A piece of art can leave distinct impressions with the viewer. The Assyrian Winged Protective Deity provides a plethora of stimulants for the eye. The relief emulates brute strength and power through the overall stature of the figure. The cuneiform writing above the relief greatly influenced the impression a viewer can receive through its narration about the figure. Other than Gilgamesh and the Assyrian Winged Protective Deity both being from Mesopotamia, they have numerous similarities.
The Assyrian Winged Protective Deity is a very imposing figure. It measures around seven and a half feet tall (Relief of a Winged Genius). This shows the figure's importance, even if the viewer did not know it protected the king from harm. Originally, it
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Strength embodies this figure, "the strong man who treads on the necks of his foes, who crushes all of his enemies" (Relief of a Winged Genius). The strength of this king was shown through the deity's impressive muscles on its arms and legs. Military prowess also exemplifies through the figure holding a scepter in his hand, so he can crush his enemies in battle. This figure illustrates true power, "whose hand has conquered all lands" (Relief of a Winged Genius). The relief's other hand shows this, in that it is stretched out to demonstrate everything he has accomplished. This deity acted as an agent for the gods, "the king, who with the help of the great gods" (Relief of a Winged Genius). The wings display this aspect, because they represent a divine symbol, which was needed to help guard the king.
Other than the influence of divine power, Gilgamesh and the king from the Assyrian Winged Protective Deity have many similarities. The gods give their assistance to the king mentioned in the Assyrian Winged Protective Deity, but they provide Gilgamesh with support as well. Gilgamesh receives dreams from the god Shamash to give him strength during uncertain times, and the relief has wings from the gods to show their influence to protect the king. Both figures represent the lives of kings. However, the king mentioned in the relief is Assyrian, while Gilgamesh is Sumerian, which means these two figures not only came from different
The story of “Gilgamesh” depicts all of the heroic triumphs and heart-breaking pitfalls a heroic narrative should depict to be able to relate to today’s audience. However, “Gilgamesh” was once considered a lost and forgotten piece of literature for thousands of years, so there is a tremendous gap between the time it was created and the time it was translated into language that today’s audience can understand. That gap in history makes several aspects of the story of “Gilgamesh” strange and unfamiliar because what we now know about ancient Middle Eastern cultures and languages is a lot less than what we know about the cultures that prospered after ancient Middle Eastern cultures. Much of the content in the story of
The Epic of Gilgamesh is an ancient artifact from Sumerian literature. There actually was a King in Sumer by the name of Gilgamesh, who lived at about 2700 BC. The Epic casts Gilgamesh as a ruler and great hero and cast as being part man and part god. The story has Gilgamesh set off with a companion in search of cedar wood to bring back to their woodless land. His companion is killed during a violent storm. The Sumerian Epic blames the death upon the storm god, Enlil. Gilgamesh then searches for the plant that restores youth, a recurring theme throughout centuries of literature. The Epic concludes with Gilgamesh dying.
The story of Gilgamesh, the King of Uruk who is two thirds god and one third human, is a interesting and intriguing piece of literature. The story tells of Gilgameshs' strength, bravery, intelligence, looks, and loyalty making him a true model hero. It says that Gilgamesh was (pg.13), "given a perfect body and endowed with beauty and courage and his beauty surpassed all others." Throughout the story he is constantly going into battle and going on long adventures to find answers that will better his city. He is also respectful to those he meets along his journeys and asks God for strength during his battles. Gilgamesh is a religious character that posseses super human strength, bravery, selflessness, and intelligence making him a model
In Gilgamesh, dreams are used as a form of communication between the Gods and humans. Major events are seen through these dreams and fantasies are foretold. In the ancient Mesopotamian culture, dreams play a major role. Dreams foretold the coming of Enkidu, the death of Enkidu, the protection of Shamhat during the battle with Humbaba, and much more. The fact that dreams play such an important role in
The epic of Gilgamesh is a tale that displays multiple didactic messages throughout the course of the story. These morally oriented instructions that shape the epic’s characters are very much applicable to our current lives. Messages like: the importance of perseverance, that drive that pushes you to excel, the down side of sexual passion when not tempered, and how we need to keep our pride under control, not letting it cloud our judgement. These principled themes, among others, are clearly visible to the eyes of the audience.
The sculpture portrays the God of Harvest, Dionysus, with his loyal satyr follower, Pan. A considerable amount of detail when into the carving of Dionysus; the multiple grapevines in his hair, his ceremonial staff Thyrsus, the goatskins and the cup of wine he’s holding are all symbols of Dionysus. The composition is very asymmetrical, and creates a contrapposto arrangement, which is distinctly Grecian (Gardner). It was carved out of beautiful fine marble, which also had another purpose in the way of making this piece of art last for many years. Along with the tree trunk between the two men providing support at the base, and the elongated arms providing more structural stability. The God’s head is even reinforced by his hair to make sure the head doesn’t break off. This sculpture is visually and aesthetically pleasing, but doesn’t serve a useful function, like textiles or furniture. Therefore, it is considered a figurative piece of art, which art that is very clearly modeled after real object or person(s), and is therefore representational
The themes of myths speak to concerns for every human being. This shows that different cultures are interconnected and share ideas. From reading the Epic of Gilgamesh we can begin to understand the values help by ancient Mesopotamian society. By reading the Ramayana we can analysis the religion and world view of Hinduism. Many ancient stories seem to parallel each other. Although stories are written in diverse cultures, there tend to be likenesses, especially between the protagonists. This is true with the stories of the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Ramayana when it comes to the depictions of their hero’s.
Its architecture has Greek form with a high structure of marble that shows off a large frieze portraying an epic battle on the base’s walls. The cracked figures on the frieze fight violently against each other, and even with the test of time, their features are descriptive and their faces show much varied expression. The most impressive part of the Altar of Zeus is the sculptural frieze depicting the struggle of the gods and the giants. It is clear on the altar’s frieze’s that the artist/sculpture of the alter worked towards a natural view of the characters on them, borrowed from the classical period but sculpted them to be in more of realistic portrayal. The construction of a frieze seemed to be a fairly popular architectural enhancement at the time; this outer frieze is one of the most famous. The sculpted figures on it create a new height of Greek realistic representations and architecture in modeling, composition, and expression of emotion. The emotions of the figures are one of the aesthetics that makes the frieze so unique and beautiful. As the battle scene is unified; the winning and losing sides are clearly cut. The artist makes the battle and its characters easily perceivable. The look of suffering in defeat is on all the giants’ twisted faces. Drastically opposite is Zeus and his fellow gods who are seen as completely expressionless. The overall style of the frieze is very intense, to say the
In the face of this sculpture, it is abstracted into a cross, suggest a helmet, an appropriate reference for the war-hungry futurists. The figure seems to have no arms, though seems to have a wing-like forms. However, these protrusions do not need to be a part of the figure itself. The fire-shape of this sculpture that begin to show the air swirling away from the body
Interestingly, instead of four, only three sides of the Sarcophagus are filled with images. The long section illustrates two Greek heroes, presumably Herakles and Iolaos, battling evil centaurs. The two other sections show a centaur attacking a lioness and the other, the representation of peace in this work, two centaurs getting along. Herakles and Iolaos are highlighted by the artist’s careful attention to make them protrude the greatest, accentuating their impact and overall importance in this sculpture. Every powerful muscle in their bodies is portrayed and given detail in three dimensions. The three-dimensions not only bring these characters closer to reality but also heighten the heroic nature, masculinity, and belligerent attitude of the Greek heroes. Instead of using basic geometric shapes to create works of art, the sculptor chooses to increase the detail in the Sarcophagus by giving everything in the sculpture individual characteristics and traits. They are presented as being stressed
Sundiata, West African King of Mali, spent most of his childhood years physically impaired, later gaining powers and capabilities to serve in his given position. Gilgamesh, on the contrary is the King of Uruk and a tyrant beast who has promiscuous characteristics. In both epics, the protagonists venture out on journeys to pursue different goals. In terms of geographic location, Sundiata’s passage occurs in western African amongst the Mande people in the Mali Empire (Miller 354). On the other hand, the Epic of Gilgamesh focuses on Sumerians in Mesopotamia (Modern day Iraq) (Miller 27, 30). The two historical epics have many parallel themes such as origins, superhuman traits, and heroism; amongst these are also many differences, for example the battles fought by both Kings and dependence on technologies in different cultures.
Immortality, monstrosity, infamy, catastrophe, might, and courage are all aspects of the epic legends of Beowulf and Gilgamesh. Though they subsisted in two utterly different historical eras, these epic heroes have numerous similarities and differences. For example, while they were booth deemed epic heroes, their mortalities were not equal. Beowulf had superhuman qualities such as having the strength of thirty men, but was born a mortal man. On the contrary, Gilgamesh was a demigod as he was born two-thirds god and one-third human by Ninsun, the goddess of dreams and cows. This is only one of the various instances of similarities and differences of these two epic idols.
The two sculptures presented for this assignment are the Statue of Gudea, which dates back to 2090 B.C. (“Statue of Gudea,” 2000) and The Royal Acquaintances Memi and Sabu, which dates back to 2575–2465 B.C. (“The Royal Acquaintances Memi and Sabu,” 2000). Both statues represent people; however, they depict different types of people from completely different time periods and cultural backgrounds. The Statue of Gudea shows the ruler of southern Mesopotamian, Gudea, whose reign was from 2144-2124 B.C. (“The votive statue of Gudea: A formal analysis,” 2011) sitting in a praying position with his hands locked and his eyes forward. He is dressed in what appears to be a lavish robe with an inscription that clearly depicts what Gudea thought of himself and his successes during his time as ruler. The Royal Acquaintances Memi and Sabu represent what is thought to be a married ancient Egyptian couple who are lovingly embracing each other. Aside from looking at
bullmen at the palace at Khorsabad, it can be construed that it is "a coiffure
It is moreover pyramidal in structure with the vertex coinciding with Mary’s head. The base of the sculpture depicts the rock of Golgotha and is broader than the progressive