Blog 8 (Roman Art)

The Flavian Amphitheater also known as Colosseum is a piece of architecture that we are someway or the other familiar with. This great architecture is "Rome's greatest arena" which was built in the 70 CE. The Flavian Amphitheater is probably the most seen piece of architecture in Rome, Italy. if you search Italy or Rome in the Yahoo search box you will learn that most of the pictures that will pop up are dedicated to the Flavian Amphitheater, it is located in the center of the city which means it gets a lot of attention. Originally capable of seating around 50,000 spectators, the Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles. Although in the 21st century it stays partially ruined due to damage caused by devastating earthquakes and stone-robbers, the Colosseum is an iconic symbol of Imperial Rome and its breakthrough achievements in earthquake engineering. It is one of Rome's most popular tourist attractions and still has close connections with the Roman Catholic Church, as each Good Friday the Pope leads a torchlit "Way of the Cross" procession to the amphitheatre.(wikipedia). Personally, I have always wanted to visit Rome, but every time I picture Rome I automatically think about the Colosseum, thinking that if one day I should go to Rome I would visit the Colosseum as my first tour place to visit.

Blog # 7 (Roman Art)

"the life- size bronze portrait of Aulus Metellus, is a statue known from early times as the Oractor, which depicts a man addressing and gathering, his arm outstretched and slightly raised "( stockstand 181). The pose of a politician is always shown with one arm streched like it is greeting its folowers. many magazines and newspapers still use these photos of politicians up to this date. some examples of this act seen in famous polititians are : Saddam Hussain, Hitler, Obama, .. as they greet their followers. I believe this act shows the respect of the politician for his/her followers. The statue shows that since the 80 BCE kings, important characters, and politicians have used the same greeting form to communicate with their supporters/audience.

Blog #6 ( Greek Art)

Out of all the art I have looked at so far in the chapters that we have read, The Spear Bearer has been the most familiar to my eyes. I believe that this sculpture has stuck to my mind because of the way the sculpture is arranged. The male body figure looks nearly perfect but most importantly it is nude. Not many sculptures and arts were designed nude in early generations. Polykleitos developed this sculpture larger than a life size statue carrying a spear (Stockstand 129). It is interesting to see that through the chapter of Greek art we see so many nude images of men standing like they are posing for a model picture or that they are in a war scene. Polykleitos " was a well-known sculptor and art theorist. His aim in sculpting was to produce the perfect human figure using a mathematical equation to sculpt the body parts." I noticed that as we read the chapters, art is becoming more and more complex and for example this sculpture is very complex and very detailed.

Blog #5

The Lion Gate interested me the most in this weeks reading because it relates to today's description of a border. Every country has their own border in which they allow/disallow people to enter with some sort of proof that they are from that country or they have a permission to enter. The Lion Gate of Mycenae is known for the lions with their feet on the Mycenaean altars. "Some scholars suggest that by extension it becomes the symbol of a king or a deity ( just as we say the "White House" when we mean the government of the United States) and that with its combination of the guardian beasts and divine or royal palace, serves to legitimize the power of the ruler (Stockstad 100)." I believe that the Lion Gate served the same purpose of a border, known today because it surrounded an area to be safe from outsiders. I believe lions were used at the time for protection because they are known as the beast of the jungle. I believe that the lions symbolize strength of what is behind the gate to scare off any predators.

Blog 4

It is interesting to see that people have always tried to identify themselves with some type of visual aid. When looking at this picture I will identify it with the egyptian culture, even if I don't know anything about it. In today's society people show their pride of where they are from by a flag or a visual that identifies that country. Generations before used sculptures, architecture and ect. to identify the region they were living in or whom it belonged to. For example the egyptians used Funerary mask of Tutankhamun to identify the ruler who at the time was Tutankhamun. In the United States today, we see that every state has their own flag that identifies that region. People are usually familiar with that flag and can tell where that flag is from.

Blog 3

It is interesting to know that currency has always been an interest in the human mind. "The Persians created a refined coinage, with miniature low-relief portraits of rulers, so that coins, in addition to their function as economic standards, served as propaganda (45)." Even in the 500 BCE, people were interested in having economic standards so that there would be a type of payment for the goods and services that people do/receive. During the Neolithic period people started living in societies with bigger and more complex community structures. Now societies needed "communal needs such as political and military affair" (12). In return for these jobs the government had to make up an accuracy to pay the workers in exchange. In today's society, money is an important factor that defines our lifestyle. Because currency of money has changed over the years, our money is not made up of gold, silver and bronze anymore. people use money in exchange for products, labor, and payment just like they have thousand of years ago.

Woman From Willendorf

this female figure is from the Upper Paleolithic period from Austria carved from limestone originally colored with red ocher (Stokstad 5). The sculpture exaggerated the figure's female attributes by giving it pendulous breasts, a big belly with deep naval , wide hips, dimpled knees and buttocks , and solid thighs (Stokstad 5). by carving a woman with a well nourished body, the artist may be expressing health and fertility (Stokstad 5).


in today's world the perfect body is a kind of body that is described to look like a model. Long legs, slim waist, tallness are some of the characteristics of a perfect body in the society today, when generations before thought a healthy and fertile woman would be a heavy set woman known today. in today's society, people would think of the statue as an obese woman when generations before thought of her as wealthy and healthy because she would most likely survive in a clan with a heavy set body. As we see/hear everywhere today, everyone talks about what is healthy and what is not healthy just judging people by their weight or looks ; and when it comes to excessive body fat it is automatically unhealthy because that not a well known figure today in the society. Everything that is described (seen) in the Woman From Willendorf is the total opposite today. The words that describe the Woman From Willendorf, are words that would be used to describe an unhealthy female figure today in this society; dimpled knees, wide hips, big belly are all known to make someone obese and unhealthy. I believe that a heavy set woman, not having too much excessive body fat is much more healthier than ones who are underweight because they would more likely survive diseases, viruses and the ability to produce children. when asking many people of what they think a perfect woman would look like, they picture someone who is a model or an actress because this is what is advertised to us in different types of ways such as magazines , television, and websites.