Inside This Unit: The Full Breakdown
Ancient Mediterranean (3500 BCE–300 CE) covers the Near East, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, where monumental art expressed power, religion, and civic ideals.
Why it matters
It is heavily weighted and introduces enduring concepts (contrapposto, hierarchy of scale, the orders, Roman engineering) tested throughout the course.
Key concepts
- Egyptian and Near Eastern art use hierarchy of scale and registers.
- Greek art introduces idealization and contrapposto.
- Roman concrete enabled domes and vaults (the Pantheon).
Power, Belief, and Innovation
Egyptian pyramids assert royal power and afterlife belief; Greek temples like the Parthenon embody idealized proportion and civic-religious ideals; Roman concrete (Pantheon dome and oculus) created vast interior space. Learn the Doric/Ionic/Corinthian orders and the shift from idealization (Greek) to verism (Roman portraiture).
AP exam tip
Distinguish Greek idealization from Roman veristic portraiture, and identify the architectural order from the column/capital.
Connections to other units
- Unit 3: Classical forms are revived in the Renaissance.
- Unit 4: Neoclassicism returns to these ideals.
