intro to humanities

Paleolithic Era timeframe?

2.5 million–10,000 BCE.

Paleolithic lifestyle?

Nomadic hunter-gatherers; used stone tools & fire.

Paleolithic art example?

Lascaux Cave Paintings (France).

Purpose of cave art?

Ritual, storytelling, record of animal species.

Neolithic Revolution date?

Around 10,000 BCE.

Neolithic lifestyle change?

Farming, animal domestication, permanent villages.

Stonehenge location & purpose?

England; ceremonial & astronomical site.

What allowed specialization in Neolithic societies?

Agricultural surplus.

“Cradle of Civilization” location?

Mesopotamia (Tigris-Euphrates Rivers).

Mesopotamian writing system?

Cuneiform.

Code of Hammurabi significance?

First written law code; uses retributive justice.

Mesopotamian monumental architecture?

Ziggurats.

Ancient Egypt’s river?

Nile — annual flood supported agriculture.

Egyptian writing?

Hieroglyphics.

Egyptian monumental architecture example?

Pyramids of Giza.

Purpose of mummification?

Preserve bodies for the afterlife.

Hebrews’ main cultural contribution?

Monotheism; ethical laws.

Phoenicians’ main contribution?

Alphabet.

Ancient China’s early dynasties?

Shang & Zhou.

Greek term for city-state?

Polis.

Athens’ political system?

Direct democracy.

Sparta’s focus?

Military training & discipline.

Socratic Method?

Asking questions to stimulate critical thinking.

Plato’s philosophy?

Ideal forms; search for perfect truth.

Aristotle’s philosophy?

Empirical observation, logic, ethics.

Greek architecture orders?

Doric, Ionic, Corinthian.

Famous Greek temple?

Parthenon — dedicated to Athena.

Event honoring gods and fostering unity?

Olympic Games.

Dates of Roman Republic?

509–27 BCE.

Roman Republic’s political structure?

Senate, consuls, assemblies.

Twelve Tables significance?

Codified Roman law.

Pax Romana timeframe?

27 BCE–180 CE under Augustus & successors.

Roman engineering achievements?

Roads, aqueducts, concrete, domes.

Famous Roman building with a dome?

Pantheon.

Purpose of Colosseum?

Gladiator games, spectacles.

Roman legal legacy?

Equality under law, precedent, citizenship rights.

Capital of Byzantine Empire?

Constantinople.

Major Byzantine monument?

Hagia Sophia — dome, mosaics.

Iconoclasm meaning?

Rejection or destruction of religious images.

Feudalism structure?

Lords → Vassals → Knights → Serfs.

Gothic architecture features?

Pointed arches, ribbed vaults, flying buttresses, stained glass.

Example of Gothic cathedral?

Chartres Cathedral.

Romanesque architecture features?

Rounded arches, heavy walls.

Purpose of Crusades?

Retake Holy Land; religious/political expansion.

Black Death effect?

Population decline; social & economic shifts.

Renaissance meaning?

“Rebirth” of classical learning and art.

Humanism definition?

Focus on human potential, secular life, classical texts.

Key Renaissance patrons?

Medici family in Florence.

Leonardo da Vinci works?

Mona Lisa, Last Supper, anatomical sketches.

Michelangelo works?

David, Sistine Chapel ceiling.

Raphael work?

School of Athens — Renaissance ideal harmony.

Innovations in Renaissance art?

Perspective, realism, proportion.

Printing Press inventor?

Johannes Gutenberg, 1450s.

Baroque art style?

Dramatic, emotional, theatrical light/dark.

Baroque architecture example?

St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City.

Caravaggio known for?

Realism, strong light/dark (“tenebrism”).

Bernini known for?

Dynamic sculptures (Ecstasy of Saint Teresa).

Enlightenment ideas?

Reason, liberty, progress, science over superstition.

Rousseau’s focus?

Social contract; people’s sovereignty.

Voltaire’s focus?

Freedom of speech & religion.

Neoclassicism style?

Order, symmetry, moral virtue (Jacques-Louis David).

Industrial Revolution dates?

Late 18th–19th century.

Key Industrial Revolution effect?

Shift to urban factory life, technological growth.

Impressionism style?

Capture light & moment — visible brushstrokes (Monet).

Cubism founders?

Picasso & Braque.

Surrealism goal?

Dreamlike, subconscious imagery (Dalí).

Bauhaus architecture philosophy?

Functional, minimal design.

Harlem Renaissance significance?

African-American cultural boom in 1920s.

Existentialism philosophers?

Sartre, Camus — individual freedom/responsibility.

Socratic Method?

Critical questioning to reach truth.

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave meaning?

Knowledge vs. ignorance.

Aristotle’s ethics?

Virtue lies in moderation — “Golden Mean.”

Shakespeare’s era?

Elizabethan England — plays blend humanism & drama.

Romanticism values?

Emotion, nature, individual passion over reason.

Renaissance vs. Middle Ages art?

Renaissance — realistic, perspective; Middle Ages — flat, symbolic.