Week 4- On with the Show!

source

A source is defined by its ability to inspire and inform future generations. Thus, a source is the predecessor to the archetype. The Romans, though not the first to borrow from sources outside their own society, were the first to master the interpretation of outside sources as guides to the planning of their cities and structures.
Greece served as a source for many different entities in Roman society. Sadly, and somewhat satirically, most people today don't know the difference between Roman and Greek. Who really remembers which is which, Jupiter or Zeus? I do! I hint I always found helpful was to remember that the Greeks saw their deities as much more powerful than the Romans. Romans diffused power into families and households, allowing for familial traditions and ancestral genius altars (Blakemore 49). While the genius was still highly respected, and had it own specific space in the "domus" (49), it would hardly have been acceptable in Greek tradition.

archetype : prototype : hybrid

I was really excited to write about these three prompts as they have played a huge role in my life. Not necessarily as they pertain to architecture- but as they pertain to musical instruments. Then again, when do any words apply to one fine art and note the other…Never! Oh, did I mention that I am a music major, and I play the hybrid of all hybrid instruments, the viola!
When I think archetype-prototype-hybrid I think of the progression of greatness. An archetype is like the rough draft. The archetypal viola is stunningly documented in a beautiful combination of music and architecture on the dome of the Santuario di Saronno. This some features a beautiful fresco of a concert of angels.

Full painting of the fresco of angels. Picture by artist Gaudenzio Ferrari. Giclee print from allposters.com

If you look closely- you will notice that one of the shoulder held stung instruments is a bit chubby- it commonly thought to be a viola!
Prototypes come about when an artist recognizes that they are building on ideas. Prototype typically denotes some kind of large change or addition to a concept that changes it enough to rename the concept.
Hybrids are the best of both concepts combined; the final product of a series of works that have recognized former strengths and weaknesses of a concept and created a final project that will best suit a concept’s intended commodity, firmness and delight!

My boyfriend's-mother’s wedding- Did I mention my instrument is over 200 years old. It is a Anton Hornsteiner viola from Mittenwald, Germany c.1762!!

entourage

Princeton’s wordnet search engine defines an entourage as “a group following and attending to some important person.”
Large entourages could be found gathering in almost any city of any great emipre. Greek city plans featured Agoras as marketplaces that could be used for any gathering of people for shopping, political meetings, or general soap-boxing.
Our study the “wu-wu” and arch statues in markets or forums of ancient Roman cities could have a large impact on the entourage that any given roman icon would be able to amass. "The forum thus served much the same funtion as the Greek agora" (Roth 253). Roth credits Julius Cesar for the forum of all forums, the Forum Romanum(254).

hierarchy

Hierarchy is the organization or stratification of any objects or people that place significance on a escalating system of worth or value. That is a fancy way of saying- hierarchies happen when things ascertain value. In the particular case of design, social hierarchy is clearly and repetitively demonstrated in the size and quality of both interior and structural architecture.
The upper echelon of Roman city planners (as PLL pointed out in class) very smartly used "panem et circences" or "bread and circuses" (from the Roman poet Juvenal) in their city planning to distract citizens from any political problems and command unwavering support and social obedience.

order

Order is a word that I have had to learn to use. I must admit than when I started this course, columns were not the first things that came to mind when a person mentioned order. The Greeks used columns in their temples as early as 1050 BCE (Roth 230). Roth is particularly poetic in his description of the origin (or SOURCE) of the column. “Earlier Ritual offerings to the gods had been made in sacred groves, with the trees decorated with the sacrificial offerings. It is believed that the temple, with its surrounding colonnade, was an attempt to recreate the sacred grove. The columns became those decorated trees, and the many parts of the Doric, Ionic and later Corinthian orders were named for the actions performed in these rituals.” (Roth 230)

In Conclusion...
this week has been all about the learning process. Egyptians served as a source of structurally sound architecture for the Greeks. The Greeks build the first temples, bringing ritual indoors and serving as the archetype for the great structures of the Roman Emipre. The architectural achievements of the Romans in turn, served as a prototype for almost every society that came after them(Blakemore 47). Entourage is a bit of an outlyer to this progression. The entourage so to say, "made the man." Empires could not stand if not for the flock of followers who vowed allegiance to their rulers, many of the great buildings we studied this week would not have been built if it were not for the existence of the first great empires of Greek and Rome. History has yet again, shown itself to be circtuitous and generalizable.