How Are a Societys Structure and Values Reflected in Their Art and Architecture
5e. Art and Architecture
One popular form of Greek art was pottery. Vases, vessels, and kraters served both practical and aesthetic purposes. This krater depicts Helios, the sun god, and dates from the 5th century B.C.E.
The arts reverberate the society that creates them. Nowhere is this truer than in the case of the ancient Greeks. Through their temples, sculpture, and pottery, the Greeks incorporated a fundamental principle of their culture: arete. To the Greeks, arete meant excellence and reaching one's full potential.
Ancient Greek art emphasized the importance and accomplishments of human beings. Fifty-fifty though much of Greek art was meant to honor the gods, those very gods were created in the image of humans.
Much artwork was government sponsored and intended for public brandish. Therefore, art and architecture were a tremendous source of pride for citizens and could be found in various parts of the urban center. Typically, a city-country ready aside a high-altitude portion of country for an acropolis, an important part of the metropolis-land that was reserved for temples or palaces. The Greeks held religious ceremonies and festivals likewise equally significant political meetings on the acropolis.
Photo courtesy of www.sacredsites.com and Martin Grey
The Parthenon was built in honor of the goddess Athena, who represented the homo aspiration for knowledge and the ideal of wisdom.
Greek Excellence: The Acropolis
In ancient Athens, Pericles ordered the construction of several major temples on the acropolis. Amongst these was a temple, the Parthenon, which many consider the finest example of Greek architecture.
Congenital as a tribute to Athena, the goddess of wisdom for whom the urban center-state Athens was named, the Parthenon is a marvel of design, featuring massive columns contrasting with subtle details.
Three different types of columns can exist constitute in ancient Greek architecture. Whether the Doric, Ionic, or Corinthian style was used depended on the region and the purpose of the structure being built.
Many barely noticeable enhancements to the blueprint of the Parthenon contribute to its overall beauty and balance. For example, each column is slightly wider in the middle than at its base and top. The columns are also spaced closer together near the corners of the temple and farther autonomously toward the middle. In add-on, the temple'southward steps curve somewhat — lower on the sides and highest in the middle of each step.
Sadly, time has not treated the Parthenon well. In the 17th century, the Turks, who had conquered the Greeks, used the Parthenon to store ammunition. An accidental explosion left the Parthenon with no roof and in near ruin. In later years, tourists hauled away pieces of the Parthenon as holiday souvenirs.
Beauty in the Human Course
Ancient Greek sculptures were typically made of either stone or wood and very few of them survive to this 24-hour interval. Almost Greek sculpture was of the freestanding, human class (even if the statue was of a god) and many sculptures were nudes. The Greeks saw dazzler in the naked human body.
Early Greek statues chosen kouros were rigid and stood upward straight. Over time, Greek statuary adopted a more natural, relaxed pose with hips thrust to i side, knees and artillery slightly aptitude, and the head turned to one side.
Other sculptures depicted human action, particularly athletics. A good case is Myron's Discus Thrower Another famous example is a sculpture of Artemis the huntress.
The piece, called "Diana of Versailles," depicts the goddess of the chase reaching for an arrow while a stag leaps next to her.
Among the most famous Greek statues is the Venus de Milo, which was created in the second century B.C.E. The sculptor is unknown, though many art historians believe Praxiteles to have created the piece. This sculpture embodies the Greek ideal of beauty.
The ancient Greeks also painted, but very lilliputian of their work remains. The almost indelible paintings were those plant decorating ceramic pottery. Two major styles include red figure (against a black background) and black figure (against a scarlet background) pottery. The pictures on the pottery often depicted heroic and tragic stories of gods and humans.
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Source: https://www.ushistory.org/civ/5e.asp
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