Ancient Near East

3500 B.C.E. - 331 B.C.E.

Greater Gods & Goddessesof the ancient near east

• Anu (chief deity of Sumerians) - god of the sky

• Enlil (son of Anu) – lord of the winds and the earth

• Inanna/Ishtar - Sumerian goddess of love / war

• Utu (later known as Shamash) – Sun god

Key Ideas

• Birth of art in the service of state/religion• Mud-brick buildings faced with tile, stone, or

painted• Buildings created for religion• Ziggurats• large stele to commemorate achievements of rulers• Guardian figures (hybrids of man/animal) • Some of the first narrative works of art• Crenellations

Innovations of the Ancient Near East

• Writing (cuneiform)• Cities• Organized religion• Organized government• Laws• Agriculture• Bronze casting• And, of course, THE WHEEL!!!!

Sumerian Art

Tell Asmar Statues, c. 2700 B.C.E., limestone,alabaster, gypsum, Iraq. (slide in class)

• Votive figures represent mortal humans, statues blessed by priests

• Different heights – hierarchy of scale• Hands folded in prayer with twisted pinky• Huge eyes in reverence of deity • Males: bare-chested / Females: dress draped

over one shoulder

Standard of Ur, c. 2600 B.C.E., panel with shell, lapis lazuli, limestone. hierarchy of scale: king is tallest figure; bodies in profile while shoulders frontal; two sides (war / peace); use of registers

Lyre, c.2600 B.C.E., wood inlay of gold, shell, lapis lazuli.Use of hybrid creatures

Ziggurat, c. 2100 B.C.E., Ur, Iraq.Mud-brick; buttresses create light/shadow pattern; whitewashed; tapers outward to drain water, mountain-like; four corners oriented to compass points; dedicated to moon god Nanna; temple on top

Votive Statue of Gudea, c. 2120, Lagash (Iraq), diorite.

• Gudea was governor of Lagash

• Votives showed him as embodiment of just rule

• Folded hands around vessel with life-giving waters

• Sense of calm, piousness • Diorite was expensive –

proclaims wealth of owner/importance of subject

Akkadian Art

Victory Stele of Naramsin (Naram-sin), c. 2254 B.C.E., sandstone, Iraq

• First deification of ruler• Semitic language• Solar deities are represented by

rays of sun, victory is blessed• Horizontal register replaced with

wavy groundlines• King Naramsin is tallest figure

and wears divine crown – spacial hierarchy of scale

• Defeated soldiers beg for mercy