Reply To: Humanism

[Gabe]

A contrast case that could be considered to the Humanism of the Greeks is the Spiritualism of the Ancient Egyptians. It’s interesting, because the earlier (Geometric and Archaic) periods of Greek art have a lot in common with the Ancient Egyptians. There are similar geometeric patterns, two dimensional rows on top of rows (Corinthian Olpe) and rigid postures (Kore and Kouros). However as the Greek Humanism emerged, Greek art became more passionate and dynamic. The human characters would show expressions with real emotion, joy, and suffering. There is another interesting parallel to between this trend, and the Greek mythology which presents the Olympians overthrowing the ‘Old Gods’ the titans, giants, Gaia, and Kronos. In this mythology, the Olympians are obviously the most ‘people’ with their melodramas, romances, etc. and it emphasizes the value the Greeks gradually placed onto their own Humanness. As a Philosophy major I also think it’s very interesting that this is the environment that brought a ‘think for yourself’ philosophy into the world.