...The Hellenistic Age or Hellenistic World was an age where Greek and conquered cultures integrated together. It made a huge impact on society by the spreading and diffusion of cultures, the East meeting the West. The important lesson in this era was the lesson in change and continuity. It was also a period of uncertainty which the Greeks slowly learned to adapt to. However, Alexander the Great's conquests had remarkable effect on the civilizations during this time as well. Alexander, along with his leading generals swept across Egypt, in the Middle-east, and Persia's into India becoming key players in the spread of Hellenistic culture. There various type of changes that occurred during Hellenistic age. It brought about new political and philosophical concepts. Epicureanism held that people could achieve happiness only by withdrawing from public life and, through the exercise of reason, freeing themselves from all sources of anxiety, including a belief in gods. Epicureanism also opened philosophical activity to all despite gender or social condition. Stoicism did so as well through its idea of a world society bound by a shared search for harmony with the Logos. Everyone could achieve this harmony by their passions through reason. Stoicism also encouraged participation in public life to foster harmony throughout world society. Skepticism denied that there is one true path to happiness. In its most sophisticated form, it insisted on the limits of reason, encouraging adherents...
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...How were the Greeks similar and different to the Hellenistic empire? The Greeks and the Hellenistic empire were similar in dependence on slave labor, where in Hellenic era, “ virtually every household had a few” (Sherman & Salisbury, 2013), and “every household had one or two domestic slaves, and most manufacturing and other labor was done by slaves” (Sherman & Salisbury, 2013), which in both eras, “it was customary to enslave losers in battle” (Sherman & Salisbury, 2013). On the other side, the differences could be found in the status of women living in either era. As the textbook suggests in the Greece chapter: “While respectable women stayed carefully indoors, some women – slaves or foreigners – who had no economic resources or family ties became prostitutes and courtesans who shared men’s public lives at dinners and drinking parties” (Sherman & Salisbury, 2013). The Hellenistic World chapter, “It suggests that women worked and earned money instead of staying carefully guarded within the home. It also shows a loosening of the tight family ties that had marked the Greek poleis and the ancient Middle East civilizations” (Sherman & Salisbury, 2013). Athens supposedly experienced “a developing democratic form of government… that allowed them to run and control the growing city” (Sherman & Salisbury, 2013), while during Hellenistic era, ”Society, economy, and politics all played out on a larger scale, and kings, rather than citizens, now ruled… It indicates people’s view of...
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...Jewish diaspora in the Hellenistic period The Jewish Diaspora is commonly mixed up with both the Babylonian and Roman Diasporas. But the Jewish Diaspora is something completely different from the Babylonian and Roman Diasporas. The difference between the Jewish Diaspora and the Babylonian Diaspora is that the Jewish Diaspora of the Hellenistic period did not start because of contrived expulsion, but instead it was mostly a deliberate choice of movement of Jews to the Hellenistic lands. This migration built a new Jewish occupation outside of Judea and mostly in Ptolemaic, Egypt. This diaspora had two sides to it. One side had the values of Mosaic law and the other had the values of Hellenism of the Greeks. The ways that the Jews of this...
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...generals vied to succeed him. If the classical period of Greek art embodied serenity, both in pose and expression, the Hellenistic period embodied the rapidly changing world unfolding around them. Variety became a fixture of the artistic world. Expressions were stronger and more varied. Movement was exaggerated and emotive. The Hellenistic period was a time when bronze sculpting...
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...The piece of artwork I found most interesting this week was the “Market Woman” during the Hellenistic period. This sculpture was most unique to me because of the intricate details that were made in the drapery and strong facial expression the Market Woman made. The facial expression she makes stood out more than the other Greek and Roman sculptures because most of the facial expressions were softer and less apparent. In the sculpture of “Peplos Kore,” a softer, more feminine look, was expressed by her facial expression and by the way her body was curved. However, the old Market Woman showed a more pronounced facial expression of discontentment and misery. One part that caught my attention was the basket of vegetables and chicken she was holding....
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...Alexander the Great and his armies conquered much of the known world between 334 and 323 B.C. to create a great empire that stretched from Greece to Asia, Egypt, and the Persian empire in the Near East to India. And with the death of the great conqueror, Alexander, came the birth of the era that would be known as the Hellenistic Age. This era was a time of power, conflict, and great cultural influences that paved the way for change and development. This era brought change and artistic influences to the world as it was known until it would change again, marking the end of the Hellenistic Era with the battle of Actium, which was the pivotal moment that would later be defined as the end of Ancient Greece. Yet, while the Hellenistic Age strived,...
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...Ancient Greek developed stylistically in three main periods. These periods were the Geometric and Archaic period, Classical period and the Hellenistic period. Ancient Greek art started off stylistic and through experimentation, by the end of the Hellenistic period, Ancient Greek art had developed to become naturalistic. The Geometric and Archaic period was from 900 BC to 450 BC. The idea of a perfect physique fascinated the Ancient Greeks, so an abundance of their sculptures depicted what they believed was the ideal human body. During this period the sculptures were stylised. They had patterns and geometric shapes. They also had hardly any negative space and showed little movement. An example of a sculpture created in this period is Kourus from Anavyssos. An Ancient Greek sculptor would have stylised this figure to make it resemble the ideal man. The hair is an example of stylization. This...
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...Greco-Buddhist art, with ramifications as far as Japan. Following the Renaissance in Europe, the humanist aesthetic and the high technical standards of Greek art inspired generations of European artists. Well into the 19th century, the classical tradition derived from Greece dominated the art of the western world.PeriodsThe art of Ancient Greece is usually divided stylistically into four periods: the Geometric, the Archaic, the Classical and the Hellenistic.As noted above, the Geometric age is usually dated from about 1000 BC, although in reality little is known about art in Greece during the preceding 200 years (traditionally known as the Dark Ages), the period of the 7th century BC witnessed the slow development of the Archaic style as exemplified by the black-figure style of vase painting. The onset of the Persian Wars (480 BC to 448 BC) is usually taken as the dividing line between the Archaic and the Classical periods, and the reign of Alexander the Great (336 BC to 323 BC) is taken as separating the Classical from the Hellenistic periods.In reality, there was no sharp transition from one period to another. Forms of art developed at different speeds in different parts of the Greek world, and as in any age some artists worked in more innovative styles than others....
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...Even before Alexander began his conquest of the known world in 336 BCE, the Greek culture had spread through the Mediterranean region. Alexander would have been a totally hellenized person if not because of his teacher, Aristotle. But being partly hellenized, he saw Hellenization as an admirable sovereign strategy because for him, it could help build unify his expanding dominion. One of the hellenistic philosophies which prevailed during the Hellenistic period was Stoicism, which gives much credence on what the individual should do to become a better person-to become a wise, just person. One notable Stoic was Marcus Aurelius who was a Roman emperor. The stoics believed that in order for us to be better, people who are just and wise, we must train our impulses which influences how we behave. We must always be in harmony with our nature. Another Hellenistic philosophy that existed during that period was skepticism. The skeptics uphold that humans must refrain from believing all dogmas. Nothing can be really known. Rene Descartes and Michel de Montaigne were only few among the many who took as the starting point of their quest for knowledge the skeptical...
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...Assignment 2: Comparing Sculptures of Ancient India and Greece Assignment 2: Comparing Sculptures of Ancient India and Greece Andelle Gregoire World Cultures I Abstract Overall, Greek and Indian art had many similarities and differences. Even though they lived far away and had different beliefs, their depicted the same topics: Gods and goddesses, animals, royalty, myths, everyday life, and sports. Jewelry wise, they both used a lot of gold, although Indians used more beads and gems. In sculpture, Greeks mostly used stone, and Indians used a variety of materials. Their paintings were also very similar. Architecture was quite different. Greek architecture used the golden ratio, and their buildings were usually made of marble. They used Doric and ionic columns to hold the roof of the building up. Indian buildings had elaborate designs carved in them, like people dancing, or gods and goddess. Comparing Sculptures of Ancient India and Greece Indians and Greeks alike loved showing myths and gods on their sculptures and pottery, but they styles were different, as the Greek used the red-figure pottery style, with black backgrounds and red figures that only were shown after they were fired in the kiln. Indians used simple but beautiful painted, unglazed pottery. Indians, too, did not put as much emphasis on sports in sculpture than the Greeks. Ancient Greeks has sculptures depicting gods and goddesses, royalty, animals, and sports, like Olympic events. Greek pottery depicted...
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...and perfectly-proportionate bodies. However, this idealism would soon turn into realism as the late Classical and Hellenistic Period emerged: an era filled with strife, instability, and disillusionment. The changes that occurred in these cultures would soon manifest themselves in the art of that time, most notably statuary art. Two sculptures, the Classical Doryphoros by Polykleitos and the Old Market Woman from the Hellenistic period, effectively illustrate this stylistic development. The Doryphoros, a statue of a spear bearer, embodies the mindset of the Classical period: a striving toward the ideal, ultimate body portrayal. Its perfectly-proportioned, muscular body, carefully balanced contrapposto, and harmonic "motion at rest" quality serve to portray the perfect male statue. The athlete's serene, slightly-smiling gaze and calm expression further emphasize the aim toward perfection and order in that intellectual culture. This form of portrayal would soon change, however, with the onset of the Peloponnesian War, and later, the beginning of Roman conquest. The political upheaval and tumultuous chaos would have a profound impact on the pysche of the Greeks. Previously focused on the ideal world of perfect beings and bulidings, the strife and disillusionment caused by the cultural upheaval would bring an end to the serene idealism of the Classical period and begin a focus on the individual and the real world. This stylistic shift resulted in sculptures filled with real-life...
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...concern that they follow the Jewish traditions or not, those that do not have any connection to the Jewish land and traditions in prior times but have resolved to convert to Judaism and those individuals that can trace their background in the Jewish lineage but they do not exercise strict matrilineal decency. Judaism and Hellenistic culture The period when Greek culture was at its peak of spread is termed as the Hellenistic Period. The Jewish community formed a group that had this impact in place with a shift on some activities being carried out. Such included; social transformation that occurred amongst the Jewish societies in the world in language, culture and philosophy and the way of life. Hellenism began long time ago even during the reign of King Solomon when he resolved to employ Phoenician Architecture in association with the Syrian house plans in the construction of the temple in the pre-exilic times. King Ahaz as well had built an altar that was similar to the one that he had seen in Damascus. However, all this happened in the Old Testament times but there also came a time, usually referred to as the Temple Period when the Jewish integration in Hellenistic lifestyle was manifested in language,...
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...picture of the sculpture Pietà by Michelangelo. As we have studied, Michelangelo’s Renaissance period returns to the Greeks for inspiration and ideas. Using 200 – 250 words, answer the following questions. Don’t forget to defend your answer referencing the themes of the Hellenics and Hellenistics as discussed in this module. 1. Is Pietà more of a Hellenic or Hellenistic sculpture or a conglomeration of both Greek periods? 2. Compare this sculpture to David. How are the two sculptures similar and how are they different in intent, subject matter and mastery? Which one do you prefer? Why? Michelangelo’s Pieta is a sculpture of the Virgin Mary holding Christ. This sculpture is more a Hellenistic sculpture then a Hellenics sculpture because this sculpture has emotions and is not of a perfect man. Also the Hellenistic sculpture has emotion in the face, the imperfect person, and has scares. Christ in this sculpture has face hair. The Hellenics are “perfect” sculpture, with perfect proportion, perfect hair, no scares and no emotions on the sculptures face. Hellenics sculptures show movement in their sculpture. The Pieta and the David are different in many ways. David is a classical style, heroic, godlike, and physically perfect. The sculpture of David would be in the Hellenic sculpture period. The Pieta is of the Virgin Mary holding Christ. The Pieta is like Hellenistic it has emotions, Christ has face hair and his hair is messy, the anatomy of the body is perfect...
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...Greeks moved to cities that had been conquered by Alexander and the Greek kings established relationship with influence and wealthy non-Greeks living in older cities. People from other countries started to move into Greece. Also due to how large the Hellenistic territories were, the kings had to establish effective administrations to enforce laws and collect revenue. Wealthy people in the cities were responsible for collected taxes from those around them, this was a similar system to the Greek system of the wealthy contribute to the good of the people (pg. 125). Hellenistic kings also felt the arts should receive generous funding. The kings wanted the scholars and artist to be productive in order for the kings to show the world how great their kingdoms were. In the arts, this led to a lot of diversity in subject manner, something the kings and the elite approved (pg.130). 8. Who were Socrates, Plato and Aristotle? What significant role did each play in the shaping and forming of Ancient Greece and even...
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...top of Mount Nemrut, since in 62 BC King Antiochus I of Commagene, coming from Armenian dynasty of Ervanduni, built a pyramid, where his tomb is located. The sanctuary is one of the brightest examples of Hellenistic influence, it is surrounded by five huge statues, which represent Aramazd-Zeus, Goddess of “Commagene”, Appolo-Mithras, Heracles – Vahagn and he himself, King Antiochus I, having a very high self-esteem and ranking himself as a true...
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