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Etruscan and Greek Art in Rome

There are clear stylistic connections among Roman, Greek, and Etruscan art, a point that should hardly surprise us given the many historical, political, cultural and economic connections that existed among these three ancient societies. But there are also, as this paper explores, clear distinctions as well, for the art of a people reflects the totality of that people and their culture, and as these three groups were certainly distinct from each other we must also expect their art to be.

It is difficult to provide overarching statements about the relationships that existed among these three different artistic traditions in part because the Greek especially and the Roman (to a somewhat lesser degree) extended for such a long period of time that there is no single Greek artistic style or philosophy. However, there were certain enduring aesthetic practices and beliefs in all three societies that allow us to make to some degree meaningful statements about their relationship. This paper looks in particular at the ways in the art of the Roman Republic combined elements of both Etruscan and Greek art.

Of these three civilizations, Greece - which at the height of its political power extended across not only what is now mainland Greece but also over a number of Aegean islands, Ionia (what is now the western coast of Turkey), southern Italy, and much of the Near East, including Egypt and Syria. Across this entire swath of territory, Greek art was dominated by two principles, both of which would come to be absorbed into Etruscan and Roman art and indeed both of which would become entwined in the Western traditions of most of those cultures that followed them.

These two motifs were the importance of mimesis, or the importance of imitating in art the natural world as it actually is and the importance and, as Kleiner etal argue, the importance of a humanistic philosophy and a view of the world that - while granting due piety to the gods - w...

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Etruscan and Greek Art in Rome. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 05:28, March 19, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1688304.html