Table Of ContentMYCENAEAN DEATH MASK EGYPTIAN
RINGS
T7N/T7T A 71^1^ TT7CC1 A 7TOT TAT TNTC~'"TTCNN TAD THO
Glazed
steatite
Gold
DICTIONARY of
Lapis
lazuli Scarab
Ancient
Incised gold Gold
beard
Civilizations
%
Bronze hilt
BABYLONIAN FRIEZE SHANG INDIAN
RITUAL VESSEL SCULPTURE
Glazed brick
Scabbard
Sword
Bird’s wing
Trident
Handle Blade
Durga
Demon
Gold
llama
CELTIC DAGGER
AND SCABBARD
INCA Buffalo demon
METALWORK
Bull Male bull-leaper Shield Jaguar Barbed rope
Olive
tree
Female
athlete
Bope
collar
Man
collecting
olives MINOAN FRESCO
mmjmi
. I*
Man Plough
Wm Mm
shaking W -• - • m. rf
branch j y v Jr, ft T’b
With stick M * tM' \ Hf ' •; fT ■:
M
GREEK VASE SHOWING EGYPTIAN MODEL OF MAYAN LINTEL SHOWING
OLIVE HARVEST FARMER PLOUGHING BLOODLETTING RITE
38630
EYEWITNESS VISUAL DICTIONARIES
THE VISUAL
DICTIONARY of
ANCIENT
Civilizations
Dragon
Snake
Mythical
creature
Blade
CHINESE
RITUAL AXE
Worker Pillar with
mixing pulping grain Tufted owl flattened top
grain IlLii_Beer jar
W M
Eye ^ %.aj"
l
JgHHg^Pf protector
Studded
decoration
Handle
ROMAN HORSE
ARMOUR
Goddess
EGYPTIAN MODEL OF WORKERS
MAKING BEER
Moon
Red Sun Splayed leg
MINOANPENDANT
mSah {m T*wTfm
Gateway
to heaven
f
Ball-game player
_Owner of
1 the tomb mftr*****
Dragon
jrcp—g?
<
Giant holding
up the
terrestrial
world
CHINESE SILK BANNER Black body paint Protection for one foot Rubber ball
EYEWITNESS VISUAL DICTIONARIES
THE VISUAL
D I C TIONARY of
ANCIENT
CIVILIZATIONS
Banquet guest
Musician
Base
Handle
Bird head-dress
Double pipes
GREEK KYLIX
(DRINKING CUP)
Ball-game
player
DORLING KINDERSLEY
LONDON • NEW YORK•STUTTGART
Protection for one knee
Sa"*«£(.o COLUgT
iSlAfiy
G£
A DORLING KINDERSLEY ROOK
ACCESSIQH
38630 Art Editor Clare Siiedden
Designer Susan Knight
CUSS —
L
(c\io
Project Editor Louise Tucker
Editor Emily Hill
Consultant Editors James Harpur, Chris Scarre,
Nfog
Anthony Shelton, Gregory Irvine, T. Richard Blurton
■ I 2
=*- -
Managing Art Editor Philip Gilderdale
Managing Editor Ruth Midgley
Illustrations Maltings Partnership
Production Hilary Stephens
Lapith woman
clutching statue Centaur
Lapith woman
seeking refuge Lapith youth
at a shrine attacking centaur
Statue of
Panther skin hanging
goddess
on a tree, indicating
a sacred grove
FRIEZE SHOWING LAPITHS AND CENTAURS FIGHTING,
FROM THE TEMPLE AT RASSAE, GREECE
First Published in Great Britain in 1994
by Dorling Kindersley Limited,
9 Henrietta Street, London WC2E 8PS
Copyright © 1994 Dorling Kindersley Limited, London
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
MECHANICAL, PHOTOCOPYING, RECORDING OR OTHERWISE, WITHOUT THE PRIOR
WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNER.
A CIP CATALOGUE RECORD FOR TIMS BOOK IS AVAILABLE FROM THE BRITISH LIBRARY
ISBN 0 7513 1056 5
Reproduced by Colourscan, Singapore
Printed and bound by Arnoldo Mondadori, Verona, Italy
Contents
Feline deify
Red glass
inlay
Mesopotamia: Everyday Life 6
Mesopotamia: The Graves at Ur 8
Circular Paw
boss
Egypt: Pyramids and Temples 10
Seated
Egypt: Everyday Life 12 figure
» %
Egypt: Death and the Afterlife 14
The Assyrians 16
Rivet
The Babylonians 18
CELTIC BRONZE SHIELD ANDEAN POT
The Persians 20
Antler
The Celts 22 Decorated head-dress
Arched Roof terrace
cloak
doorway
Minoans and Mycenaeans 24
Window Greece: Architecture 26
Greece: Mythology 28
Greece: Everyday Life 30
Rome: The Army 32
Ritual
Rome: Architecture 34 puncture
NORTH AMERICAN
EGYPTIAN MODEL
Rome: Imperial Trade and Prosperity 36 BOWL
OF A HOUSE
The Maya 38
Hair The Aztecs 40 Lotus-petal
Topknot ornament capital
Andean Civilizations 42
North American Civilizations 44
Pillar shaft
India: Buddhism 46
India: Hinduism 48
Mane
China: Everyday Life 50
China: Ritual and Ceremony 52
Japan 54 Lion
Leaf
pattern Timelines 56
Silk
robe Index 60 Paw
Pillar
Acknowledgments 64
base
CHINESE TOMB FIGURES INDIAN LION PILLAR
Mesopotamia:
Shaven
everyday life
Milk head
Mesopotamia, in the middle east, was the site of one of
the earliest known civilizations. Between 4000 and 3000 BC,
the Sumerians of southern Mesopotamia built the first cities
in the world on the fertile plain between the rivers
Tigris and Euphrates. Sumerian cities, such as
Uruk and Ur, were enclosed by walls and had
temples raised on top of ziggurats - huge,
stepped pyramids with flat tops. The Sumerians
were efficient farmers, using irrigation to water
pastures and crops. Domesticated animals, such
as goats and cows, were reared on the pastures
and provided a constant supply of meat, milk,
cylinder butter, and skins. The Sumerians also developed
seal one 0f the earliest known forms of writing, which Worker Strainer Stool
they used to keep records of livestock, food, and other goods. stirring
milk Fleece
Scribes (professional writers) used a sharpened reed stylus to
garment
inscribe simple pictures, known as pictographs, on clay tablets
Gradually the pictographs became more abstract, eventually
developing into a new form of script, known as cuneiform,
which was written using styluses with wedge-shaped tips. CLAY TABLET WITH PICTOGRAPHIC
RECORD OF DAILY RATIONS
Documents and letters written in cuneiform were “signed”
with a cylinder seal - a small, engraved, cylinder-shaped
Symbol for a Symbol for a Symbol for
stone - that was rolled across clay tablets to produce a commodity commodity one unit
continuous pattern.
Symbol for
day one
CLAY TABLETS WITH EARLY
PICTOGRAPHS Symbol for
day two
Symbol for 10 Symbol for 10
Symbol for
day three
Part of
symbol for
day four.
Symbol for
day five.
Animal, Animal, Symbol for a Symbol for Symbol for a
possibly a sheep possibly a goat 10 units commodity
Symbol for a commodity
6
