HU Credits: 2

Degree/Cycle: 1st degree (Bachelor)

Responsible Department: Archaeology & Ancient near East

Semester: 1st Semester

Teaching Languages: Hebrew

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Prof. Tallay Ornan

Coordinator Email: tallay.ornan@mail.huji.ac.il

Coordinator Office Hours: MMondays:by appointment

Teaching Staff:
Prof Tallay Ornan

Course/Module description:
A survey and analysis of Mesopotamian art from the early to late third millennium BCE (c.3000-2000 BCE) with an emphasis on royal & religious iconography. The works of art to be dealt with include stone and metal statues, reliefs & cylinder seals. Most of the objects to be discussed were excavated in southern Iraq, Mari located on the Euphrates in Syria and Ebla in north-west Syria.

Course/Module aims:
To provide methodological tools for the analysis of the ancient Near Easter art through visual records that will enable a deeper understanding of the Mesopotamian civilization and its world view.

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
To recognize and comprehend the characteristics of the visual records of the discussed periods and to contextualize them in the contemporary cultural, religious and political framework.

Attendance requirements(%):
100%

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: lecture accompanied with Power Point

Course/Module Content:
Subjects to be discussed in the course
*Geographical setting
*The formation of Mesopotamian art in the late fourth millennium BC
*Mesopotamian trade mark – cylinder seals: materials, workmanship, style & themes
*Statuary: many worshippers & few deities
*Banquets & animals’ combats on cylinder seals
*A martial narrative: the stele of Eannatum ruler of Lagash
*The works of art found in the royal cemetery of Ur
*The power of the Old Akkadian kingdom: steles & royal representations
*Upgrading a king: the deification of Naram-Sin king of Akkad
*The heyday of glyptic art: Old Akkadian cylinder seals
*Sumerian renaissance: statues of Gudea ruler of Lagash
*Sumerian renaissance: the stele of Urnamma king of Ur
*The king and his officials: seals & sealings in the Ur III period
*The fall of the Kingdom of Ur III and the Zagros range rock reliefs

Required Reading:
A SELECTION FROM THE FOLLOWING TITLES:
Aruz, J. ed., 2003, Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus (The Metropolitan Museum of Art), New York.

Hansen, D. P., 1963, New Votive Plaques from Nippur, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 22, 145-165.

Canby, Vorys, J., 2001, The “Ur-Nammu” Stela, Philadelphia.

Hansen, D. P. 2002, Through the Love of Ishtar, in L. al-Gailani Werr et al. (eds.), Of Pots and Plans, Papers on the Archaeology and History of Mesopotamia and Syria presented to David Oates in Honor of his 75th Birthday, London, 91-112.

Harper, P. O., Aruz, J., Tallon, F. (eds.), 1992, The Royal City of Susa, Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre, (The Metropolitan Museum of Art), New York, 47-91.

Jacobsen, T., 1989, God or Worshipper, in A. Leonard and B.B. Williams (eds.), Essays in Ancient Civilization Presented to Helene J. Kantor, Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 47, Chicago, 125-130.

Margueron, Jean-Claude, 2004, Mari, Métropole de l’Euphrate au IIIe et au début du IIe millénaire av. J.-C., Paris, 270-302, 407-421.

Moorey, P.R.S., 1977, What do we Know About the People Buried in the Royal Cemetary?, Expedition 20, 24-40.

Muscarella O. W., 1988, Bronze and Iron, Ancient Near Eastern Artifacts in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 368-374.

Nigro L., 1998, Two Steles of Sargon: Iconology and Visual Propaganda at the Beginning of Royal Akkadian Relief, Iraq 60, 85-102.

Postgate N. & M.D. Roaf 1997, The Shaikhan Relief, Al-Rafidan 18, 143-56.

Schmandt-Besserat, D., 1993, Images of Enship, in M. Frangipane, M. Liverani, P. Matthiae, M. Mellink, M., H. Hauptmann (eds.), Between the Rivers and Over the Mountains, Archaeological Anatolica et Mesopotamia Alba Palmiere Dedicata, Rome, 201-219.

Suter, C.E., 2000, Gudea’s Temple Buildings, The Representations of an Early Mesopotamian Ruler in Text and Image, Groningen.

Winter, I.J., 1987, Women in Public: The Disk of Enheduanna, The Beginning of the Office of En-Priestess, and the Weight of Visual Evidence, in J.-M., Durand (ed.) La femme dans le Proche-Orient antique, compte rendu de la XXXIIIe rencontre assyriologique internationale (Paris, 7-10 Juillet 1986), Paris, 189-191.

Winter, I.J., 1985, After the Battle is Over: The Stele of the Vultures and the Beginning of Historical Narrative in the Art of the Ancient Near East, in H. L. Kessler, M. S. Simpson (eds.), Pictorial Narrative in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Studies in the History of Art 16, Washington, 11-32.

Winter, I.J., 1989, The Body of the Able Ruler: Toward an Understanding of the Statues of Gudea, in H. Behrens, D. Loding, M.T. Roth (eds.), Dumu-E2-Dub-Ba-A, Studies in Honor of Åke W. Sjöberg, Philadelphia, 573-583.

Winter, I.J., 1992, ‘Idols of the king’: Royal Images as recipients of Ritual Action in Ancient Mesopotamia, Journal of Ritual Studies (Sepecial Issue, Art in Ritual Context) 6(1), 12-42.

Winter I.J. 1996, Sex, Rhetoric, and the Public Monument, in N.B. Kampen (ed.), Sexuality in Ancient Art, Near East, Egypt, Greece, and Italy, Cambridge, 11-26.

Winter, I.J., 1999, Reading Ritual in the Archaeological Record, Deposition and Function of two Artifact Types from the Royal Cemetery of Ur, in H. Kühne, R. Bernbeck, K. Bartl (eds.), Fluchtpunkt Uruk, archäologische Einheit aus methodischer Vielfalt, Schrifen für Hans Jörg Nissen, Rahden (Westf.), 229-256.

Winter, I.J., 1999, Tree(s) on the Mountain, Landscape and Territory on the Victory Stele of Naram-Sin of Agade, in L. Milano, S. de Martino, F.M. Fales, G.B. Lanfranchi (eds.), Landscapes, Territories, Frontiers and Horizons in the Ancient Near East (History of the Ancient Near East 3), Padova, 63-72.

Winter I.J. 2002, How Tall Was Naram-Sin’s Stele? Speculation on the Broken Bottom, in E. Ehrenberg (ed.), Leaving No stones Unturned Essays on the Ancient Near East and Egypt in Honor of Donald P. Hansen, Winona Lake, 301-311
Zettler, R.L., Horne, L., eds., 1998, Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur (University of Pennsylvania Museum), Philadelphia.

Additional Reading Material:
Black, J., Green, A., 1992, Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia, An
Illustrated Dictionary, London.

Collon, D., 1987, First Impressions, Cylinder Seals in the Ancient Near East, London.

Collon, D., 1995, Ancient Near Eastern Art, London.

Frankfort, H., 1996, Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient, 5th rev. edition, New Haven and London.

Kuhrt, A., 1995, The Ancient Near East, c. 3000-330 BC, I II, London and New York (paperback edition 1997).

Meyers, E.M., 1997, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, New York and Oxford.

Moortgat, A., 1969, The Art of Ancient Mesopotamia, The Classical Art of the Near East, London and New York.

Orthmann, W., et al., 1975, Der alte Orient (Propylaen Kunstgeschichte 14), Berlin.

Pritchard, J.B., 1954, The Ancient Near East in Pictures, Relating to the Old Testament (ANEP), Princeton.

Pritchard, J.B., 1969, The Ancient Near East, Supplementary Texts and Pictures Relating to the Old Testament (ANEP Supp.), Princeton.

Roaf, M., 1990, Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East, New York and Oxford.

Sasson, J.M., et al. (eds.) 1995, Civilizations of the Ancient Near East (CANE), I-IV, New York.

Strommenger, E., 1964, The Art of Mesopotamia, London.

Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 100 %
Presentation 0 %
Participation in Tutorials 0 %
Project work 0 %
Assignments 0 %
Reports 0 %
Research project 0 %
Quizzes 0 %
Other 0 %

Additional information: