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Example research essay topic: Oxford Oxford University Red Figure - 1,124 words

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... Based on a continuum of stylistic development, this kylix dates between 510 - 500 BC. In an early red-figure vase dated to 520 BC, a scene depicts Heracles in battle. The hero lunges toward an unseen opponent, his arm outstretched. The artist has painted patterned drapery, as Heracles' clothing appears to be drawn on him rather than over him. His hair and beard are not textured, but rather a solid color layered by shading.

A thin curved line is drawn to convey a mustache. His lion skin is vaguely decorated, with thick, seemingly sharp individual hairs representing its fur. The eye is unusually large and is shown in profile, and his expression is dull and lifeless. In contrast to the Heracles depicted in the museum's kylix, this subject better conveys movement and stability; Heracles leans farther forward, and his back heel is lifted in preparation for attack. In a similar scene dated to 480 BC, Heracles lunges at the centaur Nelson, and holds a firm grip on his neck.

This scene demonstrates vast improvements in style and detail; there is a better design in the abominable and arm musculature of both Heracles and the centaur, and the artist attempts to illustrate a kneecap. He also leans forward, but he appears more stable and his stature suggests more movement. Heracles is clean-shaven, and there is an attempt at a beaded hairline. The centaur's hair and beard appear to have more substance, and there is an attempt at individual strands. The artist incorporates a sense of linear movement by the parallel lines of Heracles' club and outstretched arm. After detailing the scenes and figures of earlier and later artwork, one turns to the scenes on the kylix under examination.

One can better understand the function of the vase and profile its artist through a thorough insight to its figural scenes. Side A of the red-figure kylix depicts the myth of Heracles fighting the centaurs. Tired from completing one his twelve labors, the fight against the Erymanthian boar, Heracles ventures into the land of Arcadia and Thessaly. There he meets Photos, who is in charge of the centaurs' communal wine store. The wise and friendly centaur offers Heracles a drink, and the wine's aroma escapes as he lifts the cover off the jar. With the exception of the civilized Pholos, the other centaurs possessed an uncontrollable lust for alcohol, and they consequently were riled by scent the wine and wildly harass Heracles.

The scene thus illustrates Heracles fighting off the lustful centaurs, with the addition of Heracles' half-nephew Iolaus. Heracles kills or wounds most of the creatures, while the rest flee the angry hero. Side B presents a scene that takes place after Heracles' death: a suddenly fearful Heracles hesitates as Hermes and Athena persistently load him onto a chariot to take him to Olympos. Athena is turned away from Heracles and pulls the hero toward the chariot. Later classical vases depict the chariot's horses flying to Olympos.

There he is presented to Zeus as a new god; the hero is often processed by an array of deities as he approaches Zeus. The fearless Heracles is clutched by fear, and cowers before the gods. Many depictions of Scene A do not include Iolaus, but rather a mortified Photos as he watches the battle ensue. Photos's ignificance lies in his separation from the rest of his centaur kind; he embodies the ability to stand above the gluttony and self-indulgence underlying alcoholism. Another vase features Heracles as he reaches for a drink.

The hero appears calm as the desperate centaurs approach from the left and right. The centaurs, fighting with tree trunks against well-trained Greek heroes, come to symbolize all powers that contest Greek cultural and political rule. As Heracles' younger companion, Iolaus has a recurring connection with youth and innocence. Hermes, as the patron of young heroes, and Athena, seen beside the hero in several metope's on the temple of Zeus at Olympia, are frequently depicted with Heracles, and often aid the hero in his adventures. As gods, they reflect an innate power over the great Heracles, and the scene suggests that all human mortals fear and look with wonder upon the gods.

Euripides' Heracles speaks briefly of the hero's battle with the centaurs, but also alludes to the hero's inner complexities and conflicts. The ancient play, written approximately between 417 - 415 BC, presents Heracles as an emotional, conflicted hero who struggles against madness that, in jealousy and spite, the goddess Hera inflicted on him. In the play, Heracles' courage is called into question, and his step-father Amphitryon narrow-mindedly proposes that he should "ask the four-legged monster Centaurs what man they would judge to be the bravest. " This commonly known labor was unanimously viewed as an act of sheer bravery, but the playwright questions this view. Euripides suggests that the concept of bravery is much more complex, and he asserts that a single heroic act does not entirely define its hero. Therefore, the analysis of the text and characters contrast with the simpler, more idealized scene on the Nikosthenes Painter's red-figure kylix.

This critique enables scholars to better understand the goals of artist, as well as his view of the subjects depicted. This is the objective data and subjective interpretation surrounding the kylix, based upon the research of many texts that catalog the vast array of Greek vases. From the data one can discover key attributes of the complex Greek culture. The small, elegant shape of the cup suggests that the societal rituals may have revolved around wine and alcohol. At the same time, when comparing the kylix with those of an earlier and later date, one can see that the Greeks were an extremely progressive culture that could make leaps and bounds in art in only a matter of two decades. Though the ideal Greek concept of hero depicts Heracles as impassive and undaunted in this kylix, Euripides suggests that the society also honored his grounded qualities like love, emotion, and sympathy.

These conjectures are an important addition to current knowledge of ancient Greece as archeologists move towards further exciting discoveries. Alan H. Griffiths, "Centaurs", Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth, 2003, The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 309 J. D.

Beazley, 1984, Attic Red Figure Vase Painters, Vol. 2 (New York: Hacker Art Books), 124 - 127 A. T. Clark, 2002, Understanding Greek Vases (Los Angeles: J Paul Getty Museum), 53 M. G. Kanowski, 1984, Containers of Classical Greece (New York: University of Queensland Press), 63 - 67 J. Boardman, 1975, Athenian Red Figure Vases, The Archaic Period (London: Thames and Hudson), 121, ill. 170 J.

Falconer and T. Mannack, 2002, Corpus Vasorum Anti quorum (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 925, ill. 19


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Research essay sample on Oxford Oxford University Red Figure

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