AHIS 120g 1st Edition Lecture 2 Current LectureAncient Middle East- Ancient Mesopotamia: 1. Sumer (4000 BCE)2. Akkad (2350 BCE)3. Babylon (1867 BCE)4. Assyria (1760-600 BCE)5. Neo-Babylonia (600-540 BCE)6. Persia (540-330 BCE)- Writing and historyo Distinct form of writing: cuneiform. Wedge-shaped sign used for administrative accounts.o Stele of Hammurabi (1760 BCE). - Role of public arto Used for public worship and communal learning.  Immortality. o Government-ordered. Divine authority.o Symbolic of the specific kingdom.  Hierarchical order.- Sumerian art o Works of art in the form of sculpture, relief, and pottery inform us aboutSumerian society.o Uruk—the biblical Erech—was established among the fertile crescent of theTigris and Euphrates. Uruk was the first settlement in the Near East.  Both rivers carried silt to the landlocked area.o Sumerians built predominantly with mud brick covered with plaster.o High temples were built on a platform based above ground level; these platformsgradually transformed into squat, stepped pyramids known was ziggurats. o Votive statues from Abu Temple (2900-2600 BCE) Votives: sacrificial object. Placed on the altar.  Abstract, not realistic depictions of human beings in prayer.  The exaggerated large eyes signify the statue’s engagement in prayer andworship. o Royal Standard of Ur (2600 BCE) Sumerian city of Ur is a main attraction to archaeologists due to itsbiblical associations.  A procession scene consisting of four panels of red limestone, shell andlapis lazuli inlay set in bitumen.  Juxtaposition of animal scenes along with military victory and acelebration or ritual feast, each unfolding in three superimposedregisters, or horizontal bands.  Soldiers present the prisoners to a central figure, whose importance theartist signals through his position and larger size—a device known ashieratic scale.o Bull Lyre (2600 BCE) From the tomb of Queen Pu-abi. A lyre decorated with a bull’s head of gold gilt and lapis lazuli.  Scenes associated with the Epic of Gilgamesh.  In ancient culture, the bull functioned as a guardian of the culture, theprotector of society and the city. - Art of Akkado Located northwest of Sumer, near present-day Baghdad.o Akkadian rulers increasingly exploited the visual arts to establish and reflect theirpower. o Stele of Naram-Sim (2254-2218 BCE) Depiction of the Akkadian king, Naram-Sim, conquering the Sumerians.  The defeated beg for mercy or lie contorted underneath. Above them. The king’s large scale and central position makes his identityclear.  King wears a helmet with horns, a symbol of the ruler’s divinity. The horned crown was formerly an exclusive accoutrement of the gods;Naram-Sim was the first Mesopotamian king to deify himself (See:apotheosis). - Babylonian arto During the reign of its most favorable ruler, Hammurabi (r. 1792-1750 BCE), thecity of Babylon assumed the dominant role formerly played by Akkad. o Babylon held a role as an international cultural center of Sumer for almost 1000years. o Law Code of Hammurabi (1760 BCE) One of the earliest written bodies of law, engraved on a black basalt stelereaching over 7 feet in height. The text consists of 3,500 lines of Akkadian cuneiform.  The largest portion concerns commercial and property law, rules ondomestic issues, and questions of physical assault, detailing penalties fornoncompliers.  Hammurabi appears in relief, standing with his arm raised in greetingbefore the enthroned sun-god Shamash. Hammurabi appears without the benefit—or need—of a divineintercessor, implying an especially close relationship with the