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ART IN CONTEXT:

An Age of Empires

Part 1: The Classical West

Ancient Greece

Ancient Rome

Timeline:

Classical West

1200 BCE: Greek tribes survive

in Dark Age

776 BCE: First Olympic Games

432 BCE: Completion of Parthenon

509 BCE: Roman Republic

Established

490s to 323: Golden Age of Greece

265: Rome rules Italy

44 BCE: Caeasar slain; end of Roman

Republic

27 BCE-180 CE: Pax Romana

30: CE: Death of Jesus Christ

ANCIENT GREECE: Where the

celebration of the human intelligence,

creativity, and power begins.

Warrior,

from sea

near

Riace,

ca.450

BCE,

bronze

Copy after Praxiteles

Aprhodite of Knidos

ca. 350 BCE

"...we entered the temple. In the

midst thereof sits the goddess--

she's a most beautiful statue of

Parian marble--arrogantly smiling

a little as a grin parts her lips.

Draped by no garment, all her

beauty is uncovered and revealed,

except in so far as she

unobtrusively uses one hand to

hide her private parts…and so we

decided to see all of the

goddess…we were filled with an

immediate wonder for the beauty

we beheld.“

~Attributed to Lucian

Laocoön and his sons, Hellenistic Era,

marble, 1st century BCE.

With a double grip round his waist and his

neck, the scaly creatures

Embrace him, their heads and throats

powerfully poised above him.

All the while his hands are struggling to break

their knots,

His priestly headband is spattered with blood

and pitchy venom;

All the while, his appalling cries go up to

heaven -

A bellowing, such as you hear when a wounded

bull escapes from

The altar, after it's shrugged off an ill-aimed

blow at its neck.

~The Aeneid

Timeline:

Classical West

1200 BCE: Greek tribes survive

in Dark Age

776 BCE: First Olympic Games

432 BCE: Completion of Parthenon

509 BCE: Roman Republic

Established

490s to 323: Golden Age of Greece

265: Rome rules Italy

44 BCE: Caeasar slain; end of Roman

Republic

27 BCE-180 CE: Pax Romana

30: CE: Death of Jesus Christ

ANCIENT ROME: The greatest empire

in the west was promoted through Greek

art and Roman Engineering.

August of Primaporta, ca. 20 BCE. Perhaps a

marble copy of a bronze original.

August of Primaporta, ca. 20 BCE. Perhaps a

marble copy of a bronze original. Inset: Greek

statue of the Doryphoros by Polykleitos.

Trajan’s Column, attributed to Apollodorus, 113 CE.

Marble, original height of 128ft, length of frieze approx.

625 ft.

Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheater), Rome, travertine, ca. 72-80 CE.

Aerial view of the Colosseum as it appears today; Reconstruction of the Colosseum

showing seating as well as the many passages under the main arena floor.

Part 2:

The Beginning of Mighty Empires

Americas: The Olmec

China: The Qin and Han

Timeline: The

Beginnings of

Empire

1500 BCE: First trace of

people called Olmec

900-500: Colossal Olmec

art and architecture

623-543: Historical Buddha

lived in India

256-206 BCE: 1st Great

Wall of China

221 BCE: China untied

under Emperor Qin

206BCE – 220 CE: Han

Dynasty in China. A Golden

Age.

MESOAMERICA: The Olmec, ancestors

to the Maya, created huge earth

pyramids, celebrated their leaders and

gods through art.

Colossal Heads from San Lorenzo, Veracruz. 900-500 BCE

Timeline: The

Beginnings of

Empire

1500 BCE: First trace of

people called Olmec

900-500: Colossal Olmec

art and architecture

623-543: Historical Buddha

lived in India

256-206 BCE: 1st Great

Wall of China

221 BCE: China untied

under Emperor Qin

206BCE – 220 CE: Han

Dynasty in China. A Golden

Age.

CHINA: The name China comes from

Qin, the first man to unify the land

through harsh rule.

Lai Dai’s Flying Banner, Painted silk from

the tomb of Dai Hou Fu-ren, ca. 168

BCE.

Part 3: Applying What You

Learned

Look at the following images and decide what art historical

context they come from based on their forms. What can you

guess about their content?