The Paleolithic age is often considered the "dawn of art", and mainly consisted of cave paintings, but they did have a few sculptures.

It is commonly thought that they used scaffolding to reach the top of the caves. They created the paint from natural sources, mainly from charcoal and bright vegetation. These paintings were thought to be used for religious, educational or social purposes.

Focused mainly in Mesopotamia.

The Sumerians had some of the first known text, engraved in wet clay, then dried to create tablets. These were called Cuneiform tablets. They contained market records, laws and some religious teachings.

The Sumerians made Tell Asmar figures to place in their temples. These figures were usually small and had abstracted features and large eyes. They were thought to be used for prayers.

The Mesopotamia region was a time of warfare. Art was generally used by emperors as a way to show their power, connection to deity and their right to rule. They were mainly politically motivated.

They would use Stele's as political statements and a showcase of their power. They would often depict the king with a connection to the gods. The writing on them would contain laws, history and mythology.

Assyrians drew much of their art styles from the Sumerians and Babylonians, but adapted them for their own purposes. They mainly used it to show their wealth and power. However, they started incorporating more emotion and detail into their sculptures. They focused on preserving historical and powerful feats. Lion hunting was a privilege reserved for the king alone, and so memorializing this event would show the power and strength of the current king for centuries.

Considered the "Golden Age"

Used tombs to show power. Only wealthy people/pharos had tombs. Stored their body, as well as important belongings. They were covered with hieroglyphs and scenes of the Gods that were supposed to help the spirit of the dead travel to the underworld. They were also thought to preserve the dead's "life force". The tombs served as a permanent maker on the landscaper. It expressed the status of the individual and perpetuated their memory. The outsides were painted.

New Kingdom tombs started being built into mountain sides. This was thought to show how the pharos looked over the kingdom. They were also decorated with paintings of the gods.

They started building temples to their gods. It would mark their claim to the throne.

Located mainly on the islands off the coast of Greece and Italy. Their art started incorporating more movement and gender differentiation. The male figures were often shown in darker colors, while the woman were featured with light tones. The Minoans were a fan of the pinched waist in their art, and featured it in all of their art works.

The Myceneans populated the mainland surrounding the Minoans. They started creating large architecture, commissioned for the wealthy who could afford to have treasuries, and funeral masks. Their artwork featured lots of details, and even weapons were known to contain decorative elements.

The archaic style evolved from Minoan and Mycenean art, but is more realistic. The sculptures have more realistic proportions, and the drapery is a little bit more loose. Their posing is similar to Egyptian in their stiff and closed posture. They do have more emotion in their face, with a half smile. This is known as the "Archaic Smile". They have started to build temples to their gods, and are using different decorative styles.

Their artwork has started to become more for decoration of either political or religious things. They are becoming more adventurous with their subject matter as well.

They started making sculptures more organic in their posing and the drapery became more exaggerated. Often they sculpted the human form with an emphasis of the perfect proportions and musculature. The sculptures were used to memorialize certain individuals who were either famous athletes, important politicians, or anyone who could afford it.

The Hellenistic style follows along with Greek and leads into Roman art styles. It often applies to the sculptures of the Gods or mythological figures. Their poses, proportions and musculature are all exaggerated and dramatic. A lot of symbolism and personification is used to tell a story. They seemed to strive for realism and to bring their gods into this world.

The Etruscans knew of and often traded with the Greeks. They started to borrow their style and use it in their artworks. They used the Post and Lintel architecture for their temples. These temples were in a similar style to the Greeks, but had three sanctuaries instead of the one, and only a front porch, instead of a wraparound one. The Etruscans incorporated sculpture on their sarcophaguses. They utilized the archaic smile on their sculptures.

The roman identity is focused on being independent, inclusive and powerful. They pride themselves on their power and influence. This is mirrored in their work. Their sculpture in this period is focused on politicians and realism. Rather than portraying an idealized version of themselves, they focus on trying to get as close as possible to the subject. They wanted to use age as a sign of wisdom, which increases the public opinion of the individual.

They also start experimenting with landscape art. They start using depth and naturalism in these pieces and are often found in social places.

The Early Imperial Romans were focused on conquering and building their empire. Their art was mainly sculptural or architectural in these days. They still relied on styles from Greek and Republic eras. They started emphasizing theater, sports and philosophy in their art, with things like the Coliseum and the Pantheon. These offered places for the populace of Rome to gather and bond. Other architectural developments were the use of aqueducts. This provided running water to the baths.

All of these developments helped the roman identity and motivated them to keep spreading to other lands.

They also saw the rise of Constantine, who was the main cause of Christianity spreading throughout the Roman Empire. This started to change Roman art and architecture. Everything became a bit more abstracted and soft. They were trying to do the opposite of what they'd been doing for centuries.

There was a debate between Iconoclasts (don't use imagery, it's bad) and Iconophiles (use imagery, encourage connection with God). The majority of people sided with the Iconophiles, and continued to use imagery in their churches and art work.

They started making their churches as tall as they could get them. They weren't very mathematical in their construction, which lead to a few collapses. However, the civic pride that was gained from having the most ornate, and largest church was more outweighed the costs.