Art History

Terms	Definitions
City-State	a city with political and economic control over the surrounding countryside
Cuneiform	an ancient wedge-shaped script used in Mesopotamia and Persia
Hierarchy of Scale	An artistic convention in which greater size indicates greater importance.
Frieze	an architectural ornament consisting of a horizontal sculptured band between the architrave and the cornice
Stele	Carved stone slab to commemorate an event
Ningirsu	Babylonian god in older pantheon: god of war and agriculture
Votive Statuettes	Sumerian/Akkadian Temple of Abu, Tell Asmar ca. 2700 b.c.
Stele of Vultures	ca. 2450 BCE Early Dynastic Period limestone from Tello/ Girsu Oldest known historical document Sculpted and inscription on both sides Two faces: -- historical --mythological - culmination of events: victory promised, assured, and completed - Ningirsu, the Patorn God, holds mace and clubs one of enemy
Standard of Ur	sloping sides inlaid with shells and lapis - two sides --War & Peace
Bull-Headed Harp	Bull-Headed, Kings Grave tomb 789 in Ur, on the soundbox are animals with human faces serving a banquet, playing music & dancing. modern Tell Muqayyar, ca. 2600 BC, Gold leaf and lapis over wooden core. Philly
Miniature Sumerian Art	Clyindner seal depicting a banquet from tomb of "Queen" Pu-abi. ca.2600 BCE -Smaller scale than Standard of Ur, but similar figure types & compositional rules are utilized.
Gudea of Lagash	Ensi of Lagash c. 2100 BCE. Preferred statuetttes to regal trappings, and also like statues carved of him in diorite. (igneous rock/close to feldspar)
Hammurabi	King of Babylon from c. 1792-1750 BCE. He established a central government over south Mesopotamia. HE is most famous for his code of laws, which he had inscribed.
Sargon II	..., (721-705) leader of the Assyrian army in 722 who destroyed Samaria and took captive the 10 northern tribes of Israel
Head of Akkadian Ruler	combines both naturalism and formal abstract patterning. 2250-2200 BCE, from Nineveh, Iraq. Copper, 1'2 3/8
Victory Stele of Naram-Sin from Susa	Second inscription by an Elamite king who captured Susa and took the stele as booty Symbolism? Storming the mountain= scaling the heavens
Ziggurat	built 2100 bce "The Third Dynasty of Ur" Made of baked bricks and bitumen. 1000 years after Uruk.
Piety of Gudea	Diorite: Hard, costly ston: imported and difficult to carve The statues showed his piety as well as his wealth and pride. 2'5" high. Image is of Gudea, the ensi of Lagash
Code of Hammurabi	the set of laws drawn up by Babylonian king Hammurabi dating to the 18th century BC, the earliest legal code known in its entirety. Ca. 1780 BCE (18th Century BCE)
Foreshortening	The use of perspective to represent in art the apparent visual contraction of an object that extends back in space at an angle to the perpendicular plane of sight.
Zimir-Lim & Ishtar	King Zimiri-Lin controlled NE0-Sumerian city-state.
The Lion Gate
Statue of Queen Napir-Asu	wife of one of most powerful Elamite kingsweighs 3,760 lbs., even in fragmentary statesolid bronze core in hollow-cast copper shell (very expensive)wanted portrait to be permanent, immovable votive offeringinscription on skirt asks god to protect her statuevotive statue—part of a tradition going back to 3rd millennium BCEcylindrical volume, tight silhouette, strict frontality, firmly crossed hands = enduring characteristics of Sumerian sculptureBUT, within rigid conventions of form and pose, Elamite artist created refinements (from close observation):feminine softness of arm & bustgrace and elegance of long-fingered handssupple bend of wrist, ring & bracelets, gown's patterned fabricideal in queenly deportment
Citadel of Sargon	...
Lamassu
Ishtar Gate	King Nebuchadnezzar. Babylon was built of mud bricks.
Persia: Persepolis- The Gate of All Lands	Entrance to the complex. Many nations contribute to this site
adobe	The clay used to make a kind of sun-dried mud brick of the same name; a building made of such brick
Amulet	An object worn to ward off evil or to aid the wearer
Ashlar Masonry	Carefully cut and regularly shaped blocks of stone used in construction, fitted together without mortar
Atlantid	A male figure that functions as a supporting column. See also caryatid.
Ben-Ben	A pyramidal stone'a fetich of the egyptian God Re.
Block Statue	In ancient Egyptian sculpture, a cubic stone image with simplified body parts
Canon	A rule, for example, of proportion. The ancient Greeks considered beauty to be a matter of "correct" proportion and sought a canon of proportion, for the human figure and for buildings
Canopic Jar	In ancient Egypt, the container in which the organs of the deceased were placed for later burial with the mummy
Capital	The uppermost member of a column, serving as a transition from the shaft to the lintel. In classical architecture, the form of the capital varies with the order
Caryatid	A female figure that functions as a supporting column
Chamfer	The surface formed by cutting off a corner of a board or post; a bevel
Clerestory	The fenestrated art of a building that rises above the roofs of the other parts. In the Roman basilicas and medieval churches, the windows that form the nave's uppermost level below the timber ceiling or the vaults.
Rosetta Stone	A huge stone slab inscribed with hieroglyphics, Greek, and a later form of Egyptian that allowed historians to understand Egyptian writing.
Colonnade	A series or row of columns, usually spanned by lintels
Demotic	Late Egyptian writing
Engaged Column	A half-round column attached to a wall. (Pilaster)
Flute or Fluting	Vertical channeling, roughly semicircular in cross-section and used principallly on columns and pilasters.
Palette of King Narmer	One of the earliest historical works preserved:, Hierakonpolis, Predynastic, slate. ca. 3000-2920BCE. commemorates the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. Narmer, the largest figure, effortlessly defeats a foe on one side, and on the other surveys the beheaded enemy. Palette in the shape of an object used to prepare eye makeup, to protect from the glare of the sun.
Fresco	Painting on lime plaster, either dry(dry fresco or fresco secco) or wet (true or buon fresco). In the latter method, the pigments are mixed with water and become chemically bound to the freshly laid lime plaster. Also, a painting executed in either method
Hieroglyphic	A system of writing using symbols or pictures
Hypostyle Hall	A hall with a roof supported by Columns
Old Kingdom	Preoccupation in life to ensure safety/happiness in next. Main belief: from birth accompanied by toehre self KA and that after death of body, KA could inhabit corpse or statue of person and live on
Mastaba	Arabic, "bench". An ancient Egyptian rectangular brick or stone structure with sloping sides erected over a subterranean tomb chamber connected with the outside by a shaft.
Impost Block	A stone with the shape of a truncated, inverted pyramid, placed between a capital and the arch that springs from it.
Imhotep	Priest, scribe, physician, thought of as a God. First artist known of recorded history. First to use cut stone masonry, used during pharaohs life and after his death.
Ka	In ancient Egypt, teh immortal human life force
Mummification	A technique used by ancient Egyptians to preserve human bodies so that they may serve as the eternal home of the immortal ka.
Necropolis	Greek, "City of the dead"; a large burial are or cemetery
Nemes	In ancient Egypt, the linen headdress worn by the pharaoh, with the uraeus cobra of kingship on the front.
Palette	In ancient Egypt, a slate slab used for preparing makeup, A thin board with a thumb hole at one end on which an artist lays and mixes colors; any surface so used. Also, the colors or kinds of colors characteristically used by an artist.
Pyramid Burial	Buried people on the west side of the Nile where the sun would set
Papyrus	A plant native to Egypt and adjacent lands used to make paper like writing material; also, the material or any writing on it.
Personification	An abstract idea represented in bodily form
Pictograph	A picture, usually stylized, that represents an idea; also, writing using such means; also painting on rock.
Pier	A vertical, freestanding masonry support
Portico	A roofed colonnade; also an entrance porch
Pylon	The simple and massive gateway, with sloping walls, of an Egyptian temple
Realism	A movement that emerged in mid-19thcentury France. Realist artist represented the subject matter of everyday life in a relatively naturalistic mode.
Sarcophagus	Latin, "consumer of flesh." A coffin, usually of stone
Serdab	A small concealed chamber in an Egyptian mastaba for the statue of the deceased
Sphinx	A mythical Egyptian beast with the body of a lion and the head of a human .
Ushabti	A figurine placed in a tomb to act as a servant to the deceased in the afterlife
canopic jars	small ornamental jars each on with a god's head on the lid. These were used to enclose the organs taken from the dead body. They were placed in the tomb with the body and everything else.
Ramses II	Burial tomb (largest tomb ever found, particially excavated), it was robbed within 500 years of its excavation. Temple had inscriptions, and was found in 1995 near KV5 with remains of some of his sons.
Abu Simbel Tomb of Ramses	1968 tunneled 180 feet into cliff to move 600 feet higher for the flooding of the ne aswan dam. 4 colossal statues of self at front with typical headdress, each 65 feet tall seated. Figures of family between legs.
Hypostyle Hall	eight 33 foot tall statues of osiris with face of Ramses. Pillars not load - bearing. Atlantid (a male figure in a column) and caryatid is the female version.
monotheism	belief in a single God. Introduced by Amenhotep IV, but changes his name to Akhenaton (reviled god Amen, sacred to Thebes and temples.
Model of Nefertiti	The wife of Akhenaton to be used when making her royal portraits. It is unfinished (left eye, found in artists studio with clay and casts from life. Exaggerated weight of crown.
Neolithic	"New Stone Age" The period of the Stone Age associated with the ancient Agricultural Revolution(s). It follows the Paleolithic period. (p. 11)
Paleolithic	"Old Stone Age" second part of the Stone Age beginning about 750,00 to 500,000 years BC and lasting until the end of the last ice age about 8,500 years BC
Twisted perspective/Composite View	a convention of representation in which part of a figure is shown in profile and another part of the same figure is shown frontally
Mesolithic	middle part of the Stone Age beginning about 15,000 years ago
Mural	a large painting applied directly to a wall or ceiling surface
Incise	make an incision into by carving or cutting
Megalith	memorial consisting of a very large stone forming part of a prehistoric structure (especially in western Europe)
henge	An arrangement of megalithic stones in a circle, often surrounded by a ditch.
lintel	horizontal beam used as a finishing piece over a door or window
Post and lintel	a structure consisting of vertical beams (posts) supporting a horizontal beam (lintel)
first narrative	...
first landscape	...
first fortified town	...
first sculptures	...
Nude Woman	Venus of Willendorf found in , 25,000 to 21,000 BC; Paleolithic; women, fertility, limestone, Austria
Hall of Bulls	Lascaux, France, 15,000 BCE Paleolithic. Lascaux Cave, Lascaux (Dordogne), France. Painting on limestone. Animals are drawn one over the other possibly over time. located deep within the cave. Paintings hold a wide range of animal species.
Stonehenge	a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England, consisting of a large circle of megaliths surrounding a smaller circle and four massive trilithons(3 stone construction); dating to late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. The stones are made sarsen (a type of limestone) and bluestones (various volcanic rocks)
Ensi	Sumerian Preists, led religious rituals, grew corupt, then the power went to the Lugals, or landowners, which became the later king.
Cuneiform	Sumerian writing made by pressing a wedge-shaped tool into clay tablets
Lamassu	Assyrian guardian in the form of a man-headed winged bull
Register	One of a series of superimposed bands or friezes in a pictorial narrative, or the particular levels on which motifs are placed.
Standard	...
Hierarchy of Scale	a system of representation that expresses a person's importance by the size of his or her representation in a work of art
Cylinder Seal	a cylindrical piece of stone about an inch or so in height, decorated with an incised design, so that a raised pattern was left when the seal was rolled over soft clay. In important property was signed, sealed, and identified this way.
Repousse	formed in relief by beating a metal plate from the back, leaving the impression on the face
Iwan	In Islamic architecture, a vaulted rectangular recess opening onto a courtyard.
Pictograph	A picture, usually stylized, that represents an idea; also, writing using such means; also painting on rock. See also hieroglyphic.
Stele	a monument, vertical in style, small or large, that contained writing or pictures to commemorate or record something
Ziggurat	massive pyramidal stepped tower made of mudbricks. It is associated with religious complexes in ancient Mesopotamian cities, but its function is unknown.
Standard of Ur	Sumerian Culture artifact. ca 2600 BCE. Ur(Tell Muqayyar) , Iraq. rectangular box has sloping sides inlaid with shell, lapis lazuli, and red limestone. War side & peace side. Another example of historical narratives.
*Head of an Akkadian King	2250-2200 BCE
Code of Hammurabi	A collection of 282 laws which were enforced under Hammurabi's Rule. One of the first examples of written law in the ancient civilizations.
Lamassu Citadel of Sargon II	Citadel of Sargon II , Assyrian 700 b.c. limestone Apotropaic: guardian figure Vantage Point/ 3/4 view Human (wisdom), Bull (strength) Bird (speed) Purpose:
Ishtar Gate	ca. 575 BCE. blue gazed ceramic bricks and relief images of real and mythological images on this artwork that served as an entrance to the city of Babylon
Victory Stele of Naram-Sin	...
Summerian Art	ca 3500-2322 BCE
Akkadian Art	ca 2332-2150 BCE
Neo-Sumerian & Babylonian Art	ca 2150-1600 BCE
Assyrian Art	ca 900-612 BCE
Neo-Babylonian and Persian Art	ca 612-330 BCE
Ka	a person's life force which is the basis for the Egyptian belief in the afterlife
Sphinx	A mythical Egyptian beast with the body of a lion and the head of a human.
Sarcophagus	an ancient marble or stone coffin, often decorated with artwork and inscriptions
Personification	the act of attributing human characteristics to abstract ideas etc.
Hieroglyphic	a writing system using picture symbols
Necropolis	Literally this means "city of the dead". In Egypt it describes the Valley of the Kings and Queens, areas devoted to burial.
Rosetta Stone	A huge stone slab inscribed with hieroglyphics, Greek, and a later form of Egyptian that allowed historians to understand Egyptian writing.
Nemes	The headdress worn by the Pharaoh, usually with the uraeus (cobra) on the front.
Fresco	a durable method of painting on a wall by using watercolors on wet plaster
portico	a porch or entrance to a building consisting of a covered and often columned area
pilaster	A flat, rectangular, vertical member projecting from a wall of which it forms a part. It usually has a base and a capital and is often fluted.
hypostyle hall	a large interior room characterized by many closely spaced columns that support its roof.
Canopic Jar	In ancient Egypt, the container in which the organs of the deceased were placed for later burial with the mummy. (set of 4)
Canon	...
Mastaba	an ancient Egyptian mudbrick tomb with a rectangular base and sloping sides and flat roof
Pylon	The wide entrance gateway of an Egyptian temple, characterized by its sloping walls
Pier	...
Atlantid	A male figure that functions as a supporting column. See also caryatid.
Palette	board on which painter mixes pigments(coloring matters)
Caryatid	a supporting column carved in the shape of a person
Corbel	bracket or projection from the face of a wall, usually made of brick or stone
Death Mask of Tutankhamen	Thebes, Egypt. 18th Dynasty, ca. 1323 BCE
Palette of King Narmer	Hierakonpolis, Predynastic, slate. ca. 3000-2920BCE. commemorates the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. Narmer, the largest figure, effortlessly defeats a foe on one side, and on the other surveys the beheaded enemy. Palette in the shape of an object used to prepare eye makeup, to protect from the glare of the sun.
Great Sphinx	Gizeh, Egypt, 4th dynasty, ca. 2520-2494BCE, sandstone. Largest statue in the near east. Sphinx is associated with the sun god, and joins the body of a lion with the head of a pharaoh.
Akjhenaton	Nefertiti and three daughters, ca 1353-1335 BCE
Temple of Horus	237-47 BCE 19th century Edfu egypt pylon temple sunken relief in front depicts horus Massive facade
Great Pyramids	Egyptian Art Giza, Egypt, ca. 2520-2472 BCE. Limestone The oldest of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. Symbols of the Sun The final resting place for the soul of the pharaoh.
Menkaure	4th Dynasty, 3rd pyramid, Granite casing that was never completed, 215 ft, now 203 ft, smallest of the 3, *orginally planned much smaller, lots of burial chambers, last pyramid built (because of robbers)
Khafre Pyramid	was the son of King Khufu who succeded his half-brother; built a pyramid which was 447.5 feet; lies on a higher group making it look taller. Includes the sphinx
Khufu	egyptian pharaoh, he ruled during Egypt's Old Kingdom and is known for the many monuments built to honor him., built the first of three large pyramids (great pyramid)
Predynastic and Early Dynastic Periods	ca. 3500-2575 BCE traditionally equivalent to the Neolithic period, beginning ca. 6000 BC and including the Protodynastic Period. The Archaic or Early Dynastic Period of Egypt immediately follows the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt c. 3100&;BC.
Old Kingdom	ca. 2575-2134 BCE The Old Kingdom is the name given to the period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement - the first of three so-called "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley
Middle Kingdom	2040 BC. - 1640 BC.: A new dynasty reunited Egypt. Moved the capital to Thebes. Built irrigation projects and canal between NIle and Red Sea so Egytian ships could trade along coasts of Arabian Penninsula and East Africa. Expanded Egyptian territory:Nubia, Syria.
New Kingdom	1550-1070 BCE also referred to as the Egyptian Empire is the period in ancient Egyptian history between the 16th century BC and the 11th century BC, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of Egypt. The New Kingdom followed the Second Intermediate Period and was succeeded by the Third Intermediate Period. It was Egypt's most prosperous time and marked the peak of its power.
First Millennium	Egypt becomes province of Roman Empire, Alexander the Great gains control. Temple of Horus, Edfu.
Acropolis	literally "high point of the city." The upper fortified part of an ancient Greek city, usually devoted to religious purposes.
Cycladic Art	- Portable, stylized statuettes of nude standing women and seated men playing musical instruments; Found mostly in grave sites on the Seafaring Greek islands; Linear abstraction; Crisp, clean lines(3000-1600 B.C.E)
Iconography	branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct from artistic style.
Tholos	a type of tomb in Mycenaean architecture with a bee-hive shaped circular plan, also called a bee-hive tomb; a temple with a circular plan
Minoan	the name given to the great civilization of Crete; the word comes from the name of King Minos, a character of Greek legend who was remembered as having ruled in Crete before the Trojan War.
Capital	...
attribution	...
Krater	an ancient Greek wide-mouthed bowl for mixing wine and water
sculpture in the round	any FREESTANDING work surrounded on ALL SIDES by SPACE
corbelled arch	an arch-like construction method in which masonry courses are corbelled, with each course projecting further out from the course below it, until they meet at the top to span a space or void in a structure
repousse	formed in relief by beating a metal plate from the back, leaving the impression on the face
megaron	The large reception hall and throne room in a Mycenean palace, fronted by an open, two-columned porch
relief	sculpture consisting of shapes carved on a surface so as to stand out from the surrounding background
Lyre Player	Keros,Greece, 2700-2500 BC marble, playing for the deceased in the afterlife.
Bull-Leaping Fresco	Knosses, ca. 1450-1400 BCE Minoan fresco painting depicting the Minoan ceremony of bull-leaping. Men and women are distinguished with the use of color. The painter suggested the powerful charge of the bull by elongating the animals shape with fluid, animated lines.
Gold Funerary Mask	Mycenae, Greece ca. 1600-1500 BCE Gold repousse (hammered technique) -Believed to be Agamemnon's mask, it isn't. His mask is rough and 3 dimensional. The quantities of gold and carefully worked artifacts indicate honor, wealth and status.
Vault of the Treasury of Atreus	...
The Citadel	Tiryns, Greece ca. 1400-1200 BCE
Early Cycladic Art	-ca. 3000-2000 BCE -marble statuettes major surviving works -mark beginning of long history of marble in Greece
Late Minoan Art	-ca. 1700-1200 -fresco painting (usually depicted rituals) -vase painting (sea motifs) -sculpture of small scale
Late Helladic Art	...
Kouros	a youthful male figure, usually depicted nude in ancient Greek sculpture; the female counterpart is the kore
Pediment	In Classical architecture, the triangular section of a temple roof often decorated with sculpture.
Kylix	An ancient Greek shallow drinking cup with two handles and a stem.
Amphora	a two-handled jar used for the storage and transport of wine, oil, dried fish, and other commodities
Encaustic	A painting technique in which pigment is mixed with wax and applied to the surface while hot.
Contrapposto	put all weight on one leg, causes hips to shift and shoulders to counter balance, which sets up potential for natural pose
Stylobate	The uppermost course of the platform of a Greek temple, which supports the columns.
Peristyle	row of columns around a building or court
Mosaic	art consisting of a design made of small pieces of colored stone or glass
Ionic	One of the three main styles of Greek architecture. The column is slender and finely fluted; its capital is in the shape of a scroll.
Volute	a structure consisting of something wound in a continuous series of loops- almost like a coil
Meander	wander in a carefree manner; follow a winding course; ramble
Red-Figure Painting	In later Greek pottery, the silhouetting of red figures against a black background, with painted linear details; the reverse of black-figure painting.
Orientalizing	The early phase of Archaic Greek art (seventh century BCE), so named because of the adoption of forms and motifs from the ancient Near East and Egypt.
Kore	An Archaic Greek statue of a standing, draped female. The Kore refers to it being female and clothed. Daughter of Zeus and Demeter
Doric	Along with Ionian and Corinthian; distinct style of Hellenistic architecture; the least ornate of the three styles, a plain, sturdy column with a plain capital
Black Figure painting	In early Greek pottery, the silhouetting of dark figures against a light background of natural, reddish clay, with linear details incised through the silhouettes.
Foreshortening	a visual effect in which an object is shortened and turned deeper into the picture plane to give the effect of receding in space
Dipylon Krater	(Geometric) Athens, Greece. ca. 740 BCE Orientalizing Period. Marked grave of a man buried in Athens. Testament to potter's skills and family's wealth. Painted abstract angular motifs. Meander Key Pattern. Depicts mourning of a man. Story-telling revived after Dark Ages.
Kroisos	Anavysos, Greece. Archaic. 530 BCE Says he died out front in battle. Inscription says he was "killed by Ares". Originally polychrome w/encaustic. "Archaic Smile" doesn't imply happiness, but life.
Euthymides	red-figure painter experimented with three-quarter view Three revelers
Parthenon	Acropolyis, Athens 447-438 BCE Most famous example of Greek architecture. It is a temple dedicated to the goddess Athena
Aphrodite of Knidos	Praxiteles- ancient Greek sculptor (circa 370-330 BC), a sculptor who lived after Phidias who sculpted figures that were more lifelike and natural in form and size., 350-340 BCE 6'8" Marble Roman copy Female nude, but goddess Not meant to be erotic Considered ideal for the time
Apoxyomenos	Late Classical sculptor; supposedly self taught, officially developed new canon (1:8), Alexander the Great's most trusted sculptor, rejected Classical ideals, humanism. Apoxyomenos (Scraper), ca 330 BCE, 330 BCE, late classical, by Lysippos. known only in marble versions from 1st cen. AD. complicated pose, looks different from every angle. shows tortion, or twisting of the body "athlete scraping oil from his body"
Nike of Samothrace	It is a 2nd century BC marble sculpture of the Greek goddess Nike. It is one of the most celebrated sculptures in the world. It is estimated to have been created around 190 BC. Its purpose is storytelling. It was created not only to honor the goddess but to honor a sea battle. It conveys a sense of action and triumph as well as portraying artful flowing drapery through its features which Greeks considered ideal beauty. It is held to be one of the great surviving masterpieces of sculpture from the Hellenistic period.
Athanadoros, Hagesandros, and Polydoros	Laocoön and His Sons Athanadoros, Hagesandros, and Polydoros of Rhodes early 1st century One of the major discoveries of the Italian Renaissance, this sculptural grouping was lost for centuries but found in 1506 near Rome, by a farmer plowing a field in the ruins of Titus' palace. I
Geometric and Orientalizing Art	900-600 BCE encompasses a new, Orientalizing style, spurred by a period of increased cultural interchange in the Aegean world. The period is characterized by a shift from the prevailing Geometric style to a style with different sensibilities, which were inspired by the East.
Archaic Art	600-480 BCE Inspired by the monumental stone sculpture of Egypt and Mesopotamia, during the Archaic period the Greeks began again to carve in stone. Free-standing figures share the solidity and frontal stance characteristic of Eastern models, but their forms are more dynamic than those of Egyptian sculpture figures both male and female, wore the so-called archaic smile. This expression, which has no specific appropriateness to the person or situation depicted, may have been a device to give the figures a distinctive human characteristic.
Early and High Classical Art	480-400 BCE, -ca. 480-400 BCE -Persian sack of Athenian Acropolis, Greek victory 1-yr later -golden age of Greece (Aesechylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Herodotus) -revolutionized statuary by introducing contrapposto -Polykleitos develops canon of proportions for perfect statue -Iktinos & Kallikrates apply mathematical formula to temple design (beauty in harmonic numbers)
Late Classical Art	-ca. 400-323 BCE -following Peloponnesian War (ending 404 BCE) -focus on the real world appearance rather that world of perfect things (still adhered to humanity as "measure of all things") -humanized remote deities, athletes, and heroes -ornate Corinthian capital, breaking monopoly of Ionic and Doric orders -closes with Alexander the Great
Hellenistic Art	more realism, more emotion, every day people, Pelopponesian war destroyed images of perfection