Existing comment:
The Hellenistic Age:
The Hellenistic Age extended from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC until the death of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII Philopater in 30 BC. Its origin lay in Alexander's dream of conquering the world, and the period ended with the consolidation under Roman rule of all the Hellenistic kingdoms of eastern Mediterranean.
During this period, Greek culture was disseminated throughout the lands ruled by the dynasties established by Alexander's generals (especially the Seleucids, who ruled much of Asia Minor, and the Ptolomies in Egypt). The art of the period lost much of the coherence that Greek art had in the Archaic and Classical periods. It was created not only in traditional centers such as Athens and Syracuse but also throughout the eastern Mediterranean, including the new city of Alexandria in Egypt as well as the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom in Afghanistan. Dating Hellenistic art is particularly difficult as few surviving monuments can be associated with historical events, and a sometimes bewildering variety of styles were practiced simultaneously. In general, however, the innovations of Hellenistic artists are expressed in a greater mastery of realism and emotion than in earlier Greek art.
Even as the Hellenistic kingdoms were being absorbed into the Roman empire, Greek culture continued to spread through the western Mediterranean, leading the Roman poet Horace (65-8 BC) to remark that having been conquered by the Romans, the Greeks conquered Rome with their arts. |