Ancient Near East

Unit 2: Ancient Mediterranean (New)

Historical Background:

The Ancient Near East is where almost everything began first: writing, organized religion, organized government, laws, agriculture, bronze casting, even the wheel.
Large populations emerged in the fertile river valleys that lie between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. City centers boomed as urbanization began to take hold. Each group of people vied to control the central valleys, taking turns occupying the land and eventually relinquishing it to others.
The invention of writing enabled people to permanently record business transactions in a wedge-shaped script called cuneiform. Laws were written down, taxes were accounted for and collected, and the first written epic, Gilgamesh, was copied onto a series of tablets.

Ancient Near Eastern Art:

In the Near East, stone was at a premium and wood was scarce but earth was in abundant supply.
The first great buildings were made of baked mudbrick (ziggurats) and were tall, solid structures that dominated the flat landscape.
Artists were more likely to depicted clothed humans with anatomical precision. Figures are actively engaged in doing something: hunting, praying, or performing a ritual.
Sculptures could be very large (lamassu) and interiors of palaces were filled with large-scale relief sculptures gently carved into stone surfaces.
Due to the invention of writing and production of epics, stories needed to be illustrated and narrative painting became a necessity.
Personification of animals with human characteristics and emotions began a popular ancient tradition that extended to the Egyptians (Sphinx) and the Greeks (Minotaur).

DATES / HISTORY / KEY PERIODS

Sumerian Art: 3000-2000 BCE

Realistic-looking figures acting out identifiable narratives.
Figures cut from stone with negative space hollowed out under their arms and between their legs.
Wide-open eyes.
Men = bare-chested with a kilt; women = left shoulder covered with right exposed.
Nudity is a sign of debasement and only slaves/prisoners are nude.
Hierarchy of scale make important figures the largest and most centrally placed in a composition.
Gods symbolize powers that were manifest in nature. Temples became the center point of civic and religious pride.

Akkadian Art: 2300-2150 BCE

Sumer was conquered by Sargon, usurping power to become King and expand East and West, at its largest reaching as far as Anatolia to the north, inner Iran to the east, Arabia to the south, and the Mediterranean in the west.
A new emphasis in naturalism in art through stone relief carvings generally involving man's interactions with the divine

Neo-Sumerian Art: 2150-2000 BCE

Ur was restored as the capital under King Ur-Nammu. The ziggurat at Ur was started by Ur-Nammu as a three-story temple.
Naturalism from the Akkadian empire was continued during this time as evidenced by Statue of Gudea. Statues of this time had fine details and produce the impression of serene majesty with intense religious fervor.

Babylonian Art: 2000-1750 BCE

After Sumer was conquered by the Elamites, the Amorites became the dominant force of the Fertile Crescent.
Babylon became a powerful city state under the Amorites known for its natural beauty and lavish courtyards.
Art was showcased as frescoes and enameled tiles with freestanding sculptures of stone, which was considered precious material due to its scarcity.

Assyrian Art: 1200-612 BCE

Assyrian empire was led by aggressive warrior kings and dominated by the military and known for their brutality
Due to their power and wealth, Assyrian kings constructed lavish palaces with carved limestone reliefs and sculptures documenting their bravery, strength, and skill.
Battle of Ninevah, 612 BCE (modern day Iraq) Babylon won thus resurrecting their former glory.
Assyrian artists praised the greatness of their king and his ability to kill his enemies, his valor at hunting, and his masculinity.
Figures are stoic, even while hunting lions or defeating their enemy. Animals, however, possess considerable emotion.
Cuneiform appears everywhere.

Neo-Babylonian Art: 612- 539 BCE

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were purportedly created during this time by King Nebuchadnezzar for his wife
Ishtar Gate was created by King Nebuchadnezzar II in 575 BCE.
Persian King, Cyrus, overthrows Babylon

Persian Art: 539-330 BCE

Influenced by both Egyptian and Greek art, apparent in monumental palace complexes in Susa and Persepolis
Height of Persia ends at the razing of Persepolis by Alexander the Great
Persians erected monumental architecture, huge audience halls, and massive subsidiary buildings for grand ceremonies that glorified their country and their rulers.

Enduring Understandings & Essential Knowledge

ENDURING UNDERSTANDING: The culture, beliefs, and physical settings of a region play an important role in the creation, subject matter, and siting of works of art.

Essential Knowledge:

Ancient Near Eastern art takes place mostly in the city-states of Mesopotamia.
Religions plays a dominant role in the art of the Ancient Near East.

ENDURING UNDERSTANDING: Art making is influenced by available materials and processes.

Essential Knowledge:

Figures are constructed within stylistic conventions of the time, including hierarchy of scale, registers, and stylized human forms.

ENDURING UNDERSTANDING: Cultural interaction through war, trade, and travel can influence art and artmaking.

Essential Knowledge:

There are many similarities among artistic styles in the Ancient Near East, which indicates a vibrant exchange of ideas.
Ancient Near Eastern artistic conventions influenced later periods in art history.

ENDURING UNDERSTANDING: Art and art making can be influenced by a variety of concerns including audience, function, and patron.

Essential Knowledge:

Ancient Near Eastern Art concentrates on royal figures and gods.
Ancient Near Eastern architecture is characterized by ziggurats and palaces that express the power of gods and rulers.

ENDURING UNDERSTANDING: Art history is best understood through an evolving tradition or theories and interpretations.

Essential Knowledge:

The study of art history is shaped by changing analyses based on scholarship, theories, context, and written records.

Artwork List ( * = in addition to 250)

White Temple and its Ziggurat

Sumerian Votive Figures

The Standard of Ur

The Code of Hammurabi

Lamassu

Ishtar Gate*

The Audience Hall (apadana) of Darius and Xerxes

Stele of Naram-Sin*

Unit Vocabulary

Apadana: an audience hall in a Persian palace.

Bent-axis plan: an architectural plan in which an approach to a building requires an angular change of direction, as opposed to a direct and straight entry.

Capital: the top element of a column.

Cella: the main room of a temple where the god is housed.

Cuneiform: a system of writing in which the strokes are formed in a wedge or arrowhead shape.

Facade: the front of a building. Sometimes, more poetically, a speaker can refer to a "side facade" or a "rear facade".

Ground line: a baseline upon which figures stand.

Ground plan: the map of a floor of a building.

Hierarchy of scale: a system of representation that expresses a person's importance by the size of his or her representation in a work of art.

Lapis lazuli: a deep-blue stone prized for its color.

Negative space: empty space around an object or a person, such as the cut-out areas between a figure's legs or arms of a sculpture.

Votive: offered in fulfillment of a vow or a pledge.

Ziggurat: a pyramid-like building made of several stories that indent as the building gets taller; thus, ziggurats have terraces at each level.

Resources

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