APAH - Ancient Mediterrean [BB, Chapters 2-6]
Great Pyramids, Imotep, 2490 BCE, Cut limestone; possibly inspired by benben {sacred stone relic], Giza, Egypt - Giant monuments to dead pharaohs - Each has an enjoining mortuary temple - minimal interior for the deceased, pharaoh buried inside the pyramid unlike Stepped pyramid where pharaoh is buried under the building - Each side of the pyramid oriented toward a point on the compass - Great Pyramids were faced with stone, most of which has been lost -Each pyramid has a funerary complex adjacent connected by a formal pathway used for carrying the dead pharaoh's body to the pyramid to be interred - Shape may have been influenced by a sacred stone relic, called a benben, found in Heliopolis; center of the sun god cult - Tombs of pharaohs Menkaura, Khufu, and Khafre Notes: Commemoration of Ruler and Country, tomb architecture. Function: burial tombs and mortuary complex [necropolis] for Old Kingdom pharoahs (3); Compare To: Templo Mayor; Ziggurat and White Tower; Taj Mahal; Serpent Mound, Ohio.
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Greek Archaic sculptures
- Marble is the stone of choice - often painted, especially if to be placed as a temple facade - often has metallic accessories - bronze sculptures is hollow and made in the lost wax process, called cire perdue. Kouros and Kore figures stand rigidly and frontally, with squarish shoulders. Hair is knotted - Archaic smile
Roman Paintings
- created to liven up windowless Roman cubicula, were frescoed with mythological scenes, landscapes, and city plazas - mosaics were preferred, kept feet cool in the summer
Greek Sculpture
- unafraid of nudity - cut away from the stone behind them - use contrapposto
Egyptian architecture
-iconic image are pyramids, but never built alone; built in groups called necropolises -specialty is carving from living rock