Ancient Art and Civilization Quiz

Ancient Art and Civilization

• Cave Paintings: Chauvet, France; Lascaux, France; and Altamira, Spain, are locations where ancient paintings have been discovered.
• Venus Figurine: The Willendorf Venus was found in Austria.
• Megalithic Structures: Stonehenge is an example of a megalithic structure, using large stones. Cromlechs are a category of megalithic structures.
• Mesopotamian Deities: Sin, the moon god, was the chief deity at Ur.
• Babylonian Conquest: The Babylonian army captured Jerusalem, destroyed temples, and exiled Hebrews.
• Unification of Egypt: Narmer, an ancient Egyptian ruler (circa 3000 BCE), unified Upper and Lower Egypt.
• Amarna Art: The rule of Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten spurred a new art style, the Amarna style.
• Jade Disc: The Pi jade disc features a dragon and phoenix.

Minoan Crete

• Cretan Culture: Elaborate homes, clay pipes connecting toilets/baths to sewers, and straw-reinforced walls were common in Thera.
• Symbolism: The bull was associated with virility and strength in Crete.
• Minotaur: Pasiphae, the legendary Minoan queen, gave birth to the Minotaur.
• Greek Mythology: Penelope was Odysseus' wife.

Ancient Greece

• Acropolis: The Acropolis was the religious center of a Greek city-state, meaning “top of the city.”
• Agora: The agora served as a public meeting place, marketplace, and civic center in Greek city-states.
• Column Design: Entasis refers to the swelling of columns one-third of the way up, then contracting near the top.
• Athenian Politics: Demes were small local areas, similar to precincts or wards, within Athenian politics.
• Parthenon Metopes: Battles between Greeks and Trojans, giants, Amazons, and centaurs are depicted on the Parthenon metopes.

Roman Empire

• Roman History: Marcus Junius Brutus was among those who assassinated Gaius Julius Caesar in the Senate.
• Portraiture: Imagines were wax death masks used to create realistic portrait busts.
• Augustus's Legacy: Cupid riding a dolphin is depicted in the sculpture of Augustus of Primaporta. Ovid was banished from Rome by Augustus. The Georgics celebrated Augustus's land gifts to veterans.
• Colosseum Architecture: Different architectural orders (Tuscan, Ionic, Corinthian) were used in the Colosseum's levels.
• Pantheon: The Pantheon's oculus, a circular opening, was seen as the "Eye of Jupiter."
• Roman Social Classes: Patricians (land-owning aristocrats) and plebeians (poorer craftspeople, merchants, and laborers) formed Roman society.
• Anglo-Saxon Law: Wergild ("life-price") was a basis for Anglo-Saxon laws.

Early Medieval England

• Anglo-Saxon Literature: Beowulf is a Scandinavian warrior who defeated monsters ravaging his community.
• Early Christian England: Augustine built a cathedral at Canterbury and a church to St. Paul in London.
• Lindisfarne Gospels: Bishop Eadfrith designed the Lindisfarne Gospels.

Early Medieval Architecture and Culture

• Medieval Life: Roland's horn was made from elephant ivory. The dining hall was known as the refectory.
• Romanesque Architecture: The barrel vault and voussoir (wedge-shaped stones) are features of Romanesque churches.

Gothic Cathedrals

• Chartres Cathedral: The center of Virgin worship during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The tunic of Mary was a highly cherished relic.
• Gothic Church Design: Stained-glass programs depict biblical stories. Chartres' Tree of Jesse window displays Mary's lineage.
• Gothic Support: Flying buttresses supported more windows and reinforced exterior walls against high winds.
• Chartres South Transept: Saint Theodore, depicted on the jamb, is sculpted in contrapposto.

Medieval Education and Thought

• Medieval Education: The trivium (grammar, rhetoric, dialectic) was a fundamental element. University of Bologna was the first city to establish a university, with Latin as the mandatory language.
• Scholarly Figures: Robert de Sorbon organized theology students in Paris. Peter Abelard (logician) taught by the dialectical method. Trotula wrote about women's diseases. Thomas Aquinas wrote the Summa Theologiae and was a key Scholastic thinker.

Late Medieval and Renaissance

• Sainte-Chapelle: The highest ratio of glass-to-stone in a Gothic church.
• Allegory of Good Government: Ambrogio Lorenzetti painted the fresco.