PowerPoint Presentation
A n c i e n t N e a r E a s t
(Mesopotamia & Persia)
https:
www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/curatorial-departments/ancient-near-eastern-art
Art History
Map of the ancient Near East and the Middle East.
The invention of writing that enabled
ecord keeping and literature
provides insights into the origins of
human thought and civilization
egins with Ancient Near East
communities..
Art History
Chalcolithic
The later period of the (Upper)Neolithic Era, also
known as Chalcolithic, specifically relating to the
geographic region of the Ancient Near East.
The early Neolithic Era specifically relates to Western
Europe from a geography stand point.
Greek word: khalkós = “copper” and litho = “stone”
The Chalcolithic/Neolithic Period can be defined in
terms of:
Stone and metal tools, bone tools and other
artifacts, pottery, town and village communities and
farming communities, but particularly the
introduction of metal (mostly copper) used in
weapons and other implements.
Neolithic Era
Art History
Jericho
Artist’s reconstruction of the north side of ancient Jericho, based on the
German excavations of 1907–1909. Note the houses built against the
mud
ick city wall, which rests on top of the stone retaining wall. The
Bible says that Rahab’s house was built against the city wall (Joshua 2:15).
Aerial view of Neolithic Jericho (looking east)
A Neolithic settlement located near the Jordan river valley su
ounded by a ditch and walls up
to 12 feet thick and a tower up to 30 feet tall. Some archaeologist believe the biblical account
of Joshua’s attack on Jericho (Joshua 6) refers to a later settlement (end of the
onze age).
Mud
ick was the mainstay of ancient Near Eastern architecture used for ordinary buildings as well
as for public architecture. Manufacturing of mud
ick was inexpensive and easy to work with as
well as suitable to the climate. The walls’ of Jericho mud
ick houses were plastered and painted.
Neolithic Era
https:
creation.com/the-walls-of-jericho
https:
iblia.com
ible/esv/Josh 2.15
https:
www.vision.org
iography-kathleen-kenyon-larger-life-486
https:
iblia.com
ible/esv/joshua/6
Art History
Çatal Hüyük Located in Anatolia (Modern Turkey) is the largest Neolithic settlement site discovered in
the ancient Near East. Archaeologists have
found evidence of agriculture, trade,
stoneware, and ceramics. Architectural
interiors were furnished with built-in benches
made of clay and skeletons were buried under
floors and benches with deposits of jewelry
and weapons on the remains, suggesting the
elief of necessity in an afterlife.
Object: Deer hunt, detail of a wall painting from level III,
Original Location: Çatal Hüyük, Turkey
Cu
ent Location: Museum of Anatolian Civilization, Ankara.
Reconstruction of Çatal Hüyük, Turkey
https:
www.ktb.gov.t
EN-113893/ankara---anatolian-civilizations-museum.html
Art History
Neolithic Era
XXXXXXXXXX/4000 B.C
• Jericho (in the West Bank area, near
Jerusalem)
• Catal Huyuk (in modern Turkey)
Mesopotamia
Uruk Period XXXXXXXXXXB.C
• Sume
Early Dynastic period XXXXXXXXXXB.C
Akkad
XXXXXXXXXXB.C
• Neo-Sumerian period 2100-
1900/1800 B.C
Babylon
Old Babylonian period XXXXXXXXXXB.C
Neo-Babylonian period XXXXXXXXXXB.C
Assyrian Empire
XXXXXXXXXXB.C
• Modern Iraq
Uruk
Sume
Tell Asma
U
• Akkad
• Lagash
• Babylon
• Assu
Anatolia
Hittite Empire XXXXXXXXXXB.C
• Modern Turkey
• Hattusas (modern Boghazkoy)
Ancient Iran
XXXXXXXXXXB.C
Achaemenid Persia XXXXXXXXXXB.C
• Modern Iran
• Persepolis (near modern Shiraz)
Chronology of the Ancient Near East
&
Principal Sites
Note:
Dates are continuously influx and tend to differ slightly based on new information and interpretations by art historians and archaeologists.
Art History
Mesopotamia
Greek word mesos = “middle” and potamos = “river”
(land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (now Iraq, north-east Syria and part of south-east Turkey))
Object Type: Tablet
Object Name: Map of the World
Material: Clay
Culture/Period: Late Babylonian
Location: British Museum,
London, UK
Cuneiform Latin word cuneus = “wedge” abstract
wedge shape characters appearing on clay and stone
tablets provides the earliest writing and knowledge of
Mesopotamian religious practices.
https:
www.
itishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_ XXXXXXXXXX
https:
www.
itishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_ XXXXXXXXXX
https:
smarthistory.org/cuneiform
Art History
Uruk period
The city of Uruk (known as Erech in the Bible (Gen 10:10 & Ezra 4:9) and Warka in present-day Iraq), was
given its name to a period sometimes known as Protoliterate, because the earliest known writing developed.
Mesopotamia towards the end of the Neolithic period
(4500/4000 B.C) followed with u
anization and the
construction of first known monumental temples
dedicated to each city’s patron deity or deities.
Object: Female head (Inanna?), from the Inanna
temple complex
Excavation Site: Uruk (modern Warka), Iraq,
Material: Ma
le, 8" high.
Location: National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad.
Mesopotamia
https:
iblia.com
ible/esv/genesis/10/6-10
https:
www.ancient.eu/image/10265/the-mask-of-warka-at-the-iraq-museum
https:
www.theiraqmuseum.com
Art History
Ziggurats Assyrian word meaning “raised up” or “high” is a uniquely Mesopotamian architectural form.
Ziggurats are examples of load-bearing construction, a system, their massive walls had small openings or
none, usually solid, stepped structures, tapering toward the top, with wide bases supporting the entire
weight of the ziggurats. Mesopotamians believed that each city was under the protection of a god or
gods to whom the city’s inhabitants owed service, they built imitation mountains, or ziggurats, as
platforms for those gods. Mountains were believed to embody some of the immanent powers of nature,
like sources of life-giving water.
Uruk Architecture
White Temple, Uruk (modern Warka), Iraq,
Mesopotamian Religion polytheistic (Greek word ploy = “many” and theos = “god”)
Mesopotamia
Art History
The earliest written language known comes from Sumer, in
southern Mesopotamia and persisted as the language of the
priestly and intellectual classes throughout Mesopotamia
history. After the invention of writing, literature developed, the
written word originated in response to a practical need for daily
ecord keeping, and became a tool of creative expression.
Mesopotamia poetry deals with the origins of gods and
humans, the history of kingship, the founding of cities and the
development of civilization.
Uruk Period
Object: The Gilgamesh Tablet
Material: Clay Tablet
Location: British Museum, London, UK
Mesopotamia
https:
logs.soas.ac.uk/centenarytimeline/2016/03/18/gilgamesh-and-soas-30-years-of-scholarly-contribution-to-the-worlds-oldest-story
https:
www.
itishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_K-3375
https:
www.
itishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_K-3375
Art History
.
Uruk Period
Object: Cylinder impression and Seal from Uruk
Material: Clay
Location: Pierpont Morgan Li
ary, New York
Cylinder Seals
• Cylinder seals are classed as glyptic art
• (Greek word glyptos = “carved”) produced during the Uruk period.
Process of intaglio printing is used to create impression, specifically with
the cylinders that were rolled across clay tablet producing a continuous
and of images. Seal impressions were used originally to designate
ownership, keep inventories and accounts and later to legalize private
and state documents
Mesopotamia
https:
www.themorgan.org/seals-and-tablets/83623
https:
www.themorgan.org/seals-and-tablets/83623
Art History
Lists of royal families; ancient Sumerian rulers have survived, and
other documents provide the picture of a society in which people
played specialized roles: canal builders, artisans, merchants, and
ureaucrats under the administration of a class of priests.
Early Dynastic Period Dynasty- succession of rulers of same line of descent also known as royal families.
The Sumerian and Akkadian cultures coexisted for many
centuries and their languages roughly co
espond to the two
main geographical divisions of Mesopotamia, Sumer, and
Akkad. Both lie between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Geographical divisions of Mesopotamia Sumer (south) & Akkad (north)
Ancient Mesopotamia and Persia
Mesopotamia
Art History
Many small cult figures were produced
during the Early Dynastic period.
• Hierarchical proportions- suggested wealth
• Stylization- physical features, eyes, beard
Sume
Object: Statues from the Abu Temple at Tell Asma
Location: Iraq Museum, Baghdad and Oriental Institute, University of Chicago
Excavation site sponsored by OI,UC where some
statues of Abu Temple found.
Mesopotamia
https:
oi.uchicago.edu/museum-exhibits/mesopotamian-gallery
https:
oi.uchicago.edu/collections/highlights/clothing-representations
Art History
The Akkadians were Semitic-speaking Mesopotamian
people who lived in the north of Sumer. The Akkadians
dominated one city-state after another until they ruled
Mesopotamia. City-states were now subordinate to a
larger political entity, an empire, and Akkadian became
the dominant language.
Sargon I was the founder of the Akkadian dynasty and
eigned for over half a century gaining control over most
of Mesopotamia and the lands beyond the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers.
Akkad
Object: Head of an Akkadian ruler (Sargon I?)
Material: Bronze
Location: Museum of Antiquities, Baghdad
Mesopotamia
https:
www.ancient.eu
eview/45/the-looting-of-the-iraq-museum-baghdad-the-lost-le
Art History
After 200 years, the Akkadian dynasty was defeated by the
Guti, mountain people from the northeast who ruled
Mesopotamia for about 60 years. Only one city-state,
Lagash managed to hold out and it prospered. The
overthrowing of the Guti lead to a newly united southern
city-states, a period refe
ed to as Neo-Sumerian.
Neo-Sumerian Culture
Lagash
• Gudea was the ruler of Lagash and initiated an
extensive construction program that included
several temples. Gudea embodies the transition
etween gods and humans. Just as the ziggurats
linked earth with the heavens, so Mesopotamian
ulers were viewed as the gods’ chosen
intermediaries on earth. These ideas form the basis
for continuing beliefs in the divine rights of kings.
Object: Head of Gudea Material: Diorite
From: Lagash, Iraq, c2100 B.C
Location: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Mesopotamia
https:
www.louvre.f
en/oeuvre-notices/gudea-prince-lagash-seated-statue-dedicated-god-ningishzida
https:
collections.mfa.org/objects/155973
Art History
Mesopotamia reverted to rule by independent city-state after the
last Neo Sumerian king was overthrown by foreign invaders. The
next few centuries, warfare and invasions continued from all
directions leading to frequent rise and fall of different cultural
groups. The Amorites, a Semitic speaking people from Arabia
established their capital at Babylon and ushered in the Old
Babylonian period.
The most famous king of the Amorite dynasty was Hammurabi,
who is best known for his law code which he inscribed on black
asalt stele. The text was based on local Sumerian legal traditions
and remains an important historical document, articulating the
elationship of law to society. Babylon was sacked by Hittites
from Anatolia ending the Old Babylonian period.
Babylon
Object: Code de Hammurabi
Material: Basalt
Location: Louvre Museum, Paris, France
Mesopotamia
https:
smarthistory.org/hammurabi
https:
www.louvre.f
en/oeuvre-notices/law-code-hammurabi-king-babylon
Art History
Hittites Empire
Hittites were Indo-Europeans who settled in Anatolia,
their capital city, Hattusa, was located in modern
Boghazköy, in central Turkey. Like Mesopotamians,
they kept records in cuneiform on clay tablets, which
were stored on shelves, systematically catalogued
and labeled as in a modern li
ary. These archives
include thousands of tablets and are the first known
ecords in an Indo-European language and cultural
and artistic achievements of the Hittites are well
documented.
There is much evidence of monumental palaces,
temples, cities, and massive