AHIS 120 2012 Fall Midterm # 1 Study Guide Prof. Eunice Howe Weeks: 1 - 5 Lectures: 1 - 8

Lecture 2 (August 28) PREHISTORY Vocabulary  Primitive: being the first or the earliest of the kind or in existence. Characteristic of an early age of the world. o Consider ideologies of race during the early 20th century. Any outside product of Western civilization was considered “primitive”.  Architecture: the art or practice of designing and constructing buildings with regard to a specific period, place, or culture. o Consider the role of architecture in Paleolithic and Neolithic times. o Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England (ca. 2100 BCE)  Post and lintel construction: arrangement with two upright stones supporting a third horizontal capstone. Used to construct tombs for the dead with one or two more chambers. o Neolithic architecture. o *Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England (ca. 2100 BCE)  Modeling: the act of making three-dimensional models. o Paleolithic carving. o Functions of Paleolithic carving still remain a mystery. o Animals were frequent subject for sculpture. o Women were frequent subjects in prehistoric sculpture, and may be evidence of a matrilineal social structure. o Woman of Willendorf (ca. 28000 BCE)  Votive figure: statues of various sizes, usually carved in limestone, crafted as an act of worship to the gods and placed in a shrine before the deity’s image. o Usually carved with the hands clasped at the chest or waist in a gesture of attentiveness. o Its large, prominent eyes suggest the figures to be engaged in prayer. o Male heads are frequently shown bald but sometimes wear beards, while female figures can have a variety of hairstyles or headdresses. o Facial characteristics offer little variation from one statue to the next. o Statues from the Abu Temple (ca. 2700-2500 BCE)

Prehistoric art—PALEOLITHIC  Paleolithic: “old” Stone Age. o Marked by the earliest use of tools made of chipped stone. o Concentrated generally around 10,000 years ago in Europe and the Middle East.  Caves of Lascaux (ca. 15,000- 13,000 BCE) o Secretive grottos pained with a variety of techniques. o Great Hall of Bulls: largest gallery of the cave.

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o In order to reach these images, a prehistoric viewer had to contend with a precarious path, eerie flickering lights, echoing sounds, and the musty smells that permeate subterranean spaces added texture to the viewing process. o Centrality of the animal in this culture is indicated by plentiful depictions of animals and nature. Perhaps fulfilling a spiritual purpose. . Artists may have hoped to stimulate fertility in the wild by depicting pregnant animals. . Possible relations to shamanism, a belief in a parallel spirit world accessed through alternative states of consciousness. o These images have a degree of naturalism—how closely the image resembled the subject in nature.  Paleolithic figures o Paleo-, stone tools. o Exactly what the figures represent, and how they were used, is unclear. o Woman from Willendorf (ca. 20,000 BCE) . Symbol of life, fertility. . Belly button—umbilical cord to further emphasize fertility. . Large, prominent genitalia. Helps indicate that the figure is in fact a female. Suggests a dominant role of women in Paleolithic society. . Abstract representation of ideal beauty. Used to be called “Venus”, as in mythology, the physique of Venus was the prototype of beauty. . No arms—the figure is completely round. . Not intended for it to stand up but like flat on her back. Perhaps a representation of the act of childbirth.

Prehistoric art—NEOLITHIC  Neolithic Age (ca. 8,000-2,000 BCE) o Neo-, new. Paleo-, stone. “New Stone Age”. o Development of more refined and sophisticated stone technology. o Rise of agriculture. . Farming stimulated permanent, although small, settlements. Contrast to the nomadic Paleolithic tribes. o Jordan human figures (ca. 6,000 BCE). . Emphasis on eyes. o Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, England (ca. 2,750 BCE) . Post and lintel construction. . Oriented from east to west. . Possible use include for astronomical purposes. . Megaliths used were carried to the site. How the foreign stones were carried to the area is still unknown. . Precursor of the Parthenon: same use of sense direction, lines, sight.

Lecture 8 (September 20) ANCIENT GREEK CULTURE (continued)

ARCHAIC ART (c. 800-480 BCE)  Temple of Hera I (c. 550 BCE) o Appears low and sprawling. o Enneastyle: nine columns across the front and rear. o Columns are not straight from bottom to top. . About a third of the way up, they bulge outward slightly, receding again at about two-thirds of their height. This swelling effect is known as entasis.

Classical building vocabulary  Doric order: column characterized by a simple cushion-like abacus and the absence of a base.  Ionic order: a column characterized by a base and a capital with two volutes.  Corinthian order: column with a capital ornamented with acanthus leaves.

ARCHAIC ARCHITECTURE—Temple of Hera I (c. 550 BCE)  One of the oldest and best-preserved Doric Archaic temples located in the southern Italian polis Paestum.  Temple dedicated to Hera, wife of Zeus.  Visually low and sprawling with nine columns across the front and rear. o Enneastyle.  Column shafts are not straight from bottom to top.

o About a third of the way up, they bulge outward slightly, receding again at about two-thirds of their height. o This swelling effect is known as entasis. o Sense of proportion is gone. o It gives the impression that the columns bulge with the strain of supporting the superstructure and that the slender tops, aided by capitals, can barely withstand the crushing weight. o This technique is also seen in the monoliths of Stonehenge.

THE CLASSICAL AGE (c. 5th-4th centuries BCE)  Battles between Persians and the Greeks were monumental to ancient Greek history. o The end of the Persian Wars to the death of Alexander the Great in the late 4th century BCE is known as the Classical Age. o During this time, architects and sculptors sought visual harmony in proportional systems, and artists achieved a heightened naturalism in depicting the human form.  Pericles: the most influential political leader of its day came to the forefront of Athenian public life in the mid-fifth century BCE. o Avid patron of the arts, he focused much of his attention on beautifying the city’s highest point—the Acropolis.  The Acropolis (c. 400 BCE) o The principal centers of Athenian public life were the agora and the Acropolis. o Symbolic effervescence of Athenian culture. o Constructed defense mechanisms—although these failed and collapsed. o Four structures: the Parthenon, Athena Nike, Erechtheion, Propylaea.  Parthenon (c. 447-438 BCE) o The dominant temple on the Acropolis. o Viewed as the perfect embodiment of the Classical Doric style. . However, it has a continuous Ionic style frieze of about 525 feet long. o It occupies a prominent site on the southern flank of the Acropolis. . Here it dominates the city and the countryside. o Accounts by Greek historian Plutarch indicates that architects Iktinos and Kallikrates oversaw its construction between 447 and 432 BCE. o All its parts integrate fully with one another. o Featured an octastyle (eight-column) arrangement of its narrow ends. . This was unusually wide, offering a generous embrace and enough space for an arrangement of a U-shaped colonnade in the cella and an enormous statue of Athena by Pheidias. . Athena Parthenos personified Victory, and was made of ivory and gold. o Appears less massive, despite its greater size due to a lightening and an adjustment of proportions since the Archaic period. . Columns are slender, their tapering and entasis less pronounced, and the capitals are smaller and less flaring. o Photographs reveal the Parthenon to play optical illusions.