Quick Overview
Ancient Mediterranean 3500 B.C.E. - 300 C.E.
-Artistic traditions of the ancient Near East and dynastic Egypt focused on representing royal figures and divinities and on the function of funerary and palatial complexes within their cultural contexts. Works of art illustrate the active exchange of ideas and reception of artistic styles among the Mediterranean cultures and the subsequent influence on the classical world.
- Religion plays a significant role in the art and architecture of the ancient Near East, with cosmology guiding representation of deities and kings who themselves assume divine attributes.
- The art of dynastic Egypt embodies a sense of permanence. It was created for eternity in the service of a culture that focused on preserving a cycle of rebirth.
- The art of Ancient Greece and Rome is grounded in civic ideals and polytheism. Etruscan and Roman artists and architects accumulated and creatively adapted Greek objects and forms to create buildings and artworks that appealed to their tastes for eclecticism and historicism.
- Contextual information for ancient Greek and Roman art can be derived from contemporary literary, political, legal and economic records as well as from archaeological excavations conducted from the mid-18th century onward. Etruscan art, by contrast, is illuminated primarily by modern archaeological record and by descriptions of contemporary external observers.
-Artistic traditions of the ancient Near East and dynastic Egypt focused on representing royal figures and divinities and on the function of funerary and palatial complexes within their cultural contexts. Works of art illustrate the active exchange of ideas and reception of artistic styles among the Mediterranean cultures and the subsequent influence on the classical world.
- Religion plays a significant role in the art and architecture of the ancient Near East, with cosmology guiding representation of deities and kings who themselves assume divine attributes.
- The art of dynastic Egypt embodies a sense of permanence. It was created for eternity in the service of a culture that focused on preserving a cycle of rebirth.
- The art of Ancient Greece and Rome is grounded in civic ideals and polytheism. Etruscan and Roman artists and architects accumulated and creatively adapted Greek objects and forms to create buildings and artworks that appealed to their tastes for eclecticism and historicism.
- Contextual information for ancient Greek and Roman art can be derived from contemporary literary, political, legal and economic records as well as from archaeological excavations conducted from the mid-18th century onward. Etruscan art, by contrast, is illuminated primarily by modern archaeological record and by descriptions of contemporary external observers.
Sumerian, Egypt, Assyrian
1. White Temple and its Ziggurat
1a. drawing of White Temple 2. Palette of Narmer 3. Votive Offerings, Sumerian 4. Seated Scribe 5. Standard of Ur - Peace 6. Standard of Ur- War 7. Great Pyramids, Menkaure, Khafra, Khufu and Great Sphinx 8. King Menkaura and Queen 9. Code of Hammurabi 10. Temple of Amun-Re 11. Hypostyle Hall 12. Plan of Temple of Amun-Re 13. Mortuary Temple of Hatsheput 14. Kneeling statue of Hatsheput 15. Akhenaton, Nefertiti and three daughters 16. Tutenkhamen's tomb, innermost 17. Last Judgement of Hu-Nefer 18. Lamassu from citadel of Sargon II |
Greek, Etruscan
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19. Athenian Agora
20. Anavyos Kouros (Kouros Boy) 21. Peplos Kore from the Acropolis 22. Sarcophagus of the Spouses 23. Audience Hall, (Apadana) of Darius and Xerxes 24. Temple of Minerva Plan 25. Apollo 26. Tomb of the Triclinium 27. Niobides Krater 28. Doryphoros (Spear Bearer) 29. Acropolis plan 30. Parthenon 31. Helios, horses and Dionysus 32. Temple of Athena Nike 33. Victory adjusting her sandal 34. Plaque of the Ergastines 35. Grave Stele of Hegeso 36. Winged Victory of Samothrace 37. Great Altar of Zeus and Athena at Pergamon 38. Athena 39. Plan of the Great Altar of Zeus and Athena 40. Plan of the House of Vettii 41. Interior of the House of Vettii 42. Frescoes- House of the Vetti 43. Alexander Mosaic House of Faun 44. Seated Boxer 45. Head of a Roman patrician 46. Augustus of Prima Porta 47. Colosseum ( Flavian Amphitheater) 48. Colossueum detail 49. Forum of Trajan 50. Basilica Ulpia reconstruction drawing 51. Trajan MArkets 52. Column of Trajan 53. Pantheon 54. Pantheon Interior 55. Ludovisi Battle Sarcophogus |