(AM1) Module Overview

Ancient Mediterranean I

Introduction

With the end of the Ice Age, two powerful river line civilizations developed. In this module, the student will focus on the Ancient Near East - that is the area in the ancient world that extended from Turkey to Iran. The art of Mesopotamia, the land between the two rivers, will be examined through all the many changes in rule and power. The Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians...oh my!

Your study will move to the fertile Nile River and the civilization that sprang from its banks. Unlike the city-states of Mesopotamia, Egypt was a centralized nation under the control of the pharaoh. Although most of the art that you will see is art made for tombs or to show the authority and deity of the pharaoh, the work is not gloomy but wonderfully alive with its naturalism and optimism for the next life.

The main focus of this module is how works of art illustrate the active exchange of ideas and reception of artistic styles among the Mediterranean cultures and their subsequent influence on the classical world. The module will concentrate on the artistic traditions and innovations of the ancient Near East and dynastic Egypt through their stylistic representation of royal figures and divinities, the creation of funerary and palatial complexes as well as monumental religious structures, and the cultural reform and stylistic revolution of the Amarna Period.

Module Lessons Preview

In this module, we will study the following topics:

• Why and how does art change?
• How do we describe our thinking about art?
• How does religion influence art and architecture?
• How has art been utilized to foster political beliefs?
• Is art a reflection of its culture or a force to form or shape culture?

 

Key Terms

In this module, we will study the following key terms:

1. Apadana - The apadana is a great audience hall in ancient Persian palaces.
2. Arch - The arch is a curved structural member that spans an opening and is generally composed of wedge-shaped blocks (voussoirs).
3. Ashlar Masonry - Ashlar masonry is a technique where carefully cut and regularly shaped blocks of stone are used in construction, fitted together without mortar.
4. Basilica - In Roman architecture, a basilica is a civic building for legal and other civic proceedings, rectangular in plan with an entrance usually on a long side. In Christian architecture, a church somewhat resembling the Roman basilica, usually entered from one end and with an apse at the other.
5. Block Statue - In ancient Egyptian sculpture, a block statue is a cubic stone image with simplified body parts.
6. Canon - A canon is a rule. For example, the Egyptian artist was mandated to regularize dimensions and scale in their paintings of the human form. Canons are guidelines for Egyptian artists to follow.
7. Canopic Jar - In ancient Egypt, the container in which the organs of the deceased were placed for later burial with the mummy is known as a canopic jar.
8. Clerestory - The clerestory is a fenestrated part of a building that rises above the roofs of the other parts. In Egyptian temples, the windows that form the temple’s uppermost level below the timber ceiling is the clerestory.
9. Continuous Narration - In painting or sculpture, the convention of the same figure appearing more than once in the same space at different stages in a story is known as a continuous narrative.
10. Cuneiform - Cuneiform in Latin means “wedge-shaped.” It is a system of writing used in ancient Mesopotamia. Cuneiform are wedge-shaped characters produced by pressing a stylus into a soft clay tablet, which was then baked or otherwise allowed to harden.
11. Engaged Column - An engaged column is a half-round column attached to a wall. They are also known as pilasters.
12. Façade - A façade is usually the front of a building; also, the other sides when they are emphasized architecturally.
13. Glaze - Glaze is a vitreous coating applied to pottery to seal and decorate the surface; it may be colored, transparent or opaque, and glossy or matte.
14. Glazed Brick - Glazed bricks are bricks painted and then kiln fired to fuse the color with the baked clay.
15. Ground Line - In paintings and reliefs, a painted or carved baseline on which figures appear to stand is the ground line.
16. Heraldic Composition - Heraldic composition is a composition that is symmetrical on either side of a central figure.
17. Hierarchy of Scale - Hierarchy of scale is an artistic convention in which greater size indicates greater importance.
18. Hieroglyphic - Hieroglyphics is a system of writing using symbols or pictures
19. Hypostyle Hall - A hypostyle hall is a hall with a roof supported by columns.
20. Ka - The ka, in ancient Egypt, the immortal human life force; the spirit of the deceased.
21. Lamassu - Lamassu is an Assyrian guardian in the form of a man-headed winged bull.
22. Pylon - A pylon is the simple and massive gateway, with sloping walls, of an Egyptian temple.
23. Pictograph - A pictograph is a picture, usually stylized, that represents an idea; also, writing using such means; also painting on rock.
24. Register - A register is one of a series of superimposed bands or friezes in a pictorial narrative, or the particular levels on which motifs are placed.
25. Repoussé - Repoussé is formed in relief by beating a metal plate from the back, leaving the impression on the face. The metal is hammered into a hollow mold of wood or some other pliable material and finished with a graver.
26. Sculpture in the Round - Sculpture in the round is a term applying to freestanding figures, carved or modeled in three dimensions.
27. Stele - A stele is a carved stone slab used to mark graves or to commemorate historical events
28. Votive Offering - A votive offering is a gift of gratitude to a deity.
29. Ziggurat - In ancient Mesopotamian architecture, a ziggurat is a monumental platform for a temple.

[CC BY 4.0] UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED | IMAGES: LICENSED AND USED ACCORDING TO TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION