AP Art History Unit Sheets Ms. Cook Unit Sheet #2 Chapter 2: Ancient Near Eastern Art Civilization Time Period Location Sumerian Art c. 3500‐2340 BCE Iraq 2150‐2000 BCE Iraq Akkadian Art 2340‐2180 BCE Iraq Babylonian Art 1792‐1750 BCE Iraq c. 612‐539 BCE Iraq Hittite Art c. 1600‐1200 BCE Turkey Assyrian Art c. 1000‐612 BCE Iraq Persian Art c. 559‐331 BCE Iraq Neo‐Sumerian Art Neo‐Babylonian Art Context and Background: History: Constant political change in the region due to geography being open to constant invasion Politics: slow to construct unified communities because of different racial groups and invasion Religion: king/ruler was not god‐king (as in Egypt) but god’s delegate‐patron deities for each city states Geology: building restricted by available materials ‐ no stone quarries or forests=sun‐baked bricks Art History: Interest in the Ancient Near East heightened with the discoveries of treasure by Leonard Woolley in 1920 at the Royal Cemetery of Ur Works of Art: Sumerian Votive Offerings (c. 2700 BCE), Standard of Ur (War and Peace side) (c. 2600 BCE), Ziggurat of Ur (Neo Sumerian Art) (c. 2100 BCE), Victory stele of Naram‐Sin(c 2200 BCE) Stele of Hammurabi (c 1750 BCE) Lamassu (and Citadel of Sargon II) (c 700 BCE) Reliefs from Palace of Ashurnasirpal II (c 850 BCE) Ishtar Gate (restored0 (c 575 BCE) Persepolis (and reliefs) (c. 500 BCE) Vocabulary: cuneiform, polytheism, conical, stele, votive, surrogate, reverential, supplicant Techniques: (art making techniques and terms) • Architecture: ziggurat, mud brick, bitumen, bent axis • Two‐dimensional art work: profile vs frontal, register, hierarchical, mosaic • Three‐dimensional art work: additive vs subtractive method of making sculpture, bas relief, gypsum, lapis lazuli Big Ideas/Concepts: 1. Know two contextual issues that help explain the function of each of the three works listed above. 2. Know the Sumerian view of the afterlife (as evidenced in Epic of Gilgamesh) 3. Know the four different ways of thinking about context introduced in class. AP Art History Unit Sheets Ms. Cook 4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Explain how the idea of sacred space is expressed in the Ziggurat of Ur? Explain how availability of architectural materials determined engineering in the Ziggurat of UR? Explain how narrative devices used in the Standard of Ur make meaning? How does each of the works of art convey the power and authority of the patron? Why is there such change in the political structure of the region? How are devices used to declare sacred space in works of architecture and narrative devices used in each two‐dimensional work and reliefs used to convey meaning?