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Date: 3000 - 2920 B.C.E.
Culture: Egyptian
Location: Hierakonpolis, Egypt
Palettes were used to help apply black eye makeup that reduces glare from the sun. The Narmer palette was likely used in a ritual of applying makeup the image of a god, demonstrating the importance of religion in Egyptian culture. Many researches believe that the image on the palette depicts the balance of order and chaos. -
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Title: Standing Male Wroshipper
Date: 2900 - 2600 B.C.E.
Culture: Sumerian
Location: Eshnunna, Mesopotamia region(modern Tell Asmar)
These figures were viewed as the equivalent of the person in whose likeness they were created. The figures usually have their hands clasped together in prayer so that the physical person will always be praying to their god. The desire to always be praying highlights the religious fanaticism in Sumer. -
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Date: 2490 - 2472 B.C.E.
Culture: Egyptian (Old Kingdom)
Location: Giza, Egypt
The man is the King Menkaura, while the woman beside him is likely the queen (but researchers also hypothesize that she could be the king's mother, or even the goddess Hathor). Both people convey a sense of power, with their straight posture, youth beauty, and left foot forward. The idealized couple is meant to appear eternally youthful to accentuate their rank. -
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Date: 2600-2400 B.C.E.
Culture: Sumerian
Location: Ur, Southern Mesopotamia
The Standard of Ur is composed of two main panels known as "War" (depicted in the attached image) and "Peace" (not shown). In "War", one can see a battle with images of soldiers, chariots, and trampled enemies. "Peace" depicts animals and products and a banquet, highlighting a fruitful peacetime. -
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Date: 1792 - 1750 B.C.E.
Culture: Mesopotamian
Location: Babylon, Mesopotamia
The King of Babylon, Hammurabi, united Mesopotamia and wrote the laws, claiming they came from the god Shamash. Because the law comes from Shamash, citizens are much more likely to obey, as they fear the wrath of a god. The stele tells us that government and religion were closely intertwined during this time period in the Mesopotamia region. -
Image (and caption) - https://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/teaching-resources-for-historians/teaching-and-learning-in-the-digital-age/images-of-power-art-as-an-historiographic-tool/stele-with-law-code-of-hammurabi
Caption - http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/law-code-hammurabi-king-babylon -
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Date: 1353-1335 B.C.E.
Culture: Egyptian (Amarna Period)
Location: Amarna
The stele depicts Akhenaten with Nefertiti and his daughters, as well as the sun god Aten (represented by the disk at the top center). The piece is significant as the cobra in the disk tells viewers that Aten was the only god (denoting monotheism), a radical change from the previous polytheistic Egypt. Akhenaten also proclaimed that only he and Nefertiti were the only representatives of Aten, thus replacing the priests.