Brandon Flores
1/29/2011
Humanities

Oriental Institute

When I went to the “Oriental Institute”, I saw and got to experience a lot of different cultures and antiques from very old civilizations. Being in those very rooms and getting to see firsthand how these cultures had lived and survived in those times was astonishing. One of my favorite exhibits I really enjoyed was the Mesopotamian empire exhibit. I found it so fascinating because a lot of the pots and designs from that time I have already seen in my hometown in Mexico and also because this is when cities began to come about. What I also learned about this civilization was that it rapidly spread throughout Southeast Asia and Europe and was made up of three main periods. The periods were the lower Paleolithic period, the middle Paleolithic period, and the upper Paleolithic period. This empire life was similar to many parts of the northeast in this period. Another thing I found fascinating about Mesopotamian life is the importance of music in this culture. What music did was tell stories of gods or of important events that happened. It became a means of passing important information down as time passed. What I also found to be very interesting was the “Laws of Hammurabi”. These laws were basically like the term “an eye for an eye” because through each law you are paying the price for a misdeed. Finally, what I found to be the most interesting object in this gallery was the “Human-Headed Winged Bull”. This colossal 40 ton sculpture was placed in King Sargon II courtyard to guard the palace from “the wicked”. This giant sculpture had amazed me and being so big it was the first thing that caught my eye while I was in this gallery. Other things I learned that I found to be interesting was in the Egyptian gallery. One of the things I discovered was the art of mummification. Ancient Egyptians believed there was a life after death so they mummified the dead because they figured that the person would need a body on the afterlife. They removed all the organs expect the heart because they believed the heart was the center of the body. This ancient art I found to be very fascinating in this exhibit. Another form of art I found to be very interesting was their form of writing called Hieroglyphs. This form of writing created words through forms of pictures that had different meanings behind them. To be able to communicate through pictures alone is something I find to be not an easy task. I also learned that the Egyptians also made portraits of their families like this one portrait I saw that involved the man and his wife and their children. One other thing I found to be interesting was the worship of the god Re-Harakhty which is the god of the rising sun. This god I found pretty cool because the way he appeared. He was a man with the head of a falcon because the Egyptians believed that he flew so high so high that he could reach the son. The final thing I found interesting in this culture was the great king Tutankhamen, who at the age of nine became the king of Egypt. His death I found to be interesting because people today aren’t really sure if he was assassinated or if he died from malaria from an accidental wound that was infected. The next gallery on my list that I would I learned about was the Assyrian gallery. The one thing I found interesting was the “Black Obelisk”. This piece of art was made to honor the conquests of Shalmaneser III. Each picture displayed a story of each conquests and the tributes that were received in his honor. These Obelisks’ were displayed around the kingdom to display the king’s power. The important thing I learned about this culture is that this empires foundation was built solely on conquests and the threats of conquests in their distant regions. One statute that seemed to be interesting was the figurine of the god “El” which some people believed to mean strength or power. It is believed that this god was the father of many other gods. Another gallery I found to be pretty interesting is the Persian Empire gallery. A lot of the work s of art I found interesting but the one thing that really caught my eye was the colossal bull head. This giant statute head was used to protect the entrances of very important buildings like the Throne Hall in Persepolis were receptions for military commanders were held. The rest of the body was left at the Throne Hall. During this time the idea of guardian figures like the colossal bull was a common feature in the East. The final gallery I found to be interesting was the Nubian empire gallery. One fact I found to be interesting was that the Egyptian empire actually had control and ruled over Nubia. One artifact I thought was pretty cool was the seated lion statue which I believe represented Apedemak which to Nubians was the god of war. One final thing I learned about Nubian culture was that a lot of carpets they made were used not only for riding horses, but also to wrap the dead bodies of warriors and be buried with them. I really don’t know why but I think of it as their sign of respect for their warriors. There were a lot of things I learned by visiting this museum. These wonderful artifacts are truly works of art and amaze me exactly how much a lot of these works of art are similar to the things we have in our time.