Week 5 Blog

What is it and who made it ???

I love a great challenge! I was determined to find out what these two works of art are and who made them. When I saw this picture I knew right away that it was made by Mycenaean potters.  After further research I found that this piece is called the Terracotta Chariot Krater.  It looks similar to the “Warrior Krater” found in the text book, in figure 4-20 on page 99.  The scene depicted on both sides of the Chariot Krater follows the tradition of Mycenaean chariot representations from the beginning of the fourteenth century B.C.  Two tall, armless figures wearing long, spotted robes stand in a chariot drawn by a pair of horses. Specks of paint on the box of the chariot indicate that it might have been covered with an ox hide.  Stylized flowers, stems and abstract motifs decorate the background of the scene. To the right of the chariot, a female figure wearing a long robe stands with both arms raised and fingers spread out in what looks to be a meaningful gesture.  Similar to the Warrior Krater, the woman’s emotions are shown on the Chariot Krater with the gesture of her arms raised to her head, indicating mourning.  Her breasts are represented as two spirals, and the features of her face resemble those of the figures in the chariot. Most likely she is waving goodbye to the departing warriors.  This is a familiar scene on earlier chariot kraters.  The horses follow the convention of Mycenaean vase painting.  I found it interesting that when two horses are meant to be represented, the painter, in an attempt to show perspective, depicts only one body, with two tails, two pairs of hind legs and forelegs, as well as two heads. 

As a result of extensive trade relations between the Argolid, a region in the Peloponnesos, and the eastern Mediterranean, large numbers of Mycenaean vases overwhelmed the Cypriot market at the beginning of the fourteenth century B.C.  The krater was a popular form in the vast collection of Mycenaean vases, found almost exclusively in tombs on Cyprus.  In fourteenth and thirteenth century B.C. as many as half of the objects in tombs on Cyprus, consisted of Mycenaean pottery.  Pictorial vases, like this one, were probably connected with funerary practices and, in some regions, may have served as vessels that held the remains of the deceased.

This gorgeous Minoan piece is called “The Fisherman”. The Minoans' all important relationship with the sea is demonstrated in much of their art, including this fresco. This vividly naturalistic silhouette of a fisherman is from the 16th century BCE.  This piece was found in a house in Akrotire, on the island of Thera, which was destroyed by a volcano. This wall painting depicts a naked young fisherman carrying the day’s catch, which appear to be small tunas or mackerels.  Nudity is very rare in Minoan art. Another feature which is unique is the fisherman’s head, which appears to be shaved except for a few locks of hair which are painted blue. Some think the fisherman was a juvenile, since only young people are shown with shaved heads.  Some believe that the style that is represented within this piece is religious and that the fresco may in fact depict an offering to the gods.  This wall painting was found close to a corner of a room near a table of offerings.  In fact, the fisherman is facing the corner of the room where the table of offerings was found.  I absolutely love how naturalistic and vibrant this piece is.  It is quite different from stereotypical Egyptian art. The smooth lines, vibrant colors, and sense of nature make Minoan art very pleasing to the eye. Minoan artists broke away from the two-dimensional figures of Egyptian art and created three-dimensional figures. The extraordinary beauty and fluidity of the frescos makes the figures quite charismatic. The easy nature loving lifestyle that comes across in their art is consistent with a feel of opulence and sophistication unknown anywhere else in the western world at the time. 

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The pyramids at Giza and the ziggurats of the ancient Near East

             About ten years ago my parents lived and worked in Cairo, Egypt. They resided there for four years, only coming home to the U.S once a year.  I have learned a lot from them and their travels, however the history that Egypt holds continues to fascinate me. The pyramids at Giza are extremely mystical and full of history.  I knew very little about the ziggurats, however upon reading this book I found that there are several comparisons to be made between these two kinds of structures.  Most people tend to think that all pyramids are the same in structure and purpose but there are several important differences between them.  The ziggurats and the Egyptian pyramids are very similar in structural style, yet they had very different uses.  The most famous Egyptian pyramids are found at Giza, “Necropolis” (City of the Dead) just outside the city of Cairo. Several of these pyramids are some of the largest structures ever built. These structures were built to be the "gateway to the afterlife".  Within these pyramids were tombs of kings and that of wealthy upper-level government officials.  Each pyramid had several passageways, chambers and a funerary built next to it.  There were also several false passageways, doors and vaults within the pyramids. These were put in place in order to protect the tombs from intruders as well as robbers.  In order to follow the suns path of east to west, the sites in which the pyramids sit had to be carefully planned out. It is also thought that the designers of the Egyptian pyramids may have incorporated some kind of symbolic astrological calculations.  Each pyramid has a square base and four sloping triangular faces. The angled sides of the pyramids were thought to have been made to represent the slanting rays of the sun.  Inscriptions on the walls of some of the tombs tell of deceased kings climbing up the rays to join the sun god. These pyramids are almost perfectly square, and are aligned to the points of the compass with remarkable accuracy.  Inside each pyramid there lies a narrow shaft that extends from the center chamber to the outside, which is aligned exactly with the polestar.  The material used to make these pyramids was stone.  These large granite and lime stones were roughly cut.  They are laid so tightly that you can’t even fit a knife blade, or sheet of paper between them.  In order to stabilize the structure, gypsum material was used as mortar.  Within the tombs there were large, over-life-size statues and works of pictorial relief.
            Similar to the Egyptian pyramids, ziggurats were constructed as huge pyramidal structures.  However these towers were built as monuments to local religions by the Sumerians, Babylonians, Elamites, and Assyrians.  Ziggurats look similar in shape to the Egyptian pyramids, except for the Ziggurats had a stair-stepped shape.  These structures were large layered platforms, ranging from two to seven tiers.  The first ziggurats may have been built at a sacred site upon the rubble of a previous structure. This broken down material may have been used as a foundation for a more recent structure. Unlike the Egyptian pyramids that were built in the desert, the ziggurats structures were elevated in order to protect the temples from potential flooding.  Egyptian pyramids come to a point at the summit; ziggurats had a temple or shrine at the top. The only way to gain access to the ziggurat was by walking up a series of ramps on one side, or by a spiral ramp that led from the base to the summit. Because they were thought to be the gods’ actual homes, only priests were allowed to enter.  Ziggurats had seven tiers, representing the seven known planets or the seven heavens. Unlike the Egyptian pyramids which were build on a square base, the ziggurat structures were built with receding tiers upon a rectangular, oval, or square platform. Bricks that were sun-baked mud made up the core of the ziggurat.  These bricks had facings of fired bricks on the outside, which were glazed in different colors. Just like the Egyptian pyramids, the ziggurats were thought to have had astrological significance as well.  However, unlike the Egyptian Pyramids which used mortar, reed ropes ran through the core of the Ziggurat sturcture to hold the mudbricks together.  Although there are differences between these two kinds of pyrimidial structures, they both serve very important purposes to the people who created them as well as the community that surround them.                                                 

Enemies Crossing the Euphrates River to Escape Assyrian Archers

*Week 3 Blog*

       This interesting gypsum wall panel is on display at the British Museum. The exact dimensions of this piece are height: 88 centimeters, width: 225 centimeters, and thickness: 9.5 centimeters (extant). To have a better visual understanding when converted from centimeters into inches, it is approximately 35 inches high, slightly wider than 88 and a half inches wide and almost 4 inches thick. This piece was excavated by Sir Austen Henry Layard in May of 1846.

     The wall panel shows an incident described in Ashurnasirpal's written accounts. This stone depiction takes place in 878 BC when Ashurnasirpal was campaigning down the river Euphrates and reached the enemy capital, the city of Suru in the land of Suhi.
     The relief shows two Assyrian archers who are shooting at the enemy. They are dressed and armored as typical Assyrian soldiers. They are wearing pointed helmets, kilts, swords and bows with quivers on their backs. There are three trees on the river bank, in which only one can be made out to be a date-palm. Relief of the palm tree and the line that distinguishes the river bank give this piece a wonderful sense of depth.

    

     As you can see in the photo above, it seems as though the foundation of the fort is on an island, and appears to be made of stone. The walls on the other hand would probably have been made from mud-brick. The arched shape of the doors is typical of that time period.



     There are three men in the water who are dressed in long robes, indicating that they are all of high status rather than ordinary soldiers. These swimming soldiers appear to be taken by surprise. The soldiers are of small scale, which displays a sense of spatial positioning and depth within this piece. There are two soldiers that are blowing into inflated animal-skins, which they used as flotation devices to help support themselves in the water. One of the swimming soldiers has been hit by arrows. All but one soldier have a beard. The one without a beard is probably a eunuch, a high official employed at the ancient Near Eastern courts. Eunuchs were castrated men who were in positions of high responsibility.

     There are traces of the standard inscription at the bottom of the panel. This was repeated across most of his reliefs. In order to reduce the weight of the slab for transport the nineteenth century excavator Henry Layard often had the ‘Standard Inscription’ cut away. However, he only had the ‘Standard Inscription’ removed if the did not interfere with the image.
     Unfortunately there is very little information to be found about this particular piece. However, this amazing work of art is wonderfully detailed with texture, depth and spacing, all of which intrigue the eye of the viewer.