Antiquities

Antiquity refers to the ancient past, from approx 4,500 BCE, marking the origins of Western civilization, to around the start of the Middle Ages.

Early Antiquity features various forms of art, including advanced pottery and the invention of the potter's wheel, complex religious art like Egyptian pyramid architecture, storytelling through relief sculptures like upright stone or wooden steles, and intricate decorative art such as jewellery, ornate weaponry, mosaics, ivory carving, and pottery painting. During early Antiquity, the primary civilizations were Mesopotamia and Egypt, with additional notable cultures like Ancient Persia, which emerged around 3,500 BCE.