Archaic Greece

It is very impressive how fast we evolve by creating new technologies and manufacturing new ideas every day. We can send people to the moon, we create buildings that can almost touch the sky and we can communicate with anyone around the world in a matter of seconds. But as impressive as all this is, nothing compares to any of the ancient cultures. All the ancient cultures like the Greeks, the Etruscan and the Romans created perfectly shaped buildings, statues and magnificent pieces of art with a…

A Study of the Sarcophagus of the Spouses While the origins of the Etruscan people are unknown, they appear to historians to have been an indigenous people, possibly coming from Asia Minor. It is impossible to know the exact origins however, as no literature survived. The only written records that remain today are mainly funerary inscriptions. It is the purpose of this paper then, to examine a fundamental piece of funerary art to expand upon the history and culture of a people that inevitably…

At the Penn Museum, I observed an Attic Red Figure Stamnos. The piece was created in Attica, Greece in approximately 490 B.C.E. and is attributed to the Kleophrades Painter. According to a publication by the Archaeological Institute of America, the Kleophrades painter was a prominent artist of Athenian vase painting. The Kleophrades painter, a name assigned to the artist because his true name remains unknown, has almost ninety works that have been attributed to him. Archaeologists and Art…

The Influence from the Head of Alexander to the Head of Bodhisattva Two sculpture pieces, the Head of Alexander and Head of Bodhisattva, was created in two different time and location, but two pieces are similar in more way than just being two head sculpture from a long time ago. The marble sculpture, Head of Alexander, dated to the 2nd century, was found during excavation at the Lower Agora in Pergamon in Turkey. This is the style of portraits made by the sculptor Lysippos, who was the only…

worshipped certain individuals deemed worth of ‘Hero’ status. These heroes had sacrifices done in their names regularly, or received dedications. According to Daniel Ogden’s A Companion to Greek Religion, this worship became quite prominent in the Archaic Period.…

Pottery from Ancient Greece has not only served as holding substances, it has told many stories throughout history. Through the processes of black figure and red figure painting, stories of all kinds are told. In a seemingly simple process of carving and heating, stories have been told and passed down for centuries straight from the decorative amphoras and kraters. Ajax and Achilles Playing a Game and Skyphos with the Return of Hephaestus to Olympus both tell stories that the ancient Greeks…

wisdom probably restrained Kings from doing so. Thus, the role of Kings (basileis) and council of elders (boule geronton) were both intertwined and interchangeable in terms of power both throughout the Iliad and actual historical evidence of ancient Greece; although the former (Iliad) appears to only show implicit indications of doing…

Spartans lifestyle was controlled by Sparta’s government. This is often notorous compared to modern lifestyle. Sparta was a state of warriors. Sparta’s government used to play major role for Spartan’s fate. After the messian war in 730 BCE,Sparta conquired it’s neighbor Messenia and messenians(Used to call Helots) became slave of Spartans. Messenia’s land was distributed among Spartan warriors who participated in the war and Helots were assigned into farming and other shameful…

enhancing our knowledge about a civilization’s core values and cultural beliefs. Myths, written works, and oral stories are all different forms of literature. Two central themes in Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, provide us with many insights to ancient Greece as a civilization. Throughout The Iliad, the glorious pursuit of war preeminently serves as a driving force behind the whole poem. The poem’s heavy emphasis on pride, honor, and bravery illustrates that these ideal characteristics are also…

Greek Colonization Settlements or trading outposts were the two types of colonies traditionally founded by the city-states of the Ancient Greeks (Stein, 2005:12). Trade was the primary reason for the Greek colonial expansion into Illyria. Illyrian exports included wool, slaves, bitumen, metal ores, hides, stock, mercenaries, timber, and cereal grains. Imports from the Greeks consisted of ornaments for clothing, wine, olive oil, weapons, armour, vessels, and utensils (Hammond, 1992; Wilkes,…