I couldnt find week to blog to post on so this blog post is for week 2- the ancient near east period: In class today I found that the Ziggurat was the most interesting because of its structure and because of its many uses. The structure is interesting because of the battered walls and its bent access approach. Another interesting aspect of the ziggurat is the cella because I found it interesting that the only people allowed in the cella is the priest and the god of the town. The battered walls had three very interesting reasons for the way they were, Defense, protection from weather, and stability. The ziggurat is relevant today because it was built the way many military buildings are constructed today. April 20, 2010 12:21 PM
Compared to the first week's lecture, which only focused on women and animals, this week's lecture covered art based on religion, death, and so forth. It's amazing to see how people's views, knowledge, and interests expand over time. Something that also intrigued me was how the Sumerians, Babylonians, Akkadians, and Assyrians were all different groups, but they had one thing in common. And that is building ziggurats.
During lecture, I was so intrigued by this idea of art being propagandistic. When I think of modern propaganda art I immediately think of Shepard Fairey or Banksy. Most of the artwork we covered were depictions of significant people, rulers of the ancient world. Of the works we covered in class, The Code of Hammurabi stood out to me the most. It was a great example of propaganda because it portrayed their ruler in such high regard. The Code of Hammurabi shows an image of Hammurabi receiving the laws from the sun-god Shamash. This image displays this propagandistic idea of the divine right of kings which is this ideology that rulers are granted absolute power and authority, deriving their right to rule directly from the will of the gods represented in the image of Hammurabi being directly given the laws from the sun-god himself. This image reinforces the legitimacy of the law and of course, the legitimacy of the ruler.
Focusing on each period for a few minutes is never enough for me. I guess I'm the kind of person that likes to learn more about each culture in detail. I was flabbergasted by learning that propaganda started at such an early period to manipulate the populations belief systems. Especially when new rulers came into place, like for instance, the Akkadians and their ruler Sargon. When the Akkadians conquered the Sumarians their cultures became entwined and resulted with new art and politics. When two cultures clash their lifestyles and morals would usually change overtime. And with the help of their propaganda, it made peoples opinion about the government change and made them put Sargon on a pedestal. He basically became a god to them with legends and stories that made him seem invincible.
I liked the second class more that the first because at the first lecture I just felt confused and unsure of what we were really talking about. During the second lecture I could see the difference between the 2 times and I enjoyed it. There was such a big difference between them they were almost nothing alike. I think the prehistoric art may have been more about survival because the cave paintings suggested hunting and the Woman of Willendorf suggested fertility. In ancient Eastern art the Head of Akkadian Leader showed control and order and was used for religion.
I enjoyed the group discussions at the end of the class. It’s very interesting to see the multiple interpretations for the same piece of artwork and the transformation in the relationship between men and animals.
The transition from the prehistoric through the Near East era portrayed in the artwork demonstrated the progression of how men have modified the simplicity of life. They have definitely become more intelligent with their development for a more intellectual society; whether by building the Ziggurat with the intention for its multiple uses, using propaganda in their artwork, or creating the Gilgamesh Tablet to record their history. Religion is unquestionably sacred to the people during all these time periods though.
I actually was not in class the second week when the topic Art in the Ancient Near East was discussed. However looking back in the chapter, I was able to see that many of the monuments were dedicated to the Gods and empire. kings of ancient Mesopotamia built great palaces filled with colossal stone relief. These Temples reflected the power that the rulers had over the empire that stretched from Egypt to Iran. I loved the gates of the Citadel, they carved the face of a man and beard onto the body of an animal. The two creature relief stand tall carved into the limestone wall and tower over approaching visitor at the entrance of the gates.
During this week's lecture i learned a lot about the cultures of civilizations in Mesopotamian region. I was fascinated by the structure and architecture of the Ziggurat. It is amazing how back then, they were able to come up with such a detailed layout for these structures. Another thing that caught my eye were the statues from the Abu temple. In a way the statues symbolize faith and hope during times of hardship. The large eyes on the statues can be seen as "a window to the soul." It is also believed that the eyes show their admiration of nature that the gods created. Overall, ancient near eastern art readings was pretty facinating and even inspirational.
In last week lectures, I was really interested in the Sumerians. They has the Cuneiform signs, which were the earlier types of writing and letters, and how it came from pictographs to cuneiforms. The Anu Ziggurat temple, I was amazed how it was built and why it was built a certain way, such as defense, weather, and the sturdiness. With all the “ians”(Sumerians, Akkadians,etc..) they all had some sort of god in every art piece or statue, and how all is based on hierarchy. This intrigued me that every little detail had its own story and even about the 2 rivers.
During our class discussion what I found most interesting was the shift from animals to humans and what was sacred to them. In the Prehistoric era, the animals they saw in everyday life were in a way worshiped and became the focal point in all of there art work. Art during the Near East era changed and animals were no longer seen viewed as important but as game. In the Near East art, they created there own gods and temples to worship these good opposed to the Prehistoric era where the caves could be seen as temples to the animals they found sacred.
I think that the one thing that I found most interesting was the dramatic change in the subject of art from the Prehistoric era to the Near East era. I found it very sad that when man was able to domesticate animals he no longer held them in such high regard as he used to. The animals that were so carefully depicted in cave paintings were completely forgotten by the now present face of man in art pieces from the Near East era.
The one thing that really stuck with me after class this week was the Ziggurat temple. The fact that a civilization could combine religion, city records, and battle strategy into just one building really speaks wonders to them. I can’t even imagine what it would have taken them to build something as massive as those temples as well. Just for the pure fact that they didn’t have anywhere near the technology that we have today. It’s amazingly impressive. -Danielle Castellese
The Ziggurats were (to me) the most interesting works of art during the Near Eastern era. The structures were the first temples, designed to make the people feel closer to their gods. The Ziggurats were also designed for the cities defense with walls that sloped on the sides making it impossibly to climb on. The Sumerians were a smart group of people who made something holy functional.
I thought that the ziggurat was really interesting because of all the thought that was put into it that you don't notice it at first glance, along with its many uses. After looking at it you notice the battered walls, and the reasoning behind them (protection from weather, defense, stability), and the bent access approach. Another interesting feature is the cella, that was only accessible to priests and leaders.
During our group discussion in week 2 my group compared the difference between Prehistoric and Near East culture and how that was directly reflected in their art. One thing that stood out to us was the relationship between man and animal. In the prehistoric time art reflected a respect that the people had for animals; only killing when they needed to. However, art in the near east differed in that animals weren't as revered anymore, they were thought of as a game and killing wasn't only for need anymore.
In this week's class I realized how much human civilization changed since the prehistoric era. There was a different way of thinking as well as different and new forms of technology which lead to new art forms and new ideas. Humans views were based more on spiritual aspects rather than survival. They had more free time to worry about other parts of life as well as the afterlife. I think the new ideas and views greatly changed art. Take "The Lion Hunt" relief image that was shown to us. They used these pictures as a way of making a single person look fearful, powerful, and almost god-like to tell its audience that their ruler was this mighty creation that the gods put on the earth to create a "better" world. I was quite fascinated with the material we learned this week, but it made me disappointed to know how violent the human race can really be.
The class lecture towards the Western of Art Near East gave great insight on many interesting topics. The few that caught my attention were the improvement of agriculture and the new introduction of status “king”. The new technology seems to advance so quickly overtime with irrigation systems, divisions of labor, and new inventions of the plow. It’s amazing how in the past inventions has brought us to where we are today with high tech computerized machines that do most of the work for us. The establishment of a “king” being worshiped as a god was shocking. How did the belief in gods begin to lead towards giving a human being equal worship treatment? Why?
the thing that got my attention this week was the intelligence in the architecture and creating of the ziggurat and the votive statues. its crazy to think that workers from waaaaaay back then thought about things like rain, enemies and instability when building the ziggurat. the intelligence that goes into architecture now days is completely modernized but its amazing to see that those men were also as smart and we just used their ideas but made it more modern. also, in the craftsmanship of the statues, the built them with closed arms in order for them to last longer. it completely amazes me that they thought of those things. Like i said, we just used histories ideas but made them more modern.
i agree with my phan my attention was caught by the improvments of agriculture and the new introduction status of king. i loved everything we learned about the different sculptures and why they were built they way they were and how smart the people actually were.it as very interesting learning why the eyes were so big as well.
During this lecture, I came to realize how important religion and hierarchy were to the Sumerians through their art and architecture. For instance, the "Votive Statues" from "Square Temple" were made with their hands clasped together as if to eternally pray to their god. The "Votive Statue of Gudea" was also built with closed form and hands clasped together. It also had cuneiform written on it explaining that its material is long-lasting, which, again, reflected the eternal prayer to their god. As for hierarchy, the "Head of an Akkadian Ruler" was made as a dedication to the ruler Sargon and was later destroyed by conquerors. The "Stele of Naramsin" also dealt with hierarchy. It was etched and painted with the more "important" people toward the top who were much larger than those at the bottom. The art and architecture of this time period really shows what was most significant at that time.
Week 2.. I really found all of the ziggurat's uses interesting.. Protection from the enemy, protection from severe weather, and stability. It's amazing to understand the intelligence these people had even without all of the technologies we rely on today..
I enjoyed the second class a little bit more than the first class. It was because there was more information and it was interesting to learn about the evolution of art and how those in the Prehistoric Era worshipped and respected animals and the Ziggarat's art in which they sloped their buildings and such. The reading taught me a lot too. Even though it was difficult to read and kind of boring (sorry) it was still interesting and taught me about the arts.
The improvements in agriculture and irrigation systems were incredible. Also the architecture was much more advanced then what I expected for this time era. The ziggurats design was really interesting how they built it with the elements in mind, and the way they slanted the walls for rain and for protection from enemies was really cool.
The piece that resinated most with me this week was the (Head of an Akkadian Ruller, 2200 BCE This piece looks lookes so modern, detailed, and uniform for this time period. A resemblance of the time of newer found order and heirarchy. You can see hoe the Art Deco era of art was influenced by this time period.
Ziggurat was really need. From all the details, it looked like it took a lot of hard work. This time was also interesting for survival. Only killing when they needed too. That way people couldn't just hunt all the time. They were set limit and boundaries to keep things continuing to be successful. The sculptures, the survival key methods, and the king; were my favorite this week.
Out of all of the works we've studied for this period, I was completely impressed with the Head of an Akkadian Ruler. I was fascinated to learn that this region of the world has been a place of war and power struggle for so long, and this piece really conveys the concept of propaganda use in that region.
kellyjeancox said...
ReplyDeleteI couldnt find week to blog to post on so this blog post is for week 2- the ancient near east period:
In class today I found that the Ziggurat was the most interesting because of its structure and because of its many uses. The structure is interesting because of the battered walls and its bent access approach. Another interesting aspect of the ziggurat is the cella because I found it interesting that the only people allowed in the cella is the priest and the god of the town. The battered walls had three very interesting reasons for the way they were, Defense, protection from weather, and stability. The ziggurat is relevant today because it was built the way many military buildings are constructed today.
April 20, 2010 12:21 PM
Compared to the first week's lecture, which only focused on women and animals, this week's lecture covered art based on religion, death, and so forth. It's amazing to see how people's views, knowledge, and interests expand over time. Something that also intrigued me was how the Sumerians, Babylonians, Akkadians, and Assyrians were all different groups, but they had one thing in common. And that is building ziggurats.
ReplyDeleteDuring lecture, I was so intrigued by this idea of art being propagandistic. When I think of modern propaganda art I immediately think of Shepard Fairey or Banksy. Most of the artwork we covered were depictions of significant people, rulers of the ancient world. Of the works we covered in class, The Code of Hammurabi stood out to me the most. It was a great example of propaganda because it portrayed their ruler in such high regard. The Code of Hammurabi shows an image of Hammurabi receiving the laws from the sun-god Shamash. This image displays this propagandistic idea of the divine right of kings which is this ideology that rulers are granted absolute power and authority, deriving their right to rule directly from the will of the gods represented in the image of Hammurabi being directly given the laws from the sun-god himself. This image reinforces the legitimacy of the law and of course, the legitimacy of the ruler.
ReplyDeleteFocusing on each period for a few minutes is never enough for me. I guess I'm the kind of person that likes to learn more about each culture in detail. I was flabbergasted by learning that propaganda started at such an early period to manipulate the populations belief systems. Especially when new rulers came into place, like for instance, the Akkadians and their ruler Sargon. When the Akkadians conquered the Sumarians their cultures became entwined and resulted with new art and politics. When two cultures clash their lifestyles and morals would usually change overtime. And with the help of their propaganda, it made peoples opinion about the government change and made them put Sargon on a pedestal. He basically became a god to them with legends and stories that made him seem invincible.
ReplyDeleteI liked the second class more that the first because at the first lecture I just felt confused and unsure of what we were really talking about. During the second lecture I could see the difference between the 2 times and I enjoyed it. There was such a big difference between them they were almost nothing alike. I think the prehistoric art may have been more about survival because the cave paintings suggested hunting and the Woman of Willendorf suggested fertility. In ancient Eastern art the Head of Akkadian Leader showed control and order and
ReplyDeletewas used for religion.
Kathleen Souza
I enjoyed the group discussions at the end of the class. It’s very interesting to see the multiple interpretations for the same piece of artwork and the transformation in the relationship between men and animals.
ReplyDeleteThe transition from the prehistoric through the Near East era portrayed in the artwork demonstrated the progression of how men have modified the simplicity of life. They have definitely become more intelligent with their development for a more intellectual society; whether by building the Ziggurat with the intention for its multiple uses, using propaganda in their artwork, or creating the Gilgamesh Tablet to record their history. Religion is unquestionably sacred to the people during all these time periods though.
I actually was not in class the second week when the topic Art in the Ancient Near East was discussed. However looking back in the chapter, I was able to see that many of the monuments were dedicated to the Gods and empire. kings of ancient Mesopotamia built great palaces filled with colossal stone relief. These Temples reflected the power that the rulers had over the empire that stretched from Egypt to Iran. I loved the gates of the Citadel, they carved the face of a man and beard onto the body of an animal. The two creature relief stand tall carved into the limestone wall and tower over approaching visitor at the entrance of the gates.
ReplyDeleteSophie
During this week's lecture i learned a lot about the cultures of civilizations in Mesopotamian region. I was fascinated by the structure and architecture of the Ziggurat. It is amazing how back then, they were able to come up with such a detailed layout for these structures. Another thing that caught my eye were the statues from the Abu temple. In a way the statues symbolize faith and hope during times of hardship. The large eyes on the statues can be seen as "a window to the soul." It is also believed that the eyes show their admiration of nature that the gods created. Overall, ancient near eastern art readings was pretty facinating and even inspirational.
ReplyDeletePlatini <3
In last week lectures, I was really interested in the Sumerians. They has the Cuneiform signs, which were the earlier types of writing and letters, and how it came from pictographs to cuneiforms. The Anu Ziggurat temple, I was amazed how it was built and why it was built a certain way, such as defense, weather, and the sturdiness. With all the “ians”(Sumerians, Akkadians,etc..) they all had some sort of god in every art piece or statue, and how all is based on hierarchy. This intrigued me that every little detail had its own story and even about the 2 rivers.
ReplyDeleteDuring our class discussion what I found most interesting was the shift from animals to humans and what was sacred to them. In the Prehistoric era, the animals they saw in everyday life were in a way worshiped and became the focal point in all of there art work. Art during the Near East era changed and animals were no longer seen viewed as important but as game. In the Near East art, they created there own gods and temples to worship these good opposed to the Prehistoric era where the caves could be seen as temples to the animals they found sacred.
ReplyDeleteI think that the one thing that I found most interesting was the dramatic change in the subject of art from the Prehistoric era to the Near East era. I found it very sad that when man was able to domesticate animals he no longer held them in such high regard as he used to. The animals that were so carefully depicted in cave paintings were completely forgotten by the now present face of man in art pieces from the Near East era.
ReplyDeleteMarlene Solis
The one thing that really stuck with me after class this week was the Ziggurat temple. The fact that a civilization could combine religion, city records, and battle strategy into just one building really speaks wonders to them. I can’t even imagine what it would have taken them to build something as massive as those temples as well. Just for the pure fact that they didn’t have anywhere near the technology that we have today. It’s amazingly impressive.
ReplyDelete-Danielle Castellese
The Ziggurats were (to me) the most interesting works of art during the Near Eastern era. The structures were the first temples, designed to make the people feel closer to their gods. The Ziggurats were also designed for the cities defense with walls that sloped on the sides making it impossibly to climb on. The Sumerians were a smart group of people who made something holy functional.
ReplyDeleteI thought that the ziggurat was really interesting because of all the thought that was put into it that you don't notice it at first glance, along with its many uses. After looking at it you notice the battered walls, and the reasoning behind them (protection from weather, defense, stability), and the bent access approach. Another interesting feature is the cella, that was only accessible to priests and leaders.
ReplyDeleteDuring our group discussion in week 2 my group compared the difference between Prehistoric and Near East culture and how that was directly reflected in their art. One thing that stood out to us was the relationship between man and animal. In the prehistoric time art reflected a respect that the people had for animals; only killing when they needed to. However, art in the near east differed in that animals weren't as revered anymore, they were thought of as a game and killing wasn't only for need anymore.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn this week's class I realized how much human civilization changed since the prehistoric era. There was a different way of thinking as well as different and new forms of technology which lead to new art forms and new ideas. Humans views were based more on spiritual aspects rather than survival. They had more free time to worry about other parts of life as well as the afterlife.
ReplyDeleteI think the new ideas and views greatly changed art.
Take "The Lion Hunt" relief image that was shown to us. They used these pictures as a way of making a single person look fearful, powerful, and almost god-like to tell its audience that their ruler was this mighty creation that the gods put on the earth to create a "better" world.
I was quite fascinated with the material we learned this week, but it made me disappointed to know how violent the human race can really be.
Amy Anvick
The class lecture towards the Western of Art Near East gave great insight on many interesting topics. The few that caught my attention were the improvement of agriculture and the new introduction of status “king”. The new technology seems to advance so quickly overtime with irrigation systems, divisions of labor, and new inventions of the plow. It’s amazing how in the past inventions has brought us to where we are today with high tech computerized machines that do most of the work for us. The establishment of a “king” being worshiped as a god was shocking. How did the belief in gods begin to lead towards giving a human being equal worship treatment? Why?
ReplyDeletethe thing that got my attention this week was the intelligence in the architecture and creating of the ziggurat and the votive statues. its crazy to think that workers from waaaaaay back then thought about things like rain, enemies and instability when building the ziggurat. the intelligence that goes into architecture now days is completely modernized but its amazing to see that those men were also as smart and we just used their ideas but made it more modern.
ReplyDeletealso, in the craftsmanship of the statues, the built them with closed arms in order for them to last longer. it completely amazes me that they thought of those things.
Like i said, we just used histories ideas but made them more modern.
i agree with my phan my attention was caught by the improvments of agriculture and the new introduction status of king. i loved everything we learned about the different sculptures and why they were built they way they were and how smart the people actually were.it as very interesting learning why the eyes were so big as well.
ReplyDeleteDuring this lecture, I came to realize how important religion and hierarchy were to the Sumerians through their art and architecture. For instance, the "Votive Statues" from "Square Temple" were made with their hands clasped together as if to eternally pray to their god. The "Votive Statue of Gudea" was also built with closed form and hands clasped together. It also had cuneiform written on it explaining that its material is long-lasting, which, again, reflected the eternal prayer to their god. As for hierarchy, the "Head of an Akkadian Ruler" was made as a dedication to the ruler Sargon and was later destroyed by conquerors. The "Stele of Naramsin" also dealt with hierarchy. It was etched and painted with the more "important" people toward the top who were much larger than those at the bottom. The art and architecture of this time period really shows what was most significant at that time.
ReplyDeleteWeek 2..
ReplyDeleteI really found all of the ziggurat's uses interesting.. Protection from the enemy, protection from severe weather, and stability. It's amazing to understand the intelligence these people had even without all of the technologies we rely on today..
I enjoyed the second class a little bit more than the first class. It was because there was more information and it was interesting to learn about the evolution of art and how those in the Prehistoric Era worshipped and respected animals and the Ziggarat's art in which they sloped their buildings and such. The reading taught me a lot too. Even though it was difficult to read and kind of boring (sorry) it was still interesting and taught me about the arts.
ReplyDeleteThe improvements in agriculture and irrigation systems were incredible. Also the architecture was much more advanced then what I expected for this time era. The ziggurats design was really interesting how they built it with the elements in mind, and the way they slanted the walls for rain and for protection from enemies was really cool.
ReplyDeleteThe piece that resinated most with me this week was the (Head of an Akkadian Ruller, 2200 BCE This piece looks lookes so modern, detailed, and uniform for this time period. A resemblance of the time of newer found order and heirarchy. You can see hoe the Art Deco era of art was influenced by this time period.
ReplyDeleteZiggurat was really need. From all the details, it looked like it took a lot of hard work. This time was also interesting for survival. Only killing when they needed too. That way people couldn't just hunt all the time. They were set limit and boundaries to keep things continuing to be successful. The sculptures, the survival key methods, and the king; were my favorite this week.
ReplyDeleteOut of all of the works we've studied for this period, I was completely impressed with the Head of an Akkadian Ruler. I was fascinated to learn that this region of the world has been a place of war and power struggle for so long, and this piece really conveys the concept of propaganda use in that region.
ReplyDelete