Ancient Near Eastern Art

History of Art – Chapter 2

Ancient Near Eastern Art

1.     4^th Millennium B.C.E. – First appearance of large scale cities in Mesopotamia.

a.     Irrigation, the wheel, the plow and smelting copper and bronze tools.

b.     Social orders and politics grew.

c.      Institutions for resolutions of disputes.

d.     Specialization of labor.

2.     3,400 – 3,200 B.C.E. Earliest writing systems.  Pictograms

a.     Cuniform – A series of wedge shaped designs.

b.     Writing brings us into the realm of history.

c.      Mesopotamia – Multi Cultural.

3.     Two dominant themes emerge.

a.     Art reflected political power.

b.     Used visual narrative for telling stories through art.

4.     Sumerian Art:

a.     First major civilization.

b.     Not related to any known tongue.

c.      4,000 – 2,300 B.C.E.

d.     Needed to appease the gods who controlled the weather, natural forces and fertility.

e.     Theocratic socialism – Each city had a patron deity.

                                               i.     Residents owed devotion and sustenance.

                                              ii.     Residents gave fruits of their labor to the temple.

f.      Architectural focus of the temples.

                                               i.     Low temples – maintenance of day to day activities.

                                              ii.     High temples – possible links to the heavens.

                                            iii.     Lady of the Mountain – Mother goddess.

                                            iv.     Writing suggests that seeing an object and finding pleasing, a god may act favorably towards those who made it.

                                              v.     High temples also reflected political importance due to their elevation.

                                            vi.     The physical construction could enhance the spiritual experience.  Pathways, length of time to climb. 

                                           vii.     Note Pathways in architecture acted the same as the tunnels to the cave paintings.  Tie in with place and space.

5.     Gilgemesh – One of the earliest stories.

6.     Large eyes can be reflective of god’s awe.

7.     Apotropaic Device – Wide eyes used to ward off evil.

8.     Strong associations with precious metals and jewelry with the afterlife.

9.     Visual Narratives:

a.     Royal standard of Ur, 2,600 B.C.E. Show a military victory.

10. Cylinder Seals – Used to seal jars and secure storerooms.  Cylinder that when rolled on soft clay would impress a reverse image.

11. Art of Akkad:

a.     Around 2,350 B.C.E Sargon conquered Sumer and settled in Akkad. 

                                               i.     He combined Sumerian and Akkadias deities into one pantheon.

                                              ii.     The idea was to break the link between cities and their deities and unite region.

                                            iii.     Akkadian rulers used visual arts to establish and reflect their power.

                                            iv.     Ritualized Vandalism – destroying existing art that is reflective of another power.

12. Babylonian Art:

a.     Babylonian Dynasty:

                                               i.     300 year unification of Babylon and Mesopotamia.

                                              ii.     Hammurabi 1792 -1750 B.C.E.

                                            iii.     Babylon become the cultural center for over 1,000 years after its political power had evaporated.

                                            iv.     Hammurabi – Earliest known code of law. 

1.     Law of Code – 7^th high basalt with inscriptions of law.

2.     Hammurabi sits at the top.

13. Assyrian Art:

a.     7^th century B.C.E. was the height of the Assyrian era.

                                               i.     Art and architecture were used to project royalty and power.

                                              ii.     Used slabs and inscriptions to provide stories and accounts of great kings.

14. Late Babylonian Art:

a.     Nebudchadnezzer ruled 604 – 562 B.C.E.

                                               i.     Builder of the tower of Babel.

1.     Became Symbolic of pride.

                                              ii.     Also built hanging gardens of Babylon.

                                            iii.     Art was used to project power, status and dominance.

15. Hittites:

a.     1595 – Overthrow of Babylonians.  Adopted cuneiform writing and left detailed writings of their history.

16. Notes Art as:

a.     Writing

b.     Abstraction

c.      Power over Animals

d.     Power over people and projection of dominance

e.     Special experiences linked to religious and political power.

17. The Phoenicians – Became center of trade of objects and ideas.

a.     They were adept with metal, ivory and colored glass.

                                               i.     Became a link between the East and the West.

Davies, Penelope J.E., Walter B. Denny, Frima Fox Hofrichter, Joseph Jacobs, Ann M. Roberts, and David L. Simon. Janson’s History of Art: the Western Tradition.  8^th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall. 2011. Print.