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THE GREATEST OF THESE WAS THE TEMPLE. THE TEMPLE WAS A SACRED STRUCTURE DESIGNED TO HOUSE THE CULT STATUES AND CIVIC DIETIES. THEESE EARLY HOUSES OF WORSHIP WERE MOST LIKELY MADE OF WOOD, WHICH EXPLAINS WHY NONE OF THESE GREEK TEMPLES REMAIN TODAY. HOWEVER, AS THE GREEKS BECAME MORE POWERFUL AND MORE WEALTHY EACH POLIS REBUILT ITS WOODEN TEMPLES WITH NEW ONES MADE FROM STONE. THE EARLIEST TEMPLE FORM WAS CALLED DORIC. IT WAS SIMPLE IN DESIGN AND VERY LITTLE DETAIL. LATER THE GREEKS BECAME MORE INTERESTED IN THE MATHEMATICAL PROPORTIONS OF THE TEMPLE. THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED BY USING A RATIO BETWEEN THE NUMBER OF COLUMNS ON EACH SIDE OF THE BUILDING. THIS BECAME A STANDARD IN GREEK ARCHITECTURE. EVEN BEFORE THE TEMPLE, ANCIENT GREECE HAD SANCTUARIES. THESE WERE PLACES THAT WERE CONSIDERED SACRED FOR A GOD OR GODESS. LATER IN THE GREEK EMPIRE, WITH THE RISE OF THE POLIS, THE IDEA OF A HOLY PLACE AWAY FROM THE HASSELS OF EVERYDAY LIFE WAS FITTED TO THE NEEDS OF EACH COMMUNITY. EACH POLIS HAD ITS OWN SACRED AREA, USUALLY ON A HILL OR PROTECTED FROM SOME SORTOF DIVIDING BARRIER, WHICH CONTAINED BUILDINGS AND ALTARS. THIS IS WHERE ONE GOD OR GODESS WAS SINGLED OUT AS PATRON, ALTHOUGH THEY WORSHIPPED THE ENTIRE PANTHEON OF GODS. THE TEMPLE WAS BUILT IN THIS AREA TO HOUSE THE PATRON STATUE. LATER YET, IN THE GREEK EMPIRE, THE ALTAR BECAME A MORE IMPORTANT FEATURE IN GREEK ARCHITECTURE. THE ALTAR IS THE OLDEST RELIGIOUS STRUCTURE IN THE GREEK WORLD AND IT WAS THE SITE IN WHICH HOLY SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS WERE MADE. THE ALTAR WAS SECOND IN IMPORTANCE ONLY TO THE TEMPLE. DURING THIS TIME TEMPLES WERE BUILT MASSIVE IN SIZE AND ELABORATE IN DECORATION. THIS WAS TO SHOW THE ROMANS LIKE THE GREEKS USED THE TEMPLE AST HE CHEIF ARCHITECTURAL FORM. BUT, UNLIKE IN EARLIER GREECE, ROME WAS THE CENTRAL NUCLEUS OF THE STATE'S RELIGION, RATHER THAN EACH POLIS SUPPRORTING ITS OWN. IN THE HEART OF THE CITY THERE WAS A FORUM. THIS WAS A PLACE WHERE CITIZENS CONDUCTED BUSINESS, RAN THE GOVERNMENT, AND WHERE THE HIGH PRIEST RESIDED. THE FORUM BECAME A SYMBOL OF ROMAN POWER AND CIVILIZATION. IN LATER ROME, CHRISTIAN ARCHITECTURE UNDERWENT MAJOR TRASFORMATIONS. CLASSICAL FORMS AND VALUES YEILDED TO A SYBOLIC REALISM IN ARCHITECTURE. DURING THE FIFTH CENTURY BISHOPS BEGAN TO DISAGREE WITH THE EMPERORS IN THE EVOLVING OF CHRISTIAN CENTERS OF WORSHIP. FORMERLY CHURCHES WERE IN THE FORMS OF PRIVATE ROOMS IN HOUSES, ISOLATED BUILDINGS, AND CONVERTED PAGAN TEMPLES. THESE WERE ALL ABANDONED IN FAVER OF STANDARDIZED STRUCTURES SUCH AS BAPTISTERIES AND BASILICAS. ARCHITECTS TRAVELED THROUGHOUT THE EMPIRE GLORIFING THE NEW RELIGION OF CHRISTIANITY. A BAPTISTERY WAS A SMALL POLYGONAL STRUCTURE USUALLY TOPPED WITH A DOME THAT WAS SEPPERATED FROM THE MAIN CHURCH WHERE BAPTISMS WERE PERFORMED. THEY WERE SEPERATED FROM THE MAIN CHURCH BECAUSE CHRISTIANS BELIEVED THAT THE UNBAPTIZED WERE UNWORTHY TO ENTER THE SANCTUARY AND MINGLE WITH ITS MEMBERS. THE BASILICA WAS A RECTANGULAR STRUCTURE THAT INCLUDED AN APSE AT ONE OR BOTH ENDS USED AT FIRST BY ROMANS FOR PUBLIC PURPOSES AND LATER BY CHRISTIANS FOR WORSHIP. THE FLOOR PLAN FOR THE BASILICA BECAME THE BASIC FLOORPLAN FOR ALL CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. THE GLORY OF GREECE WAS IN ITS SCULPTURE. THE FIGURES OF THE 7TH AND 6TH CENTURIES BC LACK LIFE AND MOVEMENT; THEIR FACES WEAR THE FROZEN SMILE PECULIAR TO ARCHAIC SCULPTURE. EVEN SO, THESE EARLY CRAFTSMEN, WHOSE NAMES ARE LOST WITH THE TEMPLES THEY DECORATED, SHOW SENSITIVITY TO THE QUALITIES OF MARBLE AND A SUPERB SENSE OF DESIGN. AS IF TO MAKE UP FOR THE LACK OF LIFE IN THEIR STATUES, ARCHAIC SCULPTORS SOUGHT NATURALISM BY PAINTING THEM. GREEK SCULPTURE ROSE TO ITS HIGHEST ACHIEVEMENT IN THE 5TH CENTURY BC, WHEN THE SPIRIT OF GREECE ITSELF WAS AT ITS HEIGHT. OF THE TEMPLES BUILT IN THIS "GOLDEN AGE" OF PERICLES, THE FINEST WAS THE PARTHENON, DEDICATED TO ATHENA, GODDESS OF ATHENS. IT WAS ORNAMATED BY THE MASTER OF GREEK SCULPTURE, PHIDIAS. EVEN PHIDIAS COULD HAVE NOT DONE ALL OF THE SCULTPTURES IN THE ENTIRE PARTHENON, AND ONLY HERE AND THERE CAN THE SCULPTURES OF HIS HAND BE MADE SURE THAT THEY ARE INDEED HIS. "THE THREE FATES", DESIGNED TO FIT THE TRIANGULAR SPACE OF THE PEDIMENT, ARE GENERALLY BELIEVED TO BE THE FINEST TREATMENT OF DRAPERY IN SCULPTURE. DRAMATIC GESTURES AND DECORATIVE DETAIL REPLACED THE QUIET DIGNITY AND RESTRAINT OF THE EAIRLIER DAYS OF GREECE. IN THE FOURTH CENTURY THE ROMAN EMPIRE ACCEPTED CHRISTIANITY AS ITS RELIGION. THIS MEANT A NEW KIND OF ART. SCULPTURE, LIKE ARCHITECTURE AND PHILOSOPHY, TURNED TO THE CHURCH, AND THE CHURCH, FACED WITH THE NEED OF INTERPRETING THE NEW RELIGION FOR GREAT MASSES OF PEOPLE, USED THE ARTS TO A GOOD ADVANTAGE. RELIGIOUS IS SUBJECT MATTER, SCULPTURE WAS CLOSELY RELATED TO CHURCH ARCHITECTURE. ROMAN SCULPTURE PASSED THROUGH THREE DEFINITE STAGES. THE FIRST, WAS INFLUENCED BY THE DEATH MASKS MADE FOR THE FAMILY GALLERY AS PART OF ANCESTOR WORSHIP. THE SECOND STAGE REPRESENTS A TYPE OF REALISTIC SCULPTURE WITH A SENSE OF UNEASE. THE THIRD WAS SHAPED UNDER THE RULE OF AUGUSTUS. UNDER HIS DICTATION, IMPERIAL SCULPTURE TO DISPLACING THE REALISTIC ART OF THE LATE REPUBLIC. LATER IN ROMAN ART, IN ADDITION TO FREE-STANDING SCULPTURES, RELIEF SCULPTURES BECAME TO BE MORE POPULAR. CHRISTIAN ART WAS UNDERGOING AESTHETIC CHANGES. IT BECAME MORE AND MORE IMPRESSIONISTIC, USING THE SIMPLEST DETAILS TO CREATE AN ILLUSION OF REALITY, IN STYLE. SIMPLE REPRESENTATIONS OF JESUS AND THE APOSTLES HAD BECOME COMMON IN THE CHURCH. BIBLICAL SCENES, IN PARTICULAR THOSE DETAILING THE LIFE AND MIRACLES OF JESUS, WERE BEGINING TO APPEAR ON SARCOPHAGI THROUGHOUT THE EMPIRE, ILLUSTRAING THE COMPLEX THEMES AND IN GREEK PHILOSOPHY THERE WERE THREE MAJOR GROUPS OF PHILOSOPHERS. THE PRE-SOCRATICS, THE SOPHISTS, AND THE SOCRATIC REVOLUTION. THE PRE-SOCRATIC THINKERS WERE CONCERNED WITH DETERMINING THE NATURE OF THE PHISICAL WORLD. FOLLOWERS IN ELEA THOUGHT THAT THE WORLD WAS A SINGLE, UNCHANGING OBJECT WHOSE ORDER COULD COULD BE KNOWN THROUGH HUMAN REASON. ANOTHER GROUP THE ATOMISTS BELIEVED THAT EVERYTHING WAS COMPOSED OF ATOMS; ETERNAL, INVISIBLE BODIES OF VARYING SIZE THAT COULD NOT BE DIVIDED INTO SMALLER UNITS; AND THE SPACE BETWEEN THEM. THE MOVEMENT AND THE SHAPE OF THE ATOMS WERE SUFFICIENT TO EXPLAIN EVERY ASPECT OF THE PHYSICAL WORLD. THE SOPHISTS PLACED THEIR EMPHASIS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRACTICAL SKILLS, AND COMMITTED TO HUMANISTIC VALUES. THEY THOUGHT AS HUMANS TO BE THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE, AND TO HAVE THE POWER TO MAKE JUDGEMENTS ABOUT THEMSELVES AND THEIR WORLD. THIS WENT AGAINST TRADITIONAL GREEK VALUES THAT GODS CONTROLLED EVERYTHING. THE SOCRATIC REVOLUTION WAS LED BY SOCRATES, A THINKER WHO LAUNCHED A NEW ERA IN PHILOSOPHY. HE FOCUSED ON HUMAN PROBLEMS AND TO EMPOWER INDIVIDUALS TO MAKE THEIR OWN MORAL CHOICES. SOCRATES METHOD FOR ARRIVING AT TRUE MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL VALUES WAS FIRST BEING IMMORTAL, UNLIKE THE GODS. THOSE WHO WANT WISDOM MUST PROTECT THEIR PHYCHES BY GIVING THEIR MIND THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF KNOWLEDGE. SOCRATES BELIEVED IN ESSENTIAL GOODNESS OF HUMAN NATURE AND THE NECESSITY OF WELL-DEFINED KNOWLEDGE THROUGH PERSONAL STRUGGLE TO SELF-ENLIGHTMENT. THE ROMAN EMPIRE ONLY HAD TWO TYPES OF PHILOSOPHY, STOCISM AND NEO-PLATONISM. STOCISM WAS THE MOST POPULAR AND INFLUENTIAL OF THE TWO. IT FOCUSED ON ADVOCATING A STRAINED WAY OF LIFE, A RESIGNATION TO DISSAPPOINTMENTS, AND A RESOLUTION TO CARRY OUT ONE'S PERSONAL RESPOSIBILITIES. STOICISM APPEALED TO THE MAJORITY OF THE ROMANS AND PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE EARLY CHRISTIAN THOUGHT. NEO-PLATONISM WAS A SCHOOL OF THOUGHT FOUNDED PRIMARILYBY PLOTINUS. HIS PHILOSOPHY WAS CONCERNED IN BRIDGING THE WORLDS OF IDEAS AND THE PERISHABLE MATERIAL WORLD. NEO-PLATONISM BRIDGED THE TWO WORLDS NOT WITH LOGICAL ANALYSIS BUT WITH MYSTICAL INSIGHT, CLAIMING THAT THE UNION OF THE PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL WORLDS COULD BE GRASPED ONLY THROUGH AN ECSTATIC VISION. AS YOU CAN SEE THE ANCIENT GREEKS AND THE ANCIENT ROMANS WERE DIFFERENT IN MANY CHARACTERISTICS. YOU HAVE CLEARLY BEEN ABLE TO SEE THE DISTINCT DIFFERENCES OF RELIGION AS SEEN IN ARCHITECTURE, SCULPTURE, AND PHILOSOPHY. Bibliography: Word Count: 1409
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