Aphrodite Of Knidos Analysis

511 Words2 Pages

(a) The Royal Standard of Ur was dated around 1800 BCE. It was found in one of the largest graves in the Royal Cemetery of Ur. In this piece, the artist is glorifying two main ideas of “war” and “peace” (Sayre) within the Sumerian army. The war side was meant for military victories and for kings. The peace side of the standard also had figures on the box that went in order of hierarchy. People would bring animals such as cattle and fish to celebrate these famous deaths of the royal tombs. Praxiteles between 370-330 BCE created the Aphrodite of Knidos. This artwork glorified the goddess of love, Aphrodite, as the woman and protector of sailors and merchants in Knidos. Prior to this statue being created, statues of women were not to be naked; they were sculpted wearing clothing while statues of men remained naked. (b) …show more content…

The work exhibits the human dominance over animals as well as the working classes. The bottom row of the piece is showing slaves at work carrying bags on their backs while the top row of the piece shows tall men clothes in long robes carrying poles and showing authority over others who are shorter than them. In Aphrodite of Knidos the physical feature of the statue shows her covering sexual areas of her body with her hands possibly hinting the tempting ways of women in society. (c) In the Aphrodite of Knidos, since the large statue is of a naked woman it is showing the rising social status of women and equality within society. Men were more superior before. The Royal Standard of Ur shows how society functioned within having social classes. However, all of the figures in this work appear to be male. The size of these figures also depicted how important their role was in

Open Document