Greek And Roman Cultural Ideas

The world saw Greek and Roman views on the world of realist and the importance of human development. During the 15th century, people were getting an education and moving away from family businesses. The idea of human importance stayed within society of western culture. From the Greeks ideals of society and the world, art was being experimented on and many different genres of art started to evolve from this idea. The Greek and Roman ideals of the world and humans created the art world to blossom into something unique.

The Greeks and Roman ideas or views of the world in the 18th century changed from a style of artwork into a symbol. During the 18th century, a movement was being developed in the western culture known as the Age of Enlightenment.

Greeks during the Geometric period of their artwork was a period of them gathering artistic skills and understand of other civilizations around them. Greece was comprised of city-states. The city-states did not have the same trade routes as other city-states in Greece, but the majority of city-states were fascinated by the artistic cultures around them. A professor of Logic and Greek at Livingstone College in Salisbury, named George James discovers a new origin of the Greek culture. George main idea is that the Greek’s philosophies were stolen from Egyptian’s ideas. The author mentions how “Egyptian mystery system” is the same concepts/ideas as the Greek’s philosophy. The author is stating that Egypt could be the foundation of the Greeks culture and philosophies. The reason for this is the Greeks may have stolen ideas from Egypt according to the author. He argues that Alexander the Great "invaded Egypt and captured the Royal Library at Alexandria and plundered it", that Aristotle 's ideas came from these stolen books and that he established his school within the library. Greek art was influenced by Egyptian art when comparing sculptures. The Greeks created a stance called contrapposto, where the body of sculpture has an “S” shape. Contrapposto usually has one leg out in front of the body and one leg behind bent. The Egyptians had this same technique, except the body would not be in an “S” shape

Greeks wanted their artwork to reflect the natural world, as well as, emphasize important aspects of Greek culture; for example, over exaggeration of muscles to represent strength in Greek Gods. Egyptians focused on their religious culture, instead of mastering art techniques in their work. After the Geometric period, Greeks no longer focused on understanding other civilizations, but wanted to focus on their own style and the realist elements of a natural world. During the antiquity and classical period of Greek artwork, Greek and Roman artwork had a visible realist element. The civilizations surround them still focused on geometric shapes and basic forms of the natural world. The majority of the civilizations that traded with Greeks focused mainly on religion or protecting their city. Contrapposto stays in Greek artwork for a while but as the Classical period ends and the Hellenistic period start, contrapposto disappears. Statues from the Greek and Roman artist start to have a more realist pose (Gardner and Kleiner). For example, The Boxer at Rest, the figure is sitting down and looking relaxed, instead of standing up strong in an uncomfortable