Decorative applied art of Sumerians. Suchumer culture - invaluable contribution to history - art

The oldest settlements known to humanity relate to the beginning of the IV millennium BC. e. and are located in different places of two frequencies. One of the settlements of Schmerians was opened under the hill Tall El Ubeyde, named name and the entire period. (Such hills, called the modern local population of Arabic "Telly", were formed from the accumulation of construction residues.)

Shumens built dwellings round, and later rectangular in terms, of cane stems or reeds, the tops of which were bought by a beam. The huts were deceived by clay to preserve heat. Images of such buildings are found on ceramics and seals. A number of cult, dedication stone vessels are made in the form of huts (Baghdad, Iraqi Museum; London, British Museum; Berlin Museum).

Related to the same period, primitive clay figurines depict a goddess-mother (Baghdad, Iraqi Museum). Clay stucco vessels are decorated with geometrized painting in the form of birds, goats, dogs, palm leaves (Baghdad, Iraqi Museum) and have delicate scenery.

Culture of Schmerians of the second half of the IV millennium BC. e.

Temple in al-Uba

A sample of the temple building is a small temple of the goddess Ningursag fertility in Al-Uba, the suburb of the city of Huru (2600 BC) he was on an artificial platform (area 32x25 m) from a tightly rammed clay, which was led by a staircase with a canopy on the poles before input door. The walls of the temple and the platform on the ancient-american tradition were dismembered by shallow vertical niches and protrusions. The retaining walls of the platform were cooled at the bottom of the black bitumen, and at the top were whiten and thus stunned horizontally. This horizontal rhythm erected frieze tapes on the walls of the sanctuary. The eaves was decorated with faded nails from burned clay with caps in the form of symbols of fertility goddess - flowers with red and white petals. In the niches over the cornice, there were copper figures of the running bulls with a height of 55 cm. Even above on the white wall, as already mentioned, at some distance, three frieze were laid out from each other: the burners with the figures of the lying bulls made from copper, and two flat, and above it, White pearl inlated on the black slate background. On one of them, a whole scene: priests in long skirts, with shaved heads milked cows and knock for oil (Baghdad, Iraqi Museum). On the upper frieze for the same black slate background of the image of white pigeons and cows facing the entrance to the temple. Thus, the color gamut of friezes was common with the coloring platform of the temple, constituting a single, holistic color solution.

On the parties in the entrance, two statues of Lviv (Baghdad, Iraqi Museum) were placed, made from a tree covered in a bitumen layer with copper chased sheets. Eyes and dried languages \u200b\u200bLviv were made of colored stones, which was very enlivened by sculpture and created colorful saturation.

Above the entrance door was placed a copper terminal (London, the British Museum), translated in some places in a round sculpture, depicting a fantastic lionogol eagle of imdugud holding two deer claws. The well-established heraldic composition of this relief, repeated with minor changes in a number of monuments of the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. e. (silver vase of the ruler of the city of Lagas Embeta - Paris, Louvre; seals, dedication reliefs, such as Palet, the Duda from Lagasa - Paris, Louvre), and was, apparently, the emblem of God Ningirsu.

The columns that supported the canopy above the entrance were also inlaid, alone with colored stones, mother-in-law and sinks, other - metal plates attached to a wooden base with nails with loose hats. Stairs stairs were laid out of white limestone, and the side sides of the stairs are lined with a tree.

New in the architecture of the temple in Al-Ubaid was the use of a round sculpture and relief building as a scenery, the use of a column as a carrier part. The temple represented a small but elegant structure.

Temples similar to the temple in Al-Uba were open in the settlements of the Tella Marriage and Hafadja.

Zikkurat

In Sumer, there was a peculiar type of cult building - a zigkurat, who for thousands of years he played, as well as the pyramid in Egypt, a very large role in the architecture of the whole of anterior Asia. This is a step tower, rectangular in the plan, laid out with solid raw brick masonry. Sometimes a small room was arranged only in the front of the zigkurat. On the top platform there was a small temple, the so-called "God's dwelling". The zikkurat usually was built at the church of the main local deity.

Sculpture

Sculpture in Sumer did not develop so intensively as architecture. The buildings of the funeral cult associated with the need to transmit portrait similarity as in Egypt did not exist here. Small cult dedication statues that are not intended for a particular place in the temple or tomb depicted a person in a pose of praying.

The sculptural figures of southern two-frequenses differ barely outlined parts and conditional proportions (the head often sits directly on the shoulders without neck, the entire block of the stone is very little dismembered). Two small statues serve as bright examples: Figure found in Al-Uba, the chief of the chief of the town of Uruk named Kullyl (height - 39 cm; Paris, Louvre) and the figure of an unknown woman taking place from Lagas (height - 26.5 cm; Paris, Louvre) . There are no individual portrait similarities in the faces of these statues. These are typical images of Schmerians with sharply emphasized ethnic features.

In the centers of northern two-frequencies, plastic developed in general on the same path, but had its own specific features. Very peculiar, for example, figurines from the Eshnunna, depicting adorates (praying), God and Goddess (Paris, Louvre; Berlin Museum). They are characterized by more elongated proportions, short clothes leaving open legs and often one shoulder, and huge inlaid eyes.

With all the conventionality of the performance, the dedication figurines of an ancient Sumer are distinguished by a large and peculiar expressiveness. As in the reliefs, already certain rules for the transfer of the figure, poses and gestures, which are transferred from the century to the age of century.

Relief

In ure and lagāsha, a number of airstheets are found and stele. The most important of them, the middle of the III millennium BC. E., Pattle of the ruler of Lagasy Ur-Nanche (Paris, Louvre) and the so-called "stele of Korshunov" of the ruler of Lagas Eannatum (Paris, Louvre).

Erosh Pallet is very primitive for its artistic form. The UR-Nanche itself is depicted twice, in two registers: on the top it goes to the solemn bookmark of the temple at the head of the procession of his children, and on the bottom - it appears among the approximate. The high social situation of the UR-Nanche and its main role in the composition is emphasized by its large compared to other growth.

"Stela Korshunov".

In the narrative form, "Stela Korshunov" was also solved, which was created in honor of the victory of the ruler of the city of Lagas, Eannatum (XXV century BC) over the neighboring town of Umble and his ally the city of our school. The height of the stela is only 75 cm, but it produces a monumental impression due to the features of the relief covering it. On the front side, the huge figure of God Ningirsu, the Supreme God of the city of Lagas, who holds a network with small figures of defeated enemies and a terr. On the other side, in four registers, several scenes that are consistently talking about Eannatum's campaigns. The plots of the reliefs of an ancient Sumer, as a rule, or religious and cult, or military.

Art craft Sumera

In the field of artistic craft during this period of development of the culture of ancient Sumer, significant achievements are observed, developing the traditions of Uruk's time - a jade-nasra. Sumerian craftsmen could already process not only copper, but gold, and silver, fused different metals, minted metal products, inlaid them with colored stones, knew how to make products with filigree and grain. Wonderful works, giving an idea of \u200b\u200ba high level of development of the artistic craft of this time, gave excavations in the city of URA "Tsarist Tomb" - the burial of the rulers of the city of the XXVII-XXVI centuries BC. e. (I city dynasty).

Tombs are large rectangular pits. Together with the buried noble people in the tombs a lot of killed members of their suits or slaves, slaves and warriors. In the grave, a large number of diverse items were laid: helmets, axes, daggers, gold, silver and copper spears, decorated with chasing, engraving, grain.

Among the things of the funeral inventory is the so-called "Standard" (London, British Museum) - two boards, fortified on the ancient. It is assumed that he was worn in a campaign ahead of the troops, and maybe above the head of the leader. On this wooden basis, the inlay technique in the layer of asphalt (sinks - shapes and a lazurite-background) posted scenes of battle and feather of winners. Here the same established building, narrativeness in the location of the shapes, a certain Schumerian type of persons and many details that are documented about the life of the Schmerians of that time (clothing, weapons, wagons).

Wonderful jeweler products are the gold dagger found in the "Tsarist tombs" with a handle from Lazurita, in the golden sheaths covered with grain and filigree (Baghdad, Iraqi Museum), a golden helmet, stitched in the form of a lush hairstyle (London, British Museum), a donkey figure, Made of gold and silver alloy, and a goat figurine, pulling flowers (of gold, lazurite and pearl).

The colorful and highly artistic solution is distinguished by the harp (Philadelphia, the University Museum), open in the burial of a noble shuberiki Shub-Hell. The resonator and other parts of the tool are decorated with gold and inlaid from pearl and lazurite, and the upper part of the resonator is crowned with a bull of a bull of gold and a lazurite with the eyes of a white shell producing an unusually lively impression. Inlay on the front side of the resonator is a few scenes on the topics of the people's thoughts.

The art of the time of the second heyday of Sumer XXIII-XXI centuries BC. e.

The end of the heyday of the Akkadian art was put by the invasion of Gutiyev - tribes who won the Akkada state and in two hundred years. The invasion of a lesser extent affected the southern two-range, and some of the ancient cities of this area have experienced a new flourishing based on a widely developed trading exchange. This refers to the cities of Lagas and Ugra.

Lagas Time Gudea

As evidenced by the clinical texts, the ruler (the so-called "Enci") of the city of Lagas Gudea led extensive construction work, and also engaged in the restoration of ancient architectural monuments. But traces of this activity have been preserved to this day very little. But a bright understanding of the level of development and stylistic features of the art of this time is given by quite numerous monuments of sculptures, in which the features of Schumeria and Akkada art are often united.

Time sculpture Gudea

When excavations, more than one and a half dozen dedication statues of Gudea himself were found (most is located in Paris, in Louvre), standing or sitting, often in a prayer pose. They are distinguished by a high level of technical execution, find knowledge of anatomy. Statues are divided into two types: Figures squat, resembling an early shumeric sculpture, and more elongated, proper proportions, clearly performed in the Traditions of Akkada. However, all the figures are gently modified a naked body, and the heads of all statues are portrayed. Moreover, an interesting desire to transfer not only similarity, but also signs of age (some statues depict Gudea young men). It is also important that many sculptures are quite significant in size, up to 1.5 m in height, and are made of solid diorite brought from afar.

At the end of the XXII century BC. e. The guti was expelled. The two-range was united this time under the primacy of the city. Hurray of the time of government in him III of the dynasty, which was headed by a new Sumero-Akkada State. A number of monuments of this time are associated with the name of the ruler of Ursa Ur-Namma. They created one of the earliest arms of the laws of Hammurapi.

Architecture Hurray III Dynasty

During the reign of the III dynasty, the Hurray, especially with the UR-Namma, the construction of temples received a wide range. The best of others has been preserved a large complex consisting of a palace, two large temples and the first ure of a large zikkurat, which was built in the XXII-XXI centuries BC. e. Zigkurat consisted of three ledges with the inclined profile of the walls and had a height of 21 m. From one terrace to another ladders led. The rectangular base of the lower terrace had an area of \u200b\u200b65 × 43 m. The ledges or the terrace of zigarate were different colors: the bottom was painted with black bitumen, the top is whitewashed, and the medium blinked the natural color of the burned brick. Maybe terraces were landscaped. There is an assumption that zikcurates were used by priests for observations of heavenly luminais. The rigor, clarity and monumentality of forms, as well as the general contour, the zigkurat is close to the pyramids of ancient Egypt.

The rapid development of temple construction was reflected in one of the significant monuments of this time - the stele depicting the scene of the procession to the ritual laying of the temple of the ruler of Ur-Namma (Berlin Museum). In this work, the characteristic features of Schumeria and Akkada art were united: the construction membership occurs from the monuments of the LR-Nanche lanetic monuments, and the correctness of the proportions of the figures, the subtlety, softness and realistic of the plastic interpretation are the legacy of the Akkada.

Literature

• V. I. Avdiyev. History of the Ancient East, ed. II. Mimitisdat, M., 1953.
• C. Gordon. The oldest east in the light of new excavations. M., 1956.
• M. V. Dobroklonsky. The history of the Arts of Foreign Countries, I Tom, the Academy of Arts of the USSR. Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture named after I. E. Repin., 1961.
• I. M. Losev. The art of ancient Mesopotamia. M., 1946.
• N. D. Flittner. Culture and art of two-frequencies. L.-M., 1958.

Tupupum clay plate from the screwpacker, OK G. BC. e.

The architectural monuments of the Sumerian era preserved very little. The most significant buildings were considered the White Temple and the Red Building in Uruk (GG. BC) Reconstruction of the Plan of the Temple of the White Temple in Uruk. End of IV thousand BC e.

Sumerian temples were built on the rammed clay platform. Long stairs or ramps were led to it - gentle deployment. Raised over the residential part of the city, the temple reminded people about the unspoken connection of the sky and the Earth. The temple did not have windows, the light penetrated the room through the openings under flat roofs and high inputs in the form of the archer. Fragment of the Sumerian mosaic on the half-colonents of the Red Building in Uruk

The walls of the platform, since the walls of the temple, painted, were separated by mosaic, decorated with niches and vertical rectangular protrusions - blades. The temple is a low thick-walled rectangular building with an inland yard - did not have windows. On one side, the statue of the Divine was placed on the other - the table for sacrifices.

The most common type of sculpture was an adorand (from the lat. "Admigent, praying") a figure of a person, made of soft rocks, and later clay, installed in the temple in order to pray for a person who set it. On the shoulder of the odorant was usually knocked out the inscription reporting who was his owner. Finds are known when the first inscription was stir and later replaced by another.

"Standard" from the tomb in ure. War panel. III thousand BC. e. British Museum, London. Mosaic from pearl, seashells, red limestone and Lyapis - Lazari. Under the wheels of heavy klans of heavy chariots, opponents die. Wound and humiliated prisoners lead to the king. On another panel depicted scene of the feast. Piroving enjoy the game on the harp.

Standard of war and peace of pair of inlaid decorative panels found by the expedition of L. Wolly during the excavations of the Sumerian city of the UR. On each of the plates on a lazurite background in three rows, the scene scene scene is lined with pearl plates. Artifact dates back to the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. e. Dimensions 21.59 by 49.53 cm.

In 2003 BC e. Sumery and Akkada ceased to exist, after an elama adjacent to him with him was invaded and defeated the capital of the kingdom - the city of Ur. The period from 20 to 17 V. BC e. Call Starovyonansky (Babylon's capital). Ruler Hammurapi (GG BC)

States created by Hittites and Hurrites existed long, but their creativity was reflected in the art of subsequent era. The Hittch kingdom, which emerged in the 18th century. BC e., reached a heyday to explosives. Military power allowed him to compete with Egypt and Assyria. However, at the end of the 12th century. BC e. It died of the invasion of nomadic tribes - the so-called "peoples of the sea."

The powerful, aggressive state whose borders during the heyday extended from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf. Assyrians severely straightened with an opponent: destroyed cities, organized mass executions, tens of thousands of people were sold into slavery, the whole nations moved. But at the same time, the conquerors with great attention treated the cultural heritage of conquered countries, studying the artistic principles of foreign skills. By connecting the traditions of many cultures, Assyrian art has acquired a unique appearance.

The fate of the Novovavilon kingdom amazes with dramatic alternation of takeoffs and falls. The history of Babylonia is an endless series of military conflicts. Only after Assyria ceased to exist, Babylonia was able to achieve the primary position in the anterior Asia. The period of her heyday came to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II (GG. BC).

Ancient Suchmers are nations that settled the territory of southern interfluacia (land between the Tiger and Euphrates rivers), at the very dawn of the historical period. Sumerian civilization is considered one of the most ancient on the planet.

The culture of the ancient Suchmers is striking by their versatility is both original arts, religious beliefs, and scientific discoveries that affect the world with their accuracy.

Writing and architecture

The writing of the ancient Suchmers was the removal of written signs with the help of a reed stick on a plate made from raw clay, hence she got its name - cligs.

Floine has spread very quickly to the surrounding countries, and has become actually the main type of writing of the entire Middle East, up to the beginning of the new era. Suchumerian writing was a set of certain signs, thanks to which there were certain objects or actions.

The architecture of the ancient Suchmers was religious facilities and secular palaces, the material for the construction of which was clay and sand, as the lapse of stone and wood was in the interfluve.

Despite not too durable materials, the buildings of the Sumerians had high strength and some of them were preserved to this day. The cult facilities of the ancient Suchmers had the shape of stepped pyramids. Usually, the Sumerians were painted with black paint.

Religion of the ancient Suchmers

Religious beliefs played an important role in the Sumerian society. Pantheon Sumerian gods consisted of 50 major deities, which, according to their beliefs, peaked out the fate of all mankind.

Like Greek mythology, the gods of the ancient Suchmers were responsible for various spheres of life and natural phenomena. So the most honors gods were the god of the sky An, the goddess of the Earth - Ningursag, the God of Air - Enlil.

According to Sumerian mythology, the man was created by the Supreme Bog, who mixed clay with his blood, blinded from this mixture of a man's figure and breathed life into her. Therefore, ancient Sumerians believed in the close relationship of a person with God, and considered themselves representatives of the deities on Earth.

Arts and Science Suchmers

The art of the Sumerian people with a modern person may seem very mysterious and not quite understandable. The figures depicted ordinary stories: people, animals, various events - but all objects were depicted in different time and material spaces. For each plot there is a system of abstract concepts, which was based on the beliefs of the Sumerians.

Sumerian culture will shock the modern world also with its achievements in the field of astrology. Suchmers were first learned to watch the movement of the Sun and the Moon and opened twelve constellations that make up modern zodiac. Sumerian priests learned how to calculate the days of lunar eclipses, which is not always possible by modern scientists even with the help of the latest astronomical technology.

Ancient Sumerians also created the first, organized with temples, schools for children. Schools taught writing and religious basics. Children who have shown themselves with diligent disciples, after graduation, had the opportunity to become priests and secure further peaceful life.

We all know that Sumerians were the creators of the first wheel. But they did it by no means to simplify the workflow, but as a toy for children. And only with time, having seen his functionality, began to apply it in economic work.

1. Religious worldview and art of the population of Lower Mesopotamia

The consciousness of a man of the early Eneolyt (copper-stone century) has already been far advanced in the emotional and mental perception of the world. At the same time, however, the main method of generalization remained an emotionally painted comparison of the phenomena on the principle of metaphors, i.e., by combining and the conditional identification of two or more phenomena with a common typical sign (the sun - a bird, because it and the bird hooks above us ; Earth is a mother). So the myths arose, which were not only metaphorical interpretation of phenomena, but also an emotional experience. In circumstances, where the verification of socially recognized experience was impossible or insufficient (for example, "sympathetic magic", under which the degree of importance (in judgment or in practical action) means the degree of importance of logical links here, was obviously understood.

At the same time, people have already become aware of the existence of some patterns relating to their lives and labor and determined the "behavior" of nature, animals and objects. But they could not yet find these regularities of a different explanation, except that those are supported by reasonable actions of some powerful creatures in which the existence of a world order was metaphorically generalized. These mighty lives themselves were presented not as the perfect "something", not as a spirit, but as financially valid, and, consequently, the real existing; Therefore, it was assumed to influence their will, for example throat. It is important to note that the actions are logically substantiated and the actions are magically reasonable then perceived as equally reasonable and useful for human life, including for production. The difference was that the logical action had a practical, empirically visual explanation, and the magical (ritual, cult) - the explanation of the mythical; It was in the eyes of an ancient person a repetition of a certain action committed by the Deity or ancestor at the beginning of the world and committed in the same circumstances and today, because historical changes in those times of slow development were really not felt and the stability of the world was determined by the rule: to do the way Gods or ancestors at the beginning of time. In such actions and concepts, the criterion of practical logic was not applicable.

Magic activity - attempts to influence the permanent patterns of nature with emotional, rhythmic, "divine" words, sacrifices, ritual television, seemed as necessary for the life of the community, as any socially useful work.

In the era of Neolithic (Novocamenaya Century), apparently, there was already a feeling of presence of certain abstract connections and patterns in the surrounding reality. It may be reflected, for example, in the predominance of geometric abstractions in the visual transmission of the world - humans, animals, plants, movements. The place of messy jams of the magical patterns of animals and people (even if it is very accurate and observationally reproduced) took an abstract ornament. The image at the same time did not lose its magical purpose and at the same time did not separate from the daily activities of a person: artistic creativity accompanied homemade manufacture of things in every farm, whether there are dishes or colored beads, figures of deities or ancestors, but especially, of course, making Objects intended for example, for cult and magical holidays or for burial (so that the dead man can use them in the afterlime world).

Creating objects both home and cult destination was a creative process in which the ancient master was led by the artistic flair (regardless of whether it was aware or not), in turn developed during operation.

Ceramic products of neolithic and early Eneolyt demonstrate to us one of the important steps of artistic generalization, the main indicator of which is rhythm. The feeling of rhythm is probably organically inherent to a person, but, apparently, a person has opened him not immediately and not immediately managed to figure it out. In Paleolithic images, we feel a little rhythm. It appears only in Neolithic as the desire to streamline, organize space. According to painted dishes, different eras can be observed as a person learned to summarize his impressions of nature, so grouping and stylizing his eyes and phenomena that they turned into a slim geometrized vegetable, animal or an abstract ornament, strictly subordinate rhythm. Starting from the simplest point and bar patterns on early ceramics and ending with complex symmetrical, as if moving images on the vessels v millennium BC. er, all the compositions are organically rhythmic. It seems that the rhythm of the paints, lines and forms embodied the motor rhythm - the rhythm of the hand, slowly rotating the vessel during the modeling (to the pottery circle), and perhaps the rhythm of the accompanying pit. The art of ceramics also created the opportunity to fix the thought in the conditional images, because even the most abstract pattern carried in itself the information supported by the oral tradition.

With an even more complex form of generalization (but not only artistic order), we are faced with the study of neolithic and early-eneyolytic sculpture. Figurines, fastened from clay, mixed with grain, found in the storage places in the grain and in the foci, with underlined female and specially mother forms, phalluses and figures of bulls, very often falling next to human figures, syncretically embodied the concept of terrestrial fertility. The most difficult form of expression of this concept seems to us by the Nizhnysopotamian male and women's figurines of the beginning of the IV millennium BC. e. With a brutal muzzle and liners for real samples of vegetation (grains, seeds) on the shoulders and in the eyes. These figures can not be called deities of fertility - Rather, it is a step preceding the creation of the image of the patron saint of the community, the existence of which we can assume in a slightly-later time, exploring the development of architectural structures, where evolution goes along the line: an open-air altar - the temple.

In the IV millennium BC e. A replacement of painted ceramics comes nonprise red, gray or yellowish-gray dishes covered with vitreous watering. Unlike the ceramics of the previous time, made exclusively manually or on a slowly rotating pottery circle, it was performed on a circle quickly rotating and very soon completely displaces the dishes flattened by hand.

The culture of the protest period can already be confidently called at its basis Sumerian or at least Protzhemer. The monuments are common throughout the bottom Mesopotamia, capture the top Mesopotamia and the area by r. Tiger. The highest achievements of this period should be attributed to: the flourishing of temple construction, the flowering of the art of glyptic (threads in seals), new plastics forms, new principles of pictorial and invention of writing.

All the art of that time, like the worldview, was painted with a cult. Note, however, that, speaking of community cults of ancient Mesopotamia, it is difficult to make conclusions about the Sumerian religion as a system. True, the general space deities were worshiped everywhere: "Heaven" An (Akkad. Ana); "Lord of the Earth", the Deity of the World Ocean, on which the Earth is floating, Enki (Akkad. Eya); "Vladyka Dwise", the Divine of the Ground Forces, Enlil (Akkad. Ellill), he is the god of the Sumerian Tribal Union with the center in Nippure; Numerous "goddess-mothers", the gods of the Sun and the Moon. But the local gods of the patrons of each community were greater importance, usually each with her wife and son, with many close. Curious were small good and evil deities, associated with grain and cattle, with a homemade hearth and a bread barn, with diseases and misfortunes. They mostly were different in each of the communities, they talked about different, controversial myths.

Temples were built not to all the gods, but only the most important, mainly to God or goddess - patrons of this community. The outer walls of the temple and the platform were decorated with evenly spoken from each other (this reception is repeated and with each successive restructuring). The temple itself consisted of three parts: the central in the form of a long yard, in the depths of which the image of the deity was placed, and symmetric lateral adhesions on both sides of the courtyard. At one end of the courtyard was located altar, on the other end - the table for sacrifices. Approximately the same layout had the temples of this time and in the upper mesopotamia.

So in the north and in the south of Mesopotamia, a certain type of cult structure is formed, which are fixed and become traditional for almost the entire later Mesopotamian architecture, some construction principles. The main ones are: 1) the construction of the sanctuary in one place (increasingly late perestroika includes preceding, and the building is thus never transferred); 2) a high artificial platform on which the central temple stands and to which the stairs are conducted on both sides (later, it may be, it is as a result of the custom building a temple in one place instead of one platform we already meet three, five and finally seven platforms, One over the other with the temple at the very top is the so-called zigarat). The desire to build high temples emphasized the antiquity and the originalness of the origin of the community, as well as the connection of the sanctuary with the heavenly habitat of God; 3) a three-part temple with a central room, which is an open-inner courtyard, around which side extensions are grouped (in the north of the bottom Mesopotamia, such a courtyard could be indoor); 4) membership of the outer walls of the temple, as well as platforms (or platforms) alternating protrusions and niches.

From the ancient Uruk, we know a special structure, the so-called "red building" with pop and pillars, decorated with a mosaic ornament, is an alleged courtyard for folk gathering and council.

With the beginning of urban culture (even the most primitive) there is a new stage and in the development of the visual art of the bottom Mesopotamia. The culture of the new period becomes richer and more diverse. Instead of seals-stamps, a new seal shape appears - cylindrical.

Sumerian cylindrical seal. St. Petersburg. Hermitage

The plastic art of the early Sumer is closely connected to the gliptic. Print amulets in the form of animals or animal heads that are so common in the protest period, can be considered a shape connecting glipetics, relief and round sculpture. Functionally all these items - printing. But if it is a figurine of an animal, then one side will be flat cut and additional images intended for printing on clay will be cut out in deep relief, usually associated with the main figure, so on the back of the head of the lion performed in a rather high relief , Little lions are cut out, on the back of the shape of the ram - horned animals or a person (apparently, the shepherd).

The desire as more precisely can transfer the pictured nature, especially when it comes to the representatives of the animal world, characteristic of the art of the bottom Mesopotamia of this period. Small animal figures - bulls, rams, goats, made in a soft stone, a variety of scenes from the lives of domestic and wild animals on reliefs, cult vessels, seals are striking primarily to reproduce the structure of the body, so that it is easily determined not only the view, but also the breed Animal, as well as poses, movements transmitted by vivid and expressively, and often amazingly concise. However, there is almost no real circular sculpture.

Another characteristic feature of Ranneshumer art is his narration. Each frieze on cylindrical printing, each embossed image - a story that can be read in order. A story about nature, about the animal world, but the main thing is the story already about yourself, about a person. For only a person appears in the protest period in art, his topic.

Print stamps. Mesopotamia. End IV - Start III thousand BC St. Petersburg. Hermitage

Images of a person are even in Paleolithic, but they cannot be considered a man in art: a person is present in nonolithic and eneolytic art as part of nature, he has not allocated himself out of her consciousness. For early art, a syncretic image is often characteristic of human-vegetable (as, let's say, resembling a frog of figurines with eggs for grains and bones on the shoulders or the image of a woman, nursing bright) or a human-phallic (i.e., a Fallos man, or just a phallus as a symbol of reproduction).

In the Sumerian art of the protusive period, we already observe how a person began to separate himself from nature. The art of the bottom Mesopotamia of this period appears before us, therefore, as a qualitatively new stage in relation to a person to the world around him. It is not by chance that the monuments of the culture of the protusive period leave the impression of the awakening of human energy, awareness of his new opportunities, attempts to express themselves in the surrounding world, which he masters more and more.

Monuments of the earlyness period are represented by a significant number of archaeological finds that allow you to brave to talk about some common trends in art.

The architecture finally develops the type of temple on a high platform, which sometimes (and the whole temple of even usually) was charged with a high wall. The temple by this time takes more concise forms - the utility rooms are clearly separated from the central cult, the number of them decreases. Columns and semi-colonry disappear, and with them mosaic facing. The main reception of the artistic design of the monuments of the temple architecture remains membership of the outer walls of the protrusions. It is possible that during this period it is approved by the multi-stage zigcurate of the main city deity, which will gradually displacing the temple on the platform. At the same time, the temples of secondary deities that had smaller sizes were built without a platform, but usually also within the temple plot.

A peculiar architectural monument was found in Kishe - a secular building, which is the first sample of the compound of the palace and the fortress in Sumerian construction.

The monuments of sculptures for the most part are small (25-40 cm) figures from local alabasra and softer rocks (limestone, sandstone, etc.). They were presented usually in the cult niches of the temples. For the northern cities of Lower Mesopotamia are characterized by exaggeratedly elongated, for the southern, on the contrary, exaggeratedly shortened proportions of figurines. All of them are characteristic of the strong distortion of the proportions of the human body and the features of the person, with a sharp emphasis of one or two features, especially often - the nose and ears. Such figures were put in the temples so that they would represent there, prayed for who put them. For them, no particular similarity was required with the original, as, say, in Egypt, where the early brilliant development of the portrait sculpture was due to the requirements of magic: otherwise the twin soul could confuse the owner; Here it was quite a short inscription on the figure. The magical goals, apparently, were reflected in the underlined features of the face: the big ears (for the Sumerians - the wisdom of wisdom), widely opened eyes, in which a sponsored expression is combined with the surprise of magical insight, arms folded in a prayer gesture. All of this often turns the awkward and angular figures alive and expressive. The transmission of the internal state turns out to be much more important than the transmission of external bodily shape; The latter is developed only to the extent that it corresponds to the internal task of the sculpture - to create an image endowed with supernatural properties ("Ovsividing", "Mixing"). Therefore, in the official art of the early one, we no longer meet that kinda, sometimes free interpretation, which celebrated the best works of the art of the protopiscosal period. Sculptural figures of the early finished period, even if they portrayed the deities of fertility, completely devoid of sensuality; Their ideal is the desire for superhuman and even inhuman.

In the constantly coming among themselves, there were different pantheones, various rituals, there were no uniformity in mythology (except for the preservation of the general main function of all deities of the III Millennium BC. E.: These are primarily communal fertility gods). Accordingly, with the unity of the general nature of sculpture, the image is very different in detail. Cylindrical seals with the image of heroes and raised animals begin to prevail in the gliptic.

The jewelry of the early-winning period, known mainly on the materials of the excavation of the urinary tombs, can rightly be attributed to the masterpieces of jewelry creativity.

The art of Akkadian time is perhaps most of all characterized by the central idea of \u200b\u200bthe deified king, which appears first in historical reality, and then in ideology and in art. If in history and in the legends, he appears by a person not from the royal order, who managed to achieve power, gathered a huge army and for the first time in the extent of the existence of the Nomov states in the bottom Mesopotamia submitted to himself the entire Shumer and Akkad, then in art it is a courageous man with emphasized energetic The features of a lean face: the right, clearly defined lips, a small nose with a hubble - the portrait is idealized, possibly generalized, but a fairly precisely transmitting ethnic type; This portrait fully corresponds to the presentation of the historical and legendary data on the Hero-winner Sargon Akkadsky (such as, for example, a copper portrait head from Ninevei - an estimated image of Sargona). In other cases, the deified king is depicted by a victorious campaign at the head of his troops. He climbs on a queer ahead of warriors, his figure is given larger than the figures of the rest, the symbols and signs of His divinity shine on his head - the sun and the moon (Stela Naram-Suene in honor of his victory over the mountaineers). He also appears in the form of a mighty hero in curls and with a curly beard. The hero fights with Lvom, his muscles are tense, with one hand he abrupts the raid lion, whose claws in the powerless fury scratching the air, and the other is blotted by the predator in the camp (favorite motive of Akkadian gyptic). To some extent, changes in the art of the Akkadian period are associated with the traditions of the northern centers of the country. Sometimes they talk about "realism" in the art of the Akkadian period. Of course, about realism in the sense, as we now understand this term, there can be no speech: not really visible (at least typical), but substantial to the concept of this subject matter are fixed. Nevertheless, the impression of the vitality of the depicted very sharply.

Found in the sow. The victory of the king over Lullouble. OK. 2250 BC.

The events of the time of the Akkadian dynasty loosened by the established priests of the Sumerian traditions; Accordingly, the processes occurring in art, for the first time reflected interest in a separate personality. The influence of Akkadian art has affected the centuries. It can be found in the monuments of the last period of the Sumerian history - the III Dynasty of Hurray and the Iscin dynasty. But in general, monuments of this later time leave the impression of monotony and stereotype. This is true: For example, the masters of the huge royal craft workshops of the III dynasty of the Hurray, who stuffed their hand on a clear reproduction of the same prescribed topic, worked on the seals.

2. Super literature

In total, we currently know about a hundred fifty monuments of Sumerian literature (many of them are preserved in the form of fragments). Among them - poetic records of myths, epic legends, psalms, wedding-love songs associated with the sacred marriage of the deified king with priestets, burial crying, crying about social disasters, hymns in honor of the kings (starting with the III Hurray dynasty), the literary imitation of the royal inscriptions; The didactics are very widely represented - teaching, edification, controversy dialogues, compilations of Basen, jokes, sayings and proverbs.

Of all the genres of Sumerian literature, hymns are most fully represented. Their earliest records rise to the middle of the early rank. Of course, the anthem is one of the most ancient ways to collectively appeal to the Divine. The record of such a work was to be made with a special pedantype and punctuality, a single word could not be changed arbitrarily, since no image of the hymn was random, every one stood mythological content. The hymns are designed for reading out loud - a separate priest or choir, and the emotions that arose in the performance of such a work are collective emotions. The tremendous importance of rhythmic speech, perceived emotionally magically, acts in such works on the fore. Usually in the hymn, the deity is praised and the acts, names and epithets of God are listed. Most of the hymns who reached us are preserved in the school canon of the city of Nippur and most often devoted to Enlil, the God of the patron of this city, and other deities of his circle. But there are also hymns to kings and temples. However, the hymns could be devoted only to the deified kings, and not all the kings were deified in Sumer.

Along with the hymns by liturgical texts are crying, very common in the Sumerian literature (especially crying about folk disasters). But the most ancient monument of this kind, known to us, is not liturgical. This is "crying" about the destruction of Lagasa king Umma Lugalzagesey. It lists the destruction produced in the lagasha, and their culprit curses. The rest of the smoking on us are crying - crying about the death of Sumer and Akkada, crying "Curse of the city of Akkade", crying about the death of Hurray, crying about the death of the king of Ibby Suene and others - of course, a ritual nature; They are addressed to the gods and close to spells.

The cultural texts include a wonderful series of poems (or chants), starting with the "walking of the Inpais to hell" and ending with the Death of Dumuzi, reflecting the myth of dying and resurrecting deities and related to the relevant rites. The goddess of the carnal love and animal fertility Innine (Inana) loved the god- (or hero-) of the shepherd Dumuzi and took him into her husband. However, she then shutdled to hell, apparently to challenge the power of the Queen of the Underworld. The sick, but the trick of the gods returned to life, Isnana can return to Earth (where, in the meantime, all the lives stopped multiply), only giving the underworld the live redemption. Inana is revered in different cities of Sumer and in each has a spouse or son; All of these deities bow to her and pray for mercy; Only one Dumuzi proudly refuses. Dumuzi is devoted to the evil messengers of the underworld; in vain sister of his gesellinan ("Vose of Heaven") three times turns him into the animal and hides at himself; Dumuzi killed and enjoyed in hell. However, Gashetinan, sacrificing himself, he wants the Dumuzi for half a year to leave for alive, at this time she herself is in return to him goes into the world of the dead. While God-shepherd reigns on Earth, the goddess-plant is dying. The structure of the myth is much more complicated than the simplified mythological plot of the dying and resurrection of the fertility deity, as it is usually set in popular literature.

Nippurian canon also includes nine legends on the exploits of the heroes, attributed to the "royal list" to the helegine-free I dynasty of Uruk, - Enmerkar, Lugalband and Gilgamesh. The Nippurian Canon, apparently, began to be created in the period III of the Dynasty of Hurray, and the kings of this dynasty were closely connected with Urukom: her founder erected his genus to Gilgamesh. The inclusion in the Canon of the Urakhsky legends occurred, most likely, because Nippur was a cult center, which was always associated with the city dominant at this time. With the III dynasty, the Hurray and I of the ISSIN Dynasty, the uniform Nippurian canon was introduced into e-oaks (schools) of other cities of Power.

All the heroic legends that came to us are at the stage of formation of cycles, which is usually characteristic of the epic (grouping of heroes at their place of birth - one of the steps of this cyclization). But these monuments are so heterogeneous that they can hardly be combined by the general concept of "Epos". This is a time-based composition, some of which are more perfect and completed (as a wonderful poem about Hero Lugalband and the Monstrous Orel), others are less. However, it is impossible to draw up even an approximate idea of \u200b\u200bthe time of their creation - various motives could be included in them at different stages of their development, the legends could be modified over the centuries. One thing is clear: we have an early genre from which the Epos will subsequently develop. Therefore, the hero of such a work is not an epic hero-boat, monumental and often a tragic personality; It is rather a lucky well done from the magic fairy tale, a relative of the gods (but not God), the mighty king with the features of God.

Very often in literary criticism of the heroic epic (or PREPOS) is opposed to the so-called mythological epic (there are people in the first, in the second, gods). Such a division is unlikely to be appropriate to the Sumerian literature: the image of the Hero's God is much less inherent to her than the image of the hero-mortal. In addition to these are known two epic or rights-epic legends, where the hero is a deity. One of them is a legend of the struggle of the goddess Inine (Inanas) with the personification of the underworld, named in the text "Mount Ebeh", another is a story about the war of God Ninurta with an evil demon Assak, also the inhabitant of the underground kingdom. Ninurta simultaneously acts as a hero of the first positions: it builds the dam-mound from the pile of stones to extinguish the shoeman from the waters of the pristine ocean, which spilled as a result of the death of Asaka, and the flooded fields of water takes the tiger.

The works are more common in the Sumerian literature on the descriptions of the descriptive acts of deities, the so-called etiological (i.e. explaining) myths; At the same time, they give a presentation and the creation of the world, as she saw the Sumerians. It is possible that one-piece cosmogonic legends in the Sumer and was not (or they were not recorded). It is difficult to say why this is like this: it is hardly possible that the idea of \u200b\u200bthe struggle of the Titanic Forces of Nature (gods and titans, older and younger gods, etc.) did not affect the Sumerian worldview, especially since the topic of dying and resurrection of nature (with care The deities in the underground kingdom) in the Sumerian mythography developed in detail - not only in the stories about Innin-Inan and Dumuzi, but also about other gods, such as Enlyle.

The device of life on Earth, establishing order and prosperity on it - is hardly the favorite topic of Sumerian literature: it is filled with stories about the creation of the deities, which should follow the earthly order, take care of the distribution of divine duties, on the establishment of a divine hierarchy, about the settlement of the Earth living beings And even about creating separate agricultural tools. The main existing gods-creators are usually performed by Enki and Enlil.

Many etiological myths are drawn up in the form of debate - the dispute is leading either representatives of a particular area of \u200b\u200bthe economy, or their own items that are trying to prove their superiority to each other. In the dissemination of this genre, typical of many literatures of the Ancient East, the Sumerian E-oak played a major role. The fact that this school was represented in the early stages was known, but in some form it existed (as evidenced by the availability of tutorials from the very beginning of writing). Apparently, as a special institution of e-oak makes up not later than the middle of the 3th millennium BC. e. Initially, the objectives of the study were purely practical - the school was preparing scribes, land surveyors, etc. As the school develops, the training became more universal, and at the end of the III - early II millennia BC. e. E-oak is becoming something like the "Academic Center" of that time - all branches of knowledge are taught in it, then existing ones: mathematics, grammar, singing, music, right, study lists of legal, medical, botanical, geographical and pharmacological terms, literary lists Works, etc.

Most of the works discussed above have been preserved in the form of school or teacher entries, through school canon. But there are also special groups of monuments that are called "e-oak texts": these are works telling about the school and school life, didactic writings (teaching, law care, instructions), specially addressed to Scholars, very often composed in the form of dispute dialogs , and finally, monuments of folk wisdom: aphorisms, proverbs, jokes, fables and sayings. Through the e-oak, the only time for the prose fairy tale on Sumerian has come to us.

Even in this incomplete review, you can judge how rich and varied monuments of Sumerian literature. This heterogeneous and time-based material, most of which was recorded only at the very end of III (if not at the beginning of II) Millennium BC. E., apparently, has not yet been almost never subjected to a special "literary" processing and largely retained the techniques characteristic of oral verbal creativity. The main stylistic reception of most mythological and popey stories - multiple repetitions, such as repeating in the same expressions of the same dialogues (but between different consecutive interlocutors). This is not only the artistic method of trickestness, so characteristic of the epic and fairy tales (in the Sumerian monuments it sometimes reaches ninety), but also a mnemonic reception that contributes to better memorization of the work - the legacy of the oral transfer of the myth, the epic, the specific feature of rhythmic, magical speech, Shape resembling shamanskoe rocks. The compositions compiled mainly from such monologues and repeat dialogs, among which the uneven action is almost lost, seem to us loose, untreated and because of the imperfect (although they could hardly be perceived in ancient times), the story on the plate just looks like an abstract, where the records of individual Rows served as a memorable milestone for the narrator. However, why was the Pedantically, up to nine times, to write down the same phrases? This is all the more strange that the record was made on severe clay and, it would seem, the material itself was to suggest the need for the laconicity and the economy of the phrase, a more compressed composition (this occurs only by the middle of the II millennium BC. E., Already in Akkadian literature). The above facts suggest that Sumerian literature is nothing more than a written record of oral literature. Without knowing how, and not seeking to break away from the living word, she fixed it on clay, while maintaining all the stylistic techniques and features of oral poetic speech.

It is important, however, notice that Sumerian scribes are "writers" did not set themselves the task of fixing all the oral creativity or all his genres. The selection was determined by the interests of the school and partly the cult. But along with this written protolytera, the life of the oral works remaining unlocked - perhaps can be much richer than.

It would be wrong to represent this making the first steps of Sumerian written literature as a low-grade or almost deprived of artistic, emotional impact. The metaphorical image of thinking itself contributed to the image patterns and the development of such a characteristic of the Ancient Poetry of the reception, as a parallelism. Sumerian poems - rhythmic speech, but in a strict size they do not fit, because it is not possible to detect an account of the accents, nor the account of longitude, no account of the syllables. Therefore, the most important means to emphasize the rhythm here are repetitions, rhythmic transfers, epithets of the gods, repetition of initial words in several lines in a row, etc. All this, in fact, the attributes of oral poetry, but nevertheless their emotional impact and in writing literature.

Written Super literature reflected both the process of a collision of primitive ideology with a new ideology of class society. When meeting ancient Sumerian monuments, especially mythological, the absence of the poetization of images is striking. Sumerian gods are not just earthly creatures, the world of their feelings is not just a world of feelings and human actions; The lowland and rudeness of nature of the gods are constantly emphasized, the unattractiveness of their appearance. Primitive thinking, depressed by the unlimited power of the elements and the feeling of his own helplessness, apparently, were close to the images of gods, creating a living creature from the dirt from under the nails, in a drunken state capable of mankind created from one whip, arranged a flood. And the Sumerian underground world? According to the preserved descriptions, it seems to be rare chaotic and hopeless: there is neither judge of the dead, nor the scales where the actions of people weighed, there are almost no illusions of "posthumous justice."

The ideology that was supposed to oppose this natural sense of horror and hopelessness, first herself was very helpless, which was found in writing monuments that repeat the motives and forms of ancient oral poetry. Gradually, however, as in the states of Lower Mesopotamia, the ideology of the class society becomes dominant and becomes dominant, the content of literature, which begins to develop in new forms and genres. The process of separation of written literature from oral is grateful and is apparent. The emergence in the late levels of the development of the Sumerian society didactic genres of literature, the cyclization of mythological plots, etc. It comes to the increasing independence acquired by a written word, its other orientation. However, this new stage in the development of the overseas literature, essentially, continued not to the Sumerians, but their cultural heirs - Babylonians, or Accidians.

Suchumer culture is considered to be the first civilization on Earth. Approximately at the beginning of the third millennium BC, the tribes of nomads who inhabited in Asia are supposed to be formed on the lands of Meternrachia the first slaveholding states. Suchumer culture was formed, in which there were still strong remnants of the primitive community. Together with numerous fragmented states, the development and art of Sumerians began their development and the art, subsequently, the strongest impact on the art of all those existing after the peoples and states. The art of Sumer and Akkada, the peoples, who spent the two-frequency, was not only unique and distinctive, it was first, so his role in world history is impossible to overestimate.

Culture Sumer - First Fours

The first among others there were such Sumerian cities like Uruk and Lagash. It was they who became the first overtwit for the development of the Sumer culture. In the future, certain economic and political reasons forced small towns-states to unite into larger education. In most, these formations occurred with the help of military force, as evidenced by the few artifacts of Sumer.

In about the second half of the third millennium, it can be said that the culture of mankind, experienced a tangible race in its development, the cause of which was the formation of a single state on the lands of Members under the control of the king of Sargon I. The Akkada State formed was the interests of the slave owner. In those days, the Culture of Sumer literally depended on religion, and the main element of cultural life was the priesthood and the associated numerous celebrations. Faith and religion were worshiping the complex cult of gods and the deification of the ruling king. A significant role in the culture of the Sumer and their religion played the worship of the forces of nature, which was a remnant of a community cult of animals. The Schumer's Culture of the Akkadian era worked only that it received a consensus of religious figures, therefore it is not surprising that most of the ancient Sumerian samples of art are mythological legends and frescoes with images of the gods. Ancient masters, which was created by the Culture of Sumer, the gods were depicted in the form of animals, beasts and fantastic beings with wings, horns and other elements inherent in the inhabitants of fauna than people.

It was in this period that, in the period, the first features of ancient art began to be fixed, the first features of the ancient art began to form, the Culture of Sumer, who lived in the couluter in the Tiger River and Euphrates River. The ancient world was far from humanity inherent in modern people, he was far from what we draw in your imagination. That Culture Sumer, which really existed, relied on the unusual architecture of palace and temples of buildings, on jewelry, sculpture and painting, the main purpose of which was the glorification of the gods and the ruling king. Architecture, the culture of Sumer and their life caused by military doctrine of existing cities-states was exclusively fortified in nature, life was cruel and merciless to people, as evidenced by the remnants of urban structures, art of the ancient Suchmers, defensive walls, with prudent erected towers and remains of people, for thousands of years buried under the rubble.

The main material for the construction of cities and majestic structures in the interfluve was brick-raw, in more rare cases, burned brick. Culture Sumer developed a truly unique construction method, his main feature is that most of the ancient buildings were erected on artificial platforms. This unique trait of culture Sumer explains the need to isolation of residential, religious and any other buildings from flooding and dampness. Not to a lesser extent, the Sumerians moved the desire to show himself in front of the neighbors, making the construction visible from all sides. The windows of architectural samples of ancient art were embedded in the upper part of one of the walls and were so narrow that they barely passed the light. The culture of Sumer and the architecture developed in such a way that the main source of light in their buildings was often doorways and specially built holes on the ceiling. The main institutions of Sumerian culture were famous for their skill and an unusual approach, so, found and preserved in a good condition in the south of the facilities had an open and surprisingly large courtyard around which small buildings were grouped. Such a planning method was determined by the climatic conditions of the interfold, extended high temperatures. In the north part of the ancient state, which created the Culture of Sumer, the construction of a completely different layout was discovered. These were residential buildings and palace buildings, devoid of an open courtyard, their place occupied the covered central room. In some cases, the structures were two-story.

Sumerian culture and samples of art of the ancient people

A bright example of art inherent to the Sumerian people is an ancient temple architecture that developed in the cities of the third millennium BC. One of these temples that the Sumerian culture was built was a temple, and now ruins in El Obeida. The buildings devoted to the goddess of Ning Hursag fertility dates back to 2600 BC. According to the reconstructions, the temple was located on the hill, an artificial platform, folded from the ramble tiles. The walls according to traditions were divided with vertical protrusions, they were painted with black bitumen below. An architectural rhythm was present and in horizontal sections, however, it was achieved in completely different ways that she developed a Sumerian culture, for example, with the help of numerous horizontal sections.

It was in this temple for the first time a relief was applied and it was for him for the first time sculptures were created. Sumerian culture, the ancient masters created Lviv, located on the sides of the entrance. Sculptures were made of wood covered with a layer of bitumen and copper sheets of fine chasing. In addition to the eye, the language and other elements of the statue of the lion were inlaid colored stones that attached them a bright and memorable appearance.

Along the facial wall of the temple, in the niches between the protrusions, the bull figures were carved. Used a certain set of material and rarely changed its traditions. The upper part of the wall was decorated with three friezes, located at a short distance from each other. One of them was bas-relief and contained images of copper bulls, the other two were flat with a mosaic relief of white mother-of-pearl and black slate plates. The Sumerian culture with this contrast of materials was created a unique color gamut, echoing, both with the color of platforms and the stylist of the temple itself.

At one of the friezes of the temple, the scenes were depicted by the ordinary, household life of the resident of the ancient empire, perhaps they violence some cultural meaning or a Sumerian culture, creating them, pursued unknown to scientists. Another frieze contained an image of sacred birds and animals. Inlaid technique, first tested by ancient suneer, was also applied when creating a facade and column of the temple. Some of them were decorated with colored stones, sinks and mother-in-law, other - metal tiles, attached to nails.

Special attention and praise deserves copper bas-relief, located above the entrance to the temple. Sumerian culture was famous for enviable masters, however, here the ancient architects surpassed themselves. This bas-relief, in some places, which came into a rounded sculpture, contained an image of an eagle with a lion head, clawing deer. Similar images were found on the walls of several other ancient temples at once, which created a Sumerian culture in the third millennium area BC. An important feature of the relief above the entrance is almost the perfect symmetric heraldic composition, which later became a characteristic feature of the overseas relief.

Zikkurat was created by the Sumerian culture - a completely unique type of religious buildings, which occupied a marked place in the architecture of a number of ancient states and empires. Zikkurat was always built at the temple of the dominant local deity and was a high speed tower folded from raw bricks. At the top of the zigkurat, which was created by the Sumerian culture, a small building was located, called the "Housing of God". Sumerian people with enviable regularity built such structures that served as the sanctuary of the territorial gods, they were all the exclusion of the grandiose.

Art of Sumeres in Architecture

Better than other zigkurats in many times have been preserved in Urz. This zigarat / temple was erected in the 22-21 centuries to our era, more precisely during these centuries its reconstruction and completion was made. The art of Sumerians during the construction of this zigkurat and during its reconstruction showed itself to the maximum. Zigarat consisted of several, presumably three, massive towers, built one above one, formed wide terraces connected by stairs.

At the base of the zikcurate was a rectangle with the parties 65 and 43 meters, the walls reached 13 meters in height. The overall height of the construction created by the art of the Sumerians is 21 meters, which is equal to the modern average 5-7 storey house. The external zigkurat space was either absent in principle, or was specifically limited to a small room. All zikcurate towers in bang were different colors. The lower tower was the colors of black bitumen, the middle - red, the color of the natural brick, the top tower was white.

Art of Sumerov Chtilo its traditions developed for many centuries in ancient state. On the terrace, located on the top of Zikkurat (the dwelling of God), there were all sorts of ritual mysteries and religious celebrations were held. At the same time, the urgent zikkurat hour, as a unique sample art sample, served as a kind of observatories for ancient priests, who were part-time astronomers. The monumentality that the art of Sumerians developed was achieved with the help of simple forms and volumes, as well as the evidence of the proportions that created the impression of the grandiose structure and the majestic architecture. According to the impressions of the zigkurat, we compare with the pyramids in Egypt, by impressions, but not by proportions.

The art of the south side of the coupes, which were the cities of Lagash and the UR, was distinguished by the integrity of the structural blocks and a kind of interpretation of the need to use decorative elements. For the most part, the local sculpture is squat figures in which there is no neck and there is a clusky nose in combination with big eyes. The art of shifters of the northern part of the country (Hafadzh and Ashnunak settlement) was distinguished by the presence of more elongated proportions, detailed working out of parts and naturalism, bordering the madness; Ideal bodies and surprisingly strange noses and individuals as a whole as an example.

Special attention among other features that developed institutes of Sumerian Culture, deserves metalplastic and related types of craft products. The findings of metal products dated 26-27 centuries to our era, testify to class differentiation and the cult of the dead, which are coming to the art of the Sumerh Empire. Luxurious utensils decorated with colored stones, in some tombs borders on the poverty of other burials. Among the particularly valuable products found in the graves, the gold helmet of the king of the finest work is highlighted. The art of Sumerov created this most valuable sample and placed on the eternal rest in the grave of the ruler of the Mescalamdurg. The helmet reproduced a gold wig with the smallest inlays. No less valuable and gold dagger with filigree cutting scabs, discovered everything in the same tomb. In addition, in the tombs, animal, figures and other valuable products were found in the tombs. Some of them took the form of the bull, others are simple rings, earrings and beads.

Ancient in the history of the art of Sumer and Akkada

Numerous, however, all close samples of mosaic products were found in the combes of the city. The art of Sumer and Akkada made them in huge quantities. The most remarkable sample is the so-called "standard", such name archaeologists gave two oblong rectangular plates fortified in the tilt position. This "standard" was made, whom the culture of an ancient Sumer could be proud of, and covered with slices of lapis-lazuries against the background and sinks in the form of figures, as a result of which the most beautiful ornament is formed. The plates divided into several tiers according to the already established at that time, the traditions contained images, paintings, battles and battles, in which the glorified troops of his bang. The "Standard" of the art of Sumer and Akkada was made to glorify the ruling rulers who won such significant victories.

The most remarkable sample of the sculpture relief of the Sumer, what the art of Sumer and Akkada created, is Stela Eannatum, called "Stela Korshunov". This monument was built in honor of the victory of the ruler of the city of Lagush over his enemies and above the city of Umme in particular. It was made in about the 25th century to our era. Today, stele that creates culture of Sumerian civilizationIt has the kind of debris, however, even they give the opportunity to explore and determine the basic principles of monumental art and relief peculiar to superiments. The image of the stele is separated by several horizontal lines, along which the composition is constructed. Separate often drawn images are shown in the resulting belt, opening a visual story about certain events. What is noteworthy, the art of Sumer and Akkada created stele such that the heads of the depicted people are always or almost always located. The exception is only the heads of God and the king, who emphasize their divine origin and it is necessary to all.

Human figures on the image are exactly the same, they are static and often take the same position: legs and head are turned into profile, while the shoulders and eyes are in the FAS. On the front side of the "Steli Korshunov", which was created by the culture of Akkad and Sumer, there is an image of a large figure of the Supreme God of the city of Lagas, God holds a network with the enemies of the ruler of Eannatum collected in it. On the reverse side, which is logical, at the head of his troops, a great king is depicted, marking the corpses of fallen enemies. The inscription on the stele reveals the content, both the images themselves and in the whole role of the set, it describes the victory of the Lagas's troops and glorify the courage of the king, who personally commanded the army and directly involved in the battle.

Of particular importance for the culture representing art Sumer and Akkada, there are monuments of glyptics, carved stones, amulets and prints. These elements often act as aggregate gaps caused by the absence of such monumental architectural monuments. These glipettices are allowed to submit and simulate the stages of the development of the art of interfluve, and at the same time the most ancient state of the Sumerians. Images on cylinder seals are often distinguished by an outstanding skill of execution, which the early art of Sumer and Akkad, who developed for the first few centuries in the history of the state could not boast. They made from completely different stone rocks, some of the softer, others are made, on the contrary, from solid (carnelian, hematite and others), are the most valuable specimen of the skills of the first civilization on Earth. What are surprisingly all of them made with the help of the simplest devices, which gives them even greater importance.

Printing cylinders who created the culture of ancient suchmers are distinguished by a variety. The favorite plots of the ancient masters are myths about Hilgamesh, Hero Sumer, who possessed an incredible force, courage, smelling and dexterity. There are also other contents representing higher value for modern researchers, in particular those that narrate the events of the Great Flood described in single myths of the Sumerian people. Also, several seals were discovered by scientists, in which the history of the flight of the local hero was told on Orel to Heaven for special grass, able to resurrect people.

Prints, as well as, the culture of Sumer, is abounding with conventions. Schematic figures of people, animals and even gods, low image details, desire to cover the image with unnecessary, often stupid elements of the decor. In seals, reliefs, bas-reliefs and other samples of the ancient craft, artists try to adhere to a schematic location of the figures in which the heads of the depicted people are fixed at one level, and the bodies are located, if not in the same, then in similar positions. The exceptions are single art samples representing a particular value that first of all have begun to glorify the Great Gilgamesh. If it is probably one of the most popular those who developed Sumerian art, unfortunately, it reached our days in single specimens, which does not reduce the role and influence provided by the Sumerian people on the development of subsequent cultures.