MichelangeloMichelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (mikeˈlandʒelo di lodoˈviːko ˌbwɔnarˈrɔːti siˈmoːni; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (ˌmaɪkəl'ændʒəloʊ,_ˌmIk-), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspired by models from classical antiquity and had a lasting influence on Western art. Michelangelo's creative abilities and mastery in a range of artistic arenas define him as an archetypal Renaissance man, along with his rival and elder contemporary, Leonardo da Vinci.
Roman RepublicThe Roman Republic (Res publica Romana ˈreːs̠ ˈpuːblɪka roːˈmaːna) was the era of classical Roman civilization beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establishment of the Roman Empire. During this period, Rome's control expanded from the city's immediate surroundings to hegemony over the entire Mediterranean world. Roman society at the time was primarily a cultural mix of Latin and Etruscan societies, as well as of Sabine, Oscan, and Greek cultural elements, which is especially visible in the Ancient Roman religion and its Pantheon.
PompeiiPompeii (pɒmˈpeɪ(i), , pɔmˈpei̯.iː) was an ancient city located in what is now the comune of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried under of volcanic ash and pumice in the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Largely preserved under the ash, the excavated city offers a unique snapshot of Roman life, frozen at the moment it was buried, although much of the detailed evidence of the everyday life of its inhabitants was lost in the excavations.
VeniceVenice (ˈvɛnᵻs ; Venezia veˈnɛttsja; Venesia veˈnɛsja, outdatedly Venexia veˈnɛzja) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are linked by over 400 bridges. The islands are in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, an enclosed bay lying between the mouths of the Po and the Piave rivers (more exactly between the Brenta and the Sile).
RaphaelRaffaello Sanzio da Urbino (raffaˈɛllo ˈsantsjo da urˈbiːno; March 28 or April 6, 1483 April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael (UKˈræfeɪ.əl , USˈræfi.əl,_ˈreɪfi-,_ˌrɑːfaɪˈɛl ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Together with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period.
Leonardo da VinciLeonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on his achievements as a painter, he also became known for his notebooks, in which he made drawings and notes on a variety of subjects, including anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, painting, and paleontology.
Romanesque architectureRomanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe characterized by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque style, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 11th century, this later date being the most commonly held. In the 12th century it developed into the Gothic style, marked by pointed arches. Examples of Romanesque architecture can be found across the continent, making it the first pan-European architectural style since Imperial Roman architecture.
GiottoGiotto di Bondone (ˈdʒɔtto di bonˈdoːne; 1267 – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto (UKˈdʒɒtoʊ , USdʒiˈɒtoʊ,_ˈdʒɔːtoʊ ) and Latinised as Giottus, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the Gothic and Proto-Renaissance period. Giotto's contemporary, the banker and chronicler Giovanni Villani, wrote that Giotto was "the most sovereign master of painting in his time, who drew all his figures and their postures according to nature" and of his publicly recognized "talent and excellence".
SantoriniSantorini (Σαντορίνη, sandoˈrini), officially Thira (Greek: Θήρα ˈθira) and Classical Greek Thera (English pronunciation ˈθɪərə), is an island in the southern Aegean Sea, about southeast from the Greek mainland. It is the largest island of a small circular archipelago, which bears the same name and is the remnant of a caldera. It forms the southernmost member of the Cyclades group of islands, with an area of approximately and a 2011 census population of 15,550.
Akrotiri (prehistoric city)Akrotiri (Greek: Ακρωτήρι, pronounced akroˈtiri) was a Cycladic Bronze Age settlement on the volcanic Greek island of Santorini (Thera). The settlement was destroyed in the Theran eruption sometime in the 16th century BC and buried in volcanic ash, which preserved the remains of fine frescoes and many objects and artworks. Akrotiri has been excavated since 1967 after earlier excavations on Santorini. The earliest evidence for human habitation of Akrotiri can be traced back as early as the fifth millennium BC when it was a small fishing and farming village.
