This version of the course guide is provisional until the period for editing the new course guides ends.

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Ancient Art in Asia Minor

Code: 100576 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Art History OB 2

Contact

Name:
Ana Belen Villalonga Gordaliza
Email:
annabel.villalonga@uab.cat

Teachers

Ana Belen Villalonga Gordaliza

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

There are not any prerequisites, but it is advisable to have some notions of English, French and Italian in order to be able to consult the specialised bibliography.


Objectives and Contextualisation

The aim of this subject is to provide a wide introduction to Middle East Ancient Art.

Having finished the course, students should be able to:

Recognize, characterize, and identify the functions of major works of art.

Accurately situate them within their historical and cultural contexts.

Master the course's terminology and vocabulary.

Interpret the iconography and symbolism of artworks.

Identify gender, ideological, and cultural biases in art history.


Competences

  • Critically analysing from the acquired knowledge a work of art in its many facets: formal values, iconographic significance, artistic techniques and procedures, elaboration process and reception mechanisms.
  • Interpreting a work of art in the context in which it was developed and relating it with other forms of cultural expression.
  • Recognising the evolution of the artistic imagery from the antiquity to the contemporary visual culture.
  • Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Accurately defining and explaining an artistic object with the specific language of art criticism.
  2. Analysing ideas about an artistic phenomenon in a given cultural context.
  3. Analysing the creators of an artistic phenomenon in a specific cultural context.
  4. Analysing the recipients of an artistic phenomenon in a specific cultural context.
  5. Applying the iconographic knowledge to the reading of artistic imagery.
  6. Connecting an artistic imagery with other cultural phenomena within its period.
  7. Distinguishing the elaboration techniques and processes of an artistic object.
  8. Efficiently presenting knowledge in oral and written form.
  9. Examining an artistic imagery and distinguishing its formal, iconographic and symbolic values.
  10. Explaining the reception mechanisms of a work of art.
  11. Identifying the artistic imagery, placing it into its cultural context.
  12. Reconstructing the artistic outlook of a particular cultural context.

Content

1. Southern and Central Mesopotamia: sumerians and akkadians.

2. Central and Northern Mesopotamia: babylonians and assyrians.

3. Anatolian Peninsula: hittites.

4. Iranian Plateau: persians.

5. Levantine Coast: phoenicians.

6. Image of women in ancient Mesopotamia.


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Theory classes/ seminar. 44 1.76 3, 4, 2, 11, 5, 1, 7, 9, 12, 6
Type: Supervised      
Group poster project on gender in ancient Mesopotamia. 12 0.48 3, 4, 2, 11, 5, 1, 7, 9, 12, 6
Type: Autonomous      
Personal study and team work 90 3.6 3, 4, 2, 11, 5, 1, 7, 9, 10, 12, 6, 8

  • Theoretical classes led by the professor, who presents the essential aspects of the subject matter orally and with PowerPoint support, systematizing the content and providing the most appropriate specific bibliography to prepare for the exam. In certain cases, and prior to the presentation of some topics, reading selected texts will be required in order to foster a flipped classroom approach.

  • Attendance at a seminar led by the professor and/or conducted by specialists.

  • Group written assignment on a topic from the course content (to be determined) and oral presentation.

  • Creation of a group poster on gender in ancient Mesopotamia.

 

 



 

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Group poster in gender key 15% 0.5 0.02 11, 5, 1, 9, 10, 12, 6, 8
Group written work and oral presentation 25% 1 0.04 3, 4, 2, 11, 10, 6, 8
Seminar attendance and task submission 10% 0.5 0.02 3, 4, 2, 5, 12, 6, 8
Test 1 25% 1 0.04 2, 1, 7, 9, 10
Test 2 25% 1 0.04 3, 4, 5, 10, 12, 6

 

The subject will be assessed through:

  • 2 written exams*: 25% each.

  • Group written work and oral presentation: 25%.

  • Gender-themed poster: 15%.

  • Seminar attendance and submission of an activity (to be determined): 10%.

 

 

Notes: 

All the course material contained in the explanations in class will be evaluated. 
										
											
										
											The two written tests will be averaged, which must be a minimum of 5. Otherwise, the student will have to recovery the block that has been failed.

Single assessment

-Final test: 50%.

  -Compulsory reading test questionnaire (to be determined): 25%

  -Critical review in gender key: 25%

  The same recovery system will be applied as for the continuous assessment. The required reading test and the critical review are not recoverable.

The same non-assessable criteria will be applied as for the continuous evaluation. The review of the final qualification follows the same procedure as for the continuous assessment.

 

Remarks:

At the time of each assessment activity, lecturer will inform students (Moodle) of the procedure and date of review of each test.  The student will receive the grade of "Not assessable" as long as they do not complete 50% of the assessment activities.

Recovery

In the last days of the course there will be a reassessment exclusively for those students who have failed some or some of the previous partial written tests. Therefore, those who have not taken them in the planned date nor those who have passed them will not be able to present themselves. Reassessment is only possible to pass the failed tests with a maximum grade of 6. Critical review and oral presentation are excluded from the reassessment process. Individual work can be recovered by making the corrections indicated by the teacher.

Use of AI

For this course, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is permitted exclusively for support tasks, such as bibliographic or information search, text correction, or translations. Students must clearly identify which parts have been generated using this technology, specify the tools used, and include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and the final outcome of the activity. Lack of transparency regarding the use of AI in this assessed activity will be considered a breach of academic honesty and may result in partial or total penalty on the activity grade, or more severe sanctions in serious cases.

Penalties for irregularities

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject,the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject. All the assessment activities affected by irregularities will not be recovered.

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

ANDRÉ-SALVINI, Béatrice (2008): Babylone. Paris: Musée du Louvre, Hazan.

ASCALONE, Enrico (2006): MesopotamiaAsirios, sumerios y babilonios. Barcelona: Electa. 

AZARA, Pedro (coord.) (2012): Antes del diluvio: Mesopotamia 3.500-2.100 a.C. Barcelona: Ediciones Polígrafa.

BAHRANI, Zainab (2001): Women of Babylon: gender and representation in Mesopotamia. London:  Routledge.

BAHRANI, Zainab (2003): The Graven Image: Representation in Babylonia and Assyria. University of Pennsylvania Press.

BAHRANI, Zainab (2014): The Infinite Image: Art, Time and the Aesthetic Dimension in Antiquity. Verlag: Reaktion Books.

BAHRANI, Zainab (2017): MesopotamiaAncient Art and architecture. London: Thames & Hudson.

BAHRANI, Zainab (2016): Art of Mesopotamia. London: Thames & Hudson.

BENOIT, Agnès (2003): Art et archéologie: les civilisations du Proche-Orient ancien. Paris: Reunion des Musées Nationaux.

BENOIT, Agnès (2011): Les civilisations du Proche – Orient  ancien.  Paris: Petits manuels de l’ École du Louvre.

CHAVALAS, Mark (2014): Women in the Ancient Near East. New York: Oxon.

COLLON, Dominique (1995): Ancient Near Eastern Art. Londres: University of California Press.

FELDMAN, Marian (2025): Remembering and Forgetting in Ancient Mesopotamia: Ziggurats, Royal Sculpture, and the Shaping of the Akkadian Legacy During the Ur III Period. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

GÓMEZ LÓPEZ, Consuelo (2006): El arte en el Próximo Oriente antiguo. Madrid: Ediciones JC.

JAMES, Sharon L.; Dillon, Sheila (eds.) (2012): A companion to women in the ancient world. Blackwell.

KUHRT, Amélie. (2000) : El Oriente Próximo en la antigüedad, 2 vols. Barcelona: Crítica.

LEICK, Gwendolyn (2002): Mesopotamia: la invención de la ciudad. Barcelona.

LIVERANI, Mario. (2006): Uruk, la primera ciudad. Barcelona: Bellaterra.

POLK, Milbry; SCHUSTER, Angela M. H. (2005): Looting of the Iraq Museum, Baghdad: The Lost Legacy of Ancient Mesopotamia. New YorkHarry N. Abrams. 

SASSON, Jack M. (2000): Civilizations of theAncient Near East, Peabody, MA : Hendrickson Publishers.

THOMAS, Ariane; POTTS, Timothy (2020): Mesopotamia. Civilization begins. Los Angeles: Getty Museum Editions.


Software

No specific software is needed.


Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Catalan first semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 1 Catalan first semester morning-mixed