#2: The Sumerian Ziggurats
When I visited the website, http://www.amazeingart.com/seven-wonders/ziggurat.html, I was fascinated by a detailed article about the Sumerian Ziggurats. We were shown an example of a Ziggurat in class but I wanted to learn more about the monuments of these interesting people.
According to the article, the Sumerians or Saggigas ("The Black-headed Ones") called their country, Kengir ("The Civilized Land"). They were accurate in proudly considering their country as civilized, because they were a progressive society with roads, schools, and banking.
Under the rule of King Shulgi, Ur became the captial city of the entire Mesopotamian region. The King was a scribe who was educated in cuneiform, the writing system consisting of wedges to imprint characters. He prepared for the completion of the Ziggurat of Ur by the 21st century B.C. The Ziggurat at Ur is a pyramid whose walls tilt inwards like the Parthenon. It was constructed using solid geometry that was adjusted to imitate natural appearances and make it pleasing to the eye. The Ziggurat was believed to be the home of Nanna, the moon god of Ur. Every night, one woman was chosen to sleep in the bedroom of the god, located at the top of the monument.
However, this civilized land was destroyed after the end of Shulgi's reign, when invasions and foreign reigns and finally abandonment was the future of Ur.
I found my prior knowledge from the MCM 102 class, about geometry vs. naturalism in art and the cuneiform writing system, useful in my comprehension of the article. The Sumerians constructed the Ziggurats by balancing the geometric formulas and the naturalism of appearances, in the same way that Greeks did when building the Parthenon. The tilt was necessary to please the eye of the individuals viewing the Ziggurats. In addition, the way in which the King of Ur was boasting about his knowledge of cunieform was important because it was only for the scholarly. It was still a new writing method established in the predominantly oral society.
According to the article, the Sumerians or Saggigas ("The Black-headed Ones") called their country, Kengir ("The Civilized Land"). They were accurate in proudly considering their country as civilized, because they were a progressive society with roads, schools, and banking.
Under the rule of King Shulgi, Ur became the captial city of the entire Mesopotamian region. The King was a scribe who was educated in cuneiform, the writing system consisting of wedges to imprint characters. He prepared for the completion of the Ziggurat of Ur by the 21st century B.C. The Ziggurat at Ur is a pyramid whose walls tilt inwards like the Parthenon. It was constructed using solid geometry that was adjusted to imitate natural appearances and make it pleasing to the eye. The Ziggurat was believed to be the home of Nanna, the moon god of Ur. Every night, one woman was chosen to sleep in the bedroom of the god, located at the top of the monument.
However, this civilized land was destroyed after the end of Shulgi's reign, when invasions and foreign reigns and finally abandonment was the future of Ur.
I found my prior knowledge from the MCM 102 class, about geometry vs. naturalism in art and the cuneiform writing system, useful in my comprehension of the article. The Sumerians constructed the Ziggurats by balancing the geometric formulas and the naturalism of appearances, in the same way that Greeks did when building the Parthenon. The tilt was necessary to please the eye of the individuals viewing the Ziggurats. In addition, the way in which the King of Ur was boasting about his knowledge of cunieform was important because it was only for the scholarly. It was still a new writing method established in the predominantly oral society.
posted by Miss Elania @ 4:01 AM
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