Comparing Greek And Roman Art: The Greek Empire And The Roman Empire

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The Greek Empire and the Roman Empire have over 900 years of duration between them. Over time, each empire evolved and invented new technology. However, the art from these time periods only have slight changes in detail that occur over these centuries. Greek and Roman art are eerily similar and only have subtle differences between them. Each piece of art, no matter how old it is has a meaning behind it, which then displays a bigger picture such as religion, gender, politics, society, and more. These meanings tell us what each artwork was used for. Not only are these meanings important, but the details and look of the art tell what point the artist is trying to get across to the audience. Five works of art from the Greek and Roman periods will …show more content…

These statues are meant to represent the winning of a war, hence the name “victory.” The Winged Victory of Samothrace is a statue that is thought to be of the Goddess Nike landing on a ship after a naval victory (Cothren 123). This statue is positioned in a way that makes it look as she is lading on a ship. The sculptor creates this by detailing her in a way that makes one think the wind is blowing against her. Also, her wings are in a position that one would assume that she is landing on something. Just like the most Greek statues, the Goddess Nike represents important ideals of Greek culture. Nike represents winning over some sort of battle, whether it’s a battle with others, or one’s self. Wining wars in the ancient times was important because it showed other countries how dominant an empire was. Having a strong army that wins many wars, places fear into the empires around the Greeks because of intimidation factor. The more victories an army wings, the strong they are and the less empires will try to overthrow an empire. In Greek culture, there are many victories which show that the Greek army was strong, which symbolizes that the Greek society as a whole was a dominant empire. Victories are important statues because they remind people of history, but they also remind them to thank the Gods for allowing their society to prosper. Gods are important figures that the Greeks looked up to and worshiped. This not only occurred for the Greeks, but other Empires, such as the Romans, looked up to and worships their

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