Medieval World and Antiquity: The Principle Differences

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Main text
Summary
Works Cited

Introduction

The term antiquity in its broad meaning is referred to historical period before the Middle Ages. More specifically, it stands to denote the classical antiquity of Greece and Rome. In the current paper we will consider the latter meaning of the term. The period after the fall of the Roman Empire until 1500 is commonly called the Middle Ages. It can be characterized both as a period of chaos and instability and a period of great increase instability and order that could not but influence the general trends in religion, culture and art, in particular. Below are the principal differences between the medieval world and antiquity (ancient Greece and Rome) with regard to religion, culture, and art.

Main text

The thing is that three dimensions have always been closely interconnected with each other. During the two periods the state of religion influenced the development of culture and art as one of its brightest spheres. But in the Middle Ages gradually the dependence of culture on religion became less significant. For example, in Italy some Renaissance humanities denied the belief in God’s grace. Human intellectual efforts were more commonly considered as the tool to advance the good for self and society (Cunningham & Reich 23).

If compared to ancient world, that one of the Middle Ages was more concerned with advances in science than in culture, therefore, in general, it can be said that there was a decline in cultural development during the Middle Ages in comparison with the ancient world.

Antique religion was not separate from everyday life. Religious activities took the greater part of people’s ordinary life. The gods and their sacrifices were not depicted apart from the rest of the reality. All studies this way or another were related to the gods, politics was directly related to religion as politicians themselves were priests, Roman emperors were gods themselves. In the Middle Ages a crucial change happened in the religion: religious and secular worlds were equally powerful and there was no need to separate them one from another. Religion was identified as a separate thing from politics.

The main difference between art development during antiquity and medieval art is rooted in the fact that artists who worked during the Middle Ages did not present images in a classical precision as it was during antiquity period. The dominance of Christianity as the chief religion of the Roman world influenced the transition from depicting ideals of perfection in form and technique to the emphasis made on inner spirit of the work. Artistic attention to spiritual significance of the created works originates from the religious ideals of the monk artists.

Contrary to antiquity art, medieval art rejected the physical body and the material world. Men and women were not presented as embodiments of physical perfection; rather, they were depicted as nondescript. The predominant features of the Middle Age characters conveyed religious ideals. Uplifted hands and eyes, for example, became symbolic features of the period.

Summary

Thus, some crucial changes between the development of religion, culture and art in the ancient times and the medieval world can be observed. Actually, these changes made the world’s transition from one historical period to another possible and were influential for the new cultures and religions to come.

Works Cited

Cunningham, Lawrence S. & Reich, John J. Culture And Values: A Survey Of The Humanities.Thomson Wadsworth, 2005.

Goodman, Martin. The Roman World, 44 BC-AD 180. London: Routledge, 1997.

Schnurer, Gustav. Church and Culture in the Middle Ages. Trans. George J. Undreiner. Vol. 1. Paterson, NJ: St. Anthony Guild Press, 1956.

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Medieval World and Antiquity: The Principle Differences

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