Visual Arts History 1040 Lecture Notes - Iwan, Diorite, Girsu
Document Summary
Present day iraq; land btwn 2 rivers": tigris and euphrates. Sumerians first to build towering temple platforms (ziggurats), and place figures in registers to tell coherent stories. White temple and ziggurat, uruk (modern warka), iraq, ca. White temple probably dedicated to anu (sky god) Central hall (cella) with stepped altar where priests await the apparition of the deity. Unibrow incised, suggests inlaid w/ stone/jewels previously. Headdress suggested; pot eyes painted or w/ jewels. Human tendency to make representations of the divine. Imp things (head) in marble/stone, less imp in other stuff; therefore not preserved. Worshipers from the square temple, eshnunna ca. Holding hands like in prayer, large eyes (in awe) Some objects inscribed; becomes stand in for the ind, as offering. Fashion; how presented themselves to public, hair: beards and long hair (male), bound (females) Presentation of offerings to inanna (warka vase), uruk ca. One of earliest narratives, defined in layers, 3 registers dividing into sequence.