Art History: Neolithic Japan and Mesopotamia

Art History: The Ancient Far East
● Banpo, China
● Ancient Japan

Terms to Know:
● Earthenware: Pottery made of clay that has
been fired to a porous state.
● Porous: Permeable to water and/or air.
● Lugs: Small knob-like handle on the side of a
vessel.
● Kiln: An oven designed to heat ceramic
material.
● Bisque: A firing process for ceramics where the
material is fired and hardened without a glaze.

Terms to Know:
● Glaze: A liquid solution that, when applied to
bisqued ceramics, can add decorative qualities
and extra protection to the ceramic work. When
fired again, it hardens into a glass-like coating.
● Vitrification: The process of turning a substance
like glaze into a glass-like coating.
● Relief: A sculptural work that is projected off of
a two-dimensional surface.
● Bas-Relief: A relief where the sculpture is raised
slightly over the two-dimensional surface.
● High-Relief: A relief where the sculpture is
projected far away from the background.

Banpo (Circa 5,000 BCE)
● Discovered in the 1950's.
● One of the earliest permanent villages found in
Asia.
● Considered to be a precursor to Yangshao
culture.
● Much like all early civilizations, this was a river-
based society. It was situated near the Wei
River.

Banpo Society
● Used mud and wood in their construction
efforts.
● The village was surrounded by a large ditch,
assumed to be a protective moat.
● Relied on aquatic food more than land
agriculture.

Pottery
● Banpo was one of the first civilizations to
develop the kiln. A kiln is a large oven designed
to heat ceramic material to extreme
temperatures. Some of these kilns could have
reached nearly 1000 degrees Celsius.
● Banpo society would also paint their ware in
two colors, red and black.

4,800 BCE
● Added lugs.
● Designed to sit in water.

Ancient Japan: Jomon Culture
(14,000 – 300 BCE)
● In circa 20,000 BCE, a community of nomads
crossed a land bridge from Korea to Japan. It
marked the beginning of the Jomon culture.
● They are well known for their pottery carved
from stone, and later molded through clay.
● They had developed kilns that could reach
temperatures of nearly 900 degrees Celsius.

Jomon People
The early potters lived during the Jomon period (c. 11,000 400
BCE), named for the patterns on much of the pottery they
produced. They made functional earthenware vessels,
probably originally imitating reed baskets, by building them up
with coils of clay, then firing them in bonfires at relatively low
temperatures.
They also created small humanoid figures known as dogu,
which were probably effigies that manifested a kind of
sympathetic magic. Around 5000 BCE agriculture emerged
with the planting and harvesting of beans and gourds.

Jomon Pottery
● The term Jomon means “rope-patterned”. This
rope pattern has become a distinctive quality in
the style of Middle and Late Jomon ceramic
works.
● Large Jomon pottery was typically narrow and
long at the base and eventually widened
towards the lip.
● Considered to be earthenware, and lacks a
proper glaze. Bisque fired. Not vitrified.

Stone Pot (Circa 10,000 BCE)
Jomon Culture

Middle Jomon Work (3,000-2,000
BCE)

Late Jomon Pottery
(3,000-2,000 BCE)

Dogu
● Famous sculptures from the Jomon people.
● Small works portraying a woman deity.
● Traditional qualities: wide hips, slender waist,
large eyes, decorative incisions made on the
figure's body.
● Likely used for spiritual purposes. Possibly
suggests fertility.

Mesopotamia
Stele of Naram-Sin
Akkadian
c. 2200 BC
c. 6' 7" tall

Terms to Know:
● Metallurgy: The practice of experimentation and
production of metals.
● Manuscript: Any form of hand-written
document.
● Mortise-and-Tenon Joint: Simple
slot-based joint that joins two
items at a 90 degree angle.
Used mostly by woodworkers
and metallurgists

Terms to Know:
● Negative Space: Empty space around a figure
or object. Can be the area between the
subject's legs or the sky around the figure.
● Facade: The front of an architectural structure.
● Ground Plan: An overhead view of the layout of
a structure. It is essentially a map of the
structure.
● Capital: The top element of a column.
● Patron/Patronage: Individuals or groups who
support the arts financially.

Where are we?
Mesopotamia
● A geographical location situated in between the
Tigris and Euphrates River also known as the
Fertile Crescent. The region is predominantly in
Iraq, but also extends into Syria and Turkey.
● The name means “Land Between Rivers”
● Also identified as the “Cradle of Civilization”
● Low lying dry plains made each community
highly susceptible to attack from outsiders.
● Lack of resources meant that mud would be the
primary building material.

When are we?
3,500 BCE – 641 CE
● In its most basic division of art and
achievement, Mesopotamian works can be
categorized into two broad periods, Bronze Age
and Iron Age.
-Bronze Age (3,600 BCE -1,200 BCE)*
-Iron Age (1,300 BCE – 600 BCE)*
*Bronze Age and Iron Age of Mesopotamia: This is the range provided to
Mesopotamia alone. The Bronze and Iron Age began at different times
depending on the the location and the advancements of its people.

Major Features of the Bronze Age
(3,600 BCE – 1,200 BCE)
● Urbanized society
● Proto-writing transitions into writing.
● Copper and bronze materials begin to replace
the bluntness of stone.

Major Features of the Iron Age
(1,300 BCE – 600 BCE)
● Mastery of metallurgical practice
(experimentation with metals). Advanced from
primitive alloys (a metallic mixture like copper to
more advance iron-based alloys like steel.
● Improvements in written records and literature.

Art History of the Ancient Near East

Who are we looking at?
Civilization Time Period Location
Sumeria 3500-2340 Iraq
Neo-Sumeria 2150-2000 Iraq
Akkadia 2340-2180 Iraq
Babylonia 1792-1750 Iraq
Noe-Babylonia 612-539 Iraq
Hittite 1600-1200 Turkey
Assyria 1000-612 Iraq
Persia 559-331 Iran

Cradle of Civilization
● These societies were the first to introduce:
-organized government
-organized religion
-bronze casting
-writing
-city-states

Overview of Mesopotamian Art
History:
● Mesopotamian art introduced art as a means of
strengthening the state, government, and
religion (propaganda art).
● Art through mythology and anthropomorphic
figures tied to new religious cultures.
● First organized narrative works (Lion Reliefs of
Assyria).
● Kings become the first patrons. They
understand art to be a tool of power and a
method of preserving one's legacy.
● The permanence of community allowed for
larger sculptures, paintings, and reliefs.

Mesopotamia and Architecture
● Used mud brick.
● Buildings did not serve the sole purpose of
providing shelter, but also provided a location of
governance and worship.

Ziggurat
● Considered to be the first large-scale functional
structures in the world.
● Created as large temples that may have served
some political purposes as well. Mesopotamian
culture was polytheistic, and it is suspected that
each of these ziggurats belonged to one deity.
● Made from baked mud bricks. Porous state of
the bricks made the vulnerable to erosion, but
the abundance of mud bricks made repairs a
simple procedure.

Subject Matter of Mesopotamia
● Human figure: Human portrayal in
Mesopotamia returns to more representational
shapes and forms. Humans are now wearing a
clothes and are more anatomically correct.
Common depictions involve praying, hunting,
battles, and rituals
● Lamassus: Anamorphic creature that is part
man, part bull, and part bird.

Cuneiform
● The first written language. It was carved into
clay with a stylus (wedge-shaped tool).
● Began as pictographic symbols and were later
abstracted into a series of logograms.
● Used to record taxes, documents, and
literature.
● New narratives and epics arise from this
innovation. Illustrations oftentimes
accompanied these stories.

Cylinder Seal
● Depressed carvings of various scenes
engraved on small cylinders.
● Introduced in 3,500 BCE in the city of Uruk.
● These were personalized works that often
depicted short stories. The themes of which
were related to heroic myths, social life, or
religious significance.
● Made from stone or glass.
● Rolled on doors, amulets, cloth, bricks, and
envelopes.

Exploring the Cultures
Civilization Time Period Location
Sumeria 3500-2340 Iraq
Neo-Sumeria 2150-2000 Iraq
Akkadia 2340-2180 Iraq
Babylonia 1792-1750 Iraq
Noe-Babylonia 612-539 Iraq
Hittite 1600-1200 Turkey
Assyria 1000-612 Iraq
Persia 559-331 Iran

Sumeria
3500-2340
● Earliest Mesopotamian art.
● Human subjects are clothed. Social status
visually manifests itself through scale and
amount of clothes worn.
● Balanced sizes between man and woman.
● Introduced negative space to sculptural forms.
● Figures are static.

Tell Asmar Statues, Eshnunna
Temple 2,700 BCE
Row 1 Row 2 Row 3 Row 4
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Column 1
Column 2
Column 3

Tell Asmar Statues
● Votive Figures: Representational sculptures
that are dedicated to a deity.
● These figures were set up in front of a larger
image of their deity.
● These sculptures were purchased by donors
committed to their god or goddess and served
as stand-ins.
● The figures are perpetually in prayed.
● Major qualities: Gaze, folded hands, clothes
provide a cylindrical form.
● These figures had inscriptions on their back
denoting that their were committed to worship.

Bronze Age Theme: Human is
Superior to Human

Ziggurat (4,000 BCE - 600 BCE)
● Sumarian mud-brick stepped pyramid
structures of worship.
● Towering monuments meant to get the priests
and nobles closer to the gods.
● Walls were built at a slight angle to help water
trickle down the structure.
● Buttress: Architectural projections set against
the exterior wall of a structure to serve as
further support.
● The majority of the structures mass came from
the base. A small temple would sit on top.

Akkadia
2340-2180
● Akkadians came from northern Sumer. Little is
known of their culture priory to their conquest
for the Fertile Crescent.
● Under the leadership of Sargon I in 2340 BCE,
the Akkadians took over Sumeria, making Kish
their capital and later in Akkad.
● Sargon ruled the world's first empire, spanning
from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf.
● They preserved Sumerian culture and
cuneiform.

Akkadian Art
● Introduction of deification of royal figures. They
do not rule under the guidance of gods, but
rather stand in line, if not above them.
● Rulers like Sargon I would be come legends
through imagery and literature. Their myths
outlasted their society.
● Stelai (Stele): A large stone marker indicating
an important religious or political narrative.
Some were used as burial markers.

Head of Akkadian Ruler
2,300 BCE - 2,200 BCE
● Unknown subject. Could be a
representation of idealized man
rather than a realistic portrait.
● Life-size
● Braided hair represents royalty.
● Damage in the eyes and ears
may come from iconoclastic
practices of ensuing rulers.

Victory Stelle of Naram-Sin
(2254 BCE - 2218 BCE)
Akkadian
● Naram-Sin, grandson of Sargon I, marches up
the mountain, towards the heavens.
● Suns represent the gods approval.
● Emphasis on the hierarchy of scale.
● Symbolizes his achievement, but not an
accurate depiction of the event. Intentionally
exaggerated.

Lyre Soundbox 2,600 BCE, Ur
● Materials used, lapis lazuli, wood, and gold.
● Part of a string instrument known as a lyre.
● Theme of its registers are not known, but it
incorporates many anthropomorphic figures.
● The human figures are in frontal position while
the animals are in full profile.
● This work was part of a larger instrument. Like
the Standard of Ur, it was used as a funerary
offering.

Standard of Ur, 2,600 BCE
● Mosaic: A work created by the assembly of
small pieces of glass, stone or other colored
material.
● Materials used: limestone, lapis lazuli, and
shells.
● Sumarian artifact uncovered from an ancient
royal cemetery.
● Double-sided historical narrative: war and
peace
● Could have been a fragment of a larger
instrument.

Standard of Ur's Narrative:
● War: An unnamed king examines the aftermath
of a battle. The king only appears in the top row
(register).
● Peace: The king celebrates at a large banquet.
He is accompanied by six nobles. The lower
scenes depict peasants parading an
assortment of animals and food.
● Facial features of each subjects (even slaves)
are considered with strong detail.

Ziggurat of Ur, circa 2,100 BCE
Neo-Sumerian

Characteristics
● Corners pointed in
cardinal directions.
● Stairs led from three
directions to a guard
post.
● Mountainous form
● Dedicated to the
goddess of the
moon, Sin / Nanna.

Gudea, circa 2,100 BCE. Lagash
Neo-Sumerian
● One of twenty remaining sculptures of
this king.
● Gudea, ruler of Lagash, was dedicated to
rebuilding temples and committed himself
to the cause through votive figures.
● Small and made from diorite, a precious
imported stone.
● Presents himself as calm and peaceful.
● Similar to older Sumerian aesthetics, his
eyes are widened to perpetually worship
his deities.

Babylon
1792-1750
● Founded by Hammurabi of the Amorites.
● First evidence of uniformity through written law.
● Babylonian worshiped the Sumerian gods.
● Revival of Sumerian culture and language.
● Introduced glazed tiles.

Stele of Hammurabi, 1780 BCE
Babylon
● The Sun god, Shamash, hands Hammurabi
keys to the city.
● First set of written laws engraved over the
entire surface.
● The relief on the top suggests that Shamash
crafted these 300 laws and gave them to
Hammurabi.
● Hammurabi directly interacts with Shamash.
Shamash has a fuller beard and is therefore still
considered more significant to Babylonian
society.

If any one ensnare
another, putting a ban
upon him, but he can not
prove it, then he that
ensnared him shall be
put to death.
If any one bring an
accusation of any crime
before the elders, and
does not prove what he
has charged, he shall, if
it be a capital offense
charged, be put to death.

If any one bring an accusation against a man, and the
accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink in
the river his accuser shall take possession of his house.
But if the river prove that the accused is not guilty, and he
escape unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation
shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river
shall take possession of the house that had belonged to
his accuser.
If a judge try a case, reach a decision, and present his
judgment in writing; if later error shall appear in his
decision, and it be through his own fault, then he shall pay
twelve times the fine set by him in the case, and he shall
be publicly removed from the judge's bench, and never
again shall he sit there to render judgment.

If any one steal the property of a temple or of the court, he
shall be put to death, and also the one who receives the
stolen thing from him shall be put to death.
If any one buy from the son or the slave of another man,
without witnesses or a contract, silver or gold, a male or
female slave, an ox or a sheep, an ass or anything, or if he
take it in charge, he is considered a thief and shall be put
to death.
If any one steel cattle or sheep, or an ass, or a pig or a
goat, if it belong to a god or to the court, the thief shall pay
thirtyfold; if they belonged to a freed man of the king he
shall pay tenfold; if the thief has nothing with which to pay
he shall be put to death.

If any one lose an article, and find it in the possession of
another: if the person in whose possession the thing is found
say "A merchant sold it to me, I paid for it before witnesses,"
and if the owner of the thing say, "I will bring witnesses who
know my property," then shall the purchaser bring the merchant
who sold it to him, and the witnesses before whom he bought it,
and the owner shall bring witnesses who can identify his
property. The judge shall examine their testimony-both of the
witnesses before whom the price was paid, and of the
witnesses who identify the lost article on oath. The merchant is
then proved to be a thief and shall be put to death. The owner
of the lost article receives his property, and he who bought it
receives the money he paid from the estate of the merchant.
If the purchaser does not bring the merchant and the witnesses
before whom he bought the article, but its owner bring
witnesses who identify it, then the buyer is the thief and shall be
put to death, and the owner receives the lost article.

Hittite (1600 BCE -1200 BCE)
● Coming from Turkey, The Hittites had access to
more resources like stone.
● They often set large uncut boulders at the base
of their fortifications.

Hattusha, 1,400 BCE. Turkey
Hittite
● Lower walls were constructed from stone, while
the upper portion was made of mud brick.
● The stones at the base served as frames for
portals and as a platform for high relief
sculptures.
● Lion Gate: A high relief of two lions protruding
out of the lower stone. They stand as
guardians.

Assyria
1000 BCE - 612 BCE
● Militaristic society.
● Expanded on the fortification techniques of the
Hittites. Used shallow stone base for walls.
Some walls extended to five miles in length.
● Begin to use limestone and alabaster for more
common structures such as houses.
● Portals were often accompanied by Lamassu.
● Walls decorated in low relief scenes of religious
ritual, war campaigns, and royal activities.

Dur-Sharrukin (Palace of Sargon II)
721 BCE

Dur-Sharrukin (Palace of Sargon II)
721 BCE
● Walls neared 40 feet in height.
● Covered in narrative and political propaganda.
● Lamassu lined the portal entrances.
● The kings courtyard was covered in low relief
scenes of people offering their tribute to the
king.
● Featured a ziggurat with seven steps (each
approximately 18 feet tall).

Lamassu
● Guardian figures of
Mesopotamia.
● Part bull, bird and man.
● Stoic in frontal view,
while in motion on
profile.

Nineveh
● Assyrian city ruled by Assurnasirpal (reigned
669 BCE – 627 BCE).
● Depicts several royal scenes throughout the
city in alabaster low-relief.

Lion Hunt, 640 BCE Nineveh
● Bold contours
● Emotions in the animals,
but not humans.
● Lion is a representation
of the beast of nature.
Dominating the beast
can be interpreted as
dominating nature.
● Commemorates an
actual royal hunt.

Neo-Babylonia
612-539
● Revival of old Babylonian culture after the fall of
the Assyrians.
● Notable rulers: Nebuchadnezzar I and II.
● Fell to the Persians under Cyrus the Great

Ishtar Gate, 575 BCE
Babylon
● Gate was situated at the end of a major road
into Babylon. It was the ceremonious entrance.
● Mud brick interior with a blue glass glaze on the
outside.
● Lions and dragons (Marduk, god of war and
patron god of Babylon), bulls (Adad, god of
storms), and lions (Ishtar, goddes of love and
sex) portrayed around the gate.
● Four crenelated towers.

Persia
559-331
● Far more expansive than any other previous
Mesopotamian empires.
● Considered to be current day Iran
● Primary religion was Zoroastrianism
● Notable rulers: Darius I and Xerxes I

Persepolis (550 BCE - 330 BCE)
● Constructed under the rule of Darius the Great
(Darius I) and Xerxes.
● Built upon a man-made terrace.
● Though the complex consisted of some
palaces, its primary function was to host
festivals and receptions.
● Built from mud and stone
● Most reliefs depict visitors arriving at the site to
pay tribute.
● Design and some construction provided by
Babylonian, Egyptian, and Greek cultures.

Treasury
● Possessed the wealth of Persian Empire.
● Maintained by up to 1,200 people.

Apadana
● An audience hall in a
Persian Palace.
● Visitors awaited the
king and paid tribute
here.
● 70 x 70 Meters
● The Apadana of
Persepolis was
constructed under
the rule of Darius the
Great.

Columns of the Apadana
● Decorative and utilitarian
● 30 Meters in height

Stair Bas-Relief in Persepolis

Portal to the Palace of Darius

Palace of Shapur I (c. 250 CE)
● Constructed by Sassanian rulers
● Large mud brick Apadana
● Much of the architectural features were
influenced by Roman design (barrel vaulting
and blind arcades).

Palace of Shapur I (c. 250 CE)

Arcades
● Arcade: A series of columns set in a row,
connected by arches.
● Blind Arcade: A series of columns also set in a
row, but sealed by a wall.

Example of the Sassanian's Roman
Influence

Art History: Neolithic Japan and Mesopotamia

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