Antiquity
Etymology
From Latin “antiquitas,” “ancientness,” from “antiquus” (“old, former”), which traces to “ante” (“before”). The phrase “classical antiquity” specifically denotes the Greco-Roman world whose art and thought Europeans repeatedly revived. The word can also mean simply “great age” or an object surviving from it.
noun · /an-TIK-wih-tee/
The ancient past, especially the era of the classical Greek and Roman civilizations.
What it names
It gives a single word for the deep classical past that later ages keep returning to as a source of art, law, and ideas.
Example
The museum’s halls move from antiquity to the Renaissance in a few dozen steps.
Related idea
Distinguish it from medieval, the era that followed — antiquity is the ancient world that the Renaissance looked back to and sought to reawaken.