Mespotamia

ART OF MESOPOTAMIA

4500 B.C. civilizations flourished between rivers Tigris and Euphrates (rich soil and abundant harvests).
Mesopotamia = between rivers.

Sumerian Civilization:
o Before4500 B.C. Sumerian wanderers settled in the region of Sumer.
o Formed agricultural communities, markets, built high temples, levees to control floodwaters, drained marshes and dug irrigation canals(little rainfall).
o Formed governments and laws = birth of a civilization.
o Sumer: formed by small city states (Ur) grown around a sanctuary.
o Ziggurats: a stepped mountain made of brick coveredearth (Tower of Babel).
o Decorative arts: chariots, jewelry, sculpture and musical instruments. Humans and animals (bulls = power).
o Writing: clay tablets with pressed lines made with a stylus(a writing instrument made of a piece of reed). Cuneiform writing wedge – shaped characters.

Akkadian period:
• Region of Akkas. 2340 B.C. control over Sumer.
• Akkadian Empire (region betweenthe Mediterranean and Persian Gulf).

Neo – Sumerian period:
• Akkadian dominance ended around 2150 B.C. Revival of Sumerian culture (300 years).
• Neo – Sumerian ruler Gudea: devotion toreligion, literature and good works. Built temples, promoted learning and mercy to weak and helpless.

Babylonian civilization:
o 1800 B.C. King Hammurabi gained control of Mesopotamia.
o Sculpture:code of Hammurabi (a stele, an inscribed stone pillar), a set of laws, listing of punishments for certain crimes (an eye for an eye).


Assyrian civilization:
o Hammurabi’s death 1750 B.C. end ofBabylonian period (turmoil).
o Assyrians rose to power 900 B.C.
o Relief sculptures: stone reliefs used to cover mud-brick walls of palaces. Winged deity or genie.

Neo – Babylonian period:
o7th century B.C. king Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt Babylonian supremacy.
o Temples are lost = clay bricks crumble quickly.
o Ishtar Gate: one of the eight gates for procession in Babylon.
o...