Prehistoric Rome

Erin-I thought she did a good job at explaining the colosseum and the columns. I didn't know that they designed it so that the columns could be removed and replaced.

Becca- She did a good job at explaining the arches and the Pantheon. Her videos were also very interesting to watch.

Greek Civilization

Savannah-I like that she told us the meaning behind the design of the columns. And she did a good job at explaining some of the furniture.

Alex- I like that she had actual pictures it made it more interesting; she also did good at explaining the pictures.

Prehistoric Rome

Rome was the greatest power west of China. Their art and design was inspired by Greece. They served as a catalyst in spreading art and civilization, also controlled commerce in the western Mediterranean Sea. In the Roman culture structures and social values played a big role. Entertainment such as sporting events, circus, concerts and plays were evolving at this time. Religious figurers where worshiped with tombs and temples

The invention of Roman design is that it brilliantly operated within the stylistic parameter initially set by Greece, yet took it in new directions. They mastered road building, which led to more new inventions. Where Greek was influenced there was and architecture of column and post and lintel construction in their building designs. The columns were more decorative and structural than the past columns. They added extravagant decoration in their furniture pieces. They had a new material to accompany their explorations of form: concrete. Although the buildings often look as though they are built from stone, they were largely architecture of brick and concrete, faced with stone. Roman architectures saw the major possibilities of arch and concrete, vaulting, dome and use of the arch development.

Roman furniture inherited Greek forms and the general inventory is the same: tables, beds, chairs, and stools. But as a general rule, Roman furniture had to be more elaborate than the Greek furniture.  The piece of furniture that is most associated with Rome is the couch. During this time a couch was used as a bed and settee or couch, it is a horizontal surface for sitting or reclining, with arms at one or both ends. It was used at night for sleeping. A variety of small tables served those who were on the reclining couches. These include small metal tripod table, similar to Greek tables. Some tripods were folding that when opened supported a top, of wood or marble, that was used for food or drinks.

One of the major inventions in Rome was the coliseum; which held gladiator fights and other cultural events. It sat at least 50,000 people, made of concrete, stone and the use of arch and barrel vault. Each level has a podium, column and an entablature. We still use the coliseum concept today and they still hold the same entertainment events.  

Images Past: 

Images Present:

Greek Civilization

Greek Civilization was the first democracy that we know of. This was the start of western ideas, culture value of individual egalitarianism. They were masters of philosophy, science, fine arts, geography, medicine, legal systems and astronomy. Three seas surround them; Aegean, Mediterranean, and the Ionian Sea, making them a good source for trade. Among the communities they had competition and independent governments like we do today.

A very unique civilization developed and flourished on the island of Crete. The arrival new peoples, technologies and new ideas transformed the small pre-existing Neolithic communities form about 6000 B.C.E., including the mature era of the Minoan period which is dated 2000-1400 B.C.E.  In the Mycenaean towns, the most important structure was the palace and, significantly not a temple.

Palace of Knossos was the most important structure on Crete. It was the center of town housing of more than 40,000 inhabitants and held ceremonial, administrative residential, and religious functions. The palace itself was created by and additive design process, its grandness was not from the huge individual rooms but from the presence of hundreds of them. A central sequence of rooms includes a stairway and a throne room. Houses, like the Palace were two or three stories high, with ground floor devoted to storerooms; upper floors boasted windows. The walls of important rooms were painted. The color palette relied heavily on whites, red, black- attractive colors due to the availability and stability of natural pigments. Blues and greens were rare and expensive and reserved for the most important rooms. The rooms are organized around a central courtyard. The palace looked inward toward the courtyard; elaborate exterior facades are not a feature of Minoan architecture. The courtyard was an open place the center of this proto-urban entity. On the perimeter of the urban space stood buildings that were distinguished by the unique Minoan cornice and columns. The columns have a distinctive profile; from a large cushioned capital top they taper toward a narrow base. This profile follows the logic of structure, as the weight of the heavy entablature above is distributed to an increasingly narrow profile.

Minoan history, and its age of grand buildings, came to end around 1400 B.C.E., likely due to and earthquake or a mass movement of people, which set the stage for the next episode in Greek history.    

Images Past:

Images Present: 

Palace Vadone Paris, France 

St. Marks Square Venice, Italy

extra credit: 
tour of Palace Knossos

Tutankhamen

Tutankhamen

King Tutankhamen was a minor sovereign who died at the age of 19 and because of that he had few political accomplishments. He was the 12^th king of the 18^th Egyptian dynasty, he ruled for ten years.  He became the world’s most famous pharaoh when a British architecture named Howard Carter entered King Tutankhamen tomb, which had not been opened for more than 3,200 years. Inside they discovered many treasures intended to keep the king accompanied into the afterlife, it revealed a lot about the royal life in ancient Egypt.

Some of the treasures that where found in side of King Tuts tomb were furnishings. They found a folding bed made of wood with rush matting for support and comfort. The bed was built with a frame structure, the bottom of the legs where shaped like animals which all faced the same direction. 

Egyptian art reflects a boxlike conception of the world; chairs are represented as cubes at a right angle. Pieces of furniture operate under two systems: the importance of the simple geometry, and sensitivity to the shape of the human figure. The children’s chair that was found in his tomb displayed the characteristic Egyptian curved seat, also the seat and the legs form a square. The back is cube, lengthened into a rectangle with additional bonds of decoration. For its time period, it was comfortable.

Also found in the tomb was a wooden chair with no arms. It shows the God Heh kneeling on the symbol for gold. Once again we see that the legs and the seat forming a cube, the decorative panel serving as the backrest doubled the height. These chairs represent the absolute highest level of craft possible by Egyptian furniture markers.

Chairs today are very flat with padding fir comfort. Here is a picture of a round seated chair today:

And a wooden chair without arms today:

Extra Credit:

http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/6-secrets-of-king-tut

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6CNokOXXPY its a fast video but it has good pictures and details.  

Nubia

Nubia is the land south of Egypt; it occupied the area that today lies in Sudan and Ethiopia. They were also known as Kush, and Greeks and Romans referred to the land as “Aethiopia” which mean “land of burnt faces.” Around 3100 B.C.E., Nubia united into a central powerful kingdom.  But for the most party Nubia was ruled by the Egyptians, they served as their slaves and as their soldiers in the army. But during the 25^th dynasty they see a dramatic turnaround as the Nubian pharaohs ruled Egypt. They ruled Lower Egypt and extended all the way to the Nile delta.  

Nubia’s most natural resources where metal. They help the Egyptians desire for gold and they relied upon the Nubians for their knowledge of iron metallurgy. During the 25^th dynasty the wanted to make sure that Napata (capital of Nubia) was architecturally worth to rule Egypt. Beginning in the 730 B.C.E., they built an Egyptian- style pylon temple, the Temple of Amun. Nubian pyramids are smaller in scale compared the Egyptians and are characterized by a steep rake, and in front of the steep pyramids is a pylon porch. The tombs with pyramidal form and pylon entrances were carved in low relief; which means that the depth of the carving is shallow. The bodies of the Nubian statues typically displayed a strong physical appearance unlike the Egyptians, which have a slimmer profile. When it came to making public gestures, such as temples, tombs, and sculptures of their rules Nubians used Egyptians work as inspiration.

Still to this day in Egypt, Nubians still remain a prominent ethnic group. Nubians are Sunni Muslims who believe in one God and his Prophet Mohammed, in the angels created by God, in the prophets through whom his revelations were brought to humankind, in the Day of Judgment and individual accountability for actions, in God s complete authority over human destiny, and in life after death. They also follow the Ibadat, or practicing framework of the Muslim's life: the Five Pillars. In Islam there is no hierarchal authority, no priest.

Nubian pyramids- 

 How pyramids are used today-

The worlds largest meditation pyramid in India. 

Botanical garden in Canada. 

Extra Credit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0evT4yCzBsU