Antique culture is a widely used term to define a long period in the history of culture concentrated in the Mediterranean region, first of all, including the interconnected civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. It existed from the poetry of Homer (8-7 centuries BC) and until the fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth century AD.
Reviewing chronologically the monuments of ancient Greek culture and art, we can state the development of the most ancient ways to express thoughts with the help of images, but at the same time continuously improving them to the level of the highest artistic ideals.
The ancient culture of the Greeks and Romans, experiencing some influence from the Ancient East, prevailed throughout the Ancient World as the basis of art, philosophy, social and educational institutions. Ideals persisted, imitated. This Greco-Roman cultural foundation has greatly influenced the language, politics, educational systems, philosophy, science, art and architecture of the modern world.
Classical heritage flourished in the Middle Ages in the Byzantine-Greek East, in the Latin West. The Byzantines, who called themselves Romans, retained many of the attributes of economic, legal, administrative organizations characteristic of ancient Rome. In Northern Europe, the Frankish king Charlemagne and the Saxon ruler Otto I, who sought to restore the Western Roman Empire, were crowned by the Pope in Rome as "Emperor and Augustus." Ancient culture revived during the emergence of various neoclassical movements of the 18-19 centuries. Relics of Greco-Roman antiquity - coins, jewelry, vase painting, sculpture, architecture, literature - have fascinated thinking people in all ages.
Poet in Latin continued to be written in the 19th century. Among the famous poets - John Milton and Arthur Rimbaud received their first poetic education in this language. In music, one can recall Igor Stravinsky and his "Greek trilogy" for the ballets Apollo, Orpheus, and Agon.
Ancient culture with its mythological plots and symbols left a deep mark in Western European literature and painting.
In philosophy, the work of St. Thomas Aquinas was mainly based on the ideas of Plato, but rethought in the light of the Christian religion.
Architecture is marked by several "Renaissance", especially Roman architecture, it is enough to cite Washington in America. The city is filled with large marble buildings, which are very reminiscent of Roman temples with columns.
The era of antiquity became a particularly popular subject of interest in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when classical sculptural and architectural works were motifs for engravings. Printed images from them served a very important business. They made it possible for people interested in works of art and culture to study them. One striking example is the Bacchanalia by Andrea Mantegna. It was created by the great artist after his visit to Rome (in 1488-1490). The characteristic features of the engraving are a frieze-like composition, the figures are copied from the ancient sarcophagi that Mantegna saw in private collections and Roman churches. The work greatly influenced the outstanding Northern Renaissance master Albrecht Durer, for whom the ancient culture also became the subject of inspiration and research. The fruits of this influence are clearly visible in the engraving of Dürer "Adam and Eve." Adam has the pose of Apollo Belvedere, a sculptural image of which was discovered near Rome at the end of the fifteenth century.
Imitating the magnificent works of the ancients, while at the same time trying to surpass them, artists, sculptors, writers in subsequent historical periods really revived the former greatness of the classical era.