In tombs like this and in many others, the walls were usually covered with paintings in the form of murals, mostly drawn from Greek legends. Most of the time, these murals provide scenes of banquets, feasts and revelry, such as in the Tomb of the Leopards in Tarquinia, Italy. This tomb is decorated with a banquet scene and groups of dancers and musicians. These wall paintings are similar yet different from those of other ancient societies, for in ancient Roman, the murals were more focused on the family and familial ancestry; Minoan murals also express the daily lives of the Minoans, celebrating at banquets, sporting events and religious ceremonies; Egyptian murals, however, usually expressed religious activities, especially those of the gods and goddesses, such as Osiris and Isis, and with Greek murals, those of the Etruscans are very similar in theme and execution, yet are sometimes more architecturally dominant.
QUESTION #4: How and why did Early Christian sculpture differ from the Roman sculptural style of depicting man?
As to the form of man in Early Christian sculpture, there occurred a shift from Greco-Roman naturalism to a style that incorporated religious symbolism and themes as found in the Holy Bible and in the teachings of Jesus Christ. One prime example is the Good Shepherd Sarcophagus (3rd century a.D.). As compared to Roman sculptures of man, this object, rather than having a pagan theme, depicts man as a symbol of redemption through the blood of Christ. Also, Early Christian sculptural images of man are not as stylized nor as realistic as those of ancient Rome, a trait which carried over to the Medieval Period, especially when images of man were used as pictures to educate the uneducated on the mysteries of faith and the theme of God as all-powerful and divine.
QUESTION #5: How did Charlemagne...
In painting, Charlemagne was most influential in his patronage of illustrators and designers for such works as the Coronation Gospels and the Gospel book of St. Matthews which contained much sophisticated realism. In architecture, Charlemagne re-established the Imperial past and encouraged the revival of Roman building techniques which set the stage for Medieval artistic designs. In education, Charlemagne and the scholars under his patronage imported whole libraries from Italy and Byzantium and encouraged every person in his realm to read and write, particularly the Holy Bible and the scholarly writings of religious leaders, such as St. Augustine.
QUESTION #6: What influences impact the design of the Great Mosque at Cordova? Describe specifically several aspects of the design that reflect this influence.
Specifically, Moslem religious architecture was highly influenced by Moslem prayer which requires one to face in the direction of Mecca, thus inspiring the creation of the qibla and the large, square court with two zullahs, or shaded areas, along the north and south sides of the mosque. The Great Mosque at Cordoba, begun in 784 a.D., thus reflects these and many other architectural styles and designs most associated with Moslem buildings used for prayer. In areas such as the mihrab, arches are highly decorative which created in the worshipper a sense of closeness to the perfection of Allah. This same desire for decoration seems to have inspired the design of the dome that covers the area in front of the mihrab which creates for the worshipper a sense of spaciousness, much like heaven itself.
