Ancient to Medieval Art History Key Works

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering major artworks, monuments, and terms from Ancient Greece, Etruria, Rome, Byzantium, Early Medieval Europe, and the Islamic world.

Geometric Period Greek Vessel (Attica)

A slipped ceramic vessel made in Attica (the area around Athens) during the Geometric period, dating to c. 760–735 BCE, with a height of $108.3\,\text{cm}$ ($42\frac{5}{8}\,\text{in}$).

The Metropolitan Kouros

An Archaic period Greek marble sculpture of a youth dating to c. 590–580 BCE, measuring $194.6\,\text{cm}$ ($76\frac{5}{8}\,\text{in}$) in height.

Classical Greek Theater at Delphi

A Classical Greek theater originally constructed during the fourth century BCE and restored in 160/159 BCE, with an orchestra diameter of $7\,\text{m}$ ($23\,\text{ft}$).

The Parthenon

A marble temple on the Athenian Acropolis built c. 447–438 BCE during Classical Greece; designed by architects Iktinos and Kallikrates with a sculptural program by Phidias, featuring a stylobate measuring $69.5 \times 30.9\,\text{m}$ ($228 \times 101\frac{1}{3}\,\text{ft}$).

Riace Warriors

Classical Greek bronze sculptures from the fifth century BCE, standing $197\,\text{cm}$ ($77.5\,\text{in}$) tall, which were recovered from a shipwreck off the coast of Italy.

Symposium Scene (Tomb of the Diver)

A Classical Greek painting from Paestum (Italy) dating to c. 470 BCE, executed as a fresco on travertine with a height of $78\,\text{cm}$ ($30.7\,\text{in}$).

The Farnese Hercules

A colossal Roman marble copy standing $317\,\text{cm}$ ($10.5\,\text{ft}$) tall, signed by Glykon c. 216 CE, made after a fourth-century BCE Classical Greek bronze original by Lysippos.

Battle of Issus Mosaic (Pompeii)

A first-century-CE Roman floor mosaic from Pompeii (Italy), measuring $5.13\,\text{m}$ ($16\,\text{ft}\,10\,\text{in}$) in length, depicting Alexander the Great defeating the Persian ruler Darius III.

Laocoön and His Sons

A first-century-CE marble sculpture ($208\,\text{cm}$ or $81\frac{7}{8}\,\text{in}$ high), possibly created by Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus of Rhodes, copying a bronze Hellenistic original from Pergamon dating to c. 160–140 BCE.

Temple of Portunus

A Roman marble temple in the Forum Boarium (cattle market) in Rome, dating to c. 120–80 BCE and measuring approximately $10.5 \times 19\,\text{m}$ ($34\frac{1}{2} \times 62\frac{1}{3}\,\text{ft}$); dedicated to Portunus, god of keys, doors, livestock, and granaries.

Tomb of the Shields Painting

A late Etruscan tomb painting from the mid-4th century BCE, located in the Monterozzi Necropolis in Tarquinia, Italy.

Roman Portrait Bust of a Patrician

A mid-1st century CE veristic Roman marble portrait bust of a male patrician, standing $36.5\,\text{cm}$ ($14\frac{3}{8}\,\text{in}$) in height.

Augustus Primaporta

An early 1st century CE Roman imperial marble statue of Emperor Augustus, measuring $208\,\text{cm}$ ($81\frac{7}{8}\,\text{in}$) in height.

Ara Pacis Augustae

The "Altar of Augustan Peace," a Roman marble sacrificial monument dating to 13–9 BCE with a height of $6.3\,\text{m}$ ($20\frac{2}{3}\,\text{ft}$).

The Flavian Amphitheater ("The Colosseum")

A monumental amphitheater in Rome built 70–80 CE of concrete faced with travertine limestone, tuff, and brick, measuring $189 \times 156\,\text{m}$ ($615 \times 510\,\text{ft}$) with a central arena of $87 \times 55\,\text{m}$ ($287 \times 180\,\text{ft}$).

The Pantheon (Rome)

An Imperial Roman temple in Rome, Italy, built c. 114–128 CE, notable for a rotunda and dome measuring $43\,\text{m}$ ($142\,\text{ft}$) in both diameter and height.

The Severan Tondo

A circular Roman panel painting from c. 200 CE (likely made in Egypt) measuring $30.5\,\text{cm}$ ($12\,\text{in}$) in diameter, executed in tempera (egg-based paint) on wood; depicts Emperor Septimius Severus, Julia Domna, Caracalla, and Geta.

Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs

A late 3rd or early 4th century CE Roman porphyry sculpture ($129\,\text{cm}$ or $51\,\text{in}$ in height) representing the four imperial co-rulers of the Tetrarchy embracing one another.

The Arch of Constantine

A Roman triumphal arch erected in Rome in 315 CE made of marble-clad concrete, measuring $21\,\text{m}$ ($68.9\,\text{ft}$) in height.

Dura Europos Synagogue Frescoes

Narrative wall frescoes decorating the west wall of the sanctuary in the ancient synagogue at Dura Europos (Syria), created before 256 CE.

Hagia Sophia

Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul, Turkey), 537 CE, commissioned by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, designed by the architects Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles

San Vitale Apse Mosaics (Ravenna)

A pair of Byzantine mosaic panels from 547 CE ($2.64 \times 3.65\,\text{m}$ or $8\,\text{ft}\,8\,\text{in} \times 12\,\text{ft}$ each) in the apse of San Vitale, Ravenna; depicting Emperor Justinian and his retinue on the north wall and Empress Theodora and her retinue on the south wall.

Byzantine image comparing iconoclasm to the torturing of Christ on the Cross, fol 67v from the Chludov Psalter

A mid-9th century CE Byzantine manuscript illumination painted in tempera (egg-based paint) on vellum (calf skin), explicitly equating Byzantine iconoclasm to the torment and crucifixion of Christ.

Sutton Hoo Belt Buckle

An early 7th century CE Anglo-Saxon luxury ornament crafted from gold and niello, measuring $13.2\,\text{cm}$ ($5.2\,\text{in}$) in length, recovered from the Sutton Hoo ship burial.

The Lindisfarne Gospels

An Insular Anglo-Saxon illuminated gospel book created by Bishop Eadfrith in the late 7th to early 8th century CE, with pages measuring $34\,\text{cm}$ ($13.4\,\text{in}$) high, containing complex carpet pages and ornate incipit pages.

Carpet Page (Lindisfarne Gospels)

Folio 26v of the Lindisfarne Gospels, featuring an intricate full-page ornamental design composed of interlaced zoomorphic patterns and a central cross.

Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram (Folio 6v)

A Carolingian manuscript page from c. 870 CE measuring $42\,\text{cm}$ ($16.5\,\text{in}$) high, made with ink and gold leaf on parchment by the court school of Charles the Bald (likely Saint-Denis, France); depicts Christ in majesty surrounded by four prophets and four evangelists.

The Dome of the Rock

An early Islamic octagonal shrine erected in Jerusalem between 687 and 692 CE, topped by a prominent golden dome with a diameter of $20\,\text{m}$ ($64\,\text{ft}$).

"Blue Qur'an" Folio

A manuscript page produced in Tunisia dating from the mid-9th to mid-10th century CE, inscribed with gold and silver lettering on indigo-dyed parchment with a width of $30.4\,\text{cm}$ ($11\frac{15}{16}\,\text{in}$).

Mihrab (Isfahan)

An Islamic prayer niche from Isfahan (Iran) dating to c. 1354–55, assembled from glazed ceramic tiles embedded in mortar, standing $343.1\,\text{cm}$ ($135\frac{1}{16}\,\text{in}$) in height.