Deck 3: Ancient Art

Question 1

The patterns and fine detail of the beard and wings of the Assyrian Lamassu stress the:

A) rhythmic eloquence.
B) encrusted surface.
C) massive scale and powerful forms.
D) all of these.
E) none of these.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

In Egyptian architecture,lintels had to be short and the posts heavy and close together because the stone was ____________ and ____________.

Answer 2

dense; brittle

Question 3

The Great Pyramids at Giza functioned as:

A) royal tombs.
B) navigational signposts for desert travelers.
C) battlements for defense.
D) all of these.
E) none of these.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

In most ancient civilizations,artists were counted among the ranks of:

A) priests.
B) scholars.
C) laborers.
D) all of these.
E) none of these.

Question 5

The Sumerian ziggurat functioned as:

A) a human-made sacred mountain.
B) an impenetrable fortress for laborers.
C) a treasury for the priestly class.
D) all of these.
E) none of these.

Question 6

Mycenaean kings were buried with their personal treasures and weapons in large round structures called ____________.

Question 7

The Panathenaic Amphora with Runners reveals an interest in beauty because of the:

A) patterned decoration.
B) integration of the handles into the overall shape.
C) manner in which it rises from its base.
D) all of these.
E) none of these.

Question 8

As seen on the Fang ding,the most famous pattern used on early Chinese bronzes was the taotie,or ____________.

Question 9

The Sumerian Storm God and two Stags lintel represents Imdugud as:

A) a mud-covered human.
B) a lioness-headed eagle.
C) a gigantic fist.
D) all of these.
E) none of these.

Question 10

The interior decorations of the palace at Knossos exhibit characteristics common to Minoan art,including:

A) brightly colored paintings.
B) lively rhythms.
C) fresco scenes of ceremony or ritual.
D) all of these.
E) none of these.

Question 11

The Olmec were accomplished carvers,as attested by their:

A) stone stelae.
B) jade celts.
C) figurines.
D) colossal basalt heads.
E) all of these.

Question 12

In the amphora Achilles and Ajax Playing Draughts by Exekias,the composition reveals the Greek search for:

A) a spiritual medium.
B) emotionally dramatic representations.
C) balance and harmony.
D) all of these.
E) none of these.

Question 13

The shallow renderings on the Votive Palette of King Narmer are suppressed into what is essentially a two-dimensional medium called ____________.

Question 14

The Doryphoros (Spear Carrier) by Polykleitos is best understood as a visual exemplar of:

A) the Canon.
B) Egyptian proportions.
C) rigid symmetry and geometry.
D) all of these.
E) none of these.

Question 15

The calm,axial,idealized form of Apollo in Apollo and the Battle of the Lapiths and the Centaurs represents:

A) the punishment of Prometheus.
B) the mastery of reasoned order over brute force.
C) defeat of the Etruscan city-states.
D) all of these.
E) none of these.

Question 16

The Etruscan style of tomb painting involved:

A) simple bright colors.
B) a prohibition on abstract pattern.
C) murkily painted figures.
D) all of these.
E) none of these.

Question 17

Egyptian temple architecture stresses:

A) monumentality.
B) durability.
C) stability.
D) weight.
E) all of these.

Question 18

Imhotep's design for the architectural climax at Saqqara was a solid structure,large step pyramid that suggests:

A) a celestial marker.
B) the superimposition of shrinking mastabas.
C) a royal fortress.
D) all of these.
E) none of these.

Question 19

Egyptian tomb wall paintings tell us a great deal about ancient Egyptian life and customs because the tomb decorations:

A) had to preserve pleasant everyday life for the ka.
B) were forbidden to involve abstraction.
C) were produced by unskilled laborers.
D) all of these.
E) none of these.

Question 20

The Votive Palette of King Narmer was apparently created to mark the ____________ of Egypt.

Question 21

What ensured a continuity of artistic and iconographic formulas in most ancient art?

Question 22

What about the Archaic-style kouros is derived from Egyptian sculpture?

Question 23

Why did each object in an Egyptian tomb painting have to be shown in its most easily recognized view?

Question 24

Discuss the iconographic themes of the Parthenon sculptures and to what they are related.

Question 25

The plan of the palace at Knossos is rambling and labyrinthine.

Question 26

An underground burial chamber marked by a mud-brick structure above is called a mastaba.

Question 27

In the Canon of Polykleitos,as promoted by Vitruvius,the width of the shoulders was ____________ of the total height.

Question 28

The animal forms that create a fang ding vessel's patterns are believed to represent the enormous wealth of the patron.

Question 29

The earliest large-scale Greek sculptures are indebted to ____________ prototypes.

Question 30

In Greek Doric architecture,the walled inner sanctuary,or ____________,contained the cult statue.

Question 31

Artistic invention was prized in ancient Egyptian tomb decoration.

Question 32

What about the stele relief of Akhenaten with Nefertiti and Their Children leads one to conclude an equality that seems to have characterized the Amarna period of Egyptian history?

Question 33

The differences in expressions and decorative symbols on the Olmec colossal heads found at San Lorenzo in La Venta suggest that they may be portraits of ____________.

Question 34

What parts of the gold funeral mask found at Mycenae display a more abstract approach?

Question 35

Contrapposto originated as the result of the Greeks' interest in the ideal nude human body and in athletic achievement.

Question 36

The stylistic evolution of Greek figurative sculpture is from rigidly posed to ____________.

Question 37

Discuss how Praxiteles's Aphrodite of Knidos is unlike earlier Greek sculptures.