Ziggurat at Ur

Sumerian

- mud brick; sacred mountain; closer to heavens; social status dictates level; three stairways

votive sculptures

Sumerian

limestone

- devotional figures; stands in for person in worship; gods are demanding; hands clasped in prayer, large eyes = full attention; inlaid with decorative shells

Bull lyre

Sumerian

Ur

- harp-like instrument; funerary item (King's tomb); gold and lapis lazuli - evidence of commerce; panel depicts scenes from Gilgamesh; twisted perspective

Stele of Naramsin

Akkadian

limestone

- stele = vertical slab of stone; relief carving; twisted perspective; hieratic scale (Naramsin > his soldiers > their soldiers); grandson of Saurgon

Stele of Hammurabi

Babylonian

basalt

- first code of law; Hammurabi presenting codes to God; Hammurabi depicted non-twisted, God is twisted

Human-Headed Winged Lion

Assyrian

limestone

protect ruler; intimidate; relief sculpture on two faces; five legged to be recognizable from both faces; detailed wing, leg anatomy

Ishtar Gate (reconstructed) and throne room wall

Neo-Babylonian

glazed brick

- glazed brick with ground glass for shimmer; crenellated towers

Apadana of Darius I and Xerxes I

Persian

limestone

- Persepolis; audience hall

Palette of Narmer

1st Dynasty, Egypt

- grind eyeliner; fish and chisel (nar and mer); depicts unification of Egypt; Narmer = King Menes?; two crowns of Egypt

Palette of Narmer

1st Dynasty, Egypt

Stepped pyramid

Old Kingdom

Saqqara

- first example of monumental architecture; surrounded by mini-city/compound; stacked mastabas

Great Pyramids

Old Kingdom

Giza

- smoothed out stepped pyramids; huge tombs of cut stone; stones = 2.5 tons each, Khufu = 2.5 million stones

King Menkaure and His Queen

Old Kingdom

Giza

- served ka; square and blocky (stiff, not all stone carved out); idealized naturalism; simple, timeless qualities; contact between figures (wife's arms)

Head of Senusret III

Middle Kingdom

yellow quartzite

- political struggle; sculpture reflects this with deep set eyes, furrowed brow, downturned mouth

Hypostyle hall

New Kingdom

Karnak

- rows of columns; stacked stone disks; painted and carved

Akhenaten and his family

New Kingdom Amarna Period

painted limestone

- monotheistic religion of the rogue pharaoh; seen as heretic; sunken relief; less blocky, more curvy; interacting family; not imposing, not intimidating