The focus on history and past cultures that began with the neoclassical era is reflected much in today’s society. Archeology, which began with excavations at Herculaneum, has continued to grow throughout time and has contributed a great deal to the present. Museums such as the Louvre and Vatican both began to gather up numerous findings from past worlds. This new practice of searching for lost history has molded the society that we live in today.
From the artifacts that have been discovered throughout time, people have been able to learn about past societies and thus grow from the knowledge gained. By taking technologies discovered in our search for history, modern people have been able to manipulate former ideas to invent new technology. With ideas taken from the past we can see mistakes that earlier people made, and grow as a population. The history of earlier societies is a great aid to the continuance of our current civilization, and people in the Neoclassical era were able to realize this and start a new revolution of knowledge.
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I completely agree that the Greek and Roman societies and the discoveries made during the Neoclassical era shape our society today. We truly have benefited and learned from the discoveries of the Greeks and Romans and if archaeologists hadn't discovered Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius, I wonder what our society would look like today.
ReplyDeleteThe discoveries in these excavations are not only found in museums like the Louvre and the Vatican though, they are found in everyday life around the globe. In the U.S. alone there are thousands of architextural structures that exhibit elements from the neoclassical period. For example, the classic colonades designed by the Greeks and Romans are found on the Lincoln Memorial, the Capitol Building, the Library of Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court Building to name a few. The well-known cupola is also present in numerous buildings- the Capital Building in the U.S., The Rotunda at the University of Virginia and Sainte Genevieve in Paris. It's amazing that the impact of these discoveries has remained present in our society for decades later.
I think it's interesting that Johann Joachim Winckelmann said that artists of his time would only become great by imitating the ancient Greeks, and it seems this statement is valid considering the number of Greek architextural structures in the U.S., thousands of miles away from is origins.
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ReplyDeleteThe true influence of Neoclassicism on our society is not noticeable by just looking at architectural landmarks such as the Capital Building and the Lincoln Memorial. These landmarks symbolize America's "commitment to the ideals of liberty and equality" (Fiero 153).
ReplyDeleteThey also symbolize our attempt to imitate the ancient democratic societies of the world.
America's entire governmental structure has its basic roots in the Roman structure.
However, I do not agree that America is going to completely learn from earlier societies. The democratic form of government does have weaknesses. These problems were evident before the fall of Rome, yet they did nothing.
The general trend in history has shown us that all civilizations eventually come to an end, and to state that Americans are learning from historical events is naive. Democracy gives power to the masses, and the majority of these masses does not study neoclassicalism, and could probably not even define the term.
Therefore, the only way our society can hope to delay the inevitable is to promote historical education, so that every man may truly understand mankind's past mistakes.
Posted by Spencer N
ReplyDeleteAlthough I recognize that without studying our past some of our greatest ideas would have never come to fruition, just because we read about the past mistakes of humans doesn’t mean that we won’t make them ourselves. How many times in our lives do we make the same mistake multiple times before learning? To assume that societies can avoid mistakes by reading about them instead of actually performing them is wishful thinking. There have been so many rulers that have initially succeeded like previous ones, but then failed just as the ones before them, not avoiding the pitfalls the others have taken because they think it won’t happen to them. Take for example Hitler and Napoleon, the beginning of the end for both of these leaders was attempting to take over Russia and the exact same thing happened to both, poor preparation and inability to cope with the different climate. Some mistakes must be learned first hand to be fully acknowledged. Adversity is part of growth, and to experience this adversity you need to make the same mistakes as the people earlier did and then grow from them.