Altamira Cave
A cave in northern Spain where prehistoric paintings were discovered in 1879. The paintings are believed to be 25,000 - 35,000 years old.
Composite profile
An artistic technique that shows both the side of the face and the front of the body
Lascaux Cave
A cave discovered in 1940 and containing exceptionally fine Paleolithic wall paintings and engravings
Includes paintings of bison, horses, and handprints
Chauvet Cave
The earliest known painted cave, dated to between 38,000 and 33,000 years ago. (Now thought to be 15,000-13,000 BCE) It is located in France.
Çatalhöyük
An important Neolithic site in what is now Turkey.
First example of what is thought home decor since people were living there permanently
Stonehenge
A structure found by scientist in England is believed to have been built in the Neolithic Age and Bronze Age
Mesopotamia
A region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that developed the first urban societies.
In the Bronze Age this area included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires
In the Iron Age, it was ruled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires
Ancient Egypt
Ancient civilization located primarily along the Nile River.
Ka
In ancient Egypt, the immortal human life force.
Horus
Egyptian falcon-headed solar god
Pharaoh
A ruler of ancient Egypt
Nemes
In ancient Egypt, the linen headdress worn by the pharaoh, with the uraeus cobra of kingship on the front.
King Narmer
The first king of the two lands wearing the White Crown of Upper Egypt and the Red crown of Lower Egypt.
Hieroglyphics
An ancient Egyptian writing system in which pictures were used to represent ideas and sounds
Palette
Stone used to grind material to make makeup.
Registers (Bands)
One of a series of superimposed bands or friezes in a pictorial narrative, or the particular levels on which motifs are placed
Naram-Sin
The Akkadian ruler who claimed to be divine and had a temple built for him
Hierarchical Composition
Composition arranged according to order/rank of power/importance
Canopic Jars
Jars in which the ancient Egyptians preserved the internal organs of a deceased person usually for burial with the mummy.
Duamutef (Jackal)
Stomach Canopic Jar
Qebehsenuef (Falcon)
Intestines Canopic Jar
Hapi (Baboon)
Lungs Canopic Jar
Imseti (Human)
Liver Canopic Jar
Ziggurat
A rectangular tiered temple or terraced mound erected by the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians
Imhotep
Name of the architect who designed the Step Pyramid
Khufu, Khafre, Menkaure
The three outstanding monarchs of the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt
All have their own respective pyramids
Crete
A Greek island in the Mediterranean Sea, southeast of Greece
Mycenae
Site of a fortified palace complex in southern Greece that controlled a Late Bronze Age kingdom. In Homer's epic poems Mycenae was the base of King Agamemnon, who commanded the Greeks besieging Troy.
Greek Humanism
Greeks begin studying the human body in a way to create more anatomically correct features than previously
Hellenism
the diffusion of Greek culture throughout the Mediterranean world after the conquest of Alexander the Great
Peripteral
Having a single row of pillars on all sides in the style of the temples of ancient Greece
Columns surround exterior of temple
Temples have cell as where statues of gods stand
Emphasis on proportions
Early Classicism
480-450 BCE
Opens with sack of acropolis of Athens by Persians in 480
Acropolis retaken 479
Marks the abandonment of rigid and unnatural poses in statues/art.
Contrapposto
An asymmetrical arrangement of the human figure in which the line of the arms and shoulders contrasts with while balancing those of the hips and legs
“Counter pose”
Body is always in a system of balance
First known example is Kritios Boy
High Classicism
450-400 BCE
Athenians rebuild the acropolis after 447 under Pericles' leadership and the artistic direction of Phidias using the Delian League's funds
Parthenon
A temple dedicated to the goddess Athena
Delian League
An alliance headed by Athens that says that all Greek city-states will come together and help fight the Persians
Policles
Greek sculptor
Late Classicism
400-323 BCE
Follows the peloponnesian war which ended 404
Reign of alexander the great closes the age (336-323 bc)
Hellenistic Age
323-30 BCE
Approximately from the death of Alexander to the death of Cleopatra, when Egypt became a province of rome
Relief Sculpture
Sculpture that projects from a flat background
Sculpture in the round
Freestanding figures, carved or modeled in three dimensions.
Triglyphs and Metopes
In doric architecture, the alternating elements of the frieze
Acropolis
A fortified hilltop in an ancient Greek city
Propylaia
A monumental entranceway to a sacred enclosure
Pinakotheke
Greek "picture gallery"; ancient building for the display of paintings on wood panels
Erechtheion
an ancient Greek temple on the north side of the Acropolis of Athens in Greece which was dedicated to both Athena and Poseidon.
Temple of Athena Nike
Kalikrates. Ionic temple that Greets visitors to the sanctuary. Celebrates Athena as bringer of victory against the Persians at marathon. The young Nike's Image is repeated dozens of times. 427-424 BCE
Kallikrates
Greek architect who constructed the Temple of Athena Nike and co-created the Parthenon
Delian League
an alliance headed by Athens that says that all Greek city-states will come together and help fight the Persians
Peloponnesian War
(431-404 BCE) The war between Athens and Sparta that in which Sparta won, but left Greece as a whole weak and ready to fall to its neighbors to the north.
Praxiteles
Ancient Greek sculptor (circa 370-330 BC), a sculptor who lived after Phidias who sculpted figures that were more lifelike and natural in form and size.
Epigonos
Possible pioneer of the Hellenistic Baroque style (works: Gallic chieftain killing himself and his wife, Dying Gaul)
Athanadoros, Hagesandros, and Polydoros of Rhodes
Laocoon and his sons
Stupas
Buddhist shrines
Atruscans
The leaders of the Italian peninsula
Pompeii
Roman city near Naples, Italy, which was buried during an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79.
Villas
large country homes owned by upper-class Roman families
Secco-fresco
Painting on dry plaster
Allows for more intense color saturation, finer details
Less durable, flakes
Hatshepsut
First female pharaoh who expanded Egypt through trade
Cleopatra
Last pharaoh of Egypt; had relationships with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony; Octavian's enemy
Augustus
(63 BCE - 14 CE) First emperor of Rome (27 BCE - 14 CE) He restored order and prosperity to the Empire after nearly a century of turmoil. Grandnephew to Julius Caesar.
First Roman Emperor
Inaugurates tradition of optically convincing porturateture
Virgil's Aeneid
This poem commissioned by Augustus focuses on Aeneas' journey from burning Troy, crossing the Mediterranean, making his way inland to Italy, and finding Rome.
Cupid/Eros
God of love; son of Venus
Aphrodite/Venus
Goddess of love and beauty
Monarchy and Republic (Rome)
753-27 BCE
Romulus and remus "found" Rome 753
Republic established 509
Early Empire Roman
27 BCE - 96 AD
Augustus, the first emperor, reigns 27 BCE - 14 AD
Second Style Wall Painting
The style of Roman mural painting in which the aim was to dissolve the confining walls of a room and replace them with the illusion of a three-dimensional world constructed in the artist's imagination.
Pigments mind chemically with plaster as it dries.
Expensive and time consuming
Relatively durable
Villas are enclosed, less erosion, sophisticated paintings (perspectival recession)
2D surface seems to recede convincingly
Buon-Fresco
Painting on wet plaster
Pigments mind chemically with plaster as it dries.
Expensive and time consuming
Relatively durable
Villas are enclosed, less erosion, sophisticated paintings (perspectival recession)
2D surface seems to recede convincingly
Polycles
An ancient Greek sculptor who flourished about the 156th Olympiad (155 BC)
Used money to rebuild temples at the Acropolis
Woman of Willendorf
Description: Small limestone figurine of a female with exaggerated features
Size: Approximately 4.4 inches tall
Features: Large breasts, rounded belly, wide hips, no facial features