Culture and Values in the Humanities - Essay Example

According to this view, the world is also intelligible or rational (Cunningham & Reich 35). Homeric tradition conceives an ordered world that is equally rational. Zeus is the personification of this order and is god’s chief. The world is viewed as a place where a determination is intelligent and personal. Divine activity is used as an explanation for various events. Another main feature of this view is a partial order and rationality (Cunningham & Reich 36). According to Homeric views, not all events can be put down to intelligent, personal determination. The world blends chance and natural order, with some events coming under rational agent control while others do not.2. What are the chief features of Etruscan culture and religion?

The Etruscans had outstanding technical ability and sophistication (Cunningham & Reich 88). Their commercial contacts extended to most of Western Mediterranean and Tarquinia and Cerveteri in Italy. Their traditional art while almost spiritually primitive was of highly sophisticated technique and craftsmanship. They, unlike the Greeks, were more interested in the production of instantaneous impact on viewers. They were also responsible for the urbanization of Rome by building shrines, temples, and roads.

They also introduced toga and horse racing to the Romans. They were energetic and militaristic, with equality existing between both sexes and between monogamous heterosexuality and male homoeroticism. All artifacts from the Etruscan era have music sensibility, are evidently lively artistic. In addition, has frank sexuality about them (Cunningham & Reich 88).3. What are the features of a work of art that indicate it is Hellenistic? How does the Hellenistic style contrast with that of the Classical Period?

Royal families in this era lived in palaces that were splendid. Their banquet halls were elaborate, with their gardens and rooms being sumptuously decorated (Cunningham & Reich 76). Kings in this era were art patrons, with the commissioning of public sculpture and architecture public works. Jewelry became more elaborate and incorporated stones that were unique and rare. Great libraries and museums were built. In addition, the nude Aphrodite indicated secularized traditional religion. The subject matter widened to include conventional inhabitants and grotesques.

Lavish items like furniture with intricate carvings and bronze statuettes were manufactured on a large scale. Unlike archaic art, classical sculpting was more graceful, relaxed, and less rigid. As it moved into the Hellenistic era, the sculpting began to achieve more lifelike features and the movement shown in the art became more common (Cunningham & Reich 77). Sculptures in the classical era deal with ideals, especially of the human body. Figures were made in a perfect state with no imbalances, sags, or wrinkles.

In Hellenistic sculpture, there was more imbalance, emotion, and motion.