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It remains debated as to what extent the origin of human cognition—and thus music—will ever be understood, with scholars often taking polarizing positions.^{[2][n 1]} The origin of music is regularly discussed as intrinsically linked with the origin of language,^{[n 2]} with the nature of their connection being a subject of serious debate.^{[6][n 3]} However, before the mid-late 20th century, both topics were seldom given substantial attention by scholars.^{[8][9][n 4]} Since recent resurgence in the topic, the principal source of contention is whether music began as a type of proto-language and a product of adaptation that led to language, if music is a spandrel (a phenotypic byproduct of evolution) that was the result of language or if music and language derived from a common antecedent.^[11][12] A well known take on the second is from cognitive psychologist and linguist Steven Pinker; in his How the Mind Works (1997), Pinker famously termed music as merely "auditory cheesecake",^[13][14] an analogy relating to his view of music as a spandrel,^[15] arguing that "as far as biological cause and effect is concerned, music is useless",^[16] and that "it is a technology, not an adaptation".^[17] Music psychologist Sandra Trehub notes that, like Pinker, "much of the larger scientific community is highly skeptical about links between music and biology", in opposition to specialists on the subjects.^[18] Scholars such as Joseph Carroll and Anna K. Tirovolas have rejected Pinker's take, citing evolutionary advantages including its use as practice for cognitive flexibility and "indicating to potential mates [one's] cognitive and physical flexibility and fitness".^{[19][n 5]}

There is little consensus on any particular theory for the origin of music, which have included contributions from archaeologists, cognitive scientists, ethnomusicologists, evolutionary biologists, linguists, neuroscientists, paleoanthropologists, philosophers and psychologists (developmental and social).^{[21][n 6]} Theories on the topic can be differentiated in two ways: structural models, which see music as an outgrowth of preexisting abilities, and functional models which consider its emergence as an adaptive technique.^[12] Taking the latter approach is perhaps the first significant theory on the origins of music:^[23] Charles Darwin's 1871 book The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex,^[8] where he briefly proposed that music was originally an elaborate form of sexual selection, perhaps arising in mating calls.^[24][25] His theory is difficult to affirm, as there is no evidence that either sex is "more musical" thus no evidence of sexual dimorphism; there are currently no other examples of sexual selection that do not include considerable sexual dimorphism.^{[26][n 7]} However, citing music's use in other animals's mating systems, commentators such as Peter J.B. Slater, Katy Payne, Björn Merker, Geoffrey Miller and Peter Todd have promoted developed versions of Darwin's theory.^[28] Other theories suggest that music was developed to assist in "coordination, cohesion and cooperation", or as part of parental care, where parents use music to increase communication with—and thus the survivability of—their children.^[28] Some commentators propose music arose alongside language, both of which supposably descend from a "shared precursor",^[29][30][28] which the composer Richard Wagner termed "speech-music".^[11]

The oldest known musical instrument, the purported Divje Babe Flute—made from a young cave bear femur—is dated to 43,000 and 82,000 BCE, but whether it is truly a musical instrument (or an object created by animals) remains extremely controversial.^[31] The earliest objects whose designations as musical instruments are widely accepted are eight bone flutes from the Swabian Jura, Germany; three of these from the Geissenklösterle are dated as the oldest, c. 43,150–39,370 BP.^[32]

Many cultures have their own mythical origins on the creation of music.^[33][34] In Chinese mythology, there are various stories,^[35] the most prominent being from the Lüshi Chunqiu which says in 2697 BCE, the musician Ling Lun—on the orders of the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi)—invented bamboo flute by imitating the song of the mythical fenghuang birds.^{[36][37][n 8][n 10]} The invention of music in Ancient Greek mythology is credited to the muses,^[34] various goddesses who were daughters of the King of the gods, Zeus;^[40] Apollo, Dionysus and Orpheus were also important musical figures for the Ancient Greeks.^[41] Persian/Iranian mythology holds that Jamshid, a legendary Shah, invented music.^[42] In Christian mythology, Jubal is called "the father of all those who play the lyre and the pipe" in Genesis 4:21, and may thus be identifiable as an originator of music for Christians.^[43] Saraswati is the god of music in Hinduism,^[44] while Väinämöinen holds a similar status as an early musical figure in Finnish folklore.^[45]

The earliest archeological evidence of religious ideas dates back several hundred thousand years, to the Middle and Lower Paleolithic periods. Archaeologists believe that the apparently intentional burial of early Homo sapiens and Neanderthals as early as 300,000 years ago is proof that religious ideas already existed. Other evidence of religious ideas includes symbolic artifacts from Middle Stone Age sites in Africa. However, the interpretation of early paleolithic artifacts, with regard to how they relate to religious ideas, remains controversial. Archeological evidence from more recent periods is less controversial. Scientists^[which?] generally interpret a number of artifacts^[which?] from the Upper Paleolithic (50,000-13,000 BCE) as representing religious ideas. Examples of Upper Paleolithic remains associated with religious beliefs include the lion man, the Venus figurines, cave paintings from Chauvet Cave and the elaborate ritual burial from Sungir.

In the 19th century, researchers proposed various theories regarding the origin of religion, challenging earlier claims of a Christianity-like urreligion. Early theorists such as Edward Burnett Tylor (1832-1917) and Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) emphasised the concept of animism, while archaeologist John Lubbock (1834-1913) used the term "fetishism". Meanwhile, the religious scholar Max Müller (1823-1900) theorized that religion began in hedonism and the folklorist Wilhelm Mannhardt (1831-1880) suggested that religion began in "naturalism" – by which he meant mythological explanations for natural events.^{[46][page needed]} All of these theories have been widely criticized since then; there is no broad consensus regarding the origin of religion.

Pre-pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) Göbekli Tepe, the oldest religious site yet discovered anywhere^[47] includes circles of erected massive T-shaped stone pillars, the world's oldest known megaliths^[48] decorated with abstract, enigmatic pictograms and carved-animal reliefs. The site, near the home place of original wild wheat, was built before the so-called Neolithic Revolution, i.e., the beginning of agriculture and animal husbandry around 9000 BCE. But the construction of Göbekli Tepe implies organization of an advanced order not hitherto associated with Paleolithic, PPNA, or PPNB societies. The site, abandoned around the time the first agricultural societies started, is still being excavated and analyzed, and thus might shed light on the significance it had had for the religions of older, foraging communities, as well as for the general history of religions.

The Pyramid Texts from ancient Egypt, the oldest known religious texts in the world, date to between 2400-2300 BCE.^[49][50]

The earliest records of Indian religion are the Vedas, composed ca. 1500-1200 Hinduism during the Vedic Period.

Surviving early copies of religious texts include:

• The Upanishads, some of which date to the mid-first millennium BCE.
• The Dead Sea Scrolls, representing fragmentary texts of the Hebrew Tanakh.^[51]
• Complete Hebrew texts, also of the Tanakh, but translated into the Greek language (Septuagint 300-200 BC), were in wide use by the early 1st century CE.
• The Zoroastrian Avesta, from a Sassanian-era master copy.

Architectural advances are an important part of the Neolithic period (10,000-2000 BC), during which some of the major innovations of human history occurred. The domestication of plants and animals, for example, led to both new economics and a new relationship between people and the world, an increase in community size and permanence, a massive development of material culture and new social and ritual solutions to enable people to live together in these communities. New styles of individual structures and their combination into settlements provided the buildings required for the new lifestyle and economy, and were also an essential element of change.^[52]

Although many dwellings belonging to all prehistoric periods and also some clay models of dwellings have been uncovered enabling the creation of faithful reconstructions, they seldom included elements that may relate them to art. Some exceptions are provided by wall decorations and by finds that equally apply to Neolithic and Chalcolithic rites and art.

In South and Southwest Asia, Neolithic cultures appear soon after 10,000 BC, initially in the Levant (Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B) and from there spread eastwards and westwards. There are early Neolithic cultures in Southeast Anatolia, Syria and Iraq by 8000 BC, and food-producing societies first appear in southeast Europe by 7000 BC, and Central Europe by c. 5500 BC (of which the earliest cultural complexes include the Starčevo-Koros (Cris), Linearbandkeramic, and Vinča).^{[53][54][55][56]}

Neolithic settlements and "cities" include:

• Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, ca. 9,000 BC
• Jericho in the Levant, Neolithic from around 8,350 BC, arising from the earlier Epipaleolithic Natufian culture
• Nevali Cori in Turkey, ca. 8,000 BC
• Çatalhöyük in Turkey, 7,500 BC
• Mehrgarh in Pakistan, 7,000 BC
• Knap of Howar and Skara Brae, the Orkney Islands, Scotland, from 3,500 BC
• over 3,000 settlements of the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture, some with populations up to 15,000 residents, flourished in present-day Romania, Moldova and Ukraine from 5,400 to 2,800 BC.

The Neolithic people in the Levant, Anatolia, Syria, northern Mesopotamia and Central Asia were great builders, utilizing mud-brick to construct houses and villages. At Çatalhöyük, houses were plastered and painted with elaborate scenes of humans and animals. The Mediterranean Neolithic cultures of Malta worshiped in megalithic temples.

• 
  Göbekli Tepe from Turkey, founded in 10th millennium BC and abandoned in 8th millennium BC
• 
  Pottery miniature of a Cucuteni-Trypillian house
• 
  Miniature of a regular Cucuteni-Trypillian house, full of ceramic vessels

The first Urban Civilization in the Indian subcontinent is traceable originally to the Indus Valley Civilisation mainly in Mohenjodaro and Harappa, now in modern-day Pakistan as well western states of the Republic of India. The earliest settlements are seen during the Neolithic period in Merhgarh, Balochistan. The civilization's cities were noted for their urban planning with baked brick buildings, elaborate drainage and water systems, and handicraft (carnelian products, seal carving). This civilisation transitioned from the Neolithic period into the Chalcolithic period and beyond with their expertise in metallurgy (copper, bronze, lead, and tin).^[57] Their urban centres possibly grew to contain between 30,000 and 60,000 individuals,^[58] and the civilisation itself may have contained between one and five million individuals.^[59]

• 
  The ruins of Harappa (Punjab, present-day Pakistan), circa 2550 BC
• 
  The ruins of Mohenjo-daro (Sindh), circa 1700 BC

In Europe, long houses built from wattle and daub were constructed. Elaborate tombs for the dead were also built. These tombs are particularly numerous in Ireland, where there are many thousands still in existence. Neolithic people in the British Isles built long barrows and chamber tombs for their dead and causewayed camps, henges flint mines and cursus monuments.

• 
  Excavated dwellings at Skara Brae (Mainland, Orkney, Scotland, UK)

Top left, the purported Divje Babe Flute from Divje Babe, Slovenia;^[31] top right a Aurignacian bone flute from Geissenklösterle, Germany;^[60] bottom a gudi bone flute in the modern-day Jiahu, Wuyang, Henan Province.

In the broadest sense, prehistoric music—more commonly termed primitive music in the past^{[61][62][n 11]}—encompasses all music produced in preliterate cultures (prehistory), beginning at least 6 million years ago when humans and chimpanzees last had a common ancestor.^[63] Music first arose in the Paleolithic period,^[64] though it remains unclear as to whether this was the Middle (300,000 to 50,000 BP) or Upper Paleolithic (50,000 to 12,000 BP).^[65] The vast majority of Paleolithic instruments have been found in Europe and date to the Upper Paleolithic.^[66] It is certainly possible that singing emerged far before this time, though this is essentially impossible to confirm.^[67] The potentially oldest instrument is the Divje Babe Flute from the Divje Babe cave in Slovenia, dated to 43,000 and 82,000 and made from a young cave bear femur.^[68] Purportedly used by Neanderthals, the Divje Babe Flute has received extensive scholarly attention, and whether it is truly a musical instrument or an object formed by animals is the subject of intense debate.^[31] If the former, it would be the oldest known musical instrument and evidence of a musical culture in the Middle Paleolithic.^[69] Other than the Divje Babe Flute and three other doubtful flutes,^{[n 12]} there is virtually no surviving Middle Paleolithic musical evidence of any certainty, similar to the situation in regards to visual art.^[64] The earliest objects whose designations as musical instruments are widely accepted are bone flutes from the Swabian Jura, Germany, namely from the Geissenklösterle, Hohle Fels and Vogelherd caves.^[70] Dated to the Aurignacian (of the Upper Paleolithic) and used by Early European modern humans, from all three caves there are eight examples, four made from the wing bones of birds and four from mammoth ivory; three of these are near complete.^[70] Three flutes from the Geissenklösterle are dated as the oldest, c. 43,150–39,370 BP.^{[71][n 13]}

Considering the relative complexity of flutes, it is likely earlier instruments existed, akin to objects that are common in later hunter and gatherer societies, such as rattles, shakers and drums.^[67] The absence of other instruments from and before this time may be due to their use of weaker—and thus more biodegradable—materials,^[64] such as reeds, gourds, skins, and bark.^[72] A painting in the Cave of the Trois-Frères dating to c. 15,000 BCE is thought to depict a shaman playing a musical bow.^[73]

Prehistoric cultures are thought to have had a wide variety of uses for music, with little unification between different societies.^[74] Music was likely in particular value when food and other basic needs were scarce.^[74] It is also probable that prehistoric cultures viewed music as intrinsically connected with nature, and may have believed its use influenced the natural world directly.^[74]

The earliest instruments found in prehistoric China are 12 gudi bone flutes in the modern-day Jiahu, Wuyang, Henan Province from c. 6000 BCE.^{[75][76][n 14][n 15]} The only instruments dated to the prehistoric Xia dynasty (c. 2070–1600) are two qing, two small bells (one earthenware, one bronze) and a xun.^[78] Due to this extreme scarcity of surviving instruments and the general uncertainty surrounding most of the Xia, creating a musical narrative of the period is impractical.^[78] In the Indian subcontinent, the prehistoric Indus Valley Civilisation (from c. 2500–2000 BCE in its mature state) has archeological evidence that indicates simple rattles and vessel flutes were used, while iconographical evidence suggests early harps and drums also existed.^[79] An ideogram in the later IVC contains the earliest known depiction of an arched harp, dated sometime before 1800 BCE.^[80]

Prehistoric art includes a broad range of art made by illiterate cultures, including some of the earliest human artifacts. The best-known Prehistoric artworks are the large Paleolithic cave paintings that depict animals in continental Europe, particularly the ones at Lascaux in the Dordogne region of France. Several hundread decorated caves are known, spanning the Upper Paleolithic period (c. 38,000-12,000 BC). There are examples in Ukraine, Italy and Great Britain, but most of them are in France and Spain. Many theories have been suggested about the art's purpose, the most accepted being that it was part of religious rituals, possibly to evoke hunting success.

Besides cave painting, in various parts of the world, especially in Europe, small prehistoric statuettes known as Venus figurines with exaggerated breasts and bellies were made, the famous one being Venus of Willendorf, found in Austria. Most have small heads, wide hips, and legs that taper to a point. Arms and feet are often absent, and the head is usually small and faceless.^[82][83]

• 
  Painting of rhinoceroses; c. 32,000-14,000 BC; charcoal on rock; length: c. 2 m; Chauvet Cave (Ardèche, France)^[84]
• 
  Venus of Willendorf; c. 25,000 BC; limestone with ochre colouring; height: 11 cm; Natural History Museum (Vienna, Austria)^[85]
• 
  Detail in the Hall of the Bulls; c. 18,000-15,000 BC; pigments on rock; Lascaux caves (Montignac, Dordogne, France)^[86]
• 
  Bison Licking Insect Bite; c. 15,000-13,000 BC; antler; legth: 10.5 cm; National Museum of Prehistory (Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, France)^[85]

Mesopotamia is most noted for its construction of mud-brick buildings and the construction of ziggurats, occupying a prominent place in each city and consisting of an artificial mound, often rising in huge steps, surmounted by a temple. The mound was no doubt to elevate the temple to a commanding position in what was otherwise a flat river valley. The great city of Uruk had a number of religious precincts, containing many temples larger and more ambitious than any buildings previously known.^[87]

The word ziggurat is an anglicized form of the Akkadian word ziqqurratum, the name given to the solid stepped towers of mud brick. It derives from the verb zaqaru, ("to be high"). The buildings are described as being like mountains linking Earth and heaven. The Ziggurat of Ur, excavated by Leonard Woolley, is 64 by 46 meters at base and originally some 12 meters in height with three stories. It was built under Ur-Nammu (circa 2100 B.C.) and rebuilt under Nabonidus (555–539 B.C.), when it was increased in height to probably seven stories.^[88]

Assyrian palaces had a large public court with a suite of apartments on the east side and a series of large banqueting halls on the south side. This was to become the traditional plan of Assyrian palaces, built and adorned for the glorification of the king.^[89] Massive amounts of ivory furniture pieces were found in some palaces.

• 
  The Ziggurat of Ur, approximately 21st century BC, Tell el-Muqayyar (Dhi Qar Province, Iraq)
• 
  Modern reconstruction of columns with mosaics (using stone cones) from Eanna, a Sumerian temple in Uruk, in the Pergamon Museum (Berlin, Germany)
• 
  Illustration of a hall in the Assyrian Palace of Ashurnasrirpal II by Austen Henry Layard (1854)
• 
  Reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate in the Pergamon Museum, c. 575 BC

Modern imaginings of ancient Egypt are heavily influenced by the surviving traces of monumental architecture. Many formal styles and motifs were established at the dawn of the pharaonic state, around 3100 BC. The inspiration for many of these styles lay in the organic elements used in early buildings made from perishable materials. While the original structures are almost totally unknown, stylised motifs of plants continued to be replicated and adapted well into the Roman period. The endurance of forms over such a long period means that pharaonic architecture is easily recognisable today, and has been sometimes imitated by architects in modern times.^[90]

The Ancient Egyptians believed in the afterlife. They also believed that in order for their soul (known as ka) to live eternally in their afterlife, their bodies would have to remain intact for eternity. So, they had to crate a way to protect the deceased from damage and grave robbers. This way, the mastaba was born. These were adobe structures with flat roofs, which had underground rooms for the coffin, about 30 m down. Imhotep, an ancient Egyptian priest and architect, had to design a tomb for the pharaoh Djoser. For this, he placed five mastabas, one above the next, this way creating the first Egyptian pyramid, the Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara. The most iconic Ancient Egyptian buildings are the pyramids. They were built during the Old and Middle Kingdoms (circa 2600-1800 BC). The most imposing one was the Great Pyramid of Giza, made for Pharaoh Khufu in circa 2589-2566 BC. The Ancient Egyptian pyramids were built with precision, their massive stones so finely joined that the edge of a knife cannot fit between them. The stone blocks were held together by mortar, and the entire structure was covered with highly polished white limestone, with their tops topped in gold. What we see today is actually the core structure of the pyramid. Despite being highly associated with the Ancient Egyptians, pyramids have been built by other civilisations to, like the Mayans or the Aztecs.

Due to the lack of resources and a shift in power towards priesthood, ancient Egyptians steeped away from pyramids, and temples became the focal point of cult construction. Just like the pyramids, Ancient Egyptian temples were also spectacular and monumental. They evolved from small shrines to large complexes, and by the New Kingdom (circa 1550-1070 BC) they have become massive stone structures consisting of halls and courtyards.^[91] Ancient Egyptian temples in general consisted of four parts: the entrance with a massive pylon, a peristyle courtyard, a hypostyle hall, and a sanctuary. The pylons had avout 40 m. In front of them were obelisks and sculptures of the pharaoh.

An architectural element specific to ancient Egyptian architecture is the cavetto cornice (a concave moulding), introduced by the end of the Old Kingdom. It was widely used to accentuate the top of almost every formal pharaonic building. Because of how often it was used, it will latter decorate many Egyptian Revival buildings and objects. No formal plans or pattern books survive, and the question of exactly how the pyramids were built continues to provoke debate. Similar with the Ancient Greek and Roman orders, there were certain types of Ancient Egyptian columns, like Composite, Hathoric, Lotiform, Palmiform, Papyriform, and other ones. The temples were decorated with reliefs and painted in bright colours, mainly red, blue, yellow, green, orange, and white. Because of the desert climate of Egypt, parts of these painted surfaces were preserved well.

• 
  The Great Pyramid of Giza (Giza, Egypt), the only one of the Seven Wonders of the World left standing today,^[92] c. 2600 BC, by Hemiunu
• 
  Pylon of the Luxor Temple (Luxor, Egypt), with an obelisk in front, circa 1400 BC
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  Frescos in the Tomb of Nefertari, in which appear Khepri sitting on a very colourful square-shaped throne, 13th century BC
• 
  Illustrations from 1874 of ornaments and patterns used by ancient Egyptians

Unlike how most of us see them today, all Egyptian, Greek and Roman sculptures and temples were initially painted in bright colours. They became white because of hundreds of years of neglect and vandalism provoked by Christians during the Early Middle Ages, who saw them as 'pagan' and believed that they promoted idolatry.^[93] To us they look odd, although all of them were very colourful back in Ancient times

Without a doubt, ancient Greek architecture, together with Roman, is one of the most influential styles of all time. Since the advent of the Classical Age in Athens, in the 5th century BC, the Classical way of building has been deeply woven into Western understanding of architecture and, indeed, of civilization itself.^[94] From circa circa 850 BC to circa 300 AD, ancient Greek culture flourished on the Greek mainland, on the Peloponnese, and on the Aegean islands. Five of the Wonders of the World were Greek: the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria. However, Ancient Greek architecture is best known for its temples, many of which are found throughout the region, and the Parthenon is a prime example of this. Later, they will serve as inspiration for Neoclassical architects during the late 18th and the 19th century. The most well-known temples are the Parthenon and the Erechtheion, both on the Acropolis of Athens. Another type of important Ancient Greek buildings were the theatres. Both temples and theatres used a complex mix of optical illusions and balanced ratios.

Ancient Greek temples usually consist of a base with continuous stairs of a few steps at each edges (known as crepidoma), a cella (or naos) with a cult statue in it, columns, an entablature, and two pediments, one on the front side and another in the back. By the 4th century BC, Greek architects and stonemasons had developed a system of rules for all buildings known as the orders: the Doric, the Ionic, and the Corinthian. They are most easily recognised by their columns (especially by the capitals). The Doric column is stout and basic, the Ionic one is slimmer and has four scolls (called volutes) at the corners of the capital, and the Corinthian column is just like the Ionic one, but the capital is completely different, being decorated with acanthus leafs and four scrolls.^[95] Besides columns, the frieze was different based on order. While the Doric one has metopes and triglyphs with guttae, Ionic and Corinthian friezes consist of one big continuous band with reliefs.

Besides the columns, the temples were highly decorated with sculptures, in the pediments, on the friezes, metopes and triglyphs. Ornaments used by Ancient Greek architects and artists include palmettes, vegetal or wave-like scrolls, lion mascarons (mostly on lateral cornices), dentils, acanthus leafs, bucrania, festoons, egg-and-dart, rais-de-cœur, beads, meanders, and acroteria at the corners of the pediments. Pretty often, ancient Greek ornaments are used continuously, as bands. They will later be used in Etruscan, Roman and in the post-medieval styles that tried to revive Greco-Roman art and architecture, like Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassical etc.

Looking at the archaeological remains of ancient and medieval buildings it is easy to perceive them as limestone and concrete in a grey taupe tone and make the assumption that ancient buildings were monochromatic. However, architecture was polychromed in much of the Ancient and Medieval world. One of the most iconic Ancient buildings, the Parthenon (c. 447-432 BC) in Athens, had details painted with vibrant reds, blues and greens. Besides ancient temples, Medieval cathedrals were never completely white. Most had colored highlights on capitals and columns.^[96] This practice of coloring buildings and artworks was abandoned during the early Renaissance. This is because Leonardo DaVinci and other Renaissance artists, including Michelangelo, promoted a color palette inspired by the ancient Greco-Roman ruins, which because of neglect and constant decay during the Middle Ages, became white despite being initially colorful. The pigments used in the ancient world were delicate and especially susceptible to weathering. Without necessary care, the colors exposed to rain, snow, dirt, and other factors, vanished over time, and this way Ancient buildings and artworks became white, like they are today and were during the Renaissance.^[97]

• 
  The Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis, a symbol of Western culture,^[98] 447-432 BC
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  The Erechtheion (Athens), with its Ionic columns and caryatid porch, 421-406 BC
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  The Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus (Epidaurus, Greece), 3rd century BC, attributed to Polykleitos the Younger
• 
  Illustrations from 1874 of ornaments and patterns used by ancient Greeks and Romans

The architecture of ancient Rome has been one of the most influential in the world. Its legacy is evident throughout the medieval and early modern periods, and Roman buildings continue to be reused in the modern era in both New Classical and Postmodern architecture. It was particularly influenced by Greek and Etruscan styles. A range of temple types was developed during the republican years (509–27 BC), modified from Greek and Etruscan prototypes.^[99]

Wherever the Roman army conquered, they established towns and cities, spreading their empire and advancing their architectural and engineering achievements. While the most important works are to be found in Italy, Roman builders also found creative outlets in the western and eastern provinces, of which the best examples preserved are in modern-day North Africa, Turkey, Syria and Jordan. Surpassing most civilisations of their time, the Romans have developed new engineering skills, architectural techniques and materials. Among the many Roman architectural achievements were domes, which were created for temples, baths, villas, palaces and tombs. The most well known example is the one of the Pantheon in Rome, being the largest surviving Roman dome and having a large oculus at its centre. Another important innovation is the rounded stone arch, used in arcades, aqueducts and other structures. Besides the Greek orders (Doric, Ionic and Corinthian), the Romans invented two more. The Tuscan order was influenced by the Doric, but with un-fluted columns and a simpler entablature with no triglyphs or guttae, while the Compsoite was a mixed order, combining the volutes of the Ionic order capital with the acanthus leaves of the Corinthian order.

Between 30 and 15 BC, the architect and engineer Marcus Vitruvius Pollio published a major treatise, De architectura, which influenced architects around the world for centuries. As the only treatise on architecture to survive from antiquity, it has been regarded since the Renaissance as the first book on architectural theory, as well as a major source on the canon of classical architecture.^[100]

Just like the Greeks, the Romans built amphiteatres too. The largest amphitheatre ever built, the Colosseum in Rome, could hold around 50,000 sectators. Another iconic Roman structure that demonstrates their precision and technological advancement is the Pont du Gard in southern France, the highest surviving Roman aqueduct.^[101]

• 
  The Colosseum (Rome), 70-80 BC
• 
  The frescos of the bedroom from a Villa at Boscoreale (Italy), circa 50–40 BC, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
• 
  The Pont du Gard (Vers-Pont-du-Gard, Gard, France), a Roman aqueduct, 40–60 AD
• 
  The interior of the Pantheon (Rome), c. 114-124 AD

The Classic of Poetry (or Shijing) is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, comprising 305 works by anonymous authors dating from the 11th to 7th centuries BC. The Chu Ci anthology (or Songs of Chu) is a volume of poems attributed to or considered to be inspired by Qu Yuan's verse writing. Qu Yuan is the first author of verse in China to have his name associated to his work and is also regarded as one of the most prominent figures of Romanticism in Chinese classical literature.

The first great author on military tactics and strategy was Sun Tzu, whose The Art of War remains on the shelves of many modern military officers (and its advice has been applied to the corporate world as well). Philosophy developed far differently in China from the way it did in Greece—rather than presenting extended dialogues, the Analects of Confucius and Lao Zi's Tao Te Ching presented sayings and proverbs more directly and didactically. The Zhuangzi is composed of a large collection of creative anecdotes, allegories, parables, and fables; a masterpiece of both philosophical and literary skill, it has significantly influenced writers and poets for more than 2000 years from the Han dynasty to the present.

Among the earliest Chinese works of narrative history, Zuo Zhuan is a gem of classical Chinese prose. This work and the Shiji or Records of the Grand Historian, were regarded as the ultimate models by many generations of prose stylists in ancient China.

The books that constitute the Hebrew Bible developed over roughly a millennium. The oldest texts seem to come from the eleventh or tenth centuries BCE, whilst most of the other texts are somewhat later. They are edited works, being collections of various sources intricately and carefully woven together.

The Old Testament was compiled and edited by various authors^[102] over a period of centuries, with many scholars concluding that the Hebrew canon was solidified by about the 3rd century BC.^[103][104] The works have been subject to various literary evaluations (both secular and religious). Friedrich Nietzsche wrote: “In the Jewish Old Testament, there are men, things and speeches in so grand a style that Greek and Indian literature have nothing to compare to it. One stands with awe and reverence before these tremendous remnants of what man once was... The taste for the Old Testament is a touchstone of 'greatness' and 'smallness'.”^[105]

Ancient Greek society placed considerable emphasis upon literature. Many authors consider the western literary tradition to have begun with the epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey, which remain giants in the literary canon for their skillful and vivid depictions of war and peace, honor and disgrace, love and hatred. Notable among later Greek poets was Sappho, who defined, in many ways, lyric poetry as a genre.

A playwright named Aeschylus changed Western literature forever when he introduced the ideas of dialogue and interacting characters to playwriting. In doing so, he essentially invented "drama": his Oresteia trilogy of plays is seen as his crowning achievement. Other refiners of playwriting were Sophocles and Euripides. Sophocles is credited with skillfully developing irony as a literary technique, most famously in his play Oedipus Rex. Euripedes, conversely, used plays to challenge societal norms and mores—a hallmark of much of Western literature for the next 2,300 years and beyond—and his works such as Medea, The Bacchae and The Trojan Women are still notable for their ability to challenge our perceptions of propriety, gender, and war. Aristophanes, a comic playwright, defines and shapes the idea of comedy almost as Aeschylus had shaped tragedy as an art form—Aristophanes' most famous plays include the Lysistrata and The Frogs.

Philosophy entered literature in the dialogues of Plato, who converted the give and take of Socratic questioning into written form. Aristotle, Plato's student, wrote dozens of works on many scientific disciplines, but his greatest contribution to literature was likely his Poetics, which lays out his understanding of drama, and thereby establishes the first criteria for literary criticism.

The New Testament is an unusual collection of texts--John's Book of Revelation, though not the first of its kind, essentially defines apocalypse as a literary genre.

In many respects, the writers of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire chose to avoid innovation in favor of imitating the great Greek authors. Virgil's Aeneid, in many ways, emulated Homer's Iliad; Plautus, a comic playwright, followed in the footsteps of Aristophanes; Tacitus' Annals and Germania follow essentially the same historical approaches that Thucydides devised (the Christian historian Eusebius does also, although far more influenced by his religion than either Tacitus or Thucydides had been by Greek and Roman polytheism); Ovid and his Metamorphoses explore the same Greek myths again in new ways. It can be argued, and has been, that the Roman authors, far from being mindless copycats, improved on the genres already established by their Greek predecessors. For example, Ovid's Metamorphoses creates a form which is a clear predecessor of the stream of consciousness genre. What is undeniable is that the Romans, in comparison with the Greeks, innovate relatively few literary styles of their own.

Satire is one of the few Roman additions to literature—Horace was the first to use satire extensively as a tool for argument, and Juvenal made it into a weapon.

Augustine of Hippo and his The City of God do for religious literature essentially what Plato had done for philosophy, but Augustine's approach was far less conversational and more didactive. His Confessions is perhaps the first true autobiography, and it gave rise to the genre of confessional literature which is now more popular than ever.

Knowledge traditions in India handed down philosophical gleanings and theological concepts through the two traditions of Shruti and Smriti, meaning that which is learnt and that which is experienced, which included the Vedas. It is generally believed that the Puranas are the earliest philosophical writings in Indian history, although linguistic works on Sanskrit existed earlier than 1000 BC. Puranic works such as the Indian epics: Ramayana and Mahabharata, have influenced countless other works, including Balinese Kecak and other performances such as shadow puppetry (wayang), and many European works. Pali literature has an important position in the rise of Buddhism. Classical Sanskrit literature flowers in the Maurya and Gupta periods, roughly spanning the 2nd century BC to the 8th century AD. Classical Tamil literature also emerged in the early historic period dating from 300 BC to 300 AD, and is the earliest secular literature of India, mainly dealing with themes such as love and war.

Following the advent of writing, literate civilizations are termed part of the ancient world, a periodization which extends from the first Sumerian literature of Abu Salabikh (now Southern Iraq) of c. 2600 BCE, until the Post-classical era of the 6th century CE.^[106][107] Though the music of Ancient societies was extremely diverse, some fundamental concepts arise prominently in virtually all of them, namely monophony, improvisation and the dominance of text in musical settings.^[108] Varying song forms were present in Ancient cultures, including China, Egypt, Greece, India, Mesopotamia, Rome and the Middle East.^[109] The text, rhythm and melodies of these songs were closely aligned, as was music in general, with magic, science and religion.^[109] Complex song forms developed in later ancient societies, particularly the national festivals of China, Greece and India.^[109] Later Ancient societies also saw increased trade and transmission of musical ideas and instruments, often shepherded by the Silk Road.^[110][111] For example, a tuning key for a qin-zither from 4th–5th centuries BCE China includes considerable Persian iconography.^[112] In general, not enough information exists to make many other generalizations about ancient music.^[109]

The few actual examples of ancient music notation that survive usually exist on papyrus or clay tablets.^[109] Information on musical practices, genres and thought is mainly available through literature, visual depictions and to some extant, instruments.^[109] The oldest surviving written music is the Hurrian songs from Ugarit, Syria. Of these, the oldest is the Hymn to Nikkal (hymn no. 6; h. 6), which is somewhat complete and dated to c. 1400 BCE.^[113] However, the Seikilos epitaph is the earliest entirely complete noted musical composition. Dated to the 2nd-Century CE or later, it is an epitaph, perhaps for the wife of the unknown Seikilos.^[114]

By the mid-13th century BCE, the late Shang dynasty (1600–1046 BCE) had developed writing, which mostly exists as divinatory inscriptions on the ritualistic oracle bones but also as bronze inscriptions.^[117][118] As many as 11 oracle script characters may refer to music to some extent, some of which could be iconographical representations of instruments themselves.^[119] The stone bells qing appears to have been particularly popular with the Shang ruling class,^{[n 16]} and while no surviving flutes have been dated to the Shang,^[121] oracle script evidence suggests they used ocarinas (xun), transverse flute (xiao and dizi), douple pipes, the mouthorgan (sheng), and maybe the pan flute (paixiao).^{[122][n 17]} Due to the advent of the bronze in 2000 BCE,^[124] the Shang used the material for bells—the ling [zh] (鈴), nao [zh] (鐃) and zhong (鐘)^[77]—that can be differentiated in two ways: those with or without a clapper and those struck on the inside or outside.^[125] Drums, which are not found from before the Shang,^[126] sometimes used bronze, though they were more often wooden (bangu).^{[127][77][n 18]} The aforementioned wind instruments certainly existed by the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BCE), as did the first Chinese string instruments: the guqin (or qin) and se zithers.^{[77][n 19]} The Zhou saw the emergence of major court ensembles and the well known Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng (after 433 BCE) contains a variety of complex and decorated instruments.^[77] Of the tomb, the by-far most notable instrument is the monumental set of 65 tuned bianzhong bells, which range five octaves requiring at least five players; they are still playable and include rare inscriptions on music.^[130]

Ancient Chinese instruments served both practical and ceremonial means. People used them to appeal to supernatural forces for survival needs,^[131] while pan flutes may have been used to attract birds while hunting,^[132] and drums were common in sacrifices and military ceremonies.^[126] Chinese music has always been closely associated with dance, literature and fine arts;^[133] many early Chinese thinkers also equated music with proper morality and governance of society.^{[134][n 20]} Throughout the Shang and Zhou music was a symbol of power for the Imperial court,^[137] being utilized in religious services as well as the celebration of ancestors and heroes.^[131][138] Confucius (c. 551–479) formally designated the music concerned with ritual and ideal morality as the superior yayue (雅樂; "proper music"), in opposition to suyue (俗樂; "vernacular/popular music"),^[131][139] which included virtually all non-ceremonial music, but particularly any that was considered excessive or lascivious.^[139] During the Warring States Period when of Confucius's lifetime, officials often ignored this distinction, preferring more lively suyue music and using the older yayue traditional solely for political means.^[140] Confucius and disciples such as Mencius considered this preference virtueless and saw ill of the leaders' ignorance of ganying,^[141] a theory that held music was intrinsically connected to the universe.^{[142][143][n 21]} Thus, many aspects of Ancient Chinese music were aligned with cosmology: the 12 pitch shí-èr-lǜ system corresponded equally with certain weights and measurements; the pentatonic scale with the five wuxing;^[143] and the eight tone classification of Chinese instruments of bayin with the eight symbols of bagua.^[144] No actual music or texts on the performance practices of Ancient Chinese musicians survive.^[145] The Five Classics of the Zhou dynasty include musical commentary; the I Ching and Chunqiu Spring and Autumn Annals make references, while the Liji Book of Rites contains a substantial discussion (see the chapter Yue Ji Record of Music).^[37] While the Yue Jing Classic of Music is lost,^[124] the Shijing Classic of Poetry contains 160 texts to now lost songs from the Western Zhou period (1045–771).^[146]

The Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE), established by Qin Shi Huang, lasted for only 15 years, but the purported burning of books resulted in a substantial loss of previous musical literature.^[111] The Qin saw the guzheng become a particularly popular instrument; as a more portable and louder zither, it meet the needs of an emerging popular music scene.^{[147][n 22]} During the Han dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE), there were attempts to reconstruct the music of the Shang and Zhou, as it was now "idealized as perfect".^[144][111] A Music Bureau, the Yuefu, was founded or at its height by at least 120 BCE under Emperor Wu of Han,^{[148][n 23]} and was responsible for collecting folksongs. The purpose of this was twofold; it allowed the Imperial Court to properly understand the thoughts of the common people,^[133] and it was also an opportunity for the Imperial Court to adapt and manipulate the songs to suit propaganda and political purposes.^{[144][111][n 24]} Employing ceremonial, entertainment-oriented and military musicians,^[150] the Bureau also performed at a variety of venues, wrote new music, and set music to commissioned poetry by noted figures such as Sima Xiangru.^[151] The Han dynasty had officially adopted Confucianism as the state philosophy,^[111] and the ganying theories became a dominant philosophy.^[152] In practice, however, many officials ignored or downplayed Confucius's high regard for yayue over suyue music, preferring to engage in the more lively and informal later.^[153] By 7 BCE the Bureau employed 829 musicians; that year Emperor Ai either disbanded or downsized the department,^[111][151] due to financial limitations,^[111] and the Bureau's increasingly prominent suyue music which conflicted with Confucianism.^[150] The Han dynasty saw a preponderance of foreign musical influences from the Middle East and Central Asia: the emerging Silk Road led to the exchange of musical instruments,^[110] and allowed travelers such as Zhang Qian to relay with new musical genres and techniques.^[111] Instruments from said cultural transmission include metal trumpets and instruments similar to the modern oboe and oud lute, the latter which became the pipa.^[110] Other preexisting instruments greatly increased in popularity, such as the qing,^[132] panpipes,^[154] and particularly the qin, which was from then on the most revered instrument, associated with good character and morality.^[129]

Greek written history extends far back into Ancient Greece, and was a major part of ancient Greek theatre. In ancient Greece, mixed-gender choruses performed for entertainment, celebration and spiritual reasons.^{[citation needed]} Instruments included the most important wind instrument, the double-reed aulos,^[155] as well as the plucked string instrument, the lyre,^[156] especially the special kind called a kithara.

The principal sources on the music of ancient India are textual and iconographical; specifically, some theoretical treatises in Sanskrit survive, there are brief mentions in general literature and many sculptures of Ancient Indian musicians and their instruments exist.^[157] Ancient Sanskrit, Pali, and Prakrit literature frequently contains musical references, from the Vedas to the works of Kalidasa and the Ilango Adigal's epic Silappatikaram.^[158] Despite this, little is known on the actual musical practices of ancient India and the information available forces a somewhat homogeneous perspective on the music of the time, even though evidence indicates that in reality it was far more diverse.^[157]

The monumental arts treatise Natya Shastra is among the earliest and chief sources for Ancient Indian music; the music portions alone are likely from the Gupta period (4th century to 6th century CE).^[159] The religious text Rigveda has elements of present Indian music, with a musical notation to denote the metre and the mode of chanting.^[160]

In general, it is impossible to create a thorough outline of the earliest music in Persia due to a paucity of surviving records.^[161] Evidenced by c. 3300–3100 BCE Elam depictions, arched harps are the first affirmation Persian music, though it is probable that they existed well before their artistic depictions.^[162] Elamite bull lyres from c. 2450 have been found in Susa, while more than 40 small Oxus trumpets have been found in Bactria and Margiana, dated to the c. 2200–1750 Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex.^{[163][n 25]} The oxus trumpets seem to have had a close association with both religion and animals; a Zoroastrian myth in which Jamshid attract animals with the trumpet suggests that the Elamites used them for hunting.^[164] In many ways the earliest known musical cultures of Iran are strongly connected with those of Mesopotamia. Ancient arched harps (c. 3000) also exist in the latter and the scarcity of instruments make it unclear as to which culture the harp originated.^[162] Far more bull lyres survive in Ur of Mesopotamia, notably the Bull Headed Lyre of Ur, though they are nearly identical to their contemporary Elamite counterparts.^[165] From evidence in terracotta plaques, by the 2nd-century BCE the arched harp was displaced by the angular harps, which existed in 20-string vertical and nine-string horizontal variants.^[166] Lutes were purportedly used in Mesopotamia by at least 2300 BCE, but not until c. 1300 BCE do the appear in Iran, where they became the dominant string instruments of Western Iran, though the available evidence suggests its popularity was outside of the elite.^[167] The rock reliefs of Kul-e Farah show that sophisticated Persian court ensembles emerged in the 1st-century BCE, in the which the central instrument was the arched harp.^[168] The prominence of musicians in these certain rock reliefs suggests they were essential in religious ceremonies.^[169]

Like earlier periods, extremely little contemporary information on the music of the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE) exists.^[112][170] Most knowledge on the Achaemenid musical culture comes from Greek historians.^[170] In his Histories, Herodotus noted that Achamenid priests did not use aulos music in their ceremonies, while Xenophon reflected on his visit to Persia in the Cyropaedia, mentioning the presence of many female singers at court.^[112] Athenaeus also mentions female singers when noting that 329 of them had been taken from the King of Kings Darius III by Macedonian general Parmenion.^[112] Later Persian texts assert that gōsān poet-musician minstrels were prominent and of considerable status in court.^[171]

The Parthian Empire (247 BCE to 224 CE) saw an increase in textual and iconographical depictions of musical activity and instruments. 2nd century BCE Parthian rhuta (drinking horns) found in the ancient capital of Nisa include some of the most vivid depictions of musicians from the time. Pictorial evidence such as terracotta plaques show female harpists, while plaques from Babylon show panpipess, as well as string (harps, lutes and lyres) and percussion instruments (tambourines and clappers). Bronze statues from Dura-Europos depict larger panpipes and a double aulos. Music was evidently used in ceremonies and celebrations; a Parthian-era stone frieze in Hatra shows a wedding where musicians are included, playing trumpets, tambourines and a variety of flutes. Other textual and iconographical evidence indicates the continued prominence of gōsān minstrels. However, like the Achaemenid period, Greek writers continue to be a major source for information on Parthian music. Strabo recorded that the gōsān learned songs telling tales of gods and noble men, while Plutarch similarly records the gōsān lauding Parthian heroes and mocking Roman ones. Plutarch also records, much to his bafflement, that rhoptra (large drums) were used by the Parthian army to prepare for war.^[172]

The Sasanian period (226–651 CE), however, has left ample evidence of music. This influx of Sasanian records suggests a prominent musical culture in the Empire,^[42] especially in the areas dominated by Zoroastrianism.^[173] Many Sassanian Shahanshahs were ardent supporters of music, including the founder of the empire Ardashir I and Bahram V.^[173] Khosrow II (r. 590–628) was the most outstanding patron, his reign being regarded as a golden age of Persian music.^[173] Musicians in Khosrow's service include Āzādvar-e Changi,^{[n 26]} Bamshad, the harpist Nagisa (Nakisa), Ramtin, Sarkash and Barbad,^[161] who was the most famous.^[174] These musicians were usually active as minstrels, which were performers who worked as both court poets and musicians;^[175] in the Sassanian Empire there was little distinction between poetry and music.^[176]

The Western African Nok culture (modern-day Nigeria) existed from c. 500–200 BCE and left a considerable amount of sculptures.^[177] Among these are depictions of music, such as a man who shakes two objects thought to be maracas. Another sculpture includes a man with his mouth opening (possibly singing) while there is also a sculpture of a man playing a drum.^[178]

Southern Iraq in the 4th millennium BC witnessed the emergence of the first cities and the earliest form of writing. Ancient Mesopotamia covers present-day Iraq, and parts of Syria and Turkey. Because the region is situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river delta, numerous civilizations lived here, notably Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia. The earliest writing developed here, as one of several administrative technologies that also included the cylinder seal.^[180]Mesopotamian architecture was characterized by the use of bricks, lintels, and cone mosaic. Notable examples are the ziggurats, large temples in the form of step pyramids. The tomb was a chamber covered with a false dome, as in some examples found at Ur. There were also palaces walled with a terrace in the form of a ziggurat, where gardens were an important feature. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Relief sculpture was developed in wood and stone. Sculpture depicted religious, military, and hunting scenes, including both human and animal figures. In the Sumerian period, small statues of people were produced. These statues had an angular form and were produced from colored stone. The figures typically had bald head with hands folded on the chest. In the Akkadian period, statues depicted figures with long hair and beards, such as the stele of Naram-Sin. In the Amorite period (or Neosumerian), statues represented kings from Gudea of Lagash, with their mantles and a turbans on their heads, and their hands on their chests. During Babylonian rule, the stele of Hammurabi was important, as it depicted the great king Hammurabi above a written copy of the laws that he introduced. Assyrian sculpture is notable for its anthropomorphism of cattle and the winged genie, which is depicted flying in many reliefs depicting war and hunting scenes, such as in the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III.^[181]

• 
  The Statue of Ebih-Il; c. 2400 BC; gypsum, schist, shells, lapis lazuli; height: 52.5 cm; Louvre
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  King of Akkad; c. 2250 BC; copper alloy; height: 30 cm; Iraq Museum (Baghdad, Iraq)^[180]
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  Reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate; c. 605-539 BC; glazed bricks; Pergamon Museum (Berlin, Germany)^[182]
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  Lamassu; c. 883–859 BC; gypsum alabaster; height 311.2 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

One of the first great civilizations arose in Egypt, which had elaborate and complex works of art produced by professional artists and craftspeople. Egypt's art was religious and symbolic. Given that the culture had a highly centralized power structure and hierarchy, a great deal of art was created to honour the pharaoh, including great monuments. Egyptian art and culture emphasized the religious concept of immortality. Later Egyptian art includes Coptic and Byzantine art.

The architecture is characterized by monumental structures, built with large stone blocks, lintels, and solid columns. Funerary monuments included mastaba, tombs of rectangular form; pyramids, which included step pyramids (Saqqarah) or smooth-sided pyramids (Giza); and the hypogeum, underground tombs (Valley of the Kings). Other great buildings were the temple, which tended to be monumental complexes preceded by an avenue of sphinxes and obelisks. Temples used pylons and trapezoid walls with hypaethros and hypostyle halls and shrines. The temples of Karnak, Luxor, Philae and Edfu are good examples. Another type of temple is the rock temple, in the form of a hypogeum, found in Abu Simbel and Deir el-Bahari.

Painting of the Egyptian era used a juxtaposition of overlapping planes. The images were represented hierarchically, i.e., the Pharaoh is larger than the common subjects or enemies depicted at his side. Egyptians painted the outline of the head and limbs in profile, while the torso, hands, and eyes were painted from the front. Applied arts were developed in Egypt, in particular woodwork and metalwork. There are superb examples such as cedar furniture inlaid with ebony and ivory which can be seen in the tombs at the Egyptian Museum. Other examples include the pieces found in Tutankhamun's tomb, which are of great artistic value.^[183]

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  The Great Pyramid of Giza (Giza, Egypt), the only one of the Seven Wonders of the World left standing today,^[184] c. 2600 BC, by Hemiunu
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  William the Faience Hippopotamus; c. 1961-1878 BC; Egyptian faience; height: 11.2 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
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  Amenhotep III; c. 1390-1352 BC; quartzite; height: 2.49 m; Luxor Museum (Luxor, Egypt)^[185]
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  Nebamun Hunting in the Marshes; c. 1380 BC; paint on plaster; 98 × 83 cm; British Museum (London)^[186]
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  Royal family: Akhenaten, Nefertiti and the three daughters; c. 1352–1336 BC; limestone; height: 50 cm; Egyptian Museum of Berlin (Germany)^[187]
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  The Mask of Tutankhamun; c. 1327 BC; gold, glass and semi-precious stones; height: 54 cm; Egyptian Museum (Cairo)
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  The Nefertiti Bust; 1352–1336 BC; painted limestone; height: 50 cm; Neues Museum (Berlin, Germany)^[187]
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  The well preserved The Temple of Isis from Philae (Egypt), one of the best preserved temples from ancient Egypt, 380 BC-117 AD

Discovered in 1922, long after the contemporary cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt, the Indus Valley Civilization, aka the Harappan Civilization (c. 2400-1900 BC) is now recognized as extraordinarily advanced, comparable in some ways with those cultures. Its sites span an area stretching from today's northeast Afghanistan, through much of Pakistan, and into western and northwestern India. Major cities of the culture include Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, located respectively in Punjab and in Sindh province in northern Pakistan, and the port city Lothal, in the state of Gujarat (India). The most numerous artefacts are square and rectangular stamp seals and seal impressions, featuring animals, usually bulls, very short Harappan texts. Many stylized terracotta figurines have also been found in Harappan sites, and a few stone and bronze sculptures, more naturalistic than the ceramic ones.^[188]

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  The Dancing Girl; c. 2400–1900 BC; bronze; height: 10.8 cm; National Museum (New Delhi, India)^[188]
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  Proto-Shiva Stamp Seal; c. 2400-1900 BC; steatite; height: 3.6 cm; National Museum (New Delhi)^[188]
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  The Priest-King; c. 2400–1900 BC; steatite; height: 17.5 cm; National Museum of Pakistan (Karachi)^[188]
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  Seal with two-horned bull and inscription; c. 2010 BC; steatite; overall: 3.2 × 3.2 cm; Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, Ohio, US)

During the Chinese Bronze Age (the Shang and Zhou dynasties) court intercessions and communication with the spirit world were conducted by a shaman (possibly the king himself). In the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1050 BC), the supreme deity was Shangdi, but aristocratic families preferred to contact the spirits of their ancestors. They prepared elaborate banquets of food and drink for them, heated and served in bronze ritual vessels. Bronze vessels were used in religious rituals to cement Dhang authority, and when the Shang capital fell, around 1050 BC, its conquerors, the Zhou (c. 1050–156 BC), continued to use these containers in religious rituals, but principally for food rather than drink. The Shang court had been accused of excessive drunkenness, and the Zhou, promoting the imperial Tian ("Heaven") as the prime spiritual force, rather than ancestors, limited wine in religious rites, in favour of food. The use of ritual bronzes continued into the early Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD).

One of the most commonly used motifs was the taotie, a stylized face divided centrally into 2 almost mirror-image halves, with nostrils, eyes, eyebrows, jaws, cheeks and horns, surrounded by incised patterns. Whether taotie represented real, mythological or wholly imaginary creatures cannot be determined.

The enigmatic bronzes of Sanxingdui, near Guanghan (in Sichuan province), are evidence for a mysterious sacrificial religious system unlike anything elsewhere in ancient China and quite different from the art of the contemporaneous Shang at Anyang. Excavations at Sanxingdui since 1986 have revealed 4 pits containing artefacts of bronze, jade and gold. There was found a great bronze statue of a human figure which stands on a plinth decorated with abstract elephant heads. Besides the standing figure, the first 2 pits contained over 50 bronze heads, some wearing headgear and 3 with a frontal covering of gold leaf.

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  Ding; c. 1384-1050 BC; bronze; height: 22.9 cm; Shanghai Museum (Shanghai, China)^[189]
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  Lifesize figure; c. 1200–1000 BC; bronze; height: 2.62 m; Sanxingdui Museum (Guanghan, Sichuan province, China)^[190]
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  Fang Lei; c. 925–875 BC; bronze; height: 22.8 cm; National Museum of China (Beijing)^[189]
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  Warriors of the Terracotta Army; c. 214 BC; terracotta; height (average soldier): c. 1.8 m; Lintong District (Xi'an, Shaanxi, China)^[191]

Unlike how most of us see them today, all Egyptian, Greek and Roman sculptures and temples were initially painted in bright colours. They became white because of hundreds of years of neglect and vandalism provoked by Christians during the Early Middle Ages, who saw them as 'pagan' and believed that they promoted idolatry.^[192] To us they look odd, although all of them were very colourful back in Ancient times

Though harmonious proportion and a focus on aesthetics, ancient Greek and Roman art became the foundation and inspiration of all Western art.^[193] Even in antiquity, the arts of Greece were recognised by other cultures as pre-eminent. The Latin poet Horace, writing in the age of Roman emperor Augustus (1st century BC to 1st century AD), famously remarked that although conquered on the battlefield, "captive Greece overcame its savage conqueror and brought the arts to rustic Rome." The power of Greek art lies in its representation of the human figure and its focus on human beings and the anthropomorphic gods as chief subjects.

Although there was no definitive trasition, the art is usually divided stylistically into the four periods of Geometric, Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic. During the Classical period (5th and 4th centuries BC), realism and idealism were delicately balanced. In comparison, work of the earlier Geometric (9th to 8th centuries BC) and Archaic (7th to 6th centuries BC) ages sometimes appears primitive, but these artists had different goals: naturalistic representation was not necessarily their aim. Greek and artists built on the artistic foundations of Egypt, further developing the arts of sculpture, painting, architecture, and ceramics. Among the techniques they perfected include methods of carving and casting sculptures, fresco painting and building magnificent buildings

Roman art lovers collected ancient Greek originals, Roman replicas of Greek art, or newly created paintings and sculptures fashioned in a variety of Greek styles, thus preserving for posterity works of art otherwise lost. Wall and panel paintings, sculptures and mosaics decorated public spaces and well-to-do private homes. Greek imagery also appeared on Roman jewellery, vessels of gold, silver, bronze and terracotta, and even on weapons and commercial weights. Since the Renaissance, the arts of ancient Greece, transmitted through the Roman Empire, have served as the foundation of Western art.^[194]

Since the advent of the Classical Age in Athens, in the 5th century BC, the Classical way of building has been deeply woven into Western understanding of architecture and, indeed, of civilization itself.^[195] From circa circa 850 BC to circa 300 AD, ancient Greek culture flourished on the Greek mainland, on the Peloponnese, and on the Aegean islands. Five of the Wonders of the World were Greek: the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria. However, Ancient Greek architecture is best known for its temples, many of which are found throughout the region, and the Parthenon is a prime example of this. Later, they will serve as inspiration for Neoclassical architects during the late 18th and the 19th century. The most well-known temples are the Parthenon and the Erechtheion, both on the Acropolis of Athens. Another type of important Ancient Greek buildings were the theatres. Both temples and theatres used a complex mix of optical illusions and balanced ratios.

Looking at the archaeological remains of ancient buildings it is easy to perceive them as limestone and concrete in a grey taupe tone and make the assumption that ancient buildings were monochromatic. However, architecture was polychromed in much of the Ancient world. One of the most iconic Ancient buildings, the Parthenon (c. 447-432 BC) in Athens, had details painted with vibrant reds, blues and greens. Besides ancient temples, Medieval cathedrals were never completely white. Most had colored highlights on capitals and columns.^[196] This practice of coloring buildings and artworks was abandoned during the early Renaissance. This is because Leonardo da Vinci and other Renaissance artists, including Michelangelo, promoted a color palette inspired by the ancient Greco-Roman ruins, which because of neglect and constant decay during the Middle Ages, became white despite being initially colorful. The pigments used in the ancient world were delicate and especially susceptible to weathering. Without necessary care, the colors exposed to rain, snow, dirt, and other factors, vanished over time, and this way Ancient buildings and artworks became white, like they are today and were during the Renaissance.^[197]

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  Krater; c. 750 BC; terracotta; height: 108.3 cm, diameter: 72.4 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)^[198]
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  New York Kouros; c. 600 BC; marble and pigment; height: 1.95 m; Metropolitan Museum of Art^[199]
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  Euphronios and Euxitheos Death of Sarpedon; c. 515 BC; painted ceramic; diameter: 55.2 cm; National Etruscan Museum (Rome)^[200]
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  The Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis, a symbol of Western culture,^[201] 447-432 BC
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  The Erechtheion (Athens), with its Ionic columns and caryatid porch, 421-406 BC
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  Derveni Krater; c. 370 BC; gilded bronze, copper and silver; height: 92 cm; Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki^[202]
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  Venus de Milo; c. 150 BC; marble; height: 202 cm; Louvre^[203]
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  Laocoön and His Sons; early 1st century BC; marble; height: 208 cm; Vatican Museums (Vatican City)^[204]

Augustus of Prima Porta (in the left: how it originally looked; in the right: how it looks now); c. 20 BC; marble; height: 2.06 m; Vatican Museums (Vatican City).^[206] Just like the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, the Romans painted all their sculptures and buildings in bright colors too

No civilization has had an impact as enduring and powerful on Western art as the Roman Empire. The legacy of ancient Rome is evident throught the medieval and early modern periods, and Roman art continue to be reused in the modern era in both traditionalist and Postmodern artworks.^[207] Sometimes it is viewed as derived from Greek precedents, but also has its own distinguishing features, some of them inherited from Etruscan art. Roman sculpture is often less idealized than its Greek precedents, being very realistic. Roman architecture often used concrete, and features such as the round arch and dome were invented. Luxury objects in metal-work, gem engraving, ivory carvings, and glass are sometimes considered in modern terms to be minor forms of Roman art,^[208] although this would not necessarily have been the case for contemporaries. An innovation made possible by the Roman development of glass-blowing was cameo glass. A white 'shell' was first created, into which coloured glass was then blown so as to produce an interior lining. The white shell was then cut down to create relief patterns of white against a darker background. They also made mosaics, this way producing durable pictoral art with cut-stone cubes (tesserae) and/or chips of coloured terracotta and glass. Some villas of wealthy Romans had their walls covered with frescos, aimed at dazziling and entertaining guests. Much of Roman wall painting that survives comes from sites around the Bay of Naples, in particular Pompeii and Herculaneum, thriving towns that were preserved under metres of volcanic debris when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. As a result, Roman wall painting is often discussed in terms of four 'Pompeian styles'.^[209]

The Romans were deeply influenced by all aspects of Hellenistic culture. In architecture, just like in other art media, they essentially adopted the Classical language and adapted it to new situations and uses. The Romans also have their own innovations brought to Classical architecture. They used the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders in a far freer manner than the Greeks had, creating their own version of the Doric and using the Corinthian far more frequently. They also added two new orders to the repertoire: the Tuscan, a simpler, more massive version of the Doric derived from Etruscan architecture; and the Composite, a combination of the scroll-like volutes of the Ionic with the Corinthian's acanthus leaves. Other important innovations include the arch, and the dome. Using arches, they built aqueducts and monumental triumphal arches. Roman emperors were proud of their conquests, and commemorated them at home and in the conquered territories through triumphal arches, a good example of this being the Arch of Constantine in Rome. Between 30 and 15 BC, the architect and civil and military engineer Marcus Vitruvius Pollio published a majore treatise, De Architectura, which influenced architects around the world for centuries.^{[210][211][212]}

After the Middle Ages, with the Renaissance that started in Florence (Italy), a growing interest for ancient Rome started. During it, for the first time since Classical Antiquity, art became convincingly lifelike. The Renaissance also sparked interest for ancient Greek and Roman literature, not just for art and architecture.^[213]

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  Portland Vase; late 1st century BC; glass; height: 24 cm; British Museum (London)^[214]
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  The Maison Carrée (Nîmes, France), one of the best-preserved Roman temples, c. 2 AD
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  Marine mosaic (central panel of three panels from a floor); 200–230; mosaic (stone and glass tesserae); 2,915 mm x 2,870 mm; Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, US)
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  Arch of Constantine (Rome), that commemorates the triumph of Constantine the Great after his victory over Maxentius in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, 316^[215]

The earliest surviving writing on art that can be classified as art history or art criticism are the passages in Pliny the Elder's Natural History (c. AD 77-79), concerning the development of Greek sculpture and painting.^[216] From them it is possible to trace the ideas of Xenokrates of Sicyon (c. 280 BC), a Greek sculptor who was perhaps the first art historian.^[217] Pliny's work, while mainly an encyclopaedia of the sciences, has thus been influential from the Renaissance onwards. (Passages about techniques used by the painter Apelles c. (332-329 BC), have been especially well-known.) Similar, though independent, developments occurred in the 6th century China, where a canon of worthy artists was established by writers in the scholar-official class. These writers, being necessarily proficient in calligraphy, were artists themselves. The artists are described in the Six Principles of Painting formulated by Xie He.^[218]

Literary criticism is thought to have existed as far back as the classical period.^[219] In the 4th century BC Aristotle wrote the Poetics, a typology and description of literary forms with many specific criticisms of contemporary works of art. Poetics developed for the first time the concepts of mimesis and catharsis, which are still crucial in literary studies. Plato's attacks on poetry as imitative, secondary, and false were formative as well. The Sanskrit Natya Shastra includes literary criticism on ancient Indian literature and Sanskrit drama.

Later classical and medieval criticism often focused on religious texts, and the several long religious traditions of hermeneutics and textual exegesis have had a profound influence on the study of secular texts. This was particularly the case for the literary traditions of the three Abrahamic religions: Jewish literature, Christian literature and Islamic literature.

Historians have labelled the period from 900 to 200 BCE as the "axial age", a term coined by German-Swiss philosopher Karl Jaspers (1883-1969). According to Jaspers, in this era of history "the spiritual foundations of humanity were laid simultaneously and independently... And these are the foundations upon which humanity still subsists today." Intellectual historian Peter Watson has summarized this period as the foundation time of many of humanity's most influential philosophical traditions, including monotheism in Persia and Canaan, Platonism in Greece, Buddhism and Jainism in India, and Confucianism and Taoism in China. These ideas would become institutionalized in time – note for example Ashoka's role in the spread of Buddhism, or the role of platonic philosophy in Christianity at its foundation.

The historical roots of Jainism in India date back to the 9th-century BCE with the rise of Parshvanatha and his non-violent philosophy.^{[220][221][need quotation to verify]}

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