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Miranda, I always enjoy your post. They are always filled with important facts and spot on. I really enjoyed the questions you added in your post. I honestly don’t believe Schliemann did it out of excitement I believe he did it for fame. I believe he wanted to be the one who found the mask of Agamemnon and therefore claimed that’s what it was. I loved your final sentence. Great post!
Kaitlyn I thought you had some really good points! I agree with you when you say the Minoan culture really enjoyed their leisure time. I thought there was more information on the Minoan culture than the Mycenaean culture so it was a little hard to go into detail. But go into more detail on the Mycenaean culture, even just going into detail on one aspect of Mycenaean culture you mentioned would of been great. Really great post though.
Minoan culture, from our contemporary perspective, is often seen as carefree and peaceful. People lived in harmony with their environment. The Mycenaeans, on the other hand, seemed to constantly engage in conflict. While this is likely an oversimplified view, how do you see it either proven or disproven through their visual record?
In both Minoan culture and Mycenaean culture, I believe composed similar art such as the vessels. The vessels of the Minoan culture looked similar visually to those of the Mycenaean culture, however if you look closer you see very different images crafted on them. The Minoan culture painted and sculpted men and women going to what looked like a festivals with happy chanting and fun animals such as octopus. This says to me that this culture valued animals and peace throughout their intricate sculptures on these vessels. On the Mycenaeans vessel we see a similar vase like sculpture to those of Minoan culture, but the painting on the vessel paints a different image. The vessel shows warriors going off to war, all in similar armor as we see the image of the woman waving goodbye in grief. Giving us a look inside the culture of the Mycenaeans, as the men march off to war leaving the woman behind to watch after the children and village. This brings me to believe Mycenaeans were often off fighting for land or loyalty. The Minoan culture and Mycenaean culture inhabited different locations, which helps more understand their cultures. The Minoan culture was built on more flat ground and was destroyed several times because the location was susceptible to natural disasters. The Mycenaeans built their village higher up and use their high ground as an advantage to keep out enemies. The Minoans had fun colors and art work around their village, which was not seen in the Mycenaeans village, indicating the Minoans lived more free with less war in my opinion. Overall, these cultures showed similarities however I believe they were very different from each other.
Many artifacts found from Minoan and Mycenaean culture was found by archeologists named, Sir Arthur Evans and Heinrich Schliemann. Many people have raised questions on the artifacts discovered by these individuals. Sir Arthur Evans was responsible for excavating various artifacts from the Minoan culture. Snake Goddess and Palace at Knossos both discovered by Evans were later questioned for credibility. The name Snake Goddess was given by Evans and the name sort of just stuck. However, after later discoveries the Goddess is still unknown for what it actually represents. The reconstruction of the right arm and addition of the snake in her hand was make to fit the name Snake Goddess.The Palace at Knossos was later founded to not be a palace for royalty as Evans stated before, but instead a house for the aristocrats. The Palace was reconstructed over decades and many artifacts were undiscovered due to natural disasters. Heinrich Schliemann discovered The Mask of Agamemnon of the Mycenaean culture. This mask was one of many, however was later noticed to be different from the rest. Schliemann explained this mask was the mask of the famous ancient king of the Mycenaean culture, however it was later discovered to be similar to the other masks and just altered to look more like 19th century times. After reading about this “mistakes”, it makes me question artifacts of history. Did these archeologists make up facts to make themselves look better or did they actually make alterations and assumptions because they believed they were correct? We believe those who we believe we can trust and more times than we think we are fooled. However, in these instances it is hard to say their intentions for the false assumptions.
I really liked your explanations of the holy ground and how Mesopotamia and Egypt were similar. I thought you went into detail and had very concrete examples. Such a great post!
I totally agree with you Miranda! Without the hieroglyphs we would of never understood what it was they were meaning to communicate. I really enjoyed your examples and post I thought it might of been a little short, maybe just go into detail more. Overall I thought you were spot on on what you posted.
The Egyptians are very knowledgeable individuals who worships their gods by building giant temples and creating various works of art. We can see through their very intricate temples/building the dedication they believed they needed to have in order to worship these gods (pharaohs). To honor the higher powers was an important part of Egyptian culture. The believed in the after life and often buried loved ones with personal items so they could have in the after life. In the since of man and woman relationship, both are seen in art to look up and worship the gods of their religion. Man is shown to be higher than the woman often. Women are usually seen in Egyptian art below the men showing that men are above women.
The Mesopotamian and Egyptian cultures were similar in the since of creating sculptures that represented their love for gods and kings. The Egyptians were strongly influences by Mesopotamian culture, however Egyptians felt it was very important to built sculptures for burial sites and often they buried personal items and foods in burials to help individuals pass over to the afterlife. Mesopotamian culture did not have rituals such as burying personal items and foods with those who had passed. Mesopotamian used sculptures to show bravery and power out of respect and love for their kings. Egyptians used sculptures to honor those powerful Pharaohs who passed away. Although Egyptians were strongly influenced by Mesopotamian culture they start their own cultures and rituals very different from Mesopotamian times.
Hi Miranda,
I love how you included various examples to explain the social ranking throughout this time period. I enjoyed how short and simple your response was it had many examples to explain the social hierarchy. I really liked The Cylinder Seals I think it is one of the few that explains the life of the Queen rather than the King.
I really enjoyed how you included how in modern days we use picture and media to portray power just as they did back in Mesopotamia times. Although it is extremely different than before because of the lack of tv etc. We still use art to portray what is going on in the world. There are still so many similarities to how we use art today to express views on individuals and the world. Great post overall!!
The cultures of the Ancient Near East maintained a strict social hierarchy. The rules and conditions of everyday life, politics, and commerce changed based on your position in society. Discuss examples of this and how the visual record of Mesopotamia helps us understand the lives of its inhabitants.
ASSURBANIPAL AND HIS QUEEN IN THE GARDEN was a great example of the strict social hierarchy. Just as we have seen in history the Gods came first. Right under the gods were the king and queen, they had the most power throughout their culture. The Priest were almost equal to kings because religion was such a big part of their culture. The upper class was next and they often had more leisure time and often had slaves of their own. Slaves were at the bottom and receive very little leisure time. The ASSURBANIPAL AND HIS QUEEN IN THE GARDEN depicted the perfect image of how the king and queen lived. I thought it was interesting that it even depicted how men’s power was greater than women’s. It showed how slaves brought food and fanned the royalty. Also below the King’s throne was he necklace. This implied that only Royalty and Priest were able to afford jewelry and nice clothing. This showed who royalty was. Throughout history these social classes continue to pop up as we can see through visual art and jewelry.
This week the Assurnasirpal II Killing Lions was a great example of how kings used art to portray bravery and power. Kings used art forms to visual show what it was like to be a king. People respected these kings and often times were willing to give up their lives in honor of the king. Often in these times, Kings were looked as just below or equal to the Gods. A king able to kill a lion proved power and bravery such as a God would. Just like today people want to feel safe and feel as if those in charge are not taking advantage of them. The art work was a great way to show the people that the king would protect them against everything. This allowed citizens to give the kings their full trust and live to love the King. The kings continued to portray themselves as these Gods and grew to be some of the most famous kings of all time. Without these visual representations of the kings, we may not of been able to visual remember them.
Part 1:
What is art?
After searching on google I read that “Art is something we do, a verb. Art is an expression of our thoughts, emotions, intuitions, and desires, but it is even more personal than that: it’s about sharing the way we experience the world, which for many is an extension of personality.” I believe this is a great explanation of art. Art isn’t just something someone made, it was their mark on the world and their perspective of the world around them. Art is a way to understand someone better and get to know them before even meeting them. Art gives everyone the ability to express how they are feeling inside.Part 2:
What is art history?
Although I do think “the academic study of the history and development of painting, sculpture, and the other visual arts.” is a great definition of art history, I believe it missed a few things. Art history takes us back in time to how people expressed themselves back in various times. We can understand their emotions and hardships through various works of art around the world. We can see the good times of back then. We also can see how various areas around the world used art to communicate among one another. Art history isn’t just an academic study but all we have to learn the people before us.Such a cute dog! I’m excited to be taking another class with you. You are an amazing artist from all the work I’ve seen you do. Much luck this semester. Hope to see more pictures of your doggos.
Here is my link to my video! Excited to learn more about art this semester!!
https://youtu.be/cwKeAbp6-lA
Samantha Saccomen
