Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • Free Essays • My Term Papers • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Art Ancient Egyptian Greek and Roman Stele Ancient Egyptian Greek and Roman Stele Just as we use tombstones to mark graves and commemorate our dead, so too did ancient civilizations. One way to do so in the ancient world was through the use of steles. A stele is a stone slab, usually decorated in relief and inscribed, that honored the death of a person. Three of the ancient cultures that had implemented the use of the stele were the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. In comparing an example from each civilization, it is possible to see the evolution of the stele from one period to another and the different influences each civilization had on a single element. The Egyptians had many ways to honor their dead, including the stele. Wealthy Egyptians, especially officials and priest, often had stele placed near their tombs. These steles usually told of the name, position/rank, and the epithets of the deceased along with a funerary prayer. (Gee 224) One such example is the Funerary Stele from Dendereh from the First Intermediate Period (ca. 2150 BCE). (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology) This stele belongs to a man named Tjaunty, an official during the First Intermediate Period. The stele depicts Tjaunty on the far left of the rectangular slab. The other two-thirds of the stele are reserved for inscriptions of hieroglyphs. The depiction of Tjaunty is characteristic of the Egyptian style. The purpose of the Egyptian style was to represent the human form in the clearest and most complete way. The head is shown in profile but with the eye in a frontal position. The reason for this is that the head is more distinct from the profile position; the eyes, on the other hand, are more representative from the frontal view. The shoulders are presented frontally with the waist, hips, legs, and feet in profile. (Gee 18) In Tjaunty's funerary stele, Tjaunty is presented in this very distinct way. He is also shown with the symbols of his position as an official. This is known because Tjaunty's right hand is holding the same staff as in Hesy-ra's right hand in the Portrait Panel of Hesy-ra. (Janson and Janson 44) As for the inscriptions to the right of Tjaunty, this author is not able to definitively identify the meaning. It is assumed that it tells of Tjaunty's name, rank, and offers a funerary prayer. The Greeks were also another ancient civilization that implemented the stele. It allowed them a means to commemorate their dead. Greek stele would depict an image of the deceased, often with other family members such as wives/husbands and children. The Greek grave-markers of the 3rd-1st century BCE are almost wholly restricted to the East Greek World. The most common type is tall, with architectural elements, and a big figure of the deceased with small attendants. Another type, a short and broad rectangle, depicts the deceased at a feast - the "Death Feast" or "Totenmahl reliefs." (Rothermel 354) The Western Asia Minor Funerary Stele is one Greek stele that falls under these distinctions. (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology) It is from Asia Minor (part of the East Greek World) during the 1st century BCE. It shows the deceased, a man, lying on a dining couch under an arch. He is leaning on his left elbow and holds up a funerary wreath with the right hand. It is said that the woman on the left is his wife. She appears to be thinking, probably of her dead husband. There are also two attendants, one on either side of the arch, and a table in front of the deceased loaded with food. This stele has all the distinct characteristics (mentioned previously) of the grave-markers from the eastern part of the Greek Empire. The architectural elements (the arch), an image of the deceased (the man on the couch), the broad rectangular shape of the stele, and the "Death Feast" are all present within this stele. (Rothermel 354) Since this stele was created during the Hellenistic period, it has the Hellenistic features as well (the style of the stele varies due to the location in which it was made). It has the deep cuts of the Hellenistic style, the naturalism of the drapery and bodies, and the portraiture of the deceased. Romans were also inclined to use the stele amongst other things, to commemorate their dead. The Roman style, however, was not entirely the Romans' style. The Romans were very fond of Greek art and architecture that they adopted it as their own, adding their own innovations of course. The Romans incorporated such Greek styles as Hellenistic and Classical, in which both of these styles can be seen in the Apothesis of Sabina. (Janson and Janson 178) The Apothesis of Sabina stele is to honor the death and deification of Sabina, the wife of Emperor Hadrian. Sabina is shown risen up as a goddess by the personification of Eternity, known because of the torch that she bears. It is also known that Sabina has been deified by appearance the "goddess" crown upon her head. Hadrian, as well as the personification of Campus Martius (the location of the event), observe the cremation. (Janson and Janson 178 - 179) The Apothesis of Sabina very much conveys the Hellenistic style. It is a high relief with spatial depth: objects and figures in the foreground emerge in the round out of the relief, whereas those in the background are carved more flatly. The naturalism in the human forms and the deeply cut folds of the drapery are also characteristic of the Hellenistic style. Sabrina and Hadrian's faces appearing as portraits is characteristic to the Hellenistic style as well. Since Hadrian led a Classical revival during his reign of the Roman Empire, Apothesis of Sabina, not surprisingly, contains an element of the Classical style: allegory. The personification of Eternity and Campus Martius "is made plausible by the Classical style, which permits allegory and reality to mingle with surprising ease." (Janson and Janson 179) Stele, grave-markers, tombstones . . . whatever they may be called they are nothing new to human civilization. Even though the earliest civilization covered here was Egyptian, it is certain that they were not the first to apply such an idea. What can be said about stele is that, like other examples from the history of art, they reflect the cultures and attitudes of the civilizations in which they originate. The stele discussed from the Egyptian society appears to be very basic and gives only a summed-up version of information about the owner. Granted, it is certain that a more glorified nature would be found in such as that of a pharaoh, but not so in those below the pharaoh. The Egyptian stele seems to represent an attitude of straight-forwardness (in keeping with the clarity and complete representation of the Egyptian style). As for the Greek stele, it is more intimate, a glance into a moment of that person's life (very naturalistic). The Roman stele is, without a doubt, glorifying. The Romans most certainly had an egotistical attitude about them. Why should it surprise anyone to see it within the art that was meant to memorialize them? Comparing these three civilizations has shown that a single element, used in different civilizations, may have the same intended use but the way each civilization goes about using this element can be quite different from one another. Bibliography: Gee, Robert. Egyptian Sculpture. Oxford: Blackwell, 1994. Janson, H.W. and A.F. Janson. History of Art: the Western Tradition. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 2001. Rothermel, Johnathan Albert. The Art of Greece. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Word Count: 1269
Copyright © 1998-2008 College Term Papers, INC All Rights Reserved. DMCA Notifications and Requests