The art of the ancient

Prepared by:

Alcozar, Marie Stella JoyLaquindanum, VladimirOlivar, Cristel Dianne

MMA 1-1

What is ancient art?

• Art is someone’s art works or paintings, etc.

• Ancient means having an existence of many years.

• Ancient Art refer to the many types of art that that were in the cultures of many societies, such as those of ancient China, India, Mesopotamia, Persia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome.

How did it started? -As the Stone Age progressed from the

Paleolithic to the Neolithic periods, humans began to lead more stable lives.

-They settled in villages and shifted from hunting wild animals and gathering food to herding domesticated animals and farming.

-They also fashioned tools of stone and bone and created pottery and woven textiles.

-They became image makers, capturing forms and figures on cave walls with the use of primitive artistic implements.

Prehistoric art3 phases of Prehistoric ArtPaleolithic Art

(the late years of the Old Stone Age)

-is the art of the last Ice Age, during which time glaciers covered large areas of Northern Europe and North America.

Hall of Bulls, Lascaux (Dordogne), France (Upper Paleolithic. C. 15,000-10,000 BCE).

Venus of Willendorf(Upper Paleolithic)

Mesolithic Art (Middle Stone Age)

-it began with the final retreat of the glaciers.

*Mesolithic artists concentrated on the human figure.

*The human figure was simplified, and the subjects ranged from warriors to ceremonial dancers.

Ritual Dance (c. 10,000 BCE).Rock engraving. Cave of Addaura, Monte Pellegrino (Palermo), Italy.

Neolithic Art (New Stone Age) -during the New Stone Age, life became

more stable and predictable. People domesticated plants and animals, and food production took the place of food gathering.

*Megaliths-meaning “large stones”

Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England (Neolithic, c. 1800-1400 BCE).

Art of the ancient near east

Historic (as opposed to prehistoric)

societies are marked by a written language, advanced social organization, and developments in the areas of government, science, and art. They are also often linked with the development of agriculture. Historic civilization began toward the end of the Neolithic period.

sumer It is the major civilizations of ancient

Mesopotamia lay along one or the other of these rivers, and the first to rise to prominence.

It is located in Mesopotamia. Cuneiform-system of writing, from the Latin cuneus, meaning

“wedge”; the characters in cuneiform writing are wedged shaped.

Ziggurat-one of the most impressive testimonies to the Sumerians’ religion-based society.

-a monumental platform for a temple also seen in the Babylonian and Assyrian civilizations of later years.

• Sumerian Gods -Anu was the god of the sky -Nannu the god of the moon -Abu the god of vegetation

Characteristics:

Godlike sovereignty the kings claimed

King is bigger than everyone else

1st time the King appears as a god in Mesopotamian art

White Temple at Uruk and Ziggurat(Sumerian, c.3200-3000 BCE).Sun-dried brick.

Statues from Abu Temple, Tel Asmar(Sumerian, Early Dynasty period

akkad Located north of Sumer,

centered around the valley of the Tigris River.

It’s government was based on independent city-states, which, along with those of Sumer, eventually came under the influence of the Akkadian ruler Sargon.

Victory Stele of Naram Sin(Akkadian, c.2300-2200 BCE).

Babylonia During the eighteenth

century BCE the Babylonian Empire, under Hammurabi, rose to power and dominated Mesopotamia.

Hammurabi’s major contribution to civilization was the codification of Mesopotamian laws.

This code of law was inscribed on the Stele of Hammurabi, a relief sculpture of basalt over seven feet high.

Stele(upper portion)inscribed with the Law Code of Hammurabi, at Susa

assyria The ancient empire of

Assyria developed along the upper Tigris River.

The Assyrians were influenced by Babylonian art, culture, and religion.

Assyria was an empire built on military conquests and campaigns.

The Dying Lioness, from Nineveh(Assyrian, 660 BCE)

persia It was led by King

Cyrus, marched toward empire, Babylon was but one of a growing list of casualties.

The art of Persia consists of sprawling palaces of grand dimensions and sculpture that is almost totally abstract in its simplicity of design.

Processional Frieze from the royal audience hall, Persepolis

Egyptian art Fertile Crescent- the

lush land that lay between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, providing sustenance for the Mesopotamian civilization.

Fertile Ribbon- its counterpart in Egypt, hugs the banks of the Nile River, which flows north from Africa and empties into the Mediterranean Sea.

3 aspects of Egyptian art:

-religion-death-conventionalism

3 periods of the art and culture of Egypt:

-Old Kingdom (2680-2258 BCE)

-Middle Kingdom (2000-1786 BCE)

-New Kingdom (1570-1342 BCE)

Old kingdom

• Egyptian religion was bound closely to the afterlife.

• Happiness in the afterlife was believed to be ensured through the continuation of certain aspects of earthly life.

• In the years prior to the dawn

Narmer Palette (Egyptian, Old Kingdom, c.3200 BCE)

• ARCHITECTURE

most spectacular remains of Old Kingdom Egypt, and the most famous, are the Great Pyramids at Gizeh.

Constructed as tombs, they provided a resting place for the pharaoh, underscored his status as a deity, and lived after him as a monument to his accomplishments .

The interiors of the pyramids consist of a network of chambers, galleries, and air shafts.

Great Pyramids at Gizeh(Egyptian, Old Kingdom c.2570-2500 BCE.)

Middle kingdom• The Middle Kingdom

witnessed a change in the political hierarchy of Egypt.

• A striking aspect of Middle Kingdom architecture was the rock-cut tombs which may have been designed to prevent robberies. Rock-cut tombs

Beni Hasan, Egypt,ca. 1950-1900 BCE

New kingdom• Hyskos-the rule of an

Asiatic tribe.

• They introduce Bronze Age weapons to Egypt, as well as the horse.

• New Kingdom was launched. It proved to be one of the most vital periods in Egyptian history, marked by expansionism, increased wealth, and economic and political stability.

• Mortuary Temple-a new architectural form and were carved out of the living rock.

Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, Thebes(Egyptian, New Kingdom, c. 1480 BCE).

The amarna revolution: the reign of akhenaton and nefertiti

During the fourteenth century BCE a king by the name of Amenhotep IV rose to power. His reign marked a revolution in both religion and the arts. Amenhotep IV, named for the god Amen, changed his name to Akhenaton in honor of the sun god, Aton, and he declared that Aton was the only god. In his monotheistic fury, he spent his life tearing down monuments to the old gods and erecting new ones to Aton.

Aegean art• Those of the Aegean Crete in particular –

developed and thrived because of their island location.

• As maritime powers, they maintained contact with distant cultures with whom they traded-including those Egypt and Asia Minor.

• Homer, in the Iliad and the Odyssey were viewed as fancy rather than fact.

• Heinrich Schlieman-followed the very words of Homer and unearthed some of the ancient sites.

cyclades

•Figurine of a Woman

•Characteristics:Triangles dominate

Emphasis on breasts

Fertility goddess

• Paros-one of the chief quarries for marble used in ancient Greece.

Cycladic idol, from Amorgos(c.2500-1100 BCE).

crete• The civilization that

developed on the island of Crete was one of the most remarkable in the ancient world, rich in painting, sculpture, and elaborate architecture.

• Evans divided the history of Minoan civilization into 3 parts:

-Early Minoan Period -Middle Minoan Period -Late Minoan Period• The most spectacular of

the restored palaces on Crete is that at Knossos.

Queen’s bedroom in Palace at Knossos

mycenae• Lion Gate

• Characteristics:Capped with a huge

lintel

Above lintel is corbelled arch

Relieving triangle

• One of the most famous carved pieces in Mycenae is the Lion Gate, one of the entrance ways to the citadel of that city.

Lion Gate at Mycenae(c. 1300 BCE)

jerusalem• Jerusalem is a city set in history, a city beset by current

events.• A city at once pluralistic and, more than one, intolerant.• Jerusalem-spiritually, the home of three of the world’s

great religions and, emotionally, a house too often divided.

The Dome of the Rock The Gardens of Gethsemane

Interior of the Church of the Holy sepulchre

The Western Wall with the Dome of the rock