Major Points

Mesopotamian and Egyptian artists represented the human body in a stylized fashion, often forcing the feet, torso and head into their most recognizable point of view.
Mesopotamian people, who were mainly engaged in agricultural and merchant vocations, lived close to the natural world and depicted animals in a more naturalistic fashion than humans.
Mesopotamian people invented writing, although the majority of people were illiterate. Art was often used to record important events or representations of important concepts. Mesopotamian people used art to teach about their belief in the divine power of their kings and to instill a uniform code of laws.
Mesopotamian and Egyptian patrons, who paid artists to make art, were wealthy members of the nobility and/or religious elite.
Many works of Egyptian art show the religious and political power of the pharaohs. Ancient Egyptians thought of the pharaohs as living gods. The Egyptian artistic tradition had specific rules about representing pharaohs that emphasized their perfect unchanging nature. Representations of ordinary people were more flexible and varied.

Key Works