Ancient Civilizations & the Birth of Art

Week 1 · Sept 1–7

Personal cylinder seal

Clay or Sculpey. Design your symbol system. Research: cuneiform, who had seals, Hammurabi preamble.

Writing: your seal + a 50-word wall label.

Supplies: Sculpey 1 lb, carving tools, black ink pad.

Print: cylinder seal examples (British Museum).

Watch: The Sumerians · Fall of Civilizations (~2.5 hrs). First cities, writing, Ur. Watch in chunks.

Read: Bauer Ch. 1 pp. 10–16 + Ch. 22 pp. 170–177; Strickland ch. 1. Skim for the idea. Check pagination against your copy (editions differ).

Optional companion if you have the book: Omnibus I · Code of Hammurabi section, p. 51.

“When Anu the Sublime, King of the Anunaki, and Bel, the lord of Heaven and earth, who decreed the fate of the land, assigned to Marduk... the Enlil-ship over the whole world... then Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who feared God, to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evil-doers; so that the strong should not harm the weak... to enlighten the land and to further the well-being of mankind.”

Hammurabi’s Code, preamble · L.W. King, 1915 · public domain

Week 2 · Sept 8–14

Architecture & Power in Mesopotamia

Art: ziggurat in forced perspective. Technical drawing. Lighter load than Week 1: studio research for a drawing.

Writing: sketchbook margin notes beside the drawing. Informal. No wall label this week.

Supplies: core toolkit only. Print ziggurat reference photos before you start.

How to draw:

• Ziggurat in two-point perspective (37 slides). Closest match to this week’s forced-perspective brief: horizon, vanishing points, stacked tiers, ramp.
• DrawingNow: How to Draw a Ziggurat. Picture steps (tiers, stairs, temple). Simpler; less about vanishing points.
• Yonderoo. Written steps plus finished examples, if you want more possibilities once the structure is down.
• DrawingNow on YouTube (1:52). On-screen 3D stepped construction.
• karl’sART · cartoon ziggurat (8:07). Clear beginner 3D with stairs.

Print ziggurat refs still help (Ur / Babylon).

Advanced (two-point perspective): City street in two-point perspective. Apply the same vanishing-point ideas to the stepped tower.

Watch:

• Mesopotamia · Crash Course World History #3 (~12 min). Cities, writing, taxes, kings, empire.
• The Ziggurat of Ur (Exploring Art with Alessandro). Walkthrough of one of the oldest great buildings.
• The Sumerians · Fall of Civilizations (~2.5 hrs). Ur, Uruk, writing, first cities. Watch in chunks.
• 30 Masterpieces of the Ancient World (Hoopla). Shorter option: Ep. 6 “Great Ziggurat at Ur” (~31 min).

Read (same two books as Week 1; skim for the ideas below):

• The History of the Ancient World (Bauer), Ch. 3 “The Rise of Aristocracy” (Kindle ~p. 15; check your copy). Hereditary kingship in Sumer after the flood; Kish as political center; early aristocracy and datable kings. Use that hierarchy when you draw the ziggurat as visible state power. (Note: Ch. 2 is the Sumerian flood story, not this chapter.)
• The Annotated Mona Lisa (Strickland), Ch. 1. Monumental architecture as a symbol system: Week 1’s personal seal, scaled up to a civic mark.

Primary source: Herodotus on the Ziggurat of Babylon (Histories Book 1, §181–183). Fifth-century BC Greek historian; the most famous ancient description of a ziggurat (the temple complex of Bel). Summary: a stepped tower in eight tiers, each set back from the one below; a spiral ramp around the outside; a shrine at the top with a golden couch and table, tended by priests, where a god was said to visit.

Read the wording here (public domain):

• Perseus · Godley translation, starting at 1.181 (click Next for 182–183)
• Sacred Texts · Macaulay / Rawlinson-era English with Greek (scroll to §§181–183)

Optional dinner scaffold alongside Herodotus 1.181–183 if you have the book: Omnibus I · Histories section, p. 123.

The drawing point: a ziggurat is an argument in stone that the gods and the state are the same thing, visible from every point in the city.

Week 3 · Sept 15–21

Unification & the God-King

Art: Egyptian palette re-imagined. Copy the Narmer Palette’s composition, or invent a personal myth in the same visual language (registers, scale hierarchy, crowns, smiting pose). Heavier studio load than Week 2: paint on board, gold accents, finished piece.

Writing: the palette plus a 75-word artist note. Wall-label voice.

Supplies: acrylic or gouache paint set; fine brushes; gold metallic marker; flat panel (illustration board or foam board). Core toolkit for sketching first.

Print: Narmer Palette, full and high-res, both faces if you can find them.

How to:

• Artsology · Egyptian figure drawing and painting. Profile head, frontal torso, side legs; hieroglyph-like framing.
• Smarthistory · Palette of King Narmer. Composition, registers, and what the smiting scene argues.

Watch: First Civilizations, Season 1 (Hoopla). Start with Ep. 2 “Religion”: Narmer, living god-king, shared belief as the glue of the state.

Read (skim for the ideas below):

• The History of the Ancient World (Bauer), Ch. 19 “The Battle for Reunification” (Kindle ~p. 145). Mentuhotep reunites fractured Egypt; Middle Kingdom begins; legitimate kingship restored. Optional add: Ch. 11 “The First Victory over Death” (Kindle ~p. 76) for pyramid-age pharaohs and afterlife houses. Narmer’s first unification doesn’t get its own Bauer chapter. Ch. 1 stays with Week 1 (Sumerian kingship).
• The Annotated Mona Lisa (Strickland), Ch. 1–2. Egyptian pictorial rules: scale equals rank; the body as eternal type.

Primary source: Book of the Dead creation excerpt (Atum / Tem / Ra). Summary: the creator rises from the primeval waters of Nu as the Only One, names himself into being, and rules what he has made. Pharaoh’s authority sits inside that cosmic story.

Read the wording here (public domain):

• Gutenberg · Budge, The Book of the Dead (search Chapter XVII: “I am Tem in rising…”)
• Gutenberg · Budge, Legends of the Gods (Legend of the Creation / Khepera from Nu)
• Sacred Texts · Book of the Dead index

Museum ref: Egyptian Museum Cairo · Narmer Palette (original); British Museum holds casts.

The studio point: a palette is an argument that kingship and creation share one visual grammar.

Week 4 · Sept 22–28

Canon of Proportions: Kouros

Art: Greek kouros figure study on 18×24. Work from a printed statue. Measure a grid or head-count canon before you commit to contour. Load is medium: one careful figure.

Writing: the figure plus a short caption (what changed when the body stopped being pure Egyptian type?).

Supplies: core toolkit plus the 18×24 pad. Ruler for the grid.

Print: kouros statue reference (Met New York Kouros, or an Acropolis Museum kouros).

How to:

• Smarthistory · New York Kouros. Egyptian stance still visible; Greek carving already hunting muscle and weight.
• Getty · Perfect Bodies, Ancient Ideals (PDF). Canon grids and the 6.5-head idea for kouros work.

Read (skim for the ideas below):

• The History of the Ancient World (Bauer), Ch. 28 “Usurpation and Revenge” (Kindle ~p. 204). Hatshepsut and Thutmosis III; succession, legitimacy, royal power. Egyptian idealism lives here in politics. Pair with Herodotus, your kouros print, and Strickland for the Greek body ideal.
• The Annotated Mona Lisa (Strickland), Ch. 1–2. Egyptian idealism beside the first Greek steps toward naturalism.

Primary source: Herodotus, Histories Book 2, §91. Summary: Egyptians generally refuse Greek customs, yet at Khemmis they celebrate athletic contests “of every form” in Greek fashion, with prizes, around an image of Perseus. The passage is about Greek athletic culture crossing into Egypt, not a sculptor’s treatise. Use it for the athletic body the kouros assumes.

Read the wording here (public domain):

• Perseus · Godley translation, Histories 2.91
• LacusCurtius · Herodotus Book 2 (later chapters; search Khemmis / Perseus)

Optional companion for Herodotus 2.91 if you have the book: Omnibus I · Histories section, p. 123.

Museum ref: Met · Marble kouros (32.11.1).

The studio point: a kouros is a measured argument that the human body can be both rule and living weight.

Week 5 · Sept 29 – Oct 5

Myth on Clay: Black-Figure & Red-Figure

Art: personal mythology on Greek pottery. Draw an amphora (or another vessel shape) in black-figure or red-figure logic: silhouette vs reserved figure, banded registers, one clear myth moment. Process sketches count; finish one pot face.

Writing: process sketches plus a pot label (what scene, which side, why that technique).

Supplies: red and black quality colored pencils (Prismacolor or Faber-Castell); optional brown-toned paper; compass for amphora curves; Micron for fine incision-like lines.

Print: amphora shapes plus black-figure and red-figure examples.

How to:

• Royal Ontario Museum · Painted pottery activity. Black-figure vs red-figure, step by step on a drawn vessel.
• Met · Panathenaic prize amphora (black-figure). Shape, Athena side, athletic reverse.

Read (skim for the ideas below):

• The History of the Ancient World (Bauer), Ch. 31 “The Mycenaeans of Greece” (Kindle ~p. 222). Palace centers, elite burial, sea trade. Optional: Ch. 24 “King Minos of Crete” (Kindle ~p. 181) for Minoan palace/ritual backdrop. Ch. 32 “Struggle of the Gods” is Egyptian religion (Akhenaten), so leave it. Myth structure for the pot: Odyssey Book 9.
• The Annotated Mona Lisa (Strickland): still Ch. 1–2 / Greek sections in your copy (Ch. 3–4 are listed later under Unit 2).
• Companion: The Odyssey, Book 9 (Cyclops). One touchstone; dinner talk after.
• Optional: Gilgamesh, selected tablets (Weeks 5–6). If you take that path and have the book: Omnibus I · Epic of Gilgamesh section, p. 37.

Primary source: Homer, Odyssey Book 9. Summary: Odysseus lands among the Cyclopes, blinds Polyphemus with craft and wine, escapes under the rams, then names himself and draws Poseidon’s curse. A perfect pot scene: cave, stake, “Noman,” the naming.

Read the wording here (public domain):

• Perseus · Murray translation, Odyssey Book 9
• Internet Classics Archive · Butler, Odyssey Book IX

The studio point: black-figure and red-figure are two ways of arguing which part of the story is solid ground and which is empty space.

Week 6 · Oct 6–12

Democracy on the Steps

Art: Parthenon plus deliberate anachronism. Draw the west pediment / exterior from a print, then place a modern figure on the steps (phone, backpack, skateboard, whatever belongs to you). The clash is the point.

Writing: the drawing plus 100-word wall text.

Supplies: core toolkit; optional light blue or grey paper for sky contrast.

Print: Parthenon exterior, west pediment preferred.

How to:

• Smarthistory · The Parthenon, Athens. Plan, pediments, and civic meaning.
• City street in two-point perspective (same link as Week 2’s advanced tip). Apply vanishing points to steps and colonnade.

Read (skim for the ideas below):

• The History of the Ancient World (Bauer), Ch. 65 “The Peloponnesian Wars” (Kindle ~p. 537). Athens and Sparta after Persia; Greek political conflict. For Pericles and democracy, use the Funeral Oration primary source.
• The Annotated Mona Lisa (Strickland): still Ch. 1–2 / Greek-Roman sections in your copy.
• Optional companion still open: Gilgamesh tablets if you started them in Week 5.

Primary source: Pericles’ Funeral Oration (Thucydides, Peloponnesian War Book 2.34–46). Summary: after the first war dead, Pericles praises Athens as a pattern, a democracy that favors the many, a city whose power leaves monuments, and asks the living to love the city by looking at it daily.

Read the wording here (public domain):

• Fordham Ancient History Sourcebook · Funeral Oration
• Wikisource · Jowett translation

Museum / architecture ref: British Museum Parthenon galleries (sculptures) plus any clear west-elevation photo for the steps.

The studio point: the Parthenon is a civic argument in marble; your anachronism tests whether that argument still holds when a living body climbs the stairs.

Week 7 · Oct 13–19

Domestic Myth: Roman Mosaic

Art: Roman mosaic floor plan. Family mythology or an Odyssey scene, built from paper tesserae on a flat base. Design it as a floor: border, central emblem, limited palette.

Writing: the mosaic plus a 75-word label.

Supplies: colored paper packs (construction paper or cardstock: blue, green, yellow, brown, red, cream); flat base (wood panel or foam board); Mod Podge and sponge brushes from the core toolkit; compass for round emblems.

Print: Roman mosaic floor examples from Pompeii or Herculaneum.

How to:

• wikiHow · Make a paper mosaic. Cut tiles, outline, work outside-in, seal.
• Smarthistory · Alexander Mosaic, House of the Faun. Domestic floor as public ambition.

Read (skim for the ideas below):

• The History of the Ancient World (Bauer), Ch. 66 “The First Sack of Rome” (Kindle ~p. 553). Patricians and plebeians quarrel; class conflict and who holds power inside the city.
• The Annotated Mona Lisa (Strickland): still Ch. 1–2 / Greek-Roman sections in your copy.

Primary source: Plutarch, Life of Romulus chapter 13. Summary: Romulus divides the people into patrons and clients; patrons advise and speak in court; clients honor and aid their patrons; neither may testify against the other. The household and the city run on that bond.

Read the wording here (public domain):

• Perseus · Perrin translation, Romulus 13

The studio point: a mosaic floor is patronage underfoot. Guests walk your family’s story.

Week 8 · Oct 20–26

Portfolio: Six Civilizations, One Statement

Art: curated portfolio. Six finished pieces with historical labels. Mount flat work on cardboard backings; sleeve fragile pieces. Sequence the room as a walk from seal to mosaic (or your own order, if you can defend it).

Writing: one-page artist statement. The unit’s only sustained prose. How did each civilization shape your choices of material, scale, and story?

Supplies: portfolio folder or 3-ring binder with page protectors; cardboard backings for flat mount. No new print refs this week.

Read (review, do not sprint):

• The History of the Ancient World (Bauer): revisit the pinned chapters you used Weeks 1–7 (Ch. 1 + 22, then 3, 19, 28, 31, 65, 66). No new chapter this week.
• The Annotated Mona Lisa (Strickland): still Ch. 1–2 / ancient sections you marked.
• Optional end companion: Oedipus Rex (Sophocles). Fate, knowing, and the cost of seeing. Dinner discussion.

Companion link (optional, public domain):

• Gutenberg · Sophocles, Oedipus the King (Storr)

No long primary source required this week. Your six labels plus the statement are the text.

The studio point: curation is an argument about which ancient visual habits you kept, and which you refused.