CHW3MMesopotamian Art and Sciences

February 23rd, 2015

MESOPOTAMIAN ARTS: WRITING

Cuneiform was one of the __________ forms of writing and was based on _________ signs

It first appeared in Sumer about 3000 BCE and probably developed because of the need to keep _______ records in ______ and ___________

Henry Rawlinson deciphered the cuneiform writings by __________ it to the old Persian text. He spent 12 years deciphering the text before he could begin ___________ it

Before he learned how to read cuneiform, historians didn’t know that ancient _______ had ever existed – pretty significant discovery!

CUNEIFORM

Historians knew about the ancient Babylonians and Assyrians, from the _______ and other sources, and they knew that cuneiform tablets were the record left by these peoples – later, they learned of an earlier civilization that _________ all the others

People wrote cuneiform on _______ or _______tablets, inscribing the picture signs

Rather than scratching the notations into mud, scribes would jab the tablet with the end of a reed cut in the _______ of a large __________

The word cuneiform comes from the Latin word cuneus, meaning ________

Once wedge-marks were made, tablet was baked like a brick

SUMERIAN CUNEIFORM

The earliest Sumerian cuneiform _________ were picture symbols or pictograms that represented concrete objects such as an ____ or _______

At first, they were written in __________, read downwards, _______ to _______

As time evolved, the scribes ________ the symbols 90 degrees to make them easier to _______

Eventually symbols came to represent _______, not just objects

Symbols representing ideas are called ideograms

They also abandoned the writing practice from right to left because it tended to __________

WRITING CONT’D In Mesopotamian times the scribes were responsible

for _______ and __________ Early scribes were ________, later they became their

own professional group – greatly respected by ______ classes

Rulers depended on them to record ______ Common people needed them to write ______ and

______ for them Scribes (because of their education & social standing)

rose to positions of _______ government service In Sumer, they oversaw government operations such

as the ___________ and __________ of irrigation works Cuneiform spread through to the Babylonians &

Assyrians – very helpful for ___________

MESOPOTAMIAN LITERATURE

Narrative _______ or epics, they preserved their ancient ________ and passed on _________ teachings, accounts of _________, and stories of their _________

One of the oldest pieces of literature is the Epic of Gilgamesh The epic is the story of the heroic Sumerian King

Gilgamesh, who ruled around 2600 BCE (most likely not recorded until long after its creation)

He was both ________ and ________, considered to be 2/3 god, 1/3 man, in this epic he is seen as brutal & quick to forget the feelings of others (he had a wall to protect the city – however people had to work hard to construct it)

MESOPOTAMIAN ART & SCULPTURE

Sculpture was an important part of life in Mesopotamia

Almost everyone owned a small ________ of one of the gods made of terra-cotta, gypsum, _______, or copper

Nearly all of the statues depict a figure standing quietly with hands clasped in ________

Larger carvings were done for the ________ Mosaics were often used to tell a story A famous mosaic is the ‘Standard of Ur’ A _________ is a symbol of power or authority of

the _______ (like today’s flag to represent a king or country)

ART & SCULPTURE CONT’D: STANDARD OF UR

ART & SCULPTURE CONT’D

The Standard of Ur consists of 2 ________, inlaid with mother of pearl, mussel shells and lapis lazuli – one side depicts scenes of ______, the other depicts scenes from a ________/victory

Mosaics of battle show soldiers bringing _________ of war back to their king, riding in four-wheeled chariots – earliest ________ we have of the use of the ________

Relief carvings on buildings were an important art form in Babylonia and Assyria Depicted mythical ________ or _________, or they

portrayed an important ________

THE SCIENCES – THE WHEEL

Mesopotamia’s most important technological ________ was the ________ – invented by the Sumerians (we can only speculate how happened)

The _______ had monumental impact! By 3250 BCE the Sumerians built wheeled

wagons and chariots to replace their _______ With Ox’s pulling wagons/chariots, farmers

transported three to four times the weight in _______/produce

Wheel had more applications _________ (easier to pull water from wells) Potter’s _______ (marked beginning of fine

pottery)

THE SCIENCES – METALLURGY

Sumerians are credited with the technological advanced that led to the Bronze Age (3000 BCE), but may also have originated in eastern _______

Before Bronze Age, copper had been used in western Asia (early as 8000 BCE)

Copper is a soft _______ and used for creating jewellery, but it’s _______ for making weapons or tools

Most tools were made of _______ during this time

Originally it was hammered to ________ its shape

Later, someone discovered how to ______ and cast copper by pouring it into moulds

METALLURGY CONT’D Bronze is an alloy composed of ________ and ______ It’s superior to copper because it’s harder, more

________, and provides a sharper cutting edge (probably created by accident)

Bronze was an __________ metal to produce, but easier to cast than copper because it had a ________ melting point

Bronze took over from ________ as the chief material for tool-making, later replaced by _______

Iron Age began about 1200 BCE, the Assyrians were the first people in Mesopotamia to use it (introduced first in the Middle East)

When ore was poured into moulds, it became _______ iron, when it was reheated, beaten (wrought), and ________, it became wrought iron - stronger

THE SCIENCES – MATHEMATICS

The Sumerians could count in 10’s and 100’s, but they preferred to use _____ as their arithmetical unit

___________ was very important to the Sumerian’s political and economic systems Used math to build the _______ To keep accurate _______ and ______ records Tabulate ________ owed to the state

The mathematical system is a _________Our current 360 degree circle, 60 minute

hour, and 60 second minute came from the Sumerians!

THE SCIENCES - TIME Mesopotamians believed that the _______ controlled

the forces of ___________ They named various groups of stars, gave them

special _________ and used them to predict the ______ The _______ that zodiac use today developed from

this practice Astronomers studying the stars worked out a _______

calendar of 12 months Divided their year into ______ seasons, emesh

(_______) and enten (_________) Their lunar year contained only _____ days, which is

short 33.75 days short of the solar year – the king would decide when to add the extra month every 3 years – he relied on ___________

TIME CONT’D

Of all of the Mesopotamian peoples, the Chaldeans took the ________ interest in the movements of ________ bodies

They believed they needed a more accurate _________ to better plan agricultural operations more effectively

The Chaldeans were convinced that events on _______ were a reflection of events in the _______

They relied on ______ for determining direction (land or sea)

IN CONCLUSION… The people of Mesopotamia developed a magnificent

and thriving civilization, despite the environmental __________ (they controlled the forces of nature)

The first known form of _________ was developed in Sumer (recorded business transactions, farm yields, laws, myths, and legends)

Sumerian cuneiform writing evolved and remain the standard form for ___________ of years

Laws and law codes were created to ________ human behaviour

Mesopotamia developed a need for ____________ Finally, they made innovations in the fields of

architecture and art, their invention of the _______, and extended use of the _______

SUMERIAN CUNEIFORM DEVELOPMENT OF CUNEIFORM WRITING PG.54