As I prepare to write a post concerning ancient Western civilization, I stop to ask myself a few questions, find your personal answers if you wish, this will likely come up in my next or last post and might interest you further.
The Hellenistic World
Why do you think portrayal of people changed so much in art? After Alexander the Great came and went those throughout the Hellenistic world started portraying people in art with very exaggerated emotion where before there no Greek art piece had any emotion at all. It was also true that suddenly not all art was religious, and a lot of pieces showed the average civilian where before only gods and figures of the like would be seen. What changed the peoples' view? Was it the experience of hardship during the time of Alexander the Great and the Persian war that came before? Or were the people changed by the new way their civilization was built and ran? What do you think?
What caused people to think pleasure was the key to ultimate happiness? What could've cause the counter that pleasure is entirely barbaric? If pleasure is they ultimate goal than is that an unrealistic achievement or simply an optimistic view of life and your goals?
Rome
Do you agree with the Romans' original view of their deities? Whether you are religious or not you can still take a religious text and have something resonate with you. The Romans originally believed that their gods were not actual forms or remotely like people, but rather the personification of what each god represented in their eyes. Which is more plausible? Would a hire being relate in some way to their creation(s) in the form of people?
Every time Rome started to change their politics there would always be an existing hierarchy. Even now no matter where you are, there is always a hierarchy, maybe in a public school or work office there is social status, along with the authority figures in the workplace. Whether it is a State or a country there will always be an existing hierarchy, including communist based places. Could this be because of the human psychology? If so, is this a want for power, a sense of identity, or perhaps competitive nature? No matter what, it seems the human race is always trying to find a way to be social animals, while also fighting to ensure no one has an exact peer. What are your thoughts?
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