of agriculture made it possible for some members to specialize in other activities such as manufacturing, trade and administration.
Ancient Sumer
Cuneiform from Latin to English
Wedge Shaped
Used by the Sumerians, Akkadians Assyrians Babylonians and Persians.
Cuneiform Writing
Also called “Holy of Holies”. The inner room of the temple, in which the statue of the god was situated.
Cella
The chief Sumerian goddess, associated with fertility, the natural world, and war. Later equated with the Babylonian Ishtar.
Inanna
One of a series of superimposed bands in a pictorial narrative, or the particular levels on which motifs are placed.
Register
Inanna spoke:
“What I tell you
Let the singer weave into song.
What I tell you,
Let it flow from ear to mouth,
Let it pass from old to young:
My vulva, the horn,
The Boat of Heaven,
Is full of eagerness like the young moon.
My untilled land lies fallow.
As for me, Inanna,
Who will plow my vulva?
Who will plow my high field?
Who will plow my wet ground?
As for me, the young woman,
Who will plow my vulva?
Who will station the ox there?
Who will plow my vulva?”
Dumuzi replied:
“Great Lady, the king will plow your vulva?
I, Dumuzi the King, will plow your vulva.”
The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi (Circa 3000 BCE)
“I will sing the song of the man of battle, the man of battle. I will sing the song of lord Gilgamesh, the man of battle, I will sing the song of the lord with the very black beard, the man of battle. I will sing the song of him with the well-proportioned limbs, the man of battle….”
The Epic of Gilgamesh
is an object left in a sacred place for ritual purposes
Votive offering
1880-1960, British archaelogist who directed the joint British Museum and Univ. of Pennsylvania expedition at Ur in Mesopotamia (1922-34). Woolley oversaw the excavation of the cemetery at Ur, which included 16 royal tombs with treasures of gold and lapis lazuli and evidence of large-scale human sacrifice.
Sir Leonard Woolley
The representaion of more important figures as larger than less important figures.
Hierarchial Scale
A composition that is symmetrical on the either side of a central figure
Heraldic composition
A small stone cylinder incised with reversed designs so that when it was rolled over a soft surface the design appeared in relief. These seals were used to mark property and to legalize documents.
Cylinder Seal
A carved stone slab used to mark graves or to commemorate historical events
Stele
A monumental platform for a temple. The ____ was a pyramidal structure, built in receding tiers upon a rectangular or square platform, with a shrine at the summit.
Ziggurat
Sargon, ________, has built a city, Dur Sharukin he had named it.
King of the World
Citadel of Sargon
Dur Sharukin
A parapet (short wall) with open spaces that surmounts a wall and is used for defense or decoration
Crenellation
The chief god of the Babylonians. The creator of mankind and the god of light and life.
Marduk
are an Iranian people who speak the Persian language and share a common culture and history.
The Persians
The founder of the Persian Empire under the Achaemenid dynasty. As the leader of the Persian people, he conqured the Medes and unified the two separate Iranian Kingdoms/
Cyrus the Great (ca. 567 or 590 BCE-529 BCE)
“I am ____, great King, King of Kings, Kings of countries, King of this Earth”
Darius
Decorative element at the upper part of a column or pier
Capital
The chief deity of Zoroastrianism, the creator of the world, the source of light, and the embodiment of good. _____ is not omnipotent, but will ultimately prevail. Until then, the role of the mankind is to maintain the order, by resisting chaos, through good thoughts, words and actions.
Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazda’s adversary, the chief spirit of darkness and evil in Zoroastrianism.
Ahriman
Alternative name of Ahura Mazda
Wise Lord
Angra Mainyu
Ahriman
