Discovering The Humanities Chapter 1

Jean-Marie Chauvet and two other explorers

Previously discovered cave art appeared childlike, but the drawing in this cave looked modernly realistic.

hunter-gathers small, scattered, and nomadic cultures

ice from Northern Hemisphere receded agriculture spread sedentary (staying in one place)

social,economic, and political entity images/writing language production of food/ trade administrative elite

advent of metallurgy creating objects, tools, and weapons from metal replacing stone

manifested in laws, customs, ritual behavior, and artwork

believed the drawings were an agency to conjure animals when hunting in times of scarcity or served as lunar calenders for tracking animal migration

Sans people Zimbabwe in east central Africa

cooked w/ fire wore animal skins used tools buried dead in ritual ceremonies

small sculptural objects (majority female figures) ex.limestone woman (Venus of Willendrof) pg4

caves and mammoth bone houses

developed bow and arrow dugout boats from logs for fishing domesticated dogs cultivated more edible grasses irrigation techniques permanent villages

wheat - east of Medit. millet / rice - Asia squash, beans, corn - Americas

carry and store water and food ex. Beaker with ibex dogs , and long necked birds from Susa

potters wheel

fired clay figures of animals and humans (approx. life size) style - abstract, geometrical shapes

the cromlech know as Stonehenge

San culture of Zimbabwe Oceanic people of Tahiti Pueblo people of Southwest (Hopi, Zuni tribes)

views and beliefs of a culture, reflect community ideals,history, and asperations

concept of personal energy activated by prolonged dancing and lead by Shaman

cure illnesses, managing game, controlling the weather

the Anasazi (enemy ancestors) from Neolithic culture (SW America) no written lang or used metal

their complex constructions resemble many Neolithic cities of the Middle East

disappeared in the late 13th century

center of their culture and their world (kiva) pg 10

the Anasazi emergence tale from the depths of the earth

originated in womb of Mother Earth, called into daylight by Sun Father, sought sacred middle/balanced place, transformed from salamander like creatures into human form, water creature children and thrown back in the water (becoming kachinas or mediums)

animism, anthropomorphism, belief that humans can comm. w/ spirits of nature

a collection of mythology stories

Izanagi (male), Izanami (female), Amaterasu Omikami (sun goddess),

Amaterasu - principal goddess, everything contains a a kami or spirit (trees, water, ect.), kami are celebrated in matsuri of festivals, shrines rebuilt every 20 yrs, 3 sacred treasures - sword, mirror, & jewel necklace

zuggurat - were dedicated to gods

statue that represented themselves praying

polytheistic - believed many gods were connected with forces of nature

father of gods (authority)

god of air (force/military)

goddess of fertility, birth, agriculture

god of water, art, life force

goddess of love and war (sexuality)

priest king believed to be semi-divine acts as intermediary b/w gods and humans

side 1- illustrated a military victory (war), side 2 - banquet, celebrating the event (peace), both composed of 3 registers, king is the tallest historical narrative pg16

Sargon ( King of the Four Quarters of the World)

rags to riches story

Head of a Akkadian Man (from bronze), pg 17

imposed order on Babylon

placed on giant stele, blessing of Shamash(sun god) at the top, record of decisions and decrees made by Hammurabi, 282 articles pg 18

maintenance and protection of the family

the Epic of Gilgamesh

-Sumerian King Gilgamesh refuses to marry Ishtar, goddess of love and war, which unleashes her wrath. -She sends the Bull of Heaven to destroy him, but Gilgamesh and his best friend Enkdu slay it. -The gods kill Enkdu and Gilgamesh embrks on a journey to find the secret of imortality -Utnapishtim, the only immortal, gives Gilgamesh a secret youth plant -A snake steals his fruit while he was taking a bath pg20-23

forced out of home land by Akkadians and Babylonians and went to Canaan

the Hebrew bible

they were monotheistic - worshiped a single god

he will give the promise land to the Hebrews in return for their obedience

the Ten Commandments on stone tablets (law treats everyone equally)

Joshua

Hebrew King, rebuilt Jerusalem

North - Israel (capital-Samaria) South - Judah (capital-Jerusalem)

Hebrews scattered after Assyrian attack

Hebrews lost homeland and became enslaved until rescued by Persians

lost Jews who settled else where than Jerusalem

Persian king, took control of Greek cities

Persian King, ruled over a vast empire

formed around river systems -Tigris&Euphrates in Meso - the Nile in Egypt, depended on irrigation, economies hostage to the flow of their river systems, built massive structures dedicated to their gods -ziggurats in Meso -pyramids in Egypt, forms of writing -cuneiform in Meso -hyroglphics in Egypt, traded and influenced one another

Mesopotamia was rarely united as an entity - rule was formed by believed association with the divine, Egypt was stable through political transition -rule was inherited by members of the same family

flows north in Africa, overflows yearly, fertile silt behind when it recedes,

the cycle of the Nile river, if no flood, famine would result

Kemet (Black Land) -refers to the black fertile deposits left by the flood

dessert environment that couldn't sustain life, but could be mined for minerals and stone

Lower Egypt (modern day Cairo) west of the Nile

Old Kingdom - conventions of art established Middle Kingdom - literary language produced New Kingdom - renewed interest in art and architecture

sun god, hawk headed man with sun disk on his head

with human bodies and animal heads

At the beginning, the Nile created a mound of silt out of which Re was born, all other gods descended from Re

junior gods, believed to have close relationship with Re and other gods

Osiris Iris Horus

enemy of Horus and Osiris, god of storms and violence, brother of Osiris, pictured as an unidentified creature

god of death and ruler of the under world (identified with the Nile),

goddess of fertility (wife and sister of Osiris),

son of Osiris, sky god, first king of Egypt, defeated Seth, pictured as a hawked headed man

1. Earthly king was considered a manifestation of Horus and the son of Re 2.When liking kind died, he became Osiris 3. The kings son then took the thrown as Horus

Ptah Sekhmet Nefertum

supreme artisan and creator of all things

Ptah female companion, lioness, protector of the kin in peace and war, mother of Nefertum

name means perfection, small statues of him were carried for good luck

grinding pigments and making body or eye paint ex. Palette of Narmer

moon deity, god of writing, counting, and wisdom, pictured as an ibis with crescent moon on head

original god of the Nile, pictured as a bull, god of pottery

goddess of love, birth, and death, pictured as woman with cow horns and sun disk on her head

crocodile god, fertility of the Nile, army's powers and strength

ka- soul or life force ba- personality

so the ba and ka would recognize it for eternity

the hardest and most durable stones that weren't prone to fracture

King Amenhotep IV established a monotheistic religion where the sun disk Aten was worshiped over all other gods

changed his name to Akhenaten (the Shinning Spirit Aten)

showed realism, sense od immediacy, an intimacy ex. Akhenaten and His Family pg34

Tutankhaten / Tutankhamun / King Tut

1. Deities question deceased about their behavior in life 2. Their hearts(ka) where weighted against an ostrich feather 3. If heart didn't balance they were condemned to non existence and eaten by Ammit 4. Osiris , wrapped in his mummy robes, oversaw all judgment

goddess of truth, justice, and order (symbol is an ostrich feather)

eater of the dead, part crocodile, lion, part hippopotamus