Monumental Art Of The Persian Empire And Greeks In Ancient History
19:00 -7== A Iearn-us-east-1-prod-fleet01-xythos.s CPrincipals of Monumental art of Persian Empire and of Greeks state in the 6lh -5th centuries BCE.
1. Select a monument of Greek art (Parthenon or Temple of Zeus in Olympia or any other Greek temple with well preserved reliefs) and compare it with Persepolis.
2. Looking for the texts, you can start with very authoritative Grove Dictionary of Art (34 Volume Set) available on in the reference room of Axin Library.
3. There are also important resources on the internet. Look for the website of the Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies at the London University.
4. To see and download all the necessary images on/from the Artstore - huge database access to which is provided by Hofstra Library (go to portal - to libraries - to databases - to art).
5. Identify the main principles and priorities of each artistic tradition.
6. Explain them against the background of social history of Persia and Greece.
Warnings: please be sure to name all your sources both in text and in the attached bibliography. If you borrow any fragment of the text, make sure that it is taken in quotation marks. Text volume - 6 pages, Calibri 12, 1.5 line spacing. Illustrations and bibliography are not counted.< > A CD
MONUMENTAL ART OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE AND GREEKS IN ANCIENT HISTORY
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Introduction
Ancient history has provided the present world with a lot of amazing structures and sites to behold. The architectural and engineering designs behind these structures are mindboggling, and there is quite a serious attempt at showing the intelligence of ancient man, right from an early age. Looking at the artistic pieces also communicates a lot to do with the religious nature of the builders, as well as the rules who commissioned the construction of such. Embarking on such enormous engineering undertakings for the purposes of appreciating and honoring a higher being is the epitome of religious attachment to such beings. This paper expresses the relationships and beliefs of the Temple of Zeus back in ancient city that was destroyed by fire; ancient history explaining its construction and relationship to Persepolis. Of essence also, will be the ideologies behind the artistic constructions of the two, and whether there is an underlying commonality or difference.
Temple of Zeus in Olympia’s beliefs in comparison to Persepolis
The Temple of Zeus at Olympia is one of the most iconic works in Greece. It is an ancient structure, a Greek temple to be precise, located in Olympia. The temple was wholly dedicated Zeus, one of the Greek gods. Works on its construction are believed to have commenced in the period around the middle of the 5th century (McWilliam, 2011). Its blueprint was the very model of the fully developed classical Greek temple of the Doric order. Its location is also on a religious footing, with the site having been dedicated to another deity, Gaia, who was believed to be the earth mother. Additionally, it was also the same place that was the site of the temple of Hera, which dates all the way back to the archaic period.
Looking at the design of the structure, it is quite clear that the builders had a taste for precision artwork. From the onset, there is the altis. This is the enclosure that boasts of a sacred grove, open-air altars and the Tumulus of Pelops. It first came into existence during the tenth and ninth centuries, a period commonly termed at the Dark Ages of the Greek history (Hand, 2018). This period was marked with the union of the followers of Hera and those of Zeus. It therefore hinges much of its current designs on a mixture of the concepts from the two different groups. It was the product of a fusion of artistic concepts.
On the other hand is Persepolis, a location that was commonly considered to be the ceremonial capital of the HYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achaemenid_Empire" \o "Achaemenid Empire" Achaemenid Empire. Strategically situated in the heart of Iran, near the city of Shiraz, Persepolis was quite an important site in ancient times. It was a seat of power and therefore, quite a lot was considered in its construction. Its early origins date back as far as 515 BCE and its majestic nature has seen it being classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The platform upon which it was built consisted of a natural as well as an artificial surface (Silverman, 2012).
One of its sides seems to have been directly shaped out of the mountain side, cut and shaped off the Rahmat Mountain. The adjacent and opposite sides on the other hand, are made up of retaining walls, each having its own height based on the gradient of the sloping ground. There is also a double stair coming out of the west side, which upon reaching the top, slopes gently then eases out. Leveling of the terraces was then done through the fill up of the depressions
These two structures are speaking of a mix of ideologies between Greeks and Persians. To a great extent, they even provide the stark contrast that exists between Greek democracy and Persian despotism. The Temple of Zeus was a site for the celebration of the free will of the Greeks and their leadership, while the Persepolis somehow was a depiction of the empire’s subjects being forced into offering their goods and wealth to their ruler (Silverman, 2012). On the other hand however, there seems to be a clear likeness between the two. The Temple of Zeus enjoyed an aura of imperial nature which was eerily similar to that of the Persian Persepolis. This is a clear indication that the two somehow shared this imperial ideology.
There seems to have been quite a lot of interconnection between these two rivals; the Greece’s and the Persians, which went way further than just their political and mili...