ART HISTORY QUIZ QUESTIONS

Prehistoric Period:

• Most figurines were depictions of men (male potency) 

• The first known art objects were discovered in Blombos Cave, South Africa and date to 77,000 years ago. 

• Iconography is the objective study of images and symbols 

• Stonehenge is an example of post-and-lintel architecture 

• Parietal art → art made on cave walls or stone 

• Early prehistoric civilization did not keep records or accounts, hence, animal depictions did not meet this purpose 

• Women from willendorf → a portable venus figure from the paleolithic period; it was a symbol of female fertility 

• Prehistoric refers to art introduced prior to the development of literacy NOT religion.

Ancient Mesopotamia

• The sumerians developed the first system of writing 

• The standard of ur was made of lapis lazuli, imported from modern day afghanistan

• The standard of ur was NOT discovered in a temple  

• The lamassu contains bird wings, crown, body of a bull, and a human head. 

• A register is a horizontal band used to organize a visual narrative

• Ancient sumerian votive figures were placed in a temple as a stand in for the worshipper 

• The law code of hammurabi contains a description of the laws, an epilogue addressing the legacy of the king, and a prologue addressing the law. 

• In ancient Babylonia, the god of justice was Shamash 

• The ziggurat was built using mudbrick

Ancient Egypt

• The Great pyramids were likely not built using a crane system 

• A mastaba is a flat, one story funerary temple 

• The egyptians used canon of proportions in order to create the image of the ideal human form 

• Menkaure and queen is an Egyptian art piece that depicts the ideals and virtues associated with the monarch — strength, glory, etc. 

• The Middle kingdom is characterized by the establishment of provinces growing in independent rule that led to increased military battles leading into the second intermediate period. 

• The old kingdom was a period of political stability, military expansion, and architectural advancement like the great pyramids. 

• In the sculpture, Akhenatan and family, Aten takes the form of a solar disk. 

• Khafre, Menkaure, and Khufu were buried at the pyramids of Giza.

Ancient Greece

• The Kouros was an idealized depiction of the human body, not a portrait of the deceased. They were, however, used as grave markers. 

• The archaic period marks a shift from the use of wood to the use of stone in the construction of temples and sanctuaries. 

• The amphora is a jar with an egg shaped body used for storing oil and wine. 

• Small bronze sculptures were used as votive offerings for the gods. 

• The temenos was an enclosed sacred area that was reserved for worship 

• Architrave → the lower portion of the entablature 

• Frieze → upper portion of the entablature that contain triglyphs and metopes 

• The parthenon is dedicated to athena parthenos 

• Late classical period sculptures were characterized by males having taller, slender proportions. 

• An agora was an open space in a Greek town that was used as a central gathering place or market. 

• The acropolis served as a religious sanctuary. 

• Early classical period is marked by the defeat of the persian armies 

• Laocoon and his sons are characters from  the iliad (Trojan war)

• The parthenon uses a 4:9 ratio in order to maintain balance and harmony 

• The doryphoros is associated with contrapposto (high classical period) 

• The temple of demeter in naxos is the earliest surviving example of a greek archaic temple that used stone and optical refinements 

• The erechtheion marks the mythical contest between poseidon and athena 

• The original title for the doryphoros was “the canon”