Ancient Near East Flashcards Preview

ARTH 2710 > Ancient Near East > Flashcards

Flashcards in Ancient Near East Deck (51)
Loading flashcards...
1
Q

Bronze age

A

middle of the 4th millennium BCE to the 13th century BCE

called bronze age because they smelted bronze at this point

2
Q

middle of the 4th millennium BCE to the 13th century BCE

A

Bronze age

3
Q

What are the nations?

A

Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Levant, Tigris, Euphrates, Girsu, Umma, Lagash

4
Q

Mesopotamia

A

Fertile Crescent
Iraq, Iran

Sumerians

5
Q

Anatolia

A

Turkey

6
Q

Levant

A

Syria, Israel, east coast of Med Sea

7
Q

Tigris

A

next to the Tigris river

8
Q

Euphrates

A

next to Euphrates river

9
Q

Fertile crescent

A

area that’s fertile, has trade, lively

4th millennium BCE to 11th century BCE

10
Q

Sumerians

A

lived in Mesopotamia

first people to write historical narrative (cuneiform)

polytheism: most important one Inanna (goddess of love and war)
- Ningirsu: warrior god, god of Girsu
- Ninhursag: mother goddess
- Imdugud/Anzu bird
: god of unknown
- Enlil*: chief diety

*all on “Stele of Eannatum

11
Q

Akkadian

A

late 3rd millennium BCE, after Sumerian

came from Arabian desert

Sargon I: Akkadian king and conqueror, said that kings are gods

12
Q

Neo-Sumerian

A

third dynasty of Ur, after Akkadian

Sumerinas came back and conquered Akkadian

Have empires

13
Q

Babylonian

A

Early 2nd mill BCE, after Neo-Sumerian

Hammurabi: Babylonian king that commissioned first set of laws known in Western civilization (Stele of Hammurabi)

Shamash: Babylonian chief god, solar deity

14
Q

Assyrian

A

after Babylonian

Conquered everyone: really tall wall, defenses from others

15
Q

Neo-Babylonian

A

after Assyrian

Assyria fell from the inside (civil strife and war)

Nebuchadnezzar II: ruler, came on top

“Ishtar Gate”

16
Q

Sumerian

goddess of love and war

A

Inanna

17
Q

Sumerian

warrior god, god of Girsu

A

Ningirsu

18
Q

Sumerian

mother goddess

A

Ninhursag

19
Q

Sumerian

god of unknown

A

Imdugud/Anzu bird

20
Q

Sumerian

chief diety

A

Enlil

21
Q

Tablets of Destiny

A

they can see the past present and future

Enlil has them

22
Q

they can see the past present and future

Enlil has them

A

Tablets of Destiny

23
Q

Babylonian chief god, solar deity

A

Shamash

24
Q

Legendary king of Uruk; protagonist in the “Epic of ________”, one of the world’s oldest epic tales

A

Gilgamesh

Sumerian

25
Q

Legendary Wildman; ally and friend to Gilgamesh in the “Epic of Gilgamesh”

A

Enkidu

26
Q

Winged bull with the head of a man, a guardian composite creature from ancient Mesopotamia

A

Lamasu

27
Q

Lamasu

A

Winged bull with the head of a man, a guardian composite creature from ancient Mesopotamia

28
Q

composite creature

A

Composed of various known animals; used to indicate a supernatural setting, often serving as guardian figures poised in liminal locales

29
Q

Composed of various known animals; used to indicate a supernatural setting, often serving as guardian figures poised in liminal locales

A

composite creature

30
Q

pictographs

A

Proto-writing reliant on symbols, frequently precede writing systems

31
Q

Proto-writing reliant on symbols, frequently precede writing systems

A

pictographs

32
Q

cuneiform

A

Ancient Near Eastern writing system; first known in western history

33
Q

Ancient Near Eastern writing system; first known in western history

A

cuneiform

34
Q

ziggurat

A

Ancient Near Eastern sacred structure, composed of a temple atop a large sloping platform

35
Q

Ancient Near Eastern sacred structure, composed of a temple atop a large sloping platform

A

ziggurat

36
Q

hieratic scaling

A

Compositional strategy that makes most important figure largest

37
Q

Compositional strategy that makes most important figure largest

A

hieratic scaling

38
Q

language vs writing system

A

???????

speaking vs writing it down??

39
Q

stylized

A

Figural representation that schematizes subject/object

40
Q

Figural representation that schematizes subject/object

A

stylized

41
Q

naturalistic

A

Representational art that looks to mimic nature

42
Q

Representational art that looks to mimic nature

A

naturalistic

43
Q

historical narrative

A

record real-world happenings, usually defining moments in the life of an elite figure, a community, or culture.

44
Q

record real-world happenings, usually defining moments in the life of an elite figure, a community, or culture.

A

historical narrative

45
Q

role of ritual activation

A

a set of instructions to produce a god, demon, ghost, ancestor, etc. If done correctly, the inanimate object became the desired supernatural entity.

didn’t matter if the effigy didn’t look like the supernatural entity

46
Q

a set of instructions to produce a god, demon, ghost, ancestor, etc. If done correctly, the inanimate object became the desired supernatural entity.

A

role of ritual activation

47
Q

Imaging the gods

A

“making the intangible tangible”
creating likeness of deities makes them more tangible
creating likeness of animals makes them appear (Lascaux)

48
Q

center vs periphery

A

cosmic geography
their native state is the center of their universe
periphery idk

49
Q

natural vs supernatural

A

cosmic geography
both natural and supernatural realms coexist
most mortal were physically impeded from entering godly abodes

50
Q

Denise Schmandt-Besserat

A

discovered the reasons for development of writing in ancient Mesopotamia (accounting)

51
Q

discovered the reasons for development of writing in ancient Mesopotamia (accounting)

A

Denise Schmandt-Besserat