Prehistoric ArchitectureStonehenge • Post and lintel• Megaliths are 21 to 24 feet tall,

including height of lintel, and buried four feet in the ground

• Cromlech• Solar and lunar orientation• Stones dragged from far away to

this site• Circle of megaliths embrace

structure, enclosing it• Inside circle of megaliths is a

larger horseshoe-shaped group of megaliths which frame an “altar stone”

Sumerian Art

Statuettes from Tell Asmar

• Short compact statues

• Arms folded in front

• Inscription on back “Always praying”

• Huge eyes with giant pupils

• Men have long flowing beards that ripple down chest

• Compact statues

• Arms cut away at side

• Wear kilts

Sumerian Art Ziggurat at Ur

• Mud-brick construction• Solid, no interior• Large ceremonial staircases• Temple at top now missing• Functioned as religious site and

center of civic pride• Holes in surface used to show

flags• Oriented by the points of the

compass • Painted surface

Akkadian Art

Victory Stele of Naram-Sin• Naram-Sin as a god ruling with three gods

symbolized as stars• Defeats his enemies: one thrown off cliff, one

begs for mercy; one has a spear through his throat

• Naram-Sin acts with the gods’ blessings, but is independent of them

• He wears the horned crown of divinity• He and his army climb a mountain• Narrative in art• Hierarchy of scale• Relief sculpture• Rigid ground lines discarded• Regimentation of winners as opposed to the

scattered defeated

Assyrian Art

Lamassu

• Guardian figure protects entrances into palaces

• Combination man and animals

• Winged, hoofed

• Has five legs: two if you look from the front, four as you look from the side

Persian Art

Persepolis, Iran

• Apadana with huge columns 60 feet tall

• 36 columns with bull-shaped tops

• Reliefs on walls symbolize Persian guards called Immortals

• 10,000 Immortals protected the city and ruler

• Large ramps leading to apadana enable chariots to enter hall

Egyptian Old Kingdom Architecture

Step Pyramid, Saqqara• Imhotep: first known architect• 6 unequal steps• Largest pyramid• Giant staircase• Pharaoh buried inside• Outgrowth of the early mastaba

burial structuresColumns of North Palace Façade• Tops of columns resemble papyrus

plants• Origins in older temples that were

held up by reed plants bundled together as columns

• Engaged columns

Egyptian Old Kingdom Architecture Three Pyramids of Gizeh

• Used no mortar

• Stone casing

• Burial of the pharaoh

• Sides of the pyramids face north, east, south, west

• Pyramids face rising run

• 2.3 million stone blocks weigh 2.5 tons each

Egyptian New Kingdom Art

Mortuary Chapel of Hatshepsut

• Three colonnaded terraces

• Two ramps

• Suited to setting

• Interplay of horizontals and verticals

• Verticals match landscape behind

• Decorated to evoke the Nile

Egyptian New Kingdom Art

Akhenaton

• Frontal pose

• Epicene body

• Curving contours

• Slack jaw

• Full lips

• Big hips

• Belly hangs over belt

Mycenaean Art

Lion Gate, Mycenae, Greece

• Minoan column

• Heads of animals made of separate pieces of stone or metal, don’t survive

• May have been sphinxes, not lions

• Huge rocks grooved in place without mortar

• Outer protected entrance of a Mycenaean center

Greek Classical Art

Myron, The Discus Thrower

• No Greek originals exist by him

• Impossible to throw the discus this way, but optically satisfying view

• Meant to be seen only from the front

• Face is expressionless

• Complex contrapposto

• Roman copy of a Greek bronze

Greek Architecture: The Parthenon

Parthenon• Greek Classical architecture• Mathematical proportions• Curvature of the base and

entablature• Pediment contains sculpture• Doric temple, but some Ionic

elements• Housed Athena• Only priests allowed inside• No windows• Post and lintel

Hellenistic Sculpture

Laocoön and His Sons• Negative space• Many viewpoints, eyes wander

everywhere• Laocoön trying to tell the Trojans

that the Greek horse was booby-trapped

• Strangling of figures by snakes sent by the gods to silence them

• Deep cutting into stone to create shadows

• Extreme musculature• Agonizing expressions • Figure to the right added later

Etruscan Art

Capitoline Wolf• Tense, watchful animal• Spare flanks, gaunt ribs• Alert eyes and ears, fierce and

protective• May not have had children; current

children made in the Renaissance• Expresses defiance, snarls• Not wolf-like: wolves have no

manes nor locks shaped like hooks• Wolf-like in its long pointed nose,

small head, short ears, and strong forelegs

Roman Early Imperial Art

Pont du Gard, Nîmes

• Bridge and aqueduct

• Largest arch spans 82 feet

• Each person in Nîmes could count on 100 gallons of water a day

• Rough stones left exposed to allow for repair work

• Ashlar masonry

Roman Architecture: ColosseumColosseum, Rome• Real name, Flavian Ampitheatre• Accommodates 50,000 spectators• Miles of vaulted spaces• Barrel vaults, groin vaults• Concrete• Elliptical form• 80 entrances• 1st floor: Tuscan, considered the heaviest• 2nd Floor: Doric, considered lighter• 3rd floor: Ionic, fancier• Top floor flat columns in Corinthian style, most

decorative• Imperial box opposite gladiator entrance• Small rectangular windows on fourth floor let in

light into upper corridors

Façade of travertine blocks

Flagstaffs balanced on marble buttresses visible on fourth floor held up a sunshield for the spectators

Used for gladiator combat, naval battles

Roman Architecture

Pantheon, Rome• Dedicated to all the gods• Porch has 16 columns• Influenced by the Parthenon• Corinthian capitals• Two pediments• Dome made of concrete, at base 20

feet thick• Interior height equals width• A hemisphere shape• Coffers relieve concrete stress on

dome: each contains four recesses except the top contains three

• Ancient metal roof almost gone