Study Guide Part One
Study Guide Part One
Study Guide Part One
AP Art History
STUDY GUIDE
AUGUST – OCTOBER 2015-2016
NAME OF STUDENT:
____________________________________________________________
PERIOD: __________
August
2015
Nam id velit non risus consequat iaculis.
AP ART HISTORY
All of your assignments must be done using clear, legible handwriting.
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Beaker with animal (ibex) decoration, Susa, Iran, c. 4000 BCE, painted
terracotta
called a _____________________.
2. The second phase of work at Stonehenge occurred approximately 100-200 years later and involved the
setting up of upright ____________________ posts, possibly of a roofed structure, in the center of the
henge, as well as more upright posts near the northeast and southern entrances. Surprisingly, it is also
during this second phase at Stonehenge that it was used for _____________________.
3. Recent analysis has revealed that nearly all the burials were of adult __________________, aged 25-40
years, in good health and with little sign of hard labor or disease. No doubt, to be interred at
Stonehenge was a mark of ________________ status and these remains may well be those of some of
the first political leaders of Great Britain. They also show us that in this era, some means of social
distinction must have been desirable.
4. The third phase of construction at Stonehenge happened approximately 400-500 years later and likely
lasted a long time. In this phase the remaining blue stones or wooden beams which had been placed in
the Aubrey holes were pulled and a circle 108 feet in diameter of 30 huge and very hard
__________________ stones were erected within the henge. These upright sarsen stones were capped
5. The horizontal lintel stones which topped the exterior ring of sarsen stones were fitted to them using a
tongue and grove joint and then fitted to each other using a ______________ and _____________ joint,
methods used in modern woodworking. Each of the upright sarsens were dressed differently on each
side, with the inward facing side more _______________ finished than the outer.
6. Scholars in the 18th century first noted that the sunrise of the ________________________ is exactly
framed by the end of the horseshoe of trilithons at the interior of the monument and exactly opposite
that point, at the center of the bend of the horseshoe, at the _______________________, the sun is
aligned. These dates, the longest and shortest days of the year, are the turning point of the two great
seasonal episodes of the annual calendar.
THEME: IMAGES of POWER
FOCUS: White Temple at Uruk, Statuettes from Tell Asmar ,
Standard of Ur
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT: https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/ap-art-
history/ancient-mediterranean-AP/ancient-near-east-AP/v/standing-male-worshipper
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-
civilizations/ancient-near-east1/sumerian/v/standard-of-ur-c-2600-2400-b-c-e
DATE DUE: ___________
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-
civilizations/ancient-near-east1/sumerian/a/standard-of-ur-and-other-objects-from-the-
royal-graves
1)
2)
3)
2. Discuss three ways in which the White Temple at Uruk physically suggested its sacred character:
1)
2)
3)
ziggurat
bent-axis plan
cella
4. Carved of soft gypsum and inlaid with shell and black limestone, the statuettes at Tell Asmar range in
size from well under a foot to about 30 inches tall. All of the statuettes represent
_____________________, rather than deities, with their hands folded in front of their chests in a
gesture of ______________________, usually holding the small beakers the Sumerians used for
5. Many bear ___________________________ giving valuable information, such as the name of the donor
or the god. With their heads tilted upward, the figures represented in these statuettes wait in the
Sumerian “_____________________________” for the divinity to appear. Their exaggerated eye size
most likely symbolize the eternal ________________________ necessary to fulfill their duty.
_______________________________. It was
discovered within a royal
4. The entertainers at the
_________________________.
far right are carrying a
2. The largest seated figure on the
uppermost register can be
3. The seated figures with the cups suggest ___________________,
identified as
that they may be doing what? similar to that found
alongside the Standard of
_____________________________.
Ur.
5. The blue stone used to fill in the negative 6. The lower two registers appear to depict figures doing what?
space in each register was extremely costly.
It is called ___________________________.
2. All of the figures are 3. As opposed to the
1. Across his shoulder, a young depicted in “peaceful” mood on
prince is shown carrying a royal the other side of this
scepter. The scepter belongs to his ______________________ object, the large
father, since a royal scepter and they are regularly central figure appears 4. The naked figures
symbolizes the right to rule, and placed within the to preside over an seen in the upper and
here the prince is composition so as to event that can best be middle registers are
suggest a sense of described as most likely
still too _________________ to be a
reigning monarch. ______________________ __________________. ___________________.
__.
5. As one’s eye move from left to right on the 6. The depiction of chariots are a reminder that the Sumerians are
bottom register, how does the depiction of the
chariots change? credited with the invention of the ______________________.
1. This stele 2. In order to convey a sense of divinity, Naram-Sin wears a 3. The suns or the stars
commemorates above are the forces
Naram-Sin’s victory _____________________________________. that do what?
over the
___________________
peoples. Naram-Sin is
the ruler of the
___________________
peoples.
6. Naram-Sin is clearly
designated as the 7. This stele is made of
focal point of this
composition because ___________________ and
was created around
the ______________
of all of the other ___________________
figures are directed BCE. According to your
towards him. textbook, how tall is it?
2. The god hands Hammurabi the tools of a
1. In the early 18th century BCE, the ___________________, a measuring rod and a coiled
Babylonian king Hammurabi rope. These connote the ruler’s capacity to
formulated a set of nearly 300 laws
for his people. Here the king raises his _______________ the social order and to
__________________ with
flames emanating from his
shoulders demonstrates
greater status due to his
being seated and of slightly
larger proportion. He sits on
a ziggurat throne and is
depicted in the familiar
convention of combined
____________ and
____________________ from
which the god emerges.
FOLLOWING CONVEYS
AUTHORITATIVE POWER:
AP ART HISTORY
All of your assignments must be done using clear, legible handwriting.
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LABOR DAY:
STUDENT
HOLIDAY
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1. Narmer’s palette is an
2. Narmer’s crown on the front of the palette indicates his 3. The frontal bull heads
elaborate, formalized
are likely connected to a
version of a utilitarian
domination over ___________________________. sky goddess known as
object commonly used
in the
___________ and are
related to heaven and the
___________________
horizon.
period to prepare eye
makeup, which
Egyptians used to 4. The image of a high-
prowed boat preparing to
protect their __________ pass through an open gate
against irritation and the may be an early reference
glare of the sun. to what?
___________________ in
order to convey that the 6. The enemies of Narmer
king is barefoot and are depicted how?
performing a holy act.
7. The circular
depression alludes to
the palette’s function. It
indicates where the
____________________
would be placed. 8. Here the king may be
represented as a
________________,
destroying a walled city.
1. Here the figure of Narmer is depicted in
hierarchical proportion, meaning that he is
larger than the other figures. Why is this
pictorial convention used?
2. The falcon is a representation of the god
personification of __________________________.
__________________ at
5. The White Crown worn the site of
by Narmer (in the shape of
a bowling pin) indicates ______________________
that he is the ruler of (the capital of Egypt
during the predynastic
_____________________. period).
REFLECTION OF STATUS:
WHY?
REFLECTION OF STATUS:
WHY?
REFLECTION OF STATUS:
WHY?
THEME: SACRED SPACES and RITUAL
FOCUS: Stepped Pyramid of King Djoser, Pyramids of Khufu,
Khafre, and Menkaure at Gizeh, Great Sphinx at Gizeh
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-
civilizations/egypt-art/predynastic-old-kingdom/a/old-kingdom-the-great-pyramids-of-giza
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-
civilizations/egypt-art/predynastic-old-kingdom/a/old-kingdom-pyramid-of-khufu
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-
civilizations/egypt-art/predynastic-old-kingdom/a/old-kingdom-pyramid-of-khafre-and-the-
great-sphinx
READING ASSIGNMENT: KLEINER pp. 58-66
POWERPOINT: SACRED SPACES and RITUAL: OLD KINGDOM
DATE DUE: ___________ EGYPT (Stepped Pyramid at Saqqara and Pyramids at Gizeh)
mastaba
serdab
ka
engaged columns
ben-ben
ashlar masonry
canopic jars
uraeus
sphinx
2. Discuss two BELIEFS associated with the pyramids at Saqqara and Gizeh:
1)
2)
3. Discuss two PRACTICES associated with the pyramids at Saqqara and Gizeh:
1)
2)
4. _________________________ is the first recorded name of an artist anywhere in the world. He is the
architect of the Stepped Pyramid of King Djoser.
7. The Pyramid Texts, inscribed on the burial chamber walls on many royal tombs beginning with the
Fifth Dynasty pyramid of Unas, refer to the sun’s rays as the _____________________ the pharaoh
uses to ______________________________.
8. As with the Saqqara pyramid, the four sides of the Great Pyramids are oriented to the
___________________________________________.
9. The composite form of the sphinx suggests that the pharaoh combines _______________________
and ____________________________.
10. Egyptians placed statuettes called ____________________________ (answerers) in a tomb so that they
can perform any labored required of the deceased in the afterlife.
THEME: IMAGES OF POWER
FOCUS: Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut
READING ASSIGNMENT: SEE BELOW
POWERPOINT: POWER and AUTHORITY: NEW KINGDOM
EGYPT: (Temple of Hatshepsut)
DATE DUE: ___________
1. “After the instability of the Second Intermediate Period, during which the so-called Hyksos invasion occurred, Egypt once again
recovered its political equilibrium. The pharaohs of the New Kingdom re-established control of the entire country and reasserted
their power” (Adams, Art Across Time 95). Thutmose I (reigned c. 1504-1492 BCE) was the first Egyptian pharaoh buried in a rock-
cut tomb carved out of a cliff face in the Valley of the Kings, which is across the Nile from Luxor and Karnak” (97). “The Eighteenth
Dynasty is also notable for its female pharaoh, Hatshepsut (reigned c. 1479-1458 BCE). She was the wife and half-sister of Thutmose
I’s son, Thutmose II. When Thutmose II died, his son by a minor queen, Thutmose III, was under age. Around 1479 BCE Hatshepsut
became regent for her stepson/nephew, but exerted her right to succeed her father and was crowned King of Egypt in 1473 BCE.
Although female rulers of Egypt were not unprecedented, Hatshepsut’s assumption of specifically male aspects of her office- such as
the title of king- was a departure from tradition. Despite her successor’s attempts to obliterate her monuments, many of them
survive to document her productive reign” (97). “The main architectural innovation of Hatshepsut’s reign was the terraced mortuary
temple at Deir el-Bahri. The primary function of the Egyptian mortuary temple, which was usually constructed from a pylon plan,
was twofold: first, to worship the king’s patron deity during his lifetime, and, second, to worship the king himself after his death.
The function of the Deir el-Bahri complex as a mortuary temple for both Hatshepsut and her father reinforced her image as her
successor. At the same time, the major deities Amon, Hathor, and Anubis were worshiped in shrines within the temple complex. On
the exterior, terraces with rectangular supports and polygonal columns blended impressively with the vast rocky site” (98).
“Hatshepsut’s architect Senenmut was the main artistic force behind the temple and its decoration. His special status is reflected in
the fact that his tomb, which was never completed, was begun inside the royal religious complex, and its unfinished ceiling was
decorated with texts usually reserved for a pharaoh’s burial. Senenmut’s contribution to the artistic renewal under Hatshepsut is
evident in a series of characteristic self-portraits. These show him kneeling in prayer to Amon and were located in the temple behind
doors to the chapels and niches for statues. When the doors were opened during religious rites, the figures of Senemut became
visible” (98-99).
2. “The structure was not intended to be her tomb; Hatshepsut was to be buried, like other New Kingdom rulers, in a necropolis
known as the Valley of the Kings, about half a mile to the northwest. Her funerary temple was magnificently positioned against high
cliffs and oriented toward the Great Temple of Amun at Karnak, some miles away on the east bank on the Nile. The complex follows
an axial plan- that is, all of its separate elements are symmetrically arranged along a dominant center line. An elevated causeway
lined with sphinxes once ran from a valley temple on the Nile, since destroyed, to the first level of the complex, a huge open space
before a long row of columns, or colonnade. From there, the visitor ascended a long, straight ramp flanked by pools of water to the
second level. At the ends of the columned porticos on this level were shrines to Anubis and Hathor. Relief scenes and inscriptions in
the south portico relate that Hatshepsut sent a fleet of ships to Punt, an exotic, half-legendary kingdom probably located on the Red
Sea or the Gulf of Aden, to bring back rare myrrh trees for the temple’s terraces” (Stokstad, Art History 117-8). “The uppermost level
consisted of another colonnade fronted by colossal royal statues, and behind this a large hypostyle hall with chapels to Hatshepsut,
her father, and the gods Amun and RaHorakhty- the power of the sun at dawn and dusk. Centered in the hall’s back wall was the
entrance to the temple’s innermost sanctuary. This small chamber was cut deep into the cliff in the manner of Middle Kingdom
rock-cut tombs” (118). “At the end of Hatshepsut’s reign, Thutmose III, then in his late twenties, finally assumed sole power (c. 1458
BCE). He demolished the images and cartouches of Hatshepsut and emphasized his own role as the successor of his father,
Hatshepsut’s brother/spouse Thutmose II. Whereas Hatshepsut’s reign had been notable for diplomatic missions, Thutmose III
became a great conqueror, gaining control of Nubia and invading the Near East” (Adams, Art Across Time 99).
3. “Hatshepsut reigned like a man- ‘twenty-one years and nine months’, noted the Egyptian historian Manetho, and we can take his
calculation as correct. If Hatshepsut had been born male, the power would have been handed to her on a plate, because she was a
princess, the only ‘legitimate’ daughter of Tuthmosis I, second pharaoh of the 18 th Dynasty, and his ‘Great Royal Wife’. However,
women in Egypt were excluded from the succession to the throne and Hatshepsut was married, as was the custom to her half-
brother, a son of the king and a concubine, who then ascended the throne as Tuthmosis II. After his early death, his eight-year-old
son, again by a concubine, was named successor. Hatshepsut herself had only borne him a daughter, Neferura. Hatshepsut should
have taken over as regent for this half-nephew, but instead of staying in the background,, like other female Egyptian regents, and
ceding power when he came of age, she pushed him aside. In 1490 BC, in the seventh year of Tuthmosis III’s nominal reign, she
proclaimed herself ruler. Pharaoh Hatshepsut proclaimed: ‘I myself am a God. That which happens, is meant. Nothing I say is
erroneous’. Her coup d’etat was supported by important administrative officials at court, who were engaged in a power struggle
against the military. The army had achieved great influence under Hatshepsut’s father, through their victory over the Hyksos, the
enemy occupying northern Egypt. The military wanted the fight to go on, favoring a policy of conquest; the officials on the other
hand pleaded to stay within the traditional borders. Hatshepsut sided with the officials and demanded that the destroyed country
be rebuilt. When, after Hatshepsut had ruled alone for about twenty years, another enemy, the Mitanni people, threatened Egypt,
Tuthmosis III, who had been pushed aside (but not assassinated), made himself head of the army, demanding sole power. The
queen disappeared, possibly killed. Her tomb in the Valley of the Kings remained empty, and her mummy was never found. Her
successor obliterated the name of Hatshepsut from stelae and temple walls, defaced her features, and destroyed or renamed the
statues. He did not do this because he hated Hatshepsut, but because in Egypt a female pharaoh did not fit in with the ‘natural’
world order” (Hagen and Hagen, Egypt 122-123).
4. “From the moment she seized power, Hatshepsut had herself depicted in an emphatically masculine form, with a naked male
upper torso, short kilt and royal beard. However, all the statues show female features, a tapering face, slightly full lips, and almond-
shaped eyes. The attractive face of the ruler served as a model for the sculptors of the kingdom, most statues of the epoch looking
like her. The queen influenced formative style, just as Akhenaten did later, and used art as a means of power to emphasize her calm
to the throne and her legitimacy. A succession of (unfortunately badly preserved) reliefs demonstrates how Amun himself came to
resemble Hatshepsut’s mother, the Great Royal Wife, bearing her features. The queen could be distinguished from the god only by
his fragrance of incense, which soon pervaded her body too. Sexual relations were discreetly hinted at with both of them sitting next
to each other on a bed. Further reliefs celebrate the ruler’s great deeds: manufacturing, transporting and setting up two obelisks at
Karnak (one is still standing, the other lying there) or a reconnaissance and trade expedition, which in the eighth year ventured to
far-away Punt, because Amun longed for his favorite fragrance from the far-off country. This was a land on the African shore of the
Red Sea, perhaps in present-day Eritrea. From there, incense trees were brought in tubs, kept damp on the way and probably
planted in front of the temples of Deir el-Bahari” (124). “Today we can see the queen’s importance and power of all in her ‘House of
a Million Years’. This mortuary temple of Deir el-Bahari in western Thebes is dedicated to the gods Amun, Hathor and Anubis. In a
wide rock basin facing east, surrounded by an impressive sand and stone desert, it stands, half set into the mountain. The central
axis of Hatshepsut’s temple is aligned with the temple of Amun at Karnak, an ideal straight line leading through the mountain
directly to her tomb in the Valley of the Kings. But above all it stands as an immense demonstration of Hatshepsut’s own might.
With the triumphal avenue of sphinxes- imitated by many successors- the temple made an ideal setting for the ceremonies of a
female ruler stressing her legitimacy. Almost immediately after her takeover, Hatshepsut began building. Her master builder was
called Senenmut, and he left many hidden traces of himself in the temples: portraits, statues and inscriptions with his name.
Senenmut was an efficient overseer, devoted to the queen and probably her lover. As a special sign of favor, he was given
permission to have a secret tomb built under the temple of Deir el-Bahari. But for a thousand years fate separated the servant from
his mistress, their names were removed, their facial features chiseled out, and they were not to be able to see, hear, smell, breathe,
or speak, even in death. For more than three centuries this ’damnatio memoriae’, condemning to oblivion, remained in effect. Not
until our century did Egyptologists re-discover the identity of the queen and her loyal overseer” (124-125).
5. “The unusual design of her funerary temple may express a conscious effort to distance herself from her predecessors on the
Egyptian throne. Deir el-Bahri was traditionally associated with the goddess Hathor, and this may have also played a part, as the
female pharaoh may have wanted to associate herself as closely as possible with one of the area’s main female deities. Statues of
Hatshepsut interestingly reflect the re-evaluation of her position that took place during her reign: they progressively lost many of
their female characteristics- indeed, shared family characteristics make late statues of Hatshepsut little different from those of her
successor, Thutmose III. Hatshepsut’s temple at Deir-el-Bahri is partly freestanding and partly rock-cut, and is built on several levels.
Three of these are fronted by pillared porticos, and the walls behind them contain some of the most remarkable reliefs known from
Egypt. They were carved in very low relief, perhaps in a further reference to the decoration of the neighboring temple of
Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II, and include a detailed pictorial record of a naval expedition sent to the African land of Punt, and of the
transport of obelisks from the granite quarries at Aswan to the temple of Amun-Re at Karnak” (Malek 231, 233). “The temple also
contains scenes depicting Hatshepsut’s divine birth as the result of a union between her mother and the god Amun, who had
appeared in the form of Hatshepsut’s father, Thutmose I. This is a clear attempt to legitimize her right to the Egyptian throne by
showing that, like other kings, she had been chosen by the state god Amun. A chapel devoted to the funerary cult of Hatshepsut’s
father was also located in the temple” (233). “At Deir el-Bahri there were some two hundred or more statues of Hathshepsut. Many
of these were sphinxes, some of them curiously reminiscent of the lions with human faces of Amenemhet III (1859-1814 BCE) and
there were large ‘Osiride’ statues, or perhaps better ‘jubilee statues’, added to the pillars of the colonnades and elsewhere. These
show the queen draped in a close-fitting cloak with her arms crossed on her breast, a posture usually adopted by the god Osiris but
also one associated with the pharaoh during royal jubilees. Other figures, some of them colossal, shown the queen seated, standing
or kneeling” (233). “Queen Hatshepsut’s temple was sited almost adjoining an earlier Middle Kingdom mortuary complex of
Mentuhotep I and was similarly built on terraces. But its sculptured decorations were richer and a still more dramatic use was made
of the spectacular site beneath the cliffs behind which lies the Valley of the Kings. Indeed, the relationship between man-made and
natural architecture- the one echoing the other- is very striking. Whether this was consciously intended cannot, of course, be known,
but it is surely no coincidence that the temple is exactly on axis with that at Luxor, 5 miles (8km) away across the Nile” (Honour and
Fleming 88).
6. “Djeseret, ‘Holy Place,’ was the name given by the ancient Egyptians to the valley of Deir el-Bahri. Here was the threshold
between this life and the next, here they worshipped Hathor, the patron-goddess of Western Thebes, and here the unifyer of the
kingdom Menhotep II, who was later venerated as a divinity himself, had created his splendid temples. This was a place of great
significance to the early Thutmosid rulers too, and Hatshepsut chose it as the site for her funerary temple. It was called Djeser-
Djeseru, ‘the Holy of Holies,’ and the valley temple, causeway, and way station were the final destination of the Festival of the valley
procession. It is astonishing that despite several changes this tremendous building project was completed in only fifteen years.
Some of the most senior priests and officials were charged with the design and with supervising the building works. Among these
Senenmut, a favorite of the Queen and an eminence grise at court, played a prominent role: he was even allowed to depict his own
image in many ‘secret’ places in the temple. Before Hatshepsut’s death, however, he fell from grace, his name was effaced and most
of the images of him were destroyed” (Schulz and Seidel 184). “The large front courtyard, with pools and rows of trees, had on its far
side two halls, open to the façade, with half-columnar pillars and columns. The representations in these halls portray the ruler’s
guarantee, both mythic and real, of a cult. They show the transportation and the dedication of great obelisks of Karnak, the
consecration of a temple and the donation of statues, and men driving calves and hunting in a papyrus thicket. On the lower terrace
is a second courtyard with pillared halls. The northern hall tells of the divine descent of Hatshepsut and her being chosen king by her
father Amun-Re. Although the idea of the divine birth of pharaoh is attested from the Old Kingdom onward, this is the earliest
pictorial representation of it. It may have been prompted by a desire for additional legitimacy, in order to justify Hatshepsut’s claim
to the throne and her co-regency with Thutmosis III” (184, 186).
7. “To the south a chapel to Hathor was added in a later phase of construction. It had its own causeway leading up to it and a front
courtyard with twenty-four columns, each with two images of the face of Hathor, and eight pillars flanking the entrance. The scenes
on the wall indicate that this is not only a shrine to the goddess but also a place designed to legitimize the deified Hatshepsut.
Another ramp leads to the upper terrace, on which the great courtyard for sacrifices is situated” (186). “An avenue of about 120
sandstone sphinxes lined the causeway and continued right into the building’s front courtyard; here, at the northern and southern
corners of the façade of the hall, were two colossal Osiride pillars, 7.25 m tall. There were sphinxes made of limestone and red
granite on the lower terrace” (187). “There may have been, among other figures, seated statues of Hatshepsut in the mortuary cult
rooms and side chapels. The different types of Hatshepsut statues are part of a total design representing the various rituals and
activities in the temple. They are not mere decoration but an indispensable means for conveying functional information. Distinct
functions were indicated by the posture and iconography of the figures. Some served as the recipients of offerings in the sacrificial
cult of the king, while others were actors, turned to stone, in the ritual communication with the gods. On principle the queen
presented herself, in accordance with dogma, as a male pharaoh; only two seated statues show her in female dress and with female
physical characteristics” (188). “An important element in cult ritual was the ‘Beautiful Festival of the Valley.’ Amun-Re, in the form of
his processional statue, would set out from Karnak and cross the Nile in order to visit the sacred sites on the West Bank and so
ensure the continued existence and provisioning of the deceased. Originally the processional route probably ended at a shrine to
Hathor, the patron-goddess of Western Thebes, in the valley of Deir el-Bahri. Later the route changes, the funerary temples of the
kings served as way stations, and the building dedicated to the living ruler became the festival procession’s final destination; this was
the place where the combination of god and pharaoh was made manifest. In the post-Armana era at the latest, the procession of the
Festival of the Valley was enlarged; now the barques of Mut, Khonsu, and Amaunet as well as statues of deceased kings and other
persons of high rank joined the procession” (183).
Works Cited:
Hagen, Rose-Marie and Rainer. Egypt: People, Gods, Pharaohs. Cologne: Taschen and Barnes and Nobles Books, 2003.
Honour, Hugh, and John Fleming. The Visual Arts: A History. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice-Hall, 2005.
Schulz, Regine and Matthias Seidel, eds. Egypt: The World of the Pharaohs. Cologne: Konneman, 1998.
FUNCTION
DESIGN and/or
ORNAMENTATION
LOCATION
THEME: IMAGES of POWER
FOCUS: Temple of Ramses II, Temple of Amun-Re at Karnak
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT: https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/ap-art-
history/ancient-mediterranean-AP/ancient-egypt-AP/v/ancient-thebes-unescotbs
READING ASSIGNMENT: KLEINER pp. 71-73
DATE DUE: ___________ POWERPOINT: IMAGES of POWER: NEW KINGDOM EGYPT
(Temple of Amun-Re at Karnak and Temple of Ramses II)
1. Four rock-cut images of Ramses II dominate the façade of his mortuary temple at Abu Simbel in Nubia.
North of his temple, he ordered the construction of a grand temple for his principal wife,
_____________________.
2. Inside the Abu Simbel temple, 32-foot-tall figures of the king in the guise of __________________,
carved as one with the pillars, face each other across the narrow corridor. A statue-column in the form
______________________.
axial plan
pylon
hypostyle hall
lintels
clerestory
sunken reliefs
4. Identify three features of the Amun-Re at Karnak that contribute to its sacred function and character.
Explain how they define the surrounding as sacred.
1)
2)
3)
THEME: IMAGES OF POWER
FOCUS: Akhenaton; House Altar of Akhenaton, Nefertiti and his
Daughters
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT:
http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/house-altar-with-akhenaten-nefertiti-and-
three-daughters.html
POWERPOINT: IMAGES OF POWER: EGYPTIAN ARMANA
PERIOD (Sculpture during the Reign of Akhenaton)
DATE DUE: ___________
1. This depiction of the pharaoh king 2. The sun disk represents the god 3. At the end of the rays facing
Akhenaton exemplifies the Akhenaton and his wife are signs
_________________ that Akhenaton of the ankh, a symbol denoting
______________________ style, named established as the head of his new
after the name of his new capital. monotheistic religion. _______________________.
6. Akhenaton and
his wife 7. How do we still
are shown see a
intimately playing conventional
with their composite view in
daughters. In the figures?
contrast to other
depictions of
pharaohs, the
focus is one love
and domesticity.
The daughter that
Akhenaton holds
suggests family
unity by pointing
towards 8. In order to break with tradition, the new 9. What might be inferred by the throne (with images
artistic style displayed rejects rectilinear forms symbolizing Upper and Lower Egypt) that Nefertiti,
______________. in favor Akhenaton’s wife, sits upon?
of ___________________________ forms.
THEME: DEATH and the AFTERLIFE
FOCUS: Book of the Dead of Hu-Nefer, Frescoes from Nebamun’s
Tomb at Thebes
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT:
http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/hunefers-book-of-the-dead.html
READING ASSIGNMENT: KLEINER, pp. 74-75, 80
POWERPOINT: DEATH and the AFTERLIFE: NEW KINGDOM
EGYPT (Egyptian Funerary Art)
DATE DUE: ___________
5. Scrolls such
as this were
created on
what kind of
material?
6. The monster with the 7. The feather with 8. The god __________________, 9. These two goddesses
head of a crocodile and a which the heart is the god of writing, is recording the represents Isis and
body of a hippo, named being weighed is events in the Hall of Judgment. He Nephthys. What are their
associated with has the head of an ibis. After he functions in a funerary
_______________, waits passes judgment, Hu-Nefer is led context?
to see if the heart will _______________, the through the hall by the falcon-
survive judgment. If not, Egyptian god headed god
he will devour the heart. associated with truth
and justice. The _______________________.
feather is also located
on top of the scales.
THEME: MAN and the NATURAL WORLD
FOCUS: Cycladic figures, Palace at Knossos, Spring Fresco at
Thera, Kamares ware, Snake Goddess
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT: https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/ap-art-
history/global-prehistory-ap/paleolithic-mesolithic-neolithic/v/tlatilco-figurines
READING ASSIGNMENT: KLEINER, pp. 85-95
POWERPOINT: MAN and the NATURAL WORLD: PREHISTORIC
ART (Art of the Ancient Aegean and PreColumbian Tlatilco)
DATE DUE: ___________
2. The largest Cretan palace – at Knossos- was the legendary home of King _____________________. It
was here that the legendary ____________________ hunted the bull-man Minotaur in his labyrinth.
3. The Knossos palace was a rambling structure built against the upper slopes and across the top of a low
hill that rises from a fertile plain. The central feature of the palace was its great rectangular
5. The Spring Fresco at Akrotiri, Thera, is the largest and most complete prehistoric example of a pure
landscape painting. How does it visually celebrate nature?
6. The swirling lines of Kamares Ware vessels evoke life in the __________________, and both the
abstract and the natural forms beautifully complement the shape of the vessel.
7. Power over the animal world is implied in the Minoan Snake Goddess in that she holds snakes in her
hands and supports a tamed _______________________________ on her head.
8. How is the human form depicted (characteristic of the Minoan style) on the Harvesters Vase?
9. The figurines found at the Mexican site of Tlatilco often have two heads, suggesting that they may
related to the concept of __________________________. How do the Cycladic figurines compare to the
Tlatilco female figurines stylistically?
10. The Tlatilco head is an example of an image that is “bifurcated,” meaning that it is
11. What in general suggests that the culture that created the Tlatilco figurines was a settled, sedentary
culture?
THEME: DEATH and the AFTERLIFE
FOCUS: Dipylon Amphora, Dipylon Krater, New York Kouros,
Kroisos figure, Grave Stele of Hegeso
READING ASSIGNMENT: KLEINER, pp. 108, 112-113
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT:
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/dbag/hd_dbag.htm
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT: https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/ap-art-
history/ancient-mediterranean-AP/greece-etruria-rome/v/anavysos-kouros
amphora
krater
libations
kouros
psyche
prothesis
ekphora
2. Very few objects were actually placed in Greek graves, but monumental earth mounds, rectangular
built tombs, and elaborate marble _______________ and statues were often erected to mark the grave
and ensure that the deceased would not be forgotten.
3. The Greek concept of the afterlife was not a happy place. Homer describes the Underworld where
_________________ and his wife ________________________ reigned over countless drifting crowds of
shadowy figures.
4. How is the Archaic Greek New York Kouros similar to Egyptian statuary?
How is it different?
5. How does the late Archaic Greek statue of Kroisos convey a greater interest in naturalism?
Kroisos, from Anavysos, Grave stele of a young hunter
Greece, c. 530 BCE, marble (Ilissos River), c. 330 BCE,
marble
How does this work reflect a
Greek view of death and the How does this work reflect a
afterlife? Greek view of death and the
afterlife?
How does this work reflect a Greek view of death and the afterlife?
How do these two works reflect differing gender roles in Greek culture?
THEME: SACRED SPACES and RITUALS
FOCUS: Parthenon and the Athenian Acropolis and Agora
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT: https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/ap-art-
history/ancient-mediterranean-AP/greece-etruria-rome/a/the-parthenon
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT: https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/ap-art-
history/ancient-mediterranean-AP/greece-etruria-rome/v/phidias-parthenon-frieze-c-438-
32-b-c-e
DATE DUE: ___________ ONLINE ASSIGNMENT: https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/ap-art-
history/ancient-mediterranean-AP/greece-etruria-rome/v/parthenon-ergastines
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT: https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/ap-art-
history/ancient-mediterranean-AP/greece-etruria-rome/v/athenian-agora
READING ASSIGNMENT: KLEINER, pp. 115-117, 133-141
POWERPOINT: SACRED SPACES and RITUAL: CLASSICAL
Identify the parts seen GREECE (Ancient Classical Art and Architecture of Athens )
on this façade of a
Greek temple.
Identify the function of each of these four buildings on the Athenian Acropolis.
Based on your reading, discuss ways in which features of the Parthenon (or surrounding buildings of the
Acropolis) convey the following:
ATHENIAN
PRIDE and
CIVIC
IDENTITY
STRUGGLE for
BALANCE between
ORDER (REASON)
and CHAOS
(PASSION)
MILITARY
STRENGTH
and POWER
THEME: HUMANISM and the CLASSICAL TRADITION
FOCUS: Peplos Kore, Charioteer from Delphi, and the Doryphoros
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT: https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/ap-art-
history/ancient-mediterranean-AP/greece-etruria-rome/v/peplos-kore
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT: https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/ap-art-
history/ancient-mediterranean-AP/greece-etruria-rome/v/polykleitos-doryphoros-spear-
bearer
DATE DUE: ___________ READING ASSIGNMENT: KLEINER pp. 132-133 and SEE BELOW
POWERPOINT: HUMANISM and the CLASSICAL TRADITION:
GREEK CLASSICAL SCULPTURE (Charioteer and Doryphoros)
1. “A major problem for anyone trying to create a freestanding sculpture is to assure that it won’t fall over. Solving this problem
requires a familiarity with the statics of sculptural materials- their ability to maintain equilibrium under various conditions. At the
end of the Archaic period a new technique for hollow-casting of bronze was developed. This technique created a far more flexible
medium than solid marble or other stone and became the medium of choice for Greek sculptors. Although it is possible to create
freestanding figures with outstretched arms and legs far apart in stone, hollow-cast bronze more easily permits vigorous and even
off-balance action poses. After the introduction of the new technique, the figure in action became a popular subject among the
ancient Greeks. Sculptors sought to find poses that seemed to capture a natural feeling of continuing movement rather than an
arbitrary moment frozen in time” (Stokstad, Art History 181). “Unfortunately, foundries began almost immediately to recycle metal
from old statues into new works, so few original Greek bronzes have survived. A spectacular lifesize bronze, the Charioteer, cast
about 470 BCE, was saved fro the metal scavengers only because it was buried during a major earthquake in 373 BCE. Archeologists
found it in its original location in the Sanctuary of Apollo, along with fragments of a bronze chariot and horses. According to its
inscription, it commemorates a victory by a driver sponsored by King Polyzalos of Gela (Sicily) in the Pythian Games of 478 or 474
BCE. The erect, flat-footed pose of the Charioteer and the long, columnar fluting of the robe are reminiscent of the Archaic Style,
but other characteristics place this work closer to the more lifelike Kritios Boy, recalling Pliny the Elder’s claim that three-time
winners in Greek competitions had their features memorialized in statues” (181).
2. “Unlike the Archaic Kroisos, for example, the charioteer’s head turns to one side, slightly away from the viewer. The rather
intimidating expression is relieved by the use of glittering, colored-glass eyes and fine silver eyelashes. Although the smooth-out
facial features suggest an idealized conception of youthful male looks, they are distinctive enough to be those of a particular
individual. The feet, with their closely observed toes, toenails, and swelled veins over the instep, are so realistic that they seem to
have been cast from molds made from the feet of a living person. The folds of the robe fall in a natural way, varying in width and
depth, and the whole garment seems capable of swaying a rippling should the charioteer move slightly or encounter a sudden
breeze” (181). “The setting of a work of art affects the impression it makes. Today, this stunning figure is exhibited on a low base in
the peaceful surroundings of a museum, isolated from other works and spotlighted for close examination. Its effect would have
been very different in its original outdoor location, standing in a horse-drawn chariot atop a tall monument. Viewers in ancient
times, exhausted from the steep climb to the sanctuary, possibly jostled by crowds of fellow pilgrims, could have absorbed only its
overall effect, not the fine details of the face, robe, and body visible to today’s viewers” (181). “Here there is no violent movement
and the boy’s regularly handsome face seems at first to be almost expressionless; yet the figure has an animating inner vitality; an
ideal of moderation or the ‘golden mean’- ‘nothing in excess’, the famous saying inscribed in the temple of Delphi- was surely the
guiding principle of the creator of the Charioteer. The statue reveals its breathing life in only very slight variations from regularity.
The folds of the lower part of the tunic, which at first sight might seem as rigid as the fluting of a Doric column, are ruffled by a
gentle tremor; creases in the clinging drapery of the sleeves are nearly, but not quite symmetrical; though looking straight ahead,
the upper part of the charioteer’s body and his head are turned just a little to the right. Again, although the figure’s stance is
motionless, the spectator feels drawn to move around it. From every angle it reveals a different but equally clear-cut outline, a
pattern of three-dimensional forms modeled with such an acutely developed appreciation of the effects of light and shade that
nothing is blurred and nothing over-emphasized. (The same could be said of a Greek temple.) Once it has been seen from a
succession of viewpoints, the face also takes on intensity and depth, a look of concentrated thought with the eyes unselfconsciously
trained on the horses” (Honour and Fleming 133).
3. “In casting bronze by the lost-wax method (also known by the French term cire-perdue), the artist begins by molding a soft,
pliable material such as clay or plaster into the desired shape and covering it with wax. A second coat of soft material is
superimposed on the wax and attached with pins or other supports. The wax is then melted and allowed to flow away, leaving a
hollow space between the two layers of soft material. The artist pours molten bronze into the mold, the bronze hardens as it cools,
and the mold is removed. The bronze is now in the shape originally formed by the ‘lost’ wax. It is ready for tooling, polishing, and for
the addition of features such as glass or stone eyes and ivory teeth to heighten the organic appearance of the figure” (Adams, Art
Across Time 154). “Games were contested so fiercely by the Greek city-states that fatalities were not unusual. Prizes were varied,
including tripods, crowns, amphorae, jumping weights and equine accoutrements, all of which were available for votive display. But
vast quantities of sculpture were also generated. Such sculptures were initially humble enough: at Olympia, miniature clay or bronze
figures of horses and chariots dating back to the eighth and seventh centuries BC have been recovered by the thousand. But such
offerings quickly grew in scale. The well-known charioteer figure from Delphi is a thanksgiving for victory in a race, around 470 BC,
from one of the Deinomenid tyrants of Syracuse (Polyzalos, or his brother Gelon)” (Spivey, Understanding Greek Sculpture 88).
1. “Historians have long struggled to explain this stylistic change in Greek sculpture as an expression of Greek political liberty. This
developmental model is one of the principal legacies of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, and specifically of the work of the
German archaeologist and art historian Johann Joachim Wincklemann (1717-68), whose Geschichte der Kunst des Altertums (The
History of the Art of Antiquity), published in 1764, laid the foundations for the modern discipline of art history. For Winckelmann,
the great flowering of Greek art was intimately related to the Greeks’ sense of their own civic liberty, both as a social group free from
external interference and internal tyranny and in terms of a particular consciousness engendered by their autonomous political
system. Hence, just as ‘through freedom the thinking of the entire people rose up like a noble branch from a healthy trunk,’ as
Winckelmann put it, so the arts, the animated expression of that thinking, rose with them” (Flynn 33-34). “Scholars are agreed that
the emergence of a new humanism in sculpture around 480 BC does coincide with a new Greek self-confidence following the
Athenian victory over the Persians at Marathon in 490 BC and the subsequent repulsion at Salamis in 480 BC of a further Persian
invasion under Xerxes which had resulted in the sacking of Athens” (34). “The Kritios Boy, found on the Acropolis at Athens during
the nineteenth century, probably dates from the period of freedom immediately following the Persian invasion. As such it has been
made to bear much of the burden of historical explanation, being viewed as a symbol of the artistic and social transformation that
characterized this period of Greek history” (34).
2. “More than any other figure of its time, the Kritios Boy encapsulates that peculiarly Greek virtue of sophrosyne, or self-knowledge,
espoused by late sixth-century dramatists and philosophers and characterized by a belief in inner restraint and a denial of excess.
Only sophrosyne, it was believed, could provide a path to enlightenment and so prevent the forces of chaos and disorder from
upsetting the balance of human happiness. It was arguably the impact of this maxim within contemporary Greek culture which
helped nurture the new naturalism heralded by statues such as the Kritios Boy” (34). The antithesis of “sophrosyne” was “hubris.”
The extraordinary power of the Greek hero (called arete by the Greeks) could, in excess, lead to overweening pride (hubris) and to
moral error (hamartia). The tragic results of harmatia were the subject of many Greek plays, especially those by Sophocles. The
Greek ideal became moderation in all things, personified by Apollo, the god of art and civilization. Arete came to be identified over
time with personal and civic virtues, such as modesty and piety” (Janson 101).
Parmenides and Plato
1. “During the fifth century BC, Greek philosophers and artists shared the quest to comprehend the universe in rational and logical
terms as an orderly structure and to understand the nature of humanity and its role in the universe. The image of the charioteer
appears both in fifth-century sculpture and in contemporaneous philosophical writings” (Wren 1: 71). “Parmenides (c.515 BC-?) was
an influential Greek philosopher. Born in Elea on the southern coast of Italy, Parmenides was for a time a member of the
Pythagorean brotherhood that had its center at Croton. He is believed to have arrived in Athens at the age of sixty-five, where,
according to some accounts, he became acquainted with his younger contemporary, Socrates. Parmenides’ ideas are expressed in a
didactic poem, The Way of Truth, written in hexameters. The poem opens with an allegory describing a chariot journey in which the
nature of reality is revealed to Parmenides. Guided by the daughters of the Sun, who are described as ‘immortal charioteers,’ the
poet is led from darkness into light. He arrives at a temple sacred to the goddess Wisdom, who welcomes him and advises him that
he must be prepared to reject illusion and learn the truth” (71-72). “Through the voice of the goddess, Parmenides outlines his belief
in the single, unchangeable state of being. Sensory experience suggests that the universe is in constant flux, and popular opinion
describes the world in terms of pairs of opposites such as light and dark, hot and cold, male and female. But reason rejects the
illusions of the senses and apprehends reality. The universe, for Parmenides, is whole, motionless, timeless, indivisible, and
imperishable” (72).
2. “The allegory of the charioteer was also used the fourth-century Greek philosopher Plato (c. 429-347 BCE). In Phaedrus, Plato
explained his doctrine of the tripartite nature of the soul. The soul, according to Plato, consists of three elements – reason, spirit,
and appetite. Reason is what distinguishes man from the brute and is the highest element of the soul. Reason has a natural affinity
for the invisible and intelligible world. Akin to the divine, reason achieves immortality. Spirit and appetite are bound up essentially
with the body. Both are perishable, but of the two, spirit is the nobler. Related to moral courage, it is the natural ally of reason.
Appetite refers to bodily desires” (72). “Plato compares the rational element of the soul to a charioteer and the spirit and appetite
elements to two horses. The one horse, the spirit element, is allied to reason, honor, temperance, and modesty, and is good; the
other horse, the appetite element, is allied to passion, chaos, arrogance, and insolence, and is bad. While the good horse is easily
driven according to the directions of the charioteer, the bad horse is unruly and tends to obey the voice of sensual passion and
therefore must be restrained with a whip. Plato thus explains the conflict that individuals feel within themselves. At the same time
he unequivocally insists on the right of the rational element to rule and to act as the charioteer” (72).
Works Cited:
Flynn, Tom. The Body in Three Dimensions. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998.
Honour, Hugh, and John Fleming. The Visual Arts: A History. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice-Hall, 2005.
Janson, H. W. and Anthony F. History of Art, 6th ed. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2001.
Spivey, Nigel. Understanding Greek Art: Ancient Meanings, Modern Readings. London: Thames and Hudson, 1996.
Wren, Linnea H., ed. Perspectives on Western Art. Vol. 1. New York: Harper & Row, 1987.
Using the information above, compare and contrast visual features of the Charioteer and the Doryphoros.
SIMILARITIES DIFFERENCES
THEME: HUMANISM and the CLASSICAL TRADITION
FOCUS: Farnese Herakles and the Aphrodite of Knidos
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT:
http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/lysippos-farnese-hercules.html
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT:
http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/after-praxiteles-venus-roman-copy.html
POWERPOINT: HUMANISM and the CLASSICAL TRADITION:
DATE DUE: ___________
LATE CLASSICAL GREEK (Sculpture of Lysippos and Praxiteles)
and deities to break away from the 5th century BCE Classical style.
2. The violence depicted on the Niobides Krater served as a warning against ____________________ (or
excessive pride) displayed by Niobe, who had boasted that she was superior to the goddess Leto since
she had at least a dozen children. As punishment, Leto sends her two offspring __________________
and ______________________ to kill Niobe’s children.
3. The red color of the clay allows for increased detail on the Niobides Krater due to what is called the
___________-figure technique.
4. The presence of _____________________ on the Niobides vase indicate that the soldiers depicted have
come to ask for protection in war, possibly for the famed Battle of Marathon.
5. The mosaicist who created the Alexander Mosaic used cubical pieces of glass or tiny stones called
____________________. The mosaic at Pompeii is believed to be a reasonably faithful copy of a famous
Greek painting made by _____________________________________. It was found in the House of the
_______________________ in Pompeii, set on the _______________________ between two peristyles.
6. The battle depicted in the Alexander Mosaic is that of the Macedonian general Alexander the Great
fighting the Persian leader ______________________ who appears to be calling for retreat.
7. The king of Pergamon, Attalos II, who had studied at Athens in his youth, gives to the city a
_____________________, covered colonnaded structures that housed shops and civic offices.
8. Evidence that the Greeks understood anatomy can be seen in the naturalistic foreshortening of the
_______________________ and in details such as the reflection of one soldier in his own
________________ as he is perhaps about to die.
9. What practical considerations were made in the design and construction of the Stoa of Attalos?
10. The subject of the great altar of Zeus and Athena at Pergamon is the battle of Zeus and the gods
against the _________________________, drawing a parallel between the armies of Attalos I and the
invading _______________________.
11. In what ways does the frieze of the Altar of Zeus and Athena at Pergamon demonstrate the influence
of sculpture from the Parthenon?
12. In what way does the Hellenistic style of the altar differ from the earlier styles of Greek art?
13. The so-called Dying Gaul is actually a tubicen, meaning ____________________ , who collapses upon
his large oval shield. The sculptor renders the male musculature in an exaggerated manner in order to
evoke the pathos or drama of the suffering Gaul. It implies that the unseen Pergamene warrior who has
struck down this noble and savage foe must have been an extraordinarily powerful man.
14. The Nike of Samthorace was the goddess of _________________, commemorating a naval battle.
15. According to the textbook, the statue was set in a theatrical setting, in a war galley in the upper basin
of a two-tiered ____________________________, with flowing water creating the illusion of rushing
waves hitting the prow of the ship.
16. The seated boxer demonstrates an __________________________ of the subject matter that we
usually think about when we think of Greek art. The original Hellenistic depicted of a boxer in bronze is
not a victorious young athlete with a perfect face and body but a heavily battered, defeated veteran
whose upward gaze may have just been directed to whom?
17. In what ways, especially in the face, does the Seated Boxer suggest exhaustion and defeat, evoking a
sense of pathos in the viewer?
18. Not all historians believe that the statue uncovered in Rome of Laocoön and his sons is a Hellenistic
Greek statue. Although stylistically akin to Pergame sculpture, this statue of sea serpents attacking
Laocoön and his two sons matches the account given only in the _________________________, an
account of the Trojan War written by the Roman author _______________________ during the reign of
Augustus.
Compare and contrast the works below, highlighting ways in which Hellenistic Greek art differs from art
from earlier periods of Greek history.
Analyze how these works reflect an Etruscan view of death and the afterlife.
1. Roman patricians requested brutally realistic images with their distinctive features, in the tradition of
2. Scholars debate whether Republican veristic portraits were truly blunt records of individual features or
exaggerated types designed to make a statement about what?
3. What is a possible reason why Roman freedmen often placed reliefs depicting themselves and their
former owner on the facades of their tombs?
4. The center of civic life in any Roman town was its ___________________, or public square. It was
usually located at the city’s geographic center at the intersection of the main north-south street, the
domus
fauces
atrium
impluvium
cubicula
peristyle garden
First Style (of Roman wall painting)
Second Style
Third Style
Fourth Style
skenographia
linear perspective
monochromatic
exedra
6. In the Roman world, individuals were frequently bound to others in a patron-client relationship
whereby a wealthier, better-educated, and more powerful patronus would protect the interests of a
7. The Fourth Style painting located in an exedra depicts a man, who , who may be the lawyer Terentius
Neo, holding a scroll and the woman holds a stylus (writing instrument) and wax tablet, standard
8. Private houses such as the House of the Vettii were typical of Pompeii, but they were very rare in cities
9. Many art historians believe lost Greek panel paintings were the models for the many mythological
paintings on Pompeian walls attest to the Roman’s continuing admiration for Greek artworks three
1. “One of the most remarkable buildings surviving in Rome is a temple to the Olympian gods called the Pantheon (‘all the gods’). It
was built under the patronage of Emperor Hadrian between 125 and 128 CE on the site of a temple erected by Agrippa in 27-25 BCE
but later destroyed. The approach to the temple gives little suggestion of what it must have looked like when it stood separate from
any surrounding structures. Nor is there any hint of what lies beyond the entrance porch, which was raised originally on a podium
(now covered by centuries of dirt and street construction) and made to resemble the façade of a typical Roman temple. Behind this
porch is a giant rotunda (a circular building) with 20-foot-thick walls that rise nearly 75 feet. Supported on these is a huge, round,
bowl-shaped dome, 143 feet in diameter and 143 feet from the floor at its summit. Standing at the center of this nearly spherical
temple, the visitor feels isolated from the real world and intensely aware of the shape and tangibility of the space itself rather than
the solid surfaces of the architecture enclosing it” (Stokstad, Art History 263-264). “The eye is drawn upward over the circle patterns
made by the sunken panels, or coffers, in the dome’s ceiling to the light entering the 29-foot-wide oculus, or central opening.
Clouds can be seen through this opening on clear days; rain falls through it on wet ones, then drains off as planned by the original
engineer; and occasionally a bird flies through it. But the empty, luminous space also imparts a sense of apotheosis, a feeling that
one could rise buoyantly upward to escape the spherical hollow of the building and commune with the gods” (264). “The simple
shape of the Pantheon’s dome belies it sophisticated design and engineering. Its surface of marble veneer disguises the internal
brick arches and concrete that support it. The walls, which form the structural drum that holds up and buttresses the dome, are
disguised by a wealth of architectural detail- columns, exedrae, pilasters, and entablatures- in two tiers. Seven niches, rectangular
alternating with semicircular, originally held statues of the gods. This simple repetition of square against circle, which was
established on a large scale by the juxtaposition of the rectilinear portico against the rotunda, is found throughout the building. The
square, boxlike coffers inside the dome, which help to lighten the weight of the masonry, may once have contained gilded bronze
rosettes or stars suggesting the heavens” (264).
2. “Although this magnificent monument was designed and constructed entirely during the reign of the emperor Hadrian, the long
inscription on the architrave clearly states that it was built by ‘Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, who was consul three times.’ Agrippa,
the son-in-law and valued advisor of Emperor Augustus, died in 12 BCE, but he was responsible for the building of a previous temple
on this site in 27-25 BCE, which the Pantheon replaced. In essence Hadrian simply made a grand gesture to the memory of the
illustrious Agrippa, rather than using the new building to memorialize himself” (264). “We know when Hadrian undertook the
building of the Pantheon, for the building can be dated by its bricks that were stamped to show when and by whom they had been
made. A majority of them belong to the year AD 125, and show that the inscription over the porch mentioning Agrippa- the son-in-
law of Augustus- is honorific rather than contemporary” (Ramage and Ramage 189). “The builders adjusted the materials, called
aggregate, used in the making of the concrete: the lower parts are made of heavier matter, and, as the building rose, progressively
lighter materials were used. Thus, at the bottom, the concrete contained heavy travertine; then came a mixture of travertine and
the much lighter local stone, tufa; then tufa and brick; then brick; and finally, pumice” (189). “The surface decoration of marble
veneer that we see today on the interior was for the most part added later, but it preserves the general intentions of the Roman
architects quite well. So does the decoration of the floor, which is composed of colored slabs that form alternating circles and
squares” (189).
3. “As one stands inside the grandiose space of the Pantheon, the light circle entering the building through the oculus moves
perceptibly around the dome as the earth turns, and makes the viewer aware of the cosmic forces” (190). “Making an opening of this
size in the roof was a piece of engineering that was daring in the extreme. There had been earlier examples of holes in the center of
a dome, but none had approached this size. Today, the bronze sheathing around the oculus is still the original Roman bronze. In
contrast, the original bronze roof tiles on the exterior of the dome have had to be replaced several times since antiquity, and are now
made of lead” (190). “Until 1632 the ancient bronze ceiling survived, but it was taken by Urban VIII, the Barberini Pope, for Bernini’s
baldacchino as St. Peter’s and for cannons at the Castel Sant’Angelo. The huge bronze doors are original … The Pantheon was
consecrated as Santa Maria ad Martires in 608; Raphael was buried here as well as the first tow Kings of United Italy” (Carr-Gomm
58). “One of the few buildings from Classical Antiquity to have remained almost intact, the Pantheon boasts a nineteen-foot-thick
rotunda that is capped by a solid dome consisting of five thousand tons of concrete. The interior of the dome, once painted blue and
gold to resemble the vault of heaven, is pierced by a 30-wide-foot oculus, or ‘eye’, that invites light and air” (Fiero, First Civilizations
149). “The Pantheon has inspired more works of architecture than any other monument in Greco-Roman history. It awed and
delighted such eminent late eighteenth-century neoclassicists as Thomas Jefferson, who used it as the model for many architectural
designs, including that of the Rotunda of the University of Virginia” (149).
4. “The Pantheon was built under Trajan’s successor, the Emperor Hadrian (AD 117-38), on the site of an earlier temple, which had
been of an entirely different design but similarly dedicated to all the gods by Marcus Agrippa, whose name is boldly recorded on the
façade. It consists of two parts, a traditional rectangular temple-front portico with massive granite columns, and an enormous
domed rotunda of a size made possible by the development of slow-drying concrete. The awkwardness of the join between these
two parts would have been much less evident originally, when the building was not free-standing as it is today, but approached on
axis through a colonnaded forecourt, which screened all but the portico. The ground level was much lower also, so that five wide
marble steps had to mounted to reach floor level. Yet the contrast- or unresolved conflict- between the rectangularity of the portico
and the circularity of the rotunda, between the exterior architecture of mass and the interior architecture of space, must have been
sharper because largely concealed, and the visual excitement and feeling of sudden elation experienced on passing through the door
must have been even more overwhelming. One passes from a world of hard confining angular forms into one of spherical infinity,
which seems almost to have been created by the column of light pouring through the circular eye or oculus of the dome and slowly,
yet perceptibly, moving round the building with the diurnal motion of the earth” (Honour and Fleming 193-194).
5. “This exhilarating space is composed, as Vitruvius had recommended for a rotunda, of a drum the height of its own radius and a
hemispherical dome above- diagrammatically a sphere half enclosed in a cylinder, the total height of 144 feet equal to the dome’s
diameter. The effect is not, however, that of geometrical solids. The lower part of the drum wall is pierced b niches which suggest
continuity of space beyond, the columns screening them have lost even the appearance of being structural supports: they seem
more like ropes tying down the dome, which floats above. The surface of the dome is broken by five rings of coffers very ingeniously
molded to give the illusion that they are rectangular and that, although they diminish in area, all are of equal depth. To achieve this
effect, account had to be taken of the dome’s curvature- which presented a tricky geometrical problem, for no straight line can be
drawn on it- as well as of the shadows cast by light from above and of the spectator’s angle of vision from the ground. Originally,
these coffers probably had gilded moldings around their edges and enclosed gilt bronze rosettes” (194).
6. “Minor changes were made to the interior in about 609, when, as the reigning Pope Boniface IV put it, ‘the pagan filth was
removed’ and the temple converted into a Christian church- to which, of course, its extraordinary and unique preservation is due. In
the 1740s the attic zone (i.e. the band of wall immediately beneath the dome), which had fallen into disrepair, was insensitively
stuccoed and provided with overlarge false windows. Otherwise the interior is substantially intact. The various types of marble,
mainly imported from the eastern Mediterranean and used for the pattern of square and circles on the pavement, for the columns
and the sheathing of the walls- white veined with blue and purple (pavonazzo), yellowish-orange (giallo antico), porphyry and so on-
still reflect and color the light that fills the whole building” (194). “Less than a century after its completion the historian Dio Cassius
pondered its significance, remarking that it was called the Pantheon ‘perhaps because it received among the images which decorate
it the statues of many deities, including Mars and Venus; but my opinion of the name is that, because of its vaulted roof, it resembles
the heavens’. He appreciated that the images of individual gods were of less importance than the building itself, within which the
supreme god, so often associated with the sun, was immanent, visible yet intangible in the light streaming through the oculus and
moving over the surface of the dome. It was, in fact, not so much the temple of a specific religious cult as an attempt to express the
very idea of religion, of the relationship between the seen and the unseen, between mortals and the inscrutable powers beyond their
ken. Domes had previously been decorated to symbolize the heavens, but no single building embodied this idea more effectively and
on a grander scale than the Pantheon. Nor did any exert greater influence on subsequent developments in the religious architecture
of the West. Domes and half-domes as symbols of heaven had become essential features of Christian churches long before the
Pantheon itself was converted into one” (195). “The building is particularly well preserved because it was transformed into a church
in 609 AD. Even the original statue niches still exist (where saints have replaced the ancient gods). According to Dion Cassius,
images of Mars and Venus stood there alongside the deified Caesar, as well as other astral figures” (Stierlin 156).
7. “As its name suggests, the Pantheon was dedicated to all the gods or, more precisely, to the seven planetary gods. (The sculptures
of the seven planetary gods that fill the seven niches in our illustration date from the Baroque era.) It is therefore likely that the
golden dome represented the Dome of Heaven. Yet this solemn structure grew from rather humble beginnings. Vitruvius, writing
more than a century earlier, describes the domed steam chamber of a bath that foreshadows (on a much smaller scale) the basic
features of the Pantheon: a hemispherical dome, a proportional relationship between height and width, and a circular opening in the
center, which could be closed by a bronze shutter on chains to adjust the temperature of the steam room” (Janson 184). “The
Pantheon was clearly intended as a tour de force, an aesthetic and technical masterpiece. While the rhetoric of retaining Agrippa’s
inscription spoke of a deliberate modesty within the continuity of tradition, the building’s breathtaking novelty proclaimed the
emperor’s supreme act of surpassing the past” (Elsner 69). “Hadrian’s sophisticated admiration for the past is well documented, and
although the unfluted columns of Egyptian granite and other architectural details are unmistakably products of his own era, he
clearly made an effort in the rectilinear forms of the porch to echo the architecture of an earlier time. This interest in nostalgic
evocation even led to the retention or re-creation of Marcus Agrippa’s dedicatory inscription for the original Pantheon” (Boardman
271). “The ancient historian Dio Cassius records that the earlier Pantheon of Agrippa contained the statues of many gods, and this
was presumably also true of Hadrian’s building, but which particular gods were enshrined within it and in what order is simply not
known. In any case, the fusion of measured geometry in the Pantheon and the feeling of infinity conveyed by its vast dome and the
sky beyond may have conveyed more than the separate definable powers of particular gods. As they looked from the niches with
their statues, adorned with colored marble and gilding, upwards towards the dome with its geometric pattern of coffers, diminishing
as they recede towards the top, and finally at the pure white light of the oculus, the worshippers’ consciousness must have been
drawn from specific deities and cults to an idea of the divine essence that was the underlying power of all of them. Such a
transcendental and syncretistic conception is in keeping with the religious atmosphere of the mature Roman Empire and whit what
is known about Hadrian’s personal religious inclinations. An d as the seasons progressed and the great beam of light from the oculus
progressed and the great beam of light from the oculus illuminated, at different times of day and different periods of the year, the
shrines below, worshippers may have sensed a single divine intelligence guiding the orderly movements of the cosmos” (271-273).
8. “Originally, steps led up to the entrance, but over the centuries the level of the street has been raised, and once there was also
more to the porch. Otherwise, the Pantheon is very well preserved. In contrast to the Greek emphasis on the exterior of temples,
the most important part of the Pantheon is the interior” (Benton and DiYanni 99). “What was the significance of this religious space?
First, the Pantheon was clearly no ordinary temple. Instead of a rectangular cella containing a statue of the god, it represented a
vast internal space, forming a large meeting place whose nature implied an upsurge of ceremonial and ancient ritual” (Stierlin 158).
“This fundamental geometry always returned to the image of the universe and the movement of the celestial bodies. The Pantheon
is a perfect example. In the hall, the seven apses are dedicated to the seven astral divinities (five planets and two luminaries, Sol and
Luna- the sun and the moon). The dome itself represented the celestial vault. The five coffered levels of the ceiling symbolize the
five concentric spheres of the planetary system according to the ancients. The central oculus- sole source of light for the building,
admirably represented the sun, which dominated the whole space. Like the emperor who reigned over the orbis terrarum, holding in
one hand the globe of the universe and wearing the crown of rays, it was the image of the sol divinus, the divine sun that would
become the sol invictus” (158). “It was here, according to Dion Cassius, that Hadrian chose to ‘lay down the law’ among the gods. It
was here that the all-powerful emperor proclaimed legal doctrine, promulgated the laws, and became the head of the supreme
court. He had built a temple in the image of deified imperial power itself” (158). The Pantheon “was built in the Campus Martius on
the site of the sanctuary that Agrippa had intended as a dynastic temple but which had been made into a pantheon at the behest of
Augustus. Hadrian’s building was not a simple ‘restoration job,’ as the inscription in bronze letters decorating the frieze, beneath the
majestic pediment of the portico, would imply. Indeed the words read: ‘Made by Agrippa during his third consulate.’ If Hadrian had
wanted the paternity of his monument attributed to the founder of the first pantheon, it was probably not through a sense of
humility but to confirm that he was creating, as Agrippa had wanted, a new dynastic temple” (153).
Works Cited:
Benton, Janetta Rebold, and Robert DiYanni. Arts and Culture: An Introduction to the Humanities. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson Prentice-Hall, 2012.
Boardman, John, ed. The Oxford History of Classical Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
D’Ambra, Eve. Art and Identity in the Roman World. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd, 1998.
Elsner, Jas. Imperial Rome and Christian Triumph. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Fiero, Gloria K. The Humanistic Tradition, Book 1: The First Civilizations and the Classical Legacy, 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002.
Honour, Hugh, and John Fleming. The Visual Arts: A History. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice-Hall, 2005.
Janson, H. W. and Anthony F. History of Art, 6th ed. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2001.
Ramage, Nancy H. and Andrew. Roman Art. 2nd ed. London: Laurence King, 1995.
Stierlin, Henri. The Roman Empire: From the Etruscans to the Decline of the Roman Empire. Cologne: Taschen, 2002.
ARCHITECTURAL
FEATURE #1
ARCHITECTURAL
FEATURE #2
ARCHITECTURAL
FEATURE #3
THEME: IMAGES OF POWER
FOCUS: Aule Metele, Augustus of Primaporta, Ara Pacis Augustae
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT:
http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/roman-sculpture.html
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT:
http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/ara-pacis.html
READING ASSIGNMENT: KLEINER pp. 176, 197-200
POWERPOINT: IMAGES OF POWER: EARLY ROMAN EMPIRE (Art
during the Reign of Augustus)
DATE DUE: ___________
_________________________.
____________________________.
_____________________________.
____________________________.
8. The inclusion of children may refer to laws that Augustus passed during his
reign. What were these laws meant to do?
ARTISTIC INFLUENCE:
1. How and why was the Doryphoros influential in the design of the Augustus of Primaporta?
HOW:
WHY:
2. How and why was the Etruscan Aule Metele influential in the design of the Augustus of Primaporta?
HOW:
WHY:
1. How was Vespasian’s building of the Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheater) politically shrewd?
2. Identify two architectural innovations credited to the Romans exemplified by the Colosseum.
1)
2)
AP ART HISTORY
All of your assignments must be done using clear, legible handwriting.
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31
1. “Five very competent rulers- Nerva (ruled 96-98 CE), Trajan (ruled 98-117 CE), Hadrian (ruled 117-138 CE), Antonius Pius (ruled
138-161 CE), and Marcus Aurelius (ruled 161-180 CE)- succeeded the Flavians. Until Marcus Aurelius, none of them had natural sons,
and they adopted able members of the Senate to be their successors. Known as the ‘Five good Emperors,’ they oversaw a long
period of stability and prosperity” (Stokstad, Art History 259). “The relief decoration on the Column of Trajan spirals upward in a
band that would stretch about 656 feet if unfurled. Like a giant scroll, it contains a continuous pictorial narrative of the entire history
of the Dacian campaign. This remarkable sculptural feat involved creating more than 2,500 individual figures- including soldiers,
animals, and hangers-on- linked by landscape, architecture, and the recurring figure of Trajan. The artist took care to make all of the
scroll legible. The narrative band slowly expands from about 3 feet in height at the bottom, near the viewer, to 4 feet at the top,
where it is far from the viewer, and the natural and architectural frames for the scenes have been kept small relative to the important
figures in them” (261-262).
2. “The scene at the bottom of the column shows the army crossing the Danube River on a pontoon (floating) bridge as the
campaign gets under way. A giant river god, providing supernatural support, looks on. In the scene above, soldiers have begun
constructing a battlefield headquarters in Dacia from which the men on the frontiers will receive orders, food, and weapons.
Throughout the narrative, which is, after all, a spectacular piece of imperial propaganda, Trajan is portrayed as a strong, stable, and
efficient commander of a well-run army, whereas his barbarian enemies are shown as pathetically disorganized and desperate. The
hardships of war- death, destruction, and the suffering of innocent people- are ignored, and, of course, the Romans never lose a
battle” (262). “Although the upper scenes could not have been seen from the ground, they would have been visible from the
balconies of nearby buildings. A gilded bronze statue of Trajan, since destroyed, originally stood at the top of the column. It has
been replaced by a statue of St. Peter” (Adams, Art Across Time 232). The column is atop a cubic plinth where an inscription, held up
by two goddesses of victory over the doorway of the plinth, “speaks of the function of this monument: the column was intended to
show ‘the height of the mountain that was removed with so much labor.’ It was both a victory monument and a funerary memorial;
the golden urn containing the emperor’s ashes was kept inside the plinth, which has relief decoration” (Hintzen-Bohlen 140). “The
various scenes merge without transition, in the narrative manner of Roman historians, and are separated from each other only
occasionally by architectural features. The pictorial areas are densely filled with figures, and leave little room for depictions of
architecture and landscape. Although the reliefs are very shallow, the different parts of the background are subtly graded, so that
the elements furthest to the back are only lightly incised, as if they were drawings” (140-141).
3. “Day-to-day details abound among the 2,500 figures shown. For instance, the special insignia of individual units of the regular
Roman army and the cohorts of auxiliaries drawn from all over the empire are included. They are depicted in precise and accurate
detail” (Ramage and Ramage 172). “Although it was never intended by Trajan to serve as his final resting place, the Senate decided
after his death that it would be a fitting honor to deposit his ashes there. Thus, the column served both as a monument to his
exploits, and as his tomb. In its role as a showcase for Trajan’s exploits, the column provided a constant reminder of his virtus. This
meant, in the first instance, his fortitude and courage, and in the broader sense it was the summation of the multifarious glorious
aspects of his character. The virtus of the emperor, by extension, embodied the success of the state; and for all of this, the column
provided the visual documentation” (170). “The Roman liking for repetition of frequent formal scenes is particularly clear in the
representation of Trajan, as he makes sacrifices, sets off on campaigns, or addresses the troops. These scenes would have been the
easiest for viewers to recognize. The sculptors also indulged their love for accurate detail with regard to the setting; the army itself is
frequently seen admist woody and rocky landscapes, whether fighting, building a camp, or transporting supplies. Within the limits of
the spatial conventions, the scenery corresponds well to the mountains of Transylvania” (171). “In the first active scene at the bottom
of the column, Roman soldiers, carrying their gear over their shoulders, cross the Danube on a pontoon bridge. The sculptors were
careful to portray details of dress, and even to show the pots and pans that the soldiers carried. Just to the left of the soldiers, an
allegorical image of the river god, representing the Danube, rises immense and dripping out of the waters. We see him from the
back, with long hair and straggly beard- a type of river god that can be traced back to Hellenistic Greece. What is remarkable here is
the ease with which the Romans could accept the mixture of the real and imaginary in one scene” (171).
4. “In a battle scene where the Romans attack a Dacian fortress, the humans are again as tall as the walls, yet the impression of an
impenetrable barrier is effectively portrayed. The Romans here are using a particular formation suitable for protecting themselves
against attackers on the wall. In a defensive maneuver called testudo, mean “tortoise,” they have put their shields over their heads to
make a protective casing for the men who are advancing against the fortifications. In one of the most sophisticated renderings of
space on the entire column, the artist managed to do without architecture of any kind. This is the scene of the adlocutio, where
Trajan addresses his troops. Because he is standing on a high platform, the emperor is easy to identify. Furthermore, he is facing the
others, most of whom look at him. Some of the army is seen from the back, some from the side, and other soldiers from the front:
thus we get the impression that there is a three-dimensional crown standing around the emperor” (172-173). “Despite the artists’
emphasis on the superiority of the Roman army, the enemy is treated with distinct respect. In the section showing the final demise
of the Dacian commander, Decebalus, we find this larger-than-life hero cornered against a tree, with no chance of survival against
the onslaught of the Roman cavalry. In fact, the Romans admired his death by suicide” (173). “ This is very little sign of the classicizng
elegant divinities who are familiar from earlier monuments, but image of Trajan himself incorporate some of this formal tradition,
and there is an imposing figure of Victory writing on a shield that divides the frieze into two. It is not that this tradition is rejected by
sculptors of the Trajanic era- we can find beautiful figures in the classical mode elsewhere- but it was apparently not considered
appropriate for this particular monument” (173).
5. “If triumphal arches were conceived as historical statements, so, too, were the tall commemorative columns set up in Rome-
another and even more peculiar Roman invention than the triumphal arch. The first was Trajan’s Column, entirely covered by a
marble band of figurative carving winding up its shaft and originally topped by a gilded statue of the emperor (replaced in 1588 by a
statue of St. Peter). It commemorates his campaigns in Dacia (present-day Romania) in 101 and 105-6, the main events of which are
depicted in chronological sequence from bottom to top. As the column originally stood between two libraries founded by Trajan, it
has been suggested that the cylindrical helix of the carving was inspired by the scrolls on which all books were than written. To read
this figurative history from end to end, however, is not as simple a matter as unrolling a papyrus or parchment scroll. The reader
must walk around the column no less than 23 times with eyes straining ever further upwards! The scale increases slightly towards the
top, but the upper registers are hard to see and impossible to appreciate and must always have been so, even when the figures were
picked out in bright colors and gilding. Evidently, the artist’s concern was with a very generalized conception of posterity” (Honour
and Fleming 205-206). “The entire strip of carving, more than 600 feet long if it could be unfurled and including some 2,500 figures,
was composed as a continuous narrative, a manner of visual story-telling which had first appeared in Assyria and later in Egypt and
on the upper frieze of the Altar of Zeus at Pergamun. There are 150 episodes, each merging into the next without any vertical break
to interrupt the flow of the composition and the sequence of events- save for an allegory of history marking the interval between the
two campaigns. Trajan’s victory over the Dacians is thus presented as an irresistible historical process, but one rendered less in the
style of a dry chronicle than in that of an epic poem with much colorful detail. The many different scenes of warfare could, however,
be accommodated and represented legibly only by renouncing the spatial logic of such earlier reliefs as those on the Ara Pacis and on
the Arch of Titus. On Trajan’s Column the ground is tilted and space is rendered schematically almost as on a map; realistic scale is
similarly abandoned so that distant figures stand above but are no smaller than those in the foreground. Men are larger than the
horses they ride, the boats in which they cross the Danube and even the citadels they build and storm” (206-207).
Works Cited:
Hintzen-Bohlen, Brigitte. Rome and the Vatican City. Cologne: Konemann, 2000.
Honour, Hugh, and John Fleming. The Visual Arts: A History. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice-Hall, 2005.
Ramage, Nancy H. and Andrew. Roman Art. 2nd ed. London: Laurence King, 1995.
POWER
suggested by
CONTEXT
(Setting or
Location)
POWER
suggested by
NARRATIVE
CONTENT
POWER
suggested by
ARTISTIC
DECISION
MAKING (Visual
Treatment of
Form: Formalism)
Citing specific visual evidence, discuss ways in which each of these depictions of a Roman emperor conveys power and
authority.
1. Petra was the capital of the _______________________ Kingdom for most of its history until the
Roman Emperor Trajan created the province of Arabia in 106 C.E., annexed the kingdom, and moved
the capital of this new province to Bosra (also spelt Bostra) in what is today modern southern Syria. The
ancient sources inform us that the Nabataeans were great traders, who controlled the luxury trade in
________________ during the late Hellenistic and early Roman periods. The great wealth that the
____________________ amassed allowed them to create the architecture that so many admire in Petra
today.
2. Stone carvings, camel caravans and _______________ (the famous god blocks) set in niches, appear.
But these elaborate carvings are merely a prelude to one’s arrival into the heart of Petra, where the
Treasury, or Khazneh, a monumental ___________________, awaits to impress even the most jaded
visitors.
3. The tomb facades draw upon a rich array of _________________ and _________________ architecture
and, in this sense, their architecture reflects the diverse and different cultures with which the builders
of Petra traded, interacted, and even intermarried. The dating of the tombs has proved difficult as
there are almost no finds, such as ____________ and _______________, that enable archaeologists to
date these tombs.
4. The Treasury’s façade features a broken pediment and central __________________ (a circular
throughout. Above the broken pediments, the bases of two ___________________ appear and stretch
upwards into the rock.
5. The sculptural decoration also underscores a connection to the Greek Hellenistic world. On the upper
level, Amazons (bare-breasted) and Victories stand, flanking a central female figure, who is probably
Isis-Tyche, a combination of the Egyptian Goddess ________, and Tyche, the Greek goddess of good
___________________. The lower level features the Greek twin gods, Castor and Pollux, the Dioscuri,
6. It is a popular misconception that all of the rock-cut monuments, which number over 3,000, were all
7. What might be some possible reasons why the Romans began to favor burial over cremation in the
second century C.E.?
8. What might be some possible reasons for the depiction of the Orestes myth on the Cleveland
sarcophagus?
9. According to Pliny, when Praxiteles was asked which of his statues he preferred, the fourth-century
BCE Greek artist replied: “Those that __________________ painted.” This anecdote underscores the
10. In the Faiyum district of Egypt, painted mummy portraits on wood were unearthed. The painting
11. The figure on the Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus who wears no helmet and thrusts out his open right hand
mystery religions __________________________ since on his forehead, the sculptor carved the
emblem of ____________________, the Persian god of light, truth, and victory over death.
12. The piling of figures on the Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus underscores the increasing dissatisfaction of
13. How are the barbarians distinguished from the Romans visually on the Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus?
1. This sarcophagus was created for a mid- 2. Jesus has pride of place and appears
fourth-century city prefect of Rome the central compartment of the upper
register as a teacher enthroned
___________________________, who
converted to Christianity and was baptized between _________________ and
right before his death in 359.
__________________.
5. The crucifixion
does not appear
3. The scene depicted here is that of 4. In the upper zone, Christ, like an on the
enthroned Roman emperor, sits sarcophagus as it
______________________ about to above a personification of a was rare in Early
Christian art.
sacrifice his son ___________________. It took on ________________ holding a Christ’s death,
added significance for Christians as foretelling events in billowing mantle over his head, however, is
the life of their Savior. indicating Christ is ruler of the alluded to in the
universe. scenes in the
6. In what way upper right,
is this story where Jesus is
called a led before
“prefiguration”?
_____________
for judgment.
7. This scene
depicts the
apostle
_______________
being arrested for
his preaching
activities. It is
8. Numerous another reminder
Old Testament of the endurance
narratives are needed as a
depicted on the Christian.
sarcophagus
alongside those
of the New
9. Christians believed that 10. The central scene in 11. Another scene
Testament.
the original sin committed the lower register depicts depicting an Old
One example is
by Christ entering Testament figure who
that of
was tested for his faith is
______________________ seen here. The prophet
_____________
in a fashion that recalls
whose faith in and ______________,
how Roman emperors _____________________
God was tested shown here, necessitated
were portrayed entering was placed in a den of
by a series of Christ’s sacrifice for the
conquered cities on lions because he would
trials. salvation of humankind.
horseback. not worship false gods.
12. In what ways does this Early Christian sarcophagus still reflect stylistic characteristics of Late Roman classical art?
THEME: IMAGES of POWER
FOCUS: Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine, Arch of Constantine
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT:
http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/basilica-of-maxentius-and-constantine-c.-306-
312.html
DATE DUE: ___________ ONLINE ASSIGNMENT:
http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/arch-of-constantine.html
READING ASSIGNMENT: KLEINER, pp. 226-229
POWERPOINT: IMAGES of POWER: LATE ROMAN (Art during the
Reign of Constantine)
1. Terms to define:
1) basilica
2) in situ
3) coffers
4) apse
2. How does the Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine demonstrate the influence of earlier building
types?
3. Since Maxentius began the building of the large basilica in Rome, why was a colossal statue of
Constantine placed in the apse?
4. What architectural features of the Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine influenced Early Christian
architecture?
7. Why are the reliefs depicting Hadrian hunting and sacrificing to the gods probably incorporated into
this monument?
9. Who do the figures with Phrygian caps represent and why were they incorporated into the
monuments?
10. How does the style of the Constantinian reliefs on the arch differ from the earlier spoliated reliefs?
11. Some historians attribute these differences in style to a lack of skilled artisans during the late Roman
period. What other reasons do some historians propose for these differences in style?
__________________
who has strayed and 9. Here Jonah is depicted resting under a gourd vine that the Lord later caused to shrivel up and die. In
been rescued. what way might this image relate to its funerary context?
THEME: SACRED SPACES and RITUAL
FOCUS: Old St. Peter’s, Santa Sabina, Santa Costanza, Vienna
Genesis, Rossano Gospels
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT:
http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/santa-sabina.html
DATE DUE: ___________ READING ASSIGNMENT: KLEINER pp. 242-243, 248-250
POWERPOINT: SACRED SPACES and RITUAL: EARLY CHRISTIAN
(Early Christian Basilicas and Manuscripts)
1. Identify below the nave, the nave arcade, the side aisles, the apse, and the clerestory of Santa Sabina.
2. Why did early Christians borrow the design of Roman basilicas for their churches instead of that of
Roman temples?
3. What were some reasons why major Constantinian churches were built outside the city walls of ancient
Rome?
4. Define the following:
1) codex
2) folio
3) rotulus
4) vellum
5) parchment
Compare and contrast these two folios from medieval codices through an analysis of each of the following:
Content and/or Function Stylistic (visual) features Medium and/or technique Sources (Influences)
1. The Smithsonian article reads, “The depressing effect was magnified by a tower of cast-iron scaffolding
that cluttered the name, testament to a lagging, intermittent campaign to stabilize the beleaguered
monument.” What is meant by the word “intermittent” in this sentence and why is the campaign
“intermittent”?
2. Magnificent as it was, Hagia Sophia contained none of its splendid figurative mosaics at first. Justinian
may have acceded to the wishes of his wife, Theodora, and others who opposed the veneration of
human images- later to become known as the “__________________________.” By the ninth century,
3. For more than 900 years, Hagia Sophia was the most important building in the Eastern Christian world:
the seat of the Orthodox _____________________, counterpart to Roman Catholicism’s pope, as well
as the central church of the Byzantine emperors, whose _____________________ stood nearby.
4. What were some of the relics that Christian pilgrims came to venerate from across the Eastern
Christian world?
5. The city of Constantinople was captured by the Ottoman Turks under the leadership of the sultan
__________________________ in the year __________________. The sultan declared that the Hagia
7. How has the Hagia Sophia become the center of political and religious debate in present-day Turkey?
__________________________________ designed and built the Hagia Sophia for Justinian between 532
and 537. They began work immediately after fire destroyed an earlier church on the site during the
9. The lofty dome, which seems to ride on a halo of light, was made possible by the use of
____________________________ in the building’s construction. These transfer the weight from the
10. Structurally, although Hagia Sophia may seem Roman in its great scale and majesty, the organization
of its masses is not Roman. The very fact the “walls” in Hagia Sophia are concealed
______________________ indicates the architects sought Roman monumentality as an effect and did
not design the building according to Roman principles. Using ____________________ instead of
concrete was a further departure from Roman practice and marks Byzantine architecture as a
distinctive structural style.
11. Sung by clerical choirs, the Orthodox equivalent of the Latin Mass celebrated the sacrament of the
12. The nave of the Hagia Sophia was reserved for the _______________________, not the congregation.
The laity, segregated by sex, had only partial views of the ceremony from the
13. The emperor was the only layperson privileged to enter the ___________________________________.
When the emperor participated with the patriarch in the liturgical drama, standing at the pulpit
beneath the great dome, his rule was again sanctified and his person exalted. The church building was
then the earthly image of the court of Heaven.
THEME: IMAGES OF POWER
FOCUS: San Vitale in Ravenna
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT:
http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/byzantine-justinian.html
READING ASSIGNMENT: KLEINER pp. 263-266
DATE DUE: ___________
POWERPOINT: IMAGES of POWER: EARLY BYZANTINE (San Vitale
in Ravenna)
SIMILARITIES DIFFERENCES
George (encaustic is a painting technique that uses ________________ as a medium to carry the color).
____________________________.
6. Based on who looks where, how does this icon suggest zones of holiness evoking a cosmos of the world, so that the viewer
who stands before the scene can make this cosmos complete, from “our earth” to heaven?
7. The preservation of this early Byzantine icon at the Mt. Sinai monastery is fortuitous but ironic, for opposition to icon
worship was especially prominent among the heretical __________________________ of Syria and Egypt. There, in the
seventh century, a series of calamities erupted, indirectly causing an imperial ban on images. Between 611 and 617 the
__________________________ captured the great cities of Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria. Soon after, the Arabs, under
the banner of the new _______________________ religion, conquered not only Byzantium’s Eastern provinces but also
Persia itself, replacing the Sasanians. The shock of these events may have persuaded the emperor ____________________
(r. 717-741) that God was punishing Christians for their idolatrous worship of icons.
THEME: SACRED SPACES and RITUAL
FOCUS: Dome of the Rock and Great Mosque at Mecca
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT:
http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/the-dome-of-the-rock-qubbat-al-sakhra.html
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT:
http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/the-kaaba.html
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT:
DATE DUE: ___________
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/saudi-arabia/mecca-kaba
READING ASSIGNMENT: KLEINER pp. 284-287
POWERPOINT: SACRED SPACES and RITUAL: ISLAMIC (Dome of the
Rock and the Haram Mosque at Mecca)
1. Identify the five main obligations (or “pillars of Islam”) that a Muslim must fulfill?
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
2. What is the significance of the space that the Dome of the Rock contains?
_________________________________, inspired the Dome of the Rock’s designers. The Dome of the
Rock was one of the first Islamic buildings ever constructed. It was built between 685 and 691/2 by
________________________, probably the most important Umayyad caliph, as a religious focal point
for his supporters, while he was fighting a civil war against Ibn Zubayr. When construction began on the
Dome of the Rock, the caliph did not have control of the ______________________, the holiest shrine
in Islam, which is located in Mecca.
4. The mosaics in the Dome of the Rock contain no human figures or animals. While Islam does not
prohibit the use of figurative art per se, it seems that in religious buildings, this proscription was
upheld. Instead, we see vegetative scrolls and motifs, as well as vessels and winged crowns, which were
worn by _________________________ kings. Thus, the iconography of the Dome of the Rock also
includes the other major pre-Islamic civilization of the region which the Arab armies had defeated.
5. The Dome of the Rock also contains an inscription, 240 meters long, that includes some of the earliest
surviving examples of verses from the Qur‘an – in an architectural context or otherwise. The
_______________________ (in the name of God, the merciful and compassionate), the phrase that
starts each verse of the Qu’ran, and the ____________________________, the Islamic confession of
faith, which states that there is only one God and Muhammad is his prophet, are also included in the
inscription.
6. Upon arriving in Mecca, pilgrims gather in the courtyard of the Masjid al-Haram around the Kaaba.
They then circumambulate (________________________ in Arabic) or walk around the Kaaba, during
which they hope to __________________ and ____________________the Black Stone (al-Hajar al-
7. Muhammad was driven out of Mecca in 620 C.E. to Yathrib, which is now known as
_______________________. Upon his return to Mecca in 629/30 C.E., the shrine became the focal point
for Muslim worship and pilgrimage. Muhammad reportedly cleansed the Kaaba of
_______________________ upon his victorious return to Mecca, returning the shrine to the
monotheism of Ibrahim.
8. Secular historians point to the history of stone worship in pre-Islamic Arabia and say that it is likely that
9. What are some varied beliefs, not shared by all Muslims, regarding the Black Stone?
10. By the seventh century, the Kaaba was covered with kiswa, a _________________________ that is
replaced annually during the hajj.
11. Under the Ottoman sultans, Süleyman I (ruled 1520-1566) and Selim II (ruled 1566-74), the complex
was heavily renovated. In 1631, the Kaaba and the surrounding mosque were entirely rebuilt after
_______________________ had demolished them in the previous year. This mosque, which is what
exists today, is composed of a large open space with colonnades on four
sides and with seven ________________________ (towers from which the faithful are called to
worship), the largest number of any mosque in the world.
THEME: IMAGES of POWER
FOCUS: Mosque at Córdoba, Alhambra
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT:
http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/the-great-mosque-of-cordoba-spain.html
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT:
http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/alhambra.html
READING ASSIGNMENT: KLEINER, pp. 290-291, 295-296
DATE DUE: POWERPOINT: IMAGES of POWER: ISLAMIC SPAIN (The Mosque at
___________ Córdoba and the Alhambra)
Identify the function of each of the following architectural features of the mosque at Córdoba and how each
feature was designed, enlarged, or enhanced to impress visitors and allude to the patron’s prestige and power.
(1) Function:
(1) Function:
(1) Function:
2. The Alhambra's nearly 26 acres include structures with three distinct purposes, a residence for
the ruler and close family, the citadel, known as the _____________________—barracks for the
elite guard who were responsible for the safety of the complex, and an area called the
______________________ (or city), near the Puerta del Vino (Wine Gate), where court officials
lived and worked.
3. El Mexuar is an ________________________ near the Torre de Comares at the northern edge of the
complex. It was built by ________________ (1314-1325) as a throne room, but became a reception and
meeting hall when the palaces were expanded in the 1330s. The room has complex geometric
tile ____________________ (lower wall panels distinct from the area above) and carved stucco panels
that give it a formality suitable for receiving dignitaries.
4. Behind El Mexuar stands the formal and elaborate ______________________ façade set back from a
courtyard and fountain. The façade is built on a raised three-stepped platform that might have served
as a kind of outdoor stage for the ruler. The carved stucco façade was once painted in brilliant colors,
though only traces remain.
5. The Palacio de los Leones (Palace of the Lions) stands next to the Comares Palace but should be
basin on the backs of twelve carved stone ___________________ situated at the intersection of two
6. In the dome of the Hall of the Abencerrajes, some 5,000 _________________________ - tier after tier of
stalactite-like prismatic forms that seem aimed at denying the structure’s solidity – cover the ceiling.
They catch and reflect sunlight as well as form beautiful abstract patterns. The lofty vault in this hall
7. The Nasrid rulers did not limit themselves to building within the wall of the Alhambra. One of the best
preserved Nasrid estates, just beyond the walls, is called _______________________ (from the Arabic,
Jannat al-arifa). The word jannat means paradise and by association, garden, or a place of cultivation
which Generalife has in abundance.
THEME: SACRED SPACES and RITUAL
FOCUS: Great Mosque at Isfahan, Mosque of Selim II at Edirne, Ilkhanid
Mihrab, Imam Mosque at Isfahan
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT: http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/mihrab.html
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT: http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/great-mosque-isfahan.html
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT:
DATE DUE: http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/common-types-of-mosque-architecture.html
___________
READING ASSIGNMENT: KLEINER, pp. 297-300
POWERPOINT: IMAGES of POWER: PERSIAN and OTTOMAN ISLAMIC
ARCHITECTURE (Mosques in Turkey and Iran)
This mihrab (or prayer This architectural form may
niche) was used to point have, in fact, been based on an
worshippers towards the archway in the courtyard of the
direction of prophet Muhammad’s home in
_________________ script.
This inscription lists the
The rich decoration of the
mihrab is an example of ______________________ of
“horror vacui”, meaning Islam.
“fear
of __________________
spaces.” Since the mihrab
would have been placed in
A third inscription found within the center of the mihrab
a sacred context, the
is low so that it would be visible while one was
designer avoided the use
of what type of imagery?
___________________. This inscription reminds the
viewer that the mosque is the “dwelling place of the
_________________.”
ADDITIONAL THEMATIC APPROACH: INNOVATION and EXPERIMENTATION
Identify innovative features in the structural complexes shown below and discuss reasons why possibly they
were developed for sacred worship.
INNOVATIVE FEATURE(S):
Sinan the Great. Mosque of Selim II (Ottoman Empire), Edirne, Turkey, 1568-1575
INNOVATIVE FEATURE(S):
INNOVATIVE FEATURE(S):
Analyze how each of these objects (1) were designed and produced to satisfy the demands of patrons seeking quality luxury goods
and (2) relate to the traditional rituals or customs within the culture they represent.
(1)
(2)
(1)
(2)
Maqsud of Kashan. The Ardabil Carpet, from the funerary mosque of Shaykh Safi al-Din,
Iran , 1540, wool and silk
(1)
(2)
(1)
(2)
(1)
(2)
THEME: OBJECTS OF WEALTH and RITUAL
FOCUS: Book of Lindisfarne
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT:
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/sacredtexts/lindisfarne.html
READING ASSIGNMENT: See Below
POWERPOINT: OBJECTS of WEALTH and RITUAL: HIBERNO-
SAXON (Book of Lindisfarne)
DATE DUE: ___________
Cross and carpet page from the Lindisfarne Gospels (Northumbria, England), c. 698-721, tempera on vellum
1. “Christianity was introduced into Britain during the Roman occupation. In the southern and western areas of the country, the
early Christian church did not survive the collapse of Roman rule, but the Christian faith had been firmly established in Ireland,
largely through the efforts of Saint Patrick (c. 373-463). The Irish Church was independent of Rome. In order to check its spread and
to extend the influence of the Roman Church in England, Pope Gregory I (c. 540-604) established missions among the Anglo-Saxon
tribes. The mission was led by Gregory’s friend Augustine (?- c. 607), who became the first archbishop of Canterbury” (Wren 1: 189-
190).
2. “The conversion of the Anglo-Saxons was chronicled by the Venerable Bede (c. 672-735). Except for a trip to York, Bede spent
virtually his entire life in Northumbria in northern England. He entered the twin monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow at age seven
and on one occasion visited Lindisfarne, the Holy Island. Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People was written around 731
and was based on historical records from churches in England and on documents from the papal archives in Rome” (190). At
Lindisfarne, “twice a day, on the retreat of the tide, a causeway is revealed that links the island with the shore, and missionaries and
pilgrims for centuries have followed the tracks across the sand on their journey to and from the holy site. St. Aidan came with twelve
disciples to Lindisfarne from Iona at the request of the Northumbrian prince Oswald when he returned from exile in Scotland and
asked them to found a new monastery there. St. Aidan traveled the length and breadth of Northumbria, usually on foot, preaching
and baptizing wherever he stopped, and by the time of his death in AD 651 the Christian faith was well established and other
communities had been founded” (Davis 56).
3. “St. Cuthbert was born around the time of the arrival of the missionaries from Iona and entered the monastery of Melrose in
Lowland Scotland soon after the death of Aidan, whom he had seen in a vision. After a period of study, he was ordained as a priest
and began a mission across Northumbria, preaching and administering the sacraments. He rapidly acquired a reputation for his
holiness and miraculous powers. He was eventually sent to Lindisfarne to reform the community there, which had become slack in
discipline. At Lindisfarne he found himself attracted more and more to a life of solitude, and he began withdrawing himself to a tiny
inlet a few yards off the shore of the mainland which was accessible only at low tide” (58). “Later he built a hermitage for himself on
Farne Island, from which he could see nothing but sky, and he lived there alone for a number of years. He was visited by monks and
many people who had heard of his saintliness. King Eadfrith himself came in AD 684 to plead for him to return. Cuthbert agreed and
accepted election as a bishop, and was consecrated the following Easter in York… When Cuthbert felt that his life was nearing its
end, he returned to his hermitage on Farne Island, where he died on 20 March 687. His passing was signaled by a small group of his
disciples waving torches. His body was taken back to Lindisfarne for burial…. After eleven years Cuthbert’s successor, Eadbert,
agreed for the grave to be opened on the anniversary of his death in AD 698. When the grave was reopened, it revealed a body
miraculously undecayed. The body was placed in its casket and laid on the floor of the sanctuary and soon many miracles were
recorded as pilgrims flocked to the shrine” (58). “Aldred tells us in the great manuscript of Lindisfarne that Eadfrith, who was later to
be Bishop of Lindisfarne from 698 to 721, was the scribe and possibly the decorator also” (59).
4. “The production of this extraordinarily luxurious Gospel book has often been associated by scholars with the transportation of
Cuthbert’s relics to the main altar at Lindisfarne in 698, when his carved wooden coffin was also probably conceived. Anyone who
looks at the book will realize that it is the product of many years of work, especially if, as is commonly believed, Eadfrith personally
wrote and also ‘painted’ or ‘illuminated’ the book. The later colophon, whose reliability is not well established, only tells us that he
wrote it, but examination of a number of literary sources from this period and region suggests that verbs for writing and painting
could be used as synonyms” (Nees 157). “Examination of the book itself supports the hypothesis of a single artist. The same
pigments are used throughout, and there are no obvious breaks between the writing itself and the extensive decoration, consisting
of 15 full-page compositions, none of which is devoted to narrative imagery. For example, the Gospel of Matthew opens with three
full-page decorations. The first is a portrait of the Evangelist, with his symbol, in a radically different style from but nonetheless
manifestly in the tradition of the Gospels of St. Augustine. The portrait, on the back or verso (left-hand page of the full opening) of a
parchment leaf, faces a blank on the recto (right-hand page) opposite. Upon turning the page to the next opening, the reader and
viewer finds an elaborate pair of compositions quite unlike anything in the St. Augustine Gospels or any other book from late
antiquity. On the left is an ornate cross set within a complex frame., the cross itself and the background between it and the frame
entirely covered with interlacing animals forms ultimately derived from the tradition of Style II animal ornament used in prestige
metalwork. Other pages in the book show abstract geometrical patterns closely related to even earlier chip-carved ornament that
might also have been found on floor mosaics or textiles as well as in Roman metalwork (158). “Thanks to a later colophon
(inscription), we know a great deal about the origin of the Lindisfarne Gospels… The Cross page is a creation of breathtaking
complexity. Working with the precision of a jeweler, the miniaturist has poured into the geometric frame an animal interlace so
dense and yet so full of movement that the fighting beasts on the Sutton Hoo purse cover seem simple by comparison. It is as if
these biting and clawing monsters had been subdued by the power of the Cross” (Janson 254-255).
5. “In order to achieve this effect, our artist has had to work within a severe discipline by exactly following ‘rules of the game.’ These
rules demand, for instance, that organic and geometric shapes must be kept separate. Within the animal compartments, every line
must turn out to be part of an animal’s body. There are other rules concerning symmetry, mirror-image effects, and repetitions of
shapes and colors. Only by working these out by intense observation can we enter into the spirit of this mazelike world” (255). The
chi-rho monogram was later “enclosed within a circle, and eventually turned into the wheel-cross. The wheel symbolizes God, the
motionless mover, the center that has no dimensions and cannot turn, yet all moves around it. The circle represents wholeness, the
round contours of female energy, and the cross symbolizes the four directions of movement, or male energy, in the form of the
seasons. The two superimposed express harmony and balance” (Davis 76). The Lindisfarne Gospels were the first to devote an entire
page to the Cross (76). “The natural pattern of growth which we see time and again in nature is the spiral. To many different cultures
past and present it is symbolic of eternal life, the whorls representing the continuous cycle of life, death and rebirth. Surrounded by
water, the Celtic monks were constantly reminded of the flow and movement of the cosmos as they worked. In Neolithic times,
passing a spiral barrier seems to have been necessary to step within the inner sanctuary of a stone burial chamber, such as the
entrance stone blocking the entrance to the tomb at Newgrange” (85). “It is believed that our souls are a fragment of the divine and
that, through a series of successive births, they can rid themselves of impurities until, achieving the goal of perfection, they can
return to their divine source. The interlaced knotwork patterns, with their unbroken lines, symbolize this process of spiritual growth;
following the lines occupies the conscious mind with a demanding repetitive task, as you would use a mantra or rosary beads. They
are very few peoples who did not use some kind of interlaced pattern, derived from plaiting or weaving, in their decoration on stone,
metal, or wood” (87).
6. “In the cross page from the Lindisfarne Gospels, the writing, fantastic monsters of the pagan world are combined with the
Christian cross. Even today, the names of northern European gods, such as Tiu, Woden, Thor, and Frigg survive in the English day
names Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday” (Wren 1: 190). “In some Insular manuscripts it is clear the northern artists
copied imported Mediterranean books. This is evident at once when the author portrait of Saint Matthew from the Lindisfarne
Gospels is compared with the contemporary full-page portrayal of the scribe Ezra from the Codex Amiatinus. Both were ‘copied’
from similar books Christian missionaries brought from Italy to England- but with markedly divergent results. The figure of Ezra and
the architectural environment of the Codex Amiatinus are closely linked with the pictorial illusionism of late antiquity…. By contrast,
the Hiberno-Saxon artist of the Lindisfarne Matthew apparently knew nothing of the illusionistic pictorial technique nor, for that
matter, of the representation of the human figure. Although the illuminator carefully copied the pose, the Insular artist interpreted
the form in terms of line exclusively, ‘abstracting’ the classical model’s unfamiliar tonal scheme into a patterned figure. The
Lindisfarne Matthew resembles the pictures of kings, queens, and jacks in a modern deck of playing cards. The soft folds of drapery
in the Codex Amiatinus Ezra became, in the Hiberno-Saxon manuscript, a series of sharp, regularly spaced, curving lines. The artist
used no modeling. No variations occur in light and shade. The Lindisfarne painter converted the strange Mediterranean forms into a
familiar linear idiom. The illuminator studied a tonal picture and made of it a linear pattern” (Kleiner, Mamiya, and Tansey 435-436).
7. “In the cross page from the Lindisfarne Gospels, the writing, fantastic monsters of the pagan world are combined with the Christian
cross. Even today, the names of northern European gods, such as Tiu, Woden, Thor, and Frigg survive in the English day names
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday” (Wren 1: 190). “In some Insular manuscripts it is clear the northern artists copied
imported Mediterranean books. This is evident at once when the author portrait of Saint Matthew from the Lindisfarne Gospels is
compared with the contemporary full-page portrayal of the scribe Ezra from the Codex Amiatinus. Both were ‘copied’ from similar
books Christian missionaries brought from Italy to England- but with markedly divergent results. The figure of Ezra and the
architectural environment of the Codex Amiatinus are closely linked with the pictorial illusionism of late antiquity…. By contrast, the
Hiberno-Saxon artist of the Lindisfarne Matthew apparently knew nothing of the illusionistic pictorial technique nor, for that
matter, of the representation of the human figure. Although the illuminator carefully copied the pose, the Insular artist interpreted
the form in terms of line exclusively, ‘abstracting’ the classical model’s unfamiliar tonal scheme into a patterned figure. The
Lindisfarne Matthew resembles the pictures of kings, queens, and jacks in a modern deck of playing cards. The soft folds of drapery
in the Codex Amiatinus Ezra became, in the Hiberno-Saxon manuscript, a series of sharp, regularly spaced, curving lines. The artist
used no modeling. No variations occur in light and shade. The Lindisfarne painter converted the strange Mediterranean forms into a
familiar linear idiom. The illuminator studied a tonal picture and made of it a linear pattern” (Kleiner, Mamiya, and Tansey 435-436).
1. “Through literature on the lives of the saints we have ample evidence of the character of the monasteries. They were usually set
within a circular fort-like enclosure called a cashel, bounded by a stone or earthen bank with a ditch outside. The church or oratory,
a rectangular structure of oaken planks or of wattle and daub, was the most important building within the enclosure. It was often
small because solitary prayer, rather than frequent services for all the monks together, was held to be correct. To make up for their
small size, there were many of them- at least seven in St. Kevin’s monastery at Glendalough, for example. On top of several of the
tenth-century high crosses can be seen replicas of those small wooden churches and oratories” (Davis 16). “The monks lived one,
maybe two, to a cellae, which was a small, wickerwork hut dispersed about the enclosure. The other buildings of importance were
the tech noiged, a guest house, the refectory, praind tech, and if the monastery was important, there was also a school where Latin
and Greek were studied” (16). “Reading of some of the books on the lives of the saints suggests that the communities very much
carried on the arrangements that had previously existed in Celtic societies, especially education by the Druids, which was taken over
by the monks” (17).
2. “The life of the monastery was devoted to prayer, penance and learning, but the provision of food for the community was also
necessary, as were building skills and the ability to make vessels for the altar, boats and other conveyances, and much more. In time,
the monastic workshops became the chief centers of craftsmanship in the country. Food was sparse and not designed to be
attractive. The staple diet was bread, beans and occasional vegetables, supplemented by fish, fruit and dairy food, but rarely meat.
Monastery rules decreed that monks were to have only enough to keep them alive, but not so much as to burden their stomachs and
take their minds off their religious duties” (17). “In the early days of the monasteries, buildings were made of wood- a tradition from
Ireland. Later buildings were made of local stone. Life was extremely hard for monks, all of whom followed the rules laid down by
St. Benedict for monastic orders. The day began at 2 a.m., when communal prayers known as matins were said. The monks spent
most of their day in prayer, no matter what other tasks they had to undertake. They grew their own food and this had to be tended.
There would be corn to be threshed and winnowed, bread to be baked in the kitchens and bakehouses, livestock to be fed and fish to
be caught. They attended the beer and mead that was brewed especially for the monastery; these were the usual drinks of the
monks, though there was also water. Herbs were of special importance, for their culinary and medicinal use. Simple but wholesome
food was served in the refectory, where everyone ate. Their day finished with the prayers known as the compline in the late
afternoon or early evening” (18).
3. “Within the monastery there was a complex of buildings, the main one being the church. From this there would be what is known
as the ‘night stairs,’ leading from the dormitories to the church, giving easy access at night for prayers. No heating was allowed in
the buildings apart from the fire which was also lit in the warming house, where the monks could gather and talk, as the rule of
silence everywhere else in the monastery. The warm room was next to the refectory on one side and the chapter house on the
other, where the monks would carry on the official business of the monastery. The name chapter house comes from the fact that
meetings began with the reading of a chapter from the monks’ particular monastic rule. Above the chapter house were the abbot’s
or prior’s quarters. They had separate lodgings from the other monks, with a room for entertaining important guests. The cloisters
were where the monks could take daily walks for contemplation or sit and read. Commonly built to the north of the cloisters were
the scriptorium and the library” (20).
4. The scriptorium is “where the learned monks would work creating the illuminated manuscripts. A monk known as the armarius
was responsible for issuing the writing materials and equipment to the scribes. This was a cold workplace and the monks would sit
for as long as six hours with no artificial light, working in silence at a slanted desk. Around a monk’s waist would be the diptych, an
open, two-sided wax book or tablet used to make notes. He could open this and write with a stylus of metal or bone into the wax.
The monastery needed a wide range of books for their library: some were books of religious study and moral instruction; others were
the lives of saints and documents such as deeds and letters, biblical texts, psalters and missals. Some scribes were better educated
than others and mistakes were often made in the spelling or the translation of the Latin; some corrections were made but, as in the
Book of Kells, they remain to this day” (21).
St. Benedict
1. “It was St. Benedict of Nursia (480-543) who was most successful in adapting monasticism to the needs of the Western Church.
He was born into a well-to-do Roman family, but like many other men of his time he had fled in disgust from a world that seemed
hopelessly corrupt. At first he lived as a hermit in the hills near Rome. As his reputation for holiness attracted others to him, he
found himself forced to organize a regular monastic community. He built a monastery on the commanding height of Monte Cassino,
near the main route from Naples to Rome, and established a ruled that gradually became the basic constitution for all western
monks” (Strayer and Gatzke 150).
2. “The great strength of the Benedictine Rule lay in its combination of firmness and reasonableness. The abbot’s authority was
absolute. Monks were not to leave their monastery without permission. They were to keep themselves occupied all day. Their first
and most important duty was to do the ‘work of God’ – that is, to take part in religious services that filled many hours of the day. But
they were also to perform any manual labor that was necessary for the welfare of the house, including such activities as copying
manuscripts. The primary purpose of the Rule, however, was not to make the monastery an intellectual center but to keep the
monks from extremes of idleness or asceticism. Most monks were neither writers nor scholars, and most monasteries never
distinguished themselves by their literary productions. They did, however, distinguish themselves as centers of prayer and worship,
as dramatic examples of the Christian way of life. Most monasteries also performed certain social services, such as extending
hospitality to travelers or giving food to the poor, and a few operated important schools” (150-151). “The Benedictines emphasized
papal authority and a well-organized Church; they opposed local autonomy and lack of discipline. Finally, in many parts of Europe
the Benedictines introduced valuable new techniques, such as building in stone and organizing agriculture around the large estate”
(151).
Works Cited
Davis, Courtney. Celtic Ornament: Art of the Scribe. London: Blandford, 1997.
Janson, H. W. and Anthony F. History of Art, 6th ed., rev. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2004.
Kleiner, Fred S., Christin J. Mamiya, and Richard G. Tansey. Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, 11th
ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt College Publishers, 2001.
Nees, Lawrence. Early Medieval Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Strayer, Joseph R. and Hans W. Gatzke. The Mainstream of Civilization. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979.
Wren, Linnea H., ed. Perspectives on Western Art. Vol. 1. New York: Harper & Row, 1987.
Answer the following questions by citing at least three statements taken from the prepared document .
FEATURES of TRADITION: How specifically does the Book of Lindisfarne reflect traditional methods and/or customs in the
production of illuminated manuscripts? You may refer to materials, processes (or techniques), and imagery.
(1)
(2)
(3)
ARTISTIC INTENT: Why were illuminated manuscripts like the Book of Lindisfarne made and what do they reveal about the
monastic culture that created them?
(1)
(2)
(3)
ARTISTIC INFLUENCE: Citing specific visual evidence, how does the Book of Lindisfarne specifically reflect a fusion between the
art of the Christian Mediterranean world and the art of a pre-Christian Celtic culture?
(1)
(2)
(3)
COMPARE and CONTRAST: Select another illuminated manuscript from your textbook. Analyze how the formal qualities of
your selected manuscript and the Book of Lindisfarne are either similar or different.
(1)
(2)
(3)
THEME: INNOVATION and EXPERIMENTATION
FOCUS: St. Sernin at Toulouse, Speyer Cathedral, Sant’Ambrogio
in Milan, St. Étienne in Caen, Durham Cathedral
READING ASSIGNMENT: KLEINER, pp. 338-341, 350, 355, 357-359
POWERPOINT: INNOVATION and EXPERIMENTATION:
ROMANESQUE (Romanesque Churches and Cathedrals)
DATE DUE: ___________
Identify innovative features in the following structures. Discuss the advantages these innovations allowed for the builders. At least
one of your innovative features must be found within the interior of the structure.
INNOVATIVE FEATURES:
INNOVATIVE FEATURES:
INNOVATIVE FEATURES:
INNOVATIVE FEATURES:
INNOVATIVE FEATURES:
1. The church of Ste. Pierre 2. The enthroned figure of Christ is much larger than the 3. Surrounding Christ are
was on one of the pilgrimage other figures in the portal. His right hand is raised in a the four Evangelical
roads through France that Beasts, the winged man
led to gesture of ________________________. representing
_____________________.
5. Below Christ are
twenty-four elders with
4. Although all of the figures musical instruments and
appear to occupy the same crowns of gold, as
plane, the wavy lines create a described in the Biblical
series of levels while at the book of
same time, remind the view
of the Biblical verse that ___________________.
reads “And before the throne
there was a
6. The portal is divided
_____________________ like in half vertically by a
unto a crystal.” post called
the
7. The central pillar and the ___________________.
side jambs have scalloped On the front, the viewer
contours, a borrowing from is faced with three pairs
of intertwined
________________________
8. Also located on the sides of the central post are an Old
_ architecture. They echo the _______________ who
Testament prophet and a New Testament saint (not seen
zigzag and dovetail lines of are there to symbolically
in this view). Why was such a pairing commonly depicted
the figures’ draperies above guard the entry into the
during the Romanesque period?
as well as their animated church.
poses.
1. The relics that pilgrims came 2. The central figure of Christ is frontal and 3. On Christ’s right side we see the
through this door at Autun to visit symmetrical, sitting on a throne that is
were _______________________ souls. On
the city of _______________________. He is his left side we see the souls that are
______________________________. set within an almond-shaped
What was the advantage of _______________________. According
venerating these relics for the ____________________ that represents his the tradition, souls being judged are
pilgrim? divinity. depicted in the nude.
5. This scene
depicts a seated
condemned soul
being
_______________
alive while a she-
devil devours his
skin with great
delight.
6. In and around
this triangular
compartment are
personifications
of the seven
deadly sins.
Identify a few of
these and
describe how they
7. The faithful are 8. Under Christ’s figure, the weighing 9. The sculptor knew are depicted.
shown led by the of the souls takes place, with the how to strongly
Virgin Mary and archangel contrast the celestial
peace with the violent
______________, ______________________ being chaos and confusion
holding the keys confronted by a mocking devil, with of Hell. Set on the
of Paradise. defying looks, each one kneeling by center of the right
the scales. lintel, mimicking
_________________’s
10. On the left, in a triangle-shaped frame, small
position, Satan
archways show the Conques church with the
presides over the
extraordinary
________________ hanging from its beams, like a
torturing, with his feet
thanksgiving as was custom and as a reminder of
resting on the belly of
a
Saint _____________’s protection. On the right,
__________________
she is leaning towards the divine hand and lying in the flames.
interceding in favor of the deceased.
1. Located in Conques, the Church of Saint-Foy (Saint Faith) is an important pilgrimage church on the
route to ___________________________ in Northern Spain. It is also an abbey meant the church was
2. As a Romanesque church, it has a _________________-vaulted nave lined with arches on the interior.
The main feature of these churches was the cruciform plan. Not only did this plan take the symbolic
form of the cross but it also helped control the crowds of pilgrims. In most cases, pilgrims could enter
the ______________________ portal and then circulate around the church towards the
___________________ at the eastern end. This area usually contained smaller chapels, known as
___________________chapels, where pilgrims could visit saint’s shrines, especially the sanctuary of
Saint Foy. They could ten circulate around the ambulatory and out the transept, or crossing. This
designed helped to regulate the flow of traffic throughout the church.
4. While the date of the reliquary is unknown, Bernard of Angers first spoke it about in 1010. At first,
Bernard was frightened that the statue was too beautiful stating, "Brother, what do you think of this
idol? Would Jupiter or Mars consider himself unworthy of such a statue?" He was concerned about
__________________—that pilgrims would begin to worship the jewel-encrusted reliquary rather than
what that reliquary contained and represented, the holy figure of Saint Foy.
5. Over time, travelers paid homage to Saint Foy by donating _____________________ to the reliquary so
that her dress became ornamented with various colors. Her face, which stares boldly at the viewer, is
thought to have originally been the head of a Roman statue of a child. The reuse of older materials in
new forms of art is known as ___________________. Even today, a great celebration is held for Saint
Foy every October, continuing a medieval tradition.
THEME: WAR and VIOLENCE
FOCUS: Bayeux Tapestry
ONLINE ASSIGNMENT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry
READING ASSIGNMENT: KLEINER, pp. 361-362
POWERPOINT: IMAGES of WAR and VIOLENCE: ROMANESQUE
ART (Bayeux Tapestry)
DATE DUE: ___________
__________________.
________________________
by the papacy.
6. After the coronation, a _________________ appears in the sky and is seen as an ill-fated
omen.
8. This scene depicts William half-brother, 9. The Norman skill highlighted here in
shipbuilding reminds us that the
________________________ blessing a Normans were descendants of the
feast. Most historians believe that he
commissioned the Bayeux Tapestry possibly _________________________.
to hang in the nave of
_______________________________.
Contextual variables can lead to multiple interpretations of works of art. Identify at least three such interpretations of this work.
What supporting evidence has been provided to support each of these interpretations?
(1) Interpretation:
Supporting Evidence:
(2) Interpretation:
Supporting Evidence:
(3) Interpretation:
Supporting Evidence:
THEME: INNOVATION and EXPERIMENTATION
FOCUS: Abbey of St. Denis, Chartres Cathedral
READING ASSIGNMENT: KLEINER, pp. 365-370, 374-377
POWERPOINT: INNOVATION and EXPERIMENTATION: FRENCH
GOTHIC (Chartres Cathedral)
DATE DUE: ___________
1. Most art historians concur that the Gothic style emerged between 1140 and 1141 at the
Abbey Church of St. Denis under the guidance of Abbot ______________________. What
features at St. Denis influenced the builders of Chartres? (List at least three.) How were these
features expanded on at Chartres and to what effect?
(1) Feature:
Expanded on how?
To what effect?
(2) Feature:
Expanded on how?
To what effect?
(3) Feature:
Expanded on how?
To what effect?
2. The principal relic Chartres Cathedral was known for was the
(4) Archivolts
4. Identify at least three ways in which this plan of Chartres
differs from a plan of a Romanesque structure. What were the
advantages of each of these innovations?
(1) Difference:
Advantage:
(2) Difference:
Advantage:
(3) Difference:
Advantage:
(2) triforium
(3) pinnacle
(4) lancet
(7) clerestory
(9) glazier
(10) cames
FUNCTION:
VISUAL CHARACTERISTICS that satisfy the aims of a patron and/or fulfill its intended function:
FUNCTION:
FUNCTION:
____________________, to
5. A manuscript this lavish,
whom she deliberately
however, would have taken
gestures across the page,
eight to ten years to
raising her left hand in his
complete—perfect timing,
direction. Her pose and
because in the year
animated facial expression
suggest that she is dedicating
________________, the 21-
this manuscript, with its
year-old king was ready to
lessons and morals, to the
assume the rule of his
young king.
kingdom from his mother.
6. This tonsured
7. The queen and her son
_______________ (churchman echo a gesture and pose that
with a partly shaved head would have been familiar to
wears a sleeveless cloak many Christians: the
8. As the artist on the right holds a
appropriate for divine
services—this is an educated ___________________ and
_______________ in his left hand and
man—and emphasizes his role
as a scholar. He tilts his head _________________
_________________ in his right, he enthroned side-by-side as
forward and points his right
looks down at his work: four celestial rulers of heaven,
forefinger at the artist across
vertically-stacked circles in a left found in the numerous
from him, as though giving him
column, with part of a fifth visible on Coronations of the Virgin
the right. We know, from the 4887 carved in ivory, wood, and
______________________.
medallions that precede this stone.
illumination, what’s next on this
artist’s agenda: he will apply a thin
9. Moralized bibles, made expressedly for
the French royal house, include lavishly sheet of ____________________ onto
illustrated abbreviated passages from the the background, and then paint the
medallion's biblical and explanatory
____________ and ___________ scenes in brilliant hues of lapis lazuli,
Testaments. Explanatory texts that allude to green, red, yellow, grey, orange and
historical events and tales accompany these sepia.
literary and visual readings, which—woven
together—convey
a ________________.
1. A haggadah is a collection of Jewish prayers and
readings written to accompany the Passover
2. The literal meaning of the Hebrew word “haggadah” is
_________________________, a ritual meal eaten on the
a “________________________” or
eve of the Passover festival. The ritual mean was
formalized during the 2nd century, after the example of
“____________________.” It refers to a command in the
biblical book of Exodus requiring Jews to “tell your son on
the Greek ______________________________, in which
that day: it is because of that which the Lord did for me
philosophical debate was fortified by food and wine.
when I came forth out of Egypt.”
DATE DUE:
READING ASSIGNMENT: KLEINER pp. 407-409, 574-576
___________ POWERPOINT: INNOVATION and EXPERIMENTATION: PROTO-
RENAISSANCE (Giotto and Masaccio)
Identify the subject of each of the following scenes taken from Giotto’s Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel. Then, analyze how each scene
reveals Giotto’s innovative use of technique, treatment of the human form, and/or pictorial space.
SUBJECT:
INNOVATIVE FEATURES:
SUBJECT:
INNOVATIVE FEATURES:
SUBJECT:
INNOVATIVE FEATURES:
SUBJECT:
INNOVATIVE FEATURES:
SUBJECT:
INNOVATIVE FEATURES:
In the scenes shown above, what elements of Giotto’s frescoes are traditional (as opposed to innovative)? Refer to at least four.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
ADDITIONAL THEMATIC APPROACH: DEATH and the AFTERLIFE
These three images trace the depiction of the death of Christ from the Gothic period to the Early Italian Renaissance.
Discuss how each work portrays the death of Christ (in contrast to the others) and why. In your response, discuss how
each work communicates religious beliefs regarding death for an intended audience.
Giotto. “Lamentation” scene from the Arena Chapel, Padua, c. 1305, fresco