HUMN303Week 1: Lesson
Commonalities in civilizations
A common feature of most civilizations is that they tend to grow around rivers, such as the Nile in Egypt, the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia, and the Yangtze in China. This is logical because rivers provide not only a source of water but a mode of transportation. Civilizations, due to their more complex social structures, tend to produce more artifacts than earlier cultures, and more of them are preserved to the present day in museums and other cultural institutions. This does not mean we should think of the artifacts produced by civilizations as being better than those from earlier cultures. Examples such as the cave drawings of Lascaux in France or the Venus of Willendorf show that humans from long, long ago were capable of producing highly sophisticated works of art as well.
Prehistory simply refers to the time before written records were kept. In the absence of written records, artifacts such as tools, statues, and drawings help us to gain a better understanding of prehistory.
A great example is The Standard of Ur, dated 2700 BCE. Found in the royal Sumerian city of Ur, the object has two sides, generally referred to as War and Peace. Each side has three levels, or registers. On the War side, we can see men in chariots crushing their enemies on the lowest register. On the top register, prisoners are brought before the ruler. We can see clearly that the ruler is the central figure because he is taller than all of the others. This is known as hierarchy of scale. Similarly, on the Peace side, the ruler, again taller than the others, is shown on the top register, second from the left, enjoying a feast. Those on the middle and bottom register are performing labor, tending to herds and carrying sacks. We can understand a good deal about Sumerian society by looking closely at The Standard of Ur. It shows us that the Sumerians were a stratified society with the rulers literally at the top. In addition, we know that the Sumerians engaged in battle and used advanced agricultural techniques.
five ways to think about artifacts in history
Artifacts tell their own stories. Artifacts connect people. Artifacts mean many things. Artifacts capture moments. Artifacts reflect changes.
You don't have to limit yourself to the assigned readings. Keep an eye out for images of artwork that really speak to you. Jot down the ones you really like, and read more about them in our textbook. You have a few weeks before you have to make up your mind about your topic choice, but if you start the process now, you'll avoid the stress that comes from waiting until the last moment.
As you will see below, you have a great deal of freedom in your choice of topic. It does not have to be something we've studied in class or that is discussed in our textbook; however, choosing a topic you are passionate about is key to a successful outcome, so choose wisely. Students will select an appropriate topic and share it in outline form. Students will conduct research on their chosen topic and demonstrate understanding of it through an annotated bibliography. Students will incorporate that research into their presentation by providing appropriate in-slide citations and a complete references list in APA format. Students will demonstrate communication skills by providing a recorded narration to accompany the presentation.
Animism
Belief that objects, such as plants and stones, or natural events, like thunderstorms and earthquakes, have a discrete spirit and conscious life.
humanities
Branches of knowledge concerned with human beings and their culture: philosophy, literature, and the fine arts, as distinguished from the sciences. In a loose definition, humanities are the study in human evolution from ancient artifacts. Artifacts serve as evidence of people's need to create and communicate.
Culture and Civilization
Culture refers to arts, customs, and achievements of a particular group of people. Civilization refers to an advanced social organization.
More than one hundred cave dwellings in southwestern France, and still others discovered as recently as 1996 in southeastern France, contain mysterious markings and lifelike images of animals (bears, bison, elk, lions, and zebras, among others), birds, fish, and sea creatures. Executed between 10,000 and 40,000 years ago, Paleolithic wall-paintings provide a visual record of such long-extinct animals as the hairy mammoth and the woolly rhinoceros (Figure 1.2). They also reveal extraordinary technical sophistication and a high degree of naturalism (fidelity to nature).
Figure 1.2 Hall of Bulls, left wall, Lascaux caves, Dordogne, France, ca. 15,000-10,000 b.c.e. Paint on limestone rock, length of individual bulls 13-16 ft.
Figure 11.4 Joseph Wright, An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump, 1768.
Figure 11.20 Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, The Kitchen Maid, 1738.
Figure 11.27 Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, La Grande Odalisque, 1814.
Figure 12.15 Albert Bierstadt, The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak, 1863.
Figure 12.15 Albert Bierstadt, The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak, 1863.
Figure 14.1 Wassily Kandinsky, Panel for Edwin Campbell, No. 2, 1914 (detail).
Figure 14.13 Pablo Picasso, Guitar, 1912-1913. Construction of sheet metal and wire, 30½ × 13¾ × 7⅝ in. Picasso's Guitar achieves its powerful effect by means of fragmented planes, deliberate spatial inversions (note the projecting soundhole), and the wedding of commonplace materials.
Figure 14.19 Kasimir Malevich, Suprematist Composition: White on White, 1918. Oil on canvas, 31¼ × 31¼ in. "To the suprematist," wrote Malevich, "the visual phenomena of the objective world are, in themselves, meaningless; the significant thing is feeling . . . quite apart from the environment in which it is called forth."
Figure 14.24 Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Street, Berlin, 1913. Oil on canvas, 47½ × 35⅞ in. Kirchner's angular forms reveal the influence of African sculpture, while the nervous intensity of his line style reflects his debt to the German graphic tradition.
Figure 14.25 Giorgio de Chirico, The Nostalgia of the Infinite, 1914, date on painting 1911. Oil on canvas, 53¼ × 25½ in. About his disquieting cityscapes, de Chirico explained: "There are more enigmas in the shadow of a man who walks in the sun than in all the religions of past, present, and future."
Figure 14.26 Marc Chagall, I and the Village, 1911. Oil on canvas, 6 ft. 3⅝ in. × 4 ft. 11⅝ in. Chagall integrated romance, fantasy, and Cubist abstraction into a vividly colored, topsy-turvy world: Here, Chagall dreams of a Russian village, while the cow dreams of being milked.
Figure 15.6 Mark Rothko, Untitled, 1957. Oil on canvas, 695⁄8 in. × 43½ in. The paintings of Rothko (1903-1970) consist of translucent, soft-edged blocks of color that float mysteriously on the surfaces of other fields of color. These huge, sensuous compositions derive their power from the subtle interaction of rich layers of paint, which seem to glow from within. Rothko believed that spiritual intimacy between the artwork and its viewer would be achieved if the spectator stood no more than 18 inches from the canvas.
Figure 7.16 Masaccio, The Tribute Money, ca. 1425. Fresco (after restoration)
Figure 7.29 Raphael, The School of Athens, 1509-1511.
Figure 7.16 Masaccio, The Tribute Money, ca. 1425. Fresco (after restoration), 8 ft. 4 in. × 19 ft. 8 in. Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence.
Figure 7.29 Raphael, The School of Athens, 1509-1511. Fresco, 26 × 18 ft. Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican, Rome. The School of Athens is a portrait gallery of Renaissance artists whose likenesses Raphael borrowed to depict his Classical heroes. The stately, bearded Plato is an idealized portrait of Leonardo. The balding Euclid, seen bending over his slate in the lower right corner of the composition, resembles Raphael's good friend the architect Bramante. In the far right corner, Raphael himself (wearing a dark hat and looking at the viewer) appears discreetly among the Aristotelians.
Figure 7.35 Titian, Venus of Urbino, 1538-1539.
Figure 8.1 Hans Holbein the Younger, Sir Thomas More, ca. 1530
Paleolithic ("Old Stone") ca. 3 million to 10,000 b.c.e. tribal hunters and gatherers crude stone and bone tools and weapons cave painting and sculpture Mesolithic ("Transitional Stone") ca. 10,000 to 8000 b.c.e. domestication of plants and animals stone circles and shrines Neolithic ("New Stone") ca. 8000 to 2000 b.c.e. farming and food production polished stone and bone tools and weapons architecture pottery and weaving
Following the end of the Ice Age, however, hunters and gatherers in some parts of the world began to domesticate plants and animals encapsulates the transitional (Mesolithic) culture Neolithic farmers gradually settled in permanent communities, raising high-protein crops such as wheat and barley in Asia, rice in China, and maize and beans in the Americas. Ancient Japanese communities seem to have produced the world's oldest known pottery—handcoiled and fired clay vessels. But it is in Southwest Asia that some of the finest examples of painted pottery have come to light.
lyric poetry
From the New Kingdom came a very personal type of poetry defined as lyric (literally, accompanied by the lyre or harp). A lovesick Egyptian boy expresses his secret passion thus:
Hammurabi: written law
Hammurabi's Code covers a broad spectrum of moral, social, and commercial obligations. Its civil and criminal statutes specify penalties for murder, theft, incest, adultery, kidnapping, assault and battery, and many other crimes. More importantly for our understanding of ancient culture, it is a storehouse of information concerning the nature of class divisions, family relations, and human rights. Like Moses on Mount Sinai, Hammurabi receives the law—here in the form of a staff—from the supreme deity. Figure 1.20 Stele of Hammurabi, first Babylonian dynasty, ca. 1750 b.c.e. Written law represents a landmark advance in the development of human rights in that it protected the individual from the capricious decisions of the monarch. Unwritten law was subject to the hazards of memory and the eccentricities of the powerful. FROM HAMMURABI'S CODE 134 If a man has been taken prisoner, and there is no food in his house, and his wife enters the house of another; then that woman bears no blame. 138 If a man divorces his spouse who has not borne him children, he shall give to her all the silver of the bride-price, and restore to her the dowry which she brought from the house of her father; and so he shall divorce her. 141 If a man's wife, dwelling in a man's house, has set her face to leave, has been guilty of dissipation, has wasted her house, and has neglected her husband; then she shall be prosecuted. If her husband says she is divorced, he shall let her go her way; he shall give her nothing for divorce. If her husband says she is not divorced, her husband may espouse another woman, and that woman shall remain a slave in the house of her husband. 142 If a woman hate her husband, and says 'Thou shalt not possess me,' the reason for her dislike shall be inquired into. If she is careful and has no fault, but her husband takes himself away and neglects her; then that woman is not to blame. She shall take her dowry and go back to her father's house. 196 If a man has destroyed the eye of a free man, his own eye shall be destroyed. 198 If he has destroyed the eye of a plebeian, or broken the bone of a plebeian, he shall pay one mina of silver [approximately one pound of silver]. 199 If he has destroyed the eye of a man's slave, or broken the bone of a man's slave, he shall pay half his value.
perceptual/conceptual art
Heads and legs are shown in profile, eyes and shoulders in frontal view: a conceptual composite that integrated multiple perspectives (Figure 1.29). This method of representation is conceptual—that is, based on ideas—rather than perceptual—that is, based on visual evidence. The Egyptian painter's approach to space was also conceptual. Spatial depth is indicated by placing one figure above (rather than behind) the next, often in horizontal registers, or rows.
From the Indus valley civilization came the most ancient of today's world religions: Hinduism. Hinduism is markedly different from the religions of the West. Pantheism, the belief that divinity is inherent in all things, is basic to the Hindu view that the universe itself is sacred. Hinduism venerates all forms and manifestations of the all-pervasive Spirit. Hence, Hinduism embraces all the Vedic gods, who themselves take countless forms. Hindus believe in the oneness of Spirit, but worship that Spirit by way of a multitude of deities, who are to this day perceived as emanations or avatars of the divine. In the words of the Rig Veda, "Truth is one, but the wise call it by many names."
Hinduism is best understood by way of the religious texts known as the Upanishads Upanishads teach enlightenment through meditation. They predicate the concept of the single, all-pervading Brahman. In every human being, there resides the individual manifestation of Brahman: the Self, or Atman, which, according to the Upanishads, is "soundless, formless, intangible, undying, tasteless, odorless, without beginning, without end, eternal, immutable, [and] beyond nature." The fundamentals of Hinduism are issued in the sacred text known as the Bhagavad-Gita (Song of God; ca. eighth to sixth centuries b.c.e.). In this lengthy verse episode from the Mahabharata, a dialog takes place between the warrior-hero, Arjuna, and Krishna, the incarnation of the god Vishnu, himself a divine manifestation of Brahman.
Mesopotamia: the literary epic
Mesopotamia produced the world's first literary epic: the Epic of Gilgamesh (ca. 2300 b.c.e.). An epic is a long narrative poem that recounts the deeds of a hero, one who undertakes some great quest or mission. Epics are usually tales of adventure that reflect the ideas and values of the community in which they originate. The Epic of Gilgamesh was recited orally for centuries before it was written down at Sumer in the late third millennium b.c.e. As literature, it precedes the Hebrew Bible and all the other major writings of antiquity. The Epic of Gilgamesh is important not only as the world's first epic poem, but also as the earliest known literary work that tries to come to terms with death, or nonbeing. It reflects the profound human need for an immortality ideology—a body of beliefs that anticipates the survival of some aspect of the self in a life hereafter.
polytheism/monotheism/pantheism
Mesopotamian polytheism (belief in many gods) was closely linked to nature and its forces. Much like the unstable climate of the Fertile Crescent, its gods were fierce and capricious and its Page 11mythology filled with physical and spiritual woe, reflecting a cosmology (a view of the origin and structure of the universe) based on the themes of chaos and conflict. In Asia Minor, the successors of the Hittites—a people known as Lydians—began the practice of minting coins. Easier to trade than bars of gold or silver, coin currency facilitated commercial ventures. The third of the small states, the Hebrew, would leave the world an equally significant but more intangible landmark: a religious tradition founded on ethical monotheism (the belief in one and only one god; see page 96). India's oldest devotional texts, the Vedas (literally, "sacred knowledge"), also originate in (and give their name to) the thousand-year period after 1500 b.c.e. The Vedas are a collection of prayers, sacrificial formulae, and hymns. Transmitted orally for centuries, they reflect a blending of ancient traditions of the Indus valley. Among the chief Vedic deities were the sky gods Indra and Rudra (later known as Shiva), the fire god Agni, and the sun god Vishnu. The Vedas provide a wealth of information concerning astronomical phenomena. The study of the stars, along with the practice of surgery and dissection, marks the beginnings of scientific inquiry in India. Hindu Pantheism. From the Indus valley civilization came the most ancient of today's world religions: Hinduism. Hinduism is markedly different from the religions of the West. It identifies the sacred not as a superhuman personality, but as an objective, all-pervading Cosmic Spirit. Pantheism, the belief that divinity is inherent in all things, is basic to the Hindu view that the universe itself is sacred. While neither polytheistic nor monotheistic in the traditional sense, Hinduism venerates all forms and manifestations of the all-pervasive Spirit. Hence, Hinduism embraces all the Vedic gods, who themselves take countless forms. Hindus believe in the oneness of Spirit, but worship that Spirit by way of a multitude of deities, who are to this day perceived as emanations or avatars of the divine. In the words of the Rig Veda, "Truth is one, but the wise call it by many names."
Egyptian Women
Possibly because all property was inherited through the female line, Egyptian women seem to have enjoyed a large degree of economic independence, as well as civil rights and privileges. Women who could write and calculate might go into business. Women of the pharaoh's harem oversaw textile production, while others found positions as shopkeepers, midwives, musicians, and dancers. The most notable of all female pharaohs, Hatshepsut (ca. 1500-1447 b.c.e.), governed Egypt for twenty-two years. She is often pictured in male attire, wearing the royal wig and false beard, and carrying the crook and the flail—traditional symbols of rulership. Throughout the history of ancient Egypt, song and poetry were interchangeable (hymns praising the gods were chanted, not spoken). Musical instruments, including harps, flutes, pipes, and sistrums (a type of rattle)—often found buried with the dead—accompanied song and dance. Greek sources indicate that Egyptian music was based in theory; nevertheless, we have no certain knowledge of how that music actually sounded. Visual representations confirm, however, that music had a special place in religious rituals, in festive and funeral processions, and in many aspects of secular life. Such representations also confirm the importance of Egyptian women in musicmaking.
Old Kingdom tombs
Some of ancient Egypt's most memorable artworks take the form of monumental sculpture. Carved from stone or wood, these figures—usually portraits of Egypt's political and religious leaders—reflect a sensitive balance between gentle, lifelike realism and powerful stylization. In the freestanding sculpture of the Old Kingdom pharaoh Menkaure, the queen stands proudly at his side, one arm around his waist and the other gently touching his arm (Figure 1.30). A sense of shared purpose is conveyed by their lifted chins and confident demeanor.
New Kingdom Temples
Temples were built by the Egyptians from earliest times, but most of those that have survived date from the New Kingdom. The basic plan of the temple mirrored the central features of the Egyptian cosmos: The pylons (two truncated pyramids that made up the gateway) symbolized the mountains that rimmed the world, while the progress from the open courtyard through the hypostyle hall (a hall whose roof is supported by columns) into the dark inner sanctuary housing the cult statue represented a voyage from light to darkness (and back) symbolic of the sun's cyclical journey.
Reincarnation
The Law of Karma holds that the collective spiritual energy gained from accumulated deeds determines one's physical state in the next life. Reincarnation, the Wheel of Rebirth, is the fate of Hindus until they achieve nirvana. In this ultimate state, the Atman is both liberated from the endless cycle of death and rebirth and absorbed into the Absolute Spirit—a process that may be likened to the dissolution of a grain of salt in the vast waters of the ocean.
Daoism
The most profound expression of the natural order is the ancient Chinese practice known as Daoism. the Dao, or Way. Daoism resists all intellectual analysis. It manifests itself in the harmony of things and may be understood as the unity underlying nature's multiplicity and the harmonious integration of yin and yang. Daoists seek to cultivate tranquility, spontaneity, compassion, and spiritual insight. They practice meditation and breath control and observe special life-prolonging dietary regulations. While Daoism has its roots in Chinese folk religion, no one knows where or when it originated. The basic Daoist text is the Dao de jing (The Way and its Power; ca. mid-sixth century b.c.e.). This 5000-word "scripture" associated with the name Lao Zi ("the Old One") is a landmark work that has influenced every aspect of Chinese culture.
Egyptian theocracy
This was the main form Egyptian government where religion was the center of government. This is evident in the fact that the pharaohs claimed descent from the gods.
The Cultural Significance of The Venus of Willendorf Look at the statue known as the Venus of Willendorf. What do you see? What details are most noticeable?
To the modern eye, the statue may seem unattractive. There is no face. The body seems overweight with a protruding stomach and pendulous breasts, but rather than think about what the statue looks like to us, try to imagine who made the statue and why. First, consider the size of the statue. It is a little over 4 in. high, about the size of a small drinking cup. An object of such small size was most likely created for private ownership, not public display. Second, consider the age of the object, well over 20,000 years old. Imagine how different human life must have been so long ago. We know that until quite recently that women and babies perished in childbirth at a very high rate. Putting it all together, what might we conclude? Although we can never know for certain, perhaps this statue might have been created as a symbol of fertility and given as a token of good luck in having healthy children. It is impossible to know for sure, but on the other hand, that is what makes exploring ancient art so interesting. [[I would agree that the statue is a symbol or even a talisman of fertility. I can't be certain but the statue may be a good luck charm for those in want to produce offspring. It's quite fascinating how snuggly, soft, delicate and coincidentally compromised of limestone a soft and delicate material to handle. And I am in agreeance with speaker's interpretation that signs of female levels of estrogen prove insight to their level of reproductive system. ]] In the last century, the feminist movement inspired a revival of the imagery of Mother Earth. The twentieth-century sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle called her gigantic female figures "Nanas." "Venus" of Willendorf, from Lower Austria, ca. 25,000-20,000 b.c.e. Nevertheless, as with cave art, the exact meaning and function of the so-called mother goddesses remain a matter of speculation: They may have played a role in the performance of rites celebrating seasonal regeneration, or they may have been associated with fertility cults that ensured successful childbirth. The symbolic association between the womb and Mother Earth played an important part in almost all ancient religions. In myth as well, female deities governed the earth, while male deities ruled the sky. From culture to culture, the fertility goddess herself took many different forms.
Characteristics of civilizations
Urban development in the form of cities A form of government Social stratification (people perform distinct roles, and some have more prestige, wealth, and power than others) Advanced agricultural techniques (growing food rather than hunting or gathering it) Systems of written communication Sophisticated forms of technological development, such as metallurgy