Exam 14: Ancient Mediterranean Worlds

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Rome came of age during the Hellenistic period, and one aspect of Hellenistic art was a tendency toward realistic portrayals of individuals, as opposed to idealized portrayals of types of people. The Double Portrait is a portrait of a Roman husband and wife, who are fully realized as individuals. Roman sculptors excelled at realism in busts of ordinary people, as illustrated in the husband, whose well-defined creases and patient face convey a long experience in the trials of the world. His wife seems stronger, less marked by pain, and her supportive clasp of his hand suggests the Roman virtues of fidelity and harmony.

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The mummy case of Artemidorus gives us a glimpse of the multicultural world of late Rome. It holds the mummy of a young Roman subject, Artemidorus, a Greek name, from Egypt, which was part of the Roman Empire in the second century. The exterior case is stucco, with an encaustic portrait painting of the inhabitant. The mummified body of Artemidorus reflects the Egyptian religious practice, and on his mummy are representations of ancient Egyptian gods including Anubis, the god of the dead. The Villa of Mysteries fresco is an example of the mastery of Roman wall painting. Located in a house of the same name, the fresco depicts a scene believed to represent secret cult rituals associated with the wine god Dionysus. The figures stand as though on a ledge, in shallow but convincing space, interacting only slightly with one another. The artist segmented the mural into panels separated by black bands. The figures overlap these panels freely, and there is no strong sense of individual episodes, or compartments, offering rhythm and design unity.