Answer to Question #307063 in English for Taylor

Question

Explain how Greek art promoted the idea that different people have different social standings based on their identities. Give at least two specific examples.

Answer 1

Painted pottery was essential to the religious and secular lives of the Greeks. Libations to the gods and to the dead required vases from which to pour them. Economic prosperity depended on the export of wine and oil in durable clay containers. At home, depictions of gods and heroes on vases reinforced Greek values and helped parents to educate their children. Ceramic sets with scenes of Dionysian excess were reserved for elite symposia from which craftsmen were excluded. Sculptors were less lowly, but even those who carved the Parthenon's pediments and frieze were still "mechanics" with soft bodies and soft minds (Xenophon), "indifferent to higher things" (Plutarch).