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Alexandria (200 BC): *
Alexandria was a hotbed of Hellenistic science & literature. The Alexandrian Pleiad were 7 Alexandrian poets & tragedians in the 3rd century BC who worked in the court of Ptolemy II Philadelphus. Below is a list of the Alexandrian Pleiad & other notables, who stand out as innovators or rebels:
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Philiscus of Corcyra--
distinguished tragic poet, wrote 42 dramas of which we know nothing, other than a single title Themistocles; the choriambic hexameter verse was named after him, on account of his frequent use of it
Lycophron--
tragic poet, grammarian, and commentator on comedy, born at Chalcis in Euboea, flourished at Alexandria; commissioned by Ptolemy to arrange the comedies in the Library of Alexandria; from this labour he wrote a treatise On Comedy. He was said to have been a skilful writer of anagrams. He wrote 25 tragedies but only fragments survive. One poem attributed to him, Alexandra, was preserved in complete form running to 1474 iambic trimeters; consists of a prophecy uttered by Cassandra relating to the fortunes of Troy and of the Greek and Trojan heroes. References to events of mythical & later times are introduced; it ends with a reference to Alexander. Neither ancient or modern critics have found this work transparent; indeed it may be the most illegible piece of classical literature, one which nobody can read without a proper commentary & even then makes very difficult reading. The poem is intended to display the writer's knowledge of obscure names & uncommon myths, full of unusual words of doubtful meaning gathered from the older poets, plus long-winded compounds coined by the author. Most likely a show-piece for the Alexandrian school (rather than as straight poetry)
Sositheus of Alexandria--
Greek tragic poet & dramatist, from Alexandria Troas, resided for a time in Athens; while there Diogenes Laërtius claims he attacked the Stoic Cleanthes on the stage & was hissed off by the audience. Credited with restoring the satyric drama in its original form. A considerable fragment of his pastoral play Daphnis survives.
Theocritus--
a poet from Sicily, also probably in Alexandria for a while, where he wrote about everyday life, notably Pharmakeutria; creator of ancient Greek bucolic poetry, wrote bucolics and mimes, lyrics & epics.
Apollonius of Rhodes--
Greek author & head librarian at library of Alexandria; best known for the Argonautica, epic poem about the quest for the Golden Fleece, written partly as an experimental means of communicating his own researches into Homer's poetry. It was a poetic dictionary of Homer. He was among the foremost Homeric scholars in the Alexandrian period & wrote the period's first scholarly monograph on Homer, critical of the editions of the Iliad and Odyssey published by Zenodotus (an earlier scholar at the library).
Callimachus--
Libyan Greek (305- 240), poet, critic, scholar; educated in Athens, returned to North Africa & moved to Alexandria where he worked in the Library. He enjoyed patronage of Ptolemy II & Ptolemy III. He produced a bibliographic survey of the contents of the Library & was one of the most productive & influential scholar-poets of the Hellenistic age; best known for his short poems & epigrams. He urged poets to explore new styles rather the follow the Homeric epic style. He favoured poetry that was brief, yet carefully formed and worded
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Faustian sculpture (Assyrian, Egyptian & Mexican): *
Assyrian—
an example of Faustian art inspired by Assyrian sculpture is Epstein’s tomb of Oscar Wilde (Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris)- see BELOW. It took 10 months to complete. Epstein (1880-1959) devised a vast winged figure, a messenger swiftly moving with vertical wings, giving the feeling of forward flight; the conception was purely symbolical, of a poet as a messenger. In the original sketches, the influence of the winged Assyrian bulls (see BELOW) in the British Museum is clearly evident. Epstein deliberately abandoned the conventions of classical Greek sculpture favoured by European Academic sculptors to experiment instead with the aesthetics of art traditions as diverse as those of India, West Africa, and the Pacific Islands. He admired Egyptian & African sculptures which he had seen in the British Museum (see below).
Mexican--
A British sculptor who was captivated by Mexican art was Henry Moore. He discovered the Mexican sculpture of the British Museum in his first year at the Royal College of Art (1921). Moore developed a view of world sculpture in which the Greco-Roman tradition took a marginal role. He found Mexican sculpture closer to his taste & ambitions than the traditional figurative works he was taught in his College to copy. Both his drawings and carvings testify to his close attention to Mexican sculpture, whether seen reproduced in books or in the collections of the Musée du Trocadéro (Paris) or the British Museum.
LEFT--His 1930 Reclining woman was heavily were influenced by Chac Mool (reclining) figures, such as this one from Chichen Itza.
RIGHT--The chacmool was fundamental to one of Moore’s recurrent themes, the reclining figure, and makes its imposing presence clear in the 1929 Reclining Figure 1929. Common at the time of the Aztec, the chacmool seems to have originated in the Valley of Mexico with the Toltecs of Tula, although one of its most famous examples is from the Maya city of Chichen Itza in the Yucatan.
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Egyptian—
BELOW--Epstein's colossal Day and Night (1929) Portland Stone, carved for London Underground's Headquarters at 55 Broadway. Epstein commented that he always turned to Egypt for inspiration for architectural or monumental sculpture and the influence of Egypt is clear in these abstract figures.
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Rome (Graeco-Asiatic):*
Between 211 BC (the capture of Syracuse) and 165 BC (the sack of Corinth) Rome was flooded with Greek statues & paintings, loot from plundered Greek city states. Some went into private collections, some were found in temples & on public display. Before 211 Rome had been bereft of any such art. These imports had significant cultural impact, an aesthetic re-education for Romans. Resented in the Late Republic, they became an exotic & then mainstream import of the early Empire. Tiberius (ruled 14 to 37 AD, born in 42 BC) was a great lover of Hellenistic Baroque sculptor, a splendid example of which is Speralonga. These works are an elaborate ensemble discovered at the villa of Tiberius on the coast between Rome & Naples. As reconstructed, they were arranged in groups around the interior of a large natural grotto facing the sea. The sculptors responsible were 3 men of Rhodes: Athenodoros, Agesandros & Polydoros. These are the same 3 sculptors Pliny the Elder identifies as creators of the Laocoön group, also owned by Tiberius (today in the Vatican Museums). The figure & pose of Alcyoneus at Speralonga is identical to the Laocoön group. It is a great example of- the Hellenistic "Pergamene baroque"style emerging in Greek Asia Minor around 200 BC. Its defining work is the Pergamon Altar (180-160 BC). The 3 sculptors probably made a marble copy of a bronze Laocoon group at Pergumen.
Speralonga was used by Tiberius for dining & many scholars believe he had the sculptures installed. The groups show incidents from the story of the Homeric hero Odysseus, and are in Hellenistic baroque style but date to the early Imperial period. Asiatic Greek/ Hellenistic Baroque and Early Imperial style are very close, the 2 blend into each other imperceptibly, Roman becoming Greek.
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relief sculpture (19th Dynasty versus Old Kingdom): *
“The relief of the XIXth Dynasty - the modern age in the Egyptian Culture - that covered the monstrous, meaningless, inorganic walls, statues and columns, seems like a sheer parody of the art of the Old Kingdom.”
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see ILLUSTRATION D
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Constantine (arch of): *
The Arch of Constantine is an example of spolia (Latin, 'spoils') in which older decorative sculpture or building material is used for new construction. It was a widespread practice whereby stone that has been quarried, cut, and used in a built structure, is carried away to be used elsewhere. sEE DIAGRAM BELOW to identify the older artwork used on the arch.
