Ancient art

Ancient art refers to the many types of art made by the advanced cultures of ancient societies with different ways of writing. These societies include China, India, Mesopotamia, Persia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Their art shows how people lived, what they believed, and what was important to them many years ago.

Art from societies that did not yet have writing is called prehistoric art and is not part of ancient art. Some cultures in the Americas, like the Maya, Aztec, and Olmec, also developed their own ways of writing before Europeans arrived, but their art is usually studied separately as pre-Columbian art.

Studying ancient art helps us understand the history, values, and skills of people who lived long ago. It shows us their stories, religions, and daily lives through paintings, sculptures, and other creations that have lasted for thousands of years.

West Asia and Mediterranean

Arabian

Main articles: Pre-Islamic Arabia § Art, and Ancient South Arabian art

The art of Pre-Islamic Arabia is related to that of neighboring cultures. Pre-Islamic Yemen produced stylized alabaster heads of great beauty and historic value. Most of the pre-Islamic sculptures are made of alabaster.

Archaeology has revealed some early settled civilizations in Saudi Arabia: the Dilmun civilization on the east of the Arabian Peninsula, Thamud north of the Hejaz, and Kinda and Al-Magar civilization in the central of Arabian Peninsula. The earliest known events in Arabian history are migrations from the peninsula into neighboring areas. In ancient times, the role of South Arabian societies such as Saba (Sheba) in the production and trade of valuable goods not only brought such kingdoms wealth but also connected the Arabian Peninsula to trade networks, resulting in wide-ranging artistic influences.

Although subject to outside influences, south Arabia kept features special to itself. The human figure is often shown using strong, square shapes, with fine details contrasting with a simple style of form.

Egyptian

Main article: Art of ancient Egypt

Because of the very religious nature of ancient Ancient Egyptian civilization, many of the great works of ancient Egypt show gods, goddesses, and Pharaohs, who were also seen as divine. The idea of order is a key part of ancient Egyptian art. Clear and simple lines mixed with simple shapes and flat areas of color helped to create a feeling of order and balance in the art of ancient Egypt. Ancient Egyptian artists used vertical and horizontal lines to keep the right sizes in their work. Political and religious order, as well as artistic order, was also kept in Egyptian art. To clearly show the social ranks of people, figures were drawn to sizes based on importance, not distance from the artist. For example, the Pharaoh would be drawn as the largest figure in a painting, no matter where he was shown, and a more important god would be drawn larger than a less important god.

Symbolism also played an important role in creating a feeling of order. Symbolism, from the Pharaoh's symbols (showing his power to keep order) to the individual symbols of Egyptian gods and goddesses, was everywhere in Egyptian art. Animals were also often shown with special meaning in Egyptian art. Color, too, had deeper meaning—blue and green stood for the Nile and life; yellow stood for the sun god; and red stood for power and energy. The colors in Egyptian artifacts have stayed bright over many centuries because of Egypt's dry climate.

Despite some stiff forms because of not using perspective, ancient Egyptian art is often very realistic. Ancient Egyptian artists often show a good knowledge of anatomy and pay close attention to detail, especially in how they draw animals. During the 18th Dynasty of Egypt a Pharaoh named Akhenaton took control and changed the traditional ways of worship. He created a new religion based on honoring one sun god. New styles of art followed these changes, with more natural-looking art than the usual styles of Egyptian art for many years before. After Akhenaton's time, however, Egyptian artists went back to their old styles.

Etruscan

Main articles: Etruscan art and Etruscan vase painting

Etruscan art was made by the Etruscan civilization in central Italy between the 9th and 2nd centuries BC. From around 600 BC it was strongly influenced by Greek art, which was brought to the Etruscans, but it always kept its own special features. Very strong in this tradition were sculptures made of clay (especially life-size on sarcophagi or temples), wall paintings, and working with metal, especially bronze. Jewelry and engraved gems of high quality were also made.

Greek

Main article: Ancient Greek art

Ancient Greek art includes a lot of pottery and sculpture, as well as building designs. Greek sculpture is known for the way figures stand with a relaxed posture. The art of Ancient Greece is usually divided into three styles: the Archaic, the Classical, and the Hellenistic. The history of Ancient Greek pottery is divided into styles: the Protogeometric, the Geometric, the Late Geometric or Archaic, the Black Figure, and the Red Figure. Ancient Greek art has survived most successfully in the forms of sculpture and building designs, as well as in smaller arts like designs on coins, pottery, and gems.

The most respected form of Ancient Greek painting was painting on wood, but very little of it has survived. Today not much of Greek painting remains, except for late paintings on mummies and a few paintings on the walls of tombs, mostly in Macedonia and Italy. Painting on pottery, of which a lot has survived, gives some idea of the beauty of Greek painting. The ways of painting, however, were very different from those used on walls or wood, because it was a different surface.

Hittite

Main article: Hittite art

Hittite art was made by the Hittite civilization in ancient Anatolia, in modern-day Turkey, and also reaching into Syria during the second millennium BC from the nineteenth century up until the twelfth century BC. This time belongs to the Anatolian Bronze Age. It is known for a long tradition of repeated images and designs used by artists to give meaning to people who could not read.

Many of these images show Hittite deities and religious ceremonies. There are also many scenes of hunting and pictures of animals. Much of the art comes from places like Alaca Höyük, or the Hittite capital of Hattusa near modern-day Boğazkale. Experts have trouble dating much Hittite art because there are few writings on it and much of the art, especially from graves, was moved from its original places and spread among museums during the nineteenth century.

Mesopotamian

Main article: Art of Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is a name for the area of the Tigris-Euphrates rivers, which mostly matches modern-day Iraq, as well as parts of northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and southwestern Iran. Within this area, some of the world's earliest civilizations developed writing and farming. Many civilizations grew there, leaving behind a rich collection of ancient art.

Bronze Age Mesopotamian civilizations included the Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian empires, and Sumer. In the Iron Age, Mesopotamia was ruled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires. The Sumerians and Akkadians (including Assyrians & Babylonians) were in charge of Mesopotamia from the start of writing (around 3100 BC) until Babylon fell in 539 BC, when it was taken over by the Achaemenid Empire. It was later taken by Alexander the Great in 332 BC and after his death, it became part of the Greek Seleucid Empire.

Around 150 BC, Mesopotamia was controlled by the Parthians. Mesopotamia became a battleground between the Romans and Parthians, with parts of Mesopotamia (especially Assyria) sometimes under Roman control. In 226 AD, it fell to the Sassanid Persians and stayed under Persian rule until the 7th-century Arab Islamic conquest of the Sassanid Empire. A number of Christian states in Mesopotamia existed between the 1st century BC and the 3rd century AD, including Adiabene, Oshroene, and Hatra.

Assyrian

Main article: Art and architecture of Assyria

When Babylon began to weaken, it was taken over by Assyria, one of its former colonies. Assyria took over its arts as well as its empire.

At first, Assyrian builders and artists copied Babylonian styles and materials. Later, Assyrians started to develop their own ways. The walls of Assyrian palaces were covered with stone slabs instead of brick and were colored instead of painted as in Chaldea. Instead of reliefs, they had carved figures, the earliest examples being the statues from Girsu.

No important examples of metalwork from early Assyria have been found, but later they became very skilled in making jewelry such as earrings and bracelets of gold. They also made skilled works using copper.

Assyrian pottery and porcelain were graceful. Transparent glass seems to have been first made during the rule of Sargon II, like the glass found in the palaces of Nineveh – based on Egyptian designs. Stone, as well as clay and glass, were used to make vases. Vases of hard stone have been found at Tello, similar to those from the early days of Egypt.

Ashurbanipal supported art and culture and had a large library of clay tablets at Nineveh.

Babylonian

The taking over of Sumer and Akkad by Babylon marks a big change in the art and political history of the area.

The Babylonians used the lots of clay in Mesopotamia to make bricks. The use of brick led to the early development of pillars and columns, as well as paintings and tiled decorations. The walls were brightly colored, and sometimes covered with bronze or gold as well as tiles. Painted clay cones were also put into the plaster.

The Babylonians often worked with metal. They made useful tools with copper. It is possible that Babylonia was the original home of copperworking, which then spread west. Because stone was rare in Babylonia, every piece of stone was valuable and led to great skill in cutting gems. The arts of Babylon also included tapestries, and Babylonian civilization was famous for its tapestries and rugs.

Sumerian

Archaeological evidence shows they existed during the 5th millennium BC. The Sumerians decorated their pottery with cedar oil paints. The Sumerians also made jewelry.

A well-known example of surviving Sumerian art is the Standard of Ur, dated to around 2500 BC. The Standard is a wooden box covered with shells and lapis lazuli showing soldiers giving their king prisoners on one side and peasants giving him gifts on the other.

Minoan

Main article: Minoan art

The greatest civilization of the Bronze Age was that of the Minoans, a trading people who built an empire from their home in Crete and from other Aegean islands. Minoan civilization was known for its beautiful ceramics, but also for its frescos, landscapes, and stone carvings. In the early Minoan period, ceramics had designs like spirals, triangles, curved lines, crosses, and fishbone patterns. In the middle Minoan period, natural designs such as fish, squid, birds, and lilies were common. In the late Minoan period, flowers and animals were still the most common, but there was more variety. The Palace Style of the area around Knossos is known for strong geometric simplification of natural shapes and by painting in one color. The Palace at Knossos was decorated with wall paintings that showed daily life, including court ceremonies and fun activities like bull-leaping and boxing. The Minoans were skilled metalworkers who made beautiful pendants and masks. The famous "Malia Pendant" of the Minoan times, found at Chryssolakkos and now shown at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, is an example of high-quality metalwork.

Mycenaean

Mycenaean art is close to the Minoan and includes many wonderful finds from royal graves, most famously the Mask of Agamemnon, a gold funeral mask. As can be seen from this item, the Mycenaeans were skilled in working with gold. Their artworks are known for many different decorative designs. At some point in their history, the Mycenaeans took up the Minoan goddesses and linked these goddesses with their sky god; experts think that the Greek pantheon of gods does not show Mycenaean religion except for the goddesses and Zeus. These goddesses, however, came from the Minoans.

Persian

Main article: Persian art § Achaemenids

Achaemenid art includes designs on walls, metalwork, decorating palaces, glazed brick building, fine skills (masonry, carpentry, etc.), and gardening. Most remaining examples of court art are large sculptures, especially reliefs, double animal-headed Persian column tops and other sculptures of Persepolis.

Although the Persians took artists, with their styles and skills, from all parts of their empire, they created not just a mix of styles, but a new and unique Persian style. Cyrus the Great had a rich ancient Iranian history behind him; the rich Achaemenid gold work, which writings suggest may have been a special skill of the Medes, was for example in the tradition of earlier places.

There are many fine pieces of jewelry or designs in valuable metal, mostly showing animals, and the Oxus Treasure has many different types. Small pieces, usually in gold, were sewn onto clothes by rich people, and many gold neck rings have survived.

Phoenician

Main article: Phoenicia § Art

Phoenician art does not have unique features that might make it different from its neighbors. This is because it was heavily influenced by other artistic cultures: mainly Egypt, Greece, and Assyria. Phoenicians who learned on the banks of the Nile and the Euphrates gained wide artistic experience and finally created their own art, which was a mix of foreign models and ideas. In an article from The New York Times published on January 5, 1879, Phoenician art was described as follows:

He took part in other people's work and made most of his heritage. The Sphinx of Egypt became Asian, and its new form was planted in Nineveh on one side and in Greece on the other. The flower designs and other patterns of the Babylonian cylinder seals were brought into the crafts of Phoenicia, and so passed on to the West, while the hero of the ancient Babylonian story became first the Tyrian Melkarth, and then the Herakles of Greece.

Roman

Main article: Roman art

Further information: Pompeian Styles and Roman Wall Painting (200 BC-79 AD)

It is often said that Roman art was based on Greek and Etruscan art. Indeed, the homes of rich Romans found in Pompeii and Herculaneum show a strong love for all things Greek. Many of the most important Greek artworks survive because of their Roman copies and versions. Roman artists wanted to remember big events in the life of their state and to honor their emperors as well as show everyday life, and express ideas of beauty and nobility. Their statues, and especially the pictures of people on grave stones, are very lifelike, made with skill and style.

In Greece and Rome, wall painting was not considered major art. The most respected form of art after sculpture was painting on wood panels. Sadly, because wood can decay, only a very few examples of such paintings have survived, mainly the Severan Tondo from around 200 AD, a very ordinary official picture from a local government office, and the well-known Fayum mummy pictures, all from Roman Egypt, and almost certainly not of the highest quality at the time. The pictures were attached to burial mummies at the face, from which almost all have now been taken off. They usually show one person, with the head, or head and upper chest seen from the front. The background is always a single color, sometimes with decorative designs. In terms of artistic tradition, the pictures clearly come more from Greco-Roman traditions than Egyptian ones. They are amazingly lifelike, though the quality of art changes, and may show the similar art which was common elsewhere but did not survive. A few pictures painted on glass and medals from the later empire have survived, as have pictures on coins, some of which are thought to be very lifelike as well. Pliny the Younger complained about the falling off of Roman portrait art, "The painting of portraits which used to pass on accurate likenesses of people to future ages has completely disappeared [...] Laziness has destroyed the arts."

Central and South Asia

Bactrian

Main article: Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex § Art

The Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex is an ancient area in Central Asia, dating back to around 2300–1700 BC. It is located in parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. Archaeologists discovered many important cities, palaces, and special buildings there.

Artists in this area created beautiful statues known as "Bactrian princesses." These statues show women wearing fancy dresses and headpieces. They were made by fitting together pieces of different colored stones, like green chlorite and white limestone.

Indian

Main articles: Indian painting and Indian sculpture

India has a long history of art, starting with small stone and bronze carvings from the Indus Valley civilization about 5,000 years ago. As Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism grew, India made amazing bronzes and large temple carvings, including huge shrines like the one at Ellora.

The Ajanta Caves in Maharashtra, India, are ancient rock-cut caves from the second century BC. They contain beautiful paintings and sculptures that are considered some of the greatest examples of Buddhist and world art.

East Asia

Chinese

Main articles: Chinese art § Bronze casting, Chinese ritual bronzes, and Sanxingdui

Further information: Shang dynasty and Zhou dynasty

Ancient China had beautiful art, even from very early times. In places like the Yellow River valley, people made painted pottery thousands of years ago. Later, during the Bronze Age, artists made many bronze items. These were used for everyday life, special ceremonies, and predicting the future.

Some of the most famous art from China is the Terracotta warriors. These are life-sized clay statues of soldiers, horses, and officers. They were buried with the first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, in 210 BC to protect him. After that, during the Han dynasty, smaller versions of these soldiers were made for tombs.

Japanese

Further information: Japanese art

Japan also has a long history of art. The earliest known objects from Japan are from the Jōmon and Yayoi time periods. Before the Yayoi people came, Japan had an emperor named Jimmu. Later, new kinds of art like Haniwa figures appeared. When Buddhism arrived from China, it also had a big effect on Japanese art for many years.

Mesoamerica

Olmec

Main article: Olmecs § Art

The Olmec people created beautiful art long ago. They made bowls and vessels from clay, using special ovens called kilns that could get very hot. Their art often showed animals and important symbols, and some of their statues were very large. Olmec artists also made small carvings from a green stone called jade. One popular subject in their art was the jaguar, a powerful animal. Many small statues and figures from this time have been found by archaeologists.