Ancient Art
Art of the first cities, states and writing systems worldwide, from about the 4th millennium BC to the end of antiquity.
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About
Ancient art is the art of the first cities, states and writing systems, from roughly the 4th millennium BC to the close of antiquity around AD 500. Egypt built the pyramids at Giza; the Indus cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa cut tiny stamp seals with animals and a still-undeciphered script; and Shang China cast ritual bronzes for ancestors.
Empires later worked on a colossal scale. Persian kings lined the stairways of Persepolis with reliefs of tribute bearers, the Mauryan emperor Ashoka raised polished stone pillars crowned with animals across India, and China's First Emperor was buried around 210 BC with an army of life-size terracotta soldiers. In the Greek world named artists emerge, from the Niobid Painter to Praxiteles, and Apollodorus of Damascus designed Trajan's Forum in Rome. The Olmec of Mexico carved colossal basalt heads, and in China Gu Kaizhi became one of the first painters whose name and style were recorded.
