The original civilizations that developed so long ago are the civilizations that have shaped our world today; one of the most recognizable of the early civilizations is the Greeks. When one thinks of the ancient Greeks, it is possible that the first thoughts that would come to his or her mind would be the tall pillars often found in Greek architecture, the Spartans defeating the Athenians in the great Peloponnesian War, or perhaps the Olympics just come to mind – but there are many components that helped mold such an intricate civilization. Just like any civilization, Greece had to go through very difficult times; they had to establish trade and develop the proper way to run their country. There were also ingredients such as their art and
Although limestone was available the building material primarily used was stone, especially high quality marble. There was an abundance of marble both on the main lands and the islands of Greece. Marble was a major contributor of precision of details in the architecture of the ancient Greek. The ancient Greeks developed temple architecture over time. The rectangular temple, like the Parthenon, is the most well-known form of Greek public architecture.
The Greeks had the distinction of populating Southern Italy at the beginning of the Kingdom of Rome, and were later subject to conquest on both the home peninsula and Aegea. As the Romans had done with Etruscan culture, they adopted Greek customs as time progressed. It is important to keep in mind that the post-Alexandrian conquest Mediterranean was dominated by Hellenism, and cities such as Athens and Alexandria had given birth to an enormous cultural hegemony. The first and most obvious influence upon Roman culture lie in art. Though the Etruscans made Roma a metropolis, the Romans themselves adopted Greek artistic customs instead.
This helps to reach a better understanding of why Hellenization actually occurred in Rome. As Rome was in the midst of a changing republic it looked on new ways to express ones power and wealth. They looked to the Greeks and saw the beautiful temples and structures being built by the wealthy and successful in battle, thus the romans began to use architecture as the Greeks did. Octavius was the first roman to Hellenize Rome with his porticus and therefore was the start to a new era in roman architecture. The reason the Porticus Octavia is relied on so much to describe the Hellenization is due to how similarly Octavius modeled after the Greeks.
“did the romans conquer the greeks, or did the greeks conquer the romans?” . My final opinion is that the greeks conquered the romans . In my assumption , for the greeks, it must have been much like living before they were physically conquered, they still had all theirs ways of living since the romans copied it. it is much more important to have conquered a civilization with your religion, art, technology, science, philosophy ,literature language, government, and the list goes on: then to have just conquered a civilization because you have a stronger military. The greek beliefs and lifestyles must have been that powerful for the romans to base their whole lives around it and have it impact the reason they were so great.
Roman Aqueducts Even in the 21st century the ingeniousness of Roman engineering, dating back to 700 B.C., is not lost. The scale and integrity of their projects are still marveled about today. United States citizens are much like the Romans in that we continually work to improve our lifestyles by making daily life more convenient. We do it on a different level than the Romans but the simple fact is—from transportation (air, sea and land) to getting a drink of water or taking a shower—we are always seeking improvement. The Romans influenced such a vast area of the world for an extended amount of time due to their superior engineering skills.
Augustus benefited in many ways from the building reform program. He benefited mostly through gain of reputation through the construction of building and temples. Thanks to the buildings he was established as the founder of new Rome, he gained popularity from the people through the peace and prosperity of Rome that was established thanks to building reform program. Augustus was seen as patron of the people and thus he conducted himself as so the building program further affirmed his already strong popularity with the
(Carr). Very elaborate architecture was used in the making of cathedrals, and much time and effort was put into the construction of them. In medieval times, the extravagent architecture of cathedrals was meant to show the wealth, power, and influence of the church. A great deal of time and money was spent on cathedrals in the Middle Ages. In fact, almost no expense was spared.
By having a written language Egypt now had a written history instead of things being based off of memory. The history would include a chronological list of the kings whom had served as Egypt’s ruler. The new technique also provided things such as written laws, an expansion of culture, religious inscriptions such as spells to protect the dead, biographies and autobiographies, stories, and a means of recording things regarding business relations. The development of a written language benefited Egypt in many ways, but another discovery also had quite an impact on Egypt and is still held in high regards today. Another technique that emerges in Egypt is monumental architecture.
The Classical City of Olympia The classical Greek city has a variety of certain styles that have proven to be typical for the time period which the cities had been erect and populous. The chief building material used in ancient cities was stone, with the exception of the timber and roof ceiling. Buildings were decorated with terra-cotta and everything was marble cut in large blocks which were fastened together with clamps and dowels. How the ancient Greeks used lighting is also a distinguishing characteristic of their ancient cities. They also knew how the light interacted with the architecture to create seemingly massive and overpowering spaces that defined their building shapes and colors.