Hesiod: A Narrative Analysis

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In this piece, I intended for the viewer to feel a sense of compatibility between the classical time period and the modern world. At first glance it may just look like seven random men and a monkey, but I hope after a deeper analysis that whoever is looking at it realizes that the first four men are meant to be a representation of the contemporary idea of evolution while the men on the bottom represent Hesiod's idea of evolution, or more appropriately, devolution of humans. Today, we think of evolution as a progression. We started as primates and over time have become the most intelligent creature to ever live on Earth. Hesiod, on the other hand, describes men as having begun in an elite stage and slowly deteriorated to the point of where we are more like beasts that a dominating species. I hoped this point would be further depicted by the symbolism in the men’s positioning as they become closer to the ground and consequently farther from the gods and closer to animals. Beginning in the Golden Age, people lived among the gods and had no troubles or obligations. …show more content…

By doing this, I wanted views to realize that although the classical period was over more than a thousand years ago, we still appreciate these aspects in art. Today we still seek interaction with our art as well as beauty and a little mystery. In modern day, we think of our evolution of consisting of strong men because after all, we consider ourselves to be the best organism to ever exist. The classical artists also understood that physical strength represented greatness and attractiveness and made their art pieces equally as muscular as we do today. Similarly, we still associate a lack of emotion with rational reasoning and consider pieces in which the person looks as though they are in motion to be the most advanced

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