All ancient cultures have their religions based upon what they try but cannot understand. Natural phenomenon like why the rain falls? Or Why does the sky thunder? In order to help them understand these and many other things they began to create the ancient Gods they would worship. With the creations of these Gods came stories as to why they created these things they could not understand. And this is what began the basis of their religious beliefs which can be seen in their art.
Much of the artwork of the ancient world deals directly with their religious beliefs. Much of this often shows offerings to God's by Kings and Queens. It is this artwork that has allowed us to understand them and their cultures.
The Egyptians who are considered to be the first great empire of the ancient world had many Gods. Their artwork shows this in great detail. Their chief God was called Amon-Ra. He is often depicted in many reliefs and statues in ancient temples and tombs. In many of these reliefs he is being given offerings by pharaohs and their queens. He is held so high in stature that sometimes the pharaoh himself is depicted as the God in reliefs. Many of the deity's shown in Egyptian artwork can be seen both as human and animal or a combination of both. This is important as it shows how the Egyptians used everything in nature in their art.
Some of the greatest artwork done by the Egyptians can still be seen in the pharaohs tombs. When created thousands of years ago these reliefs were elaborately painted with bright colors. These scenes show in detail how their art was influenced by their religion.
A few thousand years later the Greeks became known for their artwork. Although their artwork was also influenced by their religion, Greek art is more three dimensional in its appearance. By saying more dimensional we mean that the artwork is not as stiff in appearance as was the Egyptian artwork.
One thing the Greek artist were known for is their detail they gave to the human body. Every muscle and curve of the body is done in such a way, it shows the human body as a piece of artwork all by itself. A great example of this is the statue of Aphrodite of Melos. Known as the Goddess of love and daughter of Zeus and Dion, this statue is one of the most beautiful statues ever seen. This statue can be seen at the Louvre Museum in Paris and dates to 100 B.C.
Sometimes the war of the ancient world although beautiful cinsist of a more sinister nature. Artwork from the Mayan and Aztec temples in Central and South America seem to show a culture that used sacrifice as an offering to the Gods. This is not to say that sacrifice was not used by other cultures, it is most evident in these pcs of artwork. Although there is artwork showing this the Aztec and Mayans also had artwork showing and symbolizing rebirth and renewal, something they believed in deeply.
Even christianity uses art to dipicte certain eve nts and beliefs. Churches, Books, and Museums have plenty of this artwork which dates two thousand years til today. Weather it is the Annunciatin or the crucifixion, one can find plenty of artwork on it. Each piece of artwork not only dipicts the events but gives you a glimps at the artist's interputation of the events. After all that is what art is....how one sees an event, place, or object.
So it can be said that Art is greatly influnced by religion and vise versa, but more importantly art give us a glimps of culture from the ancients to our own today.
Sam's Arts is a website for all things art. Sam's Arts has Egyptian art, greek art, Pre columbian, Buddha's and more at http://www.samsarts.ecrater.com
Author:: Samuel Jaycox
Keywords:: Egyptian art, Greek art, celtic art, Buddha's,
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