SUMERIAN/ BABYLONIAN MEASURES OF CAPACITY Donald L Lenzen used "weight" clues to estimate the capacities of Sumerian/ Babylonian volumes,

referred to in historical literature. Using an ancient ritual text preserved in the Louvre Museum, he was able to reconstruct the sequence of various volume measures. He estimated the volume of the ancient Qa, based upon a statement related to a "Sutu of 10 Minas". The Babylonian Mina was a unit of weight and a Sutu was made up of 10 Qa, so the volume of a "liquid" Qa was, anciently, considered to be the grain weight of a Mina. This was probably a merchant "close approximation", in much the same way that a "Cubus" volume closely approximated the weight of an Alexandrian Amphora of liquid.
BABYLONIAN CAPACITY. 1 Archane128995.793 cubic inches, equals: 6 Homer @ 21599.298 cubic inches, or 36 Artaba.. @ 3583.216 cubic inches, or 216 Sutu @ 597.202 cubic inches, or 2160 Qa. @ 59.720 cubic inches. CORRECTED BABYLONIAN CAPACITY. 1 Archane 129600 cubic inches, equals: 6 Homer @ 21600 cubic inches, or 36 Artaba.. @ 3600 cubic inches, or 216 Sutu @ 600 cubic inches, or 2160 Qa. @ 60 cubic inches.

Obviously the civilisations that (according to historical accounts) gave us the sexagesimal system for navigation and 360-degrees in a circle were working to that number rather than 358.3216 for their Artaba volume. Lenzen's estimate for the cubic capacity of a Qa is 59.72 cubic inches, which is a marginal shortfall on 60 cubic inches. His estimate for the weight of a Babylonian Mina is based upon a count of 15102.72 grains. Whereas this number is without meaning within the ancient parcel of useful numbers, a count of 15120 grains would have tremendous significance and relate to the dimensions of the Great Pyramid, complete with its many codes.

The 12960 number is one of the most used in antiquity and is the value of 25920, the number used to describe the duration of precession in years. If 129600 cubic inches, as represented by the Archane volume, were considered as feet, then this would be a 1/1008th segment of the world under the Great Pyramid assignment of 24741.81818 feet. Alternatively, 1008 feet would be 10 seconds of Earth circumference arc, or 1000 Greek Samos feet. An Archane @ 12960 cubic inches = 7.5 cubic feet and provides a mathematical progression related to the 360-degree compass system and navigation by the Greek or Hebrew "7" system (reeds, Greek miles of 5250 feet). If the 129600 number were read as feet and considered as a circumference value for navigation, then the value would reduce to 2.5 leagues (41250 feet) when divided by 3.141818182. This is 24000 Egyptian Royal Cubits of 20.625 inches. The 129600 feet value would reduce to 24000 Egyptian Royal Cubits of 20.61818182 inches if divided by PI @ 3.142857143 (22/7). This is 1/3168th of the 24741.81818, Great Pyramid standard circumference. The 129600 feet value would reduce to 41472 feet if divided by 3.125, which is 24000 Egyptian Royal Cubits of 20.736 inches and 1/3168th of the 24883.2 mile "true" equatorial circumference.

The Homer @ 21600 cubic inches codes the 2160 mile diameter of the moon and the 2160years the sun spends living in each house of the zodiac during the precession of the equinoxes. It, of course, functions perfectly as a circumference for navigation and when divided by 3.141818182 converts to 6875. There were 68.75 miles for every degree of equatorial arc under the 24750 mile, "11" series reading. When the 21600 value is divided by 3,142857143 (22/7) the value derived is 6872.727272 and there were 68.727272 miles for each degree of arc under the Great Pyramid (24741.81818-mile) assignment. When the 21600 value is divided by 3.125, then the derived value is 6912 and there were 69.12 miles per degree of arc under the 24883.2-mile, "true" equatorial assignment. The Artaba at 3600 cubic inches is reasonably self-explanatory, providing a wide range of navigational options, as do the Sutu @ 600 cubic inches and Qa @ 60 cubic inches.

EACH NATION CREATED PERFECT VOLUME VESSELS BY USING THE PHI FORMULA. Although the cousin nations made their measures either the same or in easily calculable ratios to their trading neighbors, they also required precise formulas for fashioning very individual circular jar or tub vessels for their own coded volumes of preference. The standard formula used universally appears strongly to be: 10 inches PHI (1.6180339) = 6.18034 inches. The mathematical relationships shared in common by many civilisations intimates, very strongly, that the 6.18034 inch increment was used universally to calculate the bases for all "official standard" measuring tubs or vessels used by the cousin nations of the ancient Mediterranean Basin. For example:

1 Egyptian Theban tub @ 11664 cubic inches could have a circular base of 18.541 inches (3 X 6.18034") and sides 43.2 inches high. There would be 270 X 43.2 cubic inches in 11664 cubic inches The length of the Great Pyramid is 432 Hebrew/ Celtic Royal Cubits of 21inches). 1 Greek Metretes vessel @ 2332.8 cubic inches (actually a liquid volume) could have a circular base diameter of 12.36068 inches (2 X 6.18034") and sides 19.44 inches high. The 19.44 number was used for lunar calculations and the Roman Pace @ 58.32 inches was 3 X 19.44 inches. There would be 120 X 19.44 cubic inches in 2332.8 cubic inches. The Hebrew Homer @ 28512 cubic inches could have a circular base diameter of 30.9017 (5 X 6.18034") and sides that were 38.016 inches high. The number 38.016 is a navigational use number and the Roman Amphora @ 1900.8 cubic inches was 50 X 38.016. Alternatively the Hebrew Homer @ 28512 cubic inches was 750 X 38.016 cubic inches. The Roman Amphora @ 1900.8 cubic inches could have a circular base diameter of 12.36068 inches (2 X 6.18034") and sides 15.84 inches high. The 15.84 number was used in navigation and there would be 120 X 15.84 cubic inches in 1900.8.

The Babylonian Archane @ 129600 cubic inches could have a circular base diameter of 49.44272 inches (8 X 6.18034") and sides that extended above the base 67.5 inches. The number 129600 was used in navigation. The sum of 12960 years is half the cycle of the Precession of the Equinoxes. There would be 1920 X 67.5 cubic inches in 129600 cubic inches.

Any precise volume standard used by the cousin nations could be fashioned with tremendous precision as a circular vessel when the base diameter was in allotments of 6.18034 inches. The vessels could be more squat than tall or vice-versa... it didn't matter, as long as the base retained the 6.18034 inch progression in it's diameter. The same formula, in lesser ratio, could be used to fabricate tumblers, jars or everything down to small cups for use by wine, beer or mead vendors within commercial premises. The 6.18034 number could also be pressed into service if it was necessary to lay out circular land plots of precise square footage area. For example, an Egyptian Pyramid Acre of 28800 square feet would be a circle with a diameter of 31 X 6.18034 feet. An acre of 43560 square feet (1 furlong X 1 chain) would be a circle of 38.1 X 6.18034 feet. It seems evident that the old Scottish Ell (37 inches) was, quite simply, 6 X 6.18034 inches originally. The Scottish Ell would work very fluidly in laying out circles of desired square footage area with reasonable calculation ease. This is, undoubtedly, one of the surviving measurements carried from Egypt to France and Britain by about 5000 BC. Half a Scottish ell could be used effectively to make old English bushel barrels or tubs of 2160 cubic inches (1/10th of a Babylonian Homer). SUMMARY TABLES, supplied by Prof. Bruce Moon. Corrected Ancient Volume Measures in Cubic Inches for the Major Unit of Each System. Note: a small 2, 3, 4 or 5 means "to the power of".
REF. A B C D E F G H I J K L SYSTEM Sepphoris liquid. Jerusalem liquid Desert liquid Sepphoris Dry Greek liquid Greek dry Roman liquid Syrian liquid Roman dry Alexandrian Egyptian Babylonian UNIT NAME Cor Cor Cor Homer Metretes Medimnus Amphora Metretes Amphora Amphora Theban Archane VOLUME (cu.in) 22394.88 18662.4 15552 28512 2332.8 3110.4 1492.992 3732.48 1900.8 1584 11664 129600 FACTORS 125 9/100 124 9/10 124 3/4 122 1811 12234/5 1239/5 125 6/1000 12418/100 12311/10 12211 12234 123523

(Note the predominance of twelve as a factor) Owing to the large number of common factors in these measures, there are often simple relationships between them, which we obtain by looking at their ratios and cancelling common factors. Examples are the following. A:B 6:5; B:C 6:5; C:D 6:11; D:E 110:9; E:F 3:4; F:G 25:12; G:H 2:5; I:J 6:5; J:K 11:18; K:L 9:100 A:G 15:1; A:H 6:1; B:E 8:1; B:F 6:1; C:F 5:1; D:I 15:1; D:J 18:1; E:F 3:4; E:K 1:5; F:H 5:6; [It is interesting to note that though the Greeks were very familiar with ratios and competent in their use, particularly in geometry, they failed to recognize that they are simply numbers the set of "rational numbers" may all be expressed as ratios of whole numbers. There are some ratios which cannot be so expressed. The ratio of the diagonal to the side of a square (2) is irrational (a fact which apparently horrified Pythagoras) and so is the golden ratio (1 + 5)/2....Bruce Moon]. Having assessed the volume standards of a selection of Mediterranean civilisations and seeing vivid examples of profound codes lurking in the national capacities, let's now address official "weights" standards of the cousin nations.

Sumerian Culture Before the Sumerians appeared on the land, it had been occupied by a non-Semitic people, referred to as Ubaidians. Their name comes from the village of Al Ubaid, in which their remains were first found by archaeologists. The Ubaidians settled the region between 4500 and 4000 BC. They drained the marshes and introduced agriculture. They also developed trade based on small handicraft industries such as metalwork, leather goods, and pottery. The World's First Cities In ancient Mesopotamia, a land of blazing sun and very little rainfall, irrigation was vital for farming. Centuries before the beginning of known history, the Sumerians undertook the stupendous task of building embankments to control the floodwaters of the Euphrates River. Gradually they drained the marshes and dug irrigation canals and ditches. Large-scale cooperation was needed to build the irrigation works, keep them in repair, and apportion the water. This need gave rise to government and laws. The rich soil produced abundant crops of barley, emmer (a kind of wheat), beans, olives, grapes, and flax. For the first time there was a surplus to feed city workers such as artists, craftsmen, and merchants. This great change in living habits brought about civiliza- tion--defined as a city-based society held together by economic enterprises. There were no nations then, only small city-states The Sumerians built their villages on artificial mounds to protect them from floods. Very early they learned to make bricks in molds and dry them in the sun or bake them in kilns. Their sturdy houses were small and crowded close together on narrow lanes. Some were two or more stories high. The whole city was surrounded by a wall for protection. Outside the wall were the poor peoples' huts, built of reeds that were plastered with clay. Each Sumerian city rose up around the shrine of a local god. As a reflection of a city's wealth, its temple became an elaborate structure. The temple buildings stood on a spacious raised platform reached by staircases and ramps. From the platform rose the temple tower, called a ziggurat (holy mountain), with a circular staircase or ramp around the outside. On the temple grounds were quarters for priests, officials, accountants, musicians, and singers; treasure chambers; storehouses for grain, tools, and weapons; and workshops for bakers, pottery makers, brewers, leatherworkers, spinners and weavers, and jewelers. There were also pens for keeping the sheep and goats that were destined for sacrifice to the temple god. Horses and camels were still unknown, but sheep, goats, oxen, donkeys, and dogs had been domesticated. The plow had been invented, and the wheel, made from a solid piece of wood, was used for carts and for shaping pottery. Oxen pulled the carts and plows; donkeys served as pack animals. Bulky goods were moved by boat on the rivers and canals. The boats were usually hauled from the banks, but sails also were in use. Before 3000 BC the Sumerians had learned to make tools and weapons by smelting copper with tin to make bronze, a much harder metal than copper alone. Mud, clay, and reeds were the only materials the Sumerians had in abundance. Trade was therefore necessary to supply the city workers with materials. Merchants went out in overland caravans or in ships to exchange the products of Sumerian industry for wood, stone, and metals. There are indications that Sumerian sailing vessels even reached the valley of the Indus River in India. The chief route, however, was around the Fertile Crescent, between the Arabian Desert and the northern mountains. This route led up the valley of the two rivers, westward to Syria, and down the Mediterranean coast. The Sumerian Writing System Whether the Sumerians were the first to develop writing is uncertain, but theirs is the oldest known writing system. The clay tablets on which they wrote were very durable when baked. Archaeologists have dug up many thousands of them--some dated earlier than 3000 BC. The earliest writing of the Sumerians was picture writing similar in some ways to Egyptian hieroglyphs. They began to develop their special style when they found that on soft, wet clay it was easier to impress a line than to scratch it. To draw the pictures they used a stylus--probably a straight piece of reed with a three-cornered end.

An unexpected result came about: the stylus could best produce triangular forms (wedges) and straight lines. Curved lines therefore had to be broken up into a series of straight strokes. Pictures lost their form and became stylized symbols. This kind of writing on clay is called cuneiform, from the Latin cuneus, meaning "wedge." (See also Cuneiform Writing; Hieroglyphics; Writing.) A tremendous step forward was accomplished when the symbols came to be associated with the sound of the thing shown rather than with the idea of the thing itself. Each sign then represented a syllable. Although cuneiform writing was still used long after the alphabet appeared, it never fully developed an alphabet. Sumerian Schools Cuneiform was difficult to learn. To master it children usually went to a temple school. Using a clay tablet as a textbook, the teacher wrote on the left-hand side, and the pupil copied the model on the right. Any mistakes could be smoothed out. The pupil began by making single wedges in various positions and then went on to groups of wedges. Thousands of groups had to be mastered. Finally the pupil was assigned a book to copy, but the work was slow and laborious. Many first chapters of all the important Sumerian works have been handed down from students' tablets, but only fragments of the rest of the books survive. The pupils also studied arithmetic. The Sumerians based their number system on 10, but they multiplied 10 by 6 to get the next unit. They multiplied 60 by 10, then multiplied 600 by 6, and so on. (The number 60 has the advantage of being divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, and 30.) The Sumerians also divided the circle into 360 degrees. From these early people came the word dozen (a fifth of 60) and the division of the clock to measure hours, minutes, and seconds. The Sumerians had standard measures, with units of length, area, and capacity. Their standard weight was the mina, made up of 60 shekels--about the same weight as a pound. There was no coined money. Standard weights of silver served as measures of value and as a means of exchange. From the earliest times the Sumerians had a strong sense of private property. After they learned to write and figure, they kept documents about every acquired object, including such small items as shoes. Every business transaction had to be recorded. Near the gates of the cities, scribes would sit ready to sell their services. Their hands would move fast over a lump of clay, turning the stylus. Then the contracting parties added their signatures by means of seals. The usual seal was an engraved cylinder of stone or metal that could be rolled over wet clay. In the course of time cuneiform was used for every purpose, just as writing is today--for letters, narratives, prayers and incantations, dictionaries, even mathematical and astronomical treatises. The Babylonians and Assyrians adapted cuneiform for their own Semitic languages and spread its use to neighboring Syria, Anatolia, Armenia, and Iran. Stories of Gods and Heroes As the people in a city-state became familiar with the gods of other cities, they worked out relationships between them, just as the Greeks and Romans did in their myths centuries later. Sometimes two or more gods came to be viewed as one. Eventually a ranking order developed among the gods. Anu, a sky god who originally had been the city god of Uruk, came to be regarded as the greatest of them all--the god of the heavens. His closest rival was the storm god of the air, Enlil of Nippur. The great gods were worshiped in the temples. Each family had little clay figures of its own household gods and small houses or wall niches for them. The Sumerians believed that their ancestors had created the ground they lived on by separating it from the water. According to their creation myth, the world was once watery chaos. The mother of Chaos was Tiamat, an immense dragon. When the gods appeared to bring order out of Chaos, Tiamat created an army of dragons. Enlil called the winds to his aid. Tiamat came forward, her mouth wide open. Enlil pushed the winds inside her and she swelled up so that she could not move. Then Enlil split her body open. He laid half of the body flat to form the Earth, with the other half arched over it to form the sky. The gods then beheaded Tiamat's husband and created mankind from his blood, mixed with clay. The longest story is the Gilgamesh epic, one of the outstanding works of ancient literature. The superhero Gilgamesh originally appeared in Sumerian mythology as a legendary king of Uruk. A long Babylonian poem includes an account of his journey to the bottom of the sea to obtain the plant of life. As he stopped to bathe at a

spring on the way home, a hungry snake snatched the plant. When Gilgamesh saw the creature cast off its old skin to become young again, it seemed to him a sign that old age was the fate of humans. Another searcher for eternal life was Adapa, a fisherman who gained wisdom from Ea, the god of water. The other gods were jealous of his knowledge and called him to heaven. Ea warned him not to drink or eat while there. Anu offered him the water of life and the bread of life because he thought that, since Adapa already knew too much, he might as well be a god. Adapa, however, refused and went back to Earth to die, thus losing for himself and for mankind the gift of immortal life. These legends somewhat resemble the Bible story of Adam and Eve. It is highly probable, in fact, that the ancient legends and myths of Mesopotamia supplied material that was reworked by the biblical authors It was during the Sumerian era that a great flood overwhelmed Mesopotamia. So great was this flood that stories about it worked their way into several ancient literatures. The Sumerian counterpart of Noah was Ziusudra, and from him was developed the Babylonian figure Utnapishtim, whose story of the flood was related in the 'Epic of Gilgamesh'. Immortal after his escape from the flood, Utnapishtim was also the wise man who told Gilgamesh where to find the youth-restoring plant. The Last of the Sumerians Within a few centuries the Sumerians had built up a society based in 12 city-states: Kish, Uruk (in the Bible, Erech), Ur, Sippar, Akshak, Larak, Nippur, Adab, Umma, Lagash, Bad-tibira, and Larsa. According to one of the earliest historical documents, the Sumerian King List, eight kings of Sumer reigned before the famous flood. Afterwards various city-states by turns became the temporary seat of power until about 2800 BC, when they were united under the rule of one king--Etana of Kish. After Etana, the city-states vied for domination; this weakened the Sumerians, and they were ripe for conquest--first by Elamites, then by Akkadians. The Sumerians had never been very warlike, and they had only a citizen army, called to arms in time of danger. In about 2340 BC King Sargon of Akkad conquered them and went on to build an empire that stretched westward to the Mediterranean Sea. The empire, though short-lived, fostered art and literature. Led by Ur, the Sumerians again spread their rule far westward. During Ur's supremacy (about 2150 to 2050 BC) Sumerian culture reached its highest development. Shortly thereafter the cities lost their independence forever, and gradually the Sumerians completely disappeared as a people. Their language, however, lived on as the language of culture. Their writing, their business organization, their scientific knowledge, and their mythology and law were spread westward by the Babylonians and Assyrians.

http://history-world.org/sumerian_culture.htm

Art of Mesopotamia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

One of 18 Statues of Gudea, a ruler around 2090 BCE The art of Mesopotamia has survived in the archaeological record from early hunter-gatherer societies (10th millennium BC) on to the Bronze Agecultures of the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires. These empires were later replaced in the Iron Age by the Neo-Assyrian andNeo-Babylonian empires. Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Mesopotamia brought significant cultural developments, including the oldest examples of writing. The art of Mesopotamia rivalled that of Ancient Egypt as the most grand, sophisticated and elaborate in western Eurasia from the 4th millennium BC until the Persian Achaemenid Empire conquered the region in the 6th century BC. The main emphasis was on various, very durable, forms of sculpture in stone and clay; little painting has survived, but what has suggests that painting was mainly used for geometrical and plant-based decorative schemes, though most sculptures were also painted.

Contents
[hide]

1 Before the Assyrians 2 Assyrian period 3 Neo-Babylonian period 4 Gallery 5 See also 6 Notes 7 References

Before the Assyrians[edit source | editbeta]

The Protoliterate period in Mesopotamia, dominated by Uruk, saw the production of sophisticated works like the Warka Vase and cylinder seals. The Guennol Lioness is an outstanding small limestone figure from Elam of about 30002800 BC, part man and part lion.[1] A little later there are a number of figures of large-eyed priests and worshippers, mostly in alabaster and up to a foot high, who attended temple cult images of the deity, but very few of these have survived.[2] Sculptures from the Sumerian and Akkadian period generally had large, staring eyes, and long beards on the men. Many masterpieces have also been found at the Royal Cemetery at Ur (c. 2650 BC), including the two figures of a Ram in a Thicket, the Copper Bull and a bull's head on one of the Lyres of Ur.[3]The so-called Standard of Ur actually a box of uncertain function, is finely inlaid with partly figurative designs (British Museum). From the many subsequent periods before the ascendency of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the 10th century BCE Mesopotamian art survives in a number of forms: cylinder seals, relatively small figures in the round, and reliefs of various sizes, including cheap plaques of moulded pottery for the home, some religious and some apparently not. [4] The Burney Relief is an unusual elaborate and relatively large (20 x 15 inches) terracotta plaque of a naked winged goddess with the feet of a bird of prey, and attendant owls and lions. It comes from the 18th or 19th centuries BCE, and may also be moulded.[5] Stone stelae, votive offerings, or ones probably commemmorating victories and showing feasts, are also found from temples, which unlike more official ones lack inscriptions that would explain them;[6] the fragmentary Stele of the Vultures is an early example of the inscribed type,[7] and the Assyrian Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III a large and solid late one.[8]

Assyrian period[edit source | editbeta]

An Assyrian artistic style distinct from that of Babylonian art, which was the dominant contemporary art in Mesopotamia, began to emerge c. 1500 BC and lasted until the fall of Nineveh in 612 BC.

Assyrian relief from Nimrud, from c 728 BCE The conquest of the whole of Mesopotamia and much surrounding territory by the Assyrians created a larger and wealthier state than the region had known before, and very grandiose art in palaces and public places, no doubt partly intended to match the splendour of the art of the neighbouring Egyptian empire. The Assyrians developed a style of extremely large schemes of very finely detailed narrative low reliefs in stone or alabster, and originally painted, for palaces. The precisely delineated reliefs concern royal affairs, chiefly hunting and war making. Predominance is given to animal forms, particularly horses and lions, which are magnificently represented in great detail. Human figures are comparatively rigid and static but are also minutely detailed, as in triumphal scenes of sieges, battles, and individual combat. Among the best known Assyrian reliefs are the lion-

hunt alabaster carvings showing Assurnasirpal II (9th century BC) and Assurbanipal (7th century BC), both of which are in the British Museum.[9] Reliefs were also carved into rock faces, as at Shikaft-e Gulgul, a style which the Persians continued. The Assyrians produced very little sculpture in the round, except for colossal guardian figures, usually lions and winged beasts with bearded human heads, often the human-headed lamassu, which are sculpted in high relief on two sides of a rectangular block, with the heads effectively in the round (and also five legs, so that both views seem complete). These marked fortified royal gateways, an architectural form common throughout Asia Minor. Even before dominating the region they had continued the cylinder seal tradition with designs which are often exceptionally energetic and refined. [10] AtNimrud the carved Nimrud ivories and bronze bowls were found that are decorated in the Assyrian style but were produced in several parts of the Near East including many by Phoenician and Aramaean artisans.

The reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin The Assyrian form of the winged genie influenced Ancient Greek art, which in its "orientalizing period" added various winged mythological beasts including the Chimera, the Griffin or Pegasus and, in the case of the "winged man", Talos.[11]

Neo-Babylonian period[edit source | editbeta]

The famous Ishtar Gate, part of which is now reconstructed in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, was one of the many gateways into Babylon, built in about 575 BC by Nebuchadnezzar II, the king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire who exiled the Jews. The walls surrounding the entrance way are decorated with rows of large relief animals in glazed brick, which has therefore retained its colours. Lions, dragons and bulls are represented. The gate was part of a much larger scheme for a processional way into the city, from which there are sections in many other museums.[12] Large wooden gates throughout the period were strengthened with large metal bands, often decorated with reliefs, several of which have survived. Other traditional types of art continued to be produced - the Neo-Babylonians were very keen to stress their ancient heritage and after Mesopotamia fell to the Persian Achaemenid Empire, which had much simpler artistic traditions, Mesopotamian art was, with Ancient Greek art, the main influence on the cosmopolitan Achaemenid style that emerged,[13] and many ancient elements were retained in the area even in the Hellenistic art that succeeded the conquest of the region by Alexander the Great.

Gallery[edit source | editbeta]

Ancient art history series

Middle East

Mesopotamia Ancient Egypt Asia

India China Japan Scythia

European prehistory

Nuragic Etruscan Celtic Picts Norse Visigothic Classical art

Ancient Greece Hellenistic

Rome

Art history series

Prehistoric art Ancient art history

Western art history Eastern art history Islamic art history Western painting History of painting Art history (study) History of art

Stylized seated female figure with arms folded under her breasts, from Samarra, ca. 6000 BC

The Guennol Lioness, 3rd Millenium BCE, 3.5 inches high

Fragment of the Stele of the Vultures, Early Dynastic III period, 26002350 BC

"War"-panel of the Standard of Ur, ca. 2600 BC, showing parading men, animals and chariots

Cylinder seal with impression; banquet scene, Ur, c. 2600 BC

The Burney Relief, Old Babylonian, around 1800 BCE

Plaque showing a lion biting the neck of a man lying on his back, one of the Nimrud ivories, Neo-Assyrian period, 9th7th centuries BC

Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III in theBritish Museum.

Statue of Ebih-Il, superintendent of Mari,c. 2400 BC

See also[edit source | editbeta]

Architecture of Mesopotamia Akkadian literature

Bassetki Statue Mesopotamian religion Music of Mesopotamia Sumerian literature

Notes[edit source | editbeta]

1. ^ Frankfort, 2437 2. ^ Frankfort, 4559 3. ^ Frankfort, 6166 4. ^ Frankfort, Chapters 25 5. ^ Frankfort, 110112 6. ^ Frankfort, 6674 7. ^ Frankfort, 7173 8. ^ Frankfort, 6674; 167 9. ^ Frankfort, 141193 10. ^ Frankfort, 141193 11. ^ Frankfort, 205 12. ^ Frankfort, 203205 13. ^ Frankfort, 348-349

References[edit source | editbeta]

Frankfort, Henri, The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient, Pelican History of Art, 4th ed 1970, Penguin (now Yale History of Art), ISBN 0140561072