Free Essay Sample On History

Mesopotamian cultures made use of sculptural reliefs to decorate their palace complexes. The two cultures that made use of the sculptural reliefs were Akkadian and Assyrian cultures dating back to c2300 -2100 BC and c1300 – 612 BC respectively. In the Akkadian culture there was the victory stele of Naramsin, a pose for the king that showed the power and the right side of the ruler. The king is wearing a horned crown which is a symbol of authority. The directional symbols shows the down ward motion of enemy and the upward motion of the king soldiers. In the Assyrian culture, they were known for their historical battle scenes as these lined the palace courtyards in cities like the ancient Nimrud and Nineveh. Their importance was to impress visitors and dignitaries with the might of their kingdom. These motifs were similar as they conveyed the same massage but differed in artistic design. Their main function was to convey a message of how mighty and powerful the two cultures were during that time. They also functioned as a means of social control and were effective because a large group of people practiced them.
Mycenaean and Minoan administrative centers were different in both architectural features and the plan of buildings. Mycenaean were more daring in their constructions techniques finding new ways to carry the load of walls and roof while Minoans remained true to methods that worked and stuck to them. Minoans appreciated large open courtyards while Mycenaeans favored interior great walls. Mycenaeans built large fortified walls around their cities that kept away their enemies while the Minoans palaces were built around large open courtyards. They also built walls around their cities, but they were not as large as those of the Mycenaean. Mycenaean’s fortified walls were so enormous in that Greeks could not believe that they were built by humans. Mycenaeans lasted between 2000BC-1100BC, and they were located on the Greek mainland while the Minoans lasted between 6000-3000BC, and they were found in the island of Crete
Naram-Sin was the last great king of the Akkadian Empire, and he was the grandson of Sargon the Great who founded the empire. He was considered the greatest and most important king after Sargon and became a mythical figure in the Mesopotamian legendary stories. We see his image on the victory stele that depicts him as god-king climbing a mountain above his soldiers and enemies the Lullubi, defeated. He was twice the size of his soldiers, a character that displays his ability of leading the people.
Narmer was an ancient pharaoh of Egypt in the early dynastic period, and he was the first Egyptian king to leave historical records. He is considered the unifier of Egypt and, for this reason; he is the founder of the first dynasty. His images were found in Fayum Oasis which refers the king’s the imagery of a crocodile. This describes how he conquered Hieakonplolis to the south of Thinite kingdom, then Fayum to the northwest and some parts of the Delta to the north. There was also the so-called City of Pallete that is somehow similar to that of Narmer Pallete. It showed several animals hacking into the wall of a city. This was suggested that the king could have identified himself through different animals and if that was true, then the scorpion and the crocodile on the images represented Narmer. The military attribute on his image was a symbol of a catfish striking down a series of bound enemies. This image was found in Hierakonpolis. The accompanying text revealed that the enemies identified as Tshehenu “Libyans” could have been a battle in the western regions of the Nile Delta. His military activity confirmed the fact that he may have annexed some parts of Lower Egypt and one of the pointing sources as a king who unified the Upper and Lower Egypt.
The contrast between Minoans as peace-loving and Mycenaean as war-like people is true. It is not a modern way of setting up a judgment on the ancient cultures because historical records and evidence of their building revealed the characteristics of these cultures. In their buildings, Mycenaean used stones blocks of enormous sizes to build boulders used in the construction of city walls. These walls were very large in a way that the Greeks thought they were built by the giant Cyclopes. This evidence shows that they were people who regularly engaged in battles with other tribes. Considering this fact, they had to build fortified walls around their cities to provide protection from their enemies. On the other hand, Minoans build simple walls around their cities because they were considered to be peace loving people who did not engage in fights. They did not have enemies, so they just built simple walls since they were not protecting themselves from anyone.
Egyptian art is not considered as a conservative because they no longer use the pyramids for the burial of their leaders. During the ancient times, Egyptians believed that the body of a pharaoh could be mummified and live forever and so, they buried him in the pyramid. In this way, they could protect his body and belongings. This is not the case in these modern days because their leaders are no longer buried in those pyramids. Pyramids are no longer built, and only those that existed are viewed as ancient art. They were constructed in the period 2630BC-2611BC during the third dynasty.
It is impossible to understand Paleolithic and Neolithic images because humans were still primitive and used stone tools in making equipment. They also depended heavily on the climate and the environment to make these tools, so at that time; it would have meant something different as compared to today. Another reason is that due to the fact that these items have stayed for more than a thousand years, climatic and weather conditions could have interfered with them. This has led to the loss of crucial parts that could have helped scientists obtain meaningful information from such an image.
Venus of Willendorf is a famous early image of a woman found in 1908 by archeologist Josef Szombathy. The image was named Venus because it was a male joke that linked primitiveness and uncivilized traits to the female. By giving her the name Venus, she is considered a negative image since the classical Venus is not beautiful and sexually attractive. This name also encourages us to judge her a sculpture against idealized Roman and Greek arts where again she miserably fails. There is also a sex/gender conflict between being female and feminine where she is considered both in term of gender, but she is female but not feminine since sex is biological. 3-dimensional female depictions were so prevalent during the Paleolithic and Neolithic because female were considered to be primitive and uncivilized