Human representation in the Ancient Art

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Human Representation in Art
Artists from the ancient world invented more human-ideological representations than natural resources. Likewise, the art of the Ancient Near East was more into human figures. Art varied with time and depended on the area of origin. In the Ancient East, representation depended on the politics of the time. Another major characteristic was the focus on the relationship between humans and religion. The drawings honored gods and were used in rituals. The use of humans was to symbolize kingship, divinity, strength or fertility among others. Human symbols were more idealistic than natural resources in the Near East. This paper examines the return of naturalism during the rise of civilization, focusing on the transition in times of Inanna the female head Uruk whose remains are found in the present day Iraq.
Inanna
Inanna is a Sumerian goddess of fertility, love, procreation, war, and sensuality worshiped during the Uruk period in Sumer, the goddess was one of the widely cherished deities. Artworks present her ancient figurines in different forms. The mask of Warka is among the ancient artworks of human face representation. The representation shows a carved 8-inch tall female face that depicts Inanna. Another artwork representation of Inanna was the Burney Relief. This was a terracotta plaque dating its origin at the Ancient Mesopotamia. The brief shows a nude female figure incorporated with wings and talons (Fernandez et al 32).
Besides the female figure, the figurine has two pairs of animals featured on this plaque to display Inanna’s powerful nature. Another artwork that describes Inanna is the statute of Ebih-II. This represented the religion perspective of the goddess. The statute is composed of gypsum that has inlays of shells and schist. It is described as a state of preservation by virtue of its artisanship as it shows a praying woman. Her hands clasped in prayer and it displays a seated posture of a woman in skirt.
The myths in these artistic figurines are that the goddess rose from a local deity in Sumer to Queen of Heaven and most popular in Mesopotamia region. The artists designed her as the source of knowledge to the people from Enki when he gets drunk. She is also known as the great-hearted mistress through various hymns that help the people know about her and elevates her to the most powerful throne. When studying about the goddess, Black Jeremy writes about her ambitions as lustful for power and violence. The popular hymn “Descend to the Underworld” describes her as intending to extend her power.
Ishtar
Under the influence of Sargon, Inanna becomes Ishtar. This name originates from Attar/Ashtart. Contrary to the first imageries, in this form, Ishtar is shown with male attributes that contrasted her female attributes of love and the goddess of war (Michael 183). For the unification of his Akkad empire, Sargon wanted Semitics plus syncretism deities. Akkadian period was referred to as Ishtar Dynasty who identified with Inanna with the use of both male and female characteristics represented in the form of a lion in Warka vase. Ishtar was of double gender. A similarity with the first form was a woman standing on top of a lion. This was a symbol of power and war just like Inanna. A harp in her right hand was a symbol of command and a rod and ring symbolized her divinity. The lion was a symbol of many divinities. A double bull swinging represented a byre a place where the holy cattle were kept. Sargon’s daughter was made the high priestess. These elements were carved to remember the dedication of the temple or royalty. In a political-religious portrait of Sennacherib, the king faces two deities that are mounted. The two are Ishtar and Assur. The king identifies himself as the chief god’s deputy ruler. When the goddess warrior Inanna became Ishtar, her symbol changed to a force that was so binding and legitimized the state. It allowed the transfer of power from one generation to the other. That made animism the spirituality in Mesopotamia to...