By 8000 B.C.

, agricultural communities are already established in northern

Mesopotamia, the eastern end of the Fertile Crescent. Early in the sixth millennium
B.C., farming communities, relying on irrigation rather than rainfall, settle ever
further south along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. As these new communities
grow, monumental architecture and more elaborate forms of artistic representation
reflect an increasingly differentiated social hierarchy. Forms of administration and
recording are developed as cities emerge across the region, especially in the south.
By 2500 B.C.,
cuneiform inscriptions
describe rivalry between city-states, with rulers building temples and palaces
decorated with royal imagery proclaiming their power. Within two centuries, the
city-states of Mesopotamia are unified by Sargon of Akkad, who creates the first
empire.
Symbolic of all of that splendour was a visitors first introduction to the city:
the monumental Gate of Ishtar, built in 575 BC out of enamelled bricks, in cobalt
blues and sea greens, decorated with reliefs of 575 dragons and bulls.
In Athens, physical training and education was extended to the male children
of common families, and it became accepted that boys of commoners should be
able to read and write. Schooling was inexpensive because teachers were paid little.
Boys started school at the age of seven, and for many it continued for only three or
four years, while some others continued until they were eighteen. In addition to
reading and writing, the boys studied literature and grammar. They learned poetry
by heart, especially the works of Homer. Prose authors were not studied, nor were
mathematics and technical subjects. It was not yet a technology-scientific age.
Physical education emphasized individual efforts rather than team sports. As before,
education in Athens and elsewhere in Greece fostered loyalty to the group. It
fostered pride in Athens and pride in being Greek as opposed to being "barbarian."
In Athens and some other Greek cities dramas and writing appeared that
focused on the human condition rather than the gods. There was a lucid poetry
about shared pleasures, love and other feelings. Dramas were written that touched
upon human complexity and weakness, including flaws in exemplary heroes. There
were insights that modern psychology would build upon: narcissism, the Oedipus
complex, phobias and manias.
Mostly it was young men of leisure who were interested in fine literature and
worldly knowledge. Democracy brought greater content to common people, but selfinterest remained stronger than community interest. Of the forty thousand adult
males free to participate in deciding issues, less than a sixth did so. Slaves and
women remained without a voice in political affair. In the city's market place one
could see poverty, slave drivers, loud peddlers and those who cheated their
customers.

Symbolism also played an important role in establishing a sense of order.

Symbolism, ranging from the Pharaoh's regalia (symbolizing his power to maintain
order) to the individual symbols of Egyptian gods and goddesses, was omnipresent
in Egyptian art. Animals were usually also highly symbolic figures in Egyptian art.
Color, as well, had extended meaning - Blue and green represented the Nile and life;
yellow stood for the sun god; and red represented power and vitality. The colors in
Egyptian artifacts have survived extremely well over the centuries because of
Egypt's dry climate. Despite the stilted form caused by a lack of perspective,
ancient Egyptian art is often highly realistic. Ancient Egyptian artists often show a
sophisticated knowledge of anatomy and a close attention to detail, especially in
their renderings of animals.
Theres no doubt that the ancient Romans were master builders. Many
temples, roads and aqueducts constructed during Roman times have held up
remarkably well, despite the wear-and-tear--in the form of military invasions, tourist
mobs and natural disasters such as earthquakes--theyve had to endure.
For the most part, we humans are better at things than we were thousands of
years ago. But there are some things the ancients had down pat. Roman concrete,
for instance, is just way better than anything we can whip up today.
The Romans made concrete by mixing lime and volcanic rock. For underwater
structures, lime and volcanic ash were mixed to form mortar, and this mortar and
volcanic tuff were packed into wooden forms. The seawater instantly triggered a hot
chemical reaction. The lime was hydrated incorporating water molecules into its
structure and reacted with the ash to cement the whole mixture together.
Byzantine art, that is the art of the Eastern Orthodox Church - the form of
Christianity that emerged in Constantinople (previously called Byzantium, now
called Istanbul), headquarters of the Roman Empire in the east - was the first
category of Christian art to really blossom. An expression of the theocratic state
that it represented, Christian Byzantine art specialized in architecture, mosaic art,
mural and icon painting. Byzantine artists also excelled at items of jewellery,
goldsmithing and ivories, and produced the earliest illuminated manuscript, or
codex.
Mosaic art was the most important feature of Byzantine art for almost a thousand years:
comparable with sculpture in Ancient Greece, the painted panel of the Northern
Renaissance, or the altarpiece in 16th century Venice. Shimmering in the candlelight and
sometimes decorated in gold leaf, these exquisite glass jigsaws were governed by rigid rules
as to colour, size and composition, mosaics had two key aims: to beautify the house of the
Lord (and overawe the spectator), and to educate illiterate worshippers in the Gospel story.
The individual mosaic pieces (tesserae) were often deliberately set unevenly, to create
movement of light and colour.