Visual History of the World

(CONTENTS)
 

HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION & CULTURE From Prehistoric to Romanesque  Art Gothic Art Renaissance  Art Baroque and Rococo Art The Art of Asia Neoclassicism, Romanticism  Art Art Styles in 19th century Art of the 20th century Artists that Changed the World Design and Posters Photography Classical Music Literature and Philosophy Visual History of the World Prehistory First Empires The Ancient World The Middle Ages The Early Modern Period The Modern Era The World Wars and Interwar Period The Contemporary World Dictionary of Art and Artists

First Empires

ca. 7000 B.C. - 200 A.D.


 

The Middle East was the cradle of mankind's first advanced civilizations. In Egypt and the Fertile Crescent, which extends in an arc from the north of the Arabian Peninsula east through Palestine to Mesopotamia, the first state structures emerged in parallel with the further development of animal husbandry, agriculture, trade, and writing. The first great empires, such as those of the Egyptian pharaohs, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, and the Persians, evolved at the beginning of the third millennium B.C., out of small communities usually clustered around a city. Similar development also occurred on the Indian subcontinent and in China, where quite distinct early advanced civilizations took shape as well.


 

The golden mask of Tutankhamun, a jewel of ancient Egyptian artwork,
 showing the pharaoh in a ceremonial robe decorated with the heraldic animals, the vulture and cobra, ca. 1340 B.C.

Syria and Palestine
 

3000-332 B.C.
 

The Abduction of Europa

According to Greek mythology, Zeus, the father of the gods, assumed the form of a white bull and abducted Europa, the daughter of King Agenor of Phoenicia. By him she conceived Minos, the legendary king of Crete. Much that arrived in Europe from Asia first passed through Minoan Crete, including the Phoenician alphabet.