Ancient Greek Art Research Paper

Since the dawn of civilization art has been a crucial part of almost every society, allowing people to express themselves and create beautiful works. Some of the most influential and impactful pieces of art come from ancient civilizations, and have stood the test of time to this very day. While there are countless examples of ancient civilizations that had many similarities as well as differences, I found the most integral and key to be from Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.
In the early days of Greece, the Greeks developed a very distinctive art style that put great emphasis on natural beauty and the human anatomy. This style of art would later come to be known as Archaic, and was thought to have borrowed techniques from the more advanced

artists in Egyptian and Persian civilizations. Because most Greek wall painting has been destroyed or damaged, much of our knowledge of early Greek art comes from the archaic style vases that were decorated with largely complex geometric designs. Initially, the Greek were mainly interested in these geometric design patterns, using the most spectacular ones as funeral vases for the deceased members of Athens’s elite class, but would soon move to new styles following the introduction of black-figure painting and red-figure painting. The black-figure technique is almost exactly as the name suggests, it allowed for more natural human forms to be represented as black figures on beige or other colored backdrops. The more advanced red-figure technique called for the artist to paint the entire backdrop of the vase in black, and leave the figures unpainted in red, allowing for the most detailed examples of human and natural anatomy to be expressed. This technique made it possible for artists to add in subtle effects to their work, such as storytelling, bodily movement, and a full range of emotions. One example of the red-figure technique is “Euphronios, The Death of Sarpedon”, where the fatally wounded Homeric warrior Sarpedon is illustrated in greatly detailed figures huddled around him. This naturalistic approach to art would continue in the Greek’s more renowned form of art, sculptures. The early kourous, or free standing Greek sculpture, were carved in marble and showed how sculpting was an art the Greek had not yet perfected. Most sculptures had blocky hairdressing, stood stiffly with arms held at the side, clenched fists, and rigid symmetry, which were also borrowed qualities from Egyptian artists. Later on the archaic period, Greek sculptors began to use more human like attributes and softer curves in their work. The most apparent example of this is the Kritios Boy, a marble statue that doesn’t stiffly face forward, like previous sculptures had. The Kritios Boy also had very smooth lines across the torso, body and hair, resembling a soft human anatomy.
As Greece moved out of the archaic period and into the Classical period, art would once again evolve.

Classical era Greek sculpting put an emphasis on art as a job rather than a private pleasure, combining idealism and naturalism to build great monuments and temples. Perhaps one of the greatest examples of this is the Parthenon, a dedication to Athena, the city’s patron deity. The Parthenon was one of the largest temples constructed during the classical art period, supervised by some of the most talented citizen-artists and brought to life by craftsmen from all over Greece. While standalone sculptures in Greece would continue, most sculpting efforts would be put towards construction jobs such as the rebuilding of acropolis temples after they were destroyed by Persian infiltrators, or the building of the Propylaea, a massive gateway that led through a

temple.
The art of the Roman Empire was largely similar to that of Greece in the sense that they both emphasized greatly on sculptures and construction projects.

After Julius Caesar’s reign, almost all Roman leaders wanted to leave a lasting image of themselves in marble, resulting in the production of large statues and buildings that served not only as beautiful works of art, but also as political advertisements. Roman artists adapted advanced sculpting techniques from classical Greek artists to use for the emperor’s propaganda purposes. This differed from the Greek approach toward sculpting in the name of art or in the name of someone, for example the Parthenon dedicated to Athena. Instead, the Romans largely sculpted to advance one’s political campaign or sway the public’s opinion of an individual. For example, the Roman ruler Augustus placed sculptures of himself in public places, such as the Augustus of Primaporta, where Augustus is shown with an armored breastplate that depicts his highest diplomatic achievement. In addition to his armor, Augustus is also standing next to a dolphin, which refers to the mythical goddess Venus, from who he claimed to be a descendant of, making the art an obvious use of sculptural propaganda. Another example of how the Romans used sculptural propaganda is the imperial forum built under Emperor Trajan. The forum consisted of a large marketplace, multiple libraries with both Greek and Latin texts, and a hall of justice. The centerpiece of said

forum was the Column of Trajan, a massive column sculpted of marble that depicted the scenes of Emperor Trajan’s victories against the uprising Dacians. The victories over the Dacian people actually funded construction and public welfare during the emperor’s reign by taking the gold from Dacian mines.
While both the Greek and Roman empires largely used sculpting and art as a driving force in their society, they differed in the purpose behind their art. The Greek’s began their art in the archaic period simply as a way to tell a story through an artistic medium such as a vase or a wall painting. This would eventually lead to the practice of sculpting which the Greek then perfected for the sake of expansion and progress. The Greek used their art to build large public services and works, and while the Romans also did this, they had they underlying motive of using it as sculptural propaganda. The Roman emperors built large forums and monuments using Greek techniques and practices, to be idolized and remembered after their death. While the similarities in art technique and style are numerous, the use of sculptural propaganda is by far the biggest difference between the two ancient civilizations.