Aoife PlunkettP1: The ProcessIn the Edugraphic project, my group theme called People and Hierarchy & the thesis is these artifacts, although from different regions and time periods, represent the people and hierarchy at the time of creation.
Wooden panels and great sculptures created by a master craftsman encapsulate the social and political structures of the time. Our group picked 24 pieces and narrow it down to eight pieces base on religion, power, and what their life was like. My role in the group process was to find information on the Sutton Hoo Helmet from the Medieval era, which is made 7th century AD and found in Suffolk, England. I found that It belonged to of course not to an imagined poetic hero, but to an historical ruler. Who is Raedwald of East Anglia the most powerful king in all England around 620. which is one of the most important Anglo-Saxon artefacts ever found.
I also found information on the Icon of the Triumph of Orthodoxy from the Byzantine era, which was painted in the late fourteenth century and found in Istanbul. I found that the icon shows Empress Theodora restoring the use of religious images in Constantinople. That it was the Empress Theodora who is important because she restored the use of images in religious worship in AD 843.
I also found that for over a century previously, emperors had forbidden images of Christ, the Virgin Mary and the Saints. Other people worked on the project including Adrienne Christ Cabrera who found information on the Coin with the Head of Alexander the Great from the Ancient Greece era between 305 and 281 BC which was one of the earliest coins in history with a leader on it. Alexander was the son of Philip II of a kingdom called Macedon which is north of Athens, Greece. She found that Alexander conquered Greece, Egypt and Persia by the age of 25 by creating an empire spanning 2 million square miles. That he was seen as a god by his generals who fought over his power after his death by creating relics, and that the coin had enormous amount of wealth inherited from his father and from what he captured from the fight against Persia. Adrienne also found information on the Sphinx of Taharqo from Ancient Egypt that was made around 680 BC. It was found in the Temple T at Kawa, Sudan or Kingdom of Kush. She found that the Sphinx’s body is a hybrid of man and lion but also an fusion of Egypt and Kush.
It is an image of the black pharaoh King Taharqo who was the fourth pharaoh to rule the combined kingdoms of Egypt and Kush. That Taharqo was important because he did not impose Kushite customs on to the Egyptians, but he adopted theirs. He worshiped the Egyptian God, Amun, restored temples in Egyptian style, and had his officials write in Egyptian hieroglyphics.
The Sphinx is a representation of how a King united two kingdoms, Sudan and Egypt. Another person in the group; Katelyn Fitzgerald who found information on the Statue of Ramesses II from Ancient Egypt was made out of granite around 1250 BC found in Thebes, Egypt (Near modern day Luxor, Egypt) in The Ramesseum. The Ramesseum is a memorial temple Ramesses II was buried in to be worshipped as a god for all eternity. The statue sat at 1 of the 2 entrances to the temple. The Statue was Pharaoh Ramesses II who ruled Egypt for 66 years (1279-1213 BC) during the period of ‘ New Kingdom’ and depicts a revered leader who was respected by his people. The third person in the group; Kirstie O’Callaghan who found information on Mummy of Hornedjitef from Ancient Egypt is a Wooden coffin from Thebes, Egypt, around 240 BC. It was made for a high ranking Egyptian priest called Hornedjitef who was buried with star maps and spells to help in the afterlife. The last artifact she found information was on the Standard of Ur from the Mesopotamia era in southern Iraq which is a wooden box inlaid with mosaic.
She found that the artifact shows the power structure through the mosaic on the box. The last person in the group; Urszula Reducka who found information on the Lachish Reliefs from the Akkadian kingdom around 1000 BC and found that the Relief shows the Assyrian army laying siege in 701 BC to the town of Lachish. That it was created for the Assyrian king, Sennacherib. She also put the edugraphic poster together with our information and pictures using Canva. P2: MethodologyI have picked five pieces and one or more methodology for each one. The first piece I chose is the Statue of Ramesses II that was about 1250 BC.
The Methodology that the piece fit into was Social history because in the reading, it says “ This serenely smiling sculpture is not the creation of an individual artist, but the achievement of a whole society.” This methodology applies to the artwork because the statue was done by the result of engineering and logistics. Another Methodology is Iconographic, Iconological or Semiotic Analysis because in the reading, it says “ Ramesses’ statue becomes a symbol of the futility of all human achievement.” This methodology applies to the artwork because the statue was built for Ramesses by his people. The second piece I chose was Lewis Chessmen that was from 1150-1200 BC.
The Methodology that the piece fit into was feminism and gender studies because in the reading it says, “ In medieval chess, the queen doesn’t actually have much power, she can move only one diagonal space at a time. Her modern sister, on the other hand, is the most powerful person on the board.” This methodology applies to the artwork because In the world of chess, feminism came early. Another Methodology is social history because in the reading it says, “ In medieval society, these are the peasants, brutally conscripted onto the battle-field. All societies tend to think of the people at the bottom of the heap as interchangeably identical, and the foot-soldiers here are shown with no individuality at all.” This methodology applies to the artwork because in the game of chess, the peasants are the pawns. The third piece I chose was the Early Writing Tablet that was from about 3100 – 3000 BC.
The Methodology that the piece fit into social history because in the reading it says,” in writing, they found an even more powerful weapon of social control.” This methodology applies to the artwork because by writing, messengers wouldn’t have to repeat and miss it up. The fourth piece I chose was the Icon of the Triumph of Orthodoxy that was from 1400 BC. The Methodology that the piece fit in was feminism and gender studies because in the reading, it says “ the people remained on the whole very firmly attached to their icons, and eventually, thanks in part to support from the women of the Imperial family, the veneration of icons was restored in 843 by the Empress, Theodora.” This methodology applies to the artwork because it was Empress Theodora who is the first Feminist to restore Religion. The fifth piece I chose was the Gold coin of Croesus that was made around 550 BC. The Methodology that the piece fit into the social or economic condition for the production of art because in the reading, it says, “ In small societies, there isn’t really a great need for money, because you can generally trust your friends and neighbours to return any labour, food or goods in kind.
The need for money, as we understand it, grows when you are dealing with strangers you may never see again and can’t necessarily trust.” This methodology applies to the artwork because the coins was the financial power over his people.