Mesopotamia

1. Egypt Pecha Kucha Planning

2. Diego Letter

3. Friendly Rivers & Challenging Terms (Civilization, Middle East, Ancient Near East)

4. Wealth & Empire

5. Thought Exercises: Seals & Containers

6. Timeline and Key Works, Mesopotamia

Early Civilizations: Mesopotamia

Symptoms of Civilization:

• Surplus
• Cities
• Specialization
• Trade
• Social Stratification
• Centralized Government
• Shared Values (ie... religion)
• Writing
• Rivers

"Kind" Rivers: Nile, Indus, Yellow (until it wasn't), Coatzacoalcos (I think- I need to check)

"Unkind" Rivers: Tigris and Euphrates- Fertile crescent

Mesopotamia- "in the middle of the rivers," "cradle of civilization," home of many of humanity's first cities, city-states, kingdoms and empires.  Here, humans first settled in huge groups and created so many examples of ways we organize society today... aspects of our calendar, measurement, legal thought, mythology, economic code… heck, they deployed the wheel in war, commerce, and agriculture, and domesticated many animals and plants that feed us today, and they may have invented writing.  (Detailed information about Ancient Civilizations in the Middle East.)

Source

Modern Excavation of Mesopotamia. Source

Mesopotamia generated the first known legal code, under Babylonian ruler Hammurabi.

Though humans made art, craft objects, musical instruments, etc prior to settling in towns, by far the overwhelming majority of art objects came after settled living (vs. nomadism) became the norm. Cultures came and went, but the cultures in Northern Africa, Southern Greece, Mesopotamia, and Indus Valley and hybrids of these same gave rise to much of the artwork of the world. Knowing a bit about our roots can help us understand the work we make today as artists, and help us grasp the depth of the human instinct to express ideas, feelings, or facts visually. (Note: major civilizations did not rise in the Americas, so far as we know, until the Olmecs, around the year 1500bce).

Mesopotamia,  the fertile crescent between the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates, lies mostly in present-day Iraq, although some of the region falls in Iran, some in Syria, some in Turkey. Like so much of the activity in the world between 4000 bce and 150 bce, the civilizations of the Fertile Crescent fall not far from the Mediterranean Sea, where movement between Africa, Europe, and Asia met with the fewest obstacles. In other words, this area provided a fertile location for cultural exchange.

Source

Overlapping and frequently competing cultures left their marks on Ancient Mesopotamia: 

first, Sumer, which emerged from about 4500-3000 BCE featuring the famous ancient cities like Eridu, Uruk, Ur, and Lagash (you might remember these from the famous Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh). 

Next, the Akkadian Empire gradually took over from Sumer, replacing the Sumerian Language as the dominant spoken language and instituting a more empirical style of governance. 

Next, Assyrian and Babylonian rulers alternated power in several periods beginning about 2500 BC, with major Babylonian power interruptions lasting from around 1890-1598, and 626-539 CBE, with Assyrian rule in between and lasting til about 605 BCE. 

The Ziggurat at Ur, modern day Iraq, earliest bricks c. 2100bce, 150' long, 210' w and approximately 100' tall, originally

"The Ziggurat at Ur would originally have had a temple on its top level, at 100 feet, it would have beenby far the highest and most visible point in this flat desert region, dedicated to  Inanna, the moon goddess, patron of the city of Ur."   Smarthistory, 

"The ziggurat is the most distinctive architectural invention of the Ancient Near East.  Like an ancient Egyptian pyramid, an ancient Near Eastern ziggurat has four sides and rises up to the realm of the gods. However, unlike Egyptian pyramids, the exterior of Ziggurats were not smooth but tiered to accommodate the work which took place at the structure as well as the administrative oversight and religious rituals essential to Ancient Near Eastern cities. Ziggurats are found scattered around what is today Iraq and Iran, and stand as an imposing testament to the power and skill of the ancient culture which produced them." Source

 

US troops on the steps of the Ziggurat, Smarthistory

wait, I thought it was the fertile crescent

The Warka Vase, c. 3200 bce, Alabaster, ~3' h.Iraq Museum, Bagdad. 

Tell Asmar Statuettes, found in the Square Temple at Eshnunna, Iraq, c. 2700 bce, gypsum and inlay. male about 2'6", Iraq Museum, Bagdad. 

Tell Asmar Statuettes, found in the Square Temple at Eshnunna, Iraq, c. 2700 bce, gypsum and inlay. male about 2'6", Iraq Museum, Bagdad. Female and male votive figures (on the right is the tallest figure of the group of twelve), from the Square Temple at Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar, Iraq), c. 2900–2350 B.C.E. (Early Dynastic period) 

Eshnunna Statuettes, often called the Tell Asmar Statuettes based on the modern-day name for the location where they were found, were dug up in the Square Temple at Eshnunna, Iraq, from c. 2700 bce, gypsum and inlay. The large male figure center left measures about 2'6", Iraq Museum, Bagdad.

These figures are called votive statues. Many believe that Mesopotamian individuals commissioned them, and place offerings in the beakers in their hand and leave them to stand in their stead to worship at a temple dedicated to a specific god. The statues above were in the Iraq museum at the time of the looting. Their status today is listed as unknown.

Standard of Ur, Iraq, ~2600 bce, Wood inlaid with shell, limestone, lapis lazuli, 8" x 1'7", British Museum, London


Bulls Head, from Lyre of Ur, ~2500 bce, considered world's oldest surviving stringed instrument. Lapis, gold inlay, and modern wood and strings. 

Nabu, God of Wisdom, and Lamassu, source. 

L

Lamassu,

When discovered, only the precious metal and stone inlay remained.


Wooley and his team cast plaster around the remaining parts to preserve them in as close a position as possible to the original. Conservators painstakingly reconstructed it.

During the first Gulf War, looters stole the lyre, removed much of the gold and precious stone inlay, leaving it in the condition you see below. The Museum stored the Gold Bull's head separately and it remains safe today.

In this story, size definitely matters.  

Nabu, God of Wisdom, and Lamassu, source. 

This very recent image of the Iraq Museum in Bagdad shows the fortune of great size. Lamassu,  winged lions with bovine feet guarded the throne room of a Assyrian ruler. They stand about 10' tall, and were made about 883–859 B.C.E. Many still exist today, held in major museums around the world-- the Louvre, the metropolitan, and the British Museum, for example 


 
Lioness attacking a Boy, so called. ivory and inlays, part of a much larger relief, perhaps on a throne. Iraq Museum, 8th c. bce This carving, which so compellingly depicts a contradictory gesture of violence and tenderness, sexuality and death, is missing since the Gulf War. A second, nearly identical version, is in Great Britain. 




winged hero pursuing ostriches, ~1250, Mesopotamia (Assyrian)

Cylinder Seal, carved stone, together with a modern clay impression. Cylinder seals were invented in 3500 bce, and used as unique marks of ownership. Usually between 1/2 and 4" long, and less than 2" in diameter. Many showed heroic or historic scenes. Nearly 5,000 cylinder seals were stolen in the gulf war, and have not been recovered. Size does matter, again. 

 

Cylinder Seal showing a winged hero pursued by ostriches, one of many thousands found in the area. Carved stone cylinder to roll in clay to leave a relief impression. About 1", ~3100-2600 bce, 


Of these objects, the great majority have been stolen, damaged or destroyed during the two Gulf Wars, despite storage plans made by the Iraqi government and put in effect before the war. In the most significant of these events, in April of 2003, looting in the Iraq Museum in Bagdad lead to the theft of some 15,000 ancient treasures, including 5000 of the cylinder seals just above, each extremely valuable and, because of their size, rather more readily marketable. 

strings








Warka Vase, c. 3200 bce, alabaster, image source. Vase, before and after looting...I have not checked up on this source... last I heard the vases current condition was not known.


The Warka Vase, which many see as the first stone relief vessel, depicts a tale in three registers (or levels.... like used in modern comic books). The first level shows the vegetation of the Tigris and Euphrates deltas, the second shows a procession of animals in profile view, and the top levels shows the end of the procession at the temple of Inanna, goddess of fertility, sexual love, and warfare, where a nude figure makes offerings of fruit to her. The vase was stolen in April 2003 and broken into the 14 pieces in which it had been recovered in 1930's excavation. It was subsequently returned to the museum in the back of a red toyota during an amnesty held by the museum. The thieves must have felt committed. Intact, the vase would have weighed 600 lbs. 






 

Standard of Ur, Iraq, ~2600 bce, Wood inlaid with shell, limestone, lapis lazuli, 8" x 1'7", British Museum, London

Peace (detail), The Standard of Ur, 2600–2400 B.C.E., shell, red limestone, lapis lazuli, and bitumen (original wood no longer exists), 21.59 x 49.53 x 12 cm (© The Trustees of the British Museum; photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) Source: Smarthistory

No one knows the exact meaning of this piece, or what story it tells or purpose it served. Many have read it as a scene of war and offering. Like other Mesopotamian art told in registers, one reads it left to right and bottom to top. The scene here shows ass-drawn chariots at war, trampling the bodies of their enemies, then processing with their captives toward the leader, shown large in the hieratic scale of the work, just as the craftsperson showed the groom guiding the asses as small, for a hieratic scale depicts persons of great importance large, and minor characters smaller. The artists show the prisoners stripped nude, which in many cultures demonstrates the stripping of their power and status. The British Museum owns the Standard, which famous archeologist Sir Richard Wooley brought back his home country. (some people call this sort of purchase or exchange by wealthy countries of foreign antiquities theft; you'll have to debate this for yourself for now.) The Standard remains safe in the British Museum. 

Victory Stele of Naram-Sin, 79 x 59" 2250 BCE, Louvre . Depicts the Akkadian King Naram-Sin in victory over the Lullubi peop.e. 

King Naramsin over one of the fallen enemy

The stars!

inscription added after plunder about 1120 bce, 1000 years after the stele was made. : "I am Shutruk-Nahhunte, son of Hallutush-Inshushinak, beloved servant of the god Inshushinak, king of Anshan and Susa, who has enlarged the kingdom, who takes care of the lands of Elam, the lord of the land of Elam. When the god Inshushinak gave me the order, I defeated Sippar. I took the stele of Naram-Sin and carried it off, bringing it to the land of Elam. For Inshushinak, my god, I set it as an offering."

— Elamite inscription of Shutruk-Nahhunte on the victory stele of Naram-Sin.^[5]

Stele of Hammurabi, c. 1780, Basalt, 7'4" Louvre Museum, Paris. Stele of Hammurabi, c. 1780, Basalt, 7'4" Louvre Museum, Paris. As I said, the big stele records the legal code of Hammurabi, a Babylonian king, and shows  Shamash, the supreme Babylonian sun god and judge, giving Hammurabi the law and signs of his power and right to rule.  

Stele of Hammurabi, c. 1780 BCE, Basalt, 7'4" Louvre Museum, Paris. 

 
detail from the Standard of Ur showing a bull-headed lyre. Leonard Wooley excavated both the standard and the lyre, from the Royal Cemetery at Ur.

Bulls Head, from Lyre of Ur, ~2500 bce, considered world's oldest surviving stringed instrument. Lapis, gold inlay, and modern wood and strings.