Literature, Art, and Architecture 600 BCE to 600 CE - AP World History: Modern

The writings of Aristotle provided much of the foundation for European scientific understanding throughout the Middle Ages. Medieval scientists were so impressed by Aristotle that they were reluctant to overturn any of his findings, even when the evidence suggested he was wrong. An example of this hidebound thinking is the spider. Aristotle, apparently, wrote that spiders have six legs. This was accepted as scientific fact, even though spiders inarguably have eight legs. This sort of intransigence contributed to the general lack of scientific advancement in Europe throughout the Middle Ages, a situation that would only be remedied with the rise of empiricism during the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution.

Oedipus Rex is one of the most popular of the ancient Greek tragedies. Chronicling the rise and fall of Oedipus, king of Thebes, as he goes from popular king to blind beggar. Sophocles regarded it as the great Greek tragedy, and his masterwork; history tends to agree with him.

The ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus is most famous for his works of drama. Most notable he wrote the Oresteia trilogy.

The Great Library of Alexandria was built in Egypt during the reign of the Ptolemaic dynasty (circa 300 BCE) For a few centuries it was a renowned center of learning and innovation in the classical world.

The Forum would be located at the intersection of the two main roads in and out of a city, or municipum, where public events and open markets would take place. The Agora performed a similar function in ancient Greek city-states. The Basilica were open-air court buildings. The Temple refers to religious structures in ancient Jerusalem. The Horologium was a giant monument built by Augustus, which included a solar marker and was also known as the Solarium Augusti.

Legend holds that Helen of Troy was so beautiful that men pledged their loyalty to her with such fierceness that they would go to war for her hand in marriage. Such oaths reportedly led to the invasion of Troy and the Trojan War.

Thucydides is considered one of the fathers of modern history. Unlike Herodotus, whose tone was very familiar, Thucydides was more dry and tried to stick to objective facts. He was, however, an Athenian soldier during the war, which colored his account of the conflict.

The Hagia Sophia was built in Constantinople in 537 CE, during the reign of Justinian I. For several hundred years it served as a church of Eastern Orthodoxy, and was the seat of the Patriarch of Constantinople (sort of like the Pope of Eastern Orthodoxy), until it was converted into an Islamic mosque, following the Ottoman conquest of the city in 1453.

Qin Shi Huangdi, who ruled as the only emperor during the short-lived but immensely important Qin Dynasty, ordered the construction of the Great Wall of China and the Terracotta Army. The Great Wall of China was built to prevent barbarian invasions into Chinese territory. The Terracotta Army was built for the slightly less practical purpose of furnishing the emperor with an army for the afterlife. The Grand Canal was built during the rule of the Sui Dynasty to connect northern and southern China. The Forbidden City was built during the rule of the Ming Dynasty and served as the seat of the imperial government until the Chinese revolution in the early twentieth century.

Nero, seeking pleasure, paid for and built the so-called Bathes of Nero. The largest baths in Rome, they were still in use up to the 5th century. While other Roman landmarks came and went depending on economic and political stability, the longevity of the bathes, as well as their complexity, set them apart.

The Colossus of Rhodes was one of the most impressive structures in the ancient world. Originally erected to celebrate a victory over the island of Cyprus, the Colossus stood over the island's harbor for thousands of years. It was destroyed by an earthquake in 226 BCE, never to be rebuilt.

The Aeneid, written by Virgil, it considered one of the most important works in Roman literature. Telling the story of Aeneas, who traveled from the ruins of Troy to the Italian peninsula, the Aeneid stands as the Roman response to Homer. This seminal work is still read in Classical Literature and History classes today.

The Oresteia, Aeschylus' trilogy of plays detailing the fall of the House of Atreus, is one of the finest examples of Greek tragedy. Starting with Agamemnon's murder at the hands of his wife and finishing with Orestes, Agamemnon's son, being tried for the murder of the aforementioned wife (and Orestes mother), the plays explore the themes of justice, revenge and family like few other works. Extremely popular from the time of their first performance, the cultural impact of the Oresteia can still be felt today.

Written as a conversation between Socrates and Glaucon, the Allegory of the Cave is one of the more famous ideas presented in his Republic. Positing that man sees reality like a man trapped in a cave sees a shadow, the Allegory of the Cave invites us to admit that not only do we not see the whole of reality, it would be nigh impossible to see the whole. The allegory continues to find new life today as it lives on in Western thought and culture.

The Greek Herodotus and his book The Histories is consider the first historian and one of the earliest works of surviving Greek prose. He was the first to truly investigate the past by gathering various sources. The epic poems of Homer were composed and passed down orally before the advent of the Greek alphabet in the 8th century BCE. Herodotus gives us an intimate portrait of the known world in the 5th century BCE.

The Athenian historian Thucydides and his History of the Peloponnesian War tells the bitter civil war and decline of the Golden Age of Athens. Thucydides starts chronologically where Herodotus's Histories leaves off. Xenophon's Hellenica in turn picks up the historical narrative where Thucydides ends. The Athenian Aristophanes wrote comedy plays around the same era. Cicero was a Roman philosopher and statesmen who lived in the 1st century BC.

Aristophanes' 11 surviving comedies are the only example of Old Comedy style of Ancient Athenian theatre that we have. Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles were playwrights who wrote during the same era, but only their tragic dramas survive. This period of 5th century BC Greek life is known as the Golden Era of Athens. Seneca was a Stoic statements and writer in 1st century AD Rome.

The Chinese city of Chang’an was the capital of Qin and Han China. It notably featured urban planning and had an efficient grid system.

Pyramids are closely associated with Mayan civilization. Monuments like Chichen Itza, in modern-day Mexico, serve to highlight the architectural accomplishment of the Mayans and their famous stone, stepped pyramids.