External Factors Affecting Ancient Greek Art

Greek culture is the source from which many of the characteristic elements of Western culture derive. Their explorations and innovations in art have both fascinated and inspired other civilizations for centuries. For this assignment I chose two Greek sculptures viewed at the Getty Museum. The first is Kouros circa 530 B.C. made of Dolomitic marble from Thasos and is approximately 200 cm (80 in) in height. The second is Cult Statue of a Goddess, (most likely Aphrodite) South Italy, 425 - 400 B.C. made of Limestone and marble. It stands at a height of 220 cm (86 5/8 in). There is some dispute to the authenticity of the Getty Kouros

The Hellenistic period of Greek art spans from the time of Alexander the Great’s death in 323 to 30 B.C.E. (“Hellenistic Period” 1). However there have been controversies of precisely how long the Hellenistic period lasted. Some argue that from C. 400; to the first century can be classified as “Pre-Hellenistic” (Janson 138-139). “Hellenistic, is a term meant to convey the

wall painting survive most of the art work that survives is there pottery. The late

The ancient Egyptian and ancient Greek civilizations are two of the oldest known civilizations in our history. The Egyptian civilization, based in the eastern part of North Africa, is believed to have started around 3150 BC and continued till the end of the Pharaoh rule in 31 BC. The ancient Greek civilization is believed to have been in effect from 1100 BC till about 146 BC. Many similarities and differences existed between these two civilizations, as even though they co-existed during a certain timeframe (1150 BC to 146 BC), they were located in different geographical areas. Because of these differences in geography, both these civilizations were subjected to different kinds of exposure, which included contact with other civilization and cultural inheritance. In the political sphere, we find that the Egyptian civilization had stronger emphasis on central authority, while the Greeks had a more decentralized structure, where powers were distributed over the cities and the states as well. As far as art is concerned, we find that the Egyptians were more involved in creating great monumental and gaudy structures, while the Greeks were more involved in creating smaller, more literary pieces of art.

Ancient Greek stands in an important position in the art history. Ancient Greek art proper emerged during the eigth century BCE. Classical and Hellenistic period are the most impressive eras of Greece. There are many values of Greek 's culture become the fundamental tenets of today 's western civilization. Greeks created the concept of democracy and make a huge contributions in the fields of science, literature and art. Ancient Greece 's art and architecture also have a strong influential to western society. Moreover, the Greeks made their gods into humans and their humans into gods. The perfect individual became the Greek ideal and the portrayal of beautiful humans became the focus of many of the greatest Greek artists. Greek ideal is one of the most important cultures of Greece and it also has a great influence of Greek religion, philosophy and society. The art work of Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic Period have shown that Greek has achieved their lofty goals in many aspects of their civilization.

Ancient Greece borrowed various of their concepts from the Egyptians and Mesopotamians to improve their individual and independent artistic identity through painting, sculpture, and architecture. Much of the artwork was government supported and available for public viewing in the cities. The Greeks were also involved in contributing to the beginning of medicine and astronomy and their perception of balance and proportion of form. The Greek government was minor and had several cities and states that were independent. This was different from Egyptian politics because it had a more conservative style.

The Greek influences inform modern American culture through their complex system of government, and from their advanced conceptual practices of modern-day mathematics. Also, the revolutionary progresses of this ancient era have impacted societies as a whole, from some of their ingenious inventions which have been innovated and modified into the most recognized designs of latter-day civilizations. Besides from informing, the Greeks not only continue to inspire American culture from their successes, but also, many other cultures of the world, and their artists, in distinction to the perceptive ancient art, poetry, and literature of that time.

Thesis: The Greek influence of outstanding culture, gods, and their beautiful art to the Romans’ they took this inspiration on to their own creation. Both ancient build devotion to their gods they would bring the most precious things to them temples, however, they would focus on making large empire to rule and to take control of their city-states.

The Archaic period lasted from 700 to 500 BCE and the sculptures haven’t yet mastered in sculpting showing realism. Their style of sculpting was similar to the Egyptians in the way that they made the bodies of the sculptures rigid with both arms on their sides and with a foot stepped forward (Greek Archaic Art). By the end of the Archaic period in ca 500 BCE, the sculpture’s features started to look more realistic rather than rigid bodies. “The ancient Greeks also had the young, nude male called a kouros and the young, clothed female called a kore. Of course, later on in the Classical period of Greek art, females would become nude subjects as well” (Greek Archaic Art). There are some possibilities mentioned by people in why they started to change by showing more musculature and one of those could be that they started to create a new warfare in the Archaic period. They started to build hoplite armies and the battles where hoplites were used were really physical which created more muscle on the army. Being a hoplite meant power and also their ranking in ancient Greek society. The hoplite fighters were idolized and artisans liked it and attributed it into their works. “This idealization also springs from the Homeric poems being composed at his time, also mentioned in Ancient Greece and the artists, or perhaps the

Greek art, unlike the art of the East, resulted from the intellectual mastery of form and proportion. However, it also resulted from a spiritual ability to recognize beauty in the reality and perfection of the natural world.

The scope of this report is to investigate how and why the Greeks influenced Roman culture. To achieve this, I will support my discussion with a set of specific examples. Lastly, as I have a personal interest in museum studies, I will briefly answer the question: 'Was it theft? Did the Romans really loot Greek art, and what for? '.

The Hellenistic civilization marked an important time in Greek culture. This was the period between 323 and 31 BC, at one point the Greek society changed from being withdrawn and localized to an aggressive multinational, unprotected, and eager culture that infused together southwest Asia and eastern Mediterranean. The Hellenistic world involved many different people but the Greeks’ thinking and way of life influenced most of the matters.1 Every aspect related to culture followed the beliefs of the Greeks and this led to the Greek language becoming established, as the official language of this area. The following arguments are centralized around

The Orientalizing Period (c. 700-600 BCE), marked an increase in population and Greek trade and colonization. Since an increase in cultural interchange w/ the Assyrians and the Egyptians was taking place, Greek artists began to be inspired by their style of art and incorporated some of their ideas and motifs into their own work. At this time the invention of the Greek alphabet was

The history of Greek mythology is an extravagant chronicle of tales of heroism, tragedy, and tradition. The Greeks had an extreme talent with fine arts, and these abilities are strongly reflected in their

Greek art has changed throughout the years, yet some basic forms have remained. Time, technique, as well as historical events have helped shape the way art has evolved since 600 B.C. Three important periods in Greek art are the Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods. We will discuss how art has changed throughout these periods, what influences led to change, as well as why it changed. We will also discuss what has remained constant through these periods. Since people’s perceptions and taste of art are different, some would say that art has become better with time, whereas others would say the opposite, but nonetheless, it has evolved.