Art 260 Nsc Summer

ART 260 SURVEY OF ART HISTORY I: SUMMER 2012Instructor: Dustin M. Price

Your First Personal Feedback is due by 12:00am this Sunday 5.20.12 there are instructions on the requirements and how to hand in the first feedback as well as a student example in the Course

Materials Folder on Blackboard. There is no Discussion Topic this week! Remember to go over the Syllabus in your Syllabus Folder on blackboard and email me in response to the last page. If you have

any questions please email me. Thank you.

Note: Our lectures will normally consist of around 70 to 100 slides as well as visits to many online resources, readings, and videos. I supplement the textbook with further info but do follow the assigned readings quite close, please do your weekly reading! I have broken each PowerPoint into sections consisting of lectures that are easily readable in a day! There will usually be around 3 or four of these per PowerPoint! This first lecture is going to be rather short in comparison to the rest because I want all of us to gain our footing before we really get into it!

I want you to try to keep in mind that viewing artwork is always at its finest in person. Also, I am not going to make you memorize specific dates for this class just periods of time. As you will notice throughout your scholarly research when it comes down to specific dates many academics and historians disagree.

We are about to embark on an investigation of what impact art and artistic practice had on the early stages of human history. It is easy enough to assume that we should learn about art history because it has been a common practice in academic fields and is thus a common element of college or university curriculum. So, if the smart people say we should learn about it then we probably should right? Well, of course I am going to say yes! Why though? Why specifically should we study art? Especially if you are not an artist?

I feel that the study of art history demonstrates the innate human desire to produce and enjoy works of art. Just as humans have searched for shelter, food, companionship, and happiness since the dawn of existence they have also demonstrated a need to express themselves through various forms, one of which is art.

The celebration of art and artists doesn’t just allow us to find commonalities with other individuals from the distant past, it also allows us to understand our humanity. Art has walked hand in hand with society and human development since Prehistoric humans first made representational marks on the caves they inhabited.

To understand art history is to understand ourselves. The history part although vast is easy enough to appreciate but what about the art part?

Can we even define what really constitutes art?

What is art? “Artists, critics, art historians, and the general public all grapple with this thorny question. The Random House Dictionary defines “art” as “the quality, production, expression, or realm of what is beautiful, or of more than ordinary significance.” Others have characterized “art” as something human made that combines creative imagination and technical skill and satisfies an innate desire for order and harmony – perhaps a human hunger for the beautiful.”

I somewhat disagree with both statements, especially in light of modern or contemporary art. I feel that art does not have to be beautiful at all, in fact some of the most powerful work (in my opinion) is not aesthetically pleasing at all! Art is so hard to define because art itself is always evolving, changing, and shifting. What may be art to one person or to one culture may not be to another individual or culture. “Increasingly we are all realizing that our judgments about what constitutes art --- as well as what constitutes beauty --- are conditioned by our own education and experience.

Whether acquired at home, in classrooms, in museums, at the movies, or the internet, our responses to art are learned behaviors, influenced by class, gender, race, geography, and economic status as well as education. Even art historians find that their definitions of what constitutes art --- and what constitutes artistic quality --- evolve with additional research and understanding.” What we can all agree on is that a true definition of what art is, is difficult! Lets just read one argument you might find interesting on this issue.

“Whether art can be defined has also been a matter of controversy. The philosophical usefulness of a definition of art has also been debated.

Contemporary definitions are of two main sorts. One distinctively modern, conventionalist, sort of definition focuses on art's institutional features, emphasizing the way art changes over time, modern works that appear to break radically with all traditional art, and the relational properties of artworks that depend on works' relations to art history, art genres, etc. The less conventionalist sort of contemporary definition makes use of a broader, more traditional concept of aesthetic properties that includes more than art-relational ones, and focuses on art's pan-cultural and trans-historical characteristics.

Any definition of art has to square with the following uncontroversial facts: entities (artifacts or performances) intentionally endowed by their makers with a significant degree of aesthetic interest, often surpassing that of most everyday objects, exist in virtually every known human culture; such entities, and traditions devoted to them, might exist in other possible worlds; such entities sometimes have non-aesthetic — ceremonial or religious or propagandistic — functions, and sometimes do not; traditionally, artworks are intentionally endowed by their makers with properties, usually perceptual, having a significant degree of aesthetic interest, often surpassing that of most everyday objects; art,

so understood, has a complicated history: new genres and art-forms develop, standards of taste evolve, understandings of aesthetic properties and aesthetic experience change; there are institutions in some but not all cultures which involve a focus on artifacts and performances having a high degree of aesthetic interest and lacking any practical, ceremonial, or religious use; such institutions sometimes classify entities apparently lacking aesthetic interest with entities having a high degree of aesthetic interest.

Evidently, some of these facts are culture-specific, and others are more universal. There are also two more general constraints on definitions of art. First, given that accepting that something is inexplicable is generally a philosophical last resort, and granting the importance of extensional adequacy, list-like or enumerative definitions are if possible to be avoided. Enumerative definitions, lacking principles that explain why what is on the list is on the list, don't, notoriously, apply to definienda that evolve, and provide no clue to the next or general case (Tarski's definition of truth, for example, is standardly criticized as unenlightening because it rests on a list-like definition of primitive denotation). (Devitt, 2001; Davidson, 2005).) Second, given that most classes outside of mathematics are vague, and that the existence of borderline cases is characteristic of vague classes, definitions that take the class of artworks to have borderline cases are preferable to definitions that don't. (Davies 1991 and 2006, Stecker 2005)

Conventionalist definitions account well for modern art, but have difficulty accounting for art's universality – especially the fact that there can be art disconnected from “our” (Western) institutions and traditions, and, conceivably, our species. Aesthetic definitions do better accounting for art's traditional, universal features, but less well, according to their critics, with revolutionary modern art; their further defense requires an account of the aesthetic which can be extended in a principled way to conceptual and other radical art. (An aesthetic definition and a conventionalist one could simply be conjoined. But that would merely raise, without answering, the difficult question of the unity or disunity of the class of artworks.) Which defect is the more serious one depends on which explananda are the more important.

Arguments at this level are hard to come by, because positions are hard to motivate in ways that do not depend on prior conventionalist and functionalist sympathies. If list-like definitions are flawed because uninformative, then so are conventionalist definitions, whether institutional or historical. Of course, if the class of artworks is an arbitrary one, lacking any genuine unity, then enumerative definitions cannot be faulted for being uninformative: they do all the explaining that it is possible to do, because they capture all the unity that there is to capture. But in that case the worry articulated by one prominent aesthetician, who wrote earlier of the “bloated, unwieldy” concept of art which institutional definitions aim to capture, needs to be taken seriously, even if

it turns out to be ungrounded: “It is not at all clear that these words – ‘What is art?’ – express anything like a single question, to which competing answers are given, or whether philosophers proposing answers are even engaged in the same debate…. The sheer variety of proposed definitions should give us pause. One cannot help wondering whether there is any sense in which they are attempts to … clarify the same cultural practices, or address the same issue.” (Walton, 1977, 2007)”

Wow! So, as you can see this desire and inability to exactly define what art is quite complicated! For the context of this class we are going to try to simplify this issue and study what most scholars, artists, and critics agree are important works of art.

Besides just studying the names, dates, and titles of the artwork(s) we will go further and explore the artwork within the context of the social, cultural, political, economic, and geographical times in which it was made.

We must understand these factors to truly understand the importance of the artwork and/or artist!

Lets begin this class by discussing Prehistoric Art!

Prehistoric Art:

“For art historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists, prehistoric art provides a significant clue – along with fossils, pollen, and artifacts – to understanding early human life and culture.”

When I say Prehistoric I mean to include human existence in its entirety before the invent of writing. We are going to discuss two prehistoric periods or era’s the Paleolithic Period and Neolithic period. “The Paleolithic (literally: "Old Stone Age") period covered between two and one-half to three million years, dependent upon which scientist has done the calculations. For the purposes of Art History, though, when we refer to "Paleolithic" art, we're talking about the Late Upper Paleolithic period. This began roughly around 40,000 years ago and lasted through the Pleistocene ice age, the end of which is commonly thought to have occurred near 8,000 B.C. (give or take a few centuries). This period was marked by the rise of Homo sapiens sapiens and its ever-developing ability to create tools and weapons.”

“In art, the Paleolithic era is marked by cave paintings and drawings of animals. It is thought that the animals were either those needed for food and that the paintings were some type of ritual related to the hunt, or that the animals were sacred and were given god-like qualities. It has also been suggested that the paintings represent primitive calendars or almanacs, "coming of age" ceremonies, records of tribal migrations, and mystic paintings during a

“This figurine represents the Paleolithic 'Venus', with overlarge breasts and belly. The faceless head bends towards the chest while the arms are pressed to the body with hands on the belly. Covering the surface of the head are rows of incisions indicating a hair style or cap. Relief work in the form of a tight plait convey a breast ornament tied up at the back. There are bracelets on the arms.

This figurine may possibly personify the goddess of fertility, mother-ancestor, or guardian of the home.”

Prehistoric Art:

shamanistic trance. While the purpose of paleolithic works of art is far from being certain, the art can be categorized as being "invitational," that is, created and viewed on purpose by selected or invited individuals for specific purposes; "public," that is, created to be viewed by anyone in the area or passing by the area, such as a public monument, territorial marker, or gravestone; and "personal," that is, small private objects carried by individuals as ritual items or charms.” (Hoover)

Some of the images we have found are believed to be 50,000 to 40,000 years old!

“Varied artistic objects from the Stone Age were found in the Malta (Siberia), Maininsk (Siberia) and Kostenky (left) Settlements. Female figurines from the Malta dwellings are worthy of particular attention; amongst them are exceptionally rare early Palaeolith figurines wearing some form of garments. Plates made from a mammoth tusk withdepictions of a mammoth and snakes, and figurines of flying birds (left top) were also discovered in this settlement. Artistic objects made during the Palaeolithic era occupy an important place (in art history), since this is the only source from which we can reconstruct and study the culture of ancient peoples. For instance there are small figurines from Kostenky and an anthropomorphic figurine from a Mainisk dwelling. The meaning and purpose of such objects

“This elongated figure of a flying bird has a small egg-shaped head and a long neck. The rounded end of the body has a hole drilled from one side. On either side of the body are short, broad projections representing outspread wings. Despite the stylization in modeling, the resemblance to a swan in flight is obvious. Such figurines were worn around the neck, with the bird's head down. They were probably amulets reflecting certain aspects of primitive man's view of the world.”

Prehistoric Art:

from the Palaeolithic era are usually identified with ancient cults.

Many objects are decorated with ornamental patterns: from Malta these tend to be depressions and notches forming spiral compositions; from Kostenky come more geometrical patterns.”

So lets discuss perhaps one of the most famous carvings from this period the “Woman From Willendorf” also known as “The Venus of Willendorf” and the “Willendorf Statue”. What I find amazing (among other things) about this statue is its size! We are quite used to seeing it portrayed rather monumentally in photographs of it but in fact it is rather small at just over 4 inches tall! See bottom image left!

“Willendorf is the name that was given to the first known human figurine, a woman. The statue was found in 1908 near the town of Willendorf in Vienna. It was carved from limestone and colored with red ochre. It measures 110 mm in height and is dated 30,000 and 25,000 BC.

Willendorf is an important icon of prehistory. Archeologists have suggested many different ways of understanding its significance for the nomadic society which made it. The first suggestion is that it was a "Goddess" used as a symbol of fertility. Apart from being female, the statue has an enlarged stomach and breasts, its pubic area is greatly emphasized, probably serving as a representative of procreativity, and

Prehistoric Art:

the red ochre pigment covering it has been thought to symbolize or serve as menstrual blood seen as a life giving agent. The second suggestion is that the figurine may have served as a good luck charm. Its diminutive size led archaeologists to assume that it may have been carried by the men during their hunting missions in which it served not only as a reminder of their mate back at home but also as a charm to bring them success in their hunting.

Also, the figurine's hair is braided in seven concentric circles, seven in later times being regarded as a magic number used to bring about good luck. A third possible significance is that of the figurine served as a mother goddess (earth mother or female deity). This comes from a suggestion that the statue was a woman whose specialness was indicated in her obesity since women in a hunter gatherer society would probably not have had the opportunity to gain much body fat.

It has been surmised that women's socioeconomic and cultural role in the society that produced the Willendorf statue was likely related to the value and reverence it had for creativity, production and responsibility of the mature maternal feminine.”

It is hard to know for sure why this was made and what purpose it had! If you look closely you can see that the breasts, vagina, and stomach are the focal points of this object. Everything else is less important the feet are non existent and the arms are almost an after thought (you can see them resting on top of the breasts) It seems femininity and

Prehistoric Art:

Fertility could certainly be underlying themes. Some scholars argue that a woman actually carved this as a representation of her own experience of pregnancy. From what I understand of this theory they feel that because the feet are absent it represents the perspective of the mother because she can no longer see her own feet over her pregnant stomach. An interesting theory for sure!

It is interesting that most of the sculptures depicting humans from this era are of women. I wonder what kind of clues this could give to the importance and social standing of women during this time and area? Were woman more powerful and respected than in later western civilizations? Or, have women been objectified since the dawn of art?

Lets move on and discuss cave painting. After 30,000 BCE art in Europe flourished especially cave painting (left bottom) in southern France and northern Spain. So, why did people paint in caves? During the 19th century many felt that it was due to an inherent or innate desire for humans to decorate themselves and their surroundings. Early on in the 20th century many scholars also argued that this “cave art” could have had a social function as well as a ceremonial function. I like where your book discusses the “miss-interpretations” of former scholars and their theories about the symbolism behind the imagery found in these cave paintings.

I want you to keep in mind just as it is difficult to define what art is, it is also difficult to truly understand the meanings

Prehistoric Art:

behind artwork, especially prehistoric art. We are really only guessing here and 60 years from now the theory your text states as being correct might in fact bee classified as an error! Lets discuss the utterly famous Chauvet Cave a masterwork of hundreds of paintings! Just barely discovered by cavers who had to clear stones away from a closed in passage to find it!

“The Chauvet Cave was discovered in the Ardèche valley (in southern France) in December 1994 by three cave explorers, after removing the rumble of stones that blocked a passage.

The cave is extensive, about 400 meters long, with vast chambers. The floor of the cave is littered with archaeological and palaeontological remains, including the skulls and bones of cave bears, which hibernated there, along with the skulls of an ibex and two wolves. The cave bears also left innumerable scratches on the walls and footprints on the ground.

The two major parts of the cave were used in different ways by artists. In the first part, a majority of images are red, with few black or engraved ones. In the second part, the animals are mostly black, with far fewer engravings and red figures. Obvious concentrations of images occur in certain places. The most spectacular images are the Horse Panel and the Panel of Lions and Rhinoceroses.

Prehistoric Art:

The dominant animals throughout the cave are lions, mammoths, and rhinoceroses. From the archaeological record, it is clear that these animals were rarely hunted; the images are thus not simple depictions of daily life at the time they were made. Along with cave bears (which were far larger than grizzly bears), the lions, mammoths, and rhinos account for 63 percent of the identified animals, a huge percentage compared to later periods of cave art.

Horses, bison, ibex, reindeer, red deer, aurochs, Megaceros deer, musk-oxen, panther, and owl are also represented. An exceptional image of the lower body of a woman was found associated with a bison figure. Many images of large red dots are, indeed, partial handprints made with the palm of the hand. Red hand stencils and complete handprints have also been discovered.

Thirty radiocarbon datings made in the cave have shown that it was frequented at two different periods. Most of the images were drawn during the first period, between 30,000 and 32,000 BP in radiocarbon years. Some people came back between 25,000 to 27,000 and left torch marks and charcoal on the ground. Some human footprints belonging to a child may date back to the second period.” Make sure that you read the Recovering the Past section on page 12! This article discusses how they date these artworks! I find the images of the hands most startling! They represent so much the weight of that human in space and time!

Prehistoric Art:

“Neolithic art is represented by a number of large and varied collections of objects found in vast isolated areas in Eastern Europe, Siberia and Central Asia.

Most fully represented are archaeological complexes discovered in the forest regions of European Russia. The objects found give an idea of the culture and art of Neolithic tribes who, from the 6th millennium to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC, inhabited the country between the rivers Volga and Oka, the Urals, and southern areas of the Pskov region including settlements in Karelia.

Neolithic everyday objects reveal that fishing and hunting were the main occupations of the inhabitants of the forest territories. Neolithic people decorated clay vessels in a wide variety of ways, created bone, horn and wooden figurines of people and animals. Noteworthy are a number of articles intended for tribal cults; these are polished stone axe-hammers, one end terminating with a bear's or elk's head (left top) executed with a considerable degree of realism. There are very carefully worked small flint figurines of people, animals and birds, which are schematic and stylized and were probably used as amulets.

Art of a monumental character was familiar to these tribes. On the coast of the White Sea and on the eastern shores of Lake Onega, a large number of petroglyphs were etched into the rock surface. The petroglyphs (left bottom) are executed in various manners: there are realistic and symbolic petroglyphs, and outline drawings but most are silhouettes.”

Prehistoric Art:

Neolithic humans were becoming more advanced both in societal aspects as well as artistic and even architecturally! Now your text spends a great deal of time discussing prehistoric western art and Japan (just a bit). I want to go east and discuss Neolithic China!

“The Neolithic period, which began in China around 10,000 B.C. and concluded with the introduction of metallurgy about 8,000 years later, was characterized by the development of settled communities that relied primarily on farming and domesticated animals rather than hunting and gathering. In China, as in other areas of the world, Neolithic settlements grew up along the main river systems. Those that dominate the geography of China are the Yellow (central and northern China) and the Yangzi (southern and eastern China).

A distinctly Chinese artistic tradition can be traced to the middle of the Neolithic period, about 4000 B.C. Two groups of artifacts provide the earliest surviving evidence of this tradition. It is now thought that these cultures developed their own traditions for the most part independently, creating distinctive kinds of architecture and types of burial customs, but with some communication and cultural exchange between them.

The first group of artifacts is the painted pottery found at numerous sites along the Yellow River basin, extending from Gansu Province in northwestern China to Henan Province in

Basin (pen), Majiayao culture, Majiayao phase, ca. 3200–2700 b.c.Gansu Province, China Earthenware with painted decoration

f Art History The Metropolitan Museum ofArt“Pottery with painted decoration is among the most remarkable of the archaeological remains from Neolithic cultures that flourished along the banks of the Yellow River. One of China's earliest and most widespread, the Yangshao culture is divided into two branches: the nuclear Yangshao, located in Henan and Shaanxi provinces, and the subsequent Majiayao (or Gansu Yangshao), situated in Gansu and parts of Qinghai Province. Both branches are subdivided into six phases, named after specific archaeological sites, which share architectural forms, stone implements, and high-fired earthenware. However, the shapes and decorations of these ceramics vary, and earthenware from the northwest is distinguished from that of earlier periods by the complexity and density of the designs. The flowing curvilinear forms painted on this shallow basin typify ceramics associated with the Majiayao phase.”

Prehistoric Art:

central China. The culture that emerged in the central plain was known as Yangshao. A related culture that emerged in the northwest is classified into three categories, the Banshan, Majiayao, and Machang, each categorized by the types of pottery produced. Yangshao painted pottery was formed by stacking coils of clay into the desired shape and then smoothing the surfaces with paddles and scrapers. Pottery containers found in graves, as opposed to those excavated from the remains of dwellings, are often painted with red and black pigments. This practice demonstrates the early use of the brush for linear compositions and the suggestion of movement, establishing an ancient origin for this fundamental artistic interest in Chinese history.

The second group of Neolithic artifacts consists of pottery and jade carvings from the eastern seaboard and the lower reaches of the Yangzi River in the south, representing the Hemudu (near Hangzhou), the Dawenkou and later the Longshan (in Shandong Province), and the Liangzhu (Hangzhou and Shanghai region). The gray and black pottery of eastern China is notable for its distinctive shapes, which differed from those made in the central regions and included the tripod, which was to remain a prominent vessel form in the subsequent Bronze Age. While some pottery items made in the east were painted (possibly in response to examples imported from central China), potters along the coast also used the techniques of burnishing and incising. These same craftsmen are credited with developing the potter's wheel in China.

Jar, Majiayao culture, Machang phase, ca. 2300–2050 b.c. Gansu or Qinghai Province, China Earthenware with painted decoration

“Large and small two-handled jars, pitchers, bowls, and beakers are the most common forms produced in the Machang phase of the Majiayao (or Gansu Yangshao) culture. Decorative motifs on Machang-period wares are largely geometric and include curvilinear patterns and cross-hatching, and lozenges, triangles, circles, and squares in an endless array of combinations.”

Prehistoric Art:

Of all aspects of the Neolithic cultures in eastern China, the use of jade made the most lasting contribution to Chinese civilization. Polished stone implements were common to all Neolithic settlements. Stones to be fashioned into tools and ornaments were chosen for their harness and strength to withstand impact and for their appearance.

Nephrite, or true jade, is a tough and attractive stone. In the eastern provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, particularly in the areas near Lake Tai, where the stone occurs naturally, jade was worked extensively, especially during the last Neolithic phase, the Liangzhu, which flourished in the second half of the third millennium B.C. Liangzhu jade artifacts are made with astonishing precision and care, especially as jade is too hard to "carve" with a knife but must be abraded with coarse sands in a laborious process.

The extraordinarily fine lines of the incised decoration and the high gloss of the polished surfaces were technical feats requiring the highest level of skill and patience. Few of the jades in archaeological excavations show signs of wear. They are generally found in burials of privileged persons carefully arranged around the body. Jade axes and other tools transcended their original function and became objects of great social and aesthetic significance.”

Lets move onto the Bronze Age!

Ritual object (bi), Neolithic period, Liangzhu culture, ca. 2700–2500 b.c.Jiangsu or Zhejiang Province, China Nephrite

“The austere shape, imposing mass, and monumental proportions identify this perforated disk (bi) as an important ceremonial object of China's Neolithic culture. Worked from a mottled green stone identified as nephrite (a form of jade), it bears traces of saw and drill marks on its otherwise smooth surface that provide a textbook study of early Chinese lapidary techniques. The disk belongs to the Late Neolithic Liangzhu culture of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. In 1982, twenty-five such disks, ranging in size from five to ten inches in diameter, were excavated from a Liangzhu tomb near Changzhou, Jiangsu. Carbon-14 datings for the tomb place it between 2700 and 2200 B.C.”

Prehistoric Art:

The era that followed the introduction of basic metalworking techniques is most commonly referred to as the Bronze Age. We see this era really take hold in Europe around 3000 BCE. It is important to remember that many of the major human evolution contributions for the Neolithic Period persisted through the Bronze Age and even into our present times (i.e. farming, pottery, and architecture).

Metals were first used for ornamentation by Neolithic peoples who would hammer malachite a green colored carbonate mineral into beads. Gold was also one of the first minerals exploited for decorative purposes during this time. As peoples understanding of metallurgy (the science and technology of metals) became more expansive the objects these people made became more complex. This understanding of the metal itself was also matched by a better understanding of how to extract it from the Earth.

Instead of just finding it on the surface they discovered ways of mining it. Copper and gold were very popular but in fact are rather soft and often weak so they didn’t work well for things like weapons. But with the invention of Bronze an alloy, or mixture of tin and copper they discovered a great balance exploiting the best qualities )in the proper measurements) to create a very strong metal perfect for tools and weapons.

Bronze Age artistry is not just limited to metalworking see you text for some examples of rock carvings during this time!

Evolution of axe heads from stone to bronze during the Early Bronze Age

Recreation of Bronze Age home

Rock Art: Sweden Bronze Age

Art of The Ancient Near East:

The light of civilization first appeared in the Middle East where they had been domesticating grains and farming them far before the peoples of Europe started. This ability to farm first occurred in what we now call the fertile crescent and Mesopotamia “Mesopotamia, the land between the rivers, derives its name and existence from the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. These two rivers created the Fertile Crescent in the midst of surrounding inhospitable territory. The space we call Mesopotamia is roughly the same as that of the modern country of Iraq. About ten thousand years ago, the people of this area began the agricultural revolution. Instead of hunting and gathering their food, they domesticated plants and animals, beginning with the sheep. They lived in houses built from reeds or mud-brick, grouped in villages where they tended their crops. They built granaries to store their grain, and they began developing a token system to record trade and accounts.

Between 3500 and 3000, for reasons still not well understood, the civilization of Southern Mesopotamia underwent a sudden growth and change, centered in the cities of Ur and Uruk. This development was perhaps driven by climatic change which rendered the old ways of agriculture less productive. People clustered into fewer, but larger, locations and the plough, potter's wheel and the introduction of bronze can be seen as responses to the demands of a more intensive economic life, and also as causes of increased complexity in that life. In this same period came the beginnings of writing, metrological systems and arithmetic.”


Now, I cannot stress enough what an important invention writing was for all of humanity! During this era Sumerians pressed cuneiform or wedge shaped symbols into clay tablets with a stylus, or pointed writing instrument to keep business records. There is a great little insert on cuneiform writing on page 30 of your text! Some of the earliest writing was done in more “pictograph” like fashions (left top)

As the need to write more in less space and their understanding of symbols increased so did the complexity of writing (left bottom)! This evolution is easily seen in the thousands upon thousands of tablets we have found. Not only did writing evolve in this form but so did the language of mathematics another tool used by the ancient Sumerians.

It is during this time that we see the worlds first epic! I am sure many of you have heard of the Epic of Gilgamesh Although the oldest version we have is written in Akkadian a neighbor to the north that we will quickly discuss in just a moment!

Lets go on to discuss this area in the world and its gradual evolution!


“The main part of the third millennium, now called the Early Dynastic period, saw the gradual development of Sumerian civilization, based on numerous city states. From the Early Dynastic period comes the earliest Sumerian literature, including the epic poetry about Gilgamesh. The Sumerians lived in a complex, unpredictable and frequently hostile environment. They had to contend with floods, droughts, storms, dust, heat, disease and death. They strove to uncover order and organization in the world to overcome feelings of futility and powerlessness.

The Early Dynastic period was brought to an end when Sargon (2334-2279) created the world's first empire, stretching the length and breadth of the fertile crescent. The impact of Sargon's unification of Sumer and Akkad resonated down through the history of Mesopotamia for the next two thousand years. The Sargonic empire lasted for almost a hundred and fifty years, before it fell to insurrections and invasions. There followed a characteristically Mesopotamian turbulent period, part of which involved the hordes of Guti, who ruled in the south for a century or so. Eventually, they were thrown out in an uprising which inaugurated the Third Dynasty of Ur (Ur III, or Neo-Sumerian period). During the reign of the Ur III kings beginning with Ur-Nammu and Shulgi, Sumerian culture and civilization experienced a remarkable renaissance. There was peace and prosperity throughout the land, the legal system was strengthened, the calendar was revised, metrology simplified, agriculture revived, and towns and temples were rebuilt, the most

Votive Figures from the Square Temple, Eshnunna

Votive Figures from the Square Temple, Eshnunna


imposing of the latter being the ziggurat at Ur (left). The Ur III empire lasted for over a century (2112-2004) before falling to the violent incursions of nomadic Amorites. With the fall of Ur went Sumerian civilization for ever. The language of Sumerian was retained as an ever more abstruse, recondite and literary ornament of the civilized elites, but as a living tongue, it was dead, to be replaced by Akkadian.

The next couple of hundred years was another turbulent time during which the cities of Isin and Larsa vied for supremacy in the south, while Mari and Assur grew to prominence in the north. Assur was the principal city of the Assyrians, of whom we will hear more later. Also in the south was the city of Babylon.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the ruler of Babylon was one Hammurabi (1792-1750). In short order he conquered and unified the whole of Mesopotamia, and Babylon became its greatest city. We now call this period Old Babylonian, and it is from this time that the great bulk of mathematical tablets come (although mostly not from Babylon itself). When people speak of Mesopotamian mathematics as Babylonian, they are usually referring to Old Babylonian mathematics. During this period the literate elites, the scribes, the doctors, the teachers of language, literature and mathematics emerged as distinct professional groups, rather than just being priests or administrators. Inherited from bureaucratic and religious backgrounds is the


characteristic style of Old Babylonian mathematics (and medicine and jurisprudence): a passion for lists, and an emphasis on algorithmic procedures, carving a complex world into numerous understandable cases.

In about 1600, while Egypt was falling to the Hyksos invasion, Mesopotamia was faced with troublesome northern neighbors. The Hittites, under Mursilis, captured and plundered Babylon, but they did not stay and hold the territory. Into the vacuum thus created came the Kassites from the Zagros mountains to the northeast. The Kassite rule of Babylon lasted for four hundred years, some of which were quite peaceful, but it left little trace. The (current) archaeological record is particularly sparse and not much can be said about this period.”

Before we move onto the Hittites and Assyrians I want to quickly cover one of the ancient wonders of the world the city of Babylon! Briefly mentioned your text. “The city of Babylon is mentioned in documents of the late third millennium BC and became the center of an Amorite dynasty in the early second millennium BC. The sixth Amorite ruler, Hammurapi, created an empire across Mesopotamia. It was the royal city of the Kassites and during the Second Dynasty of Isin (1157-1026 BC) it became the capital of southern Mesopotamia and its patron deity Marduk became the national god.

Nebuchadnezzar II rebuilt Babylon in the sixth century BC and it became the largest ancient settlement in Mesopotamia.

Head of a Man (known as Akkadian Ruler)


There were two sets of fortified walls and massive palaces and religious buildings, including the central ziggurat tower. Nebuchadnezzar is also credited with the construction of the famous 'Hanging Gardens'.

Babylon remained an important center until the third century BC, when Seleucia-on-the-Tigris was founded about ninety kilometers to the north-east. Under Antiochus I (281-261 BC) the new settlement became the official Royal City and the civilian population was ordered to move there. Nonetheless a village existed on the old city site until the eleventh century AD. Babylon was excavated by Robert Koldeway between 1899 and 1917 on behalf of the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft. Since 1958 the Iraq Directorate-General of Antiquities has carried out further investigations. Unfortunately, the earlier levels are inaccessible beneath the high water table.”

I want you to watch a short video on the hanging gardens that is rather informative although it does abruptly end by visiting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUobrO0EeRI after which please return to this lecture. The video is only about 8 minutes in length!

Babylon’s Ischtar door is one of the at least eight city gates of Babylon’s capital.

Ruins of Ancient Babylon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUobrO0EeRI


On the outskirts of Mesopotamia were a number of other cultures developing and flourishing. In present day turkey we find that there were a number of independent cultures that had not been dominated by Mesopotamian culture. The Hittites were among the most powerful of these groups of people. “It wasn't until around the time of 2000 B.C. that the Indo-European speaking Hittites started to appear in the northern part of Asia Minor, a very fertile region in which a crucial element appeared. This key element was iron. About 350 years later around 1650 B.C. the Hittites started building an empire. As time went on they ended up expanding into more of Asia Minor, seized northern Syria from the Egyptians, and expanded into northern Mesopotamia, where they conquered the Babylonians.

While conquering the Babylonians the Hittites gained a lot of important knowledge that would later help them to improve their empire. The Hittites were not as advanced as the great people of Mesopotamia, but with the knowledge that was gained the Hittite culture began to flourish. The Hittites began to extract iron from ore. By doing this they figured out how to make tools and weapons out of iron. They would heat the iron until it was red-hot and then pound out the impurities and then plunge it into cold water to harden it; thus allowing the edges to become stronger and sharper than the usual bronze or copper weapons. This is one of the key discoveries that made the Hittites such a famous civilization. Now with the technology of making iron tools and weapons, this allowed the Hittite Military to arm more people at a very

Stag vessel; Anatolia Hittite Empire, 14th–13th century BCE.Silver, gold inlay; H. 7 1/8 in. (18 cm); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Hittite Fertility Goddess statue

Lion Gate in Hattusha the image on the right is to demonstrate scale!


lesser expense. The Hittites were very warlike people, noted for their intense ferocity.

The use of iron tools and weapons was a very important discovery in which the Hittites tried to keep as few people as possible from knowing about it. But this was a very hard task to carry out. As there empire collapsed around 1200 B.C. the ironsmiths migrated to other parts of the country. This new knowledge began to spread into Asia, Africa, and Europe, thus ushering the Iron Age.

The Hittites adopted Old Babylonian laws, but these laws were greatly modified. These laws were far more merciful than the laws of the Old Babylonians, perhaps because the Hittites were less concerned about maintaining a rigid central authority. Unlike the Babylonian laws there only a handful of crimes in which were under the category of capital crimes.

Along with adopting the laws, the Hittites also adopted many of their gods as well. The Hittites believed that all gods were legitimate gods. Whenever the Hittites conquered a certain group, they adopt the gods in which that group believed in.

The Assyrians were responsible for the folding of the Hittite Empire. The Assyrians began to move into larger parts of the Fertile Crescent. Eventually taking over the Hittites. However this empire flourished for about 450 years.”

statue of Hittite King Tarhunza of ancient Malatya

Seated goddess with a child, Hittite Empire, Old Hittite; 15th–13th century b.c.


“This silver horn-shaped drinking vessel (rhyton) is shaped in the form of a bull. The animal is in a kneeling posture and is fashioned from two pieces of silver joined by a grooved collar. The head, with its short neck, is massive and strong; the nose and the oval eyes and brows that once held inlays were all sculpted with great sensitivity. The bull's cheeks and jowls are formed from petal-like ridges while further repoussé musculature decorates the body above the legs and shoulders. The chest has a prominent dewlap with horizontal undulations, which suggests folds of skin.

These characteristics of modeling and decoration can be seen in representations of other Hittite bulls dating from around 1300 B.C. Because Hittite texts describe their gods as being given their own drinking vessels made in the form of their animal counterparts, it is plausible to assume that this vessel was the property of the Hittite storm god Teshub with whom the bull was associated.”

Here is another interesting fact about the Hittites they spoke an Indo-European language (a family of languages that includes English)! This vessel is just striking in its articulation of the iconic visual elements of a bull! What I cannot answer is if it stands on the bulls nose and knees when fluid is in the cup or, if it was meant just to be held and carried around! Lets move onto the Assyrians!


“The Assyrians lived in what is now modern-day Northern Iraq, northwestern Iraq, Southeastern Turkey, and Northeastern Syria. The Assyrians occupied a location called the Assyrian Triangle (left). This area is located between the Lower Zab and the Tigris Rivers. About 3 million people populated this Assyrian-ruled region. The native language is called Assyrian, sometime referred to as Neo-Aramaic or Syriac.

In the seventh and sixth centuries B.C. the Assyrian and Babylonian empires both fell. This reduced the Assyrians to a small nation living at the mercy of their overlords and gods in the vastly scattered lands throughout the Middle Eastern region. Despite this the Assyrians played a major role in the development of civilization in mankind. Assyrians are Christians whose church dates back to the time of Christ. In the first century they were among the first people to embrace Christianity. Due to the numerous atrocities that were cast amongst them over the following centuries, because of their religion and nationality, the Assyrians almost lost their identity as a nation. It was not until the middle of the 19th century, when Assyrians came in direct contact with the western world, that their existence attracted the attention of the outside world.

Monarchs of Assyria hated Babylon with a passion, because it contemplated independence and sedition. So they took action by attacking and destroying Babylon. The Assyrians moved their capital into the city of Nineveh. However,


feeling that Marduk, the Babylonian god, was angry with them, they rebuilt Babylon and made an idol of Marduk and turned it into a temple. The last great monarch of Assyria was Ashurbanipal, who not only extended the empire, but also began a project of assembling a collection of tablets of all the literature of Great Mesopotamia. Around thirty thousand tablets still remain of Ashurbanipal's great library in the city of Nineveh; these tablets are our single greatest source of knowledge of Mesopotamian culture, myth, and literature.

To put it bluntly, Assyrian state was forged in the crucible of war, invasion, and conquest. The upper, land-holding classes consisted almost entirely of military commanders who grew wealthy from the spoils taken in war. The Assyrian Army was the largest standing army ever seen in the Middle East or Mediterranean. The necessities of war excited technological innovation, which made the Assyrians almost unbeatable: iron swords, lances, metal armor, and battering rams made them a fearsome foe in battle. No one really wanted to mess with the Assyrians because they had such awesome weapons. Another great invention that went along with the wartime inventions was the invention of sciences and mathematics. Among the great mathematical inventions of the Assyrians was the division of the circle into 360 degrees. The Assyrian were also responsible for inventing the longitude and latitude system. They used this new system for means of navigation and mapping. They also developed a sophisticated medical science, which greatly influenced medical science as far away as Greece.”

Sickle sword, 1307–1275 b.c.; Middle Assyrian period, reign of Adad-nirari I

Assyrian low relief sculpture of Assyrian soldiers


This “panel probably shows an incident described in Ashurnasirpal's written accounts. In 878 BC he was campaigning down the river Euphrates and reached the enemy capital, the city of Suru in the land of Suhi. The enemy were forced into the river to save themselves.

The relief shows two Assyrian archers, dressed in typical pointed helmets and short kilts, shooting at the enemy. The three men in the water are dressed in long robes, indicating that they are all people of high status rather than ordinary soldiers. One is swimming and has been hit by arrows. The other two are blowing into inflated animal-skins to help support themselves in the water. The one without a beard is probably a eunuch. Castrated men were widely employed at the ancient courts, not only to guard women, and many of them reached positions of high responsibility.

There are traces of Ashurnasirpal's 'Standard Inscription' at the bottom of the panel. This was repeated again and again across most of his reliefs. Henry Layard, excavating Nimrud in the nineteenth century, often had it cut away, if it did not cross the relief depiction, to reduce the weight of the slab for transport.”

That is something to note! Very often these artifacts were damaged by the “highly educated” Westerners in the 19 th and 20th centuries taking them back to Europe for display at Museums! This happened all over the post-colonial world! Lets move on to Egypt!

Enemies Crossing the Euphrates to escape Assyrian Archers pg 41 from text

Enemies Crossing the Euphrates to escape Assyrian Archers (detail)

Art of Ancient Egypt

Art of Ancient Egypt:

“The Egyptian Civilization was one of the longest thriving empires the world has ever seen. The only other civilization that can compare is China, which is still around today. Egypt was a thriving civilization from its begin in 3000 BC to the last temple was closed in 537 AD. The Egyptians built structures, and made achievements a tremendous deal ahead of their time.

The history of Ancient Egypt covers a period of over three thousand years. The major crop of Egypt was barley. Egypt was a huge fishing and trading civilization, using boats for transportation and economy. Egyptians believed animals to be sacred creatures, especially the cat. A great amount of Egypt's recognition is based on their structural achievements. They are probably most well known because of their pyramids, and mummies. The Egyptians were highly advanced in their architecture. They built huge structures far ahead of their time, all done with just manpower.

Perhaps another big reason Egypt is so famous is one of the most basic things we take for granted-language. The Egyptians invented hieroglyphics, which was their form of writing. They was also one of the first civilizations to start an organized form of language.

The history of Egypt has been divided up into 9 periods, also known as Kingdoms. These periods have been sub-grouped by historians into 3 periods known as the Old Kingdom c.2575-2150 BCE, Middle Kingdom 1975- 1640 BCE,

Art of Ancient Egypt:

and New Kingdom 1539 – 1075 BCE. During the Old Kingdom was when most of Egypt's technology and architectural achievements began. They started work on the pyramids and statues in the Old Kingdom as well as making new technologies. After the Old Kingdom, Egypt had a civil war, but was unified by Mentuhotep II, who unified Egypt again, started the Middle Kingdom, which would become Egypt's classical period. The Middle Kingdom is when the Egyptians began their arts and culture. The final kingdom, the New Kingdom was popular because of the Egyptian expansion. This is the period when Egypt made conquests and increased its size and strength. This is the period where Egypt acquired most of its great wealth. Then they begin building their largest pyramids and statues to honor their gods. After all these periods Egypt was later conquered by Rome and eventually lost its status as a world power.

Egypt is also popular for several more things. Some of these are Egypt's great amount of wealth, riches, and jewels. They are also highly known for their worship of the gods. They believed that there were gods for most natural things, and they also believed in the afterlife, which is why they mummified themselves in tombs, which was for the afterlife.

Egypt is one of the best known civilizations ever and probably because of the magnitude of their accomplishments. Some of the Egyptian's beliefs and practices still baffle historians today, and there are still many artifacts and things to be found about Egypt.”

Step Pyramid of King Djoser Old Kingdom

Pyramids of Giza Old Kingdom

Art of Ancient Egypt: Early Dynastic Period

So, lets get a little more specific about Early Dynastic Egypt (2950-2575 BCE) a period that predates the Old kingdom. It was during this Early Dynastic era that the neighboring kingdoms found along the Nile (the longest river in the world) one towards the south known as Upper Egypt and one to the north known as Lower Egypt were combined. It is after the conquering of lower Egypt by Upper Egypt that we begin to see ideas of divinity, cosmic order, and kingship arise. In fact because this culture is so old most of what we know about them comes from the religious aspect of their lives.

It is in the artwork of the secure and monumental tomb and temple that we learn so much about them.

By the Early Dynastic Period the King’s of Egypt were thought of as gods in human form the son’s of the sun god Ra. The Kings would build monumental palaces and temples to please the gods and would inhabit them with scores of priests to maintain them. The priests would clothe all the finely crafted statues of their gods and make sure they were fed daily, a practice not uncommon in certain African cultures even to this day!

Much of the ancient Egyptian artwork we see is so easily identifiable as “Egyptian” but why? Because of the artistic conventions framing the work of artists at the time. They had strict guidelines to follow which created a similar style recognized throughout the kingdom and to thus day.

The Palette of Narmer (see page 52 in text)

Art of Ancient Egypt: Old Kingdom

“Egypt's Old Kingdom (Dynasties 3–6, ca. 2575–2150 BCE) was one of the most dynamic periods in the development of Egyptian art. During this period, artists learned to express their culture's worldview, creating for the first time images and forms that endured for generations. Architects and masons mastered the techniques necessary to build monumental structures in stone. Sculptors created the earliest portraits of individuals and the first lifesize statues in wood, copper, and stone. They perfected the art of carving intricate relief decoration and, through keen observation of the natural world, produced detailed images of animals, plants, and even landscapes, recording the essential elements of their world for eternity in scenes painted and carved on the walls of temples and tombs.

These images and structures had two principal functions: to ensure an ordered existence and to defeat death by preserving life into the next world. To these ends, over a period of time, Egyptian artists adopted a limited repertoire of standard types and established a formal artistic canon that would define Egyptian art for more than 3,000 years, while remaining flexible enough to allow for subtle variation and innovation.

Although much of their artistic effort was centered on preserving life after death, Egyptians also surrounded themselves with beautiful objects to enhance their lives in this world, producing elegant jewelry, finely carved and inlaid furniture, and cosmetic vessels and implements in a wide variety of materials.” Lets look at some Old Kingdom artwork!


“Pair statues, usually depicting a husband and wife, were frequently placed in a serdab, the hidden statue chamber often found in nonroyal tomb chapels of the Old Kingdom. The Egyptians believed that the spirit of the deceased could use such a statue as a home and enter it in order to benefit from gifts of food that were brought to the offering chapel of the tomb.

The inscription on the front of this statue identifies these individuals as the Royal Acquaintance Memi and Sabu. Although the text does not specify a relationship, they were probably husband and wife, as is common for pair statues where a relationship is recorded. The pose is unusual because Memi is returning Sabu's embrace by draping his arm around her shoulders. This restricting gesture may account for the fact that he stands with his feet together, rather than striding forward in the normal masculine pose.

Until recently, this statue was dated to Dynasty 5, but the figures have many features in common with Fourth Dynasty statues found in the nonroyal cemeteries surrounding the Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) at Giza. In addition, the pose has only two known parallels, both from Giza and both datable to Dynasty 4.”Statue of Memi and Sabu, Old Kingdom, Dynasty 4, ca. 2575–2465 b.c.

Egyptian; Probably from GizaPainted limestone


“This is the only preserved three-dimensional representation that has been identified as Sahure, the second ruler of Dynasty 5. Seated on a throne, the king is accompanied by a smaller male figure personifying the local god of the Coptite nome, the fifth nome (province) of Upper Egypt. This deity offers the king an ankh (hieroglyph meaning "life") with his left hand. The nome standard, with its double-falcon emblem, is carved above the god's head. Sahure wears the nemes headcloth and straight false beard of a living pharaoh. The flaring hood of the uraeus, the cobra goddess who protected Egyptian kings, is visible on his brow. The nome god wears the archaic wig and curling beard of a deity.

The statue may have been intended to decorate the king's pyramid complex at Abusir, about fifteen miles south of Giza. At the end of the previous dynasty, multiple statues of this type were placed in the temple of Menkaure (Mycerinus) to symbolize the gathering of nome gods from Upper and Lower Egypt around the king. However, since no other statues of this type are preserved from Sahure's reign, it is possible that this statue was a royal dedication in one of the temples in Coptos (modern Qift).”

King Sahure and a nome god, Old Kingdom, Dynasty 5, reign of Sahure, ca. 2458–2446 b.c.


“These cosmetic vessels were intended to hold some sort of perfumed oil. The form, depicting a mother monkey holding her baby against her chest, is related to the contents of the jars. Monkeys came to Egypt through trade with countries to the south along the Red Sea coast and in what are now Sudan and Ethiopia.

These areas also provided spices and other ingredients that the Egyptians mixed with cosmetic oils and ointments. The maternal image was a symbol of rebirth and renewal, recurring concepts in the Egyptian belief system.The vases were undoubtedly made in the royal workshops of Dynasty 6, toward the end of the Old Kingdom. The larger vase is inscribed with the name of Merenre I. The smaller one had the name of his father, Pepi I, who seems to have presented it to a female official as a gift commemorating his thirty-year festival.

Although they were made by sculptors working within a decade of one another, using the same medium and interpreting the same theme, these vases show remarkable variation. In the larger jar, the mother monkey sits stiffly upright, her arms and legs rendered in a very abstract, linear fashion. The smaller example is livelier, with a more naturalistic treatment of the mother animal bending over her infant. In spite of the difference in style, both vessels indicate the keen interest and observation with which ancient Egyptian artists represented the natural world around them.”

Two Vases in the Shape of a Mother Monkey with Her Young(a) Old Kingdom, Dynasty 6, reign of Merenre I, ca. 2255–2246 b.c.EgyptianEgyptian alabaster(b) Old Kingdom, Dynasty 6, reign of Pepi I, ca. 2289–2255 b.c.EgyptianEgyptian alabaster


I want to talk a bit more about perfume or, personal hygiene in the context of Ancient Egypt. Because of the hot climate and dust prevalent in certain areas of the kingdom Egyptians were completely obsessed with personal hygiene and make-up! From the poorest slave to the king everyone of both sexes wore makeup around the eyes. “The ornamented eye is ubiquitous in ancient Egyptian art. Hardly a portrait exists without an impeccably dark, outlined eye. Disembodied decorated eyes (the Eye of Horus) serve as amulets. Should an artist wish to indicate that a cow, for instance, is no mere bovine but a divinity in disguise, this too is indicated, not by a halo, but via eye makeup. And not just any eye makeup. There is a very specific, consistent style that even today has become a virtual shorthand to evoke the mysteries and glamour of old Egypt. All for good reason: pharaohs, fashions, architecture, even gods, evolved and changed in Egypt yet the depiction of the ornamented eye remains consistent through the history of independent Egypt. It may even pre-date what we consider to be Egyptian: prehistoric palettes have been unearthed bearing traces of malachite, the material used to decorate eyes for centuries thereafter.”

Egyptians bathed regularly and men of status shaved their face. Both sexes would often wear wigs often made with human hair demonstrating the latest fashion styles. They also looked down upon some foreigners who they felt were unclean individuals.

Nefertiti (note the eye makeup)


If you look at a number of Egyptian paintings you will see that women often have a globular protrusion at the top of there head as seen to the left. These are believed to be another personal hygiene device.

Women would mix aromatic perfumes and herbs into fat and sometimes bees wax then apply these to the top of the head to slowly melt and release a pleasant smell over the course of a party or outing!

You can see that two of the dancers in the bottom image are nude. Nudity was accepted in the right situations in ancient Egypt. Sometimes a personas class, or job would allow them to be nude as in the case of fishermen or the extremely poor. Often prostitutes and dancers were either partially or fully nude.

I find it very interesting that the ancient Egyptians for all their technological and architectural progress were also obsessed with fashion and beauty. The Egyptians focused their attention on creating monuments that were almost timeless still standing after 3000 years but at the same time were also interested in something as fleeting as beauty, and interesting duality for sure!

Lets move onto the Middle Kingdom!

Art of Ancient Egypt: Middle Kingdom

“The Middle Kingdom (mid-Dynasty 11–Dynasty 13, ca. 1975–1640 B.C.) began when Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II reunited Upper and Lower Egypt, setting the stage for a second great flowering of Egyptian culture. Thebes came into prominence for the first time, serving as capital and artistic center during Dynasty 11. The outstanding monument of this dynasty was Mentuhotep's mortuary complex (left top), loosely modeled on the funerary monuments of his Theban ancestors. Built on a grand scale against the spectacular sheer cliffs of western Thebes, Mentuhotep's complex centered on a terraced temple with pillared porticoes. The masterful design, representing a perfect union of architecture and landscape unique for its time, included painted reliefs of ceremonial scenes and hieroglyphic texts. Carved in a distinctive Theban style also seen in the tombs of Mentuhotep's officials, these now-fragmentary reliefs are among the finest ever produced in Egypt.

At the end of Dynasty 11, the throne passed to a new family with the accession of Amenemhat I, who moved the capital north to Itj-tawy, near modern Lisht. Strongly influenced by the statuary and reliefs from nearby Old Kingdom monuments in the Memphite region, the artists of Dynasty 12 created a new aesthetic style. The distinctive works of this period are a series of royal statues that reflect a subtle change in the Egyptian concept of kingship.” Lets explore some of the just fantastic art of this period!

Guardian figure in the form of King Amenemhat II, Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 12, reign of Amenemhat II, ca. 1919–1885 b.c.EgyptianPainted wood


“This well-formed statuette of a hippopotamus demonstrates the Egyptian artist's appreciation for the natural world. It was molded in faience, a ceramic material made of ground quartz. Beneath the blue-green glaze, the body was painted with the outlines of river plants, symbolizing the marshes in which the animal lived.

The seemingly benign appearance that this figurine presents is deceptive. To the ancient Egyptians, the hippopotamus was one of the most dangerous animals in their world. The huge creatures were a hazard for small fishing boats and other rivercraft. The beast might also be encountered on the waterways in the journey to the afterlife. As such, the hippopotamus was a force of nature that needed to be propitiated and controlled, both in this life and the next.

This example was one of a pair found in a shaft associated with the tomb chapel of the steward Senbi II at Meir, a site about thirty miles south of modern Asyut. Three of its legs, originally broken to prevent the creature from harming the deceased, have been restored. The hippo was part of Senbi's burial equipment, which included a canopic box, a coffin, and numerous models of boats and food production.”

Statuette of a Hippopotamus, Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 12, ca. 1981–1885 b.c.Egyptian; Middle Egypt, Meir


“Egyptians are credited with the domestication of a number of animals, including the cat, which first appears in painting and relief toward the end of the Old Kingdom (ca. 2300 B.C.). This cosmetic jar is the earliest known three-dimensional image of a cat.

Egyptian artists were very observant of the world around them, and their representations of animals are detailed and lifelike. In this jar, which is essentially a statuette, the sculptor demonstrates a keen understanding of the creature's physical traits, giving it the alert, tense look of a hunter rather than the elegant aloofness seen in later statuettes. The impression of readiness is enhanced by the inlaid eyes.

The eyes are made of rock crystal with drill holes at the back that were filled with pigment, creating a startlingly lifelike impression. The eye sockets were lined with copper, which corroded to form a heavy green rim. The body of the cat was hollowed out and would have held some sort of scented oil or unguent.”

I love this piece! The muscle definition is so subtle but at the same time so articulate! This object is only 5 and a half inches high.

Cosmetic Jar in the Form of a Cat, Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 12, ca. 1991–1783 b.c.


“The face of Senwosret III is one of the most individual and recognizable in all of Egyptian art. The deep-set, heavy-lidded eyes, the thin lips, and the series of diagonal furrows marking the rather hollow cheeks give representations of this king a brooding expression not usually found on the faces of Egyptian kings, who are generally portrayed with a more youthful countenance.

Although it lacks an inscription, this fragment of a quartzite statue is easily identified as a likeness of Senwosret III. However, unlike the stern features seen on the face of the king's gneiss sphinx (17.9.2), the expression here is somewhat softened, suggesting the face of a living, aging man. This image is one of the few instances in Egyptian art in which the ruler seems consciously to have chosen to represent his humanity rather than an idealized image of eternal kingship.

Senwosret III is noted for his military achievements. He mounted four campaigns into Lower Nubia, where he confronted the powerful kingdom of Kush, based at Kerma in the Sudan. He established the southern border of Egypt at Semna at the Second Cataract and founded or expanded a string of fortresses along the Nile in Nubia to control all movement and trade. He built his pyramid complex at Dahshur, which is being excavated by the Metropolitan Museum, as well as a rock-cut tomb and cenotaph at Abydos.” Now lets move onto the New Kingdom!

Face of Senwosret III, Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 12, reign of Senwosret III, ca. 1878–1840 b.c.

Art of Ancient Egypt: New Kingdom

“Late in the Second Intermediate Period (ca. 1640–1550 B.C.), the Theban rulers began to drive the Hyksos kings from the Delta. This was finally accomplished by Ahmose I, who reunited Egypt, ushering in the New Kingdom—the third great era of Egyptian culture. Ahmose's successors conducted military campaigns that extended Egypt's influence in the Near East and established Egyptian control of Nubia to the fourth cataract. As a result, the New Kingdom pharaohs commanded unimaginable wealth, much of which they lavished on their gods, especially Amun-Re of Thebes, whose cult temple at Karnak was augmented by succeeding generations of rulers and filled with votive statues commissioned by kings and courtiers alike.

Although the rulers established an administrative capital near their home in the Delta, Thebes remained a cultural and religious center. The pharaohs built their mortuary temples here and were buried in huge rock-cut tombs decorated with finely executed paintings or painted reliefs illustrating religious texts concerned with the afterlife. A town was established in western Thebes for the artists who created these tombs. At this site (Deir el-Medina left ontop), they left a wealth of information about life in an ancient Egyptian community of artisans and craftsmen.

Known especially for monumental architecture and statuary honoring the gods and pharaohs, the New Kingdom, a period of nearly 500 years of political stability and economic prosperity, also produced an abundance of artistic masterpieces created for use by nonroyal individuals.”

Great Temple of Amun at Karnak


“Hatshepsut, the best known of several female rulers of Egypt, declared herself king sometime between years 2 and 7 of the reign of her stepson and nephew, Thutmose III. This lifesize statue shows her in the ceremonial attire of an Egyptian pharaoh, traditionally a man's role. In spite of the masculine dress, the statue has a distinctly feminine air, unlike most other representations of Hatshepsut as pharaoh. Even the kingly titles on the sides of the throne are feminized to read "Daughter of Re [the sun god]" and "Lady of the Two Lands [Upper and Lower Egypt].”

Soon after assuming the role of ruler, Hatshepsut began constructing a mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri in western Thebes, (next slide) beside the temple of her ancient predecessor, Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II of Dynasty 11. Like Mentuhotep's temple, Hatshepsut's consisted of a series of terraces with pillared porticoes that echoed the light and shadow of the cliffs against which it was built. One of the most spectacular architectural achievements of the ancient world, Hatshepsut's temple was decorated with numerous statues portraying her as a sphinx, as the reigning pharaoh making offerings to the gods, and as Osiris, god of the afterlife. The Osirid statues were carved onto the pillars of the uppermost portico; granite sphinxes and kneeling statues lined the processional way into the temple; and the smaller, more intimate portrait statues seem to have been located in the chambers and courtyards of the upper terrace.”

Hatshepsut, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Hatshepsut, ca. 1473–1458 b.c.Egyptian; From Deir el-Bahri, western Thebes


“On this block from a temple relief, Akhenaten, recognizable by his elongated features, holds a duck toward Aten. With one hand, he wrings its neck before offering it to his god. Akhenaten believed that light was the only divine power in the universe and that the solar disk was the means through which this power came into the world. The deity is portrayed through the symbol of a solar disk with rays ending in small human hands, one of which holds an ankh, the hieroglyph meaning "life," toward the king's nose. The sun-disk symbol is a large-scale hieroglyph meaning "light."

Although early depictions of Akhenaten often appear strangely exaggerated, later in his reign sculptors attempted a more naturalistic style, emphasizing a sense of space and movement. In this scene, Akhenaten's hands grasp the struggling duck. The artist's attempt to capture a single moment in time is unusual in Egyptian art. However, Akhenaten's right hand is twisted so that all five fingers can be seen, a pose that conforms to the Egyptian convention of presenting each part of the body as completely as possible.

On this block, the artist has cut the outlines of the figures into the surface in a technique called sunk relief. This technique was used most commonly on the exterior of buildings, where the strong sunlight would emphasize the outlines.”

Akhenaten Sacrificing a Duck, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Akhenaten, ca. 1353–1336 B.C.Egyptian (and detail)


“Egyptian arched harps from Dynasty 4 onward coexisted with a great variety of harps in different shapes and sizes. Two harp types were most common—the arched harp with a curved neck, like this one, and the angled harp with a neck sharply perpendicular to the body. Unlike most European versions, ancient Egyptian harps have no forepillars to strengthen and support the neck. Older forms of arched harps had four or five strings, this harp has twelve strings. Skin once covered the open, slightly waisted sound box. Rope tuning rings under each string gave a buzzing sound to the soft-sounding tone produced. Topping the arched frame of the harp is a carved human head.

This type of portable, boat-shaped arched harp was a favorite during the New Kingdom and is shown in the hands of processional female musicians performing alone or in ensembles with singers, wind instruments, sistrums, and rattles. Prior to the Middle Kingdom, depictions of harpists feature men as the chief musicians. Harps and other instruments were used for praise singing and entertainment at ritual, court, and military events. Today, arched harps derived from these ancient Egyptian forms are still used in parts of Africa and Asia.”

Harp, New Kingdom, late Dynasty 18, ca. 1390–1295 B.C.Egyptian


“This relief depicts two of the king's young daughters in a sisterly embrace. The touching demonstration of affection is typical of the intimacy allowed in representations of the royal family during the Amarna period. Although affectionate gestures are not entirely unknown in royal art of other eras, the casual pose and fully frontal depiction of the older sister's torso are unparalleled among royal figures and rare in Egyptian art overall.

Akhenaten's drive to build temples to the new chief deity, Aten, made his architects choose blocks that were smaller than those traditionally used in Egyptian monuments. A single man could carry a block, which must have accelerated the process of construction. The relatively small size of the building blocks also meant that when Akhenaten's successors demolished his temples the blocks were easily reused in later building projects throughout Egypt. The relief fragments in the Museum's collection were probably recycled as fill for a Rameside temple at Hermopolis, a site close to Amarna.”

Two Princesses, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Akhenaten, ca. 1349–1336 b.c.Egyptian

This will conclude our first weeks lecture! Please keep in mind that the following 5 lectures will by substantially longer and more involved! I just didn’t want to overwhelm any of you with a 200 slide lecture right off the back! Remember to do your assigned reading pages 1 – 79 in the textbook and that your first Personal Feedback is due by this Sunday 5.20.12 by midnight there are instructions on how to accomplish this in your Materials Folder on Webcampus! The next lecture will be available on Monday 5.21.12 at 9:00am! There will not be a Class Discussion this week!

If you have any questions at all please email me and I will get back to you immediately!

Art 260 Nsc Summer

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Transcript of Art 260 Nsc Summer