Discovering the Humanities THIRD EDITION CHAPTER The Prehistoric Past and the Earliest Civilizations: The River Cultures of the Ancient World Discovering the Humanities, Third Edition Henry M Sayre Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliates All Rights Reserved Learning Objectives Discuss the rise of culture and how developments in art and architecture reflect the growing sophistication of prehistoric cultures Describe the role of myth in prehistoric culture Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliates All Rights Reserved Learning Objectives Distinguish among the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, and focus on how they differ from that of the Hebrews Account for the stability of Egyptian culture Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliates All Rights Reserved Wall painting: Horses, Chauvet Cave, Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, Ardèche gorge, France ca 30,000 BCE Paint on limestone cave wall Approx height: 6' Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication Direction Régionale des Affaires Major Paleolithic caves in France and Spain [Fig Map 1.1] The Great River Valley Civilizations ca 2000 [Fig Map 1.2] BCE Agency and Ritual: Cave Art • Culture encompasses the values and behaviors shared by a group of people, developed over time, and passed down from one generation to the next Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliates All Rights Reserved Agency and Ritual: Cave Art • Most scholars believe that the cave paintings in southern France and northern Spain possessed some sort of agency (i.e., they were created to exert power or authority over those who came in contact with them) • The agency could be connected to hunting Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliates All Rights Reserved Agency and Ritual: Cave Art • The caves could also have served as ritual spaces intended to serve the common good (i.e., connected to religious or quasi-religious contexts) • The different artistic styles in the various caves suggest that the choice between naturalistic and nonnaturalistic was driven by cultural factors Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliates All Rights Reserved Agency and Ritual: Cave Art • The artists of Chauvet cave seemed to understand perspectival drawing, or a sense of three dimensions in a twodimensional space This cave also demonstrated modeling, or shading that gives volume and dimension The artists strove for naturalism, or a representation imitating the actual appearance of the animals Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliates All Rights Reserved Closer Look • Egyptian style of writing consists of hieroglyphs, or "writing of the gods." • Hieroglyphic signs include pictograms (representing objects), phonograms (representing sounds), and determinatives (indicating category) • Narmer's Palette was not meant for actual use, but as a votive, or ritual object Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliates All Rights Reserved Closer Look: Palette of Narmer Palette of Narmer, verso side Hierakonpolis Dynasty 1, ca 3000 BCE Schist Height 25-1/4" Egyptian Museum, Cairo Werner Forman Archive Palette of Narmer, recto side, from Hierakonpolis Dynasty 1, ca 3000 Schist Height: 25-1/4" Egyptian Museum, Cairo Werner Forman Archive BCE The New Kingdom and Its Moment of Change • When Amenhotep IV (r 1353–1337 BCE) assumed the throne of his father Amenhotep III (r 1391–1353 BCE), he introduced Egypt to one of the few crises of its history • Amenhotep IV abolished the pantheon of Egyptian gods and established a religion in which the sun disk Aten was worshipped exclusively Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliates All Rights Reserved The New Kingdom and Its Moment of Change • The new religion was either henotheistic (i.e., the worship of a single god while accepting other deities) or monotheistic • The king changed his name to Akhenaten and moved the Egyptian capital from Thebes to Akhetaten (present-day Tell el-Amarna) Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliates All Rights Reserved A New Art: The Amarna Style • Together with his queen Nefertiti, Akhenaten presided over the worship of Aten as the divine priest with a divine priestess • The perfection of the gods was in question and the principles of art were re-examined Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliates All Rights Reserved A New Art: The Amarna Style • Akhenaten allowed himself and his family to be portrayed in startling realism • Nefertiti appears to share the king's position and authority Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliates All Rights Reserved Closer Look: Akhenaten a nd His Family Akhenaten and His Family Akhetaten (modern Tell el-Amarna) Dynasty 18, ca 1345 BCE Painted limestone relief 12-3/4" × 14-7/8" Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Ägyptisches Museum © 2014 Photo Scala, Florence/BPK Bildagentur für Kunst`, Kultur und Geschichte, Berlin The Return to Thebes and to Tradition • Tutankhamun abandoned el-Amarna in favor of Memphis to the north and reaffirmed Thebes as the nation's religious center • Elaborate tombs prepared royals for the ritual "last judgment." • Tutankhamun's is the only royal tomb in Egypt to have escaped the discovery of looters Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliates All Rights Reserved Egyptian Funerary mask of Tutankhamun Dynasty 18, ca 1327 BCE Gold inlaid with glass and semiprecious stones Height: 21-1/4" Egyptian Museum, Cairo © Photo Scala, Florence [Fig 1.26] The Return to Thebes and to Tradition • Tutankhamun abandoned el-Amarna in favor of Memphis to the north and reaffirmed Thebes as the nation's religious center • Elaborate tombs prepared royals for the ritual "last judgment." • Tutankhamun's is the only royal tomb in Egypt to have escaped the discovery of looters Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliates All Rights Reserved Continuity & Change • Freestanding Greek sculpture from the Archaic period is stylistically connected to 2,000 years of Egyptian tradition • Although Doryphoros (Spear Bearer) follows the Anavysos Kouros by only 75 years, it is significantly more naturalistic Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliates All Rights Reserved Mentuemhet, from Karnak, Thebes, Egypt ca 660 BCE Granite, height 54" Egyptian Museum, Cairo © Photo Scala, Florence [Fig 1.27] Anavysos Kouros, from Anavysos cemetery, near Athens ca 525 BCE Marble with remnants of paint, height 6'4" National Archeological Museum, Athens © Craig & Marie Mauzy, Athens mauzy@otenet.gr [Fig 1.28] Doryphoros (Spear Bearer), Roman copy after the original bronze by Polyclitus of ca 450– 440 BCE Marble, height 6'6" Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples The Art Archive/Alfredo Dagli Orti [Fig 1.29] ... shading that gives volume and dimension The artists strove for naturalism, or a representation imitating the actual appearance of the animals Copyright © 2016 , 2013 , 2010 by Pearson Education,... Neolithic sculptures, the approximately life-size animal and human figures created by the so-called Nok peoples (modern Nigeria) are most interesting Copyright © 2016 , 2013 , 2010 by Pearson Education,... explanation, myth has been one of the most important forces driving the development of culture Copyright © 2016 , 2013 , 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliates All Rights Reserved The Role of Myth