The Human Body in Ancient Greek Sculptures Thomas Fleck Survey of Art History 101 October 4, 2013 The Human Body in Ancient Greek Sculptures The primary focus of ancient Greek sculptures was that of the human body. Almost all Greek sculptures are of nude subjects. As the first society to focus on nude subjects, Greek sculptors attempted to "depict man in what they believed was the image of the gods and so would come to celebrate the body by striving for verisimilitude or true – likeness (realism and naturalism!)." Not only did the Greeks celebrate the human form in their art but also in everyday life. One of the favorite topics for sculptors was that of the athlete.
Polykleitos is a young man holding a spear. The Romans, on the other hand, preferred to make statues of real people and events. The various emperors throughout Rome's history were often an inspiration for art. Augustus was portrayed wearing a warrior clothes and holding his weapon. Finally, there is also the difference in express emotion in each sculpture.
The only thing standing in its way is a relatively small group of spiritually pure, morally principled, and incorruptible people — the ancient Athenians. Overcoming overwhelming odds ... the Athenians are able to defeat their far more powerful adversary simply through the force of their spirit. Sound familiar? Plato's Atlantean dialogues are essentially an ancient Greek As propaganda, the Atlantis legend is more about the heroic Athens than a sunken civilization; if Atlantis really existed today and was found, its residents would probably try to kill and enslave us all. It's clear that Plato made up Atlantis as a plot device for his stories because there no other records of it anywhere else in the world.
I don’t believe a word Pericles says about Athens in the Funeral Pericles “the first Athenian citizen” is blinded by power. he has so much power that he see his state as the best most perfect state ever when really there was many flaws that he could not see like the average man. Pericles thinks of Athens as if it was the best place on earth, it is flawless to him, but it’s too unrealistic. I don’t agree with Percale because he is writing in a time of grief after many men have died for Athens, and he wants to encourage people, heal the people. He wants people to feel good about them.
The Parthenon is a beautiful marble temple that served as a model for the architecture of the Lincoln Memorial. The Lincoln Memorial shares these same qualities with the Parthenon but instead, a statue honoring Abraham Lincoln is inside. The ancient Greeks very much enjoyed storytelling especially about heroes. Hercules is a very famous hero of the ancient Greek time who displays many of the same characteristics as America’s own hero, Superman. Hercules and Superman both are not real but Hercules left the impact of showing what an ideal hero looks like.
Epitaphs from the tombs of many Roman’s were adorned with details of one’s military and political glories. The tomb of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, first discovered in sixteen fourteen, is one such example. The following epitaph clearly demonstrates the Roman custom of reiterating one’s own achievements even when no longer among the living. ‘Lucius Cornelius Scipio Long-Beard, Gnaeus’begotten son, a valiant gentleman and wise, whose fine form matched his bravery surpassing well, was aedile, consul and censor among you; he took Taurasia and Cisauna from Samnium; he overcame all the Lucanian land and brought hostages there from.’ With such an emphasis placed upon war and politics it would appear that these were two crucial characteristics of success in Roman society. It must be noted however that some of the tombs of the Roman elite failed to make mention of any successes and instead reiterated one’s personal attitibutes.
But if you examine athletes while they're not on the court or on the field, you can see what they are like in every way. Athletes have many positive and negative sides that affect their public face and both benefit and harm their abilities to become role models. The athlete as a role model is definitely not a new issue. In fact it is quite ancient. As distant as 800 B.C., when the Olympics were first played in Greece, the athletes all paid homage to the Greek God Zeus.
In the early days of sculpture, sculptures were small and crude. Even then these small figures tell us immense amounts about the culture they were created in. They also tell us when certain ideas originated, ideas that can been seen repeated over and over in later sculpture. The “Lion Man” is currently the world's oldest recovered statue, dating around 30,000 years old from the paleolithic period, it is believed to have been created by either early man or neanderthals. The sculpture of the “Lion Man” depicts a figurine of a lion standing straight up such as a man would stand.
The story of David versus Goliath, as told in I Samuel 17:28-51, tells the tale of David, a humble Shepherd boy who kills the giant Goliath with a sling and a stone. The Biblical character of David has been the subject of many works of art by some of the world’s most famous sculptures. The young David has been depicted in marble by such Italian artists as Donatello, Michelangelo, and Bernini. Michelangelo and Donatello, probably the most respected artists of the Renaissance period made their sculptures in fashion typical for that period with due respect for Greek influences. Their “David” is depicted nude and in classic muscular form.
He took on the challenge of carving this beautiful work out of a “huge oblong chunk of pure white unflawed Carrara marble – some 18 feet high and weighing several tons – that had been badly block out and then abandoned by an earlier sculptor” (Coughlan 85). This piece had always fascinated Michelangelo, but neither he, nor anyone else, could think of what to carve from it, until now (Coughlan 85). Thus began a new era in art, the High Renaissance. He began carving this statue for the city of Florence. It would become a symbol of this