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Classical Societies

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Classical Societies
Classical Societies Essay

Starting with the beginning of Greece with the classical Greece, artwork has had different meanings. With the classical Greece greatly supporting their athletics by creating a discus thrower statue, to the Hellenistic Greece creating the Laocoon and His Sons statue; artwork has told many stories. Just about every type of artwork has different meanings, or different interoperations and this is not in any way different from ancient Greece. Greece seem to write more historic times or events in their artwork with the Romans creating more of an individual side to their artwork. This is evident with the Roman Empire creating a statue of Augustus of Primaporta, and the Temple of Vesta (Benton & DiYanni, 2008). Classical Greece had a different of unique type of art work. One of these types of art work is the Myron of Athens. This particular artwork is a statue of a discus thrower from 450 B.C.E. The artwork reveals the was that that ancient Greeks would celebrate the human body and physical accomplishments to include their sporting contests (Benton & DiYanni, 2008). The relationship between the art and culture is very obvious through the ancient Geek beliefs in that sporting contest where a top priority. The discus thrower is based from the genre of sports which is influenced from the culture of that civilization mainly because of all of the sports that were played during that time. The Laocoon and His Sons was a sculpture that was created by the Hellenistic Greece civilization. The artwork expresses the struggle between serpents and Laocoon and his sons. It was said that the serpents were sent by Poseidon after Laocoon inserted a spar into the wooden horse (Lahanas, 2010). The relationship between the artwork and the culture shows the struggle of the Trojan’s because the Greeks overtook them. This type of statue influenced the Trojan’s in that it was the greatest struggle and embarrassment that they had ever had to that point in their civilizations. The Hellenistic Greece culture created a great deal of sculptures that represented people and situations that were tragic. Metalwork that is called the symbol of Rome by some, the Capitoline She-Wolf was created by the Etruscan civilization. This metalwork expresses the history of Numitor that was overthrown by his brother. Following that, Numitor’s twins were ordered to the Tiber River but were rescued by a she-wolf. The relationship between the artwork and the culture is that of great cruelty. This particular metalwork influenced the culture in that it showed the determination of its civilizations. Etruscan’s wanted to keep this time in their history forever relevant sense it is one of their biggest upsets (Benton & DiYanni, 2008). Roman republics were great architecture builders which is evident by the Temple of Vesta. This type of artwork is strictly architecture. The temple expresses to intense respect for prayer and having different locations for their congregations and is also the relationship between the art and Roman Republics. The Vesta influenced the Republics by providing a place to store their legal wills documents and cult items. The Roman Empire is another civilization that created a lot of artwork that signifies their history. The Augustus of Primaporta is a slightly oversize statue of Augustus that is shown to be heroic, and self-contained. This artwork expresses the empire and Roman peace under is ruling (Benton & DiYanni, 2008). Augustus of Primaporta statue brings the relationship of the culture to mean that under his ruling that there will be peace with-in Rome. This statue was a symbol to the Roman Empire that they are now safe. Looking back now upon the arts from the past, it seems clear that they put their most important events and people to the for front when it came to creating statues and architecture. One of the biggest and embarrassing events that happened in Trojan history came from the Greeks when they offered the Trojans a wooden horse as a gift that ended up being a trap. This is depicted through the statue of Laocoon and His Sons that are being attacked by serpents. The Etruscans created one of the most famous sculptures being the She-Wolf which signifies the energy and characteristics of their time. The Roman Republic seemed to create more circular architecture than statues or sculptures. One of these examples is the Temple of Vesta, which was the goddess of the hearth and of fire (Benton & DiYanni, 2008).

References
Benton, J., & DiYanni, R. (2008). Arts and Culture. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Lahanas, M. (2010). Laocoon and His Sons. mlahanas. Retrieved from http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Arts/Laocoon.htm

References: Benton, J., & DiYanni, R. (2008). Arts and Culture. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Lahanas, M. (2010). Laocoon and His Sons. mlahanas. Retrieved from http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Arts/Laocoon.htm

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