final essay

Question 1

What is the significance of Alexander the Great for Greeks AND Romans?

Answer 1

• Alexander the Great comes directly from Greek history as a Macedonian leader
• defeated Darius, the king of Persia
• The rise of Alexander inaugurates the Hellenistic ear
• crucial figure in Roman culture as he was the forerunner of world conquerors such as Pompey the Great and Julius Caesar
• model for successive Roman emperors
• His conquests shaped the world stage not only for the kings and princelings that disputed his territories after his death, but later for the Romans too

Question 2

How did Alexander the Great influence Roman Pompeii?

Answer 2

• by being a centerpiece for observation in the Alexander Mosaic from the House of the Faun in Pompeii
• This mosaic of his defeat of King Darius shows how civilized art must continually parade its triumphalism as pathos
• It is most likely a recreation of some ancient Greek painting
• it’s resonance is not in its recreation, but in what it represents- a fearless leader nobly going to battle
• It serves as a consonant reminder of what a world conqueror looks and behaves like.

Question 3

How did the people of Pompeii adapt Greek paintings?

Answer 3

The people of Pompeii often adapted Greek paintings to suit their version of stories or their stylistic desires.

Question 4

Who is Pliny the Elder and why is he important?

Answer 4

• Pliny the Elder was an active soldier, advocate and historian.
• His only surviving work, the Natural History is a compilation of 20,000 noteworthy facts into a single universal encyclopedia.
• outlines a chronology of painting
• gives a brief account of the achievements of major artists, together with the subjects of their most celebrated work, repeatedly emphasizing those that were to be found in Rome.
• extremely relevant and important resource for archeologists trying to piece together the history of art from the ancient world.

Question 5

What was the role of sex, nudity and eroticism in Pompeian art?

Answer 5

• Pompeian art was surprisingly erotic.
• One could not walk through the streets of Pompeii without seeing an exposed phallic- often times erect.
• Many of these nude depictions are considered today as pornographic.
• the role they served in antiquity does not seem to fit this label- otherwise it would not have been such a prominent part of their daily lives.
• Sex, nudity, and eroticism were common and all we can do is guess what the Roman attitudes were about it.

Question 6

What are meant by the Pompeian styles of Mau?

Answer 6

The four styles articulated by Mau not only classify differing styles, but helped with dating as well.

Question 7

What are some of the themes used to decorate Pompeian rooms?

Answer 7

• sex, war, divinity, infidelity, incest, adultery, and intoxication

Question 8

Who was J. J. Winckelmann and why was he important for studying Greek and Roman art and life?

Answer 8

• Winkelmann is almost universally mythologized as the father of art history.
• He supplied the world with the first basic schema for art history.

Question 9

What was Winckelmann trying to prove and why was he interested in a sculpture called the Laocoon?

Answer 9

• Winkelmann was trying to prove the chronology of sculptures and categorize them based on stylistic differences.
• He especially focused on whether they were Greek, Roman, or Roman imitations.
• The sculpture Laocoon interested him so much because he saw it as a classic representative of his “beautiful” period.
• He saw it as a good source for the topic of coping with the clash between admiration and horror- admiration of the beauty of the heroism and horror of the realization that we are enjoying but no sharing in the agony of his last moments.

Question 10

What was the interest of Augustus’ successor as emperor, Tiberius, in Greek sculpture for his cave at Sperlonga?

Answer 10

Tiberius made the cave with the art into a cafe and the cave almost caved in. The style and attraction was his idea.

Question 11

Why did people so want to collect ancient sculpture in the Renaissance and after and who was Charles Townley and why was he important.

Answer 11

• Renaissance is the rebirth or renewal so people were looking to the past.
• Charles Towny is a famous English art collector.
• He bought a huge collection of ancient Roman artworks.
• A lot of the works he bought were subject to fraud or forgery.

Question 12

How did Roman general Lucius Aemilius Paullus exemplify Rome’s interest in the Greek world?

Answer 12

In ancient times he went to an area in Greece and conquered it. He returned to Rome with one of the largest collections of Greek art.