Mesopotamian Art, 3500 – 300 B.C.E
WHERE: Mesopotamian civilizations were situated between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers. What is now IRAQ
•WHY: intended to serve as a way to glorify powerful rulers and their connection to divinity.
•WHAT MEDIA: made from natural resources such as stone (lapis), shells, alabaster and marble
•container depicting war and peace.
•Made of shell, lapis lazuli and limestone.
• a visual representation of a civilization’s conquest and
the peace of victory to follow.
•profile figures (eye front head sideways) in the
narrative within registers (horizontal bands) was typical
for art from this period.
• Through size differences and central placement of
important figures, it becomes clear who the important
people are.
The Standard at Ur
From Ur (ancient Southern Iraq)
2600-2400 BCE
Currently at the British Museum
Mesopotamian Art, 3500 – 300 B.C.E.
Shows the two most important roles of an early Mesopotamian ruler:
• warrior who protected the people and secured access to water and natural
resources
• leader who served as an intermediary between the people and the gods.
In ancient Mesopotamia temples to
the Gods were only for priests, so
people had smalls statues made:
“These statues embodied the very
essence of the worshipper so that the
spirit would be present when the
physical body was not”
Votive Statues
2900-2350 BCE
From the Temple at Tel Asmar
Ancient Ur (ancient city, now Iraq)
• carved in gypsum or limestone.
• Many have inlaid eyes and painted hair.
• The statues are usually carved with the hands
clasped, right over left, at the chest or waist in a
gesture of attentiveness.
• Facial characteristics offer little variation from one
statue to the next.
• dedicated to Abu, the ancient Near Eastern god of
fertility