The Ancient World

I. Paleolithic Age (Old Stone Age)1 million years B.C.

A. History1. Hunters/gatherers2. Discoveries &

developmentsa. Fireb. Clothingc. Techniques for

hunting/gathering

d. Simple social organization

e. Religion—perhaps as early as 100,000 B.C.

f. Notions of selfhood & individuality

g. Awareness of death & burial

h. Art to express themselves

i. System of notation—30,000 B.C.—Spain to Russia

3. Ice Agesa. Great shifts

in climateb. Three

interglacial periods

c. Drops in sea level (Britain & Scandinavia joined Europe)

B. Art1. 30,000 to 15,000 B.C.—

cave etchings

2. Woman of Willendorf—Venus figurine

a. In burial sites in a 1,100 mile band from western

France to central Russiab. Fertility symbolc. Vitality in obesityd. Realism in folds and

contours— “sophisticated balance in symbolic

overstatement”e. Mystical

significance of womanhood

3. Cave of Lascauxa. Discovery made

by children in 1940

b. Main hall (Hall of bulls)— montage of larger-than-life bulls, horses,

deer, and one

mythological creature—up to 12’

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.minervatech.u-net.com/illos/lasc2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.minervatech.u-net.com/archae01.htm&h=217&w=295&sz=24&hl=en&start=35&um=1&tbnid=9xCzR__ZYNfaWM:&tbnh=85&tbnw=115&prev=/images%3Fq%3DLascaux%2BHall%2Bof%2BBulls%26start%3D20%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us%26sa%3DN

c. Powerful, grand, warm in color

d. Created over a long period of time with

overall effect of a single, dramatic, communicative

work

II. Neolithic Age(New Stone Age)8,000 to 3,000 B.C.

A. History1. Crops2. Stone tool

improvement3. Pottery & textiles4. Small villages

B. Civilization1. Metal work2. Monumental

architecture3. Writing4. Centralized

bureaucracies5. Social classes

III. MesopotamiaA. Sumer—6,000 B.C.

1. Religiona. Permeated

Sumerian lifeb. Found in the

Gilgamesh epic—7th century B.C.

1) episodic tale of hero’s adventure

2) based on historical rules of Erech or Uruk

3) description of flood which parallels story

of Noahc. Developed

pantheon of gods—2250 B.C.

1) ensured harvest

2) took human form

3) Ishtar—goddess of love and procreation

4) city gods5) elaborate

rituals6) dismal

afterworld requiring earthly

possessions7) ritual suicides

2. Developmentsa. Writing

1) most important Sumerian

contribution

2) pictures indicating syllabic sound

3) baked into clay4) stabilizing

effect on society

b. Technology1) bronze2) glass3) wheel

a) math based on 60

b) timec) circlesd) thus—

architectural progress

e) thus—brick-

makingf) thus—

potter’s wheel

g) thus—wheel for transportation

(3,000 B.C.)

3. arta. Depictions of

kings in acts of devotion

b. The Tell Asmar statues

1) temple god statues

2) suggest dignity despite crude

execution3) lines which

point to the heart

4) suggestive of prayer

5) cone or cylindrical shape typical of

Sumerian style6) eyes

a) largeb)

expressivec) source

of power

d) windows of the soul

e) “all-seeing vigilance” of the gods

Standing Male Worshipper from Tell Asmar

4. Musica. Stringed

instrumentb. Probably lyrical,

soft, and restrained

5. Babylon—1700 B.C.a. Considered the

“hub” of the world

b. Sumerian cities along the Tigris & Euphrates

1) Nineveh

2) Aleppoc. Hammurabi and

the law1) rigid class

system2) “eye for an

eye”B. Assyria

1. Babylon plundered by northern Assyrians—1000 B.C.

2. Citadel at Dur Sharrukin

a. Sargon II—722 B.C.

b. 250, 000 square feet

c. Image of the

cosmos