Art Articles

Mostly dating from the period 880-612 BC, these carved scenes are found on free-standing stelae and as panels cut on cliffs and rocks at distant places reached by the Assyrian kings during their campaigns. The most spectacular use of stone reliefs, however, was as panels which decorated the mud-brick walls in palaces and temples up to a height of 2.6 metres... [continue reading]

We know the names of some potters and painters of Greek vases because they signed their work. Generally a painter signed his name followed by some form of the verb 'painted', while a potter (or perhaps the painter writing for him) signed his name with 'made'. Sometimes the same person might both pot and paint: Exekias and Epiktetos... [continue reading]

The Meroe Head, so-called because it was found beneath a temple in the ruins of Meroe, is the head of a larger-than life statue of Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (better known as Augustus Caesar) the first Emperor of Rome (reigned 31 BCE-14 CE). On 2 September 31 BCE  Octavian Caesar (the future Augustus) defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII of Egypt... [continue reading]

Frescoes are the source of some of the most striking imagery handed down to us from the Minoan civilization of Bronze Age Crete (2000-1500 BCE). Further, without written records, they are often the only source, along with decorated pottery, of just how the world appeared to the Minoans and give us tantalizing glimpses of their beliefs, cultural practices... [continue reading]

According to Margaret Cool Root, a leading scholar on the ancient Near East, the royal art of the Achaemenid kings reflects the ideals and attitudes of the king and his courtiers, presenting, above all, an ideal view of the nature of Persian kingship. Root argues that the variegated origins and appropriated concepts of Achaemenid iconography, from the Egyptian... [continue reading]

Modern historians and classicists have studied the ancient Greeks’ use of Amazon mythology extensively and exhaustively. Their analysis of the Amazon in literature and artwork has contributed to a better understanding of Greek society, culture, and the mindset of those ancient people. Next to nothing, however, has been written about the ancient Romans&rsquo... [continue reading]

Representational artistic works were researched as visual evidence for the social, political, religious and economic lifestyles of the ancient Egyptian elite. The aims were to comprehend the status of elite women and to challenge the hypothesis that during the New Kingdom they enjoyed an increased social status in comparison to that of their predecessors... [continue reading]

The ancient Roman City of Pompeii is a spectacle of some of the worlds most beautiful and risqué forms of artwork ever found from ancient ruins. It is a city of beautiful villas, streets, bakeries, mansions, coliseums, bars and brothels. But the artwork of Pompeii is not like others found around the world. Rather the artwork from the city of Pompeii... [continue reading]