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... known as Olympus Pantheon, where Zeus was dominant over the other Gods, personifying lands, fire, love, hate, art, etc. First philosophers had been exploring religion and trying to discover, what is waiting for a man in the other life and does it exist at all? So called nature-philosophers tried to make the faith of people more spiritually meaningful, bring it to archaic materialism. All this finds direct reflection in literature, especially in poetry, which had a bright humanistic tendency. As theater art had been developing, there was a great amount of plays dedicated to religious idols and staged with success.
Philosophers were discussing the origin of nature, stars and cosmic system, speculating and trying to find out, whether it was really created by Gods. In decorating and architecture realism was also increasing, Hellenic artists mastered realism and were perfect in representing proportions of human bodies, demonstrating the static of statues. Numerous beautiful temples and monuments created in the honor of religion characters cause growth of religious proud of people. The most famous examples of Greek architecture are Parthenon and Erehteyon temples, which demonstrate three tendencies in constructing art: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian, distinctive particularity of which is special forms of colonnade, the main attribute of ancient Greek architecture. In early Christian era there were many principal changes in Greek art, together with religious changes. Christian religion came to Greek and Roman Empires from Byzantium and very soon deepened into all European lands.
First churches were simply reconstructed houses, in later years, special temples with domes and unbelievably beautiful icons and paintings inside (that differs Orthodox churches from Catholic) were constructed. The early art of the Church was decorative, but its chief function was to instruct and elevate. The images that were treated with special reverence and used in prayer were the icons. Greek artists in the 5 th century B. C. had perfected their knowledge of anatomy and created idealized human figures.
Art and music became critical aspects of religious life and, towards the end of the Middle Ages, secular life as well. Singing without instrumental accompaniment was an essential part of church services. Drama grew out of the liturgy, beginning in about the eleventh century. Some of the topics were taken from the Bible, together with stories about birth and death of Christ, such dramas were performed with costumes and musical instruments in places, close to churches or at the marketplaces. Culture of ancient Rome was developing under effect of Hellenic cultural traditions. The history of Rome extends from 753 B.
C. , the traditional date for the founding of the city by Romulus, Rome's legendary first king. There are accordingly three main periods of ancient Rome, period of King Reign (750 - 400 B. C. ), Republican (400 - 30 / 27 B. C. ) and Empire (up to 476 A.
D. ) Ancient Romanian art and culture were in strict connection with religious imaginations of people. Polytheism and animism were two main features of this period, unlikely to Egyptian or Greek people, ancient Romanians imagined every subject or event around them ruled by a spirit or god, Gods were controlling every movement or thought of a man. One more unique feature of Romanian religion: idols and gods were not endued with definite appearance; they were directly connected with the power they represented. First paintings of idols appeared only in IV century.
The most common way was painting with paint brushes, made from wood, reeds, or rushes and paint out of many natural materials. Shaped wood or ivory was used for writing. Paints were made from ground rocks and powdered plants, and all the colors were received in natural way (from chalk, soil, copper). Spiritual traditions and magic rituals were highly spread as concern about dead people interest in afterworld life.
During the Republican period a huge influence of Greek culture and religion took place, rich Greek mythology and colored world of their legends and tales enhanced Italo-Romanian religion, supreme gods and idols of Rome, such as Jupiter, Mars, Minerva and others, were shaped under effect of ethnic mythology of Greece. Greek and Romanian Pantheons were assimilated, the same as language, literature, traditions and customs. Correspondently, architecture and sculpture started developing in Rome, statues and life-like portraits of Gods, goddesses, emperors, and important people were created. Architecture was another type art form. The Triumphal Arch of Tibia's was made with arches and columns of different shapes and sizes to make it more beautiful and interesting. Buildings and bridges were also made as a form of architecture, a great deal of gorgeous palaces, circuses, amphitheatres were erected in Rome.
Perhaps the most famous Roman edifice is the Coliseum, a huge amphitheater about one quarter of a mile around on the outside and with a seating capacity of about 45, 000. Its three stories of arches are decorated with Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian columns. Other art forms were paintings, poetry, literature, drama, and philosophy. The main themes of painting were taken from Greek mythology, together with images of flora, fauna and water. Romans invented various styles of optical illusion paintings and developed a great fund of decorative motifs, such as cupids, garlands of flowers, and scrolls of various patterns. The Romans were particularly skilled in producing floor mosaics - often copies of some Hellenistic painting - and in painting frescoes.
The frescoes still to be seen in Pompeii and elsewhere show that the artist drew the human figure accurately and showed objects in clear though imperfect perspective. The early Empire period can characterized as a rise of Empire with flourishing culture and economy, but at the same time a lot of wars and military evasions took place, which influenced on art and religion. Art and architecture were used to proclaim an important persons power. Emperors supported education and science, especially history and geography. It was the peak of the development of oratory and rhetoric, of literature and poetry; Latin literature entered its first great period of creative activity in the first century B. C. , when an outpouring of intellectual effort coincided with the last years of the Republic.
This period marks the first half of the Golden Age of Latin literature, known as the Ciceronian period because of the stature of Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 - 43 B. C. ), the greatest master of Latin prose and the outstanding intellectual influence in Roman history. As Augustus' poet laureate Horace (65 - 8 B. C. ) often sincerely praised the emperor's achievements, but most of his poetry is concerned with everyday human interests and moods, and succeeding generations up to the present have been attracted by his serene outlook on life. Quite a different sort was Ovid (43 B. C. - A.
D. 17), his partiality for themes of sensual love in his Art of Love and other poems. The literature of the Silver Age, the period between the deaths of Augustus and Hadrian (A. D. 14 - 138), substituted a more critical and negative spirit for the patriotism and optimism of the Augustan Age. The Romans contributed no own original philosophical theories, preferring to adapt existing Greek systems of thought to suit their needs.
The emphasis of Roman Stoicism was on a just life, constancy to duty, courage in adversity, and service to humanity. Epoch of late Romanian Empire during the reign of the Emperor Constantine (324 - 330) was signified with widespread of a new belief, Christianity, all around the Empire. At IV century A. D. there was a peak of Christian oratory art, a great deal of Christian discussions and polemic with supporters of paganism gave source for abundance of Christian literature, written by the rules of antic rhetoric. Most people in medieval Romanian Empire were very religious.
Art of these times is very various and diverse, it was influenced by other cultures, as German, Spanish, and Greek again. Northern wars and battles were accompanied by a new taste for bloodshed in art, so that memorials created in the 200 's A. D. often show people having their heads cut off or suffering in some other way. At the same time there was a new concern for the soul, because of canons and traditions of Christians in the Roman Empire. In art, this shows up as a lot of emphasis on the eyes, often with the eyes looking upward to heaven, or toward the gods.
At the same time, because the body is less important, the sculptors take less care to show the body accurately. Sometimes the arms and legs were short, and the head tends to be big. In the 300 's A. D. the interest in the soul and the tendency to show that by big eyes and abstract, unreal bodies continues. Gothic style of catholic cathedrals and palaces dominates in architecture, the walls of erected temples and mausoleums were decorated with mature paintings of biblical characters and motives, and a big importance was gained by painting icons, representing Christian saints and scenes from Bible.
In general, culture of ancient Romanian Empire can be characterized by profound religious content, inner austerity and outer practicability. In many ways, modern culture and art have more in common with Rome than it does with Greece. The Greeks were practical people, but the Romans raised the idea of practicality almost to a religion. For the Greek, what was good was the ideal; for the Roman, what was good was what worked.
In much the same way, Americans pay tribute to the person who accomplishes things, the practical one, the one who can use what is available to solve the problem of the moment. The Greeks gave us the intangibles, the ideas, the philosophies; the Roman contribution has been largely physical. To the Romans, race and clan meant more to the preservation of the state than did the individual; the gifts and talents of the Roman were his to use only for the common good. All in all, one must be impressed with a people who could develop and maintain a certain style of life and culture through many centuries. REFERENCES: 1. Encyclopedia article from Encarta: Roman Art and Architecture, online source, available: web 2.
Exploring Ancient World Cultures, An Introduction to Ancient World Cultures, online source, available: web 3. History of Ancient Greece, Troy, online source, available: web 4. The Art of Ancient Egypt, researched by Nesima. Online source, available: web
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Research essay sample on Century B C Art And Architecture
