Ancient culture: its role in the development of world culture

Ancient culture is a widely used term for determining the long period in the history of culture, concentrated in the Mediterranean region, primarily including the interconnected civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. It existed, beginning with the poetry of Homer (8-7 centuries BC) and until the fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth century AD.

Observing chronologically the monuments of ancient Greek culture and art, one can state the development of the oldest ways of expressing thoughts with the help of images, but at the same time continuously improving them to the level of the highest artistic ideals.

The ancient culture of the Greeks and Romans, experiencing some influence of the Ancient East, prevailed throughout the Ancient World as a base of art, philosophy, social and educational institutions. Ideals were preserved, imitated by them. This Greco-Roman cultural foundation has greatly influenced the language, politics, educational systems, philosophy, science, art and architecture of the modern world.

The classical heritage flourished in the Middle Ages in the Byzantine-Greek East, in the Latin West. The Byzantines, who called themselves Romans, retained many of the attributes of economic, legal, administrative organizations characteristic of ancient Rome. In Northern Europe, the Frankish King Charlemagne and the Saxon ruler Otto I, who sought to restore the Western Roman Empire, were crowned by the Pope in Rome as "the emperor and August." Ancient culture revived in the period of appearance of various neoclassical movements of the 18-19th centuries. The relics of Greco-Roman antiquity - coins, jewelry, vases, sculpture, architecture, literature - fascinated thinking people in all ages.

The verse in Latin continued to be written in the 19th century. Among the famous poets - John Milton and Arthur Rimbaud - received their first poetic education in this language. In music, you can remember Igor Stravinsky and his "Greek trilogy" for the ballets "Apollo", "Orpheus", "Agon".

Ancient culture with its mythological subjects and symbols left a deep mark in Western European literature and painting.

In the philosophy of the work of St. Thomas Aquinas mainly based on the ideas of Plato, but rethought in the light of the Christian religion.

The architecture is marked by several "Renaissance", especially Roman architecture, it is enough to cite the example of Washington in America. The city is filled with large marble buildings, which are very reminiscent of Roman temples with columns.

The era of antiquity became a particularly popular subject of interest in the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries, when classical sculptural and architectural works were motifs for engravings. Printed images from them served a very important business. They gave an opportunity to people interested in works of art and culture, to study them. One of the vivid examples is the "Bacchanalia" by Andrea Mantegna. It was created by a great artist after his visit to Rome (in 1488-1490). Typical features of the engraving are a frieze-like composition, the figures are copied from antique sarcophagi, which Mantegna saw in private collections and Roman churches. The work greatly influenced the outstanding master of the Northern Renaissance Albrecht Durer, for whom the ancient culture also became the subject of inspiration and research. The fruits of this influence are clearly visible in the engraving of Durer "Adam and Eve." Adam has the pose of Apollo Belvedere, whose sculptural image was discovered near Rome at the end of the fifteenth century.

Imitating the magnificent works of the ancients, while trying to surpass them, artists, sculptors, writers in the subsequent historical periods did revive the former grandeur of the classical era.