Vocabulary and Concepts (Prehistoric–Ancient Egyptian Art)

Question 1

Representational art

Answer 1

The presenting again–in different and substitute form–of something observed

Question 2

Non-representational art

Answer 2

Forms and colours arranged without reference to the depiction of an object

Question 3

Contour Line

Answer 3

In art, a continuous line defining the outer shape of an object. Outline which defines a particular form.

Question 4

Plasticity

Answer 4

Three-dimensionality of an artwork

Question 5

Surface Integration

Answer 5

An artwork’s utilization of its medium’s natural surface

Question 6

Twisted Perspective/Composite Pose

Answer 6

Convention in which every aspect of a body or object is represented in its most characteristic or revealing viewpoint

Question 7

Female Vision Theory

Answer 7

When viewed from above, the proportions of the sculpted female body no longer seem unnaturally large. When viewed as a pregnant woman surveys herself, the apparent anatomical distortions of the upper body of these figurines disappear.

Question 8

Shamanism

Answer 8

Representations of other world

Question 9

Corbeling

Answer 9

layers of flat stones without masonry that form walls, which each layer or course projecting slightly inward over the one below

Question 10

Earth Sheltering

Answer 10

the architectural practice of using earth against building walls for external thermal mass, to reduce heat loss, and to easily maintain a steady indoor air temperature

Question 11

Mesopotamia

Answer 11

• First place where farming appeared (domesticated grain production)
• Agriculture villages developed into city-states between 4000-3000 BCE
• Social hierarches and governments were established
• Governments financed civic and religious foundations
• Religious practices and institutions were formulized
• Written language was developed (record keeping)

The area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in modern days roughly corresponding to most of Iraq plus Kuwait, the eastern parts of Syria, Southeastern Turkey, and regions along the Turkish-Syrian and Iran–Iraq borders.

Widely considered to be one of the cradles of civilization by the Western world, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian empires, all native to the territory of modern-day Iraq. In the Iron Age, it was controlled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Empires.

The Sumerians and Akkadians (including Assyrians and Babylonians) dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of written history (c. 3100 BC) to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, when it was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC, and after his death, it became part of the Greek Seleucid Empire.

Question 12

Ziggurat

Answer 12

a temple tower consisting of a lofty pyramidal structure built in successive stages with outside staircases and a shrine at the top

Question 13

Mudbrick

Answer 13

A brick, made of a mixture of loam, mud, sand and water mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw.

Question 14

Stele

Answer 14

vertical stone monument or marker often inscribed with relief carving or a text inscription—used for memorials and commemoration

Question 15

Hierarchy of Scale

Answer 15

A brick, made of a mixture of loam, mud, sand and water mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw.

Question 16

Cuneiform

Answer 16

(“wedge-shaped”) writing. A system of writing first developed by the ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia

Question 17

Law Code

Answer 17

A type of legislation that purports to exhaustively cover a complete system of laws or a particular area of law as it existed at the time the code was enacted, by a process of codification.

Question 18

Votive Figures

Answer 18

Commissioned statues representing the action of a donor offering libation in honor of the gods.

Question 19

Lyre

Answer 19

A string instrument known for its use in Greek classical antiquity and later periods. Sumerian lyre with bull head

Question 20

Registers

Answer 20

an organizational device; self-contained bands of imagery often in a vertical arrangement
(series of “easily digestible” zones or regions)

Question 21

Lullubi

Answer 21

Group of mountain tribes in Susa defeated by Naram-Sin, memorialized in a stele

Question 22

Hammurabi

Answer 22

The sixth king of the First Babylonian Dynasty; he extended Babylon’s control throughout Mesopotamia through military campaigns; Hammurabi is known for the Code of Hammurabi, one of the earliest surviving codes of law in recorded history.

Question 23

Lamassu

Answer 23

Human-Headed Winged Lion (Lamassu), from Palace of Ashurnasirpal II, Kalhu (Nimrud), 883-859 BCE. An Assyrian protective deity, often depicted as having a human’s head, a body of an ox or a lion, and bird’s wings.

Question 24

Unification of Egypt

Answer 24

The two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt were united c. 3000 BC, but each maintained its own regalia: the hedjet or White Crown for Upper Egypt and the deshret or Red Crown for Lower Egypt. Thus, the pharaohs were known as the rulers of the Two Lands, and wore the pschent, a double crown, each half representing sovereignty of one of the kingdoms. Ancient Egyptian tradition credited Menes, now believed to be the same as Narmer, as the king who united Upper and Lower Egypt. On the Narmer Palette the king is depicted wearing the Red Crown in one scene and the White crown in another, and thereby showing his rule over both Lands

Question 25

Serekh

Answer 25

(form surrounding king’s name) = palace façade. An ornamental vignette combining a view of a palace facade and a plan (top view) of the royal courtyard. The word “serekh” derives from the Egyptian word for “facade”. Different serekhs on different types of object display countless variations of the facade decor in its complexity and detail

Question 26

Horus

Answer 26

• Sky god represented by falcon
• Eyes = sun and moon
• Equated with king (ruler on earth) – king is a -manifestation of Horus
• Horus is a protector of the king

Question 27

Imhotep

Answer 27

High Priest of the Sun God Re and chief administrator of King Djoser. First recorded architect in history

Question 28

Heb-sed

Answer 28

Court for the jubilee festivals of the king. An ancient Egyptian ceremony that celebrated the continued rule of a pharaoh

Question 29

Serdab

Answer 29

Court for ka statue and offerings. An ancient Egyptian tomb structure that served as a chamber for the Ka statue of a deceased individual.

Question 30

Ka

Answer 30

• Spiritual twin or double that came into existence at birth.
• Does not have a physical form – not a physical counterpart to man.
• Is a guiding force during life; it “walks” with you.
• After death, required a place to live, nourishment – could live off representations
• Functioned as a substitute for the body of the deceased.
• Represented the person in his/her prime (healthy, powerful, youthful), but still had to be recognizable to the Ka and Ba

Question 31

Mastaba

Answer 31

(bench of mud) = a flat-topped, one-story structure with slanted walls over an Egyptian underground tomb

Question 32

Papyrus

Answer 32

A thick type of paper made from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus. Papyrus is first known to have been used in ancient Egypt (at least as far back as the First Dynasty), as the Cyperus papyrus plant was a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Sudd of Southern Sudan along with the Nile Delta of Egypt.