Classical Antiquity
Statue of Diadoumenos (youth tying a fillet around his head), ca. 69–96 A.D., Roman copy of a Greek bronze statue by Polykleitos, ca. 430 B.C. [2:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Classical Antiquity (or Ancient Greece and Rome) is a period of about 900 years when ancient Greece and then ancient Rome (first as a Republic and then as an Empire) dominated the Meditteranean area, from about 500 B.C. — 400 A.D. We tend to lump these two (ancient Greece and Rome) together because the Romans, when they conquered the areas of Europe under Greek control between 145 and 30 B.C. adopted many aspects of Greek culture, including their pantheon of Gods and Godesses. The ancient Romans also copied ancient Greek art, usually copying in marble the sculptures that had been made originally in bronze by the Greeks. See the example below.
The ancient Greeks were the first western culture that believed in finding rational answers to the great questions of earthly life. They assumed that there were consistent laws which governed the universe — how the stars move; what materials the universe consists of; mathematical laws that govern harmony and beauty, of geometry and phsyics. Both the Ancient Greeks and the Ancient Romans had enormous respect for human beings, and what they could accomplish with their minds and bodies. They were humanists (a frame of mind which was re-born in the Renaissance)! This was very different from the period which came after — the middle ages, when Christianity (with its sense of the body as sinful) came to dominate Western Europe. When you think of an Ancient Greek or Roman sculpture, you might think of one that is nude, athletic, young, ideal, perfect proportions — and this would be true of Ancient Greek art during the classical period (5th century b.c.) and also much of Ancient Roman art.
Listen to this podcast about this Roman copy of an ancient Greek sculpture by Polykleitos (Metropolitan Museum of Art) 
