Ncc art100 ch.8

Editor's Notes

• #8: THE GREEK GODS The ancient Greeks believed that the beginning of all life on earth was Gaia, the Earth Goddess. Her descendants, the Greek gods on Mount Olympus, had distinct personalities, and formed alliances and enmities among themselves and with humans. They were responsible for many aspects of the natural world and human life, such as love, warfare, and the seasons. The Greek gods appear in human form, as the Greeks considered themselves superior to other religions that worshipped animals or mountains. The earliest images were stiff and frontal, without fluid movement, similar to Egyptian sculpture. Later Classic depictions had convincing anatomy and movement, but were entirely idealized and flawless, conforming to Greek standards of beauty. Our example, Zeus, or possibly Poseidon, 460–450 BCE (Fig. 9.3), is from the Classic period. Zeus, chief among the Greek gods, is usually shown as a mature bearded male with an ideal, godlike physique. His right hand probably once held a thunderbolt, an attribute of Zeus, the god of sky and storms. However, he may have held a trident, which is an attribute of Poseidon, the god of the sea. The over-life-size figure appears monumental, muscular, and ideally proportioned. It conveys a sense of action and energy and, at the same time, poise and dignity. Fully extended, the figure’s mighty body is balanced between the backward movement of his arm and its anticipated forward movement as he hurls a thunderbolt or trident.
• #15: HINDUISM In the Hindu religion, there are apparently numerous gods, but this is not polytheism because they are all manifestations, or “avatars,” of the Unbounded, or Brahman. The Unbounded is one, pure being, pure intelligence, and pure delight, and is therefore unknowable. Although never pictured, Brahman can be partially known through the human senses because all natural things, humans, and spiritual beings reflect Brahman. The God Shiva, one of the primary avatars, is the source of good and evil, male and female. He is the unity in which all opposites meet. He is the destroyer of life, but also re-creates it. Since the tenth century, Shiva has been often depicted in Hindu art as Nataraja, or Lord of the Dance, seen here in a sculpture from c. 1000 (Fig. 9.4). Shiva’s body is shown as supple, sleek, and graceful. Cobra heads form the ends of his hair, and he stands in perfect balance. As the Lord of the unending dance, he is the embodiment of cosmic energy, yet the balanced pose also contains the concept of eternal stillness. The multiple arms tell of his power, and his divine wisdom is shown by the third eye in the middle of his forehead. His far right hand holds a small, hourglass-shaped drum, the beating of which stands for creation and the passing of time. The second right arm is ringed by a coiled snake that symbolizes regeneration, while the hand itself forms a mudra, a symbolic gesture that is a sign of protection. The far left hand balances a flame that symbolizes destruction, while the other left hand points to his feet. The left foot is elevated in the dance, indicating release from this earth, and the right foot crushes the personification of ignorance. The circle of fire that radiates around Shiva shows the unfolding and transformation of the universe, and its destruction.
• #17: The Buddhist religion follows the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, a prince born in India near Nepal around 563 BCE. He fled from court life to become a homeless holy man and later achieved enlightenment, or Buddhahood. The Buddha, also known as Sakyamuni (meaning “the sage of the Sakya clan”), continued to teach for the next forty-five years until his death. Buddhists, like Hindus, hold that humans are perpetually reincarnated, most often into lives of suffering, based on the deeds of their past lives. By following the teachings of Sakyamuni, humans can overcome desires and the cycle of rebirth. Then they can attain nirvana, a transformation of their consciousness from the material world to the eternal realm. For several hundred years after his death, Sakyamuni was represented by a set of symbols, but never as a human because he had achieved enlightenment (nirvana). In the Hinayana form of Buddhism, one symbol for Sakyamuni was the stupa which was a mound tomb. It eventually was transformed into a monument that contained the ashes or relics of a Buddha. An example of an early Buddhist stupa is the Great Stupa at Sanchi, third century BCE to first century CE (Fig. 9.5), a solid, dome-shaped mound of earth enclosed in brick and stone. The form of the mound represented the cosmos as the world mountain, the dwelling place of the ancient gods and a sacred womb of the universe. The structure is encircled with a low balustrade wall containing four heraldic gates, all highly adorned with rich carvings. The gates, called toranas, are located at the four cardinal points in the circular wall. The balustrades are also densely carved. Pilgrims would come to walk around the stupa clockwise and chant, meditate, and pray as they observed the special meanings of the carvings. The square enclosure on top of the dome symbolized the heavens, surmounted by the mast with umbrellas, called chatras, that united the world with the paradises above. The chatras signified the levels of human consciousness through which the human soul ascends to enlightenment.
• #26: Conceptual rather than realistic representation. Lamb—holds cross and chalice (symbols of sacrifices conducted by Jews in the past and current offering of bread and wine
• #50: Created by people of the so-called megalithic culture of Europe and it is the mightiest of the great stone circle, or henges. The outer circle, called the Sarsen Circle, originally had thirty standing stones. Sixteen remain standing today. Although bronze had already been invented and introduced in Europe at the time of construction, NO wheels, NO beasts of burden and NO ROPES other than rawhide was used to construct Stonehenge!. Yet these stones weigh 45-50 tons! They transported quarried stones from the Prescilly Hills over 140 miles away by means of sledges and hardwood roller, partly by water routes using dug-out canoes or skin boats, to the construction site. The largest blocks were moved about 20 miles down from the north.
• #57: it remains one of the best known landmarks of Jerusalem. It was built between 687 and 691 by the 9th Caliph, Abd al-Malik. It has been called by European travelers for centuries as the Mosque of Umar[1]. The rock in the center of the dome it is believed by Muslims to be the spot from which Muhammad ascended through the heavens to God accompanied by the angel Gabriel, where he consulted with Moses and was given the (now obligatory) Islamic prayers before returning to earth (see Isra and Mi'raj.) A Qur'anic verse says that Muhammad took a night journey on Buraq from the "sacred mosque" (al-Masjid al-Haram) (Mecca) to the "farthest mosque" (al-Masjid al-Aqsa) (interpreted in Islam to be in Jerusalem[2]) instantaneously. Since Jerusalem is not mentioned by name in the Koran, many non-Muslim historians point to the concept that Umar reinterpreted the Koran to exalt his mosque in Jerusalem — which started out as a tiny wooden shrine — to show what he perceived to be Islam's superiority over Judaism. Most Muslims argue[citation needed] that since Islam is a continuation of the God's revelations to the Jews (and Christianity as well, see Jesus in Islam), therefore it is not a sign of superiority, but of the evolution of revealed doctrine. Such claims are often challenged in the light of restrictions imposed on non-Muslims.[3] [4] In Judaism, the stone is the site where Abraham fulfilled God's test to see if he would be willing to sacrifice his son Isaac. Muslims believe that this event occurred in the desert of Mina where millions of Muslims offer pilgrimage every year and that it was Abraham's elder son Ishmael and not Isaac who was offered for sacrifice. There is some controversy among secular scholars about equating Mount Moriah (where Isaac's binding occurred according to the Biblical narrative), the Temple Mount and the location where Jacob saw the ladder to heaven; but for orthodox Jews at least, there is no doubt that all these events occurred on this spot. It is also identified as the rock upon which Jacob dreamt about angels ascending and descending on a ladder and consequently offing a sacrifice upon. Situated inside the Holy of Holies, this was the rock upon which the Ark of the Covenant was placed in the First Temple[5]. During the Second Temple, the stone was used by High Priest who offered up the incense and sprinkled the blood of the sacrifices on it during the Yom Kippur Service.
• #61: Slide concept by William V. Ganis, PhD FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY For publication, reproduction or transmission of images, please contact individual artists, estates, photographers and exhibiting institutions for permissions and rights.
• #65: Temple Design The Parthenon (Fig. 9.29) is a good example of a standard Classical Greek temple. Following a threehundred-year precedent, it is a two-room structure with pediments above the short sides and a colonnaded porch all around. It is more graceful and refined than older temples, but, like them, was covered using the post-and-lintel system. This particular style (or “order”) of temple was called Doric and could be easily identified by its column. The Doric column had no base, a simple cushion capital, and a shaft that was fluted, or carved from top to bottom with thin, vertical channels. High-quality marble blocks were carefully stacked and finished so that the columns originally appeared seamless. In designing the Parthenon, the architects Iktinos and Kallikrates often treated it more like a piece of sculpture than architecture. Like a pedestal, the steps form the base for the structure. They are higher at the middle of each side and lower at the corners, to counteract the illusion of sagging in the middle. Thus, the Parthenon contains optical illusions. The corner columns are thicker and placed closer to neighboring columns to compensate for the glaring bright sky behind them that would make them seem thinner. Outer columns lean slightly toward the middle of the building to make the Parthenon more visually cohesive. The shaft of the Doric column swells slightly at the middle, called entasis, to give the column a feeling of organic flexing.
• #70: The Parthenon was the first and the largest and built as a tribute to all gods. It was built under the direction of Pericles. The columns contoured slightly on the bias with a slight swelling in the middle of the column, called entasis. Inside the Parthenon was a 40-foot tall statue of Athena designed by Phadias. It was ivory and gold over a wooden frame.
• #71: The Parthenon was the first and the largest and built as a tribute to all gods. It was built under the direction of Pericles. The columns contoured slightly on the bias with a slight swelling in the middle of the column, called entasis. Inside the Parthenon was a 40-foot tall statue of Athena designed by Phadias. It was ivory and gold over a wooden frame.
• #72: In Christian times, the Virgin Mary replaced the cult deity statue of Athena in the cella. The Parthenon then became a Byzantine Church, then a Catholic cathedral, and then under the Turks, the Parthenon became a mosque. It was in perfect condition until 1687 CE, when the Turks kept gunpowder in the cella and it exploded.
• #73: Slide concept by William V. Ganis, PhD FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY For publication, reproduction or transmission of images, please contact individual artists, estates, photographers and exhibiting institutions for permissions and rights.