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Literary Analysis
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Titian often made art that displayed religious events or classical allegory. In this painting Titian tells the love story of Bacchus and Ariadne. Ariadne seems to mourn her love that has just abandoned her, and Bacchus comes forward in a diagonal angle towards the foreground. Bacchus is the god of wine and intoxication and has his followers partying behind him as he rides his chariot led by cheetahs. The background information of Ariadne and Bacchus explains why their bodies are in such contrasting movement. The muscles in their bodies are slow in catching up with the movement of their heads causing dynamic tension. The gaze they share is dramatic and passionate because it is the only portion of the painting that is not in motion. Chiaroscuro
appears in the painting as Bacchus and Ariadne seem to be glowing with more luminous colours in comparison to the other people in the painting bearing more earthly colours. On Bacchus side the people are animalistic and it seems as if Bacchus is casting a giant shadow on them making the light spread unevenly along the painting.
prized. This of course was more of a problem for a rich husband than a
In his Confessions, Augustine presents himself as Christian Aeneas by comparing his own wanderings to search for the truth about Christianity with Aeneas’ journey to find Rome in the Aeneid. The Confessions and the Aeneid approach some similar patterns. Aeneas comes from Troy, then delays his journey at Carthage and finally clearly understands his fate through the underground tour with Sibyl and Anchises. Augustine, likewise, begins his Confessions with his unbridled youth, then talks about his departure from Carthage, and eventually comes to know God through his meeting with Ambrose. Parallelling Aeneas’ lost and final recognition about his mission, Augustine recounts his conversion to Christianity from a sinful boy. Both Augustine and Aeneas
Saint Leo the Great was the pope in the fifth century. He served as pope for twenty-one years. This century was the time in history when barbarian armies were ravaging the once mighty Roman Empire. Pope Leo strived to increase the influence of the pope. He had the hard job to defend the church from threat of heresy. When Attila the Hun who had already sacked Northern Italian cities and towns was marching toward Rome, Pope Leo headed north to meet him and try to stop the attack. Pope Leo met up with Attila the Hun in the neighborhood of the river of Mincio. It is said that Pope Leo said this to Attila "The senate and the people of Rome, once conquerors of
In Euripides’ play The Bacchae, the ideals that were the foundation of Greek culture were called into question. Until early 400B.C.E. Athens was a society founded upon rational thinking, individuals acting for the good of the populace, and the “ideal” society. This is what scholars commonly refer to as the Hellenic age of Greek culture. As Athens is besieged by Sparta, however, the citizens find themselves questioning the ideals that they had previously lived their lives by. Euripides’ play The Bacchae shows the underlying shift in ideology of the Greek people from Hellenic (or classical), to Hellenistic; the god character Dionysus will be the example that points to the shifting Greek ideology.
In The Bacchae, Euripedes portrays the character of Pentheus as an ignorant, stubborn, and arrogant ruler. These character flaws accompanied with his foolish decisions set the stage for his tragic downfall. Pentheus' blatant disregard to all warnings and incidents, which prove that Dionysus is truly a god, lead him to his own death. In the end, his mistakes are unforgiving and his punishment is just.
In many ways, judging and comparing Vigil’s Aeneid and Ovid’s Metamorphoses is inevitable because each of the writers lived at roughly the same time in history, both sought to create a historical work that would endure long past their mortal existences, and while each man was ultimately successful in their endeavors, they achieved their desired goals in vastly different ways. That being said, the epic poem by Ovid is superior because unlike Virgil, whose epic poem utilized a character centered narrative steeped in historical inferences and a theme that celebrated the moral virtues of Greek and Roman society, Ovid defied tradition by creating an intricate narrative that looked
In this version we see Chiron with a fully equine lower body; this is in contrast to the ancient Greek representations in which he has the front legs of a man. In addition to this reconfiguration, Chiron’s appearance is further altered with his ears. Whereas previously human, Chiron’s ears now match those of a satyr; folded over at the top. This rendering creates a more bestial version of Chiron, much more akin to a standard centaur. It may be possible that due to the rise of written sources, Roman artist were inspired by written descriptions of Chiron; simply using the word centaur, rather than having available traditional visual representations. This may then, not be a deliberate reworking of the Chiron myth on the part of the Romans, but simply a lost nuance of the character in its migration from Greece to Rome. As F. Kelsey writes; “The Chiron of our painting, has a body like that of the other centaurs, but the prominence of the human element in his nature is no less marked; he is the wise and gentle teacher, the instructor of an art” Interestingly, Chiron has retained an element of clothing and gained a laurel wreath, suggesting the artist wished to portray nobility, or even divinity, more consistent with the traditional view. It has also been suggested that this fresco is a reproduction of an actual statue in the Roman
Much to many parents’ dismay, teenage drinking is a very common and infamous trend of the times. Many teenagers illegally consume alcoholic beverages weekly. However, instead of linking this problem to the media or peer pressure, one may want to take a look back to the days of ancient Rome; more specifically the god Bacchus.
The Birds and The Frogs, written by Aristophanes, show a strong dichotomy between the pragmatic and romantic. This dichotomy is prominent in both stories because it voices a perspective on the evolution of Greek culture. Although written for entertainment, many of the punchlines refer to the real life triumphs and crises of Greece. For example; both plays were written during the 4th Century BCE, during which, Athens was on the brink of war with Sparta. The crisis in Athens is used as a plot point in both plays, with many characters desperately trying to find a way to resolve this conflict or run away from it. This relates back to the dichotomy. In The Birds, the characters of Pisthetairos and Euelpides start off with the intention of running away from the possible destruction of Athens. They represent the pragmatist who decide face this possible reality. In The Frogs, the satirized version of real life Greek poet, Aeschylus, is obsessed with idealizing Greece, and believes that Athens can save itself from despair. He is represents the romantic who refuses to face this possible reality.Although both perceptions are subjective, both plays depict those who have this idealistic and impractical attitude, are the ones who actually succeed in their objectives. These characters triumph because of their obsession with preserving these romantic concepts instead of accepting a more realistic perception. This leads the character to be resolute.
Context undoubtedly plays a major role in both the creation and the interpretation of literary works, as it dictates how the author and the audience relate the entities within the literary work with those in reality. Two versions of Antigone, each written by Sophocles and Jean Anouilh, exemplify the influence of context on the literary works; although both depict Antigone’s struggle to bury her brother Polynices against Creon’s edict, each version revolves around slightly different topics and is perceived differently.
Venetian paintings are known for their beautiful landscape, mood and mystery and a classical influence of nude figures. The artwork that contains mood and mytery is called Feast of the Gods. Giovanna Bellini and Titian painted it in 1529 and it can be found on page 483 in the textbook. The setting is very usual for most of us, but again they are Gods in the middle of a forest trying to have a good time. On the very left of the painting there is a nymph with a human upper body and what look like a dear legs carrying a vase of wine on his head. I find myself pondering weather or not he was born that way or maybethe other Gods turn him into a half man and half dear for something he did. This nymph is a mytery. Next to him is a little girl drawing
Throughout the ages there has been many tales, poetry, and writings that date back to the dawn of time about men and women uniting together as one, or finding their other half. One could agree that we have spent time pondering the idea of when we are going to find ‘the one’ or our ‘significant other.’ This questioning and waiting help fuel us for the future and for many of us, keeps us awake at night. “When one of them meets the other half, the actual half of himself - the pair are lost in an amazement of love and friendship and intimacy and one will not be out of the other 's sight.” The Speech of Aristophanes Plato demonstrates through his writing of dialogue how humans spend quite a bit of time searching for their other
This painting is an example of how an artist took a scene from a classical mythology which is what the neo-classism is. This artist overcame the Baroque traditions which was part of the Rococo era (914). It shows in the painting that of them wearing Greek clothes. This is important because neo-classicism was described as using tradition Greek and roman traditions. The painting was roughly symmetrical which is characteristic of neo-classicism paintings (914). The painting was centered in Mount Parnassus which is where the paintings name from and it is the central area of Greece. The main god in this painting is Apollo who is a god that ancients believed in (914). He was a god of poetry, music and the arts. There was also the nine Muses in the painting. This all goes back to show how this painting was of a tradition thing from the Greek
Euripides’ Bacchae is one of his greatest works, a tragedy with popularity of such scope that even today people around the world are reading it, though most often in Classics classes. It provides the reader with a classical Greek tragedy, but also a gripping, funny, and ultimately sad story as we watch a proud man, the king of Thebes, Pentheus, ultimately fall to his own hubris, in his case thinking he can tame his people, or more specifically, outlaw the god Dionysus. This is meaningful beyond the obvious, as a symbol for trying to control your own “wild side” and how it inevitably ends in failure; For Pentheus his failure results in an absolutely gruesome death at the hands of his own mother, but my story tries to go in a different direction, instead offering Pentheus a way out of his predicament, in the form of Zeus, the divine ruler of the heavens and upholder of order. My story also tries to showcase some of the shortcomings of Dionysus’ wild nature in contrast to Pentheus’ level-headedness. Ultimately the ending of my version of the play has Pentheus fall prey to his own hubris as in the original, but adds a small touch relating him to another Greek myth.
Her body looks to be pulled in two different directions as she is trying to gain control or understand the situation she placed in. “Raphael depicted her amongst a throng of sea creatures as she speeds away from her admirer on a fantastical shell drawn by dolphins.” (Villa Farnesina, 1). She stands on an open clam shell being pulled by dolphins as she looks in the opposite direction at putti ready to shoot her with arrow and maybe later at the figures being in their own intense situations. Each lower figures in the water has a type moment that looks as if one is pulling or forcing a character as another is pushing away from the one pulling. This also shows there is control-taking place with these figures. The only complete control seen in this painting is with the four putti in the sky ready to fire arrows at Galatea. This overall painting has a lot going on and with its added drama with a settle style it shows a mannerism effect as well. From the top down there is a shift in control. The higher the figure the more control and the lower the viewer moves their eye down the less each figure has control of the situation taking place. The drapery is settle in this painting maybe due to most if the figures being in water, however Galatea has quite a bit and her pose seems to cover the main parts of the body that would be known for