Key Learning Terms

After successful completion of this module you will be able to:

Identify the major visual characteristics of early Mesopotamian (Sumerian/Akkadian), Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian and Persian art (formal, technical and expressive)
Interpret the possible meaning(s) of works of early Mesopotamian (Sumerian/Akkadian), Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian and Persian art based on examination and analysis of themes, subject matter and use of symbols.
Relate early Mesopotamian (Sumerian/Akkadian), Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian and Persian art to cultural, economic, religious and political contexts.
Refine art historical methods of investigation such as observation and comparison.
Identify suitable visual and textual evidence drawn from various media to support an argument or an interpretation of Ancient Near Eastern art.
Apply specialized art historical vocabulary and concepts to describe and analyze specific examples of Ancient Near Eastern art.

While you are reviewing the contents of this module, consider the following questions:

How does the lifestyle of the artist and community affect the subject matter of the work of art?
How does the form of the work reflect attitudes prevalent in the culture?
How does the planning and construction of structures reveal significant cultural activities and priorities?
What does the chosen medium tell us about the world that these artists inhabited?

Key Terms: city-state, cuneiform, pictographs, stylus, cylinder seal, votive offering, votive figure, Epic of Gilgamesh, hierarchy of scale, registers or friezes, composite view, ground line, lapis lazuli, conceptual vs. optical representation, plan, grid, architectural reconstruction, bent-axis plan, cella, ziggurat, stele, apadana, columns, bases, shafts, fluting, capitals, lamassu, eclectic

Key Place Names: “Fertile Crescent,” Mesopotamia, Ur, Uruk, Nineveh, Neo-Sumeria/Third Dynasty of Ur, Lagash, Babylon, Assyria, Dur Sharrukin (Khorsabad), Neo-Babylonia, Persepolis, Achaemenid Persia

Key Figures: Sargon of Akkad, Naram-Sin, Gudea, Hammurabi, Ashurnasirpal II, Ashurbanipal, Sargon II of Assyria, Nebuchadnezzer II, Cyrus of Persia, Darius I, Xerxes

Here are links to art history glossaries that will help you better understand the above key vocabulary terms.