The Shocking Aspects of Theater in Ancient Rome

The Shocking Aspects of Theater in Ancient Rome Roman theater began before Roman culture began to emulate the Greeks. However, very little is known of early theater produced by Etruscans and other ancient cultures. The Roman plays that live on in written form were produced in Greek-style amphitheaters, and many of the plays were essentially rewritten versions of Greek stories. In ancient Greece, plays were unlikely to contain graphic violence or sexuality, but the opposite was true in Rome. The Roman Theater and Violence The Roman public loved a good spectacle. They loved to watch combat and admired blood sports and gladiator competition. As a result, there was plenty of gore in most Roman theater. Roman audiences also preferred less subtlety than the Greeks when it came to sexuality on stage. In fact, according to  the book Living Theater by Edwin Wilson, one Roman emperor ordered an entire troupe of mimes to engage in actual intercourse on stage. The fact that this event was recorded for posterity suggests that it wasnt the norm, but it may not have been an isolated event. Famous Roman Playwrights Fewer plays were written in ancient Rome than in Greece. Many of those that were written seemed to be retreads  of old Greek myths (transplanted with the very similar Roman Gods). Perhaps the noted exception to this rule would be the domestic comedies of Plautus and Terence. And of course, Seneca - perhaps Romes best-known tragedian. There were hundreds more playwrights besides the three mentioned below. The Roman Republic and its subsequent empire greatly enjoyed the arts and entertainment. However, while there were many playwrights in ancient Rome, only a small percentage of their works  have survived the passage of time. Plautus If you have ever seen Stephen Sondheims A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, then you have experienced a taste, albeit with a corny 1960s flavor, of the Roman comedy master Plautus. A founder of the comedic theater, he created over a hundred plays in his remarkable career, many of which lampooned iconic figures within Roman society: the soldier, the politician, the clever slave, the philandering husband, and the wise but nagging wife. Terence Terences life story is an ancient tale of rags to riches. Terence was the slave of a Roman senator. Apparently, his master was so impressed with young Terences intellect that he released him from his service and even funded Terences education. During his adult years, Terence crafted comedies which were primarily Roman-style adaptations of Greek plays by Hellenistic writers, such as Menander. Seneca In addition to being a playwright, Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a lawyer and a Roman senator. He witnessed some of the darkest days of Romes empire, as he served under the sadistic Emperor Caligula. The next emperor in line, Claudius, banished Seneca, sending him away from Rome for over eight years. After returning from exile, Seneca became the advisor to the infamous Emperor Nero.  According to dramaturg William S. Turney, Nero ordered the assassination of his own mother and then commissioned Seneca to write a speech that excused Neros crimes. During the playwrights lifetime, he wrote tragedies, many of them re-inventions of Greek myths of decadence and self-destruction. For example, his play Phaedra details the sensual depravity of Theseus lonely wife who lusts after her step-son, Hippolytus. Seneca also adapted the Greek myth of Thyestes, a sordid tale of adultery, fratricide, incest, and cannibalism, with enough carnage to make even modern audiences cringe. Seneca retired from public life assuming that he might spend his elder years writing and relaxing, but the suspicious Nero ordered Seneca to commit suicide. Seneca complied, slashing his wrists and arms, slowly bleeding out. Apparently, it was too slow, because according to the ancient historian Tacitus, Seneca called for poison, and when that failed him, he was placed in a hot bath to be suffocated by the steam. Source Wilson, Edwin. Living Theatre: A History of Theatre. Alvin Goldfarb President, 6th Edition, McGraw-Hill Education, January 10, 2011.

The Story of the Greek Titan Atlas

The Story of the Greek Titan Atlas The expression to carry the weight of the world on ones shoulders comes from the Greek myth of Atlas, who was one of the second generation of the Titans, the oldest gods of Greek mythology. However, Atlas did not actually carry the weight of the world; instead, he carried the celestial sphere (the sky). The Earth and celestial sphere are both spherical in shape, which may account for the confusion. Atlas in Greek Mythology Atlas was one of four sons of the Titan Iapoetos and the Okeanid Klymene: his brothers were Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Menoitios. The earliest of the traditions say simply that it was Atlass responsibility to hold up the sky. Later reports say that as one of the Titans, Atlas and his brother Menoitios took part in the Titanomachy, a war between the Titans and their offspring the Olympians. Fighting against the Titans were Olympians Zeus, Prometheus, and Hades. When the Olympians won the war, they punished their enemies. Menoitios was sent to Tartarus in the underworld. Atlas, however, was condemned to stand at the western edge of the Earth and hold the sky on his shoulders. Holding Up the Sky Different sources vary in their descriptions of how Atlas held up the sky. In Hesiods Theogony, Atlas stands at the western edge of the earth near the Hesperides, supporting the sky on his head and hands. The Odyssey describes Atlas standing in the sea holding the pillars that keep the earth and sky apart- in this version, he is the father of Calypso. Herodotus was the first to suggest that the sky rested atop Mount Atlas in the western part of northern Africa, and later traditions still report that Atlas was a man who metamorphosed into the mountain. The Story of Atlas and Hercules Perhaps the most famous myth involving Atlas is his role in one of the celebrated twelve labors of Hercules, and the main version is found in Apollodorus of Athenss Library. In this legend, Hercules was required by Eurystheus to fetch the golden apples from the fabled gardens of the Hesperides, which were sacred to  Hera  and guarded by the fearsome hundred-headed dragon Ladon. Following the advice of Prometheus, Hercules asked Atlas (in some versions the father of the Hesperides) to get him the apples while he, with the help of  Athena, took the sky onto his own shoulders for a while, giving the Titan a welcome respite. Perhaps understandably, when returning with the golden apples, Atlas was reluctant to resume the burden of carrying the sky. However, the wily Hercules tricked the god into swapping places temporarily while the hero got himself some cushions to more easily bear the tremendous weight. Of course, as soon as Atlas was back holding the heavens, Hercules with his golden booty, hot-footed back to  Mycenae. Sources Hard, Robin. The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology. London: Routledge, 2003. Print.Smith, William, and G.E. Marindon, eds. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: John Murray, 1904. Print.

Low culture and Street Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Low culture and Street Art - Essay Example By formal definition, â€Å"street art† pertains to visual art performed and generated in public spaces especially on streets that may be viewed by the greater population and which may consist of graffiti artwork, street photography, sculpture, multimedia-based public art, guerrilla art, street paintings and poster designs with slogan, sticker art, as well as other creations that can find association with artistic endeavor that yields civic exposure and appreciation. Such denotation reflects how street art is treated in response to its primary aim under a variety of approach and themes as diverse as cultures and genres that bear impact upon the minds of street artists. Eventually, prominent street art figures across half the century prior to the second millennium beginning with the 70s to the present like C. Sherman, B. Kruger, K. Haring, J. Shabazz, and B. Cunningham have, in a way or the other, liberated art to a degree that it reaches out to establish connection with the he art of human nature. As an artists who functions on a conceptual framework, Barbara Kruger imparts a postmodern vision of public artistry via the power of black, white, and red in layered photography though she confesses â€Å"I feel uncomfortable with the term public art, because I’m not sure what it means; if it means what I think it does, then I don’t do it.† Kruger’s works are characteristic of collage between images and captions carrying bold depictions of truth typically of the issues dealing with individualism.