The Role Of Art In Ancient Politics

1445 Words6 Pages
Promotion, Persuasion, and Presentation; A historical analysis of the role of art in ancient politics. There has always been a strong relationship between politics and the arts; the government controls a nation’s wealth and since there can be no art without funding, the architecture, sculpture, and paintings created under these funds are touched by whatever message the king, the emperor, the pharaoh, the pope, or the president deems appropriate. It seems to be universal as through the ages, all successful civilizations have produced art with the intention of communicating three broad messages; promotion of one’s leader, persuasion of a nation’s citizens, and presentation of a nation’s wealth and power to outsiders. First, works of art promoting a political leader, often for egotistical reasons, appear as early as the first civilizations and continue in modern times. The reign of Ramesses II in Egypt’s New Kingdom is a perfect example. Following the Pharaoh’s many successful military campaigns, he turned his attentions to constructing over-the-top monuments to honor the greatest of all the Pharaohs- himself. The Rammessuem mortuary temple is an enormous tribute to the accomplishments of Ramesses II, although it is thought that many of the buildings and sculptures originally belonged to his predecessors until he replaced their cartouches with his own. In this case, both grandeur and intricacy (the walls and pillars of the monument are covered in hieroglyphs and images) contribute to the statement this less-than-modest ruler was making, and to this day, Ramesses II is known as one of the most successful Pharaohs to rule Egypt; an assumption that his extravagant construction projects certainly contributed to. Nothing makes a bigger statement of power than carving one’s own face into stone, which is probably why Emperors throughout the history of Rome commissioned
Open Document