Options:
A. Sprititual , historical, and reasons of propaganda
B. Sprititual, moral, and reasons of beauty
C. Historical, moral, and reasons of beauty
D. Historical, moral, and reasons of propaganda
B. Sprititual, moral, and reasons of beauty
Explanation:
The Sumerian statuary made of stone (usually diorite, a very hard and dark material), finds strong technical limitations due to the scarcity of the raw material, which is why most of the sculptures are small. Very idealized and stylized, the statues were formally adapted to the original stone block, by adopting simple geometric volumes that enshrined some canonical rules, such as the frontality, symmetry and position of the figures (standing or sitting on a throne). They almost invariably represented isolated figures, gods, high officials (representatives of civil and religious power) or female characters.
For the Sumerians, the statue replaced the represented being, serving essentially for veneration rituals. The necessary identification of the character was realized not only through the inscription of his name in the sculpture itself but also by the care placed in the representation of the face, normally disproportionate in relation to the body.
Among the best examples of Sumerian sculpture is the series of statues in diorite, made in the 21st century a. C., representing Governor Gudea of the prosperous city of Lagash, in various positions (sometimes standing, sometimes sitting on a throne). These pieces have great homogeneity of solutions in the treatment of the face and arms.
The relief on stone (applied to rocks, stelae or plates), widespread in the Mesopotamian world, served essentially narrative and commemorative intentions. Contrary to sculpture, which generally represented isolated figures, reliefs appeared in scenes with several figures, evoking the most significant historical events of a particular city or dynasty. In Lagash's "Stele of Vultures", dating from the second half of the third millennium, the scenes were arranged in overlapping planes, forming a narrative sequence that articulated text and images.
Having been one of the pioneers of metal work, the Sumerians took this artistic form to a remarkable level of technical and aesthetic development. Many specimens of gold, silver, wood and ivory objects, usually associating gold and silver, have been discovered in recent excavations in the main Sumerian necropolises.
