Content Area 7: West & Central Asia

  TEST SCHEDULED FOR MONDAY, 2/4. It will cover Content Area 7 (West & Central Asia) & Content Area 3 (Late Antquity [Early Christian], Byzantine, Early Medieval, & Romanesque Art)

- Click on the banner above for Essential Knowledge/Image Set. Remember, all image sets, handouts, lecture PowerPoints and assignments are available in Google Drive. 

 11 ARTWORKS - 4% of AP EXAM  

  West & Central Asia - Khan Academy

Key Ideas
* Most important building for Muslim worship is the mosque.
* Islamic people pray towards the city of Mecca, the most holiest site in Islam (identified by a niche in the wall of a mosque, called a mihrab)
* The mirhrab is a niche in the quibla wall (MN-QW: alphabetical!)
* Artworks include calligraphy with arabesques (interweaving and floral motifs and geometric patterns) and tessellations
* Calligraphy is the most prized art form (Persian Manuscripts, Qur'an).

 
Brief History of Islam
* Founder is Islam is the prophet Muhammad and began preaching in 613 BCE.
* Muhammad exclaimed that there is only one God (Allah) and that he is the chosen messenger to the people.
* Indigenous Arabs were generally polytheists
* There are 5 Pillars of Islam
* Proclaim that there is only one God and that his prophet is Muhammad
* Muslims should pray 5 times per day toward Mecca
* Provide for the poor
* Must fast during the month of Ramadan
* Make a pilgrimage to Mecca
* Expanded to North Africa, the Middle East, parts of Spain, India, and Central Asia by the 7th century.
* After the Mongol sack of Baghdad in 1258, the Islamic world split into 2 huge cultural divisions: Sunni vs. Shi'a 
*** More info: Click HERE or check Mrs. Osborn's APWH Period 3 (600-1450) lectures (in APWH Google Drive folder) ***

  
Student Resources
PowerPoint - Key Ideas - Artworks List - Vocabulary - Q card Images
* Discover Islamic Art 
* YouTube video: Crash Course video - Islam
* YouTube video: Rebuilding the Bamiyan Buddhas
  * YouTube video: Beauty of Islamic art
* YouTube video: Arabic Calligraphy
The Ardabil Carpet at LACMA, 2011
Book of Kings (Court of Gayumars), Tribune India 
  Tour Israel: Dome of the Rock  
Heilbrunn Timeline: The Birth of Islam
* Visit the The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline for a walk Islamic Art.
CONTENT AREA 3 (Europe): UNESCO Alhambra video & * YouTube video: Sinan the Great, architect
  * YouTube Videos: Mary McConnell on Islamic Art - lecture 1, lecture 2, lecture 3, lecture 4, lecture 5
PRACTICE QUIZ: Islamic Art
  JUST FOR FUN: Indiana Jones arriving at Petra & Rick Steves tours the Holy Land of Palestine  

  BIG PICTURE QUESTIONS:
1. What are some general characteristics of places of Islamic worship?
2. How does the use of design of a sacred space reflect the religious experience there?
3. How do people use art forms other than architecture in sacred spaces?
4. Is large scale sacred architecture also an expression of political power? If yes, how so?

 
Artwork List
  WEST ASIA
Petra, Jordan (non-Islamic) 
Basin by Muhammad ibn al-Zain
Folio from the Qur'an
The Ardabil Carpet
The Court of Gayumars
Bahram Gur Fights the Karg
The Kaaba
Dome of the Rock
Great Mosque of Isfahan
CONTENT AREA 3 (Europe): Pyxis of al-Mughira, Great Mosque of Cordoba, Alhambra, Mosque of Selim II
CONTENT AREA 7 (South Asia): Taj Mahal, Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings

CENTRAL ASIA - REVIEW CONTENT AREA 8 ON ASIA (Buddhism)
Buddhas of Bamiyan
Jowo Rinpoche

 
Vocabulary 
Islam
Mosque
Muhammad
Qur'an (Koran)
Dome of the Rock
5 Pillars of Faith
mihrab
imam
qibla
minaret
arabesque
calligraphy (kufic)
tessellation
squinch
anionic

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
Thank you so much to Lynn Wilkinson, Mary McConnell, Valerie Park and Martha Kunz for all their quidance and resources.