Artwork The Deities example essay topic

The representation of deities (gods / goddesses ) has grown to change a lot throughout the many periods we have learned about. From the Sumerians, to the Egyptians, to the Greeks, deities are shown as either animals, humans with animals heads, with flames coming from their shoulders, or just depicted in human form for artwork. During these different times, cultures and societies worshiped different gods and goddesses and had many different belief systems. However through the centuries they all show these deities in their artworks one way or another.

The Sumerians and the people that came after them in the ancient Near East worshiped many gods and goddesses, however most were nature deities. When shown in artwork the deities are shown wearing horn crowns. In the painting Investiture of Zim ri-Lim, the goddess Ishtar is shown granting the power to rule to a new king. The king is shown approaching Ishtar granting his right arm showing respect. In another piece of artwork Hammurabi also raises his right arm to the sun god Shamash. Shamash is shown with flames coming out of his shoulders.

In both these pieces of artwork the basic point is to show the gods granting royal authorities to the kings showing their power. I think these pieces of artwork are done to show the power of the deities to be greater then that of the kings. The Egyptian worldview was a lot different from that of any other period. Egyptians believed in many deities and depicted them in their artwork as animals or having the head of an animal Horus who was an Egyptian god, son of Osiris is represented as a falcon or a falcon- headed man because a falcon is the noblest bird in the sky. Horus is shown in various artworks such as the Palette of King Narmer, the statue of Kha fre sitting down, and also on the Temple of Horus. Anther goddess, Hathor is also shown on the Palette of King Narmer with cow's horns, and is other times shown with a cows head.

Also Thoth, another lunar deity, also known as the god of knowledge and writing appears in The Last Judgment of Hu-Nefer as a baboon and in other artworks Thoth appears as an ibis or an ibis headed man. Anubis, the god of mummification and weigh er of hearts also appears in the Last Judgment of Hu-Nefer as a man with the head of a Jackal. The Greeks also believed in many gods and goddesses, however unlike the Egyptians, the only difference between humans the Greek deities was that the deities were immortal. Therefore, because Greeks represented gods and goddesses in their artwork in the form of humans, it is sometimes hard to determine whether or not some of the statues made by the Greeks are actually deities or mortals. In the statue Lady of Auxerre, it is undetermined whether the young woman is a mortal or a deity. "She wears a long skirt and a cape, as do the Pri nias women, but the Auxerre maiden has no headdress, and the right hand placed across the chest is probably a gesture of prayer".

(Page 105) Another statue that is a mystery is figure 5-36 in our textbooks. Whatever the man in the statue is throwing must have broken off and is now missing. While most believe the statue is meant to depict the god Zeus throwing a thunderbolt, others say it can possibly be Poseidon with his trident, or just another javelin thrower. Zeus's son, the greatest Greek hero of all time Heracles was half human and half god.

He too is depicted in all Greek artwork in the human form. Heracles is shown in figure 5-32 obtaining the golden apples Gaia, as his last task. In the Christian religion, it is believed that there is one God and that Jesus of Nazareth was the son of God. Therefore in Christian artwork they dep i.