Ancient Near East
3500 BC- 500 BC
The Artist as Magician
•Developed at the same time as Egypt
•Physical region had few natural defenses- many
different cultures dominated
•Discouraged uniting under single ruler
•No defining culture, but art thrived
•Sumerians were the first to settle- language was
unrelated to any other
•Sumerians had own developed writing- Cuneiform used
for records, but also for literature (Gilgamesh)
•Not a lot of archeological evidence of the culture
•Used brick and mud which leaves very little remains
(poor natural resources- depended on trade)
•Most information found on inscribed clay tablets
White Temple, Uruk, 3000 BCE •Temples were dominant form
of architecture-
•religion was city-state-based.
Each had its own god who was
regarded as king. Human ruler
was seen as the god’s steward
on earth who governed people
to worship the God. In return,
the God was expected to plead
the case of the city-state
among the other deities who
controlled fertility, the weather,
water, etc.
•Administrative and religious
center was the temple
Ziggurat- platform on which the temple stood
Ziggurat of King Urnammu, Ur, 2500 BC
- most famous was the Tower of Babel. Height of 40 Ft- mountain tops are
the dwelling place of the gods, stairs and ramps lead up to the sanctuary.
Space not meant for crowds- select few.
-Main room is called the cella, where sacrifices were made. The entrance
faces away from the stairs- the worshipper must work to be able to
worship- an angular spiral path
Sculpture was found in Cella-
used as cult statue- eyes and
eyebrows were originally inlaid
with colored materials and the
hair was covered with
gold/copper wig- the rest of the
figure was probably made up of
wood- (because of expense)
severe style
Female Head, Uruk, 3500-3000 BCE
•Geometric
•No real
likeness
•Important
people are
taller
•Simplified
faces and
bodies
•No distraction
from the eyes
•Forms based
on cone and
cylinder
Statues from Abu Temple, c.2700-2500 BCE
Votive Statues
Close up of worshipper
•Big eyes now interpreted as
the eternal wakefulness
needed to worship their deity
•Votive sculpture
Akkadians- after the decay of the
Sumerian society (due to ambitious
rulers trying to conquer each other)-
nomadic people moved in from the
Near East
•Sargon of Akkad and successors
(2340-2180 BC) proclaimed ambition
to rule the earth
•New task for art- personal
glorification of rulers
•Steele- immortalizing military victory
•Both soldier and leader are active
•Only celestial bodies are above him
in importance
•Space is more real, less organized
horizontally
Victory Stele of Naram-Sin
c.2300-2200 BCE
•Persuasive likeness
•Very detailed and
elegant
•Surface texture
•Cast in copper, a
complex technique
Head of Akkadian Ruler
c.2200 BCE
One of the Sumerian city states
remained independent- Gudea was the
ruler- still retained ruler- god idea, but
he did have many statues of himself in
shrines
•Carved of diorite, extremely hard stone,
imported and difficult to sculpt
•Not very individualized features
•More realistic human characteristics
Head of Gudea, c.2150 BCE
Babylon-
•1760-1600 BC- power was
controlled by the Babylonians
•Hammurabi was its founder
•Main goal was to provide justice
to the people
•Hammurabi’s Code- earliest
form of written law
•Top of code shows Hammurabi
confronting the sun god-
announcing code
•Related to the Gudea sculpture
in style and technique
•Very high relief
•Eyes are in the round-
establishes the relationship
between god and man
•Entire Stele is 7 ft. tall
Stele of Hammurabi c.1780 BCE
Assyrians-
•Controlled all of
Mesopotamia and
surrounding areas
•Drew on Sumerian
achievements and
reinterpreted them
•Sack of city-has
foreground and
middle ground and
background
•Artist’s purpose
was to show the
story clearly and
economically-
people are in
composite view
Ashurnasirpal II Killing Lions, c. 850 BCE
•Subject used for personal glorification of king
•not real hunts- ceremonial- lions were already caged and then released
•Energy and emotion are obvious- meant to show courage, nobility, and
strength of the king
Neo-Babylonians
•Assyrians fell in 612 BC
•Babylon had a final era of artistic
growth 612-539 BC
•Used glazed bricks rather than
stone slabs- used for surface
ornamentation
•Ishtar Gate has been completely
rebuilt and restored
•Continuation of the theme of
animals in Mesopotamian art
Ishtar Gate, c.575 BCE
Persia--
•Area which is now called Iran- always
a nomadic land- art is a collection of
objects known as the “Animal Style”
•Decorative use of animal motif in an
abstract manner
Painted Beaker, 5000-4000 BCE
•Babylon became huge empire-
included Egypt and Asia Minor-
only toppled by Alexander the
Great (331 BC)
•Religion was Zoroastrianism-
altars were in open air so no
religious architecture was created
•Secular palaces instead
Palace of Darius and Xerxes
Persepolis, Iran c. 500 BCE
•Columns were used on a grand
scale- Egyptian influence
•Use of the motif of animals
everywhere
Darius and Xerxes Giving Audience c. 490 BCE
•Relief within the palace is formal and stiff, solemn, repetitive and
ceremonial
•Subservient to the architecture
•Assyrian’s energy and expression has been rejected
•Overlapping garments are completely new
•Body parts can be seen underneath the fabric (probably taken from
the Greeks)