The Neolithic Era in the Near East The first domestication of grains occurred in the area known as the Fertile Crescent. The Greeks called the area between the Tigris + Euphrates River .. The city of Jericho has the earliest stone fortifications to date. 2,000 inhabitants 6-10 acres

Walls and tower, Jericho Medium: Mud brick, rubble, stone Date: c. 8000–7000 BCE :: New inhabitants of Jericho buried their dead under their floors, detached their heads and reconstructed Their features in plaster. (7,000 BCE)

3 :: Subtly modeled with inlaid seashells for eyes and painted hair, lifelike. • Figure from Ain Ghazal, Jordan, c. 7,000-6000 BCE • Wet plaster applied to frameworks made from reeds and cords are the earliest known large-scale sculptures to date. A collection of over 30, sometimes life size sculptures were found… Mesopotamia

“land between rivers”

The people known as the ______were the first to develop in the area of Southern Mesopotamia. a. Neo- Babylonians b. Persians c. Sumerians d. Hittites

• Uruk (4500-3100 BCE) • Sumerian: Early Dynastic (2800-2300 BCE) • Akkadian (2340-2180E BCE)* • Neo-Sumerian (2150-1800 BCE) • Babylonian (1830-1550 BCE)* • Assyrian (1100-612 BCE)* • Neo-Babylonian or Chaldean (612-539 BCE)*

The most impressive surviving archeological remains of the Sumerians is the ziggurat.

Title: Nanna Ziggurat, Ur Date: c. 2100–2050 BCE

Present-day Muqaiyir, • Ziggurat at Ur, 2100 - 2000 BCE • The White Temple was probably dedicated to Anu, the sky god. • It had a central hall with a stepped altar. • The Sumerian priests would await the apparition of the deity.

Ruins of the White Temple c. 3300–3000 BCE Uruk (present-day Warka, Iraq)

Using only mud bricks, built several Centuries before the Egyptians built Stone pyramids.

Inanna: goddess of love And war. Anu: the sky god

• Ziggurat-an artificial mountain or platform for a the patron god or goddess of that city-state • Topped by a temple • A transitional space between the people and their gods

Face of a woman, (known as the Warka Head), Marble Size: height approx. 8" Date: c. 3300–3000 BCE

Sumerians imported the marble for this head at great cost. It may represent the goddess and had Inlaid colored shell or stone eyes and brows, a wig, probably of gold leaf.

Title: Photo of face of a woman (known as the Warka Head) Source/Museum: Displayed by Iraqi authorities on its recovery Before the invention of writing, early societies used simple Stylized pictures to record and convey information.

We call such symbols…

Prehistoric Pictograph http://ed.ted.com/lessons/who-invented-writing-matthew-winkler To keep business records, the Sumerians pressed cuneiform symbols into clay tablets.

• Clay tablet with the pictographic text that preceded cuneiform • Inscriptions made by pressing a stylus into wet clay

A CLOSER LOOK AT CUNEIFORM The first form of writing

Cuneiform evolved from pictographs

• Mesopotamian Cuneiform, • circa 21st century BCE The first written language was developed about 5000 years ago by the Sumerians in the region of Mesopotamia, which corresponds to modern Day Iraq.

Cuneiform, early writing system based on abstracted versions of pictographs Later, some characters came to be used conventionally to stand for Phonetic symbols that could be combined into words.

22 characters from the Phoenician Alphabet. Votive figures: images dedicated to gods- are an early example of an ancient Near Eastern religious practice.

Medium: Limestone, alabaster, and gypsum Size: height of largest figure approx. 30" ( 76.3 cm) Date: c. 2900–2600 BCE

• Gypsum with inlay of shell and black limestone • Convention: large almond-shaped eyes, clasped hands, and worried expression

Willem de Kooning Woman 1, 1950-52 Oil on Canvas Sumerians used hard, seals for identifying documents and establishing property ownership, by 3300 BCE they stamp was redesigned as a cylinder seal. Title: Cylinder seal from Sumer and its impression Medium: Size: height, 1⅝" (4.1 cm) Date: c. 2550–2400 BCE Mesopotamian limestone cylinder seal and impression. (worship of Shamash) Hammurabi’s capital city was and his subjects were called Babylonians…

Ruled 1792-1750 BCE

The city of Babylon straddled the Euphrates River, the two sections of the city were joined by a bridge. a sexagesimal digit was composed of a group of narrow, wedge-shaped marks representing units up to nine (Y, YY, YYY, YYYY, ... YYYYYYYYY) and a group of wide, wedge-shaped marks representing up to five tens (<, <<, <<<, <<<<, <<<<<). Title: Stele of Hammurabi Medium: Diorite Size: height of stele approx. 7’ (2.13 m) height of 28“ (71.1 cm) Date: c. 1792–1750 BCE • Stele with Law Code of Hammurabi, 1780 BCE, carved basalt • Hammurabi-most renowned king of Mesopotamia • Echoes from code found in Law of Moses

If a son slaps his father, his hand shall be cut off.

If a man strikes a pregnant woman, thereby causing her to Miscarry and die, the assailants daughter shall be put to death.

If a man knocks the teeth out of another man, his own teeth will Be knocked out.

If the slave of a free man strikes the body of a freed man, his ear Shall be cut off.

If anyone commits a robbery and is caught, he shall be put to death.

There are 282 such laws in the Code of Hammurabi… … the Hittites

The most powerful of the Anatolian cultures was the Hittite civilization. They were the first to work in iron. Title: Lion Gate Medium: Limestone Date: c. 1400 BCE Hattusha Ishtar Gate

King Nebudchadnezzar II (605-562 BCE) The ceremonial entrance to the city of Babylon was the ______Gate.

Reconstruction drawing of Babylon in the 6th century BCE

• Height 48’9” • Alternating rows of bull of Adad and dragon of , both sacred symbols • Dedicated to the goddess Ishtar

• : transfers weight to the sides of an opening, allowing for greater efficiency and increased strength

Ishtar Gate and throne room wall, Glazed brick 10.9A Mushhushshu;

Horned dragons with the head and Body of a snake, the forelegs of a Lion, and the hind legs of a bird of Prey.

Sacred to Marduk, Adad, the storm god.

• Reconstruction model, Ziggurat of Marduk, Babylonian/Neo-Babylonian, 575 BCE

• Terraces contained trees and gardens-”Hanging Gardens of Babylon”-one of the seven wonders of

ancient world