2.1 Cultural Contexts of Ancient Mediterranean Art

The CED suggests 22 of Unit 2's 36 works for this topic. To keep each page readable, these notes cover the nine below and spread the rest across 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4. Every one of the 36 works is required, whichever page it's on.

White Temple and its ziggurat (Uruk, modern Warka, Iraq; Sumerian; c. 3500–3000 BCE; mud brick). A ziggurat is a stepped platform of mud brick. On top stood a small temple, coated with whitewash so it gleamed, probably dedicated to the sky god Anu. The height lifted the temple toward the gods and made it visible across the flat plain. Worshippers could not walk straight in: the route turned corners, a bent approach that made arrival feel like a journey. Only priests entered.

Statues of votive figures (Square Temple at Eshnunna, modern Tell Asmar, Iraq; Sumerian; c. 2700 BCE; gypsum inlaid with shell and black limestone). A votive figure is an offering placed in a temple. These standing figures, men with beards and skirts and women in robes, clasp their hands or hold cups. Their huge inlaid eyes stare upward in endless prayer. Each stood in for a worshipper who couldn't be there all the time. They were found buried together beneath the temple floor.

Egyptians believed each person had a ka, a life force that lived on after death and needed a body or statue to dwell in. Durable stone, frontal poses and calm faces all served permanence.

Seated scribe (Saqqara; Old Kingdom, Fourth Dynasty; c. 2620–2500 BCE; painted limestone). A scribe sits cross-legged with a papyrus scroll across his lap, ready to write. His inlaid eyes look alert, and his soft chest and belly are more lifelike than a pharaoh's ideal body, because a scribe's status didn't call for perfection. It came from a tomb, where it housed his ka.

Great Pyramids (Menkaura, Khafre, Khufu) and Great Sphinx (Giza; c. 2550–2490 BCE; cut limestone). Three pharaohs' tombs, each part of a complex with temples and a causeway. They were once cased in smooth white limestone that shone in the sun, and the shape may echo the sun's rays and the mound of creation. The Sphinx, a lion with a king's head, guards the complex and probably has Khafre's face. Evidence from the workers' villages shows they were built by organized crews of skilled workers and rotating laborers who were housed and fed, not by enslaved armies.

King Menkaura and queen (c. 2490–2472 BCE; greywacke). The pair stand frontally against a back slab, the king's left foot forward and fists clenched, the queen's arm around him. Their idealized bodies show permanence and rule, not likeness. It comes from Menkaura's valley temple.

Temple of Amun-Re and Hypostyle Hall (Karnak, near Luxor; New Kingdom; temple c. 1550 BCE, hall c. 1250 BCE; cut sandstone and mud brick). A hypostyle hall is a roofed hall filled with columns: 134 here, carved like papyrus plants. The central columns are taller, so clerestory windows (openings high in the wall) let in light. Ordinary people stayed outside; the temple grew darker and more restricted toward the god's shrine.

Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and three daughters (Amarna; c. 1353–1335 BCE; limestone). Akhenaten made the sun disk, the Aten, the center of worship. In this sunken relief (carved into the surface), the Aten's rays end in hands holding ankhs, symbols of life. The royal couple play with their children, and their bodies have long heads and soft bellies, the new Amarna style. It was likely a household shrine.

Last judgment of Hunefer (page from the Book of the Dead; 19th Dynasty; c. 1275 BCE; painted papyrus scroll). Anubis leads Hunefer to a scale where his heart is weighed against the feather of Maat (truth). Ammit, a monster, waits to devour a guilty heart; Thoth records the result; Horus presents Hunefer to the enthroned Osiris. The Book of the Dead was a set of spells buried with the dead to guide them.

Athenian agora (Archaic through Hellenistic Greek; 600 BCE–150 CE; plan). The agora was the open heart of Athens: market, law courts, council house and meeting place. Long stoas (covered colonnades) lined it, and the Panathenaic Way, a procession route, crossed it toward the Acropolis. Its open, shared plan suits a democracy, where citizens met, argued and voted.