Theater was prevalent all throughout Ancient Greece as a way to come together as a community. It was a way to inform commoners about politics, or to ponder some philosophy, or to laugh, or cry, and to be set free from everyday life. The actors would over exaggerate their emotions to make it clear to the audience what they were feeling and would make detailed masks of monsters or people with intense expressions. Music was also a very important part of Greek theater. The Greeks found a way to separate their plays into two genres: tragedy and comedy. We still use these to categorize plays to this day. Tragedy plays include Oedipus Rex, Antigone, and Medea. The Clouds, Lysistrata, and The Birds are some of the more famous comedy plays. These plays were performed all the time in Ancient Greece; for festivals, for kings, for competitions. It such a normal part of Greece at the time that I'm surprised they didn't get wiped out from exhaustion or alcohol poisoning.
This article, Egypt: The Art of Immortality, talks about the Egyptian's obsession with the idea of immortality, and how that shines through their art. Historians have gathered information of Ancient Egyptian culture primarily through the tombs they built for their pharaohs. They would fill the tomb with gifts and paintings for the pharaoh's spirit, or ka , so that he may thrive in the afterlife. Ancient Egyptians, also, carved statues of their rulers and, since they are made to last forever, they are made of hard material such as, granite. They were strict about making sure that sculptures and paintings resembled the human form, which is why their art looks so realistic. From the strict way of constructing sculptures and paintings to the complicated pyramid structures, this article covers most of Egypt's eternal art. You can see how much they cared for their art down below.
This is very interesting- I didn't know that Greek theater could be used to inform commoners about politics.
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