Aesthetics arguably represented the highest intellectual point in Greek art and continued to influence philosophers and artists throughout the Hellenistic period. The fact that Greek civilization reached a point at which its art reflected some of the most refined thought ever recorded in the ancient world shows the importance of intellectualism in this great culture.In contrast, Roman art was used as propaganda that displayed the authority and greatness of Romes current ruler; this in no way reflected evolution of thought. The Romans borrowed creative artistic ideas from the cultures that they conquered and used them to convey powerful and mythological imagery. This is first seen in the early Roman republic. Artworks such as The Bust of Cicero, modified from such Etruscan works as The Head of the Old Couple on the Volterra sarcophagus, served as a vessel with which artists could project the desired political appearance of politicians and statesmen could project . Artists began to use detailed craftsmanship with which they could portray human emotion and in turn use physical appearance to make a statement about politicians character. (Cunningham and Reich, 144) Needless to say, popular art of the time was commissioned mostly by politicians and statesmen who wished to better their standing with the people they ruled. Art was no longer used to convey philosophical thought or to explore the delicate balance of nature.By the time of Augustus Caesar and the beginnings of Imperial Rome, the empire had spread as far east as Greece and as far south as Egypt. Only a short time after the Romans entered the Hellenistic era did they begin to recognize the greatness of precision of Greek art. The Romans were quick to adopt the most prevalent characteristics of this art and incorporate it into their own. Roman artists began to use the Greek ideas of detailed anatomy and mathematical proportions to depict the bodies of their rulers. This, i...
