HART 205. Introduction to the History of Art
Lecture
3 (September 4, 1998)
Near Eastern Art I
Mesopotamia: Sumer, Akkad, and
Babylonia
(3rd to early 2nd mill.
B.C.)
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Aspects to consider in defining "civilization"
--size, density and diversity of cities
--specialization of labor
--surplus and redistribution
--stratified society
--state/political organization and bureaucracy
--monumental/standardized public works and artworks
--long-distance trade
--writing: not necessarily for literary purposes
--math, sciences, engineering
SUMERIAN
Architecture
White Temple and Ziggurat at Uruk (biblical Erech, modern
Warka), 3200-3000 B.C.
Ziggurat at Ur, 2100 B.C.
Temple features: bent-axis (indirect access), niches, offering table,
compass-points orientation, battered sides, exterior buttresses
Sculpture
Female head, from Uruk, c. 3500-3000 B.C.
Statuettes of Abu(?) and worshippers from Tell Asmar, c.
2700-2600 B.C.
Stardard of Ur, Scenes of War and Peace, wooden panel inlaid
with shell and lapis lazuli and red limestone, c.
2700
Bull-headed lyre from tomb of Puabi, royal cemetery, Ur, c.
2600 B.C. gold leaf and lapis lazuli over wooden core; Sound Box
relief scene, wood inlaid with gold, lapis lazuli and shell.
Seated Gudea statue from Telloh, c. 2100 B.C.
AKKADIAN
Sculpture
Head of Akkadian ruler, bronze, from Nineveh, c. 2200 B.C.
Victory Stele of Naram-Sin, Susa, 2300-2200 B.C.
BABYLONIAN
Sculpture
Stele of Hammurabi, Susa, c. 1780 B.C.
Terms:
"urban revolution"
Anu (sky God); Abu (God of Vegetation)
Sumerian language: non Semitic, non-Indo European
city-state
ziggurat
divine kingship, absolute kingship
cuneiform
Shamash and Ishtar
Sargon
hierarchic scale