Name: Apollo 11 Stones

Date: c. 25,500-25,300 B.C.

Period/Style: Global Prehistory

Artist or Architect: N/A

Original Location: The Apollo 11 Cave in the Huns Mountains of southwestern Namibia

Material/technique: Charcoal on stone

Function: N/A

Context: Found in the Apollo 11 Cave in the Huns Mountains of southwestern Namibia with unusual precision for ancient rock art. The stones are engraved with geometric line designs and representations of animal.

Descriptive Terms: Stone, charcoal, geometric line designs, animal representations, realistic

Name: Great Hall of the Bulls

Date: 15,000-13,000 B.C.E

Period/Style: Global Prehistory

Artist or Architect: N/A

Patron: Early humans in Lascaux, France

Original Location: Cave walls near Lascaux, France

Material/Technique: Natural rock contours to show volume of the animals

Function: Prehistoric hunters believed that they had control of the animals by painting them on the walls. They also believed the more lifelike the animal was, the more magical power the animal had. 

Context: The painting took place in France, and has to do with hunter-gatherer society, concerns with food, survival, and procreation.

Descriptive terms: Profile, contour, limited color, rock walls

Name: Camelid Sacrum in the shape of a canine

Date: 14,000-7000 B.C.E.

Period/Style: Global Prehistory

Artist or Architect: N/A

Patron: Early humans in Mesoamerica

Original Location: Tequixquiac, central Mexico

Material/Technique: Carving of animal pelvic bones

Function: To house the spiritual essence of a hunted animal, a ceremonial mask

Context: used as a mask, traditionally thought to be simultaneously located in an Otherworld.

Descriptive terms: Carved, bones, rough, spiritual, symbolic

Name: Running horned woman

Date: 6000-4000 B.C.E. 

Period/Style: Global Prehistory

Artist or Architect: N/A

Patron: N/A

Original Location: Tassili n'Ajjer, Algeria

Material/Technique: Pigment on rock

Function: Some scholars have interpreted the woman as a horned deity instead of a human wearing ceremonial headgear. The meaning of most African rock art remains uncertain.

Context: on the rock walls and displays varied human and animal activities.

Descriptive Terms: Rock wall, pigments, supernatural beings, symbolic

Name: Bushel with ibex motifs

Date: 4200-3500 B.C.E.

Period/Style: Global Prehistory

Artist/Architect: N/A

Patron: Inhabitants of Susa

Original Location: Susa, Iran

Material/technique: Painted terra cotta

Function:Funerary object

Context: Given to the deceased during a secondary burial.

Descriptive Terms: Painted, decorated, large, vase

Name: Anthropomorphic stele

Date: Fourth Millennium B.C.E.

Period/Style: Global Prehistory

Artist/Architect: N/A

Patron:the Nabataeans

Original Location: Arabian Peninsula

Material/Technique: Sandstone

Function: unknown, but associated with religious or burial practices

Context: some are carved in surrounding sandstone cliffs by many Arabian tombs. Earliest known works of art from the Arabian Peninsula

Descriptive Terms: Sandstone, carved, distinctive belted robe and double-bladed sword (may have been unique to this region)

Name: Jade Cong

Date: 3300-2200 B.C.E.

Period/Style: Global Prehistory

Artist/Architect: N/A

Patron: Liangzhu inhabitants

Original Location: Liangzhu, China

Material/technique: Carved Jade

Function: Completely unknown

Context:The principal decoration on cong of the Liangzhu period was the face pattern, which may refer to spirits or deities

Descriptive Terms: Carved, cong, jade, Liangzhu culture

Name: Stonehenge

Date:2500-1600 B.C.E.

Period/Style: Global Prehistory

Artist/Architect: N/A (unknown)

Patron: N/A

Original Location: Wiltshire, UK

Material/Technique: Sandstone

Function:Marker of the midsummer solstice.

Context: worked within the context of existing archaeological knowledge.

Descriptive Terms: Stiff, rigid, stone, simple, mathematical

Name: The Ambum Stone

Date: c. 1500 B.C.E.

Period/Style: Global Prehistory

Artist/Architect: N/A

Patron:N/A

Original Location: Ambum Valley, Enga Province, Papua New Guinea

Material/technique: Greywacke

Function: Considered sacred and credited with supernatural powers by present day people of the region.

Context: Ambum stone has a higher level of figurative qualities than other pestles and may be in a unique class of its own. Discovered in a cave, it is one of the earliest known Pacific works of art.

Descriptive terms: birds, stone, pestles, different depictions

Name: Tlatilco female figurine

Date: 1200-900 B.C.E.

Period/Style: Global Prehistory

Artist/Architect: N/A

Patron: N/A

Original Location: Central Mexico, site of Tlatilco

Material/Technique: Ceramic and paint

Function:suggested they are related to women's roles in regards to nature.

Context: The figure is completely nude and revealing an exagerrated contrast in proportions. Tlatico figurines show a fascination with physical deformities.

Descriptive Terms: traces of pigment, exagerrated, fertility, symbolism

Name: Terra cotta fragment

Date: 1000 B.C.E.

Period/Style: Global Prehistory

Artist/Architect: N/A

Patron: N/A

Original Location: Solomon Islands, Reef Islands

Material/Technique: Terra cotta (incised)

Function: piece of pottery used for cooking, serving, and storing

Context: Lapita refers to an ancient Pacific culture that archaeologists believe to be the common ancestor of the contemporary cultures of Polynesia, Micronesia, and some areas of Melanesia. Lapita art is known for ceramics, which have intricate repeating geometric patterns that sometimes include anthropomorphic faces and figures.

Descriptive Terms: Ceramic, pottery, geometric patterns

Context: Survival

hunter-gatherer

procreation

fertility

food

women/animals

Venus of Wildendorf

Materials: paint pigments from the earth

stone (lithic)

Stonehenge

on cave walls

incised

ceramics

Name: White Temple and its ziggurat

 Date: c.35000-3000

Period/Style: Ancient Near East

Artist or Architect: Unknown

Patron: N/A

Original Location: Uruk (modern Warka, Iraq)

Material/technique: Brick

Function: A temple. A meeting place for gods and humans

Context: Statues for gods and donors were placed inside temples. Dedicated to Inanna (goddess of love and war) and to Anu (sky god)

Descriptive terms: Brick, temple, steps, platform

Name: Palette of King Narmer

Date: c. 3000-2920

Period/Style: Ancient Egypt

Artist/Architect: N/A

Patron: N/A

Original Location: Nekhen, Egypt

Material/technique: Greywacke, schist

Function: A votive or gift offering by the King to his "father", the god Amunra. 

Context: Believed to be found in the Predynastic capital of Upper Egypt. 

Descriptive terms: Sheild-shaped, decorated on both sides.

Name: Statues of votive figures, from the Square Temple at Eshnunna

Date: c. 2700 B.C.E

Period/Style: Ancient Near East

Artist/Architect: N/A

Patron: N/A

Original Location: Mesopotamia

Material/technique: Gypsum inlaid with shell and black limestone

Function: Surrogate for donor (figures are not deities) offering constant prayer to deity with arms clasped reverentialy, in supplication, awe.

Context: Placed in temples precincts ("waiting rooms") facing altar or statue of god appearance of figures relates to anxiety of after life. 

Descriptive terms: Stiff, rigid, not in proportion, awe, pessimistic, frontal simplified, conical

Name: Seated Scribe

Date: c. 2620-2500

Period/Style: Ancient Egypt

Artist/Architect: N/A

Patron: N/A

Original Location: Saqqara, Egypt

Material/technique: painted limestone, rock crystals, magnesite, and copper/arsenic

Function: To represent a scribe for the interior of a tomb

Context: Placed inside tombs. Represents a scribe at work. Is meant for the afterlife. 

Descriptive terms: realistic, lively, representational, rigid

Name: Standard of Ur from the Royal Tombs at Ur

Date: c. 2600-2400 B.C.E.

Period/Style: Ancient Near East

Artist/Architect: N/A

Patron: N/A

Original Location: modern Tell el-Muqayyar, Iraq

Material/technique: Wood inlaid with shells,lapis lazuli, and red limestone

Function:It's original function is not yet understood, but it is likely to have been the sound box for a musical instrument.

Context: found in one of the largest graves in the Royal Cemetery at Ur, lying in the corner of a chamber above a soldier who is believed to have carried it on a long pole as a standard, the royal emblem of a king.

Descriptive terms: hollow wooden box, detailed, war, animals

Name: Great Pyramids and Great Sphinx

Date: c. 2550-2490 B.C.E.

Period/Style: Ancient Egypt

Artist/Architect: Egyptians

Patron: N/A

Original Location: Giza, Egypt

Material/technique: cut limestone

Function: Served as tombs for pharaohs

Context: The Great Sphinx is believed to be the most immense stone sculpture ever made by man. 

Descriptive terms: stone, tombs, statues, animal symbolism

Name: King Menkaura and queen

Date: c.2490-2472 B.C.E.

Period/style: Ancient Egypt

Artist: N/A

Patron: N/A

Original location: Old kingdom, Fourth Dynasty

Material/technique: Greywacke

Function:to be put in tombs

Context: Found in a hole dug earlier by treasure-hunters below the floor of a room in the Valley Temple of the pyramid of Menkaure at Giza.

Descriptive terms: representational, proportional, frontal viewpoint, hierarchical structure

Name: The Code of Hammurabi

Date: 1750BC

Period/Style: Ancient Near East

Artist or Architect: Hammurabi

Original Location: Babylon

Material/Technique: Words carved into 8ft tall black Stone

Function: Act as a system of Babylonian laws

Context: In this stone is carved with around 300 laws, the first know set of ruler enforced laws.

Descriptive Terms: Stone, carved, laws, inscriptions

Name: Hypostyle Hall

Date: c. 1250 B.C.

Period/Style: Egyptian

Artist or Architect: N/A

Original Location: Karnak near Luxor

Material/Technique: Cut sandstone and mud brick

Function: A major portion of the temple for the god, Amun-Re

Context: Represented a marsh in the begining of time, only Pharaoh and priests were allowed for religious practices

Descriptive Terms: Pillars, hall, sandstone, carvings, religious practices 

Name: Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut

Date: c. 1473-1458 B.C.

Period/Style: Egyptian

Artist/Architect: Senmut

Original Location: Near Luxor

Material/Technique: Sandstone, partially carved into a rock cliff, red granite

Funtion: Funerary temple for the queen of the time

Context: Built for the queen to commemerate her acheivments and act as a mortuary for her and a sanctuary for the god Amon ra

Descriptive Terms: Granite, sanstone, cliff, carving, mortuary, queen

Name: Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Three Daughters

Date: c. 1353-1335 B.C.

Period/Style: Egyptian

Artist/Architect: N/A

Original Location: New Kingdom

Material/Technique: Limestone

Function: Depict Akhenaten and his wife and their relation to the new god, Aten

Context: A peice that would be in someones home home, not in a public place, depicting relation between the ruler and the god

Descriptive Terms: Limestone, Aten, religion, sculpture

Name: Tutankhamun's Tomb, Innermost Coffin

Date: c. 1323 B.C.

Period/Style: Egyptian

Artist or Architect: N/A

Original Location: New Kingdom

Material/Technique: Gold interlay eith enamal and semiprecious stones

Funtion: Coffin for the king

Context: Coffin within the king's tomb, helf his mummified body

Descriptive Terms: Tomb, gold, coffin, afterlife, King, mummy

Name: Last Judgment of Hu-Nefer, from his Tomb

Date: c. 1275 B.C.

Period/Style: Egyptian

Artist/Architect: N/A

Original location: New Kingdom

Material/Technique: Papyrus scroll

Function: Depict Hu-Nefer's last judgment 

Context: The judgment of whether or not Hu-Nefer has lived an ethical life, if he has not, he will be devoured by mythical creatures made of different parts of animals all put together

Descriptive Terms: Scroll, papyrus, judgment, ethical life

Name: Lamassu from the citadel of Sargon  II, Dur Sharrukin

Date: c. 720-705 B.C.

Period/Style: Ancient Near East

Artist/Architect: N/A

Original Location: Assyria (modern Khorsabad, Iraq)

Material/Technique: Limestone

Function: Protect and support important doorways in Assyrian palaces

Context: Used as a form of intimidating protection to palaces in Assyria 

Descriptive Terms: Limestone, Lamassu, human and animal forms

Name: Anavysos Kouros

Date: 530 B.C.E.

Period/Style: Archaic Greek

Artist: Unknown

Patron: N/A

Location: Greece

Matirial: Marble with paint remnats

Function: Grave markers, or offering to a god

Context: found by a youth's grave, who died in battle

Description: left foot forward, knees are locked, braided hair with head band, more life-like compared to earlier Kouros, archaic smile

Name: Peplos Kore

Date: 530 B.C.E.

Period/Style: Archaic Greek

Artist: Unknown

Patron: N/A

Location: Acropolis, Greece

Material: Marble with painted details

Function: offering/reprisenation of a goddess

Context: thought to be an offering to Athena, later discovered to be a statue of Artemis or Athena

Description: arm straight out, thought to be carring something, holes in head thought to be wearing a metal crown, paint visible in speaial lighting on the dress, archaic smile

Name: Sarcoughagus of the Spouses

Date: 520 B.C.E.

Period/Style: Etruscan, Archaic period

Artist: Unknown

Patron: N/A

Location: Cerverteri, Italy

Material: Terra cotta

Function: Sarcoughagus containing the ashes of the deceased; funerary monument

Context: The couple are lounging on a banquet couch for what might be a funeral banquent for the dead. Although the figures are at rest, they convey far more animation than the stiff, formal Egyptian tomb sculptures. There is some disregard for portion and balance - the legs were only summarily modeled while the upper half of the figures are much more detailed. The sculptor focused on the vibrant faces and the gesticulating arms. 

Description: Detail in hair color; portrayed women's relative freedom in Etruscan society; terracotta, funerary monument, sarcophagus, gender relations/ gender roles, expressive figures, unrealistic proportions

Sources: Garner's Art Through the Ages, SmartHistory

Name: Apadana (Audience Hall)

Date: 520-465 B.C.E

Period/Style: Etruscan

Artist: Unkknown

Patron: N/A

Location: Persepolis in Susa, Iran

Matirial: Limestone

Function:

Context:

Description:

Name: Apulu (Apollo) from Veii

Date: 510-500 B.C.E.

Period/Style: Etruscan, Archaic period

Artist: Vulca (possibly)

Patron: Etruscan king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus

Location: The roof of the Portonaccio temple, Veii, Italy

Materials: Temple - wood, mud bricks, tufa (volcanic rock); Sculpture - terracotta

Function: Temple rooftop statue

Context: The statue is part of a group of at least four other painted terracotta figures that adorned the temple roof. They depicted one of the twelve labors of Hercules. The bright paint and the style of drapery are reminiscent of Archaic korai, but the figure's vigorous motion, gesticulating arms, animated face, and overall energy and excitement are distinctly Etruscan.

Description: Figure is energetic and excited; movement; terra cotta, statuary, mythology

Sources: Gardner's Art Through the Ages, SmartHistory

Name: Tomb of the Triclinium

Date: 460-450 B.C.E.

Period/Style: Etruscan

Artist: Unknown

Patron: N/A

Location: Tarquinia, Italy

Materials: Tufa, fresco

Function:

Context:

Description:

Name: Niobides Krater

Date: c. 460-450 B.C.E.

Period/Style: Classical Greek

Artist or Architect: Niobid Painter

Original Location: N/A

Current Location: Museum of Louvre, Paris

Material/technique: Clay, red-figure technique (white highlights)

Function: Vase; worshipping

Context: The engraved figures are the Greek Gods Apollo and Artemis killing the children of Niome. Generally accepted it is the Gathering of Argonauts or Polynotos of Thasos.

Descriptive Terms: Attempt at three dimensions, red-figure style, Greek

Name: Doryphoros (Spear Bearer)

Date: 450-440 B.C.E.

Period/Style: Greek; Classical realism; contrapposto

Artist: Polykleitos

Patron: N/A

Original Location: Herculaneum

Current Location: Naples National Archaeological Museum

Materials: Marble

Function: Depiction of the (ideal) human body

Context: N/A

Description: Contrapposto, realism, muscular, iconic, balanced portions of the human body

Name: Parthenon

Date: c. 447-424 B.C.E. (Acropolis); 447-438 BCE (Parthenon)

Period/Style: Greek

Artist: Iktinos and Kallikrates(architects); Phidias(sculptor)

Patron: Greek government

Location: Athens, Greece

Materials: Marble, stone, used mathematics

Function: Architecture, to house the gods and to be a treasury

Context: Dedicated to the God Athena, symbol of Athenian democracy and western civilization

Description: Large(228ft by 101ft); columns, religious 

Name: Grave stele of Hegeso

Date: 410 B.C.E.

Period/Style: Greek

Artist: Kallimachos 

Patron: N/A

Location: Kerameikos(found); National Archeological Museum, Athens(current)

Materials: Pentelic marble and paint

Function: A grave stone honoring the dead

Context: It is a grave Stelae, and the deceased is Hegeso, the daughter of Proxenos

Description: Used to honor the dead, marble, damaged/broken off on the Hegeso's head

Name: Nike of Samothrace

Date: c. 200-190 BCE

Period/Style: Hellenstic Greek/Ancient Greek

Artist: Unknown

Patron: N/A

Location: Samothrace, Greece

Materials: Marble

Function: Naval victory

Context: It is the Greek goddess Nike, and it was made not only to honor her, but a sea battle. 

Description: humanistic culture, polytheism, wings, Goddess

Source: Gardner

Name: Great Altar of Zeus and Athena (at Pergamon)

Date: c. 175 B.C.E.

Period/Style: Hellenistic Greek

Artist: King Eumenes III

Patron: N/A

Location: Asia Minor

Materials: Marble

Function: Worship

Context: Shows the battle between the Olympian Gods and the Giants, and depicts the life of Telephus

Description: Very large and deep

Name: House of the Vettii

Date: 2nd century B.C.E.; rebuilt 62-79 C.E.  

Period/Style: Roman Republic/Pompeii and the cities of Vesuvious

Artist: Unknown

Patron: N/A

Location: Pompeii, Italy

Materials: cut stone and fresco

Function: Atrium/townhouse. Somtimes a stage in which daily life rituals and displays of social hierarchy were performed. 

Context: Named after Aulus Vettius Conviva and Aulus Vettius Restitutus. It's a Roman townhouse. The volcanic eruption in Pompeii preserved much of the architecture of the city

Descriptive terms: Domus Architecture, townhouse, stone, wall paintings, fresco

Source:https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/roman/wall-painting/a/pompeii-house-of-the-vettii

Name: Alexander Mosaic from the House of Faun, Pompeii

Date: c. 100 BCE

Period/Style: Greek

Artist/Architect: Unknown

Patron: citizen of Pompeii

Original Location: House of the Faun, Pompeii

Material/Technique: Mosaic

Function: Decoration

Context: Depicts the moment when the battle between Alexander the Great and Darius turned in Alexander's favor; political art

Descriptive Terms: Complicated, political, foreshortening

Name: Seated Boxer

Date: c. 100 BCE

Period/Style: Hellenistic Greek (towards end of Greek period)

Artist/Architect: Unknown

Patron: Unknown

Original Location: buried under the Quirinial – one of the seven hills of Rome

Material/Technique: Bronze – lost wax casting; some copper worked into the bronze to appear to be wounds

Function: Might be a depiction of an actual athlete from the time, or decorative (?)

Context: Most Greek statues depicted ideal human forms (young, beautiful athletes); religious connections

Descriptive Terms: Depicts an old, ugly athlete who appears to have been defeated

Name: Head of a Roman patrician

Date: c. 75-50 BCE

Period/Style: Republican Roman

Artist/Architect: Unknown

Patron: Roman patrician

Original Location: Rome, Italy

Material/Technique: Marble

Function: Bust of important citizen; political art

Context: Idealized portrayal of patrician - shows dignity of age (ideal for politicians of the time)

Descriptive Terms:

Name: Augustus of Primaporta

Date: 20 CE

Period/Style: The Early Empire/Roman Art

Artist/Architect: Unknown

Patron: Tiberius Caesar 

Original Location: Rome, private residence. Found at Livia's villa at Primaporta

Material/Technique: Marble

Function: Commemorative monument. A vehicle of political propaganda. 

Context: Political art – advertised Augustus qualities. Depicts the emperor in his role as general and is based closely on Polykleitos's Doryphoros. Cupid is at his feet. Current events are referenced on Augustus's cuirass.  

Descriptive Terms:  political, idealized, military motifs

Source: Smarthistory and Gardner

Name: Colosseum (Amphitheatrum Flavium)

Date: c. 70-80 CE

Period/Style: Imperial Roman

Artist/Architect: N/A, but Titus dedicated it to Vespasian

Patron: Vespasian

Original Location: Rome, Italy

Material/Technique: Stone and concrete

Function: Amphitheater with 100 days of games like animal fights and gladiatorial battles, then, after years of neglect, it was used ofr materials in the 18th century

Context: Could hold between 50,000 and 80,000 spectators which were organized by social ranking, largest ampitheater in the Roman Worlds, freestanding unlike most other ampitheaters which were built into hillsides, included doric, ionic, and carinthian orders 

Descriptive Terms: Amphitheater, columns, doric, ionic, carinthian, concrete, stone, entertainment

Source: (www.history.com, Smart History) Gardner

Name: Market of Trajan

Date: 106-112 CE

Period/Style: Ancient Rome

Patron: Emperor of Trajan

Artist/Architect: Apollodorus of Damascus

Original Location: Rome, Italy

Material/Technique: Architecture: brick and concrete; column: marble

Function: Dedicated to Emperor Trajan in honor of his victory over Dacia, a collection of warehouse and shops where Romans could conduct business and purchess goods

Context: Political art that celebrated rulers, carved into the side of a hill "Apollodorus built a monumental, semi-circular facade bordered by a row of columns. At both ends were smaller exedras that were covered by a half dome."

Descriptive Terms: Relief sculpture, column, political

(www.aviewoncities.com, Smart History)

Name: Pantheon

Date: 125 CE

Period/Style: High Empire/Roman Art

Artist/Architect: Unknown

Patron: Unknown

Original Location: Rome, Italy

Material/Technique: Concrete with stone facing

Function: First used as a temple, then as a church. The temple for all of the gods. 

Context: Well-preserved Roman temple that was repurposed throughout the years. Work on the Pantheon started immediately after Hadrian became emperor. The dome's summit is the same distance from the floor as the diameter of the dome: 142 feet. This is so the interior space can be imagined as the orb of the earth. The dome was meant to be imagined as the vault of the heavens. 

Descriptive Terms: Domes, geometric organization/decoration, Corinthian columns, coffers (sunken, decorative panels)

 Source: Smart History and Gardner

Name: Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus

Date: c. 250-260 CE

Period/Style: Late Imperial Roman

Artist/Architect: Unknown

Patron: Unknown

Original Location: Near Porta Turbatina

Material/Technique: Proconnessian Marble

Function: Tomb, memorial, sarcophogus

Context: A memorial to the wars between the Ostrogoths and Imperial Romans then taking place

Descriptive Terms: Relief sculpture, figures are crammed together in contrast to the Roman convention of having open space around figures, anti-classical, military heroes, master carving

Source: Gardner, Smart History

Name: Male Lyre Player

Date: c. 2700-2500 B.C.

Period/Style: Aegean

Artist: N/A

Patron: N/A

Original Location: Keros

Material/Technique: Marble

Function: The musician might be playing for deceased in the afterlife

Context:the harpist reflects the same preference for simple geometric shapes and large flat planes as the female figures. Figurines of both a musician and a reclining woman were placed in woman's grave showing that the lyre players are not images of dead men

Descriptive terms: elegant, geometric, flat planed

Name: Funerary Mask

Date: c. 1600-1500 B.C

Period/Style: Aegean

Artist: N/A

Patrons: N/A

Original Location: Mycenae, Greece

Material/Technique: Beaten Gold, repousse technique

Function: People were laid to rest with these masks covering their faces.

Context: Found fastened to the faces of people in graves. 

descriptive terms: Beaten gold, texturized, maleable

Name: Nike Adjusting Her Sandal

Date: 410 BCE

Period/Style: High Classical Greece

Artist/Architect: Unknown

Patron: Pericles

Original Location: Temple of Athena, Nike (Athens, Greece)

Material/Technique: Marble

Function: Guards Athena at her temple

Context: Nike is the goddess of victory, and is supposed to be protecting Athena in front of her temple

Descriptive Terms: Greek, Goddess, Folds on robe, bare shoulder, clothed shoulder

Name: Venus de Milo

Date:150-125BCE

Period/Style: Greek/Hellenistic

Artist or Architect: N/A

Patron:N/A

Original Location: Melos, Greece

Material/Technique: Marble

Function: Meant to celebrate Venus's triumph over the "fierce temper" of her husband, Mars.

Context: Thought to be in a group of sculptures of Venus, most likely put in a temple to Venus for all to see. 

Descriptive Terms: Human like, proportional, detailed, not exagerrated, contrapposto, goddess

Source: Smart History

Name: The Erechtheion

Date: 421-405 B.C.E.

Period/Style: Classical

Artist or Architect: Mnesikles

Original Location: Athens, Greece

Material/Technique: Stone

Function: A temple dedicated to Athena on the eastern side and to Boutes, Hephaistos, and othergods and heros on the western side (www.theacropolismuseum.gr)

Context: "The building had two porches. The roof of the north porch was supported on six Ionic columns, while below its floor the Athenians pointed at the mark of the thunderbolt sent by Zeus to kill the legendary King Erechteus. At the south porch, which was the most well-known, the roof was supported by six statues of maidens known as the Caryatids, instead of the typical columns. Below it stood the grave of Kekrops, another legendary King of Athens. A building inscription of the Erechtheion refers to the Caryatids simply as Korai (maidens), while the name Caryatids was assigned at a later time. The second Korai from the western section was removed by Lord Elgin in 1801 and is today located in the British Museum." (www.theacropolismuseum.gr)

Descriptive Terms: Stone, ionic, temple, gods and heros, statues, realistic

Name: Pergamon Altar

Date: 175 BCE

Period/Style: Hellenistic Greek.

Artist or Architect: N/A

Original Location: the Altar of Zeus at Pergamon.

Material/technique: Marble.

Function: Temple decoration; the struggle between the god and the giants (the gigantomachy) alludes to a recent victory over barbarians.

Context: The picture is only a detail of the almost 400 ft long sculpted frieze that that extends from the altar to down the stairs leading to the altar. The most famous Hellenistic sculptural ensemble.

Descriptive Terms: Frieze, marble, gigantomachy, high relief, political allusions, tumultuous, violent movement, vivid depictions of suffering.

Name: Dionysus in a Boat

Date: 540 BCE

Period: Ancient Greek/Archaic

Artist: Exekias

Patron: N/A

Location: Staatliche Antikensammulungen, Munich

Technique: Painted Pottery. The shape is a kylix

Function: A wine glass

Context: Shows an Ancient Greece boat with Dionysus, the god of wine, in it. There is a grapevine growing from the top of the boat function as an arbor over the boat. The story is said to be that Dionysus was hiding from pirates so he made the grapevine to hide. He also turned the pirates into the dolphins. 

Description: Gentle curves, Kylix, relaxation, black figure painting, patterns, shallow

Source: Smart History

Name: Tomb of the Leopards

Date: c. 480-470 B.C.E.

Period/Style: Etruscan, Archaic/Early Classical period

Artist or Architect: N/A

Original Location: Underground tomb in Tarquinia, Italy

Material/technique: Painted mural

Function: Tomb decoration

Context: Tarquina featured many large underground burial chambers. Painted tombs are statistically rare and indicate that they were made only for very wealthy Etruscans. The mural features no mythological figures, but instead focuses on banqueters (men with dark skin and women with light skin) tended to by servants and entertained by musicians. In characteristic Etruscan fashion, the banqueters, servants, and entertainers all make exaggerated gestures with unnaturally enlarged hands. One figure holds an egg, the symbol of regeneration. The mural has a joyful tone, and rather than contemplating death, celebrates life, food, wine, music, and dance. The natural environment is not emphasized here like it is in other Etruscan works of art.

Descriptive Terms: Figures are comparable to 6th-century Greek vases lacking foreshortening. Mural, mural painting, banquet, joyful, celebratory, funerary art/imagery

Sources: Gardner's Art Through the Ages, https://www.boundless.com/art-history/textbooks/boundless-art-history-textbook/the-etruscans-7/early-etruscan-art-68/tombs-358-10756/

Name: Capitoline Wolf

Date: 500 BCE

Period/Style: Etruscan/Archaic

Artist: The suckling infants were added in the Renaissance and are thought to be the work of Antonio Pollaioulo

Patron: Made for the new Roman Republic after expulsion of Tarquinius Superbus

Original Location: Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome

Material/technique: Bronze

Function: Became totem of the new state in the Roman Republic. To this day it has still remained the emblem of Rome.

Context: Is one of the most memorable portrayals of an animal in world art history. In the legend, the she-wolf nursed Romulus and Remus after they were abandoned. Made for the new Roman Republic. 

Descriptive terms: Bronze, animal portrayal, Emblem, detailed

Source: Gardner

Name: Column of Trajan

Date: 112 CE

Period/Style: Ancient Rome

Artist or Architect: Apollodorus

Patron: Emperor Trajan

Original Location: Rome, Italy

Material/Technique: Cylindrical shaft is created from a series of 18 marble drums

Funtion: Commemerate the victory of ther Emperor against the Ducians, has interrir winding staircase and viewing platform at the top

Context: Had been painted, statue of Trajan at the top, decorated with winding relief sculpture, scenes are depicted around its sides, probably meant more to be commemorative not depicting significant events because the top is barely legible from the ground

Descriptive Terms: Comemorative, column, relief, viewing platform

(www.austincc.edu, www.learner.org, Smart History)

Name: Constantine

Date: 312-315 AD

Period/Style: Late Empire/Roman Art

Artist or Architect: Michaelangelo 

Patron: Constantine

Original Location: Basilica of Maxentius

Present Location: Musei Capitolini, Rome

Material/Technique: The head, arms, and legs were made of white marble, whereas the body was made of a brick core and wooden framework 

Function: Filled the Basillica and allowed people to worship and be in awe of Constantine, especially because it was so huge

Context: The great head was carved in "Constantinian" style, and the body is naturalistic, which can be seen in the toes and veiny forearms. Constantine ushered in Christiantity and moved the capital to Constantinople.

Descriptive Terms: Massive(est. 40 feet), abstract, naturalism, individualism, geometric, Christianity

Sources: Smart History

Etruscan and Ancient Rome: 

Art of the Etruscans: Italy Before the Romans

• Eclecticism and the influences of Archaic Greek, Aegean, and Egyptian art
• Etruscan tombs and temples: live representations of the deceased; continuation of earthly existence into the afterlife
• Strong sense of individualism, independence, and exuberance

The Art of Ancient Rome: From Seven Hills to Three Continents [C1]

• Insatiable taste for all that is Greek
• Pragmatism, utilitarianism, and organization in society and art
• Large-scale public works and propaganda art in the service of the state
• Imperial Rome and the emperor’s patronage
• Engineering: arch, dome, vault, and the use of concrete sculpt interior space
• Transition in sculpture: realism, idealism, and the decline
• Illusionism in painting: linear and atmospheric perspective

Visual analysis

Concept of democracy

Greek humanism: man as the measure of all things

Evolution, transition and progression of the ieal human figure in Greek art: geometric, orientalizing, archaic, severe, classical, late classical, Hellenistic

Balance, harmony, beauty, and proportion in man and in art based on mathematical proportions

Mythology permeates Greek life and subject matter in art.

Golden age of Pericles

The Parthenon: Geometry and the human form

progression of architectural orders: Doric, Ionic, Corinthian 

Hellenism and the spread of Greek art

Cosmopolitan structure replaces independent city states