Topics in cultural studies - Essay Example

The seven hills on which this civilization grew were divided into the Eastern and Western halves. The Eastern half comprising Quirinal, Viminal, Caelian, and Esquiline were part of a volcanic ridge. The Western group included the Aventine, Palatine and Capitoline hills. All these seven hills were separated by marshy lands.” (Maps of World, 2008) Government The government had three main stages: Regal that is governed by a monarchy; Republican that was run by two consuls and other elected officials; and Imperial that divided the citizens in three basic classes: the senatorial, equestrian, and lower classes (Spielvogel, 2011).

Greece consisted of several city-states that each had its own government: monarchies that were ruled by kings; oligarchies that were run by aristocrats; tyrannies that were lead by one of the aristocrats who obtained power over the others by getting the support of the poor people; and democracies that gave the poor people more power (Carr D. K., 2011). Religion / Philosophy “Very similar cults appear under the names of different gods: fire festivals belong to Artemis, Demeter, Heracles, and even Isis; ox sacrifices in which the ox-slayer flees from the scene of his deed are celebrated in honor of both Zeus and Dionysos; maidens are consecrated to serve in the temples of Artemis, Athena, and Aphrodite; a peplos may be woven for Athena as well as Hera” (Burkert & Raffan, 1985).

There were plenty of gods to honor in pagan Rome They knew about religious procedures, or rather, the processes and formulas required in any given circumstance to ensure effectiveness of divine assistance. For Romans, religion is not a belief, a feeling, or a mystique; it was purely utilitarian practice (Turcan, 2000). Economics and Trade Greeks ideally lived on small self-sufficient wheat-producing farms, but bad agricultural practices made many households incapable of feeding themselves. Big estates took over, producing wine and olive oil, which were also the chief exports of the Romans (Gill, 2011).

The Romans, who imported their wheat and annexed provinces that could provide them with this all-important staple, also farmed, but they also engaged in trade. , the economy of Rome was dependent on slave labor from the expansion until the late Empire (Gill, 2011). Art / Architecture The goal of the classical Greek sculptors was to produce an ideal artistic form. Art is divided into Mycenaean, geometric, archaic, and Hellenistic periods (Gill, 2011). The Greeks developed three architectural systems, called orders, each with their own distinctive proportions and detailing.

The types of columns use in their temples and other buildings are typical of each architectural system or order. The orders are Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Composite, and Tuscan (Carr D. K., 2011). The goal of Roman artists was to produce realistic portraits for decoration (Gill, 2011). The goal of Roman artists was to produce realistic portraits for decoration. The Romans brought a lot of new ideas to architecture, of which the three most important are the arch, the baked brick, and the use of cement and concrete (Carr D. K., 2011).

References Burkert, W. & Raffan, J. (1985). Greek religion: Archaic and classical. Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, Ltd. Carr, D. K. (2011, March 2). Ancient Greek government; Roman Architecture. Retrieved May 2011, 7, from KidePede: http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/greeks/government/ Carr, T.