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Writing Suggestions
Every Portrait Has a Story to Tell: Talking Heads The bronze portrait head of the Bearded Man was made almost two thousand years ago. Unlike the idealized Greek, or stiff, formulaic Egyptian sculptures, this man seems real. Portrait sculptures like this one have been called “speaking likenesses” because they look so life-­‐like. Bearded Bronze Head (Roman portrait probably Gallienic period) Middle of 3rd century CE Gift of Wright Ludington The Romans believed that a portrait should not only convey a sense of what the individual looked like but also who they were as a person-­‐ their morals and virtues, especially important for the Romans, virtus and honos (virtue and honor). The grim and resigned expression on this man’s face, his drooping mustache and sunken cheeks, the staring eyes and set of the jaw all relate to the turmoil of the period in which he lived. The 3rd c. CE is known as a period of crisis in the Roman empire, when Rome was threatened by forces from the East and West, civil strife at home and economic hardship. The fact that this gentleman chose to be represented for posterity not as an idealized youth but as an older, very serious and contemplative man hearkens back to a much earlier established Roman portraiture tradition from the Republican period (6th c.-­‐1st. c. BCE) where wealthy patrons such would commission veristic portraits. A veristic portrait is a hyper-­‐naturalistic portrait that emphasizes every flaw of the individual’s face. What flaws has this man exposed in his likeness? (students might list wrinkles, bald head, sunken cheeks, large ears and nose, pouty lower lip, and bags under his eyes) These are meant to indicate that he has spent his life in service to the state of Rome, dedicated as a military man, hard-­‐working land-­‐owner (yet still aristocratic). These portraits would be kept in a household shrine in a Roman home, honored by the family and paraded through the streets during family funerals. If this man could speak, what do you think he would tell us about the times in which he lived? The quality of his life? His family and service in battle? What characteristics can you infer about him from the way he is portrayed? The Ancient Greeks on Democracy: Then and Now
Many of the principles of American democracy had their origins in ancient Greece. Read Pericles’ funeral speech as recorded by Thucydides, late 400’s BCE, reprinted here: Let me say that our system of government does not copy the institutions of our neighbors. It is more the case of our being a model to others, than of our imitating anyone else. Our constitution is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people. When it is a question of settling private disputes, everyone is equal before the law; when it is a question of putting one person before another in positions of public responsibility, what counts is not membership of a particular class, but the actual ability which the man possesses. No one, so long as he has it in him to be of service to the state, is barred because of poverty...Future ages will wonder at us, as the present age wonders now. Do his words apply to American democracy as it exists today? Write a paragraph explaining your point of view. How does the language of Pericles compare to the language of the U.S. Declaration of Independence (an excerpt from which is reprinted here)? We hold these truths to be self-­‐evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Commemoration and Memorial in Ancient Greece
Loutrophoros The name of this vase means "carrier of washing-­‐water", and the vase was used only in ritual contexts: at weddings, to carry the water for the bridal bath; in funerals, to carry the water for washing the corpse of unmarried persons and to mark their graves. Vases of this shape are commonly decorated with scenes of mourners or wedding processions. Greek memorials sometimes bear inscriptions, called epitaphs (from the Greek epi-­‐ meaning on, at or beside, and taphos-­‐ meaning tomb), written in memory of a dead person. These were often delivered as orations over the grave of the deceased. They function as snapshots of the deceased-­‐ revealing characteristics or history much as portraits do. Grave Marker in the Form of a Loutrophoros Greek, Attic, second half of 4th century BCE Marble Gift of Wright S. Ludington Use the following examples as models and write an epitaph in the style of the ancient Greeks. You might want to write an epitaph for an ancestor based on interviews with family members, old letters, family stories, or other sources. Or you might want to try writing as if you were the deceased as in the final example by an unknown writer. EXAMPLES: Stranger, go back to Sparta and tell our people that we who were slain obeyed the code. Simonides of Keos (memorial to the Spartans who were killed at Thermopylae in 480 BC by the Persian army). Strange dust covers thy body, and the lot of death took thee. O, Cleisthenes, wandering to the Euxine sea; and thou didst fail of sweet and dear homecoming, nor ever didst reach sea-­‐ girt Chios. Simonides of Keos Phillip the father laid here the twelve-­‐years-­‐old child, his high hope, Nicotelas. Callimachus I, Homonoea, who was far clearer-­‐voiced than the Sirens, I, who was more golden than the Cyprian herself at revelings and feasts, I the chattering bright swallow lie here, leaving tears to Atimetus, to whom I was dear from girlhood; but unforeseen fate scattered all that great affection. Anonymous Odes
The victors at ancient Greek games had numerous honors bestowed upon them. Victory poems, called odes, were written to commemorate their feats. The poem above, written by Pindar in honor of an athlete is an example of an ode. Odes were also written to honor the gods or celebrate important events. Commissioned by wealthy aristocrats or rulers, the odes were sung and danced by a chorus of men. They celebrated pride in family tradition and the striving for ardete(excellence) that inspires a man to overcome obstacles in order to win everlasting fame and thereby honor his gods, his family and his state. An Ode to Athletes The Greeks thought the male human body was the most beautiful of forms, and they tried through exercise to perfect their own bodies. They felt that their love for athletics, among other things, distinguished them from barbarians, and only Greek citizens were allowed to compete in the games. Athletics were an important peacetime expression of rivalry that also trained and conditioned men for war. There were events for men and boys, and a separate Olympian festival in which young unmarried women competed in honor of Hera. Read the following. How is the poet’s description of the athlete similar to or different from what athletes today experience? He who wins, of a sudden, some noble prize In the rich years of youth Is raised high with hope: his manhood takes wings; He has in his heart what is better than wealth. But brief is the season of man’s delight. Soon it falls to the ground; some dire decision uproots it. -­‐Thing of a day! Such is man; a shadow in a dream. Yet when God-­‐given splendour visits him A bright radiance plays over him, and how sweet is life! -­‐Pindar of Thebes, fifth-­‐century BC Compare Pindar’s poem with the following poem written by the British poet, A.E. Housman, in the 19th century. What similarities and differences do you find? To An Athlete Dying Young The time you won your town the race We chaired you to the market place; Man and boy stood cheering by, And home we brought you shoulder-­‐high. To-­‐day, the road all runners come, Shoulder-­‐high we bring you home, And set you at your threshold down, Townsman of a stiller town. Smart lad, to slip betimes away From fields where glory does not stay, And early though the laurel grows It withers quicker than the rose. Eyes the shady night has shut Cannot see the record cut, And silence sounds no worse than cheers After earth has stopped the ears: Now you will not swell the rout Of lads that wore their honors out, Runners whom renown outran And the name died before the man. So, set, before its echoes fade, The fleet foot on the sill of shade, And hold to the low lintel up The still-­‐defended challenge cup. And round that early-­‐laureled head Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead, And find unwithered on its curls The garland briefer than a girl’s. A.E. Housman Try writing an ode commemorating a special event in your life. This could be a birthday tribute to a family member, a celebration of a victory, a championship, a graduation-­‐-­‐anything that you might want to “immortalize” in words. Summing Up
Consider the following quote from Protagoras (490?-­‐421 BC) Man is the measure of all things. How is this descriptive of classical Greece and the ancient Greeks’ view of themselves? Write a paragraph explaining your view.