1.
Gudea cylinders
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The Gudea cylinders are a pair of terracotta cylinders dating to circa 2125 BC, on which is written in cuneiform a Sumerian myth called the Building of Ningursus temple. The cylinders were made by Gudea, the ruler of Lagash and they are the largest cuneiform cylinders yet discovered and contain the longest known text written in the Sumerian language. The Agaren was described on the pillar as a place of judgement, or mercy seat and they are thought to have fallen into the drain during the destruction of Girsu generations later. The two cylinders were labelled A and B, with A being 61 cm high with a diameter of 32 cm, the cylinders were hollow with perforations in the centre for mounting. These were originally found with clay plugs filling the holes, the clay shells of the cylinders are approximately 2.5 to 3 cm thick. Both cylinders were cracked and in need of restoration and the Louvre still holds 12 cylinder fragments, Cylinder A contains thirty columns and cylinder B twenty four. These columns are divided into between sixteen and thirty-five cases per column containing between one and six lines per case, script differences in the shapes of certain signs indicate that the cylinders were written by different scribes. Detailed reproductions of the cylinders were made by de Sarzac in his reports which are still used in modern times. The first translation and transliteration was published by Francois Threau-Dangin in 1905, another edition with a notable concordance was published by Ira Maurice Price in 1927. Further translations were made by M. Lambert and R. Tournay in 1948, Adam Falkenstein in 1953, Giorgio Castellino in 1977, Thorkild Jacobsen in 1987, and Dietz Otto Edzard in 1997. The latest translation by the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature project was provided by Joachim Krecher with legacy material from Hermann Behrens, samuel Noah Kramer also published a detailed commentary in 1966 and in 1988. This proposition was met with limited acceptance, the hero of the story is Gudea, king of the city-state of Lagash at the end of the third millennium BC. A large quantity of sculpted and inscribed artifacts have survived pertaining to his reconstruction and dedication of the Eninnu, the temple of Ningursu and these include foundation nails, building plans and pictorial accounts sculpted on limestone stelae. The temple, Eninnu was a complex of buildings, likely including the E-pa, Kasurra. There are no architectural remains of Gudeas buildings, so the text is the best record of his achievements. Some fragments of another Gudea inscription were found that could not be pieced together with the two in the Louvre and this has led some scholars to suggest that there was a missing cylinder preceding the texts recovered. It has been argued that the two present a balanced and complete literary with a line at the end of Cylinder A having been suggested by Falkenstein to mark the middle of the composition. This colophon has however also been suggested to mark the cylinder itself as the one in a group of three
2.
Louvre
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The Louvre or the Louvre Museum is the worlds largest museum and a historic monument in Paris, France. A central landmark of the city, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the citys 1st arrondissement, approximately 38,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century are exhibited over an area of 72,735 square metres. The Louvre is the second most visited museum after the Palace Museum in China. The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace, originally built as a fortress in the late 12th century under Philip II, remnants of the fortress are visible in the basement of the museum. Due to the expansion of the city, the fortress eventually lost its defensive function and. The building was extended many times to form the present Louvre Palace, in 1692, the building was occupied by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres and the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, which in 1699 held the first of a series of salons. The Académie remained at the Louvre for 100 years, during the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum to display the nations masterpieces. The museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, because of structural problems with the building, the museum was closed in 1796 until 1801. The collection was increased under Napoleon and the museum renamed Musée Napoléon, the collection was further increased during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X, and during the Second French Empire the museum gained 20,000 pieces. Holdings have grown steadily through donations and bequests since the Third Republic, whether this was the first building on that spot is not known, it is possible that Philip modified an existing tower. According to the authoritative Grand Larousse encyclopédique, the name derives from an association with wolf hunting den, in the 7th century, St. Fare, an abbess in Meaux, left part of her Villa called Luvra situated in the region of Paris to a monastery. This territory probably did not correspond exactly to the modern site, the Louvre Palace was altered frequently throughout the Middle Ages. In the 14th century, Charles V converted the building into a residence and in 1546, Francis acquired what would become the nucleus of the Louvres holdings, his acquisitions including Leonardo da Vincis Mona Lisa. After Louis XIV chose Versailles as his residence in 1682, constructions slowed, however, on 14 October 1750, Louis XV agreed and sanctioned a display of 96 pieces from the royal collection, mounted in the Galerie royale de peinture of the Luxembourg Palace. Under Louis XVI, the museum idea became policy. The comte dAngiviller broadened the collection and in 1776 proposed conversion of the Grande Galerie of the Louvre – which contained maps – into the French Museum, many proposals were offered for the Louvres renovation into a museum, however, none was agreed on. Hence the museum remained incomplete until the French Revolution, during the French Revolution the Louvre was transformed into a public museum. In May 1791, the Assembly declared that the Louvre would be a place for bringing together monuments of all the sciences, on 10 August 1792, Louis XVI was imprisoned and the royal collection in the Louvre became national property
3.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially the Met, is located in New York City and is the largest art museum in the United States, and is among the most visited art museums in the world. Its permanent collection contains two million works, divided among seventeen curatorial departments. The main building, on the edge of Central Park along Manhattans Museum Mile, is by area one of the worlds largest art galleries. A much smaller second location, The Cloisters at Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan, contains a collection of art, architecture. On March 18,2016, the museum opened the Met Breuer museum at Madison Avenue in the Upper East Side, it extends the museums modern, the Met maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine, Indian, and Islamic art. The museum is home to collections of musical instruments, costumes and accessories, as well as antique weapons. Several notable interiors, ranging from first-century Rome through modern American design, are installed in its galleries, the Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870. The founders included businessmen and financiers, as well as leading artists and thinkers of the day and it opened on February 20,1872, and was originally located at 681 Fifth Avenue. The Met maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine, the museum is also home to encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes and accessories, and antique weapons and armor from around the world. A number of interiors, ranging from 1st century Rome through modern American design, are permanently installed in the Mets galleries. In addition to its permanent exhibitions, the Met organizes and hosts traveling shows throughout the year. The director of the museum is Thomas P. Campbell, a long-time curator and it was announced on February 28th,2017 that Campbell will be stepping down as the Mets director and CEO, effective June. On March 1st,2017 the BBC reported that Daniel Weiss shall be the acting CEO until a replacement is found, Beginning in the late 19th century, the Met started to acquire ancient art and artifacts from the Near East. From a few tablets and seals, the Mets collection of Near Eastern art has grown to more than 7,000 pieces. The highlights of the include a set of monumental stone lamassu, or guardian figures. The Mets Department of Arms and Armor is one of the museums most popular collections. Among the collections 14,000 objects are many pieces made for and used by kings and princes, including armor belonging to Henry VIII of England, Henry II of France, Rockefeller donated his more than 3, 000-piece collection to the museum. The Mets Asian department holds a collection of Asian art, of more than 35,000 pieces, the collection dates back almost to the founding of the museum, many of the philanthropists who made the earliest gifts to the museum included Asian art in their collections
4.
Gudea
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Gudea was a ruler of the state of Lagash in Southern Mesopotamia who ruled c. He probably did not come from the city, but had married Ninalla, daughter of the ruler Urbaba of Lagash and he was succeeded by his son Ur-Ningirsu. Inscriptions mention temples built by Gudea in Ur, Nippur, Adab, Uruk and this indicates the growing influence of Gudea in Sumer. His predecessor, Urbaba, had made his daughter Enanepada high priestess of Nanna at Ur. The 20 years of his reign are all known by name, Gudea chose the title of énsi, not the more exalted lugal, although he did style himself god of Lagash. Gudea claimed to have conquered Elam and Anshan, but his inscriptions emphasize the building of irrigation channels and temples, as the power of the Akkadian empire waned, Lagaš again declared independence, this time under Puzer-Mama, who declared himself lugal of Lagaš. Thereafter, this title would not be associated with Lagaš, at least until the end of the Gudean period, twenty-six statues of Gudea have been found so far during excavations of Telloh with most of the rest coming from the art trade. The early statues were made of limestone, steatite and alabaster, later, when wide-ranging trade-connections had been established, diorite had already been used by old Sumerian rulers. These statues include inscriptions describing trade, rulership and religion and these were one of many types of Neo-Sumerian art forms. Times were violent after the Akkadian empire lost power over southern Mesopotamia, though there is only one mention of martial success on the part of Gudea, the many trappings of war which he builds for Ningirsu indicate a violent era. Southern Mesopotamian cities defined themselves through their worship, and the decision on Gudea’s part for Lagaš to fashion regalia of war for its gods is indicative of the temperament of the times. The one is length, Gudea’s curse lasts nearly a quarter of the considerable length. The gods will not merely reduce the offender’s progeny to ash and destroy his foundations, no, they will and he will be slaughtered like a bull… seized like an aurochs by his fierce horn. Changing the words of Naram-Sin, the god, is treason. But changing the words of Gudea, simple governor of Lagaš, is unjust, the social reforms instituted during Gudea’s rulership, which included the cancellation of debts and allowing women to own family land, may have been honest reform or a return to old Lagašite custom. His era was one of artistic development. But it was Ningirsu who received the majority of Gudea’s attention, Ningirsu the war god, for whom Gudea built maces, spears, and axes, all appropriately named for the destructive power of Ningirsu—enormous and gilt. However, the devotion for Ningirsu was especially inspired by the fact that this was Gudeas personal god, in matters of trade, Lagash under Gudea had extensive commercial communications with distant realms
5.
Lagash
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Lagash/ˈleɪɡæʃ/ is an ancient city located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about 22 kilometres east of the modern town of Ash Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash was one of the oldest cities of the Ancient Near East, the ancient site of Nina is around 10 km away and marks the southern limit of the state. Nearby Girsu, about 25 km northwest of Lagash, was the center of the Lagash state. Lagashs main temple was the E-Ninnu, dedicated to the god Ningirsu, from inscriptions found at Girsu such as the Gudea cylinders, it appears that Lagash was an important Sumerian city in the late 3rd millennium BC. It was at that time ruled by independent kings, Ur-Nanshe and his successors, who were engaged in contests with the Elamites on the east and the kings of Kienĝir and Kish on the north. After the collapse of Sargons state, Lagash again thrived under its independent kings, Ur-Bau and Gudea and his was especially the era of artistic development. We even have a good idea of what Gudea looked like. At the time of Gudea, the capital of Lagash was actually in Girsu, the kingdom covered an area of approximately 1,600 square kilometres. It contained 17 larger cities, eight district capitals, and numerous villages, according to one estimate, Lagash was the largest city in the world from ca.2075 to 2030 BC. Soon after the time of Gudea, Lagash was absorbed into the Ur III state as one of its prime provinces, there is some information about the area during the Old Babylonian period. In ca.2450 BC, Lagash and the city of Umma fell out with each other after a border dispute. As described in Stele of the Vultures the current king of Lagash, Eannatum, inspired by the god of his city, Ningirsu. Initial details of the battle are unclear, but the Stele is able to portray a few details about the event. According to the Steles engravings, when the two met each other in the field, Eannatum dismounted from his chariot and proceeded to lead his men on foot. After lowing their spears, the Lagash army advanced upon the army from Umma in a dense Phalanx, after a brief clash, Eannatum and his army had gained victory over the army of Umma. Despite having been struck in the eye by an arrow, the king of Lagash lived on to enjoy his armys victory and this battle is one of the earliest organised battles known to scholars and historians. These dynasties are not found on the Sumerian King List, although one extremely fragmentary supplement has been found in Sumerian, at the end of the list is the statement Written in the school, suggesting this was a scribal school production. A few of the names from the Lagash rulers listed below may be out, including Ur-Nanshe, Ane-tum, En-entar-zid, Ur-Ningirsu, Ur-Bau
6.
Mesopotamia
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In the Iron Age, it was controlled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Empires. The Sumerians and Akkadians dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of history to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC, and after his death, around 150 BC, Mesopotamia was under the control of the Parthian Empire. Mesopotamia became a battleground between the Romans and Parthians, with parts of Mesopotamia coming under ephemeral Roman control. In AD226, eastern part of it fell to the Sassanid Persians, division of Mesopotamia between Roman and Sassanid Empires lasted until the 7th century Muslim conquest of Persia of the Sasanian Empire and Muslim conquest of the Levant from Byzantines. A number of primarily neo-Assyrian and Christian native Mesopotamian states existed between the 1st century BC and 3rd century AD, including Adiabene, Osroene, and Hatra, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. The regional toponym Mesopotamia comes from the ancient Greek root words μέσος middle and ποταμός river and it is used throughout the Greek Septuagint to translate the Hebrew equivalent Naharaim. In the Anabasis, Mesopotamia was used to designate the land east of the Euphrates in north Syria, the Aramaic term biritum/birit narim corresponded to a similar geographical concept. The neighbouring steppes to the west of the Euphrates and the part of the Zagros Mountains are also often included under the wider term Mesopotamia. A further distinction is made between Northern or Upper Mesopotamia and Southern or Lower Mesopotamia. Upper Mesopotamia, also known as the Jazira, is the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris from their sources down to Baghdad, Lower Mesopotamia is the area from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf and includes Kuwait and parts of western Iran. In modern academic usage, the term Mesopotamia often also has a chronological connotation and it is usually used to designate the area until the Muslim conquests, with names like Syria, Jazirah, and Iraq being used to describe the region after that date. It has been argued that these later euphemisms are Eurocentric terms attributed to the region in the midst of various 19th-century Western encroachments, Mesopotamia encompasses the land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, both of which have their headwaters in the Armenian Highlands. Both rivers are fed by tributaries, and the entire river system drains a vast mountainous region. Overland routes in Mesopotamia usually follow the Euphrates because the banks of the Tigris are frequently steep and difficult. The climate of the region is semi-arid with a vast desert expanse in the north which gives way to a 15,000 square kilometres region of marshes, lagoons, mud flats, in the extreme south, the Euphrates and the Tigris unite and empty into the Persian Gulf. In the marshlands to the south of the area, a complex water-borne fishing culture has existed since prehistoric times, periodic breakdowns in the cultural system have occurred for a number of reasons. Alternatively, military vulnerability to invasion from marginal hill tribes or nomadic pastoralists has led to periods of trade collapse and these trends have continued to the present day in Iraq
7.
Ernest de Sarzec
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Ernest Choquin de Sarzec was a French archaeologist, to whom is attributed the discovery of the civilization of ancient Sumer. He was in the French diplomatic service, on being transferred to Basra in 1872 as a vice-consul, he interested in the excavations at Ur. In 1877, he began a dig at Telloh, the site, in present-day Iraq in the southern delta lowlands, had been drawn to his attention by local dealers in antiquities. During the 1880s he succeeded in finding evidence of the reign of Gudea and he continued to work on the site until 1901
8.
Girsu
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Girsu was a city of ancient Sumer, situated some 25 km northwest of Lagash, at the site of modern Tell Telloh, Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq. Girsu was possibly inhabited in the Ubaid period, but significant levels of activity began in the Early Dynastic period. At the time of Gudea, during the Second Dynasty of Lagash, Girsu became the capital of the Lagash kingdom, during the Ur III period, Girsu was a major administrative center for the empire. After the fall of Ur, Girsu declined in importance, excavations continued under Abbé Henri de Genouillac in 1929–1931 and under André Parrot in 1931–1933. It was at Girsu that the fragments of the Stele of the Vultures were found, the site has suffered from poor excavation standards and also from illegal excavations. About 50,000 cuneiform tablets have been recovered from the site, media related to Girsu at Wikimedia Commons Ningirsu Statues of Gudea Short chronology timeline Cities of the ancient Near East Harriet Crawford, The Construction Inférieure at Tello. 49, pp. 71–76,1987 Benjamin R. Foster, The Sargonic Victory Stele from Telloh, Iraq, Vol.47, pp. 15–30,1985 Claudia E. Suter, A Shulgi Statuette from Tello, Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol
9.
Authenticity in art
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Authenticity in art is the different ways in which a work of art or an artistic performance may be considered authentic. Denis Dutton distinguishes between nominal authenticity and expressive authenticity, the second sense refers to how much the work possesses original or inherent authority, how much sincerity, genuineness of expression, and moral passion the artist or performer puts into the work. A quite different concern is the authenticity of the experience, which may be impossible to achieve. A modern visitor to a museum may not only see an object in a different context from that which the artist intended. The authentic experience may be impossible to recapture, Authenticity is a requirement for inscription upon the UNESCO World Heritage List. Authenticity of provenance means that the origin or authorship of a work of art has been correctly identified, as Lionel Trilling points out in his 1972 book Sincerity and Authenticity, the question of authenticity of provenance has acquired a profoundly moral dimension. Regardless of the appearance of the object or the quality of workmanship and this intense interest in authenticity is relatively recent and is largely confined to the western world. In the medieval period, and in such as modern Thailand. The case of Han van Meegeren is well known, after failing to succeed as an artist in his own right, he turned to creating fake Vermeer paintings. These were accepted as genuine by experts and acclaimed as masterpieces, after being arrested for selling national treasures to the Germans, he caused a sensation when he publicly demonstrated that he was the artist. To guard against forgeries like this, a certificate of authenticity may be used to prove that a work of art is authentic, but there is a sizable market in fake certificates. The financial importance of authenticity may bias collectors to acquiring recent works of art where provenance can more easily be proven, for older works, an increasingly sophisticated array of forensic techniques may be deployed to establish authenticity of provenance. The philosopher Nelson Goodman discusses at length the question raised by Aline B, the question of the value of a forgery may be irrelevant to a curator, since they are concerned only with the provenance of the work and not with its artistic merit. Even for the curator, in many cases provenance is a matter of probabilities rather than a certainty - absolute proof is not possible. But once a forgery has been exposed, no matter how highly the work was praised when it was thought to be there is rarely any interest in evaluating the work on its own merit. Reproduction is inherent to some forms of art, in Medieval Europe, an artist might create a drawing which was used by another craftsman to create a woodcut block. The drawing was destroyed in the block-cutting process, and the block was thrown away when it became worn out. The copies printed from the block are all that remain of the work, in a 1936 essay, Walter Benjamin discussed the new media of photography and film, in which the work of art can be reproduced many times with no one version being the authentic original
