AP Art History Unit 2 Cheatsheet: Ancient Mediterranean, 3500 bce-300 ce

Successive Cultures: Sumerian, Akkadian, Neo-Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, Persian.

• Religion central to art and architecture
• Cosmology guides representation of deities and kings
• Kings assume divine attributes
• Ziggurats: monumental settings for worship of many deities
• Heavily fortified palaces proclaim ruler power and authority

Key Work: Code of Hammurabi—legal and cultural record.

Core Purpose: Art created for eternity; focused on preserving cycle of rebirth.

• Periods: Predynastic, Old, Middle, New Kingdoms; Amarna period (cultural reform, stylistic revolution)
• Mythological and religious symbolism centered on sun cult
• Hierarchical proportion: pharaoh (deified) vs. lower classes
• Idealization vs. naturalism based on rank
• Strict artistic canon followed for centuries; short-lived experiments only

Funerary Focus: Ka statues house the spirit after death; elaborate tomb furnishings and decorations.

Key Works: Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut; Tutankhamun's tomb, innermost coffin.

Form & Style: Describe idealized proportions, composite views combining profile and frontal elements, hierarchical scale, and register divisions.

Materials & Technique: Stone construction (pyramids, temples), bronze and marble sculpture, architectural innovation (clerestory, pylon, vault).

Content & Symbolism: Mythological and religious imagery; sun cult; divine kingship; epic narratives; civic and imperial propaganda.

Function & Reception: Ritual, commemorative, funerary, civic, palatial purposes shape meaning and audience response. Artistic choices about form, materials, and content elicit specific responses and shape how works are received across time.

Continuity & Change: Explain how works demonstrate continuity with established conventions (Egyptian canon, Greek ideals) or represent innovations (Amarna period, Hellenistic naturalism, Roman eclecticism).