1. The Ancient World: Prehistoric, Mesopotamian, and Egyptian Civilizations

2. First Humans ca. 300,000 B.C.E. – Neanderthal
ca. 200,000 B.C.E. – Homo sapiens in Africa; 35,000 years ago established in Europe
Made tools
Cooked with fire
Buried dead in ritual ceremonies
Worshiped forces of nature

3. Paleolithic (Old Stone Age)
ca. 35, ,000 B.C.E. (corresponds with geological Ice Age)
Cave art: Lascaux, France (fig. 1.1) – bulls, humans, etc., painted in deeper parts of caves not used for living
Portable art: Woman of Willendorf (fig. 1.2)

4. Neolithic (New Stone Age)
ca B.C.E.
Megalithic structures – Stonehenge (fig. 1.4), a post-and-lintel structure, perhaps a calendar

5. Bronze Age ca. 2300-1000 B.C.E. Began to cultivate the land
Civilization in Mesopotamia

6. Mesopotamia Present-day Iraq The arts, writing, and law flourished
Empires dominated the Near East and northern Africa

7. The Sumerians ca. 3500 B.C.E. First people to use writing (cuneiform)
Constructed monumental buildings: Ziggurats – stepped pyramids
Literature: Epic of Gilgamesh, which tells of a Great Flood also recounted in the Hebrew Bible
Religion: polytheism

8. Empires of the Ancient Near East
Akkadians: the Victory Stele of Naram-Sin (fig. 1.8)
Babylonians: Law code of Hummurabi (Stele, fig. 1.9)
Assyrians: conquered lower Egypt
Ashurbanipal
Nebuchadnezzar II – Ishtar Gate (fig. 1.13)
Persians: Darius’ palace at Persepolis (fig. 1.14). Persepolis later fell to Alexander the Great

9. Egypt: Religion and Society
Pharaoh, or king, was living embodiment of a god
Rest of society stratified
Polytheistic
Belief in the immortality of the spirit
Treasures buried with mummified dead to insure happiness after death

10. The Arts of Egypt Architecture Sculpture
Great Pyramids of Giza (fig. 1.2)
Funerary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut (fig. 1.24)
Temple of Amen-Mut-Khonsu (fig. 1.25)
Sculpture
The Great Sphinx (fig. 1.21)
King Menkaure and Queen (fig. 1.22)
Four Seated Figures of Ramesses II (fig. 1.27)

11. The Arts of Egypt Painting
House and Garden of the Scribe Nakte (fig. 1.26)
Nobleman Hunting in the Marshes (fig. 1.28)
Musicians and Dancers (fig. 1.29)

12. Rulers of Egypt Akhenaten: cult of the god Aten
Established court at Amarna with his queen Nefertiti
Rule noted for new intimacy in the pictorial depiction of humans (fig. 1.30)
Tutankhamen: restored cult of Amon-Re
Ramesses II: monumental, richly-decorated tombs

13. Decline of Egypt Kush empire Assyrians Persians
Alexander the Great: Hellenistic culture