Chapter 18, The Ancient World, covers the time from the Paleolithic period through the Greek and Roman civilizations, when, some historians feel, the fine arts reached their highest level of achievement. Many of the art media that we use today were developed during this time, as were the "modern" notions of abstraction, surrealism, and expressionism.

After reading this chapter you should:

1. know the definitions of the following terms:

   • beehive tomb
   • canon
   • democracy
   • geometric style
   • Hellenism
   • ka
   • naturalism
   • ostraka
   • Paleolithic
   • Phydian style
   • stupas
   • terra cotta
   • Tell el Amarna style
   • Venus figurine
   • ziggurat

2. recognize that the development of the first communal groups resulted in the first systems of belief.

3. know the significance of the following locations: Chauvet, Ardeche Gorge, Çatal Hüyük, Sumer, Egypt, Crete, and Athens.

4. see that Paleolithic societies were capable of "great art"—sophisticated abstractions in stone, "Venus" figurines, and dynamic paintings at Lascaux.

5. see that during this time, shelter evolves from cave dwellings to human made structures—the beginning of what would eventually be called "architecture."

6. determine when and where the beginning of "body and soul" and "Heaven and Earth" concepts begin.

7. recognize the development of the first "canons of proportion." Systems that dictate human and architectural proportion are found in Egypt, Western Africa, Greece and other parts of the ancient world.

8. recognize that the Tell el Amarna style in Egyptian history, brief as it was, produced unprecedented naturalistic portraiture in sculpture and painting.

9. understand how Mycenaean, Greek, and Etruscan civilizations would influence the art and architecture of Rome, and all Western art that would follow.

10. know that the advances made by Greece in the 5th century B.C.E., are the basis for modern politics, philosophy, literature, theater, mathematics, geometry, and medicine.

11. see that parallel developments occurred separately in Asia including monotheistic religious systems, philosophy, technology, and political systems. Sophisticated skills in art media and technology, and remarkable building projects (the Great Wall) rival or surpass Western efforts.

Many ideas that evolved during pre-Christian era formed the social, political, and religious systems that followed in the next two millennia. The establishment of monotheistic societies, the notion of a God who resides in the heavens, the concept of a body and soul which separate at the time of death, monarchies, tyrannies, democracies, republics and empires all had their inception well before the birth of Christ. Philosophy, geometry, and mathematics all reach sophisticated levels. Patronage of the arts by individuals, by governments, and through religious orders are common place. However, the history of Western civilization reveals how the same religious orders and governments that promoted and supported the arts would also eventually suppress and destroy so much of it during its "darkest age."

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