Comparison of Greek and Roman Art

Greek and Roman Art and Architecture in Western History

Greece and Rome ancient art and architecture plays a crucial role in the history of western arts. This has led to the establishment of wide new concepts, styles, and concepts that the artists in previous years have revisited and have responded to in various ways. This technique includes carving, molding free-standing sculptures and also commissioning of large-scale project establishment in the urban areas. And this has led to skilled access to materials including bronze, concretes, and marble. Greek artists create classical figures through closely securitized of human forms. On the other hand Roman artist copy the narratives which were presented by Greek artist as well as contributing many on their own.

The Influence of Democracy and Cultural Exchanges

The development of arts by Romans and Greeks leads was accompanied by latest forms of political life specifically the form of democracy that uproots in Athens, and it gets fully established during the 5th century BC. The people of Athens and its neighbors’ participated in seafaring culture in the eastern Mediterranean which leads to diversify economic and cultural exchanges. The Roman Empire was able to cease territories who were dependent by forming central rule and political power and culture were kept in a good way. Below is a comparison between two artwork from Greek and Romans (Spielvogel and Jackson, 89).

Comparison between Greek and Roman Arts

Greek arts are always considered superior to Roman arts. Thus both Greek and Romans arts are related in that Greek art is the original of the Romans arts. However, there is a great difference that exists between Greek arts and Romans arts which includes: The aim of creating classical Greek Sculptors was in order to produce art form which is ideal by nature. On the other hand, Roman artists were to create realistic portraits which were used for decoration purpose and this act was because there was a need for oversimplification. Not all Roman arts imitate Greek forms but the Romans arts were also based on their decoration form. The Greek arts produce the original arts while the roman’s arts copy from Greek arts and modified so that they can come up with different artwork. Greet arts were divided into Hellenistic periods, archaic geometric and Mycenaean periods. Moreover, sculptures including the Venus de Milo were from Greek on the other hand sculptures such as Mosaics and frescoes were from Rome. The two culture work beyond arts work for instance Greek were importing the pottery to Italy (Morrison and Susannah, 5).

Contrasting Approaches to Art: Painting in Rome

Both Greek and Roman arts are both classified as classical arts. But they have major differences including the way the two cultures approach towards the art, in Rome, there was the practice of painting and this was a popular form of art in the ancient time. They were painting both portraits and murals. Murals were made for floor painting while portraits were made specifically for decorations. Portraits also were for major events and famous people. On the other hand Greek does not practice any painting and only they were limited to vase paintings. The vase was painted with abstract geometric form and it was used in burial ceremonies (Canepa and Matthew, 47).

Architectural Influence: Greek and Roman Styles

Greeks greatly influence Roman architecture. This two architectural types had a style of building called post and lintel which typically involved the use of columns. This column was carved very clearly in the Greek architecture so that it can form three designs: including the Ionic, Doric and the Corinthian. Corinthians was mostly used by Romans architecture. In Greek limestone and favored marble was used in construction due to that it was available on the other hand the Romans were using the concretes in building it is believed that concrete which was used in building in Rome is still existing as compared to the Concretes which was used in Greeks which have wiped out (Vermaseren and Maarten Jozef, 76).

The Economy and Trade

The economy of both Greek and Romans was based on agriculture. Greek was producing and owning the wheat farm and they were in a position of not feeding themselves. Big estates had dominated on their produce in that they bought the wheat farm input and used in producing wine and olive oil. On the other hand, Romans were not only participating in wheat producing but also they were widely spread in trading which Greeks were seen as degrading to trade. And due to Rome expansion in trading, it leads to the development of urban centers and the economy of the country largely increases. Both the Greeks and Romans were both participating in manufacturing since both were working on mining. At the earlier time, there was slavery in Greece but on the other hand, at Rome, it was free slavery due to that they had dependent on the slave (Fino and Elisabetta Valtz, 21).

Works Cited

Canepa, Matthew P. The Two Eyes of the Earth: Art and Ritual of Kingship between Rome and Sasanian Iran. Vol. 45. Univ of California Press, 2017: 40-49.

Fino, Elisabetta Valtz. “Greek and Roman Art.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 59.1 (2001): 18-24.

Morrison, Susannah. “A Kindred Sigh for Thee”: British Responses to the Greek War for Independence. The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing 47.1 (2018): 5.

Spielvogel, Jackson J. Western civilization. Cengage Learning, 2014: 78-90.

Vermaseren, Maarten Jozef. Legend of Attis in Greek and Roman art. Brill, 2017: 76