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3000 BCE
Palette of King Narmer
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. -
3000 BCE
References for Palette of King Narmer
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2700 BCE
Statues of Votive Figures
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. -
2700 BCE
References for Votive Figures
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2490 BCE
King Menkaura and Queen
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. -
2490 BCE
References for King Menkaura and Queen
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2400 BCE
Standard of Ur from the Royal Tombs at Ur
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. -
2400 BCE
References for Standard of Ur
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1792 BCE
The Code of Hammurabi
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. -
1792 BCE
References for the Code of Hammurabi
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 -
1340 BCE
References for Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Three Daughters
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1340 BCE
Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Three Daughters
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.
