Stonehenge: Notes
Stonehenge: In England… features in Arthutian legend and in other novels… built during the Neolithic, meaning new stone 2950-1600 BCE
Middle Eastern Art BCE
Dates:
Sumerian/Mesopotamian/Old Babylonian – present day Iraq 4,000 – 1,925 BC
Hittite – from Turkey 1,500 – 700 BC control overlaps with Assyrian
Assyrian – drive out Hittites 1,000 – 612 BC
Neo-Babylonian/Chaldean – 605 – 562 BC
Persian – (present day Iran) 538 – 330 BC
Innovations of the culture:
Plough, cuneiform, developed tax collection system, built schools and gov’t buildings
Sumerian/Old Babylonian
Divided into roughly 4 ages: Sumerian, Akadian (has the quality of Sumerian but speaks a different language/semitic), Neo-sumerian, and Babylonian
Cemetery of Ur
Primary Epic: Epic of Gilgamamesh
What most concerned these cultures? How does their art reflect this?
Some deities to know from Mesopotamia
Ishtar – the most important goddess in all periods of Meso. History. Unknown if she ever had any figurative representation at time of her worship
Nanna – also called Sin… chief god of Ur
Enlil – lord of the winds and the earth…
Ashur – Assyrian god sometimes identified with Enlil
Inanna – goddess of love and war
Shiva – destroyer, yet has creative powers
Warka Head: found in Uruk… the first independent city state
Eyes may have been inlaid with lapis or shell
c. 3300 BCE
Warka Vase: 3300 – 3000 BCE
Each section of a vase is called a register (frieze)… it is narrative and carved in relief:
Bottom: Wavy lines (usually represents water) separates crops and sheep
Men presenting harvest gifts to goddess
Top: Goddess or temple priestess Inanna – love and war – accepting gifts
Typical Meso hair, male skirt, hands of Votive Satues: The Tel-Asmar figures: 2700 BCE
Found buried beneath the floor of the temple at Eshunna
Carved of gypsum and inlaid with shell and black limestone
Range in size 12” – 30”
Represent mortals in worship, emphasis on the eyes… used in worship
Tremendous
Middle Eastern Art BCE
Dates:
Sumerian/Mesopotamian/Old Babylonian – present day Iraq 4,000 – 1,925 BC
Hittite – from Turkey 1,500 – 700 BC control overlaps with Assyrian
Assyrian – drive out Hittites 1,000 – 612 BC
Neo-Babylonian/Chaldean – 605 – 562 BC
Persian – (present day Iran) 538 – 330 BC
Innovations of the culture:
Plough, cuneiform, developed tax collection system, built schools and gov’t buildings
Sumerian/Old Babylonian
Divided into roughly 4 ages: Sumerian, Akadian (has the quality of Sumerian but speaks a different language/semitic), Neo-sumerian, and Babylonian
Cemetery of Ur
Primary Epic: Epic of Gilgamamesh
What most concerned these cultures? How does their art reflect this?
Some deities to know from Mesopotamia
Ishtar – the most important goddess in all periods of Meso. History. Unknown if she ever had any figurative representation at time of her worship
Nanna – also called Sin… chief god of Ur
Enlil – lord of the winds and the earth…
Ashur – Assyrian god sometimes identified with Enlil
Inanna – goddess of love and war
Shiva – destroyer, yet has creative powers
Warka Head: found in Uruk… the first independent city state
Eyes may have been inlaid with lapis or shell
c. 3300 BCE
Warka Vase: 3300 – 3000 BCE
Each section of a vase is called a register (frieze)… it is narrative and carved in relief:
Bottom: Wavy lines (usually represents water) separates crops and sheep
Men presenting harvest gifts to goddess
Top: Goddess or temple priestess Inanna – love and war – accepting gifts
Typical Meso hair, male skirt, hands of Votive Satues: The Tel-Asmar figures: 2700 BCE
Found buried beneath the floor of the temple at Eshunna
Carved of gypsum and inlaid with shell and black limestone
Range in size 12” – 30”
Represent mortals in worship, emphasis on the eyes… used in worship
Tremendous