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I also think that the architecture before this time was not as predominant compared to the years before. I think the  Gothic period was the time for the architectural styles of art. I have never looked at the Saint-Denis cathedral windows, but I know from other churches and even mosques they are truly beautiful. The one thing I love about these stained windows is that they show both a beauty aspect, but also they try to show the history of their church. In our church, it is often depictions of saint Walter or St Elias as he was the man our church was built from.  

Blog Post 15

This week the chapter is about the origins and some of the art that is considered Gothic art. Before reading this chapter I had no previous knowledge about this art. It was nice to approach this chapter with a open mind. 

The first piece of architecture that is mentioned in the book is Saint-Denis. From Suger’s addition to Saint-Denis was the creation of Gothic art. I thought it was interesting to learn about the influences that Suger had. The book says that Suger studied the construction of a temple and writings of Saint-Denis. Inside this chapel the columns and arches remind of the architecture that we learned about from previous chapters like in Roman art for example. I thought the picture of the chapel bay helped at envisioning how incredible this place was because the arches have fine detail at the top of columns. This picture also includes the sun shining through the stain glass which was prominent in Gothic churches. I appreciate all the other architecture but I find the stained glass to be the most appealing. The chapter goes into more detail about stained glass and I was unaware of all the steps that go into creating these pieces of art. Pieces of fired glass are cut into individual pieces in the shape of the picture and then they are fitted into a structure made from metal. When I seen the picture of the stained glass it reminds me of the churches that I have seen. It was interesting to find out that in early time Christian churches rarely had stained glass but in Dubuque now almost much every Christian church has stained glass in their church windows. This shows that over the years periods like the Romanesque and Gothic times had influence over other periods. 

It is not uncommon for the exterior of churches to have detailed sculptures that represent the beliefs of that church.The Chartres Cathedral has sculptures made of stone on the west and south sides of the cathedral. This seems to be a common thing with not only churches but any place of worship or somewhere that is spiritual. For example in Egyptian architecture outside of tombs are large sculptures that represent their culture in someway. This type of art also reminds me of Roman art because the Triumphal Arch has fine detail of figures and patterns on the outside of a large arch. The book then goes into detail about the interior of the Chartres Cathedral which in my opinion is just as interesting as the exterior. The tall ceiling with arches going across is a statement of how much time that was put into the architecture of the building. The rose window and lancets was the most appealing window because of the size. The books says that the rose windows is about 42 feed wide which seems extremely large. 

The architecture from the Gothic period seemed like the most prominent art that came from this time. Each cathedral created was a reflection of how advanced these architects were in this time. The size and every little detail that was put into these buildings is mind blowing. The last thing I would like to add is according to the book the Cologne Cathedral started being built in 1248 and was completed in 1350. That means the people that started were not even alive when it was finished. Architecture like this takes over 100 years to complete. 

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Gothic Art

Whenever I hear the word Gothic I think of black, dark, and depressing things. What I used to believe is that all Gothic things come from the groups in the Gothic communities, but from the reading in this chapter it is clear it had an original meaning. I do not know a lot about the Gothic communities, but I believe that they have reinvented the meaning of “Gothic”. The old belief of what gothic was defined as is something I strongly believe it should be. The way it used to be defined as before the Gothic movements was art from Western Europe during the 12-16 century.

When looking at the book I come to learn that the Gothic art was mainly found in the paintings, sculptures and the design/building of churches. One of the churches that the book showed was the Saint-Étienne. This gothic style cathedral was truly amazing with breathtaking widow paints along with the overall beauty of the building. Something I was always told is that the sun is very important as it is a way for God to share his warmth and sight of his beauty to you and those around you. I thought of this when looking at the Saint-Étienne’s church along with others as they always provide these painted windows to show the religious history's of the church along with allowing in the sunlight. I believe many Christian religions believe that the sun is God's way of sharing his warmth and beauty as I grew up in an orthodox church and most all of the Gothic style churches were Catholic. Seeing the connection here makes me feel like we all are not that different.

After reading this chapter I was very surprised to see how its relevance was very close to events that have happened today. After learning more about Gothic style churches I came to see that the Notre Dame cathedral was apart of the gothic art. This chapter is very relevant as many gothic cathedrals are having accidents such as the fire at the Notre Dame cathedral due to renovations. Not only are we seeing these once in a lifetime style churches disappear we are seeing a big debate on how we should deal with these churches. Many debates have been started after a fire started in a part of the Notre Dame cathedral. Many are questions on if we as a world should be risking restoring art. The fire at the Notre Dame cathedral was caused because of the renovations and if they would not have been there it would not have burned down. This is leaving people with the question of should we or should we not save art.

I strongly believe we should save and protect it, but in doing so we need to increase spending on how we go about saving and restoring art. I say if there will not be extra spending on this then we should not as we are losing the great works from once in a lifetime people such as Giotto, Donatello, Duccio, Carlo Crivelli, Albrecht Dürer and later artist like Leonardo de Vinci and Michelangelo.

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I really enjoyed reading your blog post! Your blog post provided me with more insight toward the Islamic portion which was the main focus of my blog post and even more so it gave detailed descriptions about this chapter. Something I always find amazing is how no matter what form of history rather it be religious history or art history it all connects and reading your blog helped me connect this chapter with previous ones.

Early Middle Ages

The early middle ages has a lot to tell about western history. Upon beginning this chapter I did not expect to learn half the things covered in this chapter. One large surprise was the effect of Islam on Western art; additionally, Saxons were not previously on my radar of western art. One of my favorite pieces of this chapter was the side textbox about manuscript illumination, I have several fairytale books with similar designs upon their covers and it was fascinating to me.

“Islam means ‘submission (to God’s will)’”. Founded by the prophet Muhammed, Islam came to stretch across Afghanistan to France and rivaled Christianity. Their message is quick and to the point, man is a brotherhood and all are equal before Allah (their God). In their religious practices, Muslims pray five times a day and must visit Mecca at least once in their life. Due to the Islamic faith condemning a figurative representation of Allah their art consists of floral and abstract geometric patterns. This beauty can easily be seen in the Great Mosque in Cordoba Spain, figures 11.1-11.4. I personally love this style and condemnation of a representation of God because I feel as if many religions, especially Christianity, become caught up in worshiping an image while in truth God is all around us, from every flower to the tsunamis that plague the coasts, while He may take the form of man He is a celestial being and people tend to forget that when given an image of Him.

The Saxons created great mealtwork and conducted even greater theological studies or the study of God. I was quite intrigued by the story of Beowulf which describes a ship burial similar to that of which the Sutton Hoo purse was found. In the story Sargon of Akkad is mentioned. We learned about him in the Mesopotamia chapter back on page 40. The further into the book we read, the more connection are made and it’s a fantastic web of art evolving from historical stories and other arts. Even before this, I was drawn to the section about the Saxons because I am a large fan of the legend of King Arthur and his knights of the rounds table. For those who are unaware of his story, King Arthur fights the Saxons during his reign.  

An example of Pagan and Christian overlap is in the use of manuscripts and their illuminations. Figure 11.6 the Lion Symbol of Saint John is a good example of this. The dense patterns create an image of a lion in profile with its jaws open and rawring. The outline is of a optical illusion almost of a ribbon had been threaded and threaded through itself repeatedly. These illuminated manuscripts were not only beautiful, they were hand-decorated texts that were needed in great numbers for the study and spread of Christianity. Scribes with good penmanship and excellent eyesight copied the writings of one manuscript to a new one on a high-quality calfskin called vellum. For one, this reminded me again of how many connections there are throughout the history of art. For two, it brought to mind the printing press. Now days we can have as many copies as possible of the Bible or any book at all really, but in being able to do so there’s a certain beauty lost. Old calligraphy and hand written texts were works of art, and while writing styles can still be artistic, the bindings which hold them are often mundane and quite boring compared to old textbooks.  

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The Middle Ages

Most recently near the middle part of our school year, we talked about the middle ages and the big burst of cultural that was happening. One thing in the western civ class I was taking we never touched on the art aspect of how it affected the world. One focus of our studies was the Gothic art. This chapter not only did not focus on Gothic art, but it focused on Middle Eastern middle ages art, styles, and forms of art. This is something I really enjoy as most of my friends are Islamic and with that said I have always wanted to study more about them. With the first part of the chapter focusing on Islamic art and less of western European art, this became a really fascinating and informative chapter.

I would have to say that the Islamic portion of art was very interesting. It was only a small portion of the book and I became very interested in it. I chose to ask my friend Joe (who follows the Islamic religion) about it and asked questions like why would they choose to not use sculptures and why they believe it was Satanic not only there, but in any of their works of art and questions about the mosques. Not only did he tell me about them he told me where he went to his and how they are as people. He told me many of the Christian churches no matter what branch throughout history would have sculptures of naked men or naked women. Unlike those Christian religions, the Islamic people believed that it would put Unpure thoughts and the person who is looking at the sculpture painting or structure.  he said the Christians used it as a way to depict people and it would be seen and sometimes a holy thing, but the Koran clearly states that it was a sin to have  Unpure thoughts put into your mind and the sculptures would depict genitalia area and under the rules of the Koran that would be against Allah. He said it would be Satans temptation to do evil. Mosque are a place of worship and should be a place of great beauty. Islamics spent no expense on these Mosques and places like the great mosque of Cordoba show us that. Not many people know that there are not many mosques in the US, but one of them are located in Dubuque Iowa this is the one my friend attends. I've never gone in, but the exterior of the mosque is truly amazing. It was built most recently and it is truly beautiful, but it has nothing on the mosque of Cordoba.  the pictures of this mosque are truly amazing arches of the mosque truly astounding creating a deep visual large spacious effect to the mosque. Something I found to be very interesting was that the Islamics do not depict pictures of God or Allah as they believe it is against his will and if they do this it may become idol worship as people chose to see that depiction of Allah rather than let him be all powerful. 

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I would agree that art played very big roles in the religious world. During the start of Christianity, people who followed it did not have any tangible thing or physical objects to prove what they believe and if one could see is something the people of A.D. saw to be the only way to prove something. Therefore, many religious groups used art and sculpture to help show the people what they were about and I strongly believe that without the help of artist religious groups mainly Christianity would not be around today.  

This weeks chapter covered Ancient Rome. This was a very long chapter that is for sure. Yet is was very fascinating. It covers so many topics. Since there was so much information and so many topics, I am just going to highlight some og the topics that caught my attention throughout this chapter.

Domestic architectures, which many were preserved due to the eruption of the volcano, Mount Vesuvius dated back in A.D. 79. This eruption covered many towns and villages. The two major ones include Pompeii and Herculaneum. Both these towns were lost and forgotten until 1592 when some Roman architect were digging and discovered some ancient ruins that was preserved by the ashes from the volcano.

Public baths caught my attention, due to the fact that in this day and age, we like our privacy when it comes to our body. Plus I feel bathing together is a little unsanitary if you ask me. Yet is really fascinates me in the fact of how open and accepting people are to the point they can bath together without being ashamed. I like the idea of a community area to come together and do things as a community. I just feel bathing in the fame water together with a lot of people is not a good idea. I like the idea of swimming and wrestling, but I would pass on cleaning myself with a bunch of random people. I do find the fact that they had 953 baths by the fourth century. If you ask me that is a lot.

The Colosseum is an amazing building. Even if you don’t know much about Rome nine time out of ten people have heard of the Colosseum. It is now a huge tourist area. This was a huge amphitheater, which in Greek amphi means around. Which there were “seats” all the way around this building so everyone could enjoy the theater, or whatever event they hosted in this arena. The Colosseum was seen more as a death bed for those that enter the main level. It was used for battles or fights between gladiators and animals or man versus man. I think it is a little morbid, but things have changed from back then. Now I get entertainment from cats doing silly things on the internet whereas they got their joy from watching people fight to the death. Interesting how things have changed if you ask me.

The Parthenon is extraordinary, I actually got to see the replica of it that is in Nashville Tennessee. It is enormous. I never wanted to leave. There was some much effort, beauty, and time put into this building. There was so many details, from the carving of the pillars, the war on the top of it, to the huge statue of Athena that is on the inside of it. The Romans definitely put purpose into every piece of building or art work they made. It was either luxurious or made  with lots of time and talent. The more I learn about the Romans art and structures, the more they amazing me in the amount of time they were willing to put into their belongings. This was definitely a culture to learn about when it comes to how you want to present yourself. They were not a lazy culture that is for sure.

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The one thing I can agree with you on is that Rome had very beautiful pieces of art. For me, much of Roman cultural I dislike the way they went about their ways of life to me was disappointing. They had been given the tools to create a world of peace and equality, but instead, they created a world of slave and rich, but the one thing that they had that to me was amazing was their art. Even though much of Roman art was “stolen” it was able to show us a glimmer into mote than one culture past and ways of life.

Week 11

Rome designation as caput mundi (“head” or “capital of the world”) signified its position as hub of world power. The Roman Empire expanded to many places like the Iberian Peninsula, Armenia and Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the British Isles. Everywhere the Roman legions went, they took their culture with them. The main parts of their culture that they took with them was their laws, religion, and the Latin language. Romans were influenced by Greek sculpture, painting, and architecture. Roman artists copied Greek art; they also identified their own gods with Greek gods and adopted Greek iconography.

In the book A History of Western Art in chapter 9 of Ancient Rome, it spoke about many Roman art. Some of the arts it spoke about was architectural buildings or cites, sculptures, portraits, and paintings and mosaics.

There were many architectures in Ancient Rome. One architecture I thought was the most amazing was the domestic architecture called House of the Silver Wedding (picture of a room with a rectangular opening in the ceiling). This architectural building was a large hall entered through a corridor from the street. There was an atrium roof usually sloped inward with a rectangular opening that allowed rainwater to collect in an impluvium (sunken basin in the floor). This basin led to a separate cistern. I thought this was very interesting because I really like how the ceiling is open and lets rainwater come in. I think it would be very cool if I was in the building while it was raining. Another architectural building that I found interesting was the Baths of Caracalla (black and white picture with water fountains). This building is known as a public bath. This meant that is was a cultural center, a place for socializing, bathing, and swimming. This building also provided facilities for playing ball, running, and wrestling. Light entered the room through the upper clerestory windows and illuminated the myriad surface patters created by marble, glass, painted decoration, and water.

There were also many sculptures in Ancient Rome. One sculpture that I found intriguing was the sculpture of Augustus of Prima Porta (picture of a man sculpture with a child). Augustus was an emperor, and was portrayed as addressing his troops. The iconography of this statue emphasizes the power of Rome embodied in Augustus. By the statues right led, Cupid (Venus’s son) rides a dolphin and serves as a reminder that Augustus traced his lineage to Aeneas (another son of Venus’s) and thus was descended from the gods. The statue of Augustus was marble and was 6ft 8 in. high. I thought this statue was very cool because of the little kid by his right leg riding a dolphin. At first I thought it was his child until I read more about the sculpture. I also like the detailing in the statue.

The portraits were also very interesting to learn about. One of the portrait types most characteristic of Rome was the bust (head detached from the body). One portrait I found visually pleasing was a portrait of a young Flavian woman (picture of a women head bust). Portraits of upper-class women became popular in the first century A.D. and was showed in this portrait. This bust wears the elaborate, fashionable coiffure of a young Flavian lady. The lady wore curls that framed the face. These curls were deep carved which creates a strong opposition of light and dark that adds to the sense of mass. I thought this portrait was very visually pleasing because of the details in the hair. I thought it was very pretty and intriguing to look at. Another portrait I found very amazing was the portrait of Constantine (picture of a huge male headed bust) who was an emperor. The bust was depicted in a colossal marble and was over 8 feet high. I thought this portrait was very interesting because of the geometric eyes and the size of the statue. My first thought was that the man in the bust was bold and brave. I also thought that the bust showed power and interest from the eyes, and that he represents the power of people.

Some of the paintings were very realistic. One painting I found very pleasant was a still life (picture of some peaches and water). I thought this still life painting was very pleasant because of the shading and highlighting in the painting. It looks very realistic but also looks like an allusion.

There are many kinds of Ancient Rome art that was spoken about. They were all unique and amazing in their own way.

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Chapter 9/Ancient Rome

Throughout most of my school life, I have read and talked about Europe almost every year and Rome is a very popular subject when looking at Europe. Now with that said it's not a bad subject it is just such a vast area to talk about and to study it in a week or even a few days it is not even close enough time to study the deep parts of Roman art. When talking about Roman art and architectural buildings often times people will claim they just copied everything from the Greeks or the Macedonian people and implemented it into their own culture, but to me that is wrong. It is clear to see that from this chapter Rome did not copy  anything from other cultures rather do to Rome's geological location Rome was a Melting Pot for other cultures to walk through and trade with, that's meaning Roma's exposed to different ways of life and ways of thinking there for many of their architectural buildings, sculptures, values, and ways of thinking would come from different cultures. Therefore it is less of copying From other cultures but creating a more diverse way of life from the cultural diffusion of other people's artistic designs and ways of life.

One thing I strongly believe that Rome has created by themselves would be the arch. One thing I noticed from this reading was the arch was not used by any other culture from past readings we would see Greece using platforms to hold lands using a triangle face roof but Rome was able to create the arch which allowed mini different architectural phenomenons to form. Not only were they able to produce amazing looking buildings but they were able to provide a more stable way of bridge-making and safer water waves. The aqueduct to me was an amazing structure built and without the use of the arch, it may have never been built. I believe that the aqueduct games the Roman people their own piece of art. Their sculptures oftentimes portrayed many of the ideals that the Greek culture had made so I believe without the arch they would have been a country built out of copying from one another therefore without the arch Rome would have never had their own identity as a country.

Something I always like to say is Greeks invented everything, but the thing is we have taken from many other cultures and put it into our own. The thing we “stole” from Rome was their arch and we put this into many different forms of art, but the most important reason we took this from Rome was for the vineyards. We use a arch like structure to help the grape vine grow and ripen perfectly. This way the wine Greece's makes will taste more than amazing and without Rome, Greece would not have their wine.

America uses arches in their Gardens something that we see as beautiful even though it is just a shape. It is used in a building or just a arch made of wood to allow beautiful gardens to grow around to make a majestic mystical look to a garden.

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I agree this chapter was very interesting! When looking at the other chapters they just skipped to a different time period, but with this one, it tied into both Greece and Egypt along with the new information. After I read the chapter my brother said when he was in college they talked about the Etruscan art and he told me a lot of their art looks like it came from different cultures and this was mainly due to them being a trading country. He said they were able to see so much of the world and because of this, it changed their part of the world.

Blog 7

The art of Etruscans in something I have not learned about in the past, I am finding a lot of what is in the textbook is new to me.  Something I found interesting about this chapter is they connected back to the chapter of Ancient Greece.  I thought it was interesting that each of them had a connection to each other.  While looking over chapter eight, there are lots of unique sculptures that was made during the time of Etruscans.

The sculpture that grabbed my attention the most was on page 118, figure 8.2.  When I look at it I do not see a wolf, as they say it is in the description.  I see it more as a very scared pig while baby humans drinking its milk.  This sculpture is called the Capitoline Wolf.  The statue shows the wolf protecting her cubs, she shows her teeth to the intruders.  The stature goes with the tale of Romulus and Remus, who are the founders of Rome.  This stature of the wolf nursing Romulus and Remus is the symbol of Rome.  The wolf was most likely suppose to be a guardian.  This statue was one of the few remaining sculptures of the bronze industry.  

On page 120 in figure 8.2 shows the back of a mirror with Uni nursing Herakles in front of other Gods. Herakles is an adult which shows he is accepting into the pantheon of gods and his attainment or immortality. The mirrors were decorated with mythological scenes and their names were carved into them showing who it belonged to. Women of Etruscan art were viewed more highly than women in Ancient Greece.  They enjoyed public life with their husbands and held higher positions than Greek women.  They went with their husbands to banquets.  Higher class Etruscan women wore jewelry to outing to show their ranking.  In Etruscan art women dominated over men by being older, more powerful, and higher in status.  You can see this in the picture of the mirror.

Tomb painting grabbed my eye, they always do. They tell a story shown out, unlike a sculpture which is only one scene, where a painting can be many.   Painting on page 124 in figure 8.12 grabbed my attention the most.  I think this is because of the leopards at the top and the people down below.  In the painting women are drawn in lighter skin and men have darker.  In the picture it shows men and women sitting and the servants are standing.  The colors shown are terracotta tones of brown, with wreaths, plants, and extra details in the background.  

Chapter 8, in my mind was very crazy.  I do not understand how a wolf nursing Romulus and Remus could be the symbol of Rome or how it came to be.  I think that is part of the mystery of the past, the not knowing.  We can not answer every question because we were not there to live it and to understand it.  

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Chapter 8 Etruscan's

Chapter 8 has been a very interesting chapter as I have known little to none about the Etruscans people and even their art.  when reading I was able to discover that much of it was tied into Greek architectural designs along with sculptures, carvings within tools such as pans vases and statues. The Temple of Apollo at Veii shares many similarities with the Temple of Athena or known as the Parthenon such as the suportsCarvings within the rooftop and the overall look of the Temple,  But when looking at the temple I can also see many similarities with Eastern countries of China and Persia. I believe these people style of art is truly amazing as they were people of trade meaning they traveled all over their world which gave them inside to other people's ways of life in which they incorporated into their own art and their ways of life.

Not only did the temple share similarities between the cultures of Greece, Persia, China, and Africa/Egypt, but so did many of their sculptures and pottery.

You could see their Cultural diffusion of art through things such as the wounded chimera. From the wounded chimera one could see the body of a lion in which could only be found in Africa at this time and the body of a goat which was common to see in Greece, and with the tail of a snake which most likely could be found within their own Homeland, Greece, Africa, Persia, or many other places throughout the world. But from these different animal parts it gave the people of today Insight on how these people interacted and how they may have been connected in some ways.

When reading I saw something that really stuck out to me. Which was the way they treated their women and how they portrayed them within their art. Throughout the world around them in places such as Rome, Sicily,Greece, Persia, Africa, Egypt, and Pompeii women overall were treated the same used as a housewife doing household chores and producing children, but when looking at the Etruscan women they could be seen participating in public life holding higher positions than their husband's be involved state affairs use their money in any way they saw fit. One of the biggest things was they were able to participate in school and get a form of Education.  I think these people have been overlooked within history as I am now very interested in learning more about the Etruscan people and to see if their art was real or fake. Possibly the women would portray themselves higher than what they were as a way possibly put themselves in a position they wanted, but n doing this it gave us a fake reality.

I believe way of portraying death and burial scenes shell in line with many of the Egyptian ways of doing things. I believe if it wasn't for them being a trading people they would be much like Rome and not have this cultural diffusion and a style they can call their own.

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I would have to disagree with what you said about how the Greek forces more on the view rather the meaning. Most of the art we have looked at has been used for religious uses or the use for benefiting humankind. The Greeks mainly in the time of the golden age of Athens tried to go deeper into ideas such as beauty and they began to ask questions such as what is beauty and how may this be applied to our living. Therefore I would have to say that greeks did pieces for art for both looks and meaning.

Week 8

What is beauty? The podcast started off with a lovely melody and then stated that it was a beauty. The Greeks thought that we owe all of our beauty to Athens. The word “kallos” means an attractiveness and it beautiful. Whereas kalós just means good or a fine piece of work. Konstan goes on to talk about the two questions about beauty. What does beauty do and what are things that people find beauty in? In other words, does beauty make us admire something or does it make us attracted to something?

 According to Konstan, Greek put emphasis on attractiveness rather than admiration. I would have to agree with this as well. Reading through chapter 7 and looking at all of the different art, I felt a sense of their artwork gearing towards more of looks than meaning. The pottery and vases had many detailed marks and colors. Two of the vases had people painted on them and they appear to be hunting. There is detailed work on the tops and bottoms of the vases as well. 

The sculptures designed by the Greek have lots of details as well. All the sculptures have hair that is detailed with curls or braids. The one sculpture that stood out to me was the Spear Bearer. The reason that this particular sculpture stood out to me because of an episode of Spongebob. I used to watch Spongebob all the time and one episode contained a sculpture that was supposed to look the Michelangelo’s David sculpture. Even though Michelangelo was Italian and we are learning about Greek in this chapter, I can see some resemblance between the two pieces. 

The Greek Theatre caught my eye for many different reasons. The purpose of this theatre was for entertainment such as music and drama. It is designed based on scientific knowledge on how sound travels. This has a lot of resemblance of stadiums and concert halls today. Almost every concert I have been to the seating arrangements looks exactly like this Greek Theatre, which was built after the 5th century. This goes to show that the Greeks were very smart and that we still today, build stadiums and seating like they did back then. 

In the podcast, Konstan also stated that the word beauty was aimed towards women and younger individuals. You would never hear it being used to talk about an adult male. This is still true in our society and I don’t think it will ever change. It’s common for people to call women beautiful and to acknowledge their beauty. However, nobody really talks about men that way. Society rarely calls men beautiful. In the podcast, Konstan gave the example of the god Hercules being a hero. You wouldn’t want to call your hero pretty. Rather, you’d want to admire his strength and ability. That is something we have carried throughout the years and will continue to do so in the future. 

The Greeks also created beauty through symmetry and proportions. This makes sense because when things are evenly symmetric, they are thought to be perfect. The artwork in the book supports this fact, especially on the sculpture Lysippos Apoxyomenos. This sculpture contains a man with a lot of muscles. The muscles and the same on each side of the body and is evenly proportioned. If you were to cut the sculpture in half the two halves would look identical regarding the muscle shape and tone. 

People perceive beauty differently, and reading through chapter 7 and listening to the podcast gave me a different perspective on beauty through Greek’s eyes. 

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Chapter 7 & Podcast

With my family being mostly greek and me devoting my early years to the education of Greece. I really enjoyed chapter 7 for the reasons of it mainly focusing on historical correlation with pieces of art and the different styles of art in Greece as I have not looked too deep into Greek art styles and hidden meanings. I also found the podcast to be very interesting as many times humans ask what is beauty and the views of the people on the podcast shared such things such as the origins and meanings of the word. 

What I found to be very interesting in the podcast was how the word Kalos had many different views. Applying this to me I would very much so agree with what was said. When I took greek langue classes I began to see that there were two different forms of langue which were ancient Greek and modern Greek. This put mass langue barrier between people and separated many different places of Greece. In Sparta, it was more common to hear ancient greek as they were developing slower than people in Athens and Crete and the people within the Delian league. Kalos was seen as good or pretty good in Sparta were in places such as Athens it was seen as more of a profound meaning such as beautiful.

I also found their talks on what true beauty is and how people applied it to their art was very interesting. It was amazing to see that the style of art the book talk about pertaining to sculpture go deeper than just Archaic and Early classical styles. I would agree that the Ancient Greeks would make their sculptures more attractive than the normal people as these sculptures would be seen as gods. So, it would make sense that ancient and modern day people/greeks have a model of what beautiful people should look like.  

During the school year, we touched base on the Hellenistic period, but only certain parts so, when getting to go into deeper areas of it such as the past of it and the arts that were made during the time such as the winged Nike.

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I would also love to have the chance to travel to Egypt! It would be amazing just view the pyramids, but one day I would love to be able to study them and be able to go into them well studying the design and possibilties of how the came to be. 

The art of their gods and afterlife are truly amazing. I think out of all the polytheistic peoples Egyptians and Greeks would be on my top list. I say this just because of their commitment to the image of their gods. 

Week 6-(Ch.5)

I would say I had a love for the study of the Egyptian world when I was a 7th grader. I had a friend named Madison who just adored this time and the art I guess of how they lived, where they came from, what they used in there everyday life but I think the one thing she loved the most was their art and what meant something to them. Nowadays we have pictures to capture and remember memories that are important to us or a keepsake/souvenir we keep to remember a good time. And I think that’s what a lot of the Egyptians did. And because they knew that we would love to study them, I think it was a remembrance of them and so they won’t be forgotten.

Besides desperately wanting to go to Africa, I think Egypt is another place on my list to go to. Their tombs just from pictures in our textbook and from sources online just go to show how big their imaginations were and how creative they might have been. It’s just so amazing to see their art, but I don’t think they just randomly drew images or stories about their life…there had to be some inspiration. I honestly believe their art came from the God’s they worshiped. If they followed the ways the God’s lived and forever worshiped them, the God’s would show them what to draw and knew what to keep as a keepsake for our discovery about them one day. I believe they kept these keepsakes because they were important to the God’s as well. 

As a 7th grader 6 years ago, I remember in my History class learning about the pyramids and what it looked like inside from diagrams and how every question our teacher asked us, I was more than likely ready to answer or give insight about the topic we were on. Most of the time I was on the right track, but no one else said anything, so I kinda just went for it. But I was so intrigued about them and remember doing so many projects on Egypt in general and how cool it was with our discussions. My teacher also had a dry sense of humor which made it even more funnier. I believe there is so much more than what we’ve learned and like I’ve said in my other posts, we can learn off of them and build new things. Maybe all these cultures and art are tied together. Do you know how cool that would be?

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Week 6 Egypt

I found chapter five to be very interesting. When I read about places like Egypt it was most commonly done for religious purposes and to read about Egypt’s way of life, it’s periods, and the amazing forms of art they brought to our world it was truly fascinating.

Something I found to be scary was their way of ruling. According to the book the Egyptian people ruled under the principle of “maat.” This to me is a scary thing as I get how these people would worship powerful things like human emotions and their environment then apply that to gods. But when one would say a human is a god, this is truly a scary thing as how could an individual think someone who is made out of the same material so much better than themselves.

When looking at other portions of the chapter it was clear to see the Egyptians valued their hierarchy system, what happened to you before and after death, and the placement and construction of their burial sites/teams. When looking at the Egyptians it was clear to see their hierarchy system was very important in their day-to-day life. It was extremely interesting to read how their sculptures would portray the order of importance and how they were visualized. I came to this conclusion when looking at all the material used for pharaohs, queens, low-class people, and both paintings and sculptures that are in relation to the afterlife. The material used for Pharaohs and queens would be able to last longer and portray a nicer effect to the viewer's eyes for an extended period of time. Another attribute that helped me come to this was the large size and height that differentiated the importance and stature of a certain sculpture. The book said Pharaoh's would be built upon a larger scale and would have the betrayal dominance in their face. The book also said the queen would be slightly smaller in size, and the foot would not extend as far as the Kings. Nor would the hands have the same look of tension.

The last thing I found to be most interesting was the Amarna period. I found this to be interesting because Amenhotep IV changed one of the most important things in their lives. Which was their religious system. Amenhotep was able to change the Egyptian polytheistic systems into a monotheistic system. This portion was truly surprising as throughout the last pages it talked about paintings, their gods, pyramids, afterlife, and gods being pharaohs. And to see one person to change the entire system of religion was truly astonishing. Not only would it affect the religious system, but it affected their style of art and the location of their capital. I believe that if he was not of Egyptian royalty he would have been unable to do this was in his land. I feel like it was sad to see one man have so much power, but at the same time to see one man changed the entire religious system was astonishing.

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I remember talking about Hammurabi in multiple history classes. I think many see him as a terrible person or a violent monster, but I think he goes way more than that. I think when you compare him to our modern day rules he seems to be a monster, but when you begin to look deeper into his reasoning it becomes saner then what one may think.

When looking at Hammurabi and the codes you have to think his time period did not have a system of right or wrong. nor did they have a religion to fall back on for a moral compass. So, I think Hammurabi was a man who guided his people to the best of his ability, especially for his time. He made a system of right and wrong and without him, I don't think we would have been able to keep on progressing to produce things such as art and storytelling through art. 

Week 4

There were so many different types, styles, and cultures of art in this chapter four that it was almost hard to keep track of them all. Though there were so many, there was a few that stood out to me or caught my eye the most. One of these was the Uruk Period.  The other one was Babylon and King Hammurabi. There were so many other good ones in this chapter, however, these were the two that were my overall favorite.

The Uruk Period was so fascinating to me because it was the earliest known or proven writing created. Many pieces were representations of recognized or familiar details. Some are actually based on real people that existed all those years ago. I think this is so compelling to me because to think that this period in time and that this art created was our first developed writing. It is so crazy to think of the evolution of writing since the Uruk Period. The letters of different languages like Chinese for example. The way they write their letters is so different from our yet so beautiful. Some people enjoy the visual of the writing that it is actually very common to be tattooed on people’s body which is a whole different type and style of art. It also reminded me of when young kids are just learning to write and what all the letters mean once they are all put together. It makes me wonder if people learned the same way or with similar processes all those years ago. Sound or memorization to remember what actual pictures, images, or symbols meant. Or even if this process to as long, which in my opinion, I think it would have taken much longer.

I had very little history background in Babylon and King Hammurabi, but it was more than any past experience I had in the other topics. While reading this section I remember learning some of the laws that were engraved into or one a black baslak stele and thinking that while some law made sense, others were insane or crazy! It was known as the Code of Hammurabi, who was the Babylonian King at the time. The laws that were inscribed on this black basalt stele was the ‘code’ that controlled and governed his people. They were living in a fast growing empire and needed regulations and rules to stay unified and not break apart. This reminds me of an important documents of ‘rights’ or guidelines that we follow today in the United States. The Bill of Rights which is a documents of amendments, the first ten of the constitution, that keep the united states on track and not breaking any of the laws by unruly acts.

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The Oldest Art (Week 4)

When going through this chapter it reminded me of my early studies. From pre-k to my freshman year my studies focused on this region of the world. So, when reading through the chapter it was mostly a recap, but also brought new insight to objects and ideals such as art. 

One of the most interesting things I saw was how the environment around them shaped the way they ran/lived. The people of our past show us this in many ways. Some of the concepts and inventions I found to be most interesting was the late summerian’s invention of their writing (cuniform). Most of their symbols represented something such as the waves for water and a head for a head, but the one I found most interesting was the symbol for their gods. It would be in a shape that looked like a star (some thick some thin). A theory on why they did this is because of the stars. When looking up they would think that those would be higher beings shinning to show us that they are here watching over them.

One of the biggest human and environment interaction would be with the food that it provides both living and nonliving. I think people of our past saw food to be something that it was not When going through this chapter it reminded me of my early studies. From pre-k to my freshman year my studies focused on this region of the world. So, when reading through the chapter it was mostly a recap, but also brought new insight to objects and ideals such as art. One of the most interesting things I saw was how the environment around them shaped the way they ran/lived. The people of our past show us this in many ways. Some of the concepts and inventions I found to be most interesting was the late summer's invention of their writing (cuniform). Most of their symbols represented something such as the waves for water and a head for a head, but the one I found most interesting was the symbol for their gods. It would be in a shape that looked like a star (some thick some thin). A theory on why they did this is because of the stars. When looking up they would think that those would be higher beings shinning to show us that they are here watching over them. One of the biggest human and environment interaction would be with the foods and animals both living and nonliving. I think people of our past saw food to be something that it was not and I think this to be because when looking at drawings and statues of gods it is not uncommon to see them pictured as an of an animal as this was the main source of food and interaction for the people of the east.

Overall the human interaction with the environment and animals (mostly the bull) and how they incorporated that into their art and life I found to be very interesting. 

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I remember in middle school we used to study the Stonehenge and the theory you came out with I don't agree with. I agree that there were many environmental factors that went into play, but these people were developed for their time and they were able to create systems and tools that helped them get through this. I see why this theory exists, but it is clearly not true. I say this because the chances of this happing are little to none. A calendar system was based on these rocks and to have it coincidently shaped that way is so far fetched in my mind. 

Week 3 - Stonehenge

Theory article link:

https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2018/05/new-stonehenge-theory-says-humans-didnt-move-stones-after-all/

I am choosing Stonehenge to learn more about why people believe it was built and chapter three mentioned it to align with specific dates within our astrological calendar. 

From what I have read and previously know Stonehenge is a structure built between 3000 B.C. and 2000 B.C. using large pieces Saracen and bluestone. It is believed to be used to mark time similar to a calendar and some believe that it also doubled as a sundial as well.

There are many different theories on why people believe Stonehenge was built and they have a wide range of views from a burial ground for high-ranking members of their society / elite members to the belief of Aliens assisting them to make the structure and possibly a way to find their place of origin or planet. I will be focusing on the theory that the stones were not carried to the location that they rest today by humans but by the glaciers and as they melted were left in the area that we now know as Stonehenge. This theory was proposed by Geologist Brian John and he states that We have always thought that humans have been responsible for bringing the bluestones to the location and never really gave thought to mother nature and how the acts of nature could have moved the stones to the area.” After the stones had been moved and were already there for the native people of the land they later carved down sculpted and moved to create the structure the way it is to this day. (excluding the ware and tare of weather conditions and time) 

John states that there is no evidence that humans carried the stones to the location and the clumping of the stones would indicate that the humans wouldn’t have moved them into a large pile but rather spaced them out before building the structure. There are many different groups that have tried to locate local deposits of the stone used to make Stonehenge and have yet to be able to find and form of deposit other than in Wales where it has been previously thought to have came from. It is widely believed that there was a large group of people who went to Wales and collected the Giant slabs of bluestone and carried it back to their native land in what we now know as England. If it is true that humans carried these massive stones from wales to where it is located in England they would have had to carry the stones 145.2miles! It is also believed that the stones could have been brought from Marlborough Downs which would only be around 20 miles. That is a lot less than from Wales but each stone weighs around 25 tons! even if every man as strong as the current worlds strongest man who can lift 1155 pounds, one ton is 2000 pounds, you would need over 25 men per rock that is to be moved to the location. This does not take into consideration weather, the terrain weather it be up hill or down hill, or the health and condition of every human being who would have to help take part in moving the rock. With this information it seems far more likely that the events of nature would have been the cause for the bluestone to be moved to this location rather than humans carrying the stone the whole way.

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Venus of Willendorf

http://www.thenagain.info/WebChron/World/Willendorf.html

I chose to expand upon the knowledge of the women of Willendorf because of the unusual shape, design, and the frequent appearance of it in the book. When first looking at the sculpture you would never think of it as of a woman, but at closer inspection, there are distinct shapes which represent a women's body. When examing cave arts and sculptures of ordinary people they are portrayed as skinny and possibly not well fed, but when looking at sculptures of deities the shape of the individual deity is commonly fat. I believe this could be associated with the woman of Willendorf. I am greek and my ancestors also believed in many deities. The big difference is that most of these deities were muscular and well fit. So, with that, I found it very interesting that people theories that this sculpture is a deity.

The woman of Willendorf dates back between 30,000 to 25,000 BC. What is believed to be true is that the sculpture is a Venus figure or a goddess that was used to symbolize fertility. It was believed to represent fertility for the reasons of it having an enlarged stomach, enlarged breasts, and an enlarged genitalia area. Not only is its sizes defined its symbolization to fertility but also the color covering the sculpture represented menstrual blood.

I decided to compare the women of Willendorf to the Greek goddess Aphrodite. When looking at the Greek goddess Aphrodite there are many sculptures of her with eggs all over her body and enormous breast. Other sculptures have Aphrodite shaped like a human with human-like features just two enormous breast and enormous genitalia area much like the woman of Willendorf. It is clear to see that there are some similarities between the two I think this may be a sign of how women were wished to look like or how the women who were very fertile looked like. Not only the look of the two sculptures is similar, but I thought the complex of those in the past thought our women should look and how that ideal changed over time and how it stayed the same even today.

For those who carried around this sculpture or totem, it provided better chances to them at fertilization. Not only did it provide a better chance at fertilization it also provided the people in ancient times an image of what their women should look like as the closer the women would look to this figure their chances at fertilization would be better.

It was also believed the totem was a good luck charm for those carried it (most commonly during hunting missions). It reminded them like the animals that they should mate, and it provided some kind of willingness to move forward as they should meet at home. The luck may have been related to the hair which is braided into seven circles. The number seven in later years became a lucky number or a magic number. Things with the number seven were with provided great luck.

It is amazing to see how our thoughts on how women should look have changed over time. The thought process of women should have big breast as that is a sign of fertility to it doesn't matter. It truly is amazing to think of did it play a role in the ancient people's life or was it an internal feeling which had nothing to do with fertility. 

Overall I was amazed to read on how one small totem could play such a big part in ancient peoples lives.