Unit 4-Mesopotamian Art and Civilization http://video ...

Unit 4-Mesopotamian Art and Civilization 

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/kids/people-places-kids/iraq- 

mesopotamia-kids.html Click on this link to see a short introductory video on Mesopotamia. 

Mesopotamian art - Mesopotamia is a Greek word meaning "between the rivers," and always refers 

to the region between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers, an area which is today in Iraq, Turkey, 

and Syria. In ancient times, this region passed through a succession of historical periods, involving 

numerous groups, among whom were the Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, Amorites, Kassites, 

Elamites, Hammurabi, Mitanni, Chaldeans, Aramaeans, Persians, Greeks, Parthians, and 

Sassanians. All of these powers passed this land to the Arabs who reside in Mesopotamia today. 

In a region that gets little rainfall, access to the water from these two rivers has always been crucial. 

About 3500 BCE, the rivers having flooded every year, people were building dams and growing 

increasing quantities of food in the area's rich soil. Mesopotamians built canals to distribute water 

throughout the land, uniting thousands of villagers. People raised cattle and sheep. The plough was 

invented here, and the potter's wheel evolved into the wheels that let carts transport goods to 

markets, and to carry officials in ceremonial processions. The Mesopotamians' need to control the 

water for these uses gave strength to their political leaders, and led to the development of the city- 

state — among them were Ur, Ashur, Ninevah, Nimrud, Emech, Kish, Umma, Erech, Lagash, Tello, 

Nippur, Larsa, and Babylon. 

Ur, near today’s Persian Gulf, became a major storage center where goods were distributed by ship. 

These and caravans across the lands to the north and west carried the treasures of many lands: 

1 Unit 4-MesopotamiaCeramics and Jewelry 

Ionia High School Mrs. Fuller, Instructor 2011-12 

From ArtLex http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/m/mesopotamian.html - chronology and http://hypermedia.educ.psu.edu/k- 

12/edpgs/su96/meso/mesopotamia.html - terms

silver, iron and lead from present day Turkey, timber from Syria, semiprecious gemstones such as 

lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, and gold and incense from Egypt and Arabia. The Mesopotamians left 

us the earliest written records known, when they devised a system of cuneiform writing (marks on 

clay tablets made by impressing this plastic material with wedge-shaped ends of carved sticks). 

They invented arithmetic (useful in keeping records of sales and purchases of goods), built schools, 

businesses, temples, palaces, workshops, and devised a system for the collection of taxes. 

CUNEIFORM: THE BEGINNING OF WRITING 





Click on this link to learn more about cuneiform writing: http://www.ancientscripts.com/sumerian.html 

Click here to hear a UCLA graduate student describe her experience with a collection of cuneiform 

tablets: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFGLaFR7le4 

Cylinder Seals 

2250 Hunting Scene. Mesopotamia. Cylinder Seal is stone. Relief is clay. 

A cylinder seal is a cylinder engraved with a 'picture story', used in ancient times to roll an 

impression onto a two-dimensional surface, generally wet clay. Cylinder seals were invented around 

3500 BC in the Near East at the site of Uruk in southern Mesopotamia. They are linked to the 

invention of the latter cuneiform writing on clay cylinders. 

Click here to see more cylinder seals and read more about them: 

http://www.ahaafoundation.org/Mesopotamia/Cylinder_Seals.html 

Mesopotamia was the setting for such famous Bible stories as the Garden of Eden, the Tower of 

Babel (Babylon), and the journey of Abraham from the city of Ur. 

We actually know little about the Mesopotamians' religion, but much of what we know was learned 

from their poetry -- "The Epic of Gilgamesh" is their most important poem. Gilgamesh is one of 

ancient Mesopotamia's most legendary historical figures. He was a heroic priest-king from the 





Sumerian city-state of Uruk. 

The Sumerians were a religious people and had what is called a theocratic culture. They believed 

gods ruled the earth and that men were created to serve them. They practiced tithing: 10% of their 

goods went to the gods. The leader of each city-state was considered a local god who talked to the 

head gods. Ur, like every other city-state, had its own head god whose earthly home was the city’s 

ziggurat. These temples were built up in layers and would tower above the flat land of the area, 

reaching to the heavens. The cella, the very top of the ziggurat, is where the communication would 

take place between the king and the gods. Elaborate rituals would take place at these temples with 

priests, servants, and worshippers coming and going to take care of the god’s every wish. The 

ziggurat at Ur was built around 2100 BCE to honor the moon god Nanna. 

Click here to learn more about the ziggurat at Ur http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QziF7f87EZ8 

The statues found at the Abu Temple in Tell Asmar from c. 2700 BCE are fine examples of the way 

Sumerian sculpture is typically based on cones and cylinders — arms and legs like pipes, skirts 

smooth and round, flaring out at their bottoms. Faces are dominated by very large eyes; but, for 

reasons we might take for granted, artists of many cultures have placed emphasis on eyes. 

The sizes of entire figures were also determined by a hieratic imaging system — the most important 

people were made the tallest. 

Ziggurat at Ur 





In the same vein, a beard on a figure signifed a man in a powerful position. 

Two-dimensional depictions generally show figures' heads, legs, and feet in profile, while their 

shoulders and torso are shown frontally, as in this Sumerian painting of a man holding fish, from the 

Royal Tombs at Ur. 

From about 2300 BCE, wars shaped the future of Mesopotamia's peoples. The Assyrians in the 

northern valley of the Tigris River began as a community of peaceful farmers and traders. Their 

wealth and natural resources of copper ore (for arms and tools), limestone, alabaster and marble 

eventually made them targets for the envy of other peoples. The Hammurabi of Babylon, among 

others, pressed for control of the Assyrians, and eventually Assyrians mobilized fearsome armies to 

battle them, among other enemies. 

Statues from Abu Temple in Tel 

Asmar 





A map of the Ancient Assyrian Empire at three different periods — at its beginnings, little more than 

the city-state of Ashur, about 1800-1600 BCE; then when it had gained control of the northern half of 

the Tigris and Euphrates and access to the Mediterranean, 1244-1208 BCE; and finally, when the 

Assyrians had conquered the entire "Fertile Crescent," including Egypt as far as Thebes, 699-627 

BCE. 

Assyria's art proudly portrays its pillaging, tearing down cities, and the killing and submission of its 

enemies — partly to intimidate those who might consider fighting back, and also because Assyrians 

believed that if their conquests passed the tests of the prophets and omens, their achievements 

would have the blessing of the gods. Ashurnasirpal II at War depicts a successful battles in which a 

deity flies above this favored king. The Assyrian Empire reached the height of its size and power in 

668-627 BCE under Ashurbanipal. Then, under a series of weak rulers, Mesapotamia fell to the 

Babylonians. 

Ashurmasirpal II at War 

Hammurabi was an ancient Babylonian king. He did something that no one had ever done before. 

The Sumerians had created the first written cuneiform. Using this written language, Hammurabi 

created the first written set of laws. 

In Hammurabi's court, it did not matter if you were rich or poor. If you broke the law, and were found 

guilty, you would be punished. 

Since the laws were clearly written down, everyone was expected to obey them. 

Click here to read a translation of the Code of Hammurabi: 

http://www.phillipmartin.info/hammurabi/hammurabi_codeindex.htm 

TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES 

The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers begin in eastern Turkey, flow in a southeast direction, converge in 

southeast Iraq, and empty in the Persian Gulf. In ancient times, the land between the twin rivers was 

called Mesopotamia which was the site of the world's first civilization. 

MESOPOTAMIA 

Mesopotamia means "the land between the rivers" or "the land between the two rivers." This was 

the site of the world's first civilization, Sumer. 

CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION 

Mesopotamia is often referred to as the "cradle of civilization" because the world's first civilization 

occurred there. 





SUMER 

Sumer was the world's first civilization. It was located in the southern area of Mesopotamia where 

the twin rivers converged. The people who lived in this area were called Sumerians. 

CITY-STATE 

The ancient Sumerians organized themselves into competing city-states. A Sumerian city-state 

consisted of the city, the surrounding mud brick wall, and the surrounding farmland. 

ZIGGURAT 

The ziggurat was a temple. It was located in the center of each Sumerian city-state. It housed the 

city-state's patron god. The term ziggurat means "mountain of god" or "hill of heaven." Since the 

ziggurat was a sacred place, only priests could enter it. 

CUNEIFORM 

The ancient Sumerians created the world's first writing system known as cuneiform. The term 

cuneiform means "wedge-shaped." Sumerian writing is wedge-shaped because of the the type of 

instrument that was used to create it. 

STYLUS 

The ancient Sumerians used a stylus to write. A stylus is a wedge-shaped instrument made out of 

reed. The Sumerians wrote on wet clay tablets with a stylus. 

EDUBBA 

An edubba is a Sumerian school where young boys learned reading, writing, and arithmetic. 

SCRIBE 

After graduating from a Sumerian school, a young man became a scribe, or a writer. 

PRIEST-KING 

In early ancient Sumerian history, the powerful priests were also the kings of the city-states. 

GILGAMESH 

Gilgamesh is one of ancient Mesopotamia's most legendary historical figures. He was a heroical 

priest-king from the Sumerian city-state of Uruk. 

EMPIRE 

An empire is a collection of kingdoms under the power of one powerful ruler. 

SARGON I 

Around 2300 B.C., Sargon I created the world's first empire in the area of ancient Mesopotamia. 

Since he was from the northern reaches of Mesopotamia known as Akkad, the world's first empire 

was Akkadian. 

HAMMURABI OF BABYLON 

__About 1800 B.C., the Amorites moved into Mesopotamia. They established their own city-states, 

and Hammurabi was the king of Babylon. He conquered the Akkadians and ruled all of 

Mesopotamia. His reign is often described as the "Golden Age of Babylon"because he established 

many new reforms. 

THEOCRATIC 

a form of organization in which the official policy is to be governed by immediate divine guidance or 

by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or simply pursuant to the doctrine of a particular 

religious sect or religion. 

Interesting lecture on Ziggurats and Heiroglyphics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTsSJ-3rf4Q

Unit 4-Mesopotamian Art and Civilization http://video ...

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