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Ancient Near Eastern Art
From the Barron's Review Book
14
Art History
11th Grade
04/29/2012

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Term
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Definition

Tell Asmar Statues


Sumerian, c. 2700 BCE, limestone, alabaster, and gypsum

  • Figures are of different heights, denoting hierarchy of scale
  • hands are folded in gesture of prayer
  • huge eyes in awe, spellbound, perhaps staring at the deity
  • men: bare upper chest; skirt from waist down; beard flows in ripple patterns
  • women: dress draped over one shoulder
  • arms and feet cut away
  • pinkie in a spiral; chin a wedge shape; ear a double volute
  • inscribed on back: "it offers prayers"
  • figures represent mortals, placed in a temple and praying - perhaps to the god Abu
Term
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Definition

Standard of Ur

Sumerian, c. 2600 BCE, panel inlayed with shell, lapis lazuli, and limestone

  • two sides; war side and peace side; may have been two halves of a narrative; early example of a historical narrative
  • perhaps used as a part of soundbox for a musical instrument
  • war side: SUmerian king half a head taller, has descended from his chariot to inspect captives brought before him, some debased by their nakedness; chariots advance over the dead in lowest register
  • figures have broad frontal shoulders, body in profile
  • emphasized eyes, eyebrows, ears
Term
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Definition

Lyre

Sumerian, c. 2600 BCE, wood with inlay of gold, shell and lapis lazuli

  • Lyre has a bull's head
  • Four panels on side: Top - Sumerian wrsetling two man-headed bulls; 2nd level - Wolf carries a table with animal parts, preparing for a ceremony, lion bears wine, jug, cup; 3rd level - donkey plays a bull-harp; bear dances; seated fox plays a rattle; 4th level - jackal waves rattles; scorpion man
  • Animals in profile; people have frontal shoulders
Term
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Definition

Ziggurat

Sumerian, c. 2100 BCE, Ur, Iraq

  • Mud-brick building on a colossal scale
  • Buttresses spaced across the surface to create a light and shadow pattern
  • Whitewash used to disguise the mud appearance, perhaps the holes in the surface were for flags or banners to animate the facade
  • Tapers outward so that rainwater washes off
  • Temple on top was small, set back, and removed from the populace
  • Entire form resembles a mountain
  • Four corners oriented to the compass
  • Three large staircases lead to the upper story entrance from three different directions; guardhouse at point where the staircases meet
  • Dedicated to the moon god Nanna
Term
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Definition

Gudea

Sumerian, c. 2100 BCE, dolerite

  • Folded hands; long, fine fingers
  • Right arm bare
  • Broad shoulders, narrow waist, simple contours
  • Sense of calm, peaceful
  • Diorite, an expensive stone proclaims the wealth of the owner and importance of the subject

 

Term
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Definition

Victory Stele of Naram-Sin

Akkadian, 2254-2218 BCE, sandstone

  • Naram-Sin deifies himself as the composition leads him up the mountain to the heavens, indicated by the hree stars above him
  • Victory blessed by the gods, represented as suns, but he acts independently
  • King wears horned crown of divinity, bow in one hand, arrow in the other, battle axe in hollow of arm
  • Defeated soldiers beg for mercy, one with a lance through his throat, another thrown over the side of the mountian
  • Spatial isolation of king, hierarchy of scale
  • Figures are in composite views
  • Depicts his victory over the Lullubi
Term
[image]
Definition

Stele of Hammurabi

Babylonian, c. 1780 BCE, basalt

  • Contains one of the earliest law codes ever written
  • Sun god, Shamash, enthroned on a ziggurat and handing Hammurabi a rope, a ring, and a rod of kingship
  • Hammurabi with a speaking/greeting gesture
  • Shamash: frontal and profile at the same time, headress in profile; rays (wings?) from behind his shoulder
  • Shamash's beard is fuller than Hammurabi's 
  • They stare at one another directly, even though their shoulders are frontal; composite views
  • 300 Law entries placed below the grouping, symbolically given from Shamash himself to Hammurabi
Term
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Definition

Ishtar Gate

Babylonian, c. 575 BCE, glazed brick

  • Glazed brick covers mud walls of the city
  • Animals guard the entrance to the city
  • Lions sacred to the goddess Ishtar
  • Crenellations give a warlike appearance to gate
  • Reconstructed in Berlin from the ruins in Babylon
Term
[image]
Definition

Lion Gate


Hittite, c. 1400 BCE

  • Gates to the city
  • Guardian lions
  • Huge boulders used in construction of city, cf. Mesopotamian mud-brick
  • Massive impression
Term
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Definition

Palace of Sargon

Assyrian, 720-705 BCE

  • City on a platfrom 50-feet high
  • Made of mud-brick
  • Contains a ziggurat
  • Huge palace complex: 25 acres, 30 courtyards, 200 rooms
Term
[image]
Definition

Lamassu

Assyrian, c. 700 BCE, limestone

  • Human-headed animal guardian figures
  • Winged
  • 5 legs; when seen from front seems to be standing at attention; when seen from side, seems to be walking by you as you walk by it
  • Meant to ward off enemies both visible and invisible
Term
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Definition

Lion Hunt

Assyrian, c. 640 BCE, limestone

  • Among the oldest surviving narratives in art
  • Bold contours
  • Emotions in animals, not humans
  • Narrative takes place on a projecting ledge acting as a ground line
  • Lion: representative of the most fearsome of beasts, domination by the king as an act of power over nature
Term
[image]
Definition

Palace at Persepolis

Persian, c. 500 BCE

  • Built by Darius I and Xerxes I; destroyed by Alexander the Great
  • Built not so much as a complex of palaces but rather as a seat for spectacular receptions and festivals
  • Built on artificial terraces, as is most Mesopotamian architecture
  • Mud-brick with stone facing
  • Giant lamassu gates
  • Built to be the center of elaborate ceremonies
  • Relief sculptures depict delegations from all parts of the empire bringing gifts to be stored in the local treasurey; Darius selected this central location in Persia to ensure protection of the treasury
  • Audience hall: apadana, had 36 columns covered by a wooden roof; held thousands of people; used for the king's receptions; stairways adorned with reliefs of the New Year's festival and a procession of representatives of 23 subject nations
  • Columns had a bell-shaped base that is an inverted lotus blossom, captials are bulls or lions
  • Carved into the stairs are the Immortals, the King's Guard, who were so-called because they always numbered 10,000
Term
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Definition

Palace of Shapur 

Persian, c. 250 CE

  • Built by Sassanian Persian rulers
  • Brick audience hall
  • Influence of Roman architecture in the barrel vault and arches
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