Alexander The Great | EssayIvy.com

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Alexander The great

Alexander The Great was the king of Macedonia in the 4th BC, after the assassination of his

predecessor, King Philip. Upon rising to the position of power, Alexander the Great made an

order that made all the potential rival to be executed by matching them to the south by the army

that was allied the Alexander the great. The reason that was believed to have led to the execution

of Alexander's rival was his bid to solidify and control Greece without any potential interference.

Once he had persecuted all the potential rivals, he embarked on the empowering the Greeks in

the region of the Asia minor. As a result of his efforts in uniting the Greece, he has been honored

by the Greece to the extent that he has been classified as the second most significant to have

lived on earth after Jesus (Roemer, p622).

In the period between 334 and 323 BC, Alexander the Great had a battalion of an army that he

used in conquering much of the world that was known during his time. The conquer led to the

establishment of an empire which is said to have stretched right from Asia Minor, Egypt, Greece

and empire of Persia that is found in the Eastern India (Freeman, p 261). During his reign, he had

special contact with the cultures within the Greek context and thus its aspects such as art which

exposed the artistic styles within Greek’s culture to the extent of hosting a new exotic influence.

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Upon the Death of Alexander The Great, which is said to have occurred around 323 BC, there

arose the beginning of the period of Hellenic.

The generals that were allied to Alexander The Great was commonly known as Diadochoi

which, if translated, it means ‘successors.’ The generals contributed to the division of the empire

and the land into the kingdoms that were under their control. The passing on of Alexander the

Great ushered in the rise of the Hellenistic dynasty, which came by in the form of three groups,

the Seleucids that were found in the Eastern region, the Ptolemies, which was found in Egypt and

the antigonids that were found in the region of Macedonia. In this case, some of the cities in

rising of the division of the empire brought about the assertion of the Greek independence

through the aid of the alliances that were founded. Among the alliances that were founded to

champion the alliances, included the Aitolian League, which was established in the Western

parts of the central Greece and the Asian League, which was located in the Peloponnese

(Freeman). In honor of the efforts that were put by Alexander The great in uniting Greece and

the Greeks, several artists have worked to honor him by making artistic portraits through

classical art.

Greek/Roman art

Classical art is a concept that was coined to mean the kind of art that was practiced by both

Romans and Greeks. Classical art is not only used in the description of the later periods whereby,

but the most of the artists also drew their inspirations from the style that was used in the ancient

days. During this period the Romans learned paintings and sculpture from the artists that had a

Greek origin thereafter transmitting the artworks by the Greeks into the later generations.

Therefore, classical art has its long-lasting influence from which is argued to have been owed by

its feature of simplistic, humanity, sheer beauty and reasonableness.

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During the first periods of the classical art, which is said to have begun from the middle 5th

century BC, the Greeks that were in the art industry, majorly those who were doing sculpture

work, contributing to the resolution of many problems that faced the Greek artists in the archaic

age. Due to the advancement in the artworks within the industry, artists had already learned how

to present the form of human beings in a manner that was and is still to date considered as

naturalistic while in action or while at rest. During this period, artists majorly focused on making

and portraying gods owing to the account that the territory was dominated by the worship of the

gods. Interestingly, despite the Greek community during this period believing that their gods

were like human beings, they further believed that the gods were more beautiful and grander than

the normal human being. As result of the belief, the artists made their works within the context

of ideal beauty compared to the human beauty. During this period the sculptures that were made

contributed to the achievement of a perfection that was regarded as godlike in their calm, under

which they ordered beauty (Honour and Fleming, p45).

One of the features of the Greek culture is that they had a great and more beautiful marble which

they used freely in the temples and also in their temples. However, the Greeks were not happy

with the whiteness of the sculptures, despite their prominence in terms of being painted in the

most conspicuous buildings and statutes. Despite the account that they did not like the whiteness

of these sculptures, some of them have been preserved today in the archives as some the Greek

culture. It should be noted that sculptures may weather thereby losing its original paint.

Therefore, some of the sculptures that were made during this time and had been preserved have

lost their original paint. As a result, parrhasius, Apelles, and Zexius, who are known great

painters during the 4th BC were considered as the greatest colorists. Polygnotus, on the other

hand, was considered as the great draftsman (Honour and Fleming, P22).

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Due to the advancement of the Greek artwork, the region has been fortunate enough to have

Greek vases. Some of the vases are archived in tombs, while others are yet to be covered by

present or past archeologists in their areas of sites. A keen look at the vases makes one realize

their beauty which brings about the idea of the Greek beauty painting. Several researchers

consider the vases as the examples of a feeling which is wonderful for the line and form which

made the Greeks to reign in the field of sculpture.

How Greek/Roman art represented Alexander the Great

As the recognized leader in the Greek society, several artworks were made in his honor. One of

the artistic works that were made in honor of the contribution of Alexander the Great was the

Alexander Mosaic which dates back to as far as 100 BC. The Alexander Mosaic represents a

Roman floor that was initially collected from the Faun’s house in Pompeii. The mosaic was

made with the intention of depicting a battlefield that accommodated the armies belonging

Alexander the great and Darius, the third of Persia with the measurements of 5.13m by 2.72m.

The original mosaic, however, is believed to have been preserved in the Naples National

Archaeological Museum. It is also believed that the mosaic was produced from the copy of the

3rd century BC Hellenistic painting. To the Greek community, the contributions of Alexander

the Great in the war that is denoted by the Alexander Mosaic is so significant to the extent that

they had to do an artwork to denote his contributions in a manner that would be preserved and

passed to the generations of the Greek community.

The artistic works that have been made in regard to the contributions of and honor of Alexander

the Great, however, do not only mean that he was someone to be praised on the account that

there are artistic works that were made depicting Alexander the great as a maniacal man.

However, in most of the established sculpture, Alexander the great is depicted as a great leader,

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god to the Greek society, general and a hero. For instance, the works of Plotemy, Alexander the

Great is depicted as a great leader with aspects of divinity, youthfulness, and exuberance. The

youthful and brave aspects of Alexander the great were drawn from the account that he

commanded the majority of the military personnel with his work despite being young. In some

other artistic works, Alexander the great appeared on one of the region’s currency with the

intention of honoring his contributions to the society.

In conclusion, Alexander the Great played a significant role in the Greek population. In this

regard, he has been honored in several ways by the Greek population, therefore, on account that

art is one of the greatest cultural aspects to the Greek/Roman population, artists have made

several artworks in his honor, some which have been preserved in the archives.

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References

Freeman, Philip. Alexander the Great. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2011. Print.

Honour, Hugh and John Fleming. A World History of Art. London: Laurence King Publishing,

2005. Print.

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