The History of World and Ukrainian Culture

Home , Adoration of the Magi, Alexander II of Russia, Arts of Ukraine, Bandura, Boim Chapel, Danylo Apostol

MINISTRY OF PUBLIC HEALTH OF UKRAINE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF PHARMACY

K.A. Ivanova, G.F. Krivtchikova

THE HISTORY OF WORLD AND UKRAINIAN CULTURE

CREDIT-MODULE COURSE

Manual for students of higher schools

Kharkiv NUPh «Golden Pages» 2012 UDC 008 BBK 71.3(0)+71.3(4UKR) I-21 Approved by Ministry of Education and Science, Youth and Sports of Ukraine (Letter №1/11-14965 from 25.09.2012)

Authors: K.A. Ivanova, G.F. Krivtchikova

Reviewed by: V.A. Samokhina, PhD of Philology, professor, Head of the English Philology Department, Kharkiv National University named after V.N. Karazin; G.D. Pankov, PhD of Philosophy, professor of the Culture Studies Department, Kharkiv State Academy of Culture.

The History of World and Ukrainian Culture I-21 (credit-module course) : Manual for students of higher schools / K.A. Ivanova, G.F. Krivtchikova. — Kharkiv : NUPh : Golden Pages, 2012. — 360 p.

ISBN 978-966-615-421-0 ISBN 978-966-400-263-6 The manual covers all main topics of the course, including the summarized material on the development of world culture and its influence on the Ukrainian culture with accordance to the requirements of the Ministry of Education and Science, Youth and Sports of Ukraine. After each topic a list of questions for self-control is given. The manual is arranged as a credit-module course. It can be used by students for independent work, self- study and as supplementary material for group discussions and essay preparation. UDC 008 BBK 71.3(0)+71.3(4UKR)

ISBN 978-966-615-421-0 © K.A. Ivanova, G.F. Krivtchikova, 2012 ISBN 978-966-400-263-6 © National University of Pharmacy, 2012 CONTENT

Submodule 1. The Main Problems of Philosophy and the Theory of Culture...... 4 1.1. The Phenomenon of Culture...... 4 1.2. Culture and Civilization...... 19

Submodule 2. Cultural Epochs in the History of Mankind...... 36 2.1. The Culture of the Primitive Society...... 36 2.2. The Culture of Ancient Civilizations and their Influence on Ukrainian Culture...... 53 2.3. Antique Culture...... 110 2.4. The Culture of Middle Ages...... 139 2.5.The Culture of Rennaissance and Reformations ...... 190 2.6. The Culture of New Time and Enlightenment ...... 239 2.7. Ukrainian National Cultural Renaissance in the late XVIII — early XX-th centuries...... 276 2.8. World Culture in the XX-th–XXI-st Centuries. Modern and Post-modern ...... 292

Texts for Additional Reading ...... 326

Questions for Module Control...... 347

Bibliography...... 351

3 SUBMODULE 1 THE MAIN PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY AND THE THEORY OF CULTURE

1.1. The Phenomenon of Culture The phenomenon of culture is studied by different sciences — archeology, ethnography, history, sociology, and also by the sciences studying various forms of consciousness, such as philosophy, art, aesthetics, religion, etc. Each of them gives its own definition of culture as the subject of their research. For instance, archeology connects culture with studying objects that are the results of activity of people who lived very long ago. Ethnogra- phy studies culture of different peoples and nationalities in its variety and integrity. By estimation of the American culturologists Alfred Creb and Clyde Klakhon, from 1871 to 1919 seven definitions of ‘culture’ were given. From 1920 to1950 there were 157 more definitions of this concept. Now, it is supposed to exist more than 500 definitions of culture, and this number is growing and soon will reach to one thousand. The term «culture» goes back to the Latin word «cultura», which meant cultivation of ground, i.e. the change under the influence of man, contrarily to changes caused by the nature. Even this first definition already expressed the important characteristic feature — the unity of culture, man and his activity. The world of culture, any of its subjects or phenomena are perceived not as a result

4 of some natural forces, but as result of efforts and work of people who perfected, processed or changed things given to us by nature. This concept gradually spreads to other spheres of human activity, in particular, on bringing up, educating and training people. For the first time in this meaning we meet the concept «culture» in the works of the Roman orator and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero: his expression «cultura animi autem fhilosopiaes» (the culture of spirit is philosophy). In his opinion the spirit and mind should be cultivated in the same way as the peasant cultivates the ground. Later the term «culture» is more and more frequently used in the meaning of education and enlightenment in all European languages. In Middle Ages culture associated with a city mode of life, and in Renaissance — with personal perfection. At last, the Enlighteners (XVIII-th century) gave an independent scientific meaning to this word. The thinkers discussed the question of the new inhabitancy created by people in a counterweight to nature, its influence on people, whether this artificially created world was harmful or beneficial. A new attempt developing the essence of culture was made by the German philosophers of the XVIII–XIX-th centuries. I. Kant saw the essence of culture in moral consciousness, F. Shiller — in an aesthetic one. Gegel connected culture with philosophical consciousness. It is possible to distinguish 3 scientific approaches to revealing the essence of culture: • Anthropological; • Sociological; • Philosophical. Thus, culture is a range of material and the cultural values created by man during all the history of mankind and the process of creating these values. An outstanding thinker, an unusually gifted artist N.K. Rerih offered his understanding of culture: «Cul- ture is reverence of Light. Culture is love to man. Culture

5 is fragrance, a combination of life and beauty. Culture is synthesis of elevated and refined achievements. Cul- ture is the weapon of Light. Culture is salvation. Culture is the engine. Culture is heart». A human being is not born to be a social phenomenon, but in the process of his activity he becomes it. The process of bringing up a person and giving him education is the process of learning the culture, the process of passing it down from one generation to another. A person studies the culture, which has already been created for him, builds his knowledge on the social experience, which has been accumulated by his predecessors. Studying the culture includes the study of interpersonal relations (our communication in kindergartens, schools, universities, at working places, when traveling) and in the process of self-education (reading, visiting of museums, etc.). We cannot ignore the important role of mass media — radio, TV, newspapers. A person not only acquires and studies the experience accumulated before but also makes his own contribution to the development of culture. The process of socialization is a continuous process of mastering culture and at the same time the process of individualization of the person because the values of the culture are connected with a definite person, his character, mentality and temperament. 1. There is a contradiction between socialization and individualization of a person: on the one hand, the person is inevitably socialized, acquiring standards and norms of the society he lives in, and on the other, he tends to keep his individuality. 2. There is a contradiction between the adopted standards of the culture and the freedom given to the person. The norm and freedom are opposing things. 3. There is a contradiction between the traditional character of the culture and new processes that occurs in it. These and other contradictions are a source of the development of culture.

6 Culture has its own laws of functioning. These laws help to explain the changes occurring in culture as it is often impossible to explain them only by social reasons. Such approach allows to define certain stages, periods and even epochs in the culture. For example, the epoch of the Antique art and Renaissance. Culture is a complex multilevel system. It is divided into world and national cultures. The world culture is a synthesis of the best achievements of all national cultures of various peoples living on our planet. The national culture, in its turn, acts as synthesis of cultures of various classes, social layers and groups of the society. The originality of the national culture can be traced both in the spiritual (language, literature, music, painting, religion), and in the material (peculiarities of economic mode of life, housekeeping, traditions of work and manufacture) spheres of life and activity. Besides, there is class, city, rural, professional, youth culture, culture of the family, culture of a definite person. Culture can be folk (non-professional) and professional. It can be progressive (moral) and regressive (immoral). The complex and multilevel structure of culture predetermines variety of its functions in the life of society and man. We shall shortly characterize the basic functions of culture. 1) Humanistic. 2) The major function is one of passing down social experience. The culture representing a complex sign system, acts as a unique mechanism of passing down social experience from one generation to another, from one epoch to another, from one country to another. In case of cultural disrupt people lose social memory with all consequences following from here. 3) Cognitive ( or gnosiological). A person learns the world and himself through culture that unites historical knowledge of the world, knowledge of the nature, technical knowledge and humanitarian knowledge. 4) Regulative function of culture is connected, first of all, with regulation of the various sides of public and

7 personal activities of people. In work, family life and communication culture affects the behaviour of people and regulates their actions, their choice of material and spiritual values. Regulative function of culture is based on morals and law. 5) Semiotic or sign function is another important function in the system of culture. Without studying the sign system it is impossible to study culture. To the sign system we refer language (oral or written), music, painting, theatre. Natural sciences (such as physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology) also have their own sign systems. 6) World outlook function. The basic direction of cultural influence on a person is formation of his outlook through which he is included into the sphere of socio-cultural regulations. 7) Communicative function. It is reduced to transfer of historical experience of generations through the mechanism of cultural continuity. It is carried out, first of all, by means of the language, the main instrument of communication. Besides transfer of experience is carried out through the system of symbols and signs — scientific formulas, writing, religious practices and so forth. 8) Evaluative function. It is realized through the system of values and norms, which serve as regulators of public relations, cultural-spiritual landmarks of certain stages of development of society. 9) Integrative function. It consists in ability to combine people irrespective of their world outlook and ideological orientation or national identity. The man is a direct creator of culture and its consumer. Culture is the product of only human activity. Culture was born together with man and it will disappear only with destruction of mankind. The roots of culture are not in the biological nature of the man, but in the character of his activity. The man connects nature and culture, for he is part of the nature, and the creator of culture. The man, creating the objects of the world, expres- ses his views, wishes, likes or dislikes. An object created by the man becomes a mirror. Civilizations disappear

8 from the historical arena but monuments continue to ra- diate light, to be the reflection of an epoch and its people. Thus, cultural values connect people of different generations, epochs, continents. What induces a man to be a creator of culture? There is a set of motives of cultural creativity. Among them we can mention faith, love, curiosity, disappointment, dissatisfaction and even boredom. Ignorance of the man also played an important role in creation of myths and fairy tales. But the strongest powerful stimulus at all times was the desire of the man to know the surrounding world and himself. The development of cognitive needs of the man is the major element of cultural progress. In the past myths, fairy tales and observation natural phenomena could satisfy cognitive requirements of people, later they were not satisfied by means of books, scientific theories, complex electronic devices. In its history culture experienced both improbable rises, and the periods of decline. People have left after themselves not only the Acropolis, but also the Collosseo where they killed each other, not only wonderful temples, but also ashes of fires of sacred inquisition. The history of culture knew both creators and destroyers. We cannot give the exact answer to the question how many cultures there are in the world because there no clearly defined criteria as to what culture can be considered separate and independent. In a quantitative sense the number of cultures does not coincide with quantity of people, states, languages, etc. Cultures differ from each other not only by forms and styles in art, but also by ways of their formation, philosophical systems and codes of morals. Their ideals of the perfect, kind, true do not coincide, different cultures often give different answers to the question on sense of our life. Peculiarities of cultures were formed under the influence of diverse factors. In the past geographical and climatic conditions played a great role in the formation of cultures. It is enough to tell that flora and fauna surrounding the nations reflected in its folklore and art.

9 Because of his biological and social nature a human being needs both material artifacts of culture and spirituality in the society. To meet the spiritual needs there should be moral, aesthetic, ideological and religious values and ideals. All human activities during many epochs are aimed at creating not only material, but also spiritual culture, and since the man creates and uses both the world of things, and the world of ideas, he is the only subject of culture. People create the cultural environment, and it depends on them whether it will be humane and spiritual. Later the environment will influence the man and develop him. Therefore, a man can be considered as the source system-forming factor of the development of culture. In the process of cultural creativity, reproduction and use of cultural artifacts a man is involved into the field of culture. Its distinctive feature is that in addition to physical reality he has a spiritual-cultural one. He himself creates the second reality, which is called a «second nature». But the man is not only an architect, a builder, but also a resident of this unique world, which did not exist on the planet Earth before he appeared. The reality that man has created lives and develops together with him, and it will exist as long as humanity exists. The material culture is the foundation, the basis of the life of a society and plays a vital (i.e., the fundamental) role according to the pyramid of requirements by A. Maslow). The spiritual culture awakens a personality in a man and elevates him. To characterize different phenomena such terms as «artefacts», «cultural areal» and «cultural universals» are often used. Artifacts of culture is the material or spiritual embodiment of the creative potential of this or that culture, i.e. material and spiritual reality created by the creative labour of a man. The cultural areal is the geographical area where different cultures show similarities only in the main cultural characteristics. Cultural universals are phenomena, norms, values, rules, traditions, properties, which are

10 characteristic of all cultures, regardless their geographical position, historical time and social structure. Culture is a complex multi-level system. According to American anthropologists there are more than 70 universals — common elements of cultures: art, education, dances, ethics, etiquette, family, law, medicine, music, mytho- logies, religious rituals, the number, a personal name, etc. Development of culture was accompanied by development of its self-consciousness. In the myths and epics of the peoples, in the teachings of thinkers there were ideas, revealing the essence of culture as a single process. But the ideas and teachings were not just registration of the achievements of the cultural development of mankind — they, too, were part of the cultural process. We can distinguish the following stages of the formation of scientific knowledge about culture: 1) pre-scientific (before the science of New time emerged) — that gives a spontaneous idea of the cyclic character of cultural-historical process; 2) scientific-historical (up to the middle of the XIX-th century) — characterized by the attempts to understand culture as an integral phenomenon and to build a unified picture of the cultural development of people; 3) scientific-philosophical — that explores the reasons and causes of the development. It is a philosophical understanding of the cultural development of mankind by means of analysis, defining the main traits, characteristics, and regularities. Penetration into the essence of culture with the help of thinking. Cultural models We can assert that at the foundation of every culture there lies a particular model of the world, which determines the world outlook of the people, the nature of their creativity and leading cultural paradigm. Cultural models, in their turn, are considered from the point of view of correlation of the object and the subject of culture. In the history of the world culture there have developed different ideas about cultural models.

11 1. The naturalistic model. The supporters of the naturalistic trend consider the natural factor to be fundamental in a man. The person who creates culture should rely on the laws of nature, and obey them (since a man is part of nature). J. Rousseau (1712–1778) opposed culture to civilization. He believed that civilization brings about a fundamentally new model of the world. The desire for civilization values, according to Rousseau, kills the man, destroying his naturalness. Therefore, he saw the task of culture (and education in particular) in the return of a man and society to the natural being. The main thesis was «back to nature». 2. In the rationalist model the determining role of a man in creating the object of culture is emphasized. In the framework of this tradition the historical process is considered to be the process of human mind development. I.G. Herder (1744–1803), a representative of German Enlightenment, in contrast to Rousseau, believed that culture is a means to realize human genius. It is culture that gives an opportunity to develop spiritual values through speech and language. Culture is the «second birth». The French enlighteners understood culture as a synonym of intellect, which was determined by achievements in science, art, education. Rationalist movement reached its highest level of development thanks to Hegel (1770–1831) — an outstanding German philosopher. His ideas concerning the role of intellect in development of culture are called «super- rational». According to him culture is a characteristic feature of development of the human mind. 3. The Symbolic model. The symbolic nature of culture was pointed out by Leslie White (1900–1975). Hav- ing developed theoretical approaches to the study of culture, he regarded culture through the cognition of the laws of development of the society. According to L.White culture is a real object that operates according to certain laws, where the main role is assigned to symbolic meanings. He believed that development of the cultural model to a certain extent is determined by technology and economy.

12 Culture as the world of human senses Culture is a special sphere of public life, in which the creative nature of a man is most fully implement- ed, and first of all, it is art, education, and science. But only this kind of explanation of culture would narrow its content. From our point of view, the fullest understanding of culture is the one that reveals the essence of human existence as realization of creativity and freedom of a man. The attitude of a man to the world is determined by sense; and sense, in its turn, correlates any event and any object with a man. If something doesn’t make sense, it, as a rule, ceases to exist for a man. Sense is like a mediator between the world and the man. Sense is not always understood by a man, and not every sense can be expressed rationally. Senses are in the human unconscious. But the meaning may be generally acceptable, combining many people. It is these meanings that make up culture. Thus, culture is a way of creative self-realization of a man through meaning. Culture is the world of the senses, which inspires and unites people in the community (nation). Culture is a universal method, by means of which a man makes the whole world «his own», i.e. turns it into the «house of human being», into the bearer of human senses. When is a new culture born? For a new culture to emerge it is necessary that new senses should be fixed in symbolic forms and were recognized by other people as an example, i.e. they should become semantic dominants. A dominant is the main idea, the main characteristic feature. Culture is the result of free human creativity, but it keeps a man within its conceptual limits. In the eras of cultural transformations old meanings do not always satisfy a man. According to the Russian philosopher N.A. Berdyaev, new notional paradigms are created by individual creativity.

13 Approaches to the study of culture and methods of research In culture study for a long time there dominated euro-centrist approach. This point of view goes back to the rationalistic cultural model. Since it was thought that if Europe most fully implements the rational model, a special historical mission should belong to it — to show the path of development to all other cultures. In the public consciousness the idea was formed that only European way could give a person and mankind a perspective for development and prosperity. However, the 19-th century with its wars global and social problems showed the invalidity of this position. Linear (euro-centrist) way of development was considered doubtful in the research of such thinkers as O. Spengler, N.Y. Danilevsky, A. Toynbee. In their works (N.I. Danilevsky «Russia and Europe», O. Spengler «The Sunset of Europe», Arnold Toynbee «Per- ception of history») the thinkers proved that European culture has contradictions, typical for other cultures, and therefore, it stands in line with other local cultures. It is obvious that further research of culture is needed. We should take into account that the depth of comprehension of the essence of culture, its cultural code will depend on the chosen approaches and methods. The main approaches to the study of culture: • philosophical understanding of culture lies in the fact that culture is not considered only as a sum of ideas or things that can be identified, described, but as a way of existence of a man and his attitude toward himself; • the essence of the anthropological approach is in the recognition of self-value of the culture of every nation, no matter at what stage of development it is, as well as in the recognition of equal value of all cultures on the Earth. In line with this approach, any culture, as well as any man, is unique and inimitable; • the social approach helps to identify the specific characteristic features of the culture. It is supposed that

14 in every society there are certain cultural «forces» that direct its life into the organized, and not chaotic way of development. Cultural values are created by the society itself, and they determine development of this society. This is the peculiarity of public life: a man is often dominated by what was created by him. We will adhere to the theoretical understanding, i.e., culturological ideas, which are close to the philosophical approach. It is possible to point out the following research methods of culture. 1. The empirical method is the study of the mode of life, language, morality, art. Margaret Mead (1901– 1978) during 25 years studied primitive societies. As a result, she came to the conclusion that culture is characterized by the totality of psychological types of people. 2. Theoretical method is revealing and genera- lizing paradigms, studying the problems of this or that culture, the diversity of cultural phenomena by means of theoretical studies. Ruth Benedict (1887–1948), an American anthropologist, offered as a methodologi- cal principle of «studying cultures at a distance», the works of literature and art. 3. The logical method is the comprehension of unique cultural phenomena that cannot be generalized theoretically. Franz Boas (1858–1942) offered to accu- mulate systematized and theoretically generalized eth- nographic material. The diversity of cultures is determined by their peculiarities, which depend on the internal factors belonging only to this or that culture. It is clear that simple description is not sufficient, explanation and understanding of the peculiar character of each culture is required. Cultural issues are studied by different disciplines. In particular, Culture Study deals with the problems of regularities of emergence, formation, further development and possible death of a culture. The subject of the discipline «The History of the World Culture» is the process of cultural genesis, i.e., the origin of cultures, and

15 historical information about the emergence of ancient cultural centres. Cultural genesis is the origin of cultures, social and historical dynamics of a culture, emergence of new cultural forms and their integration into the existing cultural systems. Culture is subdivided into national and world by its bearer. National culture is a synthesis of the cultural achievements of different classes and social groups. World culture is a synthesis of the best achievements of all national cultures of different peoples inhabiting our planet. Unity and diversity of cultures. The Theory of K. Jaspers World culture is diverse in its manifestations, and is based on the recognition of the unity and diversity of socio-cultural process. This is confirmed by numerous examples. Consider the manifestation of the unity and diversity of the culture on the following examples. Europeans and the Chinese, Africans and Indians, all belong to the same biological species, they all originated from Cro-Magnons, moreover, they all use the same machines, computers and other good things of the civilization. Despite all this, they have absolutely different traditions and different scales of evaluation. Even the nations living in the same geographical conditions never have the same way of thinking, behavioural norms, the type of art, traditions, living standards. The classical example of this is the peoples of the Caucasus. Despite the fact that all the peoples of the Caucasus (Armeni- ans, Georgians, Azerbaijanis) have lived close to each other for millennia, the culture of each of them retains its own peculiarities. Of course, in modern conditions certain unification is taking place, but not so much concerning cultures as human behaviour. The development of technology results in a certain standard of communication, but the Japanese remains Japanese, Uzbeks — Uzbeks, Italians — Italians. It is quite possible, that specific characteristic features

16 of ethnic cultures even tend to reinforce, that is why a peculiar renaissance of these cultures is under study. We should take into account another peculiarity of the global socio-cultural process — its integrity. Civilized activity of people makes the world culture integral both ge- netically and historically. It is work and communication that are the main criteria of culture. However, it is necessary to mention different levels of the modern state of world culture. There exist the newest technologies, achievements of science and art, and its relict, archaic manifestations, e.g. the natives of New Guinea, the tribes the wilds of the Amazon. Fa- mous authors E. Taylor, D. Frazier, M. Stingle, M. Meed wrote about this. There is a culturological theory, according to which mankind has a common origin and the same way of development. This theory was first developed by a representative of existentialism K. Jaspers (1883–1969), was continued by O. Spengler (1880–1936) and A. Toynbee (1889–1975): K.Jaspers introduced the concept of the «axial time», which a certain historical epoch, when there is spiritual awakening and development of self-consciousness of a man. K. Jaspers wrote that the axis of the world history, if it exists at all, can be detected only empirically, as a fact meaningful for all people. He believed that this axis should be looked for where there were preconditions that allowed a man to become what he is. He refers it to the period about 500 years B.C., to the spiritual process, which lasted between 800 and 200 B.C. At that time the sharpest turn in the history occurred. A man of the type who preserved until now originated. According to K. Jaspers in axial time a lot of extraordinary things occur. Almost simultaneously, in the course of several centuries there new names and theories. For example, in China all philosophical schools appeared when Confucius and Lao-tzu lived here. India at this time brought Buddha to the world. It is the birthplace of all sorts of philosophical cur- rents, emerged as the Upanishads. In Iran Zarathustra

17 preached the doctrine of the world; in Palestine there were prophets Elijah, Isaiah, and Jeremiah; in Greece it was the time of Homer, Archimedes, Socrates, Plato. In that epoch the basic categories, which we have used up to this day, were developed, the foundations of the world religions were built, i.e. the realization of a man himself and the whole existence as a whole took place. According to K. Yaspers: 1. Axial time marks the disappearance of the great cultures of antiquity. Ancient cultures continue to exist in those elements that are perceived by a new beginning. 2. What was created at that time exists up to this day. It is generally agreed that the revival of opportunities of axial age — Renaissance — leads to the spiritual growth. The return to this beginning in China, India, the West occurs periodically. 3. At the beginning axial time is limited in space, but in the course of history it becomes unlimited. Theory of development of culture Let us consider the fundamental theories of the development of culture. At the beginning of the 20-th century there were formulated three theories of the development of Western culture: by О. Spengler, A. Schweitzer (1875– 1865), M. Weber (1864–1920). The German philosopher O. Spengler in his book «The Sunset of Europe» makes a pessimistic conclusion that the civilization of Western Europe is doomed, because it represents degradation of the highest spiritual values. According to Spengler, the concept of «culture» and «civilization» are generally recognized. In the world history he distinguishes eight cultures: Egyptian, Indian, Baby- lonian, Chinese, Greek-Roman, Byzantine-Arab, West- ern European, the culture of the Maya. He foretells the birth and prosperity of Russian culture. Max Weber, in his book «The Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism» concludes that there is no crisis of Western culture, just new values and, first of all, the universal rationality came instead of the old ones.

18 The philosopher and humanist A. Schweitzer in his work «The Collapse and Revival of Culture» following Spen- gler notes the decline and crisis of Western culture, but he considers them nonfatal, and the salvation of culture is possible. According to Spengler, culture reflects the domination of man over the forces of nature and over himself. Questions for self-control 1. What does the word «culture» mean? 2. What is world culture? 3. The nature and culture: what is their relation to each other? 4. Name the basic functions of culture. Give examples. 5. How do you understand F.M. Dostoevsky’s well- known quotation «Beauty will save the world»? 6. Can culture exist and develop outside or without a human society? 7. What factors caused the variety of cultures? 8. Why do you think is it necessary to conduct a scientific analysis of culture? 9. Name the models of culture that you know, and say what kind of model, in your opinion, is dominant today? 10. How can you explain the thesis: «the attitude of a man to the world is determined by sense»? 11. How do you understand the following definition: «Culture is a way of creative self-realization of man through sense»? 12. What do you mean by «cultural crisis» and when, in your opinion, can a new culture emerge?

1.2. Culture and Civilization Cultural Scope The totality of all phenomena of culture and the existing cultural forms in culture study is called «cultural scope». Like the physical space of the universe, in which there are a lot of different objects like different galaxies, cultural scope also includes a lot of objects. These include

19 certain cultural phenomena and their various complexes and groupings, and finally the whole cultural worlds — the national cultural communities, civilizations, etc. As elements of cultural space we can consider such cultural forms as religion, art, philosophy (the components of spiritual culture), and also moral, legal, political culture (as norms and models of behaviour that regulate social relations), whole cultural worlds — national and regional cultural communities, civilizations, different cultural phenomena — subculture and counterculture, elite, mass and folk culture, rural and urban culture (that reflect the culture of certain social groups). Civilization (from Lat. civilis — civilian, state) in modern science is most frequently defined in the following ways: – as a form of existence of living beings endowed with intellect; – as a synonym for culture, a set of spiritual and material achievements of the society; – as the level of development of material and spiritual culture; – as a relatively independent hierarchically built socio-historical formation localized in space and time. The concept of civilization was first used in relation to the historical period, which replaced the primitive society. As S. Averintsev and H. Bonhard-Levin noted, «ancient civilizations are civilizations as a separate integrity, which opposed to something that was not yet civilization — to pre-class, pre-state, and pre-written phase of the society and culture». Culture and the civilized human existence were not separated in the ancient world, where culture was considered to be inherited due to space ordering of the world, and not as the result of their creativity. Christianity, having formed a new picture of the world, explained the life of people as living according to the testaments of God-Creator and the Scripture. Accordingly, during that time the culture and civilization were not separated in the minds of people.

20 The distinction between culture and civilization was first made in the times of the Renaissance, when individual personal potential of a man became apparent and civilization was linked with the historical process of social development. But this reflection of distinguishing their essence did not emerge immediately. In the epoch of Enlightenment individual-personal and socio-civil way of life penetrated into each other, so culture and the process of civilized development coincided. Actually, only in the XVII-th century French En- lighteners first introduced the term «civilization». The notion of «civilized» that was used mainly within the binary opposition of «civilization» — «barbarism» became an ontological basis for the expansion of European civilization and the practice of redistribution of the world without taking into account the interests of non-European cultures. Alongside with this in the 18–19-th centuries in Ger- many the notions of «culture» and «civilization» were con- trasted. The socio-economic situation in Germany at that time was the socio-historical foundation for these concepts. It consisted of many small feudal states and had no national political consciousness, but the unity of national culture was distictly expressed. The juxtaposition of culture and civilization became possible as a result of understanding the cultural unity by science within political fragmentation existing at the same time. The German sociologist F. Tonnis in the late XIX-th century formulated the idea concerning the direction of the evolution of social organization from community (Gemenschaft) to society (Gesellschaft) and identified two types of social relationships: communal and social. Communal relationship are based on emotions, sympathy, emotional preferences, maintain self-identity (while following traditions) as the emotional ties that are characteristic of communities (family, neighbours, ethnos, nation). The rational exchange makes up the basis of public relations that can exist between separated and unknown to each other individuals, groups, and nations.

21 According to Tyonnis, folklore and culture correspond to the community, and state and civilization to the society. Thus, the dominant meaning of the term «civilization» is a higher degree of development of society. In scientific thought the term is often used to describe the era, which preceded «savagery and barbarism». Distinguish- ing the concepts «culture» and «civilization» the scientists noted the following differences: – culture is an internal acquisition of a person, as it reveals his/her spiritual wealth, while civilization is external world to people; – culture is closely related to racial and ethnic specific human groups. In human civilization the global scale dominates; – culture implies the existence of religion, which is impossible without spirituality — the driving force of any culture, civilization is non-religious. According to anthropologists of the 19-th century, Culture is earlier and Civilization is later. Everything created by man is culture, civilization is an advanced state of cultural development. Culture developed in three stages: Savagery — Barbarianism — Civilization. Alfred Louis Kroeber said culture is superorganic, he gave three forms of culture namely Social Culture (Status and Role), Value Culture (Philosophy, Morals) and Reality Culture (Science and Technology, etc.). According to Kroeber civilization is a part of reality culture. Robert Redfield said culture is a totality of traditions and civilization is a totality of great and little traditions. Difference between Culture and Civilization from sociologists view Culture includes religion, art philosophy, literature, music, dance, etc., which bring satisfaction and pleasure to many. It is the expression of final aspects of life. Civilization includes all those things by means of which some other objective is attained. Type writers, motors, etc., come under this category. Civilization consists of technology or the authority of a man over natural

22 phenomenon, as well as social technology, which control the man’s behaviour. Culture is what we are. Civilization is what we have. Culture has no standard of measurement because it is an end in itself. Civilization has a precised standard of measurement. The universal standard of civilization is utility because civilization is a means. Culture cannot be said to be advancing. It cannot be asserted that the art, literature, thoughts are ideals of today’s and superior to those of past. Civilization is always advancing. The various constituents of civilizations namely machines, means of transportation, communication, etc., are constantly progressive. Culture is internal and an end. It is related to internal thoughts, feelings, ideals, values, etc. It is like the soul of an individual. Civilization is external and a means. It is the means for the expression and manifestation of the grandness, it is like the body of an individual. Difference between Culture and Civilization from Anthropologists View All societies have culture. Only a few societies have civilization. Culture is earlier. Civilization is later. Culture is pre-condition Civilization represents for civilization to develop. a stage of cultural advancement. Culture is superorganic. Civilization is a part of reality culture. Culture is a totality Civilization is a totality of traditions. of great and little traditions.

Culture is the characteristics of people: the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings, transmitted from one generation to another. Culture is manifested in human artifacts (An artifact is any object made or modified by a human culture, and later recovered

23 by an archaeological endeavour) and activities such as music, literature, lifestyle, food, painting and sculpture, theatre and film. A civilization is a society in an advanced state of social development (e.g., with complex legal and political and religious organizations). In short, civilization is and advance state of human society — the sum of cultures, science, industry, and government. So, you can have several cultures in one civilization. For example, you may say: When we have a look at these two words in a dictio- nary, we will see that «culture» refers to the customs, beliefs, art, music, and all the other products of human thought made by a particular group of people at a particular time; and «civilization» means an advanced stage of human development marked by a high level of art, religion, science, and social and political organization. Phraya Anumanrajathon, a famous Thai scholar, defined «culture» as the human thought, concept, and belief appearing in four ways: Social behaviour «Culture» in general may be divided into two main groups: – Material Culture: all the concrete things that were created by man, such as houses, clothes, instruments, etc. – Non-material Culture: the quality concerning human mind, concept, emotion, philosophy, religion, etc. The term «civilization» has still another meaning. Since each culture has peculiar features of its own, and since some cultures are more highly developed than others, we can say that a civilization is a superior culture. A culture deserves to be called a «civilization» when it has reached a stage of advancement, in which writing has come to be used to a considerable extent. Some progress has been made in the arts and sciences, and political, social, and economic institutions have developed sufficiently to conquer some of the problems of order, security, and efficiency in complex society. Oswald Spengler, the German philosopher of history, viewed «civilizations» as decadent phases of highly deve-

24 loped cultures. When a great people or empire was in its prime, he characterized its social pattern and intellectual pattern as a «culture». When it passed its prime (time) and became ossified or fixed, he called it a «civilization». Thida Saraya says that we can judge a civilization of any society from the following criteria: Technological development. The development should fulfil its social need and have some exchange with other communities as well. With technological skills, the people could produce their social individualized characters. Factors leading to the rise of civilizations Some social scientists decide that factors of geography are the most important (to the rise of civilization). Others stress economic resources, food supply, contact with older civilizations and so on. Under geographical conditions, Ellsworth Hunting- ton, an American geographer, insisted that no nation rose to the highest cultural status except under the influence of a climatic stimulus. Related to the climatic hypothesis is the soil-exhaustion theory. This group of theory believes that the majestic civilizations that once flourished in Mesopotamia, Palestine, Greece, Italy, China, and Mexico were ultimately doomed by the simple fact that their soil would no longer provide sufficient food for the population. Another theory about the origin of civilizations is adversity. Arnold J. Toynbee, a British historian, said that conditions of hardship or adversity are the real causes, which have brought into existence superior cultures. Such conditions constitute a «challenge» to stimulate men to try to overcome it and to generate additional energy for new achievements. The challenge may be in the form of a desert, a jungle area, rugged topography, or a grudging soil. The majority of historians believe that the genesis of civilizations cannot be explained except on the basis of a complex of causes or a combination of factors. Among these factors, they place uppermost the geographic and economic elements of favourable climate, fertile soil,

25 access to good harbors, and an abundance of mineral resources. They also accord a high place to opportunities for interchange of ideas with other people of a com- parable level of advancement. Civilizations do not develop in isolated corners of the world. The refusal from the binary formula of «civilization — culture» took place only in the XX-th century after World War II, which became the final stage of the collapse of the British Empire — the last embodiment of the classic French formula of civilization. The final definition of culture belongs to the French historian F. Brodelyu, who defined civilization as «a collection of cultural features and phenomena. Thus, in modern science the notion of «civilization» is almost equated with the notion of «culture». The well-known American scientist S. Huntington notes that in modern science civilization, which is generally regarded as a separate cultural community, the highest level grouping of people is the basis of culture. It is defined as a common objective elements (such as language, history, religion, customs, social institutions), and subjective identity as people. The rapid spread of the process technicalization, re- evaluation of values, modern European civilization have become man-made disasters. Thus, according to the prominent American futurists E. Toffler, the most characteristic features of Western culture are: – rapid change of the material world, which leads to changes in lifestyle, the acceleration of the dynamics of social relations; – the dominance of scientific rationality; – focus on the autonomy of the individual, his rights and freedoms; – a special understanding of the nature of power, its nature and structure. In today’s world that is changing rapidly globalization occupies an important place. Lifestyle (Popular Cul- ture, universalisation of housing, food, clothing) are more intense migration, rapidly developing mass communica-

26 tions (including Internet, satellite television systems, mo- bile communications). At the same time along with the globalization of lifestyles, all the more visible signs are opposite tendencies, the struggle to preserve the uniqueness of national cultures, anti-globalist movements. Regional cultures are cultural communities, which are formed in the definite geographical area and over a long historical time retain their specificity. The concept of «regional culture» can be considered at two levels: a place on the planet (for example, Latin American culture, the culture of Western European region) and selected areas of the state (culture of Western and Eastern Ukraine). During the period of their development every society creates their own national culture — superculture (or dominant culture). Its main features are a common language, dominant religion, traditions, customs that are passed from generation to generation, folk culture and so on. In the framework of large cultural forms there are specific cultural forms, subculture and counterculture, elite culture, popular culture and mass culture, rural and urban culture. Specific cultural forms solve the problems of preservation, restoration and spread of social information. Edu- cation and training, customs and traditions, myths and legends are cultural forms, which assist to preserve and pass down the experience of previous generations to the future generations of people. The differentiations within a society, social differences of people give rise to subcultures that represent cultural forms of life of certain layers of the population, classes and social groups. For example, in European countries in the Middle Ages there were four subcultures: the culture of the temple and the monastery», «the culture of the castle and the palace», «the culture of the village and hamlet», «the culture of the medieval city». In today’s world, this phenomenon is especially characteristic of multi-ethnic, federal and multi-religious countries. Subculture is the whole culture of a social group within the «great national culture», which consists of fixed

27 norms, rituals, peculiarities of appearance, language, art, which differ significantly from the dominant culture of the society. Subculture is characteristic of certain social, demo- graphic and ethnic groups. In today’s world we distinguish the following subcultures: – regional (due to some differences between individual regions of the country); – professional (caused by the presence in society of various social status groups, it determines their social roles); – ethno-linguistic (related to linguistic, ethnic characteristics of social groups); – Religious (which is created when the religious rules are an essential element of culture); – Age (associated with different value systems in representatives of different generations). Value orientations and behaviours, which not only differ from the dominant, but are in confrontation with superculture is called counterculture. Counterculture is subculture that includes socio-cultural values and attitudes that are contrary to the fundamental principles of the dominant culture. The most vivid examples of counterculture is criminal subculture (such as mafia structures), Nazi groups, clan- destine religious, totalitarian sects (such as «White Broth- erhood»), hippie subculture 60’s of the XX-th century. and in the USA and the teen-youth subculture (rockers, bikers, etc.) that break the traditional mechanisms of socialization and try to create a specific way of life, to cultivate their separateness. Counterculture movements disturbed socio-cultural environment and this led to the emergence of new ideals that renewed the society in all aspects. In this sense, counterculture is a necessary element of any culture. In the XX-th and XXI-th centuries counterculture movements acquired a mass character, as a large number of people express their dissatisfaction with the basic values of modern culture: the destruction of nature,

28 standardization of training and education, manipulation of the people’s consciousness by means of mass media and others. The structure of superculture includes the following elements: elite culture and folk culture. Elite culture is created and used by the privileged part of a society — the cultural elite. The cultural elite is the part of the society that most capable of spiritual activity. To higher culture we refer art, classical music and literature. It is difficult for unprepared part of the population to understand it. The circle of consumers of high culture consists of the highly educated part of the society (in particular, literary critics, theatre critics, artists, writers, musicians). This circle expands when the level of education increases. Folk culture includes two kinds — pop(ular) and folk (Christmas holidays, the Ukrainian Christmas play, etc.) culture. Therefore, in the popular culture there are two levels — high (associated with folklore, including folk tales, fairy tales, epics, ancient dances that exist today as a historical legacy that filled the city folk) and reduced (limited to the so-called pop culture). Authors of folklore are usually unknown. Anonymity does not allow the authors attribute these works to the elitist culture. Unlike the elitist art, folk culture inherent functioning of the working and living people. The shape of the elements of culture may be individual (stories, legends), group (of a song or dance), mass (carnival procession). Mass (pop) culture (from Lat. massa — part and cultura — treatment, education) is a set of cultural phenomena of the XX–XXI-th centuries. Characteristic of modern society with its high level of communication and information systems (radio, television, Internet, mobiles), is a high degree of urbanization and industrialization, the loss of personality. Mass culture is characterized by the construction of culture to the superficial, meaningless forms, focus on undeveloped, low tastes. Popular culture is related to the spiritual unification of the individual and society; it is always designed for commercial success.

29 Elements of superculture are rural culture (or rural type of culture, the culture of the village, the culture of the peasants) and urban culture (culture of the city, industrial culture, urbanized culture). L.M. Kogan provides the following features of rural culture: 1) uniform load agricultural work during the year; 2) interpersonal relationships personification (dis- placement and replacement of all other types of personal relationships of trust); 3) continuous informal control over the behaviour of each member of the local community; 4) special quality of interpersonal relationships in the village based on the underlined formalities and communication rights of a man (appeals to «you» — Mu- nicipal feature); 5) in the flow of information exchange the leading role is played by local gossip, the local interpretation of historical and national events; 6) for residents of the village the limited life experience is typical because they rarely leave their village boundaries, local isolation of rural culture forms the special mentality of the peasant; 7) higher than in the city, the share of collective activity; 8) greater attention than in the city paid to the environmental culture and environmental protection; 9) limited cultural choices narrowing the cultural needs and cultural outlook. Urban culture — a culture of non-agricultural settlements, typically large industrial and administrative centres. The higher degree of urbanization of villages and larger its sizes are the more it differs from its culture of rural culture. The common features of urban culture are: 1) density urban development area; 2) the large number of transport routes; 3) socio-cultural structures (squares, streets), engineering and telecommunications purposes.

30 The cultural space of the city is organized differently than in the countryside. An individual in the city feels more free and relaxed because a broad choice of institutions, as well as a large number of people with whom he can socialize. A distinctive feature of urban culture — the loneli- ness in the crowd, the replacement of personal contacts, phone calls, the internet. Frequent nerve overload — also characteristic of urban life, they caused more intense than in the countryside, labour rhythm of life, standing in queues, staying in the crowd. Thus, every cultural form has its own cultural characteristics that determine its specificity. At the same time, cultural forms are not isolated from one another, they can merge and overlap, forming the so-called cultural system, being interrelated and logically ordered complex cultural phenomena. Models of Culture Culture is not an established structure; it constantly changes according to the development of society and social relations. Changes in culture can be linked both with the changes of social structure, values and norms, and with influence on the cultural sphere of political, economic and other factors, and other cultures. There are linear and cyclic types of socio-cultural dynamics. Linear model of culture based on the general idea of social progress. The leading idea of this type of socio-cultural dynamics — straightforwardness cultural progress, which makes mandatory for every society to pass all the necessary stages of development. Within the linear concept of cultural development there are two areas in accordance with the basic types of mechanisms of social and cultural change: evolutionary and revolutionary. The evolutionary theory of culture has its origins in the writings of French philosophers of the XVII-th century, who considering the history of mankind, first identified

31 the concept of «civilization» in opposition of «barbarity», and the American scientist A. Morgan (1818–1881), who also singled out such main stages as savagery, barbarism and civilization in the development of society. The essence of the evolutionary concept of culture is that socio-cultural development of society is seen as a gradual way forward from the primitive to the most complex cultural forms and types of interactions. Thus, analyzing the culture of the primitive society the English researcher E. Taylor (1832–1917) concluded that development of a nation is a straight line, from simple to complex. Considering the factors that affect development of culture, another English scholar and one of the founders of sociology, the author of the concept of social development, Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) singled out as the main factor of socio-cultural change the factor of social structure complications, a French scholar E. Durkheim (1858–1917), also a classic of sociology, saw reason to change the division and specialization of labour. F. Tonnis (1855–1936), one of the founders of the German school of sociology, examined development of society as a gradual transition from traditional to modern type, which was due to changes in social relations and types of regulation of social behaviour — namely, the transition from regulation of public relations on the basis of customs and traditions to the state regulation of conduct through a system of legal food — general rules, which were mandatory for all members of society and maintained by force «power of the state. In evolutionary theory the concept of culture includes the industrial and post-industrial society. The American economist and sociologist W. Rostow (1916) in the mid 60-ies of the XX-th century developed the Rostovian take- off model of the economic growth, one of the major historical models of the economic growth. The model argues that economic modernization occurs in five basic stages of varying length — traditional society, preconditions for take-off, take-off, drive to maturity, and high mass con-

32 sumption. This became one of the important concepts in the theory of modernization in social evolutionism. In 1973 the prominent American scientist D. Bell (1919) put forward the concept of post-industrial society, according to which mankind was in its development of three stages — pre-industrial (or agricultural), industrial and post-industrial, each of which was characterized by a particular character of production and technology, agriculture, industry and service sectors, respectively. For post-industrial stage, also called technotronous (3. Brzezin- ski), technological (J. Elyuya) after-industrial (E. Toffyaer) or informational, the main products are consumer services and knowledge, and key informational technology. The revolutionary concept of socio-cultural transformations is primarily associated with Marxism. Accord- ing to the concept of the famous German scientist Karl Marx (1818–1883), society in its development must pass five stages: primitive, slave, feudal, capitalist and communist. Each stage represents a holistic socio-economic structure, in which development of the crucial role played by economic relations. The transition from one formation to another is through a social revolution. The founder of the concept of cyclic development of culture is the Italian philosopher George Vico (1668–1740). Every nation, according to scientists, is in its development cycle, which includes three stages: childhood, or stateless period where the leading role belongs to the priests, youth, there is state formation and conquest of heroes, maturity of the human race, where relations between people are regulated by conscience and awareness of their duty. The form of government in this period is a monarchy or a democratic republic. Reaching a higher level of development, society falls back to a lower. For example, J. Vico Middle Ages treats as «second barbarism». The concept of cyclic development received further development in the works of Danilevsky (1822–1885), Os- wald Spengler (1880–1936), A. Toynbee (1889–1975) and other scientists.

33 Spengler identified eight equivalent maturity for crops: – Egypt; – Indian; – Babylon; – Chinese; – «Apolonivsky» (Greco-Roman); – «Magic» (Byzantine-Arabic); – «Faustivsky» (Western European); – Maya culture. Each of these cultures are unique, they coexist with each other, remaining impenetrable one for another. But, according to Spengler, any culture there in 1000, and then degenerates into civilization — «heartless intellect» or «mass society» by Friedrich Nietzsche. In his famous book «The Decline of Europe» (1919) it is indispensable prophetic future destruction of Western civilization. Being under the influence of O. Spengler A. Weber also considered the world history as a series of world- historical cultures, each with three phases of development: youth, maturity and decline. However, unlike Spen- gler, Weber considered the culture and civilization as two phases of development of cultural and historical communities (culture — the development of society and civilization — its decline), as well as two relatively independent aspects of each of them — a spiritual (religion, philosophy, art), and Science and Technology. A. Toynbee identifies six main types of cultures, civilizations, each of which is under development such as the emergence, growth, fissure, decay and death. 1. Originally separated civilizations (Egyptian, An- dean). 2. The initial, un-civilization (Sumerian, Minoan, In- dian, Mayan). 3. Secondary civilizations (Babylon, the ancient In- dian, the ancient Chinese). 4. Tertiary, subsidiaries (Orthodox-Christian, Rus- sian, Western, Japanese, Arab-Muslim). 5. Solidified civilization (Eskimo, Spartan Ottoman, nomadic).

34 6. Undeveloped civilization (Christian dalnoshidna and dalnozahidna). The mechanism of socio-cultural development, in terms of A. Toynbee, is «challenge and response» when external or internal factors unfavourable to the cultural system and its future depends on their ability to resist. The U.S. scientist S. Huntington along with the western civilization that combines the culture of North Ameri- ca and Western Europe, identifies seven civilizations: 1) Slavic-Orthodox; 2) Buddhist; 3) Japanese; 4) Islamic; 5) Hindu; 6) Latin American; 7) African. According to Huntington, the world order in the XXI-th century will be determined by the interaction of different cultures (which is «located» within the habitats of certain languages and lifestyles), «models of cultural features and phenomena» (F. Brodel). Questions for self-control 1. What is the modern definition of culture? 2. What is civilization? 3. What is the difference between culture and civilization? 4. What types of civilizations do you know? 5. What are the main types of culture? 6. Give general characteristics of the development of modern civilization.

35 SUBMODULE 2 CULTURAL EPOCHS IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND

2.1. The Culture of the Primitive Society The distinctive human way of life that we call culture did not have a single definite beginning. This is to say that human beings did not suddenly appear on earth. Culture evolved slowly just as anthropoids gradually took on more human form. The earliest tools cannot be dated precisely. Australopithecus may have used stones as weapons as long as five million years ago. Stones that have been used as weapon do not differ systematically from other stones, however, and there is no way to tell for sure. The first stones that show reliable evidence of having been shaped as tools trace back some 500,000 to 600,000 years. The use of fire can be dated from 200,000 to 300,000 years ago. Tools of bone had come into existence by 100,000 B.C. the age of Neander- thals. The Neanderthals also apparently had some form of languages and buried their deal with an elabourate- ness that indicates the possibility of religious ceremonies. Cro-Magnon, dating from 35,000 years ago, was a superior biological specimen and had a correspondingly more elabourate culture. Their cave paintings have been found. They also made jewellery of shells and teeth, and carved statuettes of women that emphasized pregnancy and fertility. They made weapons of bone, horn, and ivory, and used needle in the fabrication of garments. Thus, a strik-

36 ing parallel appears between the evolution of Homo sapiens and the development of culture. The parallel cannot be drawn in detail because all inferences to the period before the dawn of history must be made from material artifacts, and these tell little about the total way of life of the people who used them. Moreover, the parallel between biological and cultural evolution should not be overdrawn. Cro-Magnon’s brain capacity, for example, was large, but factors having to do with the growth of culture itself were sufficient to prevent any quantum leap in the development of learned behaviour. The time limits of the primitive society are rather difficult to define, creatures of Homo habilis (capable of working with tools) appeared about 2 million years ago, and Homo sapiens — about 100 thousand years ago. The most ancient city of Jericho emerged about 10 thousand years ago, and the ancient states were formed at the turn of the IV–III-th millennium BC. The primitive mode of life is preserved nowadays with some peoples in Africa, on the Pacific Islands. On this basis, we can conclude that the epoch of primitive culture is the longest in the human history. Despite regional and geographical peculiarities of the life of primitive tribes, there are certain characteristic features that are common to their culture. The most ancient instruments made by people are dated nearby 2,5 million years back. Having studied the materials of which primitive people made their instruments, archeologists divided the history of the primitive world into three epochs: stone, bronze and iron. The major sources for studying the history of culture of a primitive society are: 1. Data from archeology. 2. Ethnography. 3. Folklore, language. 4. Anthropological sources. The first characteristic feature of primitive culture is its homogeneity (uniformity). The life of primitive people was determined by three basic functions: getting food,

37 reproduction and self-defense. Culture was integral part of all those. The second most important feature of primitive culture is its syncretism(from the Greek synkretis- mos — union) — the indivisibility of its forms. Primitive culture identifies a community and its members with animals and believes in transformation of an animal into a human being and vice versa. It is a sign of an undeveloped state. At the early stages of the primitive society, when the language was rather primitive, and the possibilities of verbal communication were limited, the main informational channel of culture besides the natural biological activity, was labour activity. The communication was realized in a non-verbal form. The actions of a primitive man was an example of the primary means of teaching and com- municating. Gradually the actions that had a useful effect became a model, they were passed down from generation to generation and became an established ritual. Another important feature of this culture is that it did not have written language. This resulted in the slow accumulation of information in the society, and hence, we see a slow pace of cultural and social development. The third feature of the primitive culture is that it is the culture of taboo, which was an important mechanism of controlling and regulating social relations: relations in a community, distribution of food, protection of their dwellings, etc. The characteristic features of spiritual culture of the primitive people are the mythology and religion. A myth is the integration of religious symbols into a narrative form. A myth explains different natural phenomena and modes of human life. Myths are born from natural inquisitiveness of human mind at early stages of its development and on the basis of labour experience. The basic forms of religion in a primitive society were: 1. Animation is the primitive people did not see the distinction between alive and lifeless subjects. They thought that everything in the world was animated.

38 2. Animism is «the belief in spirits» that possess supernatural forces: spirits of a wood, mountains, rivers, spirits of a thunder-storm and a wind, that is, those elements of the nature, which are threatening or dangerous to people. 3. Totemism is the belief in existence of supernatural connection of people with the ancestors. The ancestors were considered to be not only people, but also birds, animal, plants, natural phenomena. That is why it was forbidden to kill and to use in food some animals, etc. 4. Fetishism is the worship of various subjects that were thought to possess supernatural properties. Even now people believe in protective force of different amulets. 5. Magic is the system of various actions by means of which the person can in some supernatural way influence on the surrounding world. It is an essential element of any religion. Magic actions can be infinitely various. They can be grouped according their target orientation into: • harmful, damaging magic; • military magic; • love magic; • medical magic; • economic magic; • meteorological magic (magic of weather). Ceremonial Culture One of the most pervasive forms of religious behaviour in primitive cultures is expressed in rituals and ritualistic actions. The forms and functions of rituals are diverse. They may be performed to ensure the favour of the divine, to ward off evil. The whole life of the prehistoric man was connected with a large number of ritual procedures and rites. A considerable part of them was of a rationally unconscious, logical character. Generally, rituals express the great transitions in human life: birth (coming into being); puberty (the recognition and expression of sexual status); marriage (the acceptance of an adult role in the society); and death (the return to the world of the ancestors). These passage rites

39 vary in form, importance, and intensity from one culture to another for they are tied to several other meanings and rituals in the culture. For example, the primitive cultures of south New Guinea and Indonesia place a great emphasis on rituals of death and funerary rites. They have elaborate myths describing the geography of the place of the dead and the journey of the dead to that place. Hardly any ritual meaning is given to birth. The Polyne- sians, on the other hand, have elaborate birth rituals and place much less emphasis on funerary rituals. In addition to these life cycle rituals, rituals are associated with the beginning of the new year and with plant- ing and harvest times in agricultural societies. Numerous other rituals are found in hunting — and — gathering societies; these are supposed to increase the game and to give the hunter greater prowess. Another class of rituals is related to occasional events, such as war, droughts, catastrophes, or extraordinary events. Rituals performed at such times are usually intended to appease supernatural forces or divine beings that might be the cause of the event, or to discover what divine power is causing the event and why. At the beginning of the top Paleolithic there were funeral rituals. Archeological data speak about the custom to supply a dead man with food and necessary tools, weapon, ornaments. The history of a marriage ceremony is interesting. Peo- ple in «primitive» societies did not marry, but had sexual relationships with one and other indiscriminately. Such people were thought to live like other animals, and they did not have the precise concept of motherhood, father- hood, sibling, husband and wife, and gender, not to mention match-making and marriage ceremony. At an early stage marriage meant only casual, incidental connections of the man and the woman. This historical form of marriage is named group marriage since the group of men of one community could be incidentally husbands of group of women of another community. Fa-

40 thers remained unknown to children, they knew only their mothers. Therefore, there was that phase in development of a patrimonial society, which is called «matriarchy» (Greek « Mater-mother, «arche» — the beginning, authority). The developed matriarchy is marked by transition to the new form of marriage: from group to couples. The process of entering into marriage during matriarchy was ritual. For instance, a North American tribe chokhta had the following wedding ceremony: the groom and the bride were placed in two separate huts. The distance of 200– 300 m was measured and marked with a post. After a signal a bride ran at full speed to the post. A little later a groom was allowed to leave the hut and he had to catch up with the bride before she reaches the post. If he managed, they were married; if he failed he became a prisoner. Transition from matriarchy to patriarchy resulted in new forms of marriage and family. Development of housekeeping demands strong connection of spouses and leads to a monogamy (греч. «monos» — one, «ga- mos» — marriage) — strong connection of man and woman. Transition to monogamy is accompanied by new rituals. Since the woman, a wife-to-be, left the family of her parents, the groom should compensate this loss of a labour, bringing gifts to the family of his bride. On the other hand, the marrying woman, leaving her home, receives dowry (part of the collective property of the family). Primitive art was the result of practical activity, during which the mind and psyche of the primitive people developed. There appeared a product, which was not meant to be used in hunting or working the land, but was a tool to express people’s feelings, ideas, fantasy. Paleolithic art was the art of hunters. The primitive hunter drew pictures of things that they were most interested in and with which their life was closely connected. The most ancient monuments of painting were found in the caves of Spain and France. Scientists also found some Paleolithic musical instruments made of bones of a mammoth. Besides, they have

41 managed to reproduce their sounding. Each musical instrument produced different sounds. The hip of the mammoth was something like a modern xylophone, and its skull was an original drum. There were found over 150 Paleolithic female figurines in the different countries (Italy, Austria, Czech, Russia). The world of senses, in which the man lived at the early stages of human history was defined by rituals. They were non-verbal «texts» of his culture. Ritual actions became special symbols, the knowledge of which reflected the level of mastery of cultural and social significance of the individual. Action according to models determined the behaviour patterns of each individual, and this excluded his creative independence. Individual self-consciousness in these conditions developed slowly and almost completely merged with the group. The problems of violating social norms of behaviour, disobedi- ence, contradiction between private and public interests did not exist. The individual had to act «like everyone else» — he could not break ritual requirements that predetermined his behaviour. Taboos (prohibitions) played a special role here. They protected vitally important for the existence rules of collective life (food distribution, the ban of sexual relations between blood relatives, immunity of the chief and so on). Culture begins with the introduction of bans, which stop antisocial manifestations of animal instincts, but at the same time restrained personal creativity. With the development of the language a new informational channel is built — oral verbal communication. This is accompanied by the development of thinking and individual self-consciousness. The individual ceases to identify himself with the collective, he gets a possibility to express, suggest and discuss various ideas concerning different events and plans, though independent thinking will remain rather limited for a long time. At this stage mythological consciousness becomes a spiritual foundation of the primitive culture. A man transfers properties, which he sees in himself to the out-

42 side world: the objects of nature are treated as if living, spiritual beings that like him have will, thoughts, desires and feelings. Myths combine reality and fiction. However, they explain everything, everything becomes clear in them. Language symbolism of myths is connected with rituals and gives them meaning (including the secret meaning of magical rituals, which are available only to witches, sorcerers, shamans). Myth-creating, in its turn, gives rise to new magic rituals. Myths predict all forms of human activity and act as the main «texts» of the primitive culture. Their oral transmission ensures the establishment of the unity of views of all members of the tribal community on the surrounding world. Be- lief in «their» myths strengthens community and at the same time separates «theirs» from «strangers», who believe in other myths. The poetry of myths is the first form of literary creativity, which is embodied not only in the language form, but also appears in symbolic rituals, singing, dancing, drawing, tattoos, household things. As a result, mythology forms the atmosphere, which produced different kinds of public art. The myths reflect practical information and habitual everyday activity. Myths were passed down from generation to generation and due to that experience accumulated over many centuries was preserved in social memory and the primary level of knowledge and ways of thinking are formed, from this begins the path that leads to the development of philosophy and science. In mythological tales about gods that inhabit the world religious world outlook emerges. Primitive mythology embodied the initial forms of spiritual culture, which in the subsequent development of human society are embodied in religion, art, philosophy and science. From the transition from the primitive society to a higher stage of development took place in different ways in different places of the Earth. Different historical types of culture were formed in ancient Egypt, Mesopota- mia, China and India.

43 Primitive Cultures on the Territory of Ukraine The first primitive people appeared on the territory of Ukraine approximately 1 million years ago. There about 30 settlements have been discovered. According to its character Ukrainian culture belongs to the culture of Slavonic type. Because of the lack of archeological data the scientists cannot come to an agreement as for the emergence and development of Ukrainian culture in pre-Kievan period. There are fewer archeological findings of the primitive epoch in Ukraine than in Germany, France, Spain or some other countries where primitive people lived in dry mountain caves. They have been better preserved than the settlements in Ukraine that were damaged or destroyed by humid climate. On the territory of Ukraine people did not have natural dwellings like in Europe and had to build them themselves. Primitive people on the territory of Ukraine either dug the holes in the earth where they could hide from frosts or built dwellings on the earth. They used bones of mammoths to build them. In these places archeologists find real pieces of art — cult bracelets made of mammoth bones, decorations made of tur- tule shells, statueetes made of mammoth tusks, musical instruments decorated with carving, etc. A remarkable monument of Ukrainian primitive culture is Stone Graves (Kamennye Mohily) that is situated in the steppe not far from the village of Terpinnya in Melito- pol region Zaporizhya district. There were discovered more than one thousand drawings, depicting 15 species of animals, many of them depicted hunting scenes. Being a sublime combination of vast steppes and stone blocks, Stone Graves (Kamennye Mohily) Reserve is undoubtedly impressive. The huge stone massifs emerged here around 2 billion years ago as a result of volcanic eruption, which raised the Earth crust exposing rocks of pink granite. Rocks of colour granite take around 30% of the reserve’s territory, while another 70% is unculti- vated steppe free from any man-caused intrusion.

44 The City of the Dead is another name given to the area, as two circles of grave mounds close around the reserve. Numerous stone idols suggest the area was home for many tribes 5000 years ago. Stone sculptures were used as charms or guards as they symbolized fore- fathers and were intended to protect people from enemies and misfortunes. Stone Graves (Kamennye Mohily) contain over 60 grottoes and caves, in which thousands of petroglyphs — drawings and symbols have remained. In spite of the fact that excavations have been under way since the 30ies of the XX-th century, the exact number of grottoes is unknown, there can remain more zones of interest under the sand. At the present condition of the monument sand removal can lead to further destruction of blocks of sandstone. Archeologists did not find any human settlements, which can be connected with a monument either in the Stone Graves or in the immediate proximity from it. On the basis of this, the researchers came to the conclusion that the Stone Graves were used exclusively for cult purposes, as a sanctuary. Besides, almost all images of the Stone tomb are put on internal surfaces of boulders, and they can be observed only, getting in grottoes, manholes and caves that also testifies about their assumed sacredness. During the Middle Stone Age the population increased considerably and people could not feed themselves by relying solely on hunting. They then learned how to fish, gather berries and plants, and how to do- mesticate animals. During the Neolithic era, men learned how to cultivate land, rear cattle, and make pottery. The divergence in economic occupations of people in different regions of Ukraine became greatly appreciated during this time. More agricultural development, hunting and fishing and cultural and economic developments were on the rise at this time. Also during this time, a primitive communal system with a matriarchal social base was formed on Ukrainian terrain. Tribal relations of the ancient ancestors of the Ukrai- nian were formed in Mesolithic era. The evidence for that

45 are sculptures of the so-called «Venuses» that were found by archeologists. They evidence that people lived in matriarchal families at that time. According to the scientists, these images are a reflection of primitive cults associated with honouring the mother-ancestor, or keepers of the human race. Trypillyan Archeological Culture Trypillian culture derives its name from the village of Trypillia in Ukraine where artifacts of this ancient civilization were first discovered. Archeological excavations show that as early as 5,000 B.C. these ancient agrarians settled in the forest steppe in areas of the upper Dniester river on the west with later settlements found up to the middle Dnipro on the East. Trypol launched a foundation of agricultural crops, which was the basis for economic activity, life, traditions, beliefs and worldview of the Ukrainians. Trypol had a settlement, consisting of dozens, sometimes hundreds of small houses built from wood and smeared with clay. Trypol original streets were arranged in a circle, in the centre of which there was a slightly larger building for public use. Extreme buildings served as a kind of fortified walls, so it was kind of fortress-settlement. Trypol dwelling building consisted of several rooms, some of which served for housing and the remainder were storehouses for supplies. Each room had a stove that was used for baking bread. In other rooms the people stored grain, in one room, near a window, there was located the earthen altar with statuettes of female deities. Trypilians made different things with clay and elaborately decorated dishes. Trypilians associated the Sun with the supreme deity of the universe. One of the mysteries of the Trypillian culture are the remnants of thousands of burned buildings found by archaeologists. Among the ruins can be found, tens to hundreds of vessels, statuettes of people and animals, tools, and bones of animals and, sometimes, of people. Initial evaluation of this culture by V. Khvoika conclud-

46 ed that these ruins were «homes of the dead». Other archaeologists have tried to prove that these burned ruins were just normal dwellings. But modern researchers feel it makes sense to combine both of these conclusions. It is now believed that for a long period of time these structures served the people as temples, houses, and barns. But after a period of time, all structures became «houses of the dead» — shelters for the souls of ancestors. All these wonderful vessels, tools, meat of sacrificial animals became a rich offering to the spirits of their ancestors. It was necessary to burn out such houses, as well as the entire settlement, and then to move on to another location, to new fields and lands, having left the old fields to the ancestors. This custom, which is a thousand years older than the Trypillian culture, came from the old pre- civilization of the Balkans where the first farmers of Europe settled. This cycle, consecrated by a thousand year old tradition, consisted of construction of new structures and settlements every 60–80 years. The periodic resettlement required strong community organization utilizing the collective efforts of all its members. Such activity can be compared to the construction of channels and dams in the Ancient East. This high level of organization assisted the Trypillians in establishing the first cities in Europe between 5000 and 4000 B.C. When «history began in Sumer», ruins of tens of Trypillian cities, between the Bug and Dnipro rivers, were already covered with rich grasses of the Forest-Steppe. The largest Trypillian cities existed over six thousand years ago. Their size is amazing: hundreds of hectares in area, thousands of dwellings, and a population estimated at 10,000–15,000 people. The strong fortification, which was made of hundreds of two and even three-story buildings densely attached one to the other, protected the inhabitants. The population of these cities was engaged primarily in agriculture, although there were also craftsmen such as potters, blacksmiths, and weavers. Every 50 years Trypilians burned down their village and built another one some distance away. Many scientists

47 believe that this ritual was associated with the lunar eclipse, which recurs cyclically every 50 years. Trypillian society was matriarchal, with women head- ing the household, doing agricultural work, and manufacturing pottery, textiles and clothing. Hunting, keeping domestic animals and making tools were the responsibili- ties of the men. It is little wonder then that the primary deity of this ancient population was female. The Trypillian culture developed a rich symbolic system based on their religious beliefs of the Great Goddess as the powerful giver and regenerator of life and the wielder of death. Trypillian pottery contains elaborate symbolic forms with highly stylized pictures and patterns reflecting concepts of nature, life and the spiritual world. The tri-colour designs of white, red and black are comprised of lines, spi- rals, crosshatched patterns, egg-shaped motifs and other symbols reflecting their ancient beliefs. During a century of archaeological excavations there were many discoveries. At some points it looked like we uncovered everything or almost everything about «Trypillians», but time and again, with every new excavation, something new is discovered, which forces scientists to reconsider their already established opinions. We increasingly learn more and more about Trypillians and the world, in which they lived. When scientists search for roots of the people who lived on the territory of Ukraine, they look to Trypillian times. Trypillia is the first bread, the first metal, the beginning of a new philosophy in the area that is now known as Ukraine. The creators of the Trypillia civilization made an important contribution to Ukrainian tradition, as well as to the formation of European civilization. Early Slavic and Scythian Settlements on the territory of Ukraine The Ukrainian archaeologists distinguish such For- Scythian cultures in the Ukraine: Cimmerian culture in the steppe, Chornolis culture in the forest-steppe of the Right- side Ukraine, the culture of Thracian Halstatt in Moldova

48 and Middle Dnestr land, Vysotska culture in two modern- day districts of the West Ukraine, and Luzhitska in the extreme western land of Ukraine. The last culture occupied only very little area and had not great influence on the cultural process in the Ukraine at that time. Chornolis culture got its name after the area named Chornyi Lis (Black forest) near the village of Bogdaniv- ka near the river Ingulets, the right tributary of the Low Dnepr. In the year of 1949 here a site of ancient fortified settlement (hillfort) was found as the first evidence of an unknown culture. The hillfort of Chornyi Lis had central round wooden fortress, which was free of dwellings. Three lines of graves and walls rounded place for settlement. During excavations some everyday articles, mainly fragments of ceramic pottery, were found here. The settlement probably existed from the beginning of the 8th till the middle of the 7-th century BC. Later a lot of similar settlements of ancient farmer population were found in the forest-steppe stripe between the Dnepr and the Dnestr. The common features of archaeological findings gave the reason to unite them as a separate For-Scythian culture. This culture existed approximately since the 10-th till the 7-th century BC. Some settlements was fortified. Usually the places for the settlements were chosen on high hills surrounded on three sides by deep valley or by the steep banks of a river. The people had to defend not only themselves but the main their riches — livestock. In case of hillforts the forth side was defended by the two or three lines of walls. The population of Chornolis settlements was farming people. They dwelled mostly in earth buildings. These had different size and form. Sometimes the pits for buildings were of roughly square or oval form of the dimensions 3.5–4 x 4–4.5 m having the depth till 1.5 m. Often dwellings had a berth for lying along the walls. Each dwelling had one or more fire-places enclosed by stones. The housetops were constructed with twigs and clay. The people worked using wooden, horn, and stone tools. Sickles were made of two or more jagged flint segments,

49 which were joined by wooden or horn handle. Corn-rush- ers were made of stone hollowing out dimply in the centre of it and using as a pestle another stone. Bones were used widely too as different awls. The people cultivated three species of wheat also barley, ray, millet, lentil, vetch, rape, flax. They raised cows, swine, horses, goats, sheep, and hens. In the agriculture the so-called slash-and-burn method was used. Sowing out 80–100 kg of grain per 1 ha, they could get a yield up to 25 metric centners during the first 3–4 years. But this method required a lot of manpower. People had to work hard for 50 days to burn 1 ha of forest and to prepare the soil for sowing. A great group of Chornolis settlements was found in the basin of the Tiasmin. The most important of them is Subotiv hillfort, a centre of bronze metallurgy. One must say that during the existence of Chornolis culture stone and bronze tools were replaced with iron articles. The earliest evidence about iron metallurgy concerns already to the time of Biloğrudivka culture. Chornolis craftsmen produced not only harness — bronze celts (axes), daggers, swords having mostly iron blade, bronze edges for arrows but female adornments too — armlets, temple rings of bronze wire, etc. Chornolis pottery is presented by tulip-like pots, gob- lets, different plates, cups, great pots for grain or milk. Sometimes the pottery was burnished. The clay paste of pottery has the admixture of pounded sandstone and flint or grass. Influence of Vysotska culture is visible in the ornamentation of the pottery as «herring-bones» or «ladders». In the nowadays Ukrainian steppe there are many thousands kurgans — barrows left by the Cimmerians, the Scythians and the Sarmatians. The greatest among them are tombs of nomadic elite where the archaeologists excavate many artifacts. Among them there are gorgeous examples of ancient metal art created by local goldsmiths or imported with commercial operations and military campaigns.

50 The examples of the most ancient jewelry are the adornments found in the graves from the 9-th – 7-th centuries BC. They decorated the Cimmerian warriors, their weapons, clothes, utensils and horse equipment. Cim- merian art has geometric motifs: circle, semicircle, spiral, squares, rhombus, crosses, etc. Metal decorations were created thanks to lost-wax casting, forging, stamping, carving and brazing. Some items were inlaid with glass. The Scythians brought a fascinating animal style with images of stags, horses, mountain goats, feline predators. The realistic representation with special stylistic accent on an element offers to feel some vital vigour. Every image had some signification and was used as an amulet, talis- man. The metal decorations are usually created by embos- sing and chasing, or sometimes cast as miniature sculpture. Later, in the 2-nd century BC, deserted steppes above the Black Sea were repopulated by the nomadic Sarma- tians «armed with the sword». Their tribes arrived from the depths of Asia and gradually inhabited the steppe from the foothills of the Caucasus to the valley of the Dan- ube. For next six hundred years the cities-states by the Black Sea, being under Roman influences, had been feeling a permanent fear of the Sarmatian cavalry. The city of Olbia was some time under control of the Sarmatian kings — Farzoi and his son. Some Hellenic cities on the low Dnipro were destroyed by Sarmatian raids. Iranian domination ended in the IV-th century CE with the Tur- kic migration. Along with countless toreutic decorations made in the Great Scythia there are more sophisticated adornments created by the goldsmiths in the city-states by the Black and Mediterranean seas. Pontic artists gradually transformed relief realistic images of animals into flat stylized abstract patterns. Since the late 5-th century BC in the decorative art of the northern shore of the Black Sea appeared the Scythian-Hellenic style — where the main image taken from Greek mythology got some local features. The Scythians liked to use Greek adornments bearing the

51 traditional scenes: sacrifices with mythical and terrestrial beasts, battles of the hero with a beast, ceremonies with presence of the gods and the humans. Thus, the silver-gilded «Haymanova Cup», from the tumulus of Haymanova Mohyla, presents two couples of Scythian noble men flanked by humble servants. Thanks to a very detail engraving work on the embossed figures there is opportunity to see every personage with its own features, portrait, hairdressing, cloth, weaponry. The gold «Helmet», from Perederiyeva Mohyla, is in- graved with the battle in steppe where two bearded men triumph over four young lads. All six warriors are wearing cloths in the same Scythian style. That scene evocates History by Herodotus where Melpomene 3 says: «From their slaves and from their wives had been born and bred up a generation of young men, who having learnt the manner of their birth set themselves to oppose the Scythians as they were returning from the Medes. After- wards when the Scythians attempted to invade the land, they took up a position against them and fought; and as they fought many times, and the Scythians were not able to get any advantage in the fighting. When they were advised to leave spears and bows and that each one takes his horse-whip for the young would see their whips instead of arms, and perceive to be their slaves». The Pectoral is the most perfect decoration of the Great Scythia created specially for the nomadic basileus by some skilful master who evidently worked in an important Greek goldsmithry. «It embodies the soul of the all Scythian people» — wrote Borys Mozolevsky, the Ukraini- an archaeologist who excavated the Pectoral in the hiding place of the tumulus Tovsta Mohyla on June 21, 1971. Three levels of the Pectoral with breathtaking gold figurines, cast after lost-wax technology and engraved in details, represent the Great Scythia. Cultural achievements by the antic inhabitants of the South Ukraine inspired the artistic creation of next generations.

52 During the 4-th–7-th centuries the epoch of the Great Migration saw further development of the precedent jewelry art, especially remarkable with the use of the poly- chrome style. Questions for self-control 1. What are the main features of primitive culture? 2. What is totemism? 3. Was magic an early form of religion? 4. What is mythology? 5. What early forms of religion do you know? 6. When did art emerge? What factors predetermined its emergence? 7. In what rituals of the primitive people can we trace elements of morality? 8. Give example to prove the idea that elements of aesthetic world perception began to appear in the primitive society.

2.2. The Culture of Ancient Civilizations and their Influence on Ukrainian Culture The Culture of the Ancient Egyptian civilization The more than 3000 year long history of Ancient Egypt has been divided into 8 or 9 periods, sometimes called Kingdoms. This modern-day division is somewhat arbitrarily based on the country’s unity and wealth and the power of the central government. The Ancient Egyp- tians themselves did not group their rulers according to such criteria. They rather seem to have developed the notion of dynasties throughout their history. The Palermo Stone simply lists the kings one after the other, without any apparent need of grouping them. The Turin Kinglist, which is more recent, has grouped the kings according to their descendance or origin. Thus, Amenemhat I and his descendants, are described as the kings of Itj-Tawi, the capital whence they ruled. We owe the division into

53 30 dynasties as we use it now to Manetho, an Egyptian priest who lived at the beginning of the Ptolemaic Era. In many cases, however, it is not clear why Manetho has grouped some kings into one dynasty and other kings into another. The XVIII-th Dynasty, for instance, starts with Ahmose, a brother of the last king in Manetho’s XVII-th Dynasty. Theoretically, Ahmose and Kamose should thus have been grouped in the same dynasty. Thutmosis I, on the other hand, does not appear to have been related to his predecessor, Amenhotep I, but still both kings are grouped in the XVIII-th Dynasty. Ancient Egyptian civilization is considered as one of the oldest civilization in the history of mankind. An- cient Egyptian culture is known for their pyramids, which are still considered as the wonders in the XXI-st century. Scientists and architects of the modern world are not able to answer the simple question: «How did they build it?» The treasure discovered from the pyramids and other monuments put more light on ancient Egyptian culture. The greatness of this civilization is that it has three thousand years of continuous history. As the result of the political unification of the major Nile Valley civilizations, the Ancient Egyptian civilization began around 3150 BC. After passing through many golden ages and powerful kingdoms of Pharaohs, the era of Ancient Egyptian civilization was ended with the death of legendary queen Cleopatra. Here are some features of this great culture: Clothing: Ancient Egyptian people usually wore white linen tunics, drapes and loin clothes. The clothing style was different for different classes of society. Pharaohs and priests used high-quality material. The people from high society used to possess gold jewelry to maintain their status. In ancient Egypt cloth was one of the major commo- dities, along with bread and beer, used in place of money in barter transactions. Cloth making was a labour-intensive activity before the invention of mechanical spin-

54 ning machines and looms, so it was not uncommon for the average person to have only one or two sets of clothing to last them through the years. Thus, the amount of clothing a person owned was a key indicator of the status and wealth among the Egyptians. For example, the tomb of King Tutankhamun (r. 1332—1322 B.C.E.) contained hundreds of garments. But even upper-class, non-royal tombs included cloth. The tomb of princess Hatneferet and vizier (high-ranking government official) Ramose, who died during the reign of Hatshep-sut (1478– 1458 B.C.E.), contained 76 sheets, one old shirt, eighteen shawls, fourteen sheets of linen, and shrouds, in addition to vast quantities of other clothing. The clothing scholar Gillian Eastwood-Vogelsang speculated that the clothing in tombs could have been equivalent in worth to gold to this ancient society, and was often a motivat- ing factor for tomb robbers. Egyptian clothing is divided into two main categories. One category — wraparound clothing — used a length of cloth that the wearer draped on the body. The second category — cut-to-shape garments — were either triangular or rectangular pieces of cloth with sewn edges. These categories are difficult to recognize in the archaeological record. Wraparound clothing found in tombs often resembles bedsheets. Only careful examination of fold marks reveals the way large pieces of textiles were actually used. Garments cut-to-shape that archaeologists have discovered in tombs are easy to recognize yet are not often represented in the artistic record. Headgear such as crowns and kerchiefs and jewelry were as equally important as clothing in ancient Egyptian fashion. These adornments often conveyed a message through symbolism and magically protected the wearer. Crowns and kerchiefs identified kings and the particular purpose of a statue or relief. Often, for example, a pair of royal statues depicted the king with the red crown of Lower Egypt and the white crown of Upper Egypt. This pair of statues would then convey the message that the king ruled the whole

55 country. Jewelry could be a means of displaying wealth but also protected the wearer. Amulets worn suspended from chains around the neck were a major source of divine protection in daily life for an Egyptian. Often women wore either single or double straps with the wraparound dress. The straps covered part of the torso. There was a wide variation in the way the straps were worn. Women wore either one or two straps, arranged either across the body or hanging straight from the shoulder. The straps also varied in width from broad to narrow. These straps were probably decorative but might have served some practical purpose. Vogelsang-Eastwood suggested they were neither pinned nor sewn to the wraparound dress. The majority of wraparound dresses both in art and from archaeology are white. Bag tunics for men and women, however, were both made from a single piece of cloth, folded, and then sewn together on two sides, leaving holes for the arms. The bottom was left open. A key-hole shaped opening was cut in the shorter side to allow the wearer to pull it over the head. The ends and the openings were hemmed. Some bag tunics were made from heavy material while others were from fine material, and people of all stations owned both kinds. Vogelsang-Eastwood and others suggested that the differences in weight represent summer and winter wear. Some bag tunics were also decorated. They could have fringe, bead work, gold or faience sequins, applied patterns, or embroidery. Most scholars believe that some ancient Egyptian men and women often wore wigs regardless of the style of their natural hair. The more elaborate styles that artists represented for upper-class men and women were almost certainly wigs. Representations of rich women often include a fringe of natural hair at the forehead, under a wig, leading scholars to believe that it was a sign of wealth and status to wear a wig and that vanity had little to do with it. Most scholars assume that all people above a certain station were depicted with wigs on, yet

56 it is not always clear whether the style in a statue, relief, or painting is a wig or is natural hair. During the Old Kingdom (2675–2170 B.C.E.), men wore both a close-cropped style and a shoulder-length style. The shorter style probably represents natural hair cut close to the skull. The wearer swept the hair back in wings, covering the ears, when wearing the shoulder- length style. Men also wore moustaches and sometimes a goatee in this period. Working men wore their natural hair cropped closely. Only workmen were ever depicted with gray hair or with male-pattern baldness. This difference between richer and poorer men in statues, reliefs, and paintings reflects a wider convention of portraying upper-class tomb owners in an idealized manner, at the most attractive point in their lives. The major distinction between men’s hairstyles of the Old and Middle King- doms (2008–1630 B.C.E.) was in the shoulder-length style. Often in the Middle Kingdom men tucked their hair behind the ears when wearing shoulder-length hair in contrast to the covered ears of the Old Kingdom. This feature of the hairstyle probably relates to the fashion for large, protruding ears. Twenty-fifth Dynasty (760–656 B.C.E.) wore a Cap Crown with a double Uraeus snake. The colour of the Cap Crown and the circle decoration relates it to the Blue Crown. The Blue Crown, called the kheperesh in Egyptian, first appeared in the Second Intermedi- ate Period (1630–1539 B.C.E.). It shares both the colour and circle pattern with the older Cap Crown, and thus some Egyptologists believe they are related. The Blue Crown is most likely the crown that the king wore most often while performing his duties in life during the New Kingdom. Because the king also wears this crown while riding in a war chariot, the crown is sometimes called a war crown, though this is probably an error. The crown represents action, both in peace and in war. When combined with the Nemes, however, it represents a deceased king.

57 Fewer crowns were available to royal women than to men, and they are slightly better understood. Female crowns relate clearly to god. Finger rings of gold, silver, bronze, copper, or faience often incorporated hieroglyphic signs, especially signs for words that signified characteristics Egyptians prized. Thus, jewelers made rings from the ankh (life) hieroglyphs along with signs for eternal existence, healing, protection, and stability. One popular ring form was a bezel or base for a scarab beetle with an inscription on the bottom. Often the inscription was the name of a king, a deity, or a wish for health. Unlike rings, which were standard jewelry long before 2000 B.C.E., ear ornaments joined Egyptian jewelry in the Second Intermediate Pe- riod (1630–1539 B.C.E.) and did not become popular until the New Kingdom (1539–1075 B.C.E.). Popular styles included hoops, pendants, studs, and plugs. Both men and women wore earrings, though kings did not wear them in representations, even though several royal mum- mies have pierced ears. Earrings were included among Tutankhamun’s treasures, but the mummy did not wear earrings even though he had pierced ears and wore many other kinds of jewelry. This is a puzzling contradiction. In Egypt’s long history there were several trends or fads in jewelry. But the longest-lived item was the beaded collar. There were two types of beaded collars worn by men, women, and deities. Farming The life of the ancient Egypt was dependent on the Nile river. The Nile was as equal to the life for them. The farmers of that age are known for the invention of the first irrigation system. Some scientists also believe that Egyp- tian farmers were the first farmers to use a plow. Language Ancient Egyptian language was at one point the longest surviving and used language. It was used from 3000 BC to the 11th century. Their writing system was made up of

58 pictures of the real things like birds, tools, etc. These pictures are known as hieroglyph. This language was made up of more than 500 hieroglyphs and is known as hieroglyphics. On the stone monuments or tombs many forms of artistic hieroglyphics can be found. Legal System Pharaohs were the rulers of ancient Egypt. The laws were made and maintained by the Pharaohs. The laws of the ancient time were based on common-sense view of right and wrong. The punishments were decided considering the severity of the crime. Tomb robbery was considered as a serious crime and tomb robbers were punished by execution. Sometimes criminals’ families were also punished. Religion The ancient Egyptian religion was followed for more than ten thousand years until the establishment of Chris- tianity and Islam. Egyptians believed that spiritual part is the integral part of the human body. The beliefs and rituals developed, changed and merged with time depending on the ruling families. Ancient Egyptians were polytheist. Egyptians worshiped vast array of gods with many different powers. The gods were worshiped mainly for protec- tions. Pharaohs were considered as the connections between material and spiritual realms. Priests worshipped gods on behalf of the Pharaohs. Though Egyptians built the temples, they were not open to the public. The systems of oracles was used to communicate with gods. Beliefs Egyptians believed their king was the incarnation of the god Horus on earth. According to the myth, Horus was a falcon, born to the god Osiris and his wife, Isis. When Osiris died he became the king of the dead. In the same way, the Egyptians believed that when the king died he became Osiris and ruled in the next world. The king’s son on earth was then the new Horus. These beliefs help explain the nature of Egyptian tombs for kings. Tombs

59 were the place where Horus became Osiris and people on earth had access to the deceased king. Egyptian belief in the afterlife was so powerful that they only used permanent building materials, such as stone, for buildings that needed to last eternally. Buildings for the living, then, made use of the relatively impermanent material of mud brick; even the king’s palace was made of mud brick. The Egyptians also developed stone architecture for gods’ houses, which Egyptologists call temples. Leisure Activities A variety of games, music and other leisure activities such as hunting and boating were enjoyed by ancient Egyptians. The board games were played for the entertainment. Senet and Mehen were the popular games in ancient Egypt. Music was played and dances were performed during the feasts and festivals. Harps, drums, flutes were quite popular. Special kind of musical instruments were played during religious ceremonies. Architecture Ancient Egyptian architecture falls into three categories: buildings for the living, buildings for the dead, and buildings for religious rites, i.e. temples, chapels, and shrines. The pyramids were tombs specifically created to be the homes of deceased kings in the afterlife, and were part of larger complexes that functioned to serve the dead king in the afterlife. These tombs include the vast pyramid complexes built for kings from the Third Dynasty until the end of the Middle Kingdom when the Egyptians abandoned pyramid building (2675–1630 B.C.E.). Kings were not the only ones to have homes in the afterlife; Egypt’s elite class of individuals also built tombs called mastabas as permanent homes for themselves after death. Architecture plays a pivotal role in understanding ancient Egyptian society. In the earliest periods and as late as the end of the Old Kingdom (3500–2170 B.C.E.), architecture provides scholars with the majority of the evidence for such an analysis because so little else from

60 the culture survived. Changes and continuity in architectural plans also suggest developments in religion and perhaps politics. Scholars, however, have often challenged the reliability of interpretations of religion based solely on architectural changes. When texts survive to supplement the knowledge derived from architecture, a much fuller picture can emerge. This is the case for the rock-cut tombs and the temples built for kings and gods in the New Kingdom (1539–1075 B.C.E.). In this time period the texts and sculptural reliefs on the interior walls of these structures supplement our understanding of the function that the rooms served and better define when important religious changes occurred. Finally, architecture provides one of the best categories of evidence for examining a society’s approach to technology. Although technologically simple when compared to modern cultures, Egypt’s structural accomplishments with such simple tools once inspired theories that Egyptian monuments were actually the work of aliens. Scholars have proven, however, that such supernatural or extra- terrestrial explanations are unnecessary. For nearly 3,000 years the Egyptians devoted an enormous percentage of their society’s efforts and energy to monumental stone architecture. Only agriculture exceeded architecture for sheer manpower and time needed. Unlike modern construction projects that engage a significant number of society’s workers but not a majority, most able-bodied Egyptians spent some time on construction projects during a lifetime of work. The Egyptian government organized the general population into either four or five rotating work. The Egyptian government also imported hundreds of boatloads of timber from Lebanon and directed craftsmen to produce tools, including stone axes, bronze chisels and saws, and wooden mallets. En- gineers designed and built wooden sledges thirty metres (98.4 feet) long and huge boats that hauled several hundred tons of stone. Workmen dragged containers of sand and the Nile mud to construction sites to make bricks. At the same time, the bureaucracy organized thousands

61 of people to do the actual construction work and hundreds more who trained, fed, and clothed the workers. Egyp- tian architecture represents not only the highest design principles, but also an astounding degree of cooperation, organization, and control for an early society. All of these organizational feats added to the Egyptians’ high reputation as engineers and architects among ancient peoples, a reputation that the Egyptians retain today. Moreover, the ability of the Egyptian government to control people’s actions suggests the degree of legitimacy it enjoyed, as well as its power to coerce people into performing difficult and dangerous tasks for long periods of time. Certainly the period from the beginning of architecture about 3500 B.C.E. to the end of the Old Kingdom about 2170 B.C.E. was extremely creative. During this time period the Egyptians developed a vocabulary of architectural forms and plans that included the mastaba tomb and two different plans for pyramid complexes. They also developed the first sun temples dedicated to the chief god of the Egyptian pantheon at that time, Re. There was, however, tremendous variation in the plans of individual buildings and complexes. These subtle shifts have become the basis for interpreting the relationship between Egyptian architecture and its religion and politics. Yet almost all the buildings from this time period can be classified into one of four types: mastabas, north/south pyramid complexes, east/west pyramid complexes, and sun temples. The Pyramids of Giza are among the world’s most famous architectural monuments. In ancient times the Greeks included the Great Pyramid among the Seven Wonders of the World. The Egyptians themselves took an interest in the pyramids, restoring the adjacent buildings as late as 1,000 years after they were originally built. Yet in spite of the tremendous awe and curiosity that the pyramids inspire, they are limited sources for the writing of history. The pyramids attest that the Fourth Dynasty (2625–2500 B.C.E.) must have been a period of strong

62 central government, religious vitality, and technological innovation. Yet the details of these historical trends must be derived from the physical remains of buildings rather than from written texts. In the Fourth Dynasty the Egyptians had not yet started inscribing extended biographical texts in their tombs, a practice of the Sixth Dynasty 300–400 years later that provides historical details in the later period. Though the Great Sphinx is actually a work of sculpture rather than architecture, it is integral to the architectural plan of Khafre’s pyramid complex at Giza. It was the first truly colossal work of sculpture created by the Egyptians. The body is 22 times larger than a real lion, which it represents. The carved human face of the Great Sphinx is thirty times larger than an average man’s face. The face hovers twenty meters (66 feet) above the ground. The lion’s body combined with the king’s head was an important symbol of the king’s ability to protect the country from its enemies. In front of the Great Sphinx stood a temple that might not have been completed in Khafre’s time. Historians concentrate on the change and continuity in plans and techniques found among the Fourth-dynasty complexes and both their precursors and successors. The mastaba tomb’s name comes from the Arabic word meaning «bench», for its resemblance to a mud brick bench sitting on the desert sand. Such benches are often located in front of houses. One name that the ancient Egyptians gave to tombs was per djet, «house of eternity». The Egyptians thought of the tomb as one of the places, in which their souls would live after they died. The soul divisions included the ba that could travel between the mummy and the next world, the ka that could inhabit a statue of a deceased person, and the akh that was transformed in the tomb into a spirit that could live in the next world. Not only did the ba and the ka spend time with the mummy and the statue of the deceased in the tomb, but also supplies that a person would need in the next life were stored in the tomb, just as there were

63 storage facilities in a house. A deceased person could even receive mail at the tomb just as mail could be delivered to a person in this life. In fact, all the functions that a person performed in life — sleeping, eating, dressing, receiving friends — were performed in the tomb by the deceased. During the Opet Festival, the Egyptians celebrated the divine birth of the king at this location. This divine birth provided a religious explanation for how the king could be both a human and the genetic son of the god Amun. The Egyptians visualized the genetic relationship literally, as attested in reliefs from both Deir el Bahri and the Luxor temple. They believed that the spirit of Amun inhabited the king’s human father at the moment of conception, an act ritually recreated in the Luxor temple by the king with a living woman, probably the queen, an- nually during the Opet Festival. Moreover, the act of conception, in Egyptian thought, conveyed a spirit called the royal ka into the fetus of the unborn king. Dancing In ancient Egypt, however, dance mostly served a ritual purpose at funerals or in ceremonies for the gods and was limited to professional dancers. Scholars depend on scenes carved on tomb and temple walls to learn about Egyptian dance. A few ancient texts refer directly to dance, but the most useful texts for this study are the captions in tomb illustrations of dances and the liturgy recited during funerals. Most dancers were professionals who were members of the khener — an organization that could be a bu- reau in an institution or could function independently as a troupe. Institutional kheners were attached to temples, tombs, towns, and royal or other wealthy households. In some cases, the sons and daughters of the deceased performed the ritual dances at funerals. Dwarfs, or more likely pygmies, performed certain dances called the Dance of the God. They also performed with the khener during funerals. The Egyptians also represented animals such as monkeys and ostriches dancing.

64 Depictions of dance show that men and women danced separately. Either a male or female couple performed the couples funeral dance called tjeref. Since the dancers im- personated the deceased in this dance, male tomb owners depicted male tjeref-dancers in their tombs while female tomb owners showed female tjeref-dancers in their tombs. Dancers often wore specialized costumes, jewelry, and headgear tailored to a specific dance. Music Dancers performed funeral dances and cult dances for the gods accompanied by percussion. The most common percussion «instrument» was hand clapping, and musicians used specially carved wooden clappers to increase the volume of this sound. Musicians also played the sistrum and the menat — two different kinds of ritual rattles — during the cult dances performed before the gods. Dancers at banquets sometimes accompanied themselves on the lute or danced to the harp. Women performed with woodwinds on very rare occasions at funeral banquets depicted in New Kingdom tombs. Literature Ancient Egyptian literature began as hieroglyphic autobiographical accounts on the tomb walls of kings and nobles, and developed on papyrus, wooden tablets, and limestone chips over the centuries into several recognizable genres, including poetry, historical accounts, teachings, and stories. Egyptian noblemen recorded the earliest Egyptian literature in tomb inscriptions called autobiographies. They composed them in the first person and included some details of the author’s own life. The real purpose of these texts is to demonstrate that the author lived a moral life. Thus, the texts illustrate Egyptian ideas of morality. Mythology Ancient Egyptians tried to understand their place in the universe and their mythology centres itself on nature,

65 the earth, sky, moon, sun, stars, and the Nile River. Helio- polis, the City of the Sun, is located in the ruins of Yunu in north-east Cairo. This is where the cosmic creation of Egyptian myth began. Ancient Egyptian mythology states that in the beginning of time everything began with Nu. Nu is the description of what the planet was before land appeared. Nu was a vast area of swirling watery chaos and as the floods receded the land appeared. The first god to appear out of this watery mess was Atum. This myth was probably created because of the large source of water from the Nile River. In one interpretation, Atum is credited with the fertile land that springs up when the water’s of the Nile River recedes, because he was the first to arise out of the watery mess. Atum emerged from Nu as the sun god at the beginning of time and is the creator of the world. Since Atum was all alone he chose to mate with his shadow. The god Atum was known as the’Great He-She’, and a bisexual. The ancient Egyptians found this act acceptable, as they found all types of sexual orientations acceptable. Atum gave birth to two children by spitting out his son (Shu) and vomiting up is daughter (Tefnut). Shu represented the air and the principles of life and Tefnut represented rain and principles of order. The three remained in the watery chaos of Nu and after some time Atum was separated from his children. When they were finally reunited, Atum wept with tears of joy. When his tears hit the ground men grew and he then began to create the world. Shu and Tef- nut later gave birth to Geb, the god of the earth, in which the throne of the Pharaoh would be decided. Nut was also born from Tefnut and Shu as the Goddess of the sky, the separator between earth and Nu. Geb and Nut then gave birth to Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys. In ancient Egyptian mythology there is an established kinship of the gods and goddesses. Atum is known also as Khepri, the great scarab beetle, Ra-Harakhte, the winged-solar disk, Ra, the midday sun, Aten, the solar-disk, or Horus on the Horizon. By whatever name you call him, Atum is the one and only creator in the universe. The sun god Atum

66 travels along Nut during the day and then is swallowed by Nut at night. At dawn it is seen as Nut giving birth to Atum as the sky opens up to the light. One of the most famous Egyptian myths is the myth of Osiris. Osiris has been credited with many different titles, god of fertility, king of the dead, god of agriculture, and god of the underworld, controller of the Nile floods, and the rising and setting of the sun. All of these titles have one thing in common: life, death, and rebirth because the myth of Osiris is attributed to his life, murder, and eternal life after death. The myth of Osiris begins when he sets out to spread law and order across the land and to teach people how to farm. Because Osiris was a powerful king and popular with the people, his jealous brother lured him into a coffin and sealed his fate with molten lead. Seth then sent him down the Nile River in the coffin. Later the coffin washed ashore in Lebanon and a tree encased it. A king of Lebanon was impressed by the size of the tree and cut it down and put it in his palace. Isis was the wife and sister to Osiris who gave birth to Horus and was the protector of the dead. When she received the news of Osiris’s death, she knew the dead could not rest without a proper burial. Isis searched and found Osiris’ body and brought it back to Egypt. Seth found this unacceptable and cut Osiris into many pieces and scattered them throughout Egypt. Isis set out again and had all the pieces she found made into wax duplicates. All the wax duplicates were placed in the temple to be worshipped. Isis preserved his body with linen bandages, used her magic and breathed life back into Osiris. Osiris then rose as a God-King and he chose to rule the underworld. This is where the roots of mummification and rebirth into the afterworld began. Priest Caste The priesthood of ancient Egypt has a far reaching and deep history, rooted within the traditions of An- cient Egypt. Unlike the orthodox priesthoods usually found within Western society, the role of the Egyptian

67 priest or priestess was vastly different within the society as a whole. Rather than seek the divine and develop a rapport with the gods, the role of the priest was akin to an everyday job. For, as the pharaoh was seen as a god himself, the priests and priestesses were seen as stand-in’s for the pharaoh; as it was the greater job of the priests and priestesses to keep Egyptian society in good order, as is the case with most theoretically based societies. The mystical attributes of the priests and priestesses take on a secondary role, when one considers the heightened role religion played within Egyp- tian society. Not only was religion a way to attain the ethereal and basic needs of the Egyptians, but it also served as a mechanism to order society, to create a hierarchy, and to preserve the culture for future generations. As such, the role of the priests and priestesses was both functional and mystical on both levels. A priest or priestess in ancient Egypt was generally chosen by either the king, or attained their post by he- reditary means. In either case, the priests who received their positions hereditarily and through the king were not set apart from mundane life. In fact, such priests were made to embrace the mundane life to keep Egyp- tian society functioning properly (and as stated above it was a job of fairly high status). Though the priesthood had started out simply, with relatively few temples, in the later dynasties the temples expanded into the hundreds. With such growth, a large bureaucracy was needed to keep the temples in good standing; and thenceforth, the small priesthood’s of the Egyptians grew from an estimated hundred priests into the thousands, and with it came a priestly hierarchy. The daily life of a priest or priestess depended on their sex and also their hierarchical standing within the priesthood. Priests were often rotated from position to position within the priestly hierarchy and were integrated in and out of mundane society. This rotation system generally went that a priest would enter into temple

68 life one month, at three times a year. This rotation system had a direct connection to the often stringent purity rites of the priests. Regardless of what status the priest was, there were numerous taboos and traditions a priest had to or could not partake. Of these taboos and traditions, a priest or priestess could not eat fish (a food thought to be ascribed to peasant life), could not wear wool (as nearly all animal products were unclean), were generally circumcised (only common among the male priests), and it was not uncommon for priests to bathe three or four times a day in «sacred» purificatory pools. It was also not uncommon for the «oracle» tending priests (one of the most sacred positions), to shave off all of their body hair, partially to get rid of lice, but partially for purificatory functions. These «oracle» priests symbolically gave food to the statues of the gods, clothed the statues of the gods, sealed the temple chamber in the evening, and were known as stolists. As can be seen from the example of the stolists, the need for purity extended not only upon the mundane level, but also held true within the afterlife as well. Further, from such purificatory rites the priests were often times known as the «pure ones» regardless of status within the temples. Below the high-priest were a number of priests with many specialized duties. The specialization of these second tier priests ran from «horology» (keeping an accurate count of the hours through the days, extremely important during the time of the sunboat worshippers, but also for agricultural reasons as well), «astrology» (extremely important as well to the mythology of Egypt, as well as to the architectural and calendrical systems of Egypt), to healing. As is obvious by the specialization of the priests, the cycles of the cosmos were extremely important, as they decided when crops would be planted, when the Nile would wax or wane, and further when the temple rites were to begin in the morning. The result of these Egyp- tian priests studies can be seen in both the mythological studies of Egypt, as well as within the agricultural

69 practices, which rival even the modern Caesarian Calen- dar still used within the western world today. In addition to the political administration, the priests and priestesses took on both magical and economic functions, however, set apart from the hierarchy of priests were the lay magicians who supplied commoners understanding of Egyptian religion. Through the use of magic and their connection to the gods, lay magicians provided a service to their community, usually consisting of coun- seling, magical arts, healing, and ceremony. Lay magicians who served within this last and final caste of the Egyptian priesthood belonged to a large temple known simply as «the House of Life». Laymen would come to «the House of Life» to meet with a magician, priest or priestess to have their dreams interpreted, to supply magical spells and charms, to be healed and to counteract male- volent magic, and to supply incantations of various types. Though the House of Life provided its Laymen with many prescriptive cures for common ills, it was largely shrouded in mystery in ancient times. In fact, the library of the House of Life was shrouded in great secrecy, as it contained many sacred rites, books, and secrets of the temple itself, which were thought could harm the pharaoh, the priests, and all of Egypt itself. Though the magicians of the House of Life were seen as another step from the ceremonial duties of the priests, they were by no means less important, and as it is evidenced by the presence of many magical wands, papyri text, and other archeological evidence, the House of Life took on a role direly important to the way of life of Ancient Egyptians. One final position within the priesthood highly worthy of mention is that of the Scribes. The scribes were highly prized by both the pharaoh and the priesthood, so much so that in some of the pharaoh’s tombs, the pharaoh himself is depicted as a scribe in pictographs. The scribes were in charge of writing magical texts, is- suing royal decrees, keeping and recording the funerary rites (specifically within The Book of The Dead) and keeping records vital to the bureaucracy of Ancient Egypt. The

70 scribes often spent years working on the craft of making hieroglyphics, and deserve mentioning within the priestly caste as it was considered the highest of honours to be a scribe in any Egyptian court or temple. Astrology Most of our understanding of Egyptian astrology is contained within the Cairo Calendar, which consists of a listing of all the days of an Egyptian year. The listings within the calendar all take the same form and can be broken up into three parts: I, the type of day (favourable, unfavourable, etc.), II, a mythological event, which may make a particular day more favourable or unfavourable, III, and a prescribed behaviour associated with that day. Unlike modern astrology as found within newspapers, where one can choose whether to follow the advice there in or not, the Egyptians strictly adhered to what an astrol- oger would advise. As is evidenced by the papyrus of the Cairo Calendar, on days where there were adverse or favourable conditions, if the astrologers told a person not to go outside, not to bathe, or to eat fish on a particular day, such advice was taken very literally and seriously. The basis for deciding whether a date was favourable or unfavourable was based upon a belief in possession of good or evil spirits, and upon a mythological ascription to the gods. Simply, an animal was not ritually revered because it was an animal, but rather because it had the ability to become possessed, and therefore, could cause harm or help to any individual near them. It was also conceived of that certain gods could on specific days take the form of specific animals. Hence, on certain days, it was more likely for a specific type of animal to become possessed by a spirit or god than on other days. The rituals that the Egyptians partook of to keep away evil spirits from possessing an animal consisted of sacrifice to magic, however, it was the seers and the astrologers who guided many of the Egyptians and their daily routines. Hence, the origin of Egyptians worshipping animals has more to do with the rituals to displace evil spirits, and their

71 astrological system, more so than it does to actually worshipping animals. Ancient Egyptian Papyrus Papyrus was very important to the ancient Egyptians. It helped to transform Egyptian society in many ways. Once the technology of papyrus making was developed, its method of production was kept secret allowing the Egyptians to have a monopoly on it. The first use of papyrus paper is believed to have been 4000 BC. The raw material of papyrus paper comes from the plant Cyperus papyrus. This plant grew along the banks of the Nile and provided the Egyptians with the necessary raw materials. This plant was quite versatile and was not only used in the production of paper but it was also used in the manufacture of boats, rope and baskets. However, the singularly most important and valuable product was the papyrus paper. Not only was this ancient Egypt’s greatest export but it revolutionized the way people kept valuable information. No substitution for papyrus paper could be found that was as durable and lightweight until the development of pulped paper by the Arabs. The way of making pulp paper was far easier to produce but not as durable. This not only led to a decline in papyrus paper making, but also to a decline in the papyrus plant cultivation. Eventually, the papyrus plant disappeared from the area of the Nile, where it was once the lifeblood for ancient Egypt. Papyrus making was not revived until around 1969. An Egyptian scientist named Dr. Hassan Ragab reintro- duced the papyrus plant to Egypt and started a papyrus plantation near Cairo. He also had to research the method of production. Because the exact methods for making papyrus paper was such a secret, the ancient Egyptians left no written records as to the manufacturing process. Dr. Ragab finally figured out how it was done, and now papyrus making is back in Egypt after a very long absence. Painting: For 3000 years the Ancient Egyptian people practiced an art form and style that is almost im-

72 mediately recognizable as Egyptian. In those 3000 years there was almost no change in the style, meaning of colour, or meaning of body placement in a painting, with the exception of the Armarna Period. To the untrained eye it would seem that the Egyptians were a people of little imagination to continue a style for so long, however, to those who know anything about Ancient Egyptian art the story is quite complex. Egyptians used a special code of colours in each painting they did, with each colour representing a different quality of the people represented. There were six colours the Ancient Egyptians used in their paintings red, green, blue, yellow, black, and white. They made these colours of mineral compounds and that is why they have lasted so long. The colour green was symbolic of new life, growth, vegetation, and fertility. Depictions of Osiris often show him with green skin. Red was the colour of power it symbolized life and victory, as well as anger and fire. Red was associated with the god Isis and her blood, which red could also represent. It also represented the God Set who was considered evil and who caused storms. The colour blue was the colour of the heavens and the water and it symbolized creation and rebirth. The god Amun, who played a part in the creation of the world, is depicted with a blue face. Anything yellow symbolized the eternal and indestructible, the qualities of the sun and gold. It was the colour of Ra and of all the pharaohs, which is why the sarcophagi and funeral masks were made of gold to symbolize the eternalness of the pharaoh who was now a god. The colour of death was black. Black also represented the underworld and the night. Both the gods Annubis and Osiris were depicted in black as the gods of the em- balming and the afterlife, respectively. Lastly white was the colour of purity, it symbolized all things sacred and simple. Normally used in religious objects and tools used by the priests. The same way that the colours of Egyptian art meant something, so did the position of the figures represented. The figures were usually shown motionless or only walking. There are a few other identifying features

73 of Ancient Egyptian art that are common throughout time. In nearly all paintings the heads of the people were represented from the side with one eye staring out of the side of the face. The arms and legs of the person are also in profile but the mid-body is facing forward. This made the figure look twisted into a position nearly impossible to achieve in reality. Another aspect of the Ancient Egyp- tian painters was to depict the gods, pharaohs, or other important figures as larger than the other people in the painting to signify their higher importance. So, although it may seem strange to us that the Egyptians didn’t change their style for so long it did have a reason. The lack of change, especially in painting commissioned by the pharaoh, connect each ruler to the last and was seen as evidence of that they belonged in this continuing line. Furniture The typical Egyptian house had sparse furnishings by modern standards. Wood was quite scarce, so large furniture items were not common. By far the most common pieces of furniture were small 3 and 4 leg stools and fly catchers. Stools have been found in common houses, as well as in Pharaohs’ tombs. Other items of utilitarian furniture include clay ovens, jars, pots, plates, beds, oil lamps, and small boxes or chests for storing things. The ever present stool was made from wood, and had a padded leather or woven rush seat. The stools’ 3 or 4 legs were very often carved to look like animal legs. Wealthy people had their stools and all furniture in general was richly decorated with gold or silver leaf. The more common people would have things painted to look more expensive than they were. The Egyptian bed was a rectangular wooden frame with a mat of woven cords. Instead of using pillows, the Egyptians used a crescent-shaped headrest at one end of the bed. Cylindrical clay ovens were found in almost every kitchen, and the food was stored in large wheel- made clay pots and jars. For common people, food was

74 eaten from clay plates, while the rich could afford bronze, silver, or gold plates. The ruling class also commonly had a throne chair with a square back inlaid with ebony and ivory. Almost everyone also had a chest for storing clothing and a small box for jewelry and cosmetics. Walls were painted, and leather wall hangings were also used. Floors were usually decorated with clay tiles. Ancient Egyptian Glass Technology Glass-making technology initially began in Egypt with the manufacture of small beads in the pre-dynastic era. There is little or no evidence of glass technology until the XVIII-th Dynasty. The technology was a result of the process of firing clay pots. The sand and slag utilized in making clay pots melted together to make glass. Early examples of glass manufacture were in the form of beads made from the glass nuggets. It was determined that when metal oxides were added to the glass nuggets, various colour hues resulted. The foundation for this technology may have been in the development of bronze technology, adding different elements to copper to make bronze. There is also early evidence for glass blowing. Egyptian Statues It seems that no matter where you go in Egypt you will always be surrounded by its beauty and art. As you get closer to the monuments and pyramids of the great Pharaohs, you’ll find statues of all sorts that surround the entrances, as well as contained within. Of these statues you will notice several common characteristics from the way they face and are positioned, to the way they are sized and depicted. The combination of geometric regularity is characteristic of all ancient Egyptian art, which was often described as cubed and constrained. Its purpose was to keep alive the history of the individual and give eternal life to the Pharaohs. The divine nature of the rulers evolved the art of sculpture. In order for the people to be able to see what they worship, statues became the most important symbol

75 of divinity. Enormous sculptures where built up to represent famous Pharaohs and their queens. Most sculptures depicted the individual as eternally young and beautiful, staring straight ahead, their gaze lost in contemplation. To the uninformed tourist the statues, paintings and architectural forms seem to fall into place as if they obeyed one law. No one seemed to want anything different. The artist was never told to be original. On the contrary, he was graded and praised for how precise his work was and how exact it resembled the past statues. The goal seemed to be completeness, the task to preserve everything as clearly as possible. Needless to say, Egyptian art changed very little. Another major component of Egyptian statues lies in the fact that they had to adhere to strict rules. These were a set of very strict laws, which every artist had to follow. Seated statues had to have their hands on their knees; statues of males had to be made using darker materials than females. This was mostly because of the socio-economic structure of the males having a darker complexion from being outside all day. There were only three options for statue figures. People could either stand, sit, or kneel. This was because artists did not free the sculpted form from the block of stone. As they were primarily to be viewed from the front, the images and symbols of the hieroglyphs, were clearly and accurately carved in stone. The finished product was more or less an idealized manner, the way the individual would have wanted to be for the rest of their eternal lives. Aside from the position, there was an emphasis on the size of the individual. This was to show the divinity, or the social status and power of the Pharaoh. However, powerful his queen, she was most often depicted rather small, barely taller than a child. These children were easily recognizable simply by the fact that they were depicted naked. Nudity indicated the young age an innocence of the child. However, adults were sometimes depicted naked, but more so as a symbol of rebirth in the afterlife, more commonly found in the case of a funeral statue.

76 Children were depicted with their index finger on their lower lip, a side lock of a braid of hair worn usually at one side. Representations of older children were fully clothed and usually wore a wig, marked by a second hairline. Although older, these children were still depicted smaller than their parents, sometimes barely knee-high — of course you have to remember that none of Egyptian art is based proportionately. Pottery, Stoneware and Ceramics The Egyptians were master stone carvers. The Pre- dynastic Period was known as the stone vessel making period, and was distinguished by its superb stone making technology. Though it was not until the apex of the third and fourth dynasties that the full creativity and style of Egyptian stone art was fully realized. The Third and Fourth Dynasties were the period of the highest artistic achievement in stoneware consisting of mostly alabaster vessels and statues. From the Old Kingdom onward there was considerably less use of the harder stones like alabaster in both stonework and statue art. The sculptural exploits of the ancient Egyptians had its humble beginnings in figure sculpture and later in the monumental wall art carvings. The examples of figure sculpture of the early periods are small in size and few in number. Characteristic of these sculptures were small limestone statues, with heavy set figures, large heads, round plump faces, showing no facial expression, emotion or any suggestion of movement. These types of sculptures were a vague attempt at naturalistic symmetry, with eyes gazing straight ahead, arms glued to their sides, hands on their knees, legs close together and feet parallel. Statues of the kings were usually represented as either standing with the left foot advanced, or seated on a cubic block represented as a throne; in either of the two types there was no suggestion of movement in the sculpture nor was there any suggestion of emotion. There is evidence to suggest that the small statues of ancient Egypt were used in temples. These statues

77 presented a human body, usually adorned with a tight fitting clock reaching from the neck of the subject to the ankles. The Cultures of Mesopotamia It is generally acknowledged that civilization and «cultural history» (by which we really mean written history) began in Mesopotamia about 5,000 years ago. The fertile valley of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers was an appropriate place for people to congregate and build cities. With plenty of water and fertile land for agriculture, the area gave rise to what we have come to consider the first true «civilization». Cultures of Mesopotamia have developed constantly over the ancient period under different emperors. The cultures naturally became more rich and diverse. Eve- ry empire was characterized by city states surrounded by very high walls. They had their own cults and languages that formed part of the rich tradition over the years when an empire reigned. Numerous sites and artifacts have been uncovered that reveal a great deal about the culture of ancient Meso- potamia. One of the most dramatic finds is the «Sumerian King List», which dates to approximately 2100 BC. This collection of clay tablets and prisms is most exciting because it divides the Sumerian kings into two categories; those who reigned before the «great flood» and those who reigned after it. Actually, records of a global flood are found throughout most ancient cultures. For instance, the «Epic of Gilgamesh» from the ancient Babylonians contains an extensive flood story. Discovered on clay tablets in locations such as Ninevah and Megiddo, the Epic even includes a man, who built a great ship, filled it with animals, and used birds to see if the water had receded. Archaeology in the last century has also shed light on the great military civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia and their ultimate impact on law and culture throughout the region. One significant find is the «Law Code of Ham- murabi», which is a seven foot tall, black diorite carving containing about 300 laws of Babylon’s King Hammura-

78 bi. Dated to about 1750 BC, the Law Code contains many civil laws. Another dig at the ancient city of «Nuzi» near the Tigris River uncovered approximately 20,000 clay tablets. Dated between 1500 and 1400 BC, these cuneiform texts explain the culture, customs and laws of the time. Religion With its rather large pantheon of gods and goddesses animating all aspects of life, Sumerian religion was polytheistic in nature. By far, the most important deities were An, Enlil, Enki and Ninhursaga. An was the god of the sky and, hence, the most important force in the universe. He was also viewed as the source of all authority, including the earthly power of rulers and fathers alike. In one myth, the gods address them in the following manner: What you have ordered comes true! The utterance of Prince and Lord is but what you have ordered, do agree with. O An! your great command takes precedence, who could gainsay it? O father of the gods, your command, the very foundations of heaven and earth, what god could spurn it? Enlil, god of wind, was considered the second greatest power of the universe and became the symbol of the proper use of force and authority on earth. As the god of wind, Enlil controlled both the fertility of the soil and destructive storms. This dual nature of Enlil inspired a justifiable fear of him: What has he planned?... What is in my father’s heart? What is in Enlil’s holy mind? What has he planned against me in his holy mind? A net he spread: the net of an enemy; a snare he set: the snare of an enemy. He has stirred up the waters and will catch the fishes, he has cast his net, and will bring down the birds too. Enki was god of the earth. Since the earth was the source of life-giving waters, Enki was also god of rivers, wells, and canals. He also represented the waters

79 of creativity and was responsible for inventions and crafts. Ninhursaga began as a goddess associated with soil, mountains, and vegetation. Eventually she was worshipped as a mother goddess, a «mother of all children», who manifested her power by giving birth to kings. Although these four deities were supreme, there were numerous gods and goddesses below them. One group included the astral deities, who were all grandchildren and great-grandchildren of An. These included Utu, god of the sun, the moon god Nannar, and Inanna, goddess of the morning and evening star, as well as of war and rain. Unlike humans, these gods and goddesses were divine and immortal. But they were not all- powerful since no one god had control over the entire universe. Furthermore, humans were capable of devis- ing ways to discover the will of the gods and to influence on them as well. The relationship of human beings to the gods was based on subservience since, according to Sumerian myth, human beings were created to do the manual labour the gods were unwilling to do for themselves. As a consequence, humans were insecure since they could never be sure of the god’s actions. But humans did make attempts to circumvent or relieve their anxiety by discovering the intentions of the gods; these efforts gave rise to the development of the arts of divination, which took a variety of forms. A common form, at least for kings and priests, who could afford it, involved kill- ing animals, such as sheep or goats, and examining their livers or other organs. Supposedly, features seen in the organs of the sacrificed animals foretold of events to come. Private individuals relied on cheaper divina- tory techniques. These included interpreting patterns of smoke from burning incense or the pattern formed when oil was poured into water. The Sumerian art of divination arose from a desire to discover the purpose of the gods. If people could de- cipher the signs that foretold events, the events would be predictable and humans could act wisely. But the

80 Sumerians also developed cultic arts to influence good powers (gods and goddesses) whose decisions could determine human destiny and to ward off evil powers (demons). These cultic arts included ritualistic formulas, such as spells against evil spirits, or prayers or hymns to the gods to win their positive influence. Since only the priests knew the precise rituals, it is not difficult to understand the important role they exercised in a society dominated by a belief in the reality of spiritual powers. Music, songs and instruments Some songs were written for the gods but many were written to explain important events. Although music and songs to make kings and rulers laugh, they were also enjoyed by regular people who liked to sing and dance in their homes or in the marketplaces. Songs were sung to children who passed them on to their children. In this way songs were passed on through many generations until someone wrote them down. These songs provided a means of passing on through the century’s really important information about historical that were eventually be passed on to modern historians. The Oud -is a stringed musical instrument. The old (دوعلا :Arabic) est Picture record of the Oud dates back to the Uruk period in Southern Mesopotamia over 5000 years ago. It is on a cylinder seal currently housed at the British Museum and acquired by Dr. Dominique Collon. The oud is regarded as a precursor to the European lute. al-‘ūd دوعلا Its name is derived from the Arabic word ‘the wood’, which is probably the name of the tree, from which the oud was made. Entertainments Hunting was popular among Assyrian kings. Box- ing and wrestling feature on many occasions in art, and a form of polo was probably popular, with men sitting on the shoulders of other men rather than on horses. They also played a board game similar to senet and backgammon, now known as the «Royal Game of Ur.».

81 Family life Mesopotamia was a patriarchial society; the men were way more powerful than the women. And schooling was for only royal children and sons of the rich and professionals such as scribes, physicians, temple admi- nistrators, and so on. They were the only ones that went to school. Most boys were taught their father’s trade or were trained to learn a trade. Girls had to stay home with their mothers to learn housekeeping and cooking, and to look after the younger children. Some children would help with crushing grain, or cleaning birds. Unu- sual for that time in history, women in Mesopotamia had rights. They could own property and, if they had good reason, they could get a divorce. The Mesopotamian woman’s role was strictly defined. She was the daughter of her father and then became the wife of her husband. Women rarely acted as individuals outside the surrounding of their families. Those who did so were usually royalty or the wives of men who had power and status. Most girls were brought up from childhood for the traditional roles of wife, mother, and housekeeper. They learned how to grind grain, how to cook and make beverages, especially beer, and how to spin and weave cloth for clothing. If a woman worked outside of her home, her job usually grew out of her household tasks. She might sell the beer she brewed, or even become a tavern keeper. Childbearing and childcare roles led women to become midwives and also to create medicines that prevented pregnancy or produced abortions. Soon after puberty, a young girl was considered ready for marriage. Marriages were arranged by the families of the future bride and groom. Ceremonies have been described where the future husband poured perfume on the head of the bride. He also gave her family money and other presents. Once a woman was engaged, she was considered part of her fiancé’s family. If her husband-to-be died before the wedding, she was then married to one of his brothers or another male relative.

82 Clothing The Sumerians made their clothing by using the natural resources that were available to them. Cloth- ing was made from wool or flax, which Sumerians could raise and harvest. (Flax is a plant with blue flowers. The stems of these plants are used to make the clothing.). How thick or how coarse the clothing was meant the season, in which the clothes would be worn. Like us, heavier clothing would be worn in the winter and lighter clothing would be worn in the summer. Men were barechested and wore skirt-like garments that tied at the waist. Women usually wore gowns that covered them from their shoulders to their ankles. The right arm and shoulder were left uncovered. Men were either clean shaven or had long hair and beards. Wo- men wore their hair long, but they usually braided it and wrapped it around their heads. When entertaining guests, women would place headdresses in their hair. Although both rich and poor Sumerians wore the same style of clothing, the wealthier Sumerians wore clothing that was made out of expensive and luxurious materials. Wealthy women and princesses also wore clothing that was colourful and bright. Both men and women wore earrings and necklaces. During celebrations, even more jewelry was worn. The wealthier Sumerians often wore beautiful gold and silver bracelets and earrings. Necklaces were also worn and were set with bright, precious stones. Some of these stones were the lapis lazuli and the carnelian. Architecture The architecture of Mesopotamia is the ancient architecture of the region of the Tigris–Euphrates river system (also known as Mesopotamia), encompassing several distinct cultures and spanning a period from the XX-th millennium BC, when the first permanent structures were built, to the 6-th century BC. Among the Mesopotami- an architectural accomplishments are the development of urban planning, the courtyard house, and ziggurats.

83 No architectural profession existed in Mesopotamia; however, scribes drafted and managed construction for the government, nobility, or royalty. The Mesopotami- ans regarded ‘the craft of building’ as a divine gift taught to men by the gods. From 1922 to 1934, the archaeologist named C. Le- onard Woolley excavated the site of the ancient Sumerian city of Ur. He made many great discoveries about the people who lived there. Among the 1800 graves he discovered, there were 16 tombs, which had very special and valuable objects in them. He called them the ‘Royal tombs’. The discovery of these tombs and their contents was reported all over the world. People read all about Woolley’s excavations and were fascinated by his discoveries. Babylonian temples are massive structures of crude brick, supported by buttresses, the rain being carried off by drains. One such drain at Ur was made of lead. The use of brick led to the early development of the pilaster and column, and of frescoes and enamelled tiles. The walls were brilliantly coloured, and sometimes plated with zinc or gold, as well as with tiles. Painted terra-cotta cones for torches were also embedded in the plaster. Assyria, imitating Babylonian architecture, also built its palaces and temples of brick, even when stone was the natural building material of the country — faithfully preserving the brick platform, necessary in the marshy soil of Baby- lonia, but little needed in the north. The Sumerians were the first society to create the city itself as a built form. They were proud of this achievement as attested in the Epic of Gilgamesh, which opens with a description of Uruk its walls, streets, markets, temples, and gardens. Uruk itself is significant as the centre of an urban culture, which both colonized and urbanized western Asia. The construction of cities was the end product of trends, which began in the Neolithic Revolution. The growth of the city was partly planned and partly organic. Planning is evident in the walls, high temple district, main canal with harbor, and main street. The finer struc-

84 ture of residential and commercial spaces is the reaction of economic forces to the spatial limits imposed by the planned areas resulting in an irregular design with regular features. Because the Sumerians recorded real estate transactions it is possible to reconstruct much of the urban growth pattern, density, property value, and other metrics from cuneiform text sources. The typical city divided space into residential, mixed use, commercial, and civic spaces. The residential areas were groupped by profession. At the core of the city was a high temple complex always sited slightly off of the geographical centre. This high temple usually predated the founding of the city and was the nucleus around which the urban form grew. The districts adjacent to gates had a special religious and economic function. The materials used to build a Mesopotamian house were the same as those used today: mud brick, mud plaster and wooden doors, which were all naturally available around the city, although wood could not be naturally made very well during the particular time period described. Most houses had a square centre room with other rooms attached to it, but a great variation in the size and materials used to build the houses suggest they were built by the inhabitants themselves. The smallest rooms may not have coincided with the poorest people; in fact, it could be that the poorest people built houses out of perishable materials such as reeds on the outside of the city, but there is very little direct evidence for this. The achievements of Mesopotamian civilization were numerous. Agriculture, thanks to the construction of irrigation ditches, became the primary method of subsis- tence. Farming was further simplified by the introduction of the plow. We also find the use of wheel-made pottery. Between 3000 and 2900 B.C. craft specialization and in- dustries began to emerge (ceramic pottery, metallurgy and textiles). Evidence for this exists in the careful planning and construction of the monumental buildings such as the temples and ziggurats. During this period (roughly 3000 B.C.), cylinder seals became common. These cylin-

85 drical stone seals were five inches in height and engraved with images. These images were reproduced by rolling the cylinder over wet clay. The language of these seals remained unknown until to the XX-th century. But, scholars now agree that the language of these tablets was Sumerian. The greatest achievement of Sumerian civilization was their cuneiform («wedge-shaped») system of writing. Using a reed stylus, they made wedge-shaped impressions on wet clay tablets, which were then baked in the sun. Once dried, these tablets were virtually indestructible and the several hundred thousand tablets, which have been found, tell us a great deal about the Sumer- ians. Originally, Sumerian writing was pictographic, that is, scribes drew pictures of representations of objects. Each sign represented a word identical in meaning to the object pictured, although pictures could often represent more than the actual object. The pictographic system proved cumbersome and the characters were gradually simplified and their pictographic nature gave way to conventional signs that represented ideas. For instance, the sign for a star could also be used to mean heaven, sky or god. The next major step in simplification was development of phonetiza- tion, in which characters or signs were used to represent sounds. So, the character for water was also used to mean «in», since the Sumerian words for «water» and «in» sounded similar. With a phonetic system, scribes could now represent words, for which there were no images (signs), thus making possible the written expression of abstract ideas. The Sumerians used writing primarily as a form of record keeping. The most common cuneiform tablets record transactions of daily life: tallies of cattle kept by herdsmen for their owners, production figures, lists of taxes, accounts, contracts and other facets of organizational life in the community. Another large category of cuneiform writing included a large number of basic texts, which were used for the purpose of teaching future generations of scribes. By 2500 B.C. there were schools built just for this purpose.

86 The Culture of Ancient India The History of India begins with the Indus Valley Civi- lization and the coming of the Aryans. These two phases are generally described as the pre-Vedic and Vedic periods. The earliest literary source that sheds light on In- dia’s past is the Rig Veda. It is difficult to date this work with any accuracy on the basis of tradition and ambigu- ous astronomical information contained in the hymns. It is most likely that Rig Veda was composed between 1,500 B.C. and 1,000 B.C. In the fifth century, large parts of India were united under Ashoka. Religion According to the religious-philosophical systems of those days the history of culture of India can be subdivided into three periods: The period of the Vedas (the name of the most ancient religious texts — meaning knowledge). In the religion of this period polytheism dominated. One of the main gods was god Indra (the god of a thunder and a lightning), goddess Ushas was the personification of dawn. Plenty of hymns were devoted to one of the most esteemed gods — to the god of fire Agny. Alongside with gods the population worshipped their ancestors to whom they brought gifts. The sacrifice was, as a rule, bloodless. In I millenium BC there appears Brahmism. To understand the cultural peculiarities of this period, it is necessary to remember that in India the population was divided into castes: Brahmen (priests), Kshatry (soldiers), Veishi (the basic manufacturers), and Shudras (servants, slaves). The religion became the major insrument of regulation relations between castes and strengthening this social pyramid. The representatives of the first three (noble) castes had their gods-patrons. And only Shudras who were absolutely deprived of civil rights did not have even gods. Brahmen occupied the dominating place in the society. «Brahmen occupies the highest place on the earth,

87 being the lord of all people. Everything that exists in the world is Brahmen’s property. Brahmen eat only what belong to them, wear things that belong to them and give to others what belongs to them; all other people exist thanks to the charity of Brahmen. According to the myth, castes were created from different parts of Brahm’s body: Brahmen from his lips, Kshatry — from his hands, Veishi — from his hips, Shu- dras — from his legs. To each caste Brahma himself prescribed their type of activity. During this epoch one of the main religious theories there was born the idea of reincarnation. According to this theory the soul of a person does not perish after his death, but relocates into another material body. The philosophical foundation of this doctrine was karma. The sense of this philosophy is that the person himself with his life and behaviour creates destiny in the future reincarnation. In a more comprehensive sense, this doctrine about relationships of cause and effect, «the law of com- pensation», on which the person predetermines the destiny according to image and acts. In VI–V-th centuries BC as a protest against exclusive system there were formed new religions — Jainism and Buddhism. Both these religions spoke about the right- eous life. According to Jainism the whole material world is evil and the person should aspire to become free from it. The main law in this religion is never do any harm to any living thing. The basis of the Buddhism is the doctrine about suffering and desire; the way to salvation from suffering is refusal from all temptations, through self-improvement. The supreme state is nirvana (absence of sufferings). Accord- ing to the Buddhism the person should to reach nirvana himself and to not rely on the help of gods. Gods cannot relieve people of sufferings of life. Besides religion, other areas of culture in Ancient India reached the high level. First of all, it concerns philosophy.

88 Philosophy There were six main Schools of Thought. Samkhya is widely regarded to be the oldest of the orthodox philosophical systems in Hinduism. Its philosophy regards the universe as consisting of two eternal realities: purusha and prakrti. The purushas (souls) are many, conscious and devoid of all qualities. They are the silent spectators of prakrti (matter or nature), which is composed of three gunas (dispositions): satva, rajas and tamas (steadiness, activity and dullness). When the equilibrium of the gunas is disturbed, the world order evolves. This disturbance is due to the proximity of Pu- rusha and prakrti. Liberation (kaivalya), then, consists of the realisation of the difference between the two. This was a dualistic philosophy. But there are differences between the Samkhya and Western forms of dual- ism. In the West, the fundamental distinction is between mind and body. In Samkhya, however, it is between the self (purusha) and matter, and the latter incorporates what Westerners would normally refer to as «mind». Samkhya was originally atheistic, but in confluence with its offshoot Yoga later, it accepted God. Mainest of them became six philosophical schools: Vedanta, Purva mimamsa, Nyaya, Vaishesika, Samkhya and Yoga. The school of yoga based on the idea about deep connection of human psychophy- siology with space belongs to the most well-known. The Nyaya school of philosophical speculation is based on the text called the Nyaya Sutra. It was written by Ak- sapada Gautama at an indeterminate date, but probably in the second century BC. The most important contribution made by this school is its methodology. This is based on a system of logic that has subsequently been adopted by most of the other Indian schools (orthodox or not), much in the same way that Western science and philosophy can be said to be largely based on Aristotelian logic. But Nyaya is not merely logic for its own sake. Its followers believed that obtaining valid knowledge was the only way to obtain release from suffering. They, therefore,

89 took great pains to identify valid sources of knowledge and to distinguish these from mere false opinions. Ac- cording to the Nyaya school, there are exactly four sources of knowledge (pramanas): perception, inference, com- parison and testimony. The Vaisheshika system founded by the sage Kanada postulates an atomic pluralism. In terms of this school of thought, all objects in the physical universe are reducible to a certain number of atoms. God is regarded as the fundamental force who causes conscioussness in these atoms. Although the Vaishesika system developed independently from the Nyaya, the two eventually merged because of their closely related metaphysical theories. In its classical form, however, the Vaishesika school differed from the Nyaya in one crucial respect: where Nyaya accepted four sources of valid knowledge, the Vaishesika accepted only perception and inference as being such. The Yoga system is considered by some to have arisen from the Samkhya philosophy. Its primary text is the Bhagavad Gita, which explores the four primary systems: Karma-Yoga; Buddhi-Yoga; Dhyana-Yoga; and Bhakti- Yoga. In the Bhagavad Gita itself the Yoga system is described as being many millions of years old (See Chap- ter 4.1). It is essentially described as a universal method of union with The Supreme. There has been much debate on the personal/impersonal nature of the Supreme by various Yoga practitioners over the years. The sage Patanjali wrote an extremely influential text on Raja Yoga (or meditational) entitled the «Yoga Sutra». The most significant difference from Samkhya is that the Yoga school not only incorporates the concept of Ishvara (a personal God) into its metaphysical worldview, which the Samkhya does not, but also upholds Ishvara as the ideal upon which to meditate. This is because Ishvara is the only aspect of Purusha that has not become entan- gled with prakrti. It also utilizes the Brahman/Atman terminology and concepts that are found in the Upanishads, thus breaking from the Samkhya school by adopting concepts of Vedantic monism.

90 The Yoga system lays down to elaborate prescriptions for gradually gaining physical and mental control and mastery over the «personal self», both body and mind, until one’s consciousness has intensified sufficiently to allow for the awareness of one’s «real Self» (the soul, or Atman), as distinct from one’s feelings, thoughts and actions. The main objective of the Purva («earlier») Mimamsa school was to establish the authority of the Vedas. Conse- quently this school’s most valuable contribution to Hin- duism was its formulation of the rules of Vedic interpretation. Its adherents (Mimamsakas) believed one must have unquestionable faith in the Vedas and perform the fire- sacrifices or yaj–as regularly. They believe in a magical power of the mantras and yaj–as, which sustains all the activity of the universe. In keeping with this belief, they laid great emphasis on dharma, which they understood as the performance of Vedic rituals. The Mimamsa accepted the logical and philosophical teachings of the other schools, but felt that these paid insufficient attention to right action. They believed that the other schools of thought, which pursued moksha (release) as their ultimate aim, were not completely free from desire and selfishness. In Hinduism, we are all illuminated under the light of god. When we have moksha, we believe that we become closer to god. According to the Mimamsa, the very striving for liberation stemmed from a selfish desire to be free. Only by acting in accordance with the prescriptions of the Vedas could one attain salvation (rather than liberation) — which includes a belief in the varna and ashrama system. Carvaka also known as Lokayata, is a thoroughly materialistic and atheistic school of thought with ancient roots in India. It is a system of Indian philosophy that assumes various forms of philosophical skepticism and religious indifference. In overviews of Indian philosophy, it is classified as a «faithless» system, the same classification as is given to Buddhism and Jainism. It is characterized as a materialistic and atheistic school of thought. While this branch of Indian philosophy is not considered

91 to be part of the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy, some describe evidence of a materialistic movement within Hinduism. The Carvaka school of philosophy had a variety of atheistic, materialistic, and naturalistic beliefs. Science and technology Science and technology in ancient and medieval In- dia covered all the major branches of human knowledge and activities. Ancient India was a land of sages, saints, as well as a land of scholars and scientists. Ancient In- dia’s contribution to science and technology include: Mathematics represents a very high level of abstraction attained by the human brain. In ancient India, roots to mathematics can be traced to Vedic literature, which is around 4000 years old. Between 1000 BC and 1000 AD, a number of mathematical treatises were authored in India. Will Durant, American historian (1885–1981) said that India was the mother of our philosophy and much of our mathematics. It is now generally accepted that India is the birthplace of several mathematical concepts, including zero, the decimal system, algebra and algorithm, square root and cube root. Zero is a numeral, as well as a concept. It owes its origin to the Indian philosophy, which had a concept of ‘sunya’, literal translation of which is ‘void’ and zero emerged as a derivative symbol to represent this philosophical concept. Geometrical theories were known to ancient Indians and find display in motifs on temple walls, which are in many cases replete with mix of floral and geometric patterns. The method of graduated calculation was documented in a book named «Five Principles» (Panch-Sid- dhantika), which dates to the V-th Century AD.A.L. Ba- sham, the Australian Indologist, writes in his book, The Wonder That was India that «...the world owes most to In- dia in the realm of mathematics, which was developed in the Gupta period to a stage more advanced than that reached by any other nation of antiquity.

92 The success of Indian mathematics was mainly due to the fact that Indians had a clear conception of the abstract number as distinct from the numerical quantity of objects or spatial extension. Algebraic theories, as well as other mathematical concepts, which were in circulation in ancient India, were collected and further developed by Aryabhatta, the Indian mathematician, who lived in the V-th century, in the city of Patna, then called Pataliputra. He has referred to Al- gebra (as Bijaganitam) in his treatise on mathematics named Aryabhattiya. Physics — The root to the concept of atom in ancient India is derived from the classification of material world in five basic elements by ancient Indian philosophers. These five ‘elements’ and such a classification existed since the Vedic times, around 3000 BC before. These five elements were the earth (prithvi), fire (agni), air (vayu), water (jaal) and ether or space (aksha). These elements were also associated with human sensory perceptions: earth with smell, air with feeling, fire with vision, water with taste and ether/space with sound. Later on, Buddhist philosophers replaced ether/space with life, joy and sorrow. From ancient times, Indian philosophers believed that except ether or space, all other elements were physically palpable and hence comprised of small and minuscule particles of matter. They believed that the smallest parti- cle, which could not be subdivided further was paramanu (can be shortened to parmanu), a Sanskrit word. Para- manu is made of two Sanskrit words: param meaning ultimate or beyond and anu meaning atom. Thus, the term «paramanu» literally means ‘beyond atom’ and this was a concept at the abstract level, which indicated the possibility of splitting atom, being now the source of atomic energy. The term «atom», however, should not be conflat- ed with the concept of atom as it is understood today. Kanada, the VI-th century, Indian philosopher was the first person who went deep systematically in such theori- zation. Another Indian, philosopher Pakudha Katyayana,

93 who was a contemporary of Buddha, also propounded the ideas about the atomic constitution of the material world. All these were based on logic and philosophy and lacked any empirical basis for want of commensurate technology. Similarly, the principle of relativity (not to be con- fused with the Einstein’s theory of relativity) was available in an embryonic form in the Indian philosophical concept of ‘sapekshavad’, the literal translation of this Sanskrit word is theory of relativity. Chemistry — Principles of chemistry did not remain abstract, but also found expression in distillation of per- fumes, aromatic liquids, manufacturing of dyes and pigments, and extraction of sugar. Medical science and surgery — Ayurveda as a science of medicine owes its origins in ancient India. Ayurveda consists of two Sanskrit words — ‘ayur’ meaning age or life, and ‘veda’, which means knowledge. Thus, the literal meaning of Ayurveda is the science of life or longevity. Ayurveda constitutes ideas about ailments and diseases, their symptoms, diagnosis and cure, and relies heavily on herbal medicines, including extracts of several plants of medicinal values. This reliance on herbs differentiates Ayurveda from systems like Allopathy and Homeopathy. Ayurveda has also always disassociated itself with witch doctors and voodoo. Ancient scholars of India like Atreya, and Agnive- sa have dealt with principles of Ayurveda as long back as 800 BC. Their works and other developments were consolidated by Charaka who compiled a compendium of Ayurvedic principles and practices in his treatise Cha- raka-Samahita, which remained like a standard textbook almost for 2000 years and was translated into many languages, including Arabic and Latin. ‘Charaka-Samahita’ deals with a variety of matters covering physiology, etio- logy and embryology, concepts of digestion, metabolism, and immunity. Preliminary concepts of genetics also find a mention, for example, Charaka has theorized blindness from the birth is not due to any defect in the mother or the father, but owes its origin in the ovum and the sperm.

94 In ancient India, several advances were also made in the field of medical surgery. Specifically these advances included areas like plastic surgery, extraction of catracts, and even dental surgery. Roots to the ancient Indian surgery go back to at least approximately 800 BC. Shush- ruta, a medical theoretician and practitioner, lived 2000 years bebore, in the ancient Indian city of Kasi, now called Varanasi. He wrote a medical compendium called ‘Shushruta-Samahita. This ancient medical compendium describes at least seven branches of surgery: Excision, Scarification, Puncturing, Exploration, Extraction, Evacu- ation, and Suturing. The compendium also deals with matters like rhinoplasty (plastic surgery) and ophthalmo- logy (ejection of cataracts). The compendium also focuses on the study the human anatomy by using a dead body. In ancient India Medical Science supposedly made many advances. Specifically these advances were in the areas of plastic surgery, extraction of cataracts, and dental surgery. There is documentary evidence to prove the existence of these practices. Fine Arts According to the evidence found, it looks like people in ancient India were great admirers of different art forms. They loved fine arts and indulged in dancing, sculpting and painting. A very interesting aspect of ancient art in India is that it is highly realistic. Though bit crude, the anatomical detailing in their sculptures is worth ap- plauding for. Animal and human figures have been carefully carved and chiseled to get a refined effect and portray the physical details in a very fine way. The fine artistic sensibilities of the people are pretty much evident in their terracotta and bronze sculptures. From the artifacts another interesting aspect that has come to light is the fact that musical instruments were used at that point of time. Certain seals and sculptures have inscriptions marked like instrument that looks somewhat like the harp. The paintings and inscriptions basically reveal the mental patterns of the people.

95 In ancient India, the pursuit of art was not left to the mercy of occasional sparks of inspiration or individual taste and tendency, especially in the case of children from high families. Sixty-four arts were part of their syllabus of study. The list included physical culture, use of weapons, elephant riding, instrumental music, dance and music, determining the nature of a person, painting, decoration, engraving, appraising of jewels, woodcraft, ivory carving, magic, all the scripts, different dialects and languages, and many others. Every prince or princess, every son or daughter of aristocrats had to gain proficiency in all or most, or at least some of these arts, failing which he or she would not get an honoured place in the society. As time progressed, the cruder forms were refined and a new kind of art form developed. This was the art form of rock cut caves and temple art. Rock cut art and architecture was a very important step taken towards the progress of ancient Indian art. The rock cut architecture was first initiated by the Buddhists and this inspired Hin- dus and the Jains who built similar structures at sites like Ajanta, Badami, Ellora, Elephanta, etc. The patterns varied according to different regions they were built in. The expression of mental attitudes in the form of ancient art is truly fascinating and helps us to analyze the journey traveled from then to now. Mechanical and production technology — Greek historians have testified to smelting of certain metals in India in the IV-th century BC. Civil engineering and architecture — The discovery of urban settlements of Mohenjodaro and Harappa indicate existence of civil engineering and architecture, which blossomed to a highly precise science of civil engineering and architecture and found expression in innumerable monuments of ancient India. Sports and games — Ancient India is the birth place of chess, ludo, snakes and ladders and playing cards. Astronomy -Ancient India’s contributions in the field of astronomy are well known and well documented. The earliest references to astronomy are found in the Rig

96 Veda, which are dated 2000 BC. During next 2500 years, by 500 AD, ancient Indian astronomy emerged as an important part of Indian studies and its affect is also seen in several treatises of that period. In some instanc- es, astronomical principles were borrowed to explain matters, pertaining to astrology, like casting of a horo- scope. Apart from this linkage of astronomy with astrology in ancient India, science of astronomy continued to develop independently, and culminated into original findings, like the calculation of occurrences of eclips- es, determination of Earth’s circumference, theorizing about the theory of gravitation, determining that sun was a star and determination of number of planets under our solar system. Epics The Indian epics the Mahaabharata — «The Great War of the Bharata descendants» — and the Raamaaya- na — «Rama’s Journey» — have been composed between the mid I-st millennimum B.C.E. and the AD III-IV-th centuries. The ancient Indian language of these epics is called the epic Sanscrit. These literary monuments created through the centuries are of tremendous historical and cultural value. They have always been a well of knowledge about religion, philosophy, history, mythology of the ancient India and remain the inspiration for the modern Indian literature and art. The epic monuments were connected with the Smri- ti genre («memory» that also comprises the Puranas (Puraana — «ancient, old» — the recollection of myths and legends). It includes the Tantra («rule, code» as well — a group of religious and esoteric works). The Vedic literature is the expression of the integrity of life in Sanskrit. The Vedic literature reveals to people of any level of personal development and of any Dhar- ma how to acquire the state of integrity of life — the life of 100% of the absolute and 100% of the relative, how to live in harmony with the Law of Nature. The Sanskrit is the key to this knowledge. With the help of the Sanskrit

97 any person can discover the Vedas and find the quintes- sence of life. The sound vibrations of the Sanskrit vitalize the features of the Pure conscious in a man and in his environment: the man begins to «vibrate» at unity with the Nature’s Law and live in harmony with the Laws of Na- ture.The old Indian architecture is noted by Buddhist constructions: such as cave temples. Each era is unique in its distinctive culture. In the same way Indian art forms have continuously evolved over thousands of years. In ancient India, various art forms like paintings, architecture and sculpture evolved. The history of art in ancient India begins with prehistoric rock paintings. Such rock paintings can be seen in the Bhim- betaka paintings, belonging to the prehistoric age. There- after, an advanced town planning is seen in Harappa and Mohenjodaro, with their centrally planned cities indicating a highly developed architecture. Another remarkable example of sculpture from Harappan civilization comes in the form of the dancing girl from Mohenjodaro. The Buddhists initiated the rock-cut caves, Hin- dus and Jains started to imitate them. The rock-cut art has continuously evolved, since the first rock cut caves, to suit different purposes, social and religious contexts, and regional differences. Alongside the art forms like architecture, paintings and sculpture, there have been evolving, changing, transforming, folk and tribal art traditions in India. These art forms are expression of people belonging to different cultural and social groups of India. It is the expression of people whose life is tuned to the rhythms of nature and its laws of cyclic change and whose life is knotted with natural energy. It’s been a tradition in India that gods and legends are transformed into contemporary forms and familiar images. Fairs, festivals and local deities play a vital role in the development of these arts forms. It is an art where life and creativity are inseparable. The tribal arts have a unique sensitivity, as the tribal people possess an intense awareness very different from the

98 settled and urbanized people. Their minds are supple and intense with myth, legends, snippets from epic, multitudi- nous gods born out of dream and fantasy. Their art is an expression of their life and holds their passion and mystery. The Culture Of Ancient China The Chinese culture is one of the most ancient. How- ever, the civilization of Ancient China has developed a little bit later than in Egypt, Sumer and India — only in the II millenium BC. China is considered to be the oldest civilization of the world. It is assumed that ancient China existed about 5000 to 500,000 years ago. The first Chinese civilization is believed to have flourished in the Yellow River valley, in the Neolithic era. The earliest dynasties and the period of the Warring States spanned nearly fifteen hundred years and oversaw times of great cultural development and conflict that resulted in the various regions crumbling into independent strands of society in a state of constant unrest. It would not be until the Qin dynasty of the third century — the first imperial empire — that the beginnings of China, as known to the modern world, truly came into existence. The first archaeologically confirmed dynasty is known as the Shang. Within the Shang, early foundations of Chi- nese society developed. Great capitals like the major city centre of Anyang had walls more than thirty feet high and sixty feet wide that took years and hundreds of workers to build (Rawson 1980). Wheat, rice, and millet were agriculture staples, and the people extensively practiced hunting and domestication and maintained an array of livestock. Art of the period is a reflection of the society, as utilitarian implements with a variety of ornament have been uncovered. Impressive tombs have been uncovered with sophisticated bronzes for chariot parts, weapons, and vessels. Rudimentary work in copper had been dated prior to the Shang dynasty, but the development of a truly bronze-based society really came about as a gradually process. In all, the Shang dynasty appears

99 to have covered the six centuries, from 1650–1050 B.C., and their extensive use of bronze is a defining characteristic of the dynasty. A «guang» from about 1200 B.C., described as a «covered libation vessel», is an astonishing composite of creatures and decorative elements. It is almost perfectly preserved and demonstrates iconographi- cally the Chinese respect and admiration for nature. A slave revolt brought down the oppressive final king of the Shang dynasty but retained the technological advances and the cultural evolution that had occurred. Cir- ca 1027 B.C., the dynastic change to the Zhou marked a dynamic and spirited artistic period reflecting the presence of conquering forces and the onset of a new era. But such a spirit was quickly replaced again by more utilitarian craft that represents the continuity of this ancient culture. Adding to this, writing in brush and ink was developed, and many Chinese literary classics and recorded histories are said to have originated from this period, though they survive only in copies made later. Iron became plentiful and agriculture greatly expanded with development of the iron-tipped plow, a thousand years earlier than found in the west (Murphey 2006). Jade played an important role and seemed to have specific symbolic importance to various strata of society, based on the shape of the jade. The Zhou dynasty was largely a continuation of the civilization developed during the Shang, so similar domestic, funerary, and decorative objects have been found and are only occasionally more evolved. Bronzes from Western Zhou are highly valued for their detailed inscriptions both topical and historical but, through gradual distancing, seem less sophisticated than their predecessors. Rising feudal states interacted more frequently with later Zhou kings and stylistically influenced the artists of the period, including intricate combinations of animalistic forms and patterns. Bronze ritual tiger sculptures from the Western Zhou and a ritual vessel hu from the Eastern Zhou demonstrate both the contemporary style, as well as the regional differences evolving from increased political isolation.

100 The kingdom of Zhou persisted after the Wei Valley capital was sacked and the king killed. His son ruled over the remaining fragment while previously dependent vas- sals formed the rival states of Qin, Jin, Yan, Qi, Chu, and other smaller states. The constant state of warfare continued to allow for exchange to some extent, but the times were better suited to philosophical meditation on the state of things. Confucius and Laozi (or Lao-tzu), though from opposing schools of thought, waxed poetically on the appropriate course of action — or inaction — and their poetic philosophies have followers to the present day. The period of the Warring States saw exceptional political upheaval. But tombs continued to be stocked with an assortment of jade implements to seal the body, stone and metal tools, carriages with horses, and decorated utilitarian pottery ranging from early ceramics (the predecessor of the great porcelain of later imperial dynasties) to lacquered wood and even inlaid bronze. Only recent excavations have uncovered the true ex- travagance of the aristocratic courts of the feudal states. Bronzes inlaid with gold and silver vary from vessels featuring narratives of the hunt and religious practices, flasks, bells, and mythical creatures, and they are examples of the array of artistic objects found in royal tombs from the period. Historical records suggest some of the narratives likely had origins in paintings though, like the brush-and-ink writings, they were likely applied to surfaces, such as silk and bamboo, and have been lost. However, astonishing examples of advanced pictorial art and finely embroidered textiles — as well as beautifully crafted jade, bronze mirrors, and lacquered wood — have been uncovered in a southern state that had remained mostly isolated until the rising power of the state of Qin finally defeated them. In the third century B.C., the disciplined farming society of Qin rose up and built a vast empire out of the Warring States, as well as with new territories. Under the new and first official emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi, an immense imperial infrastructure built through public works

101 projects was begun. The Great Wall is the most notable of the projects, linking major existing walls into one 1,400-mile-long barrier and taking nearly a million lives in its construction. Other enduring legacies of the Qin dynasty include the persecution of scholars and the destruction of countless texts and relics of the past. Art and commentary from the period is appropriately reflective of the policy of the state that allowed for no criticism. In 1974 a major excavation began of an enormous underground tomb of Shi Huangdi. Thousands of life- size clay (and some bronze) sculptures of the soldiers and horses of the Imperial Bodyguard were unearthed. Each figure is said to be modeled after a living person, but only in the sharp, realistic detail of the face. The outward appearance demonstrates formalistic qualities of simple, rigid poses that vary only slightly from one another. The dynasty lasted only about fifteen years before being top- pled, with two regions viciously fighting for the next few years before the Han dynasty prevailed, yearning for stability and unity. A re-examination of the past was allowed along with new philosophy. Despite competing thought and seemingly omnipresent warfare, many earthenware crafts depict scenes of everyday life, history, mythology, and folklore. The prevailing agricultural and connected artistic society persisted despite the never-ending internal conflict, expansionist policy, and trade along the Silk Road. It was all part of the long process of unification. The Han dynasty endured for more than four centuries, experiencing only brief interruptions. Regional differences persisted, though exchange of ideas and innovations continued. A hallmark of later Han artistic sophistication is the bronze flying horse found in a tomb at the western edge of the empire. Its theme common to Chinese art, the sculpture is majestically rendered with the impression of motion and active muscles giving it the appearance of flight, though one hoof balances the piece on a small pedestal. From bronze, jade, lacquered wood, and early ceramics to ink-and-brush pictorial illustration and weaving

102 in silk, the early arts of China demonstrate a remarkable evolution and adeptness in media and inventiveness, often hundreds of years before the West. A contemporary of the Roman Empire, the Han Dynasty lasted until A.D. 220. Although the Han would be replaced, the Chinese civilization would endure while the Roman Empire would fall and mark the beginning of the so-called Dark Age for the European continent. The foundations laid by its earliest dynasties were strong and, as a result, the Chi- na of today is connected to a continuous cultural history that is longer than any other civilization on the planet. Ancient Chinese culture has made many contributions to the field of science. The ancient Chinese were responsible for four major inventions, namely, compass, gunpowder, paper and printing. The world’s oldest record of continuously used writing systems is Written Chinese. In fact, many of the Chinese characters that are used currently have been traced back to about 1500 B.C.E. The Chinese traditional arts represent the country’s rich heritage. Notable Chinese arts were prevalent since the Neolithic period. In those times, jade and pottery formed the basis of Chinese arts. Bronze was introduced only in the Shang dynasty. Chinese porcelain (a form of ceramic ware), which is famous worldwide was used during the Imperial era. The Yuan dynasty is a remarkable phase of Chinese culture, marked by great paintings of Zhao Mengfu and beginning of Chinese opera. With the advent of Imperial era, performing arts like theatre and dances were introduced in China. Chinese Clothing Another important aspect is ancient Chinese clothing. Archaeological evidences have shown the presence of bone sewing machines, ornamental shells and stone beads as early as 18,000 years ago. The three traditional Chinese clothing are the pien-fu (two piece ceremonial costume), the ch’ang-p’ao (long dress), and the shen-i. Embroidered designs were a unique feature of traditional Chinese clothing.

103 Chinese Food In China, millet and rice was harvested around the fourth and fifth millennium BC. It was believed that rice was the staple food in ancient China since 5000 B.C.E. It was divided into northern and southern styles of cooking. The northern style represented oily foods with the flavour of garlic and vinegar, whereas southern Chinese dishes were more spicy and cooked with chili and pep- pers. Nutrition along with colour, aroma and flavour were the principles followed in the preparation of ancient Chi- nese food. The Chinese had a traditional belief in the medicinal importance of food. This formed the basis of traditional Chinese medicine. According to ancient Chinese culture, there were certain rules for eating, e.g., food was consumed while being seated in a sequence, for example, the men first, then the women and children. Chinese Festivals Traditional Chinese festivals like Chinese New Year and the Dragon Boat Festival have been celebrated since ancient times. The Chinese New Year begins on the first day of the first month in the lunisolar Chinese calendar. According to Chinese folk tales, the festival started with a fight against Nian (a mythical beast). The ancient Chi- nese had a belief that Nian will not attack them if food was offered to it. Since then, Chinese put food in front of their doors on the starting day of the festival. People prayed to the ‘God of Wealth’ with the hope that He will bring good fortune to the family. The Duanwu Festi- val (Dragon Boat Festival) was believed to have originated in ancient China. It was celebrated to honour the death of Qu Yuan, a renowned poet and minister to the King of Chu in 278 BC. As Chu was conquered by Qin, Qu Yuan committed suicide on the fifth day of the fifth month by drowning himself in the Milou river. The local villagers, who admired him, fed the fish so that they would spare the body of Qu Yuan, they also paddled out on boats to retrieve his body. This marked the beginning of the Dragon Boat Festival. Traditional Chinese festivals

104 were celebrated with the aim of spreading good wishes and happiness. Chinese Martial Arts (Kung Fu) In ancient China, board games and movement games were common, both of which originated from war training. Generals were given training in board games, whereas movement games or martial arts were instructed for the purpose of fighting. In those times, the most popular board game was ‚Go‘, which originated around 2000 BC. It was believed that Yellow Emperor had invented martial arts for the first time in about 2600 BC (much before the Shang dynasty). By around 550 BC, Sun Tzu wrote «Art of War«, describing the techniques of martial arts. It was around the same time, when Taoists started prac- ticing Tai Chi. During the time of the Han dynasty (about 50 AD), Pan Ku wrote a book about Kung Fu. The theory behind Kung Fu fighting styles was rooted in ancient Chi- nese philosophy. There were two categories under Kung Fu — internal and external. The former involved training the spirit (shen) and mind (xin); whereas in external Kung Fu, one needed to exercise muscles, tendons and bones. It was played as a unique combination of art, exercise, self-defense and self-discipline. It was believed that ancient China was isolated from other countries, which was evident from the creation of the Great Wall. The customs and traditions of ancient Chinese differed greatly from one region to the other. About the ancient Chinese poems, who could forget the mysterious poems and statements of Confucius and Tao Te Ching. Till today, the three teachings — Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism influence the life of many people worldwide. Being in literature or music, the ancient Chinese culture represented its uniqueness over other cultures of the world. Architecture Ancient Chinese architecture is the most magnificent and splendid aspect of Chinese culture. One architectural wonder is the Great Wall of China that was completed

105 during the Ming dynasty. The Imperial Mausoleum (built by thousands of architects), another such feature, are monuments built at the burial site of the emperors. They are usually built on the sides of hills and mountains. Em- perors from different ruling dynasties built varied styles of imperial palaces. These palaces are examples of architectural excellence. Since, the number nine was regarded lucky; the architecture was designed in such a way that the palaces had nine sections; the size of each section was in multiples of nine. Dragon (Long) and Phoenix (Feng) are very important in Chinese mythology. The palaces and walls were carved with symbols of the dragon, believed to be a representation of the emperors. The basic feature of Chinese architecture is rectangular-shaped units of space joined together into a whole. Temples in ancient Greece also employed rectangular spaces, but the overall effect tended to austerity. The Chinese style, by contrast, combines rectangular shapes varying in size and position according to importance into an organic whole, with each level and component clearly distinguished. As a result, traditional Chinese style buildings have an imposing yet dynamic and intriguing exterior. The combination of units of space in traditional Chi- nese architecture abides by the principles of balance and symmetry. The main structure is the axis, and the secondary structures are positioned as two wings on either side to form the main rooms and yard. Residences, official buildings, temples, and palaces all follow these same basic principles. The distribution of interior space reflects Chinese social and ethical values. In traditional residential buildings, for example, members of a family are assigned living quarters based on the family hierarchy. The master of the house occupies the main room, the elder members of the master’s family live in the com- pound in back, and the younger members of the family live in the wings to the left and right; those with seniority on the left, and the others on the right. Another characteristic of Chinese architecture is its use of a wooden structural frame with pillars and beams,

106 and earthen walls surrounding the building on three sides. The main door and windows are in front. Chinese have used wood as a main construction material for thousands of years; wood to the Chinese represents life, and «life» is the main thing Chinese culture in its various forms endeavors to communicate. This feature has been preserved up to the present. Traditional rectangular Chinese buildings are divided into several rooms, based on the structure of the wooden beams and pillars. In order to top the structure with a deep and over hanging roof, the Chinese invented their own particular type of support brackets, called tou-kung, which rise up level by level from each pillar. These brackets both support the structure and are also a distinctive and attractive ornamentation. This architectural style was later adopted by such countries as Korea and Japan. Some special architectural features resulted from the use of wood. The first is that the depth and breadth of interior space is determined by the wooden structural frame. The second is the development of the technique of applying colour lacquers to the structure to preserve the wood. These lacquers were made in brilliant, bold colours, and became one of the key identifying features of traditional Chinese architecture. Third is the technique of building a structure on a platform, to prevent damage from mois- ture. The height of the platform corresponds to the importance of the building. A high platform adds strength, sophistication, and stateliness to large buildings. The highly varied colour murals found on a traditional Chinese building have both symbolic and aesthetic significance, and may range from outlines of dragons and phoenixes and depictions of myths to paintings of landscapes, flowers, and birds. One notable architectural development in southern China, particularly in Taiwan, is fine wood sculpture. Such sculptures, together with the murals, give the structure an elegant and pleasing ornamental effect. A broad variety of architectural styles are employed in Chinese temples. The religions of the temples vary from

107 Buddhist to Taoist to ancestral and folk religion, but all share the same basic temple structure. With Taiwan’s rich folk religious tradition, temples are to be seen everywhere; they are one of the island’s unique cultural features. A conservative estimate numbers Taiwan’s temples at over 5,000, many of which have particular architectural significance. Some of the more famous and important examples of traditional Chinese temple architecture in Taiwan include the Lungshan Temple and Tienhou Temple in Lukang, the Lungshan Temple in Taipei, and the Chaotien Temple in Peikang. The Lungshan Temple in Lukang is particularly noted for its long history and sophisticated artistry. Painting A significant difference between Eastern and Western painting lies in the format. Unlike Western paintings, which are hung on walls and continuously visible to the eye, most Chinese paintings are not meant to be on constant view but are brought out to be seen only from time to time. This occasional viewing has everything to do with format. A predominant format of Chinese painting is the handscroll, a continuous roll of paper or silk of varying length, on which an image has been painted, and which, when not being viewed, remains rolled up. Ceremony and anticipation underlie the experience of looking at a handscroll. When in storage, the painting itself is several layers removed from immediate view, and the value of a scroll is reflected in part by its packaging. Scrolls are generally kept in individual wooden boxes that bear an identifying label. Removing the lid, the viewer may find the scroll wrapped in a piece of silk, and, unwrapping the silk, en- counters the handscroll bound with a silken cord that is held in place with a jade or ivory toggle. After undoing the cord, one begins the careful process of unrolling the scroll from right to left, pausing to admire and study it, shoulder-width section by section, rerolling a section before proceeding to the next one.

108 The experience of seeing a scroll for the first time is like a revelation. As one unrolls the scroll, one has no idea what is coming next: each section presents a new surprise. Looking at a handscroll that one has seen before is like visiting an old friend whom one has not seen for a while. One remembers the general appearance, the general outlines, of the image, but not the details. In unrolling the scroll, one greets a remembered image with pleasure, but it is a pleasure that is enhanced at each viewing by the discovery of details that one has either forgotten or never noticed before. Looking at a handscroll is an intimate experience. Its size and format preclude a large audience; viewers are usually limited to one or two. Unlike the viewer of West- ern painting, who maintains a certain distance from the image, the viewer of a handscroll has direct physical contact with the object, rolling and unrolling the scroll at his/her own desired pace, lingering over some passages, moving quickly through others. The format of a handscroll allows for the depiction of a continuous narrative or journey: the viewing of a handscroll is a progression through time and space — both the narrative time and space of the image, but also the literal time and distance it takes to experience the entire painting. As the scroll unfurls, so the narrative or journey progresses. In this way, looking at a handscroll is like reading a book: just as one turns from page to page, not knowing what to expect, one pro- ceeds from section to section; in both painting and book, there is a beginning and an end. Indeed, this resemblance is not incidental. The handscroll format — as well as other Chinese painting formats — reveals an intimacy between word and image. Many handscrolls contain inscriptions preceding or following the image: poems composed by the painter or others that enhance the meaning of the image, or a few written lines that convey the circumstances of its creation. Many handscrolls also contain colophons, or commentary written

109 onto additional sheets of paper or silk that follows the image itself. These may be comments written by friends of the artist or the collector; they may have been written by viewers from later generations. The colophons may comment on the quality of the painting, express the rhap- sody (rarely the disenchantment) of the viewer, give a biographical sketch of the artist, place the painting within an art-historical context, or engage with the texts of earlier colophons. And as a final way of making their presence known, the painter, the collectors, the one-time viewers often «sign» the image or colophons with personal seals bearing their names, these red marks of varying size conveying pride of authorship or ownership. Thus, the handscroll is both painted image and documentary history; past and present are in continuous dialogue. Looking at a scroll with colophons and inscriptions, a viewer sees not only a pictorial representation but witnesses the history of the painting as it is passed down from generation to generation. The Chinese art was the national contribution to the best art traditions of the world culture.

2.3. Antique Culture Ancient Greek Culture The history of Greece and Rome spans more than 2,000 years, from the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations of prehistory to the beginnings of the Byzantine Empire, which carried on the language and culture of Greece, though now within an environment perme- ated by Christianity. Architecture The architecture of Greece and Rome is one of the most important parts of the Western world’s heritage from the time of antiquity. The architecture of the classical world began to satisfy basic human needs. It was based on practical considerations and restricted by limited

110 technical skills. Its evolution in the Greek homeland and colonies can be traced for over 700 years in the development of a style that is still inspirational today. The complexity of architectural production under the Romans remains one of the great building achievements of history culminating in the religious architecture of the Byzantine Empire. This development of architectural form covered a span of about 1,500 years, a period, in which much of the lasting vocabulary of Western architectural design was invented and perfected. The ancient buildings of Greece are justly famous and include some examples, such as the Parthenon, with the complex of buildings on the Athenian Acropo- lis, and the temple called the Theseum, also in Athens, that give modern scholars some idea of the appearance of the ancient buildings. Throughout the country are the remains of structures in various stages of preservation. With some monuments, such at the great temple at Olym- pia, the appearance of the building has only been determined by excavation of the site, extensive study, and reconstruction on paper. With others, where only a few columns might remain upright, the plan of the structure can still be determined from the remains of stone foundations. The most significant examples of Greek architecture away from the Greek mainland are to be found in southern Italy, Sicily, and the western coast of Turkey (East Greece). To study the evolution of early Greek architecture the temples at Paestum, south of Naples, and at various sites on the island of Sicily, including Selinute and Agrigento, provide essential supplementary evidence. By chance of preservation, these more nearly complete or re-constructible examples exist in what were the colonies of the Greek city-states. When the Greeks colonized southern Italy and Sicily they brought their architects and artists and imported their own traditions of art and design. For most constructions they simply used local materials. By contrast, the great temple of Diana at Ephe- sus, in what is now western Turkey, survived as only the foundation platform; still providing enough evidence for

111 some idea of the appearance of what must have been one of the great buildings of antiquity. Almost all major Greek architecture employed the simple «post and lintel» system. In this method of building, two or more uprights — columns, piers, or walls — support horizontal members of a length limited by the strength of stone able to support its own weight. The «post» is the upright structural part and the «lintel» is the bridging element meant to span openings or support the roofing of the building. Ingenious devices were invented for the lifting and hoisting of building materials. Systems were developed for lifting stone that employed rope rigging to lift while levers and crowbars were used for placement. These devices seem self-evident today, but in their time they represented technological advances over the ancient technique of moving stone to a height on sleds and ramps. The history of Greek architecture is essentially the history of the development of the Greek temple. One important consideration must still be remembered. The temple in Greek culture was not a building to accommodate groups of worshipers. It was the house of the god or goddess with a statue of the deity and perhaps some additional rooms that functioned as treasuries, but the rites and sacrifices made to the god were carried out on an altar in front of the temple. The buildings on the Acropolis — literally «high city» — at Athens had a long history. The oldest temple of the goddess Athena on the site can be traced back at least to the seventh century B.C.E. Originally a fortified stronghold, the limestone plateau high above the city remained the centre of worship for the patron goddess with her main altar after its military importance had diminished. At the beginning of the fifth century B.C.E. the Atheni- ans began a building project to replace the old temple and construct a new propylon — entrance gate — to the sanctuary. It was not until after the mid-century that the plans for a new temple for the city goddess were carried out. Modern scholars know this new temple as the Par-

112 thenon, so named because it was dedicated to a special aspect of the goddess as Athena Parthenos. Although the temple form is the most important architectural type in Greek history, there are a number of other kinds of structures to consider. In addition to the temple there were many other types of public buildings, monuments, altars, and tombs that should be mentioned. The theatre was perhaps the second most typical expression of Greek architectural design. All festivals, athletic contests, and dramatic presentations were held out of doors. Originally even the Assembly of the citizens of Athens was held in the open air on the sloping rocky outcrop known as the Pnyx. This allowed the participants to see and hear the speakers who were at a lower level. It follows that the performances held in honour of the god Dionysus would be held in a hollow where the audience could be seated on the sloping hillside. In the history of the Greek drama most theatres were constructed where they could take advantage of the natural hillside. The beginnings of the drama were in choral dances, so the most important area of the theatre was the circular orchestra, which literally means «dancing place». The body of the auditorium or theatron consisted of a semicircular arrangement of gently sloping stone rows of seats. As the idea of the dramatic theatre developed and the number of actors was increased, it became necessary to provide a stage with a backing of some sort. This was called the skene and it provided a sounding board to help project the voices of the actors, as well as to provide some rudimentary scenery. The idea of the theatre as a special building seems to have developed at the end of the sixth century and the beginning of the fifth century B.C.E., but one of the earliest still in evidence is the theatre of Dionysus on the southern slope of the Acropo- lis. It was later changed or modified when it went through a number of rebuildings during the fourth century and the Roman Imperial period. One of the best-preserved examples of a theatre is at Epidaurus on the east coast

113 of southern Greece. According to Pausanias, the architect of this theatre was Polykleitos the Younger. It was constructed around 350 when the essential elements of theatre design had been formalized. The auditorium, which has a shape slightly more than a semicircle, is cut into the hillside. The stone seats are divided into wedge-shaped blocks or sections with a horizontal passageway separating the lower from the upper part, which is steeper and has higher seats. The design of the seats even provides some leg space beneath to allow the spectators to make room for people passing in front of them. The lowest seats were for special attendees and had backs and arm rests. In some theatres these seats for dignitaries were almost throne-like with elabourately carved decoration. There was presumably an altar in the centre of the orchestra, as evidenced by a stone base found in place. The stage building must have been a tall one, again to judge from the remaining foundations. This theatre could accommodate an estimated twelve to fifteen thousand people, seated in relative comfort and with apparent ease of entrance and exit. The design of Greek theatres changed somewhat to accommodate other types of dramatic presentations when they were developed but the basic parts remained the same and were standard throughout the Greek world. Houses The typical Greek house answered the need for an enclosed space offering privacy and protection. The normal plan of the living space centred on an open court with a peristyle or verandas. A number of examples have been excavated, and they generally follow the same arrangement that consisted of an entrance hall with a small room to one side, a central courtyard with rooms of various sizes fronting on it. These houses were generally of one story and laid out in a square plan, with mud brick walls on a stone or rubble foundation. The floors in special areas, such as the dining room, could be decorated with mosaics. The dining room was also often provided with

114 platforms for the reclining diners. Bathrooms were sometimes paved and provided with terra-cotta tubs, but other sanitary facilities have seldom been found in excavation. The doors of houses were of wood and from representations in vase painting modern scholars know that they were decorated with metal studs. The regular arrangement of dwellings in an orderly city plan became popular in the early fifth century B.C.E. Greek cities were laid out with provision for public meeting and trading places (the agora or public square), and cult centres and sanctuaries where the temples and shrines were located. The cities were typically surrounded by a protective wall, with towers, moats, and defensible gates. Such fortifications were the result of the need to guard against attack and to assure a sense of security. The art of public speaking Greece admired a good public speaker who could put forward his point of view effectively in an assembly of men, or conduct a case in the law courts. Tradition has it that public speaking as an art was cultivated first in Syracuse in Sicily in the years before the middle of the fifth century B.C.E. Syracuse had been ruled by tyrants and a great deal of litigation followed their overthrow, necessitating the oratorical skills of numerous people in court. The art reportedly first came as an import from Sicily into Athens in 527 B.C.E. While he was in Athens on a diplomatic visit, the rhetorical skills of Gorgias of Sicily captivated the Athenians. Gorgias went on to become a famous Soph- ist — that is, a teacher who taught the skills necessary for public speaking — and he was known for the high tuition fees he charged. Athenians were willing to pay the fees, however, because public speaking was a valuable skill in Athens, not only for a politician addressing the assembly, but in the courts as well, for neither the plaintiffs nor the defendants in trials could hire lawyers to speak for them. The best they could do was to hire a speechwrit- er, or a «logographer», as they were called. Speechwrit- ing thus became a profitable profession — one that was

115 particularly attractive for orators such as Lysias who were resident aliens in Athens and, therefore, could not themselves speak in the courts or the assembly. Music Art and archaeological evidence, literature, theoretical writings, and a few surviving fragments of musical compositions all demonstrate that music was a vital part of public, private, sacred, and secular life in ancient Greece and Rome. Choral dance and song, theatrical and solo performance, and musical competitions filled the calendar year. Ordinary men and women sang as they performed their everyday chores of weaving, making wine, or harvesting grain; professional bards and virtuosos performed for a living to small groups at parties, as well as to large audiences at festivals. Music was, however, not solely for entertainment. Because of its connection with the gods, especially the Muses — goddesses who, according to the Archaic Greek poets Homer and Hesiod, legitimize and validate the truth of myths — music itself was considered divine; it played a central role in Greek and Roman religion, which can best be described as polytheistic, employing a combination of myth (sacred storytelling) and ceremonial rituals. Music was an integral part of all important ceremonial rites of passage in Greek and Roman culture: birth, coming of age, wedding, death, and funeral. Music education came to be considered by the Greek and Roman writers as essential for civilized people as mathematics and athletics. The earliest music schools are said to have been established in the town of Sparta in southern Greece sometime between the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.E. by the musicians Terpander of Lesbos, Thaletas of Gortyn, and Sacadas of Argos. In Greek and Roman religion, the myths of heroes and gods not only featured music and musical competitions, but also explained the origin of certain melodies, rhythms, and instruments. The Greeks and Romans believed that music had an effect on moral behaviour, and

116 writings from the time period demonstrate a concern that certain types of music might lead young people down the wrong path. The gods Apollo and Dionysus (Roman Bac- chus) represented complementary aspects of the human psyche, and thus were especially important in the philosophy of music education. Early Greek philosophers and theorists — especially Damon, Plato, and Aristotle — carefully examined the aesthetic, ethical, and moral qualities of different types of melodies and rhythms. The mathematician Pythago- ras (c. 560–470 B.C.E.), who also studied melodies and rhythms, is said to have invented what is now called «acoustic theory» in teaching that the same numerical laws that governed the universe also governed music and, by extension, the soul. The human voice was the first and the most central of musical instruments in Greek and Roman life. Ordinary people sang while they plowed fields, harvested grain, worked wool, made wine, and tended children. There were drinking songs, hymns to the gods and heroes, laments, and wedding songs. Victors at the athletic games were awarded a song of praise; paeans rallied troops for battle. Singers competed for prizes in solo and choral song. Sculpture The Classical period of Ancient Greece produced some of the most exquisite sculptures the world has ever seen. The art of the Classical Greek style is characterized by a joyous freedom of movement, freedom of expression, and it celebrates mankind as an independent entity (ato- mo). During this period, artists begin to expand the formal aesthetic boundaries, while they worked in expressing the human figure in a more naturalistic manner. They were able to replace the strict asymmetry of the figure with a free flowing form more true to life, while they approached an ideal aesthetic vision through stone and bronze. The form of classical sculpture became fluid and natural and the stylization of the archaic art gave way to realistic figures with the illusion of moving through space.

117 For the first time in the human history, human anatomy was deemed worthy of being immortalized in stone or bronze. During the classical period the Greek artists replaced the stiff vertical figures of the archaic period with three-dimensional snap shots of figures in action. While the archaic sculptures appeared static the classical statues held dynamic poses bursting with potential energy. The overall patterns of immobile muscles were developed into a complex universe of tension and relaxation. The ancient Greek sculptors had finally achieved balance through the opposing action of the human muscle groups. It was the first time in the human history that the human body was studied for its aesthetic values, and was treated as an autonomous universe. The object of art became the human itself as the focus of the artist revolved around ordinary subjects like the weight shift during the forward step at the moment before the release of the thunder, the tying of a ribbon around ones head, or just the shift of the pelvis when one leg supports the man’s weight. In the art of Greece during the Classical period the characteristic smile of the Archaic sculpture was replaced by a solemn facial expression. Even in sculptures, which depict violent and passionate scenes the faces betray no expression of any kind. This is the case only for noble Greeks because within the same sculptural groups, the enemies (the barbarians) always are depicted with dramatic facial expressions. The reason for this is that ancient Greeks believed that suppression of the emotions was a noble characteristic of all civilized men, while the public display of human emotion was a sign of barbarism. Logic and reason was to dominate human expression even during the most dramatic situations. It was clear to an artist of the Classical period of Greece that the beauty of the whole depends on the harmony of the parts, which comprise it, and that each part depends on the others in order to create a harmonious group. Proportion became the main preoccupation of sculptors and architects in ancient Greece.

118 Theatre Although the temple form is the most important architectural type in Greek history, there are a number of other kinds of structures to consider. In addition to the temple, there were many other types of public buildings, monuments, altars, and tombs that should be mentioned. The theatre was perhaps the second most typical expression of the Greek architectural design. All festivals, athletic contests, and dramatic presentations were held out of doors. Originally even the Assembly of the citizens of Athens was held in the open air on the sloping rocky outcrop known as the Pnyx. This allowed the participants to see and hear the speakers who were at a lower level. It follows that the performances held in honour of the god Dionysus would be held in a hollow where the audience could be seated on the sloping hillside. In the history of the Greek drama most theatres were constructed where they could take advantage of the natural hillside. The beginnings of the drama were in choral dances, so the most important area of the theatre was the circular orchestra, which literally means «dancing place». The body of the auditorium or theatron consisted of a semicircular arrangement of gently sloping stone rows of seats. As the idea of the dramatic theatre developed and the number of actors was increased, it became necessary to provide a stage with a backing of some sort. One of the best-preserved examples of a theatre is at Epidaurus on the east coast of southern Greece. It was constructed around 350 when the essential elements of theatre design had been formalized. The auditorium, which has a shape slightly more than a semicircle, is cut into the hillside. The stone seats are divided into wedge-shaped blocks or sections with a horizontal passageway separating the lower from the upper part, which is steeper and has higher seats. The design of the seats even provides some leg space beneath to allow the spectators to make room for people passing in front of them. The lowest seats were for special attendees and

119 had backs and arm rests. In some theatres these seats for dignitaries were almost throne-like with elaborately carved decoration. There was presumably an altar in the centre of the orchestra, as evidenced by a stone base found in place. The stage building must have been a tall one, again to judge from the remaining foundations. This theatre could accommodate an estimated twelve to fifteen thousand people, seated in relative comfort and with apparent ease of entrance and exit. The design of Greek theatres changed somewhat to accommodate other types of dramatic presentations when they were developed but the basic parts remained the same and were standard throughout the Greek world. Literature A general survey of literature in the world of ancient Greece and Rome takes us from the eighth century B.C.E. to the sixth century C.E., a span of nearly 1,400 years. Greek literature began with the development of the Greek alphabet in the eighth century B.C.E. that became the basis of the Latin alphabet still used by the romance languages. The written literature of Greece begins with Homer. We have no exact information about his identity. The legend that he was blind might be true, but it cannot be proven. The two epics attributed to him, the Iliad and the Odyssey both take their subject matter from the Trojan War myths, but they differ greatly in tone and temper. The Iliad describes how the hero Achilles made the quest for glory his all-important aim, while the Odyssey relates a story of survival as the Greek hero Odysseus endures a journey of ten years before returning home from the war. The Homeric poems were not unique in their subject matter. Other poets told stories of the heroes, and some fragments of their epics still exist. But out of the great crop of heroic poetry only the Iliad and Odyssey have survived complete. At the same time, there was another

120 school of epic, which catered to a less aristocratic audience, and its great representative was Hesiod. The fifth century B.C.E. was the great age of drama, and the chief patron was Athens. There were two dramatic festivals, held in honour of Dionysus, the god of drama: the City Dionysia in March and the Lenaean festival in January. Comedies were presented on the second day of the festival, followed by three full days of tragedies — one day for each tragic poet, who had been assigned a chorus by the archon, the chief magistrate of Athens. Each day three tragedies would be produced, followed by a burlesque called a satyr play, and at the end, the audience would judge which tragedian won. The costs of production were paid by wealthy citizens, who were expected to defray them as their civic duty. The vast majority of these comedies and tragedies have been lost, but there is still a representative number by the playwrights whom the Greeks themselves judged the best: Aristophanes for comedy, and Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides for tragedy. Tragedies continued to be written after the fifth century B.C.E., but the heyday of the genre was over, and with the conquest of Greece by Alexander the Great’s father, Philip, the classical age of literature came to an end. A century after Aristophanes, a new dramatist, Menander, produced comedies in Athens that gave a new look to the stage. Menander’s comedies took their plots from domestic life. The political lampoons and bawdy jokes of Aristophanic comedy disappeared; the «New Comedy» of Menander and his rivals belonged to a new political climate, when writers had to be more cautious about what they wrote. The Culture of Ancient Rome Ancient Roman culture evolved throughout the almost 1300-year history of that civilization. The term refers to the culture of the Roman Republic, later the Roman Empire, which, at peak, covered an area from Cumbria and Morocco to the Euphrates.

121 Architecture Life in ancient Rome revolved around the city of Rome, located on seven hills, and its monumental structures like the Colosseum, the Forum of Trajan and the Panthe- on. The city also had several theatres and gymnasiums, and many taverns, baths and brothels. Throughout the territory under the control of ancient Rome, residential architecture ranged from very modest houses to country villas, and in the capital city of Rome, there were imperial residences on the elegant Palatine Hill, from which the word «palace» is derived. The vast majority of the population lived in the city centre, packed into insulae (apartment blocks). The city of Rome was the largest megapolis of that time, with a population that may well have exceeded one million people, with some high end estimate of 3.5 million and low end estimate of 450,000. The public spaces in Rome resounded with such a din of hooves and clat- ter of iron chariot wheels that Julius Caesar had once proposed a ban on chariot traffic at night. Historical es- timates indicate that around 30 percent of population under the jurisdiction of the ancient Rome lived in innumerable urban centres, with population of 10,000 and more and several military settlements, a very high rate of urbanization by preindustrial standards. Most of these centres had a forum and temples and same type of buildings, on a smaller scale, as found in Rome. The large urban population required an endless supply of food, which was a complex logistical task, including acquiring, trans- porting, storing and distribution of food for Rome and other urban centres. Italian farms supplied vegetables and fruits, but fish and meat were luxuries. Aqueducts were built to bring water to urban centres and wine and oil were imported from Spain, Gaul and Africa. The volume of commerce in the Roman Empire is estimated [ci- tation needed] to be only equaled in the XIX-th century. The later city of Rome did not fill the space within its ancient aurelian walls until after 1870.

122 The Triumphal Arch of Tibias was made with arches and columns of different shapes and sizes to make it more beautiful and interesting. Buildings and bridges were also made as a form of architecture. In initial stages, the ancient Roman architecture reflected elements of architectural styles of the Etruscans and the Greeks. Over a period of time, the style was modified in tune with their urban requirements, and the civil engineering and building construction technology became developed and refined. The Roman concrete has remained a riddle, and even after more than 2000 years some of ancient Roman structures still stand magnificently like the Pantheon (with one of the largest single span domes in the world) located in the business district of today’s Rome. The architectural style of the capital city of ancient Rome was emulated by other urban centres under Roman control and influence, like the Amphitheatre, Verona, Italy; Arch of Hadrian, Athens, Greece; Temple of Hadri- an, Ephesos, Turkey; a Theatre at Orange, France; and at several other locations, for example, Lepcis Magna, located in Libya. Roman cities were well planned, effi- ciently managed and neatly maintained. Palaces, private dwellings and villas, were elaborately designed and town planning was comprehensive with provisions for different activities by the urban resident population, and for countless migratory population of travelers, traders and visitors passing through their cities. Marcus Vitruvius, the I-st century Roman architect’s treatise «De architectura», with various sections, dealing with urban planning, building materials, temple construction, public and private buildings, and hydraulics, remained a classic text till Renaissance. The evidence for the evolution of Roman architecture during the Republic and the empire is extensive and a variety of structures are preserved in whole or in part. In addition to famous structures such as the Pantheon and Mai- son Carrée, there are many monuments in the city of Rome and in the Italian peninsula that give a vivid picture of the

123 variety of Roman building. These include temples and tombs, palaces and theatres, and an assortment of public structures, including aqueducts, bridges, bath complexes, markets, administrative buildings and the like. Probably the most familiar examples are the amphitheatres and ceremonial arches, exemplified by the Co- losseum and the Arch of Constantine in Rome. However, the cities of Ostia, the seaport of Rome, and the two cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, preserved by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, also provide considerable evidence of town planning, layout, and development. Other evidence exists outside of Italy as well. As the Roman Empire grew, the colonies sustained building projects that have left many partly or completely preserved examples. To mention only a few areas, in the colonies of North Africa, whole ancient cities have been preserved, only to be recovered by excavation. In such places the remains of civic centres, religious and political monuments, and domestic complexes have been found. Throughout Europe, notably in France and Spain, amphitheatres, bridges, and aqueducts attest to the skill of Roman architects and engineers. Many aspects of the Roman culture were appropriated from the Ancient Greeks. In architecture and sculpture, the continuity between Greek models and Roman imita- tions are apparent. The chief Roman contributions to architecture were the arch, and the dome it made possible. While much Roman sculpture was derivative of Greek models, and all deeply indebted to Greek techniques, the Roman character made portraiture the strongest and most original aspect of Roman sculpture. Strongly characterized portrait busts like the surviving portrait bust of Cato the Elder display a clearly envisioned, strongly individual character, not an idealized type such as are typically found in Greek portrait sculptures. Visual arts Romans had many different art forms. One of the art forms were murals, large wall paintings. Many Roman Emperors had murals on their walls of their palace.

124 Romans had four styles of optical illusion paintings that tricked the eye. The first style was when they painted walls to look like they were made of marble or copies of Greek styles of decoration. A second style was when they painted realistic looking scenes that looked like views through the window. The third style was less realistic, but delicate looking images. The fourth method of tricking the eye was a combination of the second and third styles. The Romans made paint brushes, and paint out of many natural materials. Paint brushes were made from twigs, wood, reeds, or rushes. Shaped wood or ivory was used for writing. Paints were made from ground rocks and powdered plants. Red and yellow came from ochre. White came from chalk. Green came from green soil, and black was from soot. Blue was a mixture of copper and glass. But purple was made from a special seashell. Art and architecture were used to proclaim an important person’s power. They were signs of the Roman’s power over the lands that they ruled. Roman Art usually showed images of emperors, gods, and goddesses, and common people. The Romans did not have perfect human shapes in their art. In some of their sculptures, they would have people with long noses. The Greeks, who only sculpted perfect human bodies, would never have done that. Most early Roman painting styles show Etruscan influences, particularly in the practice of political painting. In the III-rd century BC, Greek art taken as booty from wars became popular, and many Roman homes were decorated with landscapes by Greek artists. Evidence from the remains at Pompeii shows diverse influence from cultures spanning the Roman world. An early Roman style of note was «Incrustation», in which the interior walls of houses were painted to resemble coloured marble. Another style consisted of painting interiors as open landscapes, with highly detailed scenes of plants, animals, and buildings. Portrait sculpture during the period utilized youthful and classical proportions, evolving later into a mixture of realism and idealism. During the Antonine and

125 Severan periods, more ornate hair and bearding became prevalent, created with deeper cutting and drilling. Ad- vancements were also made in relief sculptures, usually depicting Roman victories. Roman sculpture gained momentum after the conquest of Greece circa 146 BC although many of the famous Roman Statues that we know today were actually inspired by the Greeks. In fact, many wealthy Romans commissioned copies of Greek Statues to decorate their villas and gardens. The Romans, however, did develop their own sense of style over time. Unlike Greek sculpture, which portrayed people in their ideal form, Roman statues aimed for a more realistic view. Statues were life-like and of gods, goddesses, emperors, and important people. Many statues are just the head and shoulders of an emperors. They were called portraits. Other art forms were paintings, poetry, tombstones, domes, and vaults. Romans most significant contribution to the art of sculpture was realistic portraiture, in which they recorded even the homeliest facial details. This style of realistic sculpture probably originated in the terra-cotta busts of ancestors, which were displayed at the funerals of Roman aristocrats. For the most part, Roman statues were used to decorate public and private buildings and much of this sculpture was used to honour the ruler, celebrate victories, or to promote the state and its governance. Starting with Caesar Augustus, the first Roman Emperor, sculptors created idealized statues of the imperial family. It is also very interesting to note that while Roman statues survive in great numbers, few names of Roman sculptors were recorded. For the most part, Roman statues were typically created to serve the needs of their patrons rather than to express the artistic attitudes of their sculptors. The Romans were especially fond of commemorating their achievements in war by the celebration of a «triumph» — a victory procession vot- ed by the Senate — and the erection of a monumental triumphal arch.

126 The Romans considered bronze sculpture to be more valuable than marble. They particularly liked statues of gods, leaders and heroes in action. They further increased the impact of bronze statues by making them life size or even larger than life. Large statues had to be cast in sections that were later attached to form a completed sculpture. Historians suspect that much ancient bronze sculpture has been lost because later generations melted the statues down and reused the metal for other purposes. Language The native language of the Romans was Latin, an Italic language. An inflectional and synthetic language, Latin relies little on word order, conveying meaning through a system of affixes attached to word stems. Its alphabet, the Latin alphabet, is based on the Old Italic alphabet, which is in turn derived from the Greek alphabet. Although surviving Latin literature consists almost entirely of Classical Latin, an artificial and highly stylized and polished literary language from the I-st century BC, the actual spoken language of the Roman Em- pire was Vulgar Latin, which significantly differed from Classical Latin in grammar, vocabulary, and eventually pronunciation. Also, although Latin remained the main written language of the Roman Empire, Greek came to be the language spoken by the well-educated elite, as most of the literature studied by Romans was written in Greek. In the eastern half of the Roman Empire, which became the Byzantine Empire, Greek eventually supplanted Latin as both the written and spoken language. The expansion of the Roman Empire spread Latin throughout Europe, and over time Vulgar Latin evolved and dialectized in different locations, gradually shifting into a number of distinct Romance languages beginning in around the IX-th century. Many of these languages, including Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, and Ro- manian, flourished, the differences between them growing greater over time. Although English is Germanic rather than Romantic in origin — Britannia was a Roman

127 province, but the Roman presence in Britain had effectively disappeared by the time of the Anglo-Saxon invasions — English borrows heavily from Latin and Latin- derived words, drawing from ecclesiastical usage, from Romance languages like French, and even, more recently, consciously adapting words from Classical Latin authors. Although Latin is an extinct language with very few remaining fluent speakers, it remains in use in many ways. In particular, Latin has survived through Eccle- siastical Latin, the traditional language of the Roman Catholic Church and the official language of the Vati- can City. Although distinct from both Classical and Vul- gar Latin in a number of ways, Ecclesiastical Latin was more stable than typical Medieval Latin, and more Clas- sical sensibilities eventually re-emerged in the Renais- sance with Humanist Latin. Due to both the prevalence of Christianity and the enduring influence of the Roman civilization, Latin became western Europe’s lingua fran- ca, a language used to cross international borders, such as for academic and diplomatic usage. Although it was eventually supplanted in this respect by French in the XIX-th century and English in the XX-th, Latin continues to see heavy use in religious, legal, and scientific terminology, and in academia in general. Literature Roman literature was from its very inception influenced heavily by Greek authors. Some of the earliest works we possess are of historical epics telling the early military history of Rome. As the republic expanded, authors began to produce poetry, comedy, history, and tragedy. During the reign of the early emperors of Rome there was a golden age of historical literature. Works such as the ‘Histories’ of Tacitus, the ‘Gallic Wars’ by Julius Caesar and ‘History of Rome’ by Livy have been passed down to us. Unfortunately, in the case of Livy, much of the script has been lost and we are left with a few specific areas, the founding of the city, the war with Hanni- bal and its aftermath.

128 Virgil represents the pinnacle of Roman epic poetry. His Aeneid was produced at the request of Maecenas and tells the story of flight of Aeneas from Troy and his settlement of the city that would become Rome. Lucretius, in his On the Nature of Things, attempted to explicate science in an epic poem. Some of his science seems remarkably modern, but other ideas, especially his theory of light, are no longer accepted. Later Ovid produced his Metamorphoses, written in dactylic hexameter verse, the meter of epic, attempting a complete mythology from the creation of the earth to his own time. He unifies his subject matter through the theme of metamorphosis. It was noted in classical times that Ovid’s work lacked the gravi- tas possessed by traditional epic poetry. Catullus and the associated group of neoteric poets produced poetry following the Alexandrian model, which experimented with poetic forms challenging tradition. Catul- lus was also the first Roman poet to produce love poetry, seemingly autobiographical, which depicts an affair with a woman called Lesbia. Under the reign of the Emperor Augustus, Horace continued the tradition of shorter poems, with his Odes and Epodes. Martial, writing under the Em- peror Domitian, was a famed author of epigrams, poems, which were often abusive and censured public figures. The genre of satire was traditionally regarded as a Ro- man innovation, and satiric plays were written by, among others, Juvenal. Some of the most popular plays of the early Republic were comedies, especially those of Terence, a freed Roman slave captured during the First Punic War. A great deal of the literary work produced by Roman authors in the early Republic was political or satirical in nature. The rhetorical works of Cicero, in particular, were popular. In addition, Cicero’s personal letters are considered to be one of the best bodies of correspondence recorded in antiquity. Roman Drama The Roman theatre never approached the heights of the Greek, and the Romans themselves had little interest

129 in serious dramatic endeavors, being drawn toward sen- sationalism and spectacle. The earliest Roman dramatic attempts were simply translations from the Greek. They also believed gods came down on earth once in a while and pretend to be humans. The Roman preference for spectacle and the Christian suppression of drama led to a virtual cessation of dramatic production during the decline of the Roman Empire. Pantomimes accompanied by a chorus developed out of tragedy, and comic mimes were popular until the IV-th cent. A.D. It is this mime tradition, carried on by traveling performers, that provided the theatrical continuity between the ancient world and the medieval. The Romans were polytheistic. That means that they worshiped more than one god. The Romans had gods for just about every known thing. They had gods for the sea, sky, land, women, war, beauty, etc. The Romans built temples, in which they worshiped these gods. They had planets named after their gods and they had months named after their gods. Sports and entertainments The ancient city of Rome had a place called Campus, a sort of drill ground for Roman soliders, which was located near the Tiber river. Later, the Campus became Rome’s track and field playground, which even Julius Caesar and Augustus were said to have frequented. Imitating the Campus in Rome, similar grounds were developed in several other urban centres and military settlements. In the campus, the youth assembled to play and exercise, which included jumping, wrestling, boxing and racing. Riding, throwing, and swimming were also preferred physical activities. In the countryside, pastime also included fishing and hunting. Females did not participate in these activities. Ball playing was a popular sport and ancient Romans had several ball games, which included Handball (Expulsim Ludere), field hockey, catch, and some form of Soccer. Board games played in ancient Rome included Dice (Tesserae), Roman Chess (Latrunculi), Roman Checkers

130 (Calculi), Tic-tac-toe (Terni Lapilli), Roman and Egyptian Backgammon (Tabula). There were several other activities to keep people engaged like chariot races, musical and theatrical performances, public executions and gladiatorial combat. In the Colosseum, Rome’s amphitheatre 50,000 persons could be accommodated. Religion Roman religious beliefs date back to the founding of Rome, around 800 BC, but the Roman religion commonly associated with the Roman Republic and the Ro- man Empire did not start forming until around 500 BC when Romans came in contact with Greek culture and adopted many of the Greek’s religious beliefs, including the representation of Greek gods in the form of humans. Private and personal worship was an important aspect of religious practices of ancient Rome. In a sense, each household in ancient Rome was a temple to the gods. Each household had a an altar (lararium), at which the family members would offer prayers, perform rites, and interact with the household gods. Many of the gods that Romans worshiped came from the Proto-Indo-European pantheon, others were based on Greek gods. The three central deities were Jupiter (who was the god of rain, thunder, and lightning, of Pro- to-Indo-European origin), Mars (the god of warfare), called Ares by the Greeks, and Quirinus (who watched over the senate house), one of the truly Roman gods who was associated with the people of Sabine and with the founder of Rome, Romulus. From simplest form of such private worships and religious practices, religion in ancient Rome developed into an elabourate system, with temples, altars, rituals and ceremonies, priesthood, beliefs of traditional paganism and the cult of the Roman emperors. The power of An- cient Rome spread ever further across a vast geographical area and Romans met with other cults and religions, like cults of Cybele, Bacchus, and Isis, as well as Judaism.

131 With its cultural influence spreading over most of the Mediterranean, Romans began accepting foreign gods into their own culture, as well as and other religious traditions such as the Cynicism and Stoicism. There were even attempts by many Roman and Greek philosophers to accept other gods that countered their religion such as the Jewish deity Yahweh (viewed as the only Supreme god by the Israelites) by stating that the Jews merely worshiped Jupiter but just under a different name and therefore there should be an acceptance of the Jewish culture. With the fall of the Roman Republic and the reign of the emperors, which created the Roman Empire in 31 BC the Roman emperors were considered to be gods incarnate. Two major philosophical schools of thought that derived from Greek religion and philosophy that became prominent in Rome in the I-st and II-nd century AD was Cynicism and Stoicism, which, according to Cora Lutz were «fairly well merged» in the early years of the Roman Empire. Cynicism taught that civilization was corrupt and people needed to break away from it and its trappings and Stoicism taught that one must give up all earthly goods by remaining detached from civilization and help others. Because of their negative views on civilization and of their way of life, in where many of them just wore a dirty cloak, carried a staff, and a coin purse, and slept outdoors. Customs and daily life Life in the ancient Roman cities revolved round the Forum, the central business district, where most of the Romans would go for marketing and shopping, trading and banking, and for participating in festivities and ceremonies. The Forum was also a place where orators would express themselves to mould public opinion, and elicit support for any particular issue of interest to him or others. Before sunrise, children would go to schools or tutoring them at home would commence. Elders would dress, take a breakfast by 11 o’clock, have a siesta and in the afternoon or evening would generally go to the Forum. Going to public bath at least once daily was a habit with

132 most Roman citizens. Children and slaves were not allowed to use these baths, and there were separate hours for men and women. Different types of outdoor and indoor entertainment, free of cost, were available in the ancient Rome. Depend- ing on the nature of the events, they were scheduled during daytime, afternoons, evenings or late night. Huge crowds gathered at the Collosseum to watch events like gladiators, combats between men, or fights between men and the wild animals. The Circus Maximus was used for chariot racing. Endless such activities were also conducted in other cities under the ancient Rome. Life in the countryside was slow but lively, with numerous local festivals and social events. Farms were run by the farm managers, but estate owners would sometimes take a retreat to the country side for rest, enjoying the splendor of the nature and the sunshine, including activities like fishing, hunting, and riding. On the other hand, slave labour shall be slogging continuously, for long hours and all seven days, and ensuring comforts and creating wealth for their masters. The average farm owners were better off, spending evenings in economic and social interactions at the village markets. The day ended with a meal, generally left over from the noon time preparations. Clothing In ancient Rome, the cloth and the dress distinguished one class of people from the other class. The tunic worn by plebians (common people) like shepherds and slaves was made from coarse and dark material, whereas the tunic worn by patricians was of linen or white wool. A magistrate would wear the tunic augusticlavia; senators wore a tunic with broad strips, called tunica laticlavia. Military tunics were shorter than the ones worn by civilians. Even footwear indicated a person’s social status. Patricians wore red sandals, senators had brown footwear, consuls had white shoes, and soldiers wore heavy boots. Women wore closed shoes of colours like white, yellow or green.

133 The bulla was a locket-like amulet worn by children. Men typically wore a toga, and women a stola. Dining Since the period of the Republic until 200 BC, ancient Romans had very simple food habits. Staple food was simple, generally consumed at around 11 o’clock, and consisted of bread, salad, olives, cheese, fruits, nuts, and cold meat left over from the dinner the night before. A nap or rest followed this. The family ate together, sitting on stools around a table. Later on, a separate dining room with dining couches was designed. Fingers were used to take foods. Spoons had come, but table knives and forks were yet to appear. Consuming alcoholic beverages by men were socially accepted, but women were not expected to consume drinks. By the time of the Roman Empire, women were also consuming drinks. During the Imperial period, staple food of the lower class Romans (plebeians) was vegetable porridge and bread, and occasionally fish, meat, olives and fruits. Sometimes, subsidized or free foods were distributed in cities, and school children were generally served with lunch by the local authorities. The patrician’s aristocracy had elaborate dinners, with parties and wines and a variety of eatables. Sometimes, dancing girls would entertain the diners. Their women and children ate separately, but in the later Empire period, with permissiveness creeping in, even decent women would attend such dinner parties. Education Before regular schooling system evolved in ancient Rome, home was the learning centre, where children were taught Roman law, customs, and physical training to prepare the boys to grow as Roman citizens and for eventual recruitment in the army. Conforming to discipline was a point of great emphasis. Girls generally received instructions from their mothers in the art of spinning, weaving and sewing.

134 Schooling in a more formal sense was begun around 200 BC. Education began at the age of around six, and by next six to seven years, boys and girls were expected to learn basics of reading, writing and counting. By the age of twelve or so, they would be learning Latin, Greek, grammar and literature, followed by training for public speaking. Oratory was an art to be practiced and learnt and good orators commanded respect, and to become an effective orator was one of the objectives of education and learning. Poor children could not afford education. In some cases, services of gifted slaves were utilized for imparting education. Rome had a tremendous impact on Western cultures following it. Its significance is perhaps best reflected in its endurance and influence, as is seen in the longevity and lasting importance of works of Virgil and Ovid. Additionally telling are the many aspects of Classical culture that have been incorporated into the cultures of those states rising from the ashes of the Roman Empire. Latin, the empire’s primary language, remains used in religion, science, and law. Christianity was adopted by the official culture in the later IV-th century; its triumph over rival officially sanctioned cults, of Mithras, Isis, or Sol Invictus can be partly attributed to its promotion by Roman authorities. Greek Colonies on the Territory of Ukraine The architectural tradition on the territory of Ukraine had a long historical way of evolution. The most ancient memorials of monumental and building architecture on the Ukrainian lands have the origin of the former Greek settlements on the Black Sea coast, which belong to the VIII–VII-th century BC. Most of those big cities were located in the Crimea: Khersones (Chersonese) near Sevastopol, Theodosia, Pantikapej (contemporary Kerch), Fanagoria in front of Kerch, and Tira above the Dniester estuary, Taman. The remnants of the architectural complex of Bilsk (the VII–III-d century BC) are identified with the preancient city Gelon, mentioned by Herodot. In total Greeks founded around 70 settlements, which were different by levels of development and the population size.

135 The experiments with the saved insignificant remnants of the antique buildings and other artistic productions point out that in the VIII–VI-th century BC Precher- nomorye was influenced with the so-called ionic style and since the V-th century there were templates of Athenian and, later (the II-nd century AD), of Roman building. The found bases of the defensive city walls (Olvia, Pantikapej, Nim- phej, Gorgippia), dwelling houses, temple of Apollo in Olvia and various fragments of columns and capitals show their difference from the Greek paragons — attic and those of Asia Minor. The tombs with an arch made of stones are of special interest. This new for that time constructive mean of cover was not known in the very Greece but only in some settlements, for example in Alexandria. Chersonesos is one of the Seven Wonders of Ukraine. UNESCO lists Cherson/Kherson among the world’s most significant historical sites along with such wonders of the world as Egypt’s pyramids, Parthenon in Athens, and Coliseum in Rome. Chersonesos’ ancient ruins are presently located in one of Sevastopol’s suburbs. They were excavated by the Russian government, starting from 1827. They are today a popular tourist attraction, protected by the state as an archaeological park. The buildings mix influences of Greek, Roman and Byzantine culture. The defensive wall is hundreds of metres long. Buildings include a Roman amphitheatre and a Greek temple. The largest portion of the site is «Chora», several square kilometres of ancient but now barren farmland, with remains of wine presses and defensive towers. According to archaeologists, the evidence suggests that the locals were paid to do the farm work instead of being enslaved. The excavated tombstones hint at burial practices that were different from the Greek ones. Each stone marks the tomb of an individual, instead of the whole family and the decorations include only objects like sashes and weapons, instead of burial statues. Over half of the tombs archae-

136 ologists have found have bones of children. Burned remnants suggest that the city was plundered and destroyed. The archaeological site of Chersonesos is a popular tourist destination. This ancient Greek colony was established by settlers from Heraclea Pontica in the 6-th century BC. Visitors can explore this fascinating site, which has hundreds of metres of defensive walls, as well as a Roman Amphitheatre, a Greek temple, farmland with winepresses and defensive towers, tombstones and many other buildings reflecting influences of Greek, Byzantine and Roman culture. The 1935 Basilica is the most famous basilica excavated in Chersonesus. The original name is unknown so «1935» refers to the year it was opened. The basilica was probably built in the 6-th century on the site of an earlier temple, assumed by historians to be a synagogue, itself replacing a small temple dating from the early days of Christianity. The 1935 basilica is often used as an image representing Chersonesos. Its picture appears on one Ukrainian banknote. As well as the archaelogical sites, the museum has around 200,000 smaller items from the 5 AD to the XV-th century, over 5,000 of which are currently exhibited. These include: ancient texts, including the Oath of Her- sonestsiv (3 AD), decrees in honour of Diophantus (II-nd Century AD), a collection of coins, a mosaic of black and white pebbles and coloured stones, ancient ceramics, architectural fragments, including ancient and medieval abacuses, reliefs, the remains of ancient murals. During the excavations, which were carried out on former settlements, many monuments of ancient art and culture, such as ancient temples worshipped the Greek gods were found. Especially honoured were cults of the goddess of fertility and agriculture Demeter and Apollo the healer. Also, special attention was paid to the gods of sea and river, as most major cities were at the mouth of large rivers. In the second half of the ninth and in tenth century, Cherson-Korsun was closely connected with Kyiv Rus’, which at the time was gaining scope and momentum

137 as a major political force in northern Black Sea region. The city would also play an important role in Rus’-Byzantium relations. At Byzantine emperor Basil II’s behest, Kyiv Prince Volodymyr Svyatoslavych provided military aid, yet the emperor failed to honour his commitments. In retali- ation, Volodymyr seized Cherson in 988 or 989 and said he would withdraw only after the emperor agreed to let him wed his sister Anna. Byzantium had no alternative but make peace with Rus’, and Volodymyr got his bride. Legend has it that he was baptized at Cherson. Kyiv Rus’ was baptized shortly after the Korsun campaign, and this made a tremendous impact on the Slavic state, making Rus’ a full-fledged European state. Many thousand years ago Theodosia was a Greek colony, later on a Genoese fortress, later a Turkish fortress — Kafa, then — the Russian port and Navy base. The city was based about middle of the VI-th century BC during the Great Greek colonization. In the beginning of the history Theodosia existed as the independent city- state. In first half of the IV-th century BC it came into the structure of Bospor State. With connection to Bospor Theodosia experiences the period of prosperity. Strabon characterizes it as a city, which «occupies fertile plain and has harbor, capable to contain 100 ships». As he said, from here «was taken out bread to Hellenes, just as salty fish from Meotida». Basic trade partner of Theo- dosia was the Athens. The ancient writer noted that about 88200 tons of grain were sent to Athens once. Olbia was an antique town founded 2500 thousands years ago in the boundless steppes. It was one of the Greek early settlements situated in the Buh estuary, not far from the place where the waters of the Dnipro and Southern Buh come together. Greeks came in search of new markets and sold wine, tableware, decorations and clothes. The Scythians brought slaves, sold cattle, leather and wool. The town started as a series of dug-outs, but later stone houses were built. The tradition to construct basements, made in such a way that people could live there, continued. It was easier to heat them and they kept

138 warmth for longer. The walls of the main rooms were decorated with coloured stucco work, frescoes, the mosaic floors was of black, white and blur pebbles, and the yards were surrounded with columns. Ancient marble statues, gold decorations and splendid tableware unearthed during excavations in the town of Olibia can be seen in the museums of Kyiv, Odesa, St. Petersburg, Moscow and in private collections outside Ukraine. Questions for self-control 1. What place do ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia have in the history of the world culture? 2. What famous monuments of ancient civilizations do you know? 3. What were forms of religion and their role in the life of ancient countries? 4. What literary monuments of the peoples of those times preserved to our days? What are the main problems raised in them? 5. What are characteristic features of their mythology? 6. What do you know about the scientific achievements of these countries? 7. What role did the art play in the life of people at that time? 8. Antique world — how do you understand it? 9. What is the difference between the culture of ancient Greece and Rome? 10. What are the main features of Ukrainian ancient culture?

2.4. The Culture of Middle Ages The term middle ages refers to the period between the decline of the Roman Empire, which began around 400 AD and the beginning of the Renaissance in Italy about 1400. It is divided into three stages: early (the V– XI-th cent.), middle (the XII–XIV-th cent.) and late (the XV–XVII-th cent.). These periods are generally accepted in history, philosophy, arts, education.

139 The main three forces predetermined the future of medieval culture: 1) The traditions of ancient Greek and Roman culture were preserved in small cultural centres, antique temples, libraries in the workshops of artists. 2) The spirit of barbarism. The barbarian tribes that occupied European territories mixed up with the local population and adopted their culture instead of developing their own. 3) Christianity presented fresh trend that formed new humanistic principles in people’s consciousness. Medieval Europe was far from unified; it was a large geographical region divided into smaller and culturally diverse political units that were never totally dominated by any one authority. With the collapse of the Roman Em- pire, Christianity became the standard-bearer of Western civilization. The papacy gradually gained secular authority; monastic communities, generally adhering to the Rule of St. Benedict, had the effect of preserving antique learning; and missionaries, sent to convert the Germans and other tribes, spread Latin civilization. By the VIII-th century culture centred on Christianity had been established; it incorporated both Latin traditions and German institutions, such as Germanic laws. The far-flung empire created by Charlemagne illustrated this fusion. However, the empire’s fragile central authority was shattered by a new wave of invasions, notably those of the Vikings and Magyars. Feudalism, with the manorial system as its agricultural base, became the typical social and political organization of Europe. The new framework gained stability from the 11-th century as the invaders became Chris- tian and settled and as prosperity was created by agricultural innovations, increasing productivity, and population expansion. Growth in urban society, intellectual innovations, and the tension between spirituality and order in the church all contributed to the development of new creative styles in literature, the visual arts, architecture, and

140 music. Trade and the money-based economy of Europe supported this creativity, as was evident in the importa- tion of styles and materials from abroad, in aristocratic patronage of the arts, and in the craft and merchant guilds’ contributions for the construction of monumental churches in their towns. Although the traditional term «Middle Ages» suggests that the years between the final fall of the Roman Empire in the sixth century and the full flowering of the Renais- sance (literally «rebirth» of Roman and later Greek culture) in the fifteenth century was merely an interval between two great periods of civilization, the history of the arts and humanities in Western Europe during these centuries is, in fact, rich and varied. Stylistic changes also occurred in visual arts, such as painting, sculpture, metalwork, stained glass, and architecture, and in performing arts, such as music and drama. Supported by religious and secular patrons and influenced by Islamic and Byzantine civilizations, an artistic renaissance developed the Romanesque style in the XI-th and XII-th centuries. Romanesque architecture featured solid, imposing cathedrals with rounded arches and fantastic stone carvings. Architecture Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterized by semi-circular arches. Combining features of Western Roman and Byzantine buildings, Romanesque architecture is known by its massive quality, its thick walls, round arches, sturdy piers, groin vaults, large towers and decorative arcading. Each building has clearly defined forms and they are frequently of very regular, symmetrical plan so that the overall appearance is one of simplicity when compared with the Gothic buildings that were to follow. The walls of Romanesque buildings are often of massive thickness with few and comparatively small openings. They are often double shells, filled with rubble. The arches used in Romanesque architecture are nearly

141 always semicircular, for openings such as doors and windows, for vaults and for arcades. In the XII-th and XIII-th centuries, the Gothic style introduced new engineering innovations and emphasized greater emotional expression. The easiest difference to see between the two styles is that while Romanesque churches have round arches, Gothic churches have pointed arches. Gothic churches are also usually bigger than Romanesque churches. The pointed arches, vault- ed ribs, and flying buttresses of Gothic cathedrals, such as Notre Dame in Paris, allowed engineers to build higher and lighter walls, while stained glass windows gave the interior a sense of heavenly illumination. On the exterior of Gothic cathedrals, tall, slender statues of beautifully calm saints portrayed an idealized humanity. During this period, music and notation, like Gothic architecture, developed in complexity. The single line melodies of monophonic Gregorian chant, instrumental dance pieces, and troubadour ballads evolved into more complex polyphonic music weaving together multiple parts. Music was an integral part of emotional expression in medieval life. Performances included the secular, from courtly lyrics and lively dances to drinking songs in taverns, and the religious, from sung portions of the Mass to mystery plays that reenacted biblical stories. Much of the art of this period is still admired today. Notre Dame de Paris is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in France and in Europe, and the naturalism of its sculptures and stained glass are in contrast with earlier Roma- nesque architecture. Construction on the current cathedral began in 1163, during the reign of Louis VII, and opinion differs as to whether Bishop Maurice de Sully or Pope Alexander III laid the foundation stone of the cathedral. Construction of the west front, with its distinctive two towers, began in around 1200 before the nave had been completed. Over the construction period, numerous architects worked on the site as is evidenced by the differing styles at different heights of the west

142 front and towers. Between 1210 and 1220 the fourth architect oversaw the construction of the level with the rose window and the great halls beneath the towers. The towers were finished around 1245 and the cathedral was finally completed around 1345. During the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV at the end of the XVII-th century the cathedral underwent major alterations, during which many tombs and stained glass windows were destroyed. In 1793 the cathedral fell victim to the French Revolution. Many sculptures and treasures were destroyed or plundered. The earliest Gothic art was monumental sculpture, on the walls of Cathedrals and abbeys. Christian art was often typological in nature, showing the stories of the New Testament and the Old Testament side by side. Saints’ lives were often depicted. Images of the Virgin Mary changed from the Byzantine iconic form to a more human and affectionate mother, cuddling her infant, swaying from her hip, and showing the refined manners of a well- born aristocratic courtly lady. While medieval architecture was becoming increasingly technological in its methods, it also maintained symbolic and religious significance. The medieval church building was likened by theologians to the Temple of Solomon, as well as to the celestial Jerusalem. Ancient Roman architectural elements (remnants of columns, carvings, etc.), called spolia, were often incorporated into medieval Ita- lian structures because of their handy abundance, as well as their evocative connection to the glory of the past. There were built many monastic churches. Although the design of churches was the primary focus of medieval architectural creativity, structures for the daily living and defense of members of the upper level of society also displayed technical ingenuity and an awareness of the importance of image. Just as the monastery assembled different kinds of buildings — church, hall, infirmary, barn — to accommodate all of the activities — prayer, work, eating, sleeping — of the monk’s life, the castle fulfilled an equally varied array of functions in the secular world.

143 With the collapse of the centralized authority and administration of the Carolingian Empire in the later ninth century, power was increasingly concentrated in the hands of local lords. Rather than providing a common defense for the towns under his control, the lord built only for his own security. The great circuits of walls and gateways that had protected cities in the past, such as Rome or Constantinople (modern Istanbul), gave way to fortified independent residences. Castles thus developed as multi-purpose structures at once a dwelling, a governmental headquarters, and fortress. But along with these practical duties, castle architecture projected an image of power and security that aimed to impress both the lord’s subjects and peers. Rather than pursu- ing the celestial vision of a «walk of angels» as in religious construction such as at Cluny, it spoke a language of form, which vocabulary was assertive gateways, thick walls, and tall towers. Nevertheless, religious structures drew upon castle features, such as battlements, narrow windows, or towers, to enhance their own image of authority. Building techniques, including the use of precisely cut ashlar masonry and engaged columns, that first appeared in castle construction were soon adopted by church builders, suggesting that despite differences in function and appearance there was an interchange of ideas between the two areas of construction. There is clearly indicated by its sheer and solid walls and the reduction in the size of windows to narrow slits or small openings. As the last inner stronghold of the castle, the architecture of the keep and the castle continually incorporated new features designed to repel the advances in weapons and technology of warfare. In Norman castles of the eleventh century, for example, the battlements formed a protective parapet (a wall with both taller areas for defense and openings for deployment of weapons) for the use of defenders. Cantilevering the battlements forward on supporting arches or corbels created machicolations (openings) through which a variety of missiles, rocks, boiling water, pitch, or refuse could

144 be dropped onto attackers below. Inclining or battering the base of the wall then ensured that the volley would bounce or splash onto an enemy unable to flatten himself against the wall. A moat or deep ditch, often filled with water, and one or two rings of walls then surrounded the keep. A fortified gateway and a heavy portcullis (an iron grating that could be lowered from above) further protected access into the castle, which was gained over a drawbridge. Additional towers studded the outer walls of the castle, each floor with narrow slit windows that widened toward the interior, allowing archers within to cover the entire field of fire around the tower. In contrast to castles, palaces were nonfortified residences that were more ceremonial and administrative in character. At Aachen, for example, Charlemagne’s palace consisted of a great audience hall and monumental chapel tied together by long galleries in a scheme that emulated Roman luxury villas and imperial palaces. In the ninth century, a poet described Charlemagne’s palace at Ingelheim as «a large palace with a hundred columns, with many different entrances, a multitude of quarters, thousands of gates and entrances, innumerable chambers built by the skill of masters and craftsmen. Temples dedicated to the Lord rise there, joined with metal, with bronze gates and golden doors. There, God’s great deeds and man’s illustrious generations can be reread in splendid paintings». Ranges of rooms, a great hall, a banqueting hall with three apses, and a chapel were set around two spacious courtyards, one rectangular, the other semicircular, and connected by porticoes. The lobed hall carried particular architectural importance for it denoted «the house of the lord». One of the most original architectural contributions of the late Middle Ages was collegiate architecture. In the wake of the rise of universities throughout Europe in the late twelfth century, colleges were founded as safe and regulated residences for students who, at the beginning of their liberal arts studies, might be as young as thirteen or fourteen. Initially, colleges in Bologna, Cambridge,

145 Paris, or Oxford were simply established in houses donated or purchased by a benefactor. The famous Sorbonne, founded in 1259 for theology students at the university, was initially located in a series of nonde- script houses in the Latin Quarter of Paris. However, in the mid-thirteenth century monastic orders, such as the Cistercians and the Cluniacs, arriving in these centres of learning created enclosed compounds that limited contact with the seductions of the secular world. They adapted the cloister to the new educational requirements, reducing the church to a chapel and lodg- ing students in a building that included a refectory with a dormitory above. The College of Navarre in Paris, established by Philip IV’s queen, Jeanne de Navarre, in her will of 1304, marked a further step as it forged a new blend of building types for its seventy students from the liberal arts, law, and theology faculties. Part urban palace, part monastery, the college was composed of fine stone residential houses and included a chapel and a library arranged around an interior court. In England, the Oxford and Cambridge colleges of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries display various combinations of halls, chapel, residential cells, monumental bell towers, and entrance gates built around open quadrangles. Dancing Dance was one of the major pastimes during the late Middle Ages. It was the favourite leisure activity of all levels of society from the peasants to the aristocrats and was a part of most celebrations, just as it is in modern times. In the Middle Ages, however, dance could also be found in sacred settings as a part of many church feasts, and there is an entire repertory of sacred dance songs that celebrate these events. This is not to say that dancing was completely approved by the Christian church. Along- side accounts that speak of sacred dance in a positive way, proclamations can also be found that forbid dance: some are aimed at a specific audience (e.g. clerics); others at specific occasions or locations (holy days, churches,

146 churchyards, and cemeteries); and others are a wholesale condemnation of the entire activity as immoral. Information about dance in the late Middle Ages is found in a number of sources, although few of them contain sufficient details to allow scholars to reconstruct a clear picture of the activity. Literary accounts are very helpful for placing dancing in a social context, as are iconographic images such as paintings, drawings, and sculptures. To these can be added several types of documentary evidence, including treatises on poetry, since much dancing was done to dance songs, which forms and subject matter are discussed along with those of other kinds of poems. Music treatises also provide some details when they include dance music among the descriptions of musical forms. And finally, the dance music itself, the songs and instrumental pieces that are identified as intended for dancing, add other kinds of information that aid in the understanding of what dance must have been like during those centuries. The surviving repertory of medieval dance music is relatively small and consists mostly of dance songs. Although it is clear from existing evidence that musical instruments frequently accompanied dance, very little of that repertory was ever written. It is interesting to note that many of the secular musical forms found in all regions of late medieval Europe bear names indicating that their origins were in dance. Since the music was directly related to the poetry that it set, the names of the musical forms also represent poetic forms. In France, the three most popular secular musical forms were rondeau (round dance), virelai (twist), and ballade (dance). In Italy the ballata (dance) was very common; and in England, the round and carol were frequently performed as both music and dance. Through- out the late Middle Ages and well into the Renaissance, these dance types continued to provide the standard formats for secular music, although by the late fifteenth century most of the written compositions with these

147 names were somewhat removed from their dance origins and probably were no longer actually intended for dance. Their very existence, however, suggests the extent to which dance played a central role in the culture of all regions during these centuries. Until the late fourteenth century there would seem to have been little difference between the kinds of dances engaged in by the different social classes. There was undoubtedly some difference in style and perhaps in the re- finement of the steps due to the kind of clothing worn and the locations where dancing took place, but the existing records show that, for the most part, the dances themselves were very much the same for all levels of society, as were the types of occasions, on which dancing took place. Re- gional differences can be found, having to do with a local or larger regional preference for a particular type of dance, or simply on the level of a local variation in the execution of steps for a dance that was popular in all areas. Most dances were group dances, involving as many participants as wished to join in. They can be thought of as line dances, in which the dancers join hands and follow the leader, often breaking into formations, such as dancing in a circle or forming «under the bridge». Solo dances were also performed, often allowing demonstrations of impressive athletic ability. Small group dances, involving two or three dancers, were another part of the tradition, and processional dances usually involved couples holding hands, but all of these dances were related to the line formations; couples never embraced as in later «ballroom» dancing. Sometime in the late fourteenth century, no doubt as a part of the increasing self-consciousness of aristocratic courts, a new form of dance was created, in which the individual steps were choreographed and fitted to what might be considered to be a theme or perhaps a mini-drama. That is, there was often a story acted out in the choreography, having to do with the patterns traced by the dancers, as well as with their body gestures. There is no record of where or exactly when choreographed

148 dances began, although some evidence does point toward the Burgundian court (centreed in modern-day eastern France) of Philip the Bold in the last third of the fourteenth century, an area closely linked after 1350 or so with the county of Flanders, the duchy of Brabant, and the duchy of Hainaut — that is, modern Benelux, Pas- de-Calais, and Nord. By the early fifteenth century, there is evidence that choreographed dancing was widespread in the courts of France, Italy, Spain, and England. Choreographed dance was a radical change on several levels. It separated these dances from those of the past and created the element of class distinction by in- troducing a studied and rehearsed element into an activity that formerly was spontaneous. Whereas each of the earlier dances was composed of a single set of steps that were repeated over and over throughout the dance, each of the new choreographed dances contained a specific sequence of several different steps, a sequence it did not share with any other dance, meaning that the steps for each new dance had to be individually memorized. Pro- fessional dance teachers not only designed the new cho- reographies, rehearsed the dancers, and showed them the step sequence, but also taught body movement and leg and hand gestures that would help convey the theme or story of the dance. This type of dance was completely restricted to the noble classes, who could afford to em- ploy the dancing masters. The practice of themed, individually choreographed dances continued to grow through the period of the Renaissance, blossoming into ballet in the seventeenth century. Clothing Fashion historians often credit the development of the doublet as the event, which gave birth, around 1350, to an «age of fashion». The first appearance of this short jacket, which took its name from the padded gar- ment used as soft body armor under metal armor, occurred at a time when the military importance of the ar- mored knight on a horse was declining, being superseded

149 in actual fighting by the efficient and deadly long- and cross-bowmen. In the latter half of the fourteenth and throughout the fifteenth centuries, the knight continued to be designated as a military leader, even as he became less functionally important as a provider and warrior. Si- multaneously, his presence in the court took on greater significance, and the knight sought to make a more spectacular impression through dress. At this time, the long, full robe employing rich folds of material, now considered appropriate to the upper civic elite class of lawyers, physicians, and merchants, as well as for male members of the aristocracy, was dramatically replaced by a new sil- houette. If the previous generations had preferred to hide the body in sedate movement-encumbering robes that denied physicality, the styles of the 1350s — when the aristocrat’s connection to combat was becoming more symbolic than real — emphasized male freedom of movement and sexuality in an hour-glass figure. Especially in the 1500s, such new fashions were specifically associated with the courtier class of persons who maintained themselves by various forms of royal and ducal appoint- ments and «preferments». Two features of this costume are notable: the pourpoint, or short doublet showing the legs and buttocks, and the long pointed shoes called poulaines supposedly originating in Krakow, Poland. These exaggerated styles, as well as a trend towards tall headdresses that seemed to mimic the perpendicularity of Gothic architecture, were the subject of numerous satires against excesses in court dress. In addition to the development of new tastes in the royal courts of Europe, another significant source of fashion change may be found in the increasing afflu- ence of members of the commercial class, which gave them the ability to adopt the styles worn by the nobility. Consequently, the nobility developed yet newer styles to assert their difference from, and superiority to, the commercial elites. This encroachment of the mercantile class upon the clothing styles formerly worn only by the nobility stimulated the proliferation of sumptuary laws

150 (laws against excess in food, clothing, and celebrations) to regulate dress in terms of income and birth status, with the aim of stabilizing the visual and social distance between the various levels of society, from the aristocracy down to the plowman. An additional factor that contributed significantly, if indirectly, to changes in the late fourteenth-century tastes from about 1348 onward was the recurrence of virulent outbreaks of a plague known as the Black Death. The sweeping fatalities from this disease and its later epidemics in the fifteenth century are thought to have eliminated between 35 and 65 percent of Europe’s population. Such decimation of the populace does not seem to have halted in any permanent way the overall tendency toward conspicu- ous consumption, but it is interesting to note that Ita- lian sumptuary laws responded to the mortality caused by the plague by modifying dowry requirements, including those relating to clothing, in a way that would encourage marriages and, of course, repopulation through economic incentives. One additional effect of the plague on ownership of clothing was that survivors of this epidemic inherited the wealth, including valuable garments, of those who were victims, and thus such wealth was concentrated among fewer owners. Ultimately, the change from the long flowing costume that completely covered the bodies of men and women alike in the late eleventh century to the short outer clothing assumed by the mid-fourteenth century male and the long fitted gowns with plunging necklines worn by their female contemporaries was a dramatic one. Adoption of the new short costume differentiated a young nobleman from his more conservative elders and emphasized his masculinity. Similarly, lowered necklines displayed female physical beauty. The long styles of earlier centuries persisted in the more conservative ranks of society, reaching their peak of linearity in the fourteenth century and continuing to be fashionable for another hundred years among civil, judicial, and academic professionals. Near the end of the fifteenth century, the masculine style

151 went even further as shoulders broadened, headgear flattened and widened, codpieces (decorative pouches) were added to the crotch area of the wearer’s hose, and the toes of shoes became blunt and broad in the so-called «bear paw» shoe style often associated with King François I of France. As previously stated, such periodic reversals are characteristic in a system of fashion. Literature Medieval literature must be understood in relation to its Roman heritage. When the Germanic peoples (Goths and Vandals among others) coming from eastern Europe overthrew the Roman Empire in the fifth century C.E., they also destroyed the idea of political identity, because during the period of the empire all persons had been citizens of Rome. With the breakdown of the Roman rule and order came a new system of tribal alliances, in which small bands were commanded by warrior leaders. These warrior groups did not imagine themselves as members of a single large geographic entity, and their history was that of a tribe, not a nation. Accordingly, the concept of French or English or Italian states, each with a national literature, does not really appear until about 1100. From the establishment of the Frankish Empire under Charlemagne in the ninth century through the end of the period in the fifteenth century, medieval «Europe» represents less a group of separate national cultures than a single international cultural network, within which individual developing nations mutually borrowed, imitated, and reworked their respective literary and artistic forms, which evolved sometimes directly from, and sometimes independent of, their Roman heritage. With the loss of the Roman social system in the fifth century, culture and the language arts were largely preserved by Christian monasteries from the sixth century onward; culture then was associated with Latin, the language of the Western church. Monasteries copied and preserved manuscripts that they loaned to other monasteries so that classical texts and contemporary religious

152 works, such as lives of the saints and writings of the church fathers, multiplied. Indeed, the Rule of St. Bene- dict, which gave guidelines for the organization and daily practice of monastic life, specified that monks should engage in the copying of books. The fostering of Latin among both educated secular people and those in religious life meant that ancient writing, such as the poetry of the Ro- man authors Ovid and Vergil, and the prose of Cicero, was the object of study and imitation in whatever new writing was done. Often these new compositions were not attributed to the persons who had actually done them, and many works passed under the names of Ovid and Vergil that were clearly medieval in date. In the cathedral schools established in the ninth century throughout Charlemagne’s empire, students learned to read and write Latin by studying Roman authors; thus, the literary forms and language of the Roman world took on great authority. Writings about law, theology, medicine, politics, philosophy, and literature, ranging in date from Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy (c. 520) to Alan of Lille’s Complaint of Nature (c. 1150), were all written in Latin, which became the universal language of the literate minority of the population. Around the tenth century, the first vernacular literatures — that is, literatures in developing regional languages like French, English, German, and Italian — began to appear out of an oral rather than a written culture. The two earliest extensive literary works in Old French, La Chanson de Roland, and in Old English, Beowulf, with surviving manuscripts dating from about the year 1000 (though the events they describe occurred several centuries earlier) evidently were performed for audiences gathered perhaps after dinner to hear of stirring adventures at courts of the nobility. Both of these works are examples of one of the most popular genres or literary types in the earlier Middle Ages: the chanson de geste or heroic poem, recounting the military deeds of a national hero like Charlemagne or some of his knights like Roland, or Beowulf’s combats with supernatural creatures intent

153 on destroying the tribes in the poem of that name. These early poems were preserved in the oral tradition through memorization by entertainers, such as the scop or min- strel mentioned in Beowulf, who recited and perhaps even performed them. Thus, oral forms of composition and performance became part of early medieval popular writing, and «literature» tended to be the province of storytelling entertainers rather than of writers working on their own in private. This communal, oral culture valued collective experience and the description of external events over inward or meditative analysis of personal feelings. Rather, in the early Middle Ages, when people listened to stories — recited from memory or read to them from a prepared text — they liked to hear accounts of the marvelous or the fantastic or exotic on the one hand and the didactic and morally improving on the other. So, a poem like the Old English Beowulf mixes stories of dragons with speeches about the ethical conduct the ruler owed to his followers, and the Old French Song of Roland mixes descriptions of exotic Moors (strange largely because they are not Christians) with a story of God’s raising of the hero Roland to heaven after he has fallen in combat. Even late in the Middle Ages, when reading became more commonplace, ordinary people, as well as the nobility often retained «lectors» to read aloud to them, either because they could not or preferred not to read for themselves. Also, since the organization of living space in medieval castles or houses afforded little privacy, there was little private reading. The study of ancient authors in schools and religious foundations and the rise of popular oral poetry together had another effect on the development of national literatures in Europe. The authorial originality modern readers have come to take for granted — the experimentation with plots and situations, with the sounds and meanings of words, and the creation of new characters and forms in verse and prose — was very late in occurring. Nothing is known of the «authors» of either the Song of Roland or Beowulf. Indeed, even their dates of composition are un-

154 certain. Medieval writers and readers typically favoured reworked rather than «original» plots, situations, and genres. Instead of authorial originality, medieval literary culture emphasized the concept of authority — in Latin auctoritas (a word expressing «origination», responsi- bility, support, and power) — of the literary texts and authors who came before them. A common metaphor was that medieval writers thought of themselves as dwarves standing on the shoulders of the Roman «giants» who had preceded them. Thus, for the Italian Dante Alighieri (1265–1321), the greatest author and authority was his Latin predecessor and literary model Vergil, the writer of the classical epic the Aeneid. Dante designated Vergil (spelled «Virgilio» in the Italian text and «Virgil» in Eng- lish translations) as his guide through the circles of Hell in The Divine Comedy, a lengthy narrative allegorical poem describing the adventures of a «pilgrim» as he travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven in search of salvation and spiritual understanding. Similarly, for Guil- laume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, the authors of the Old French thirteenth-century allegorical poem The Ro- mance of the Rose, the great authority was Ovid, especially his Art of Love. The English poet Geoffrey Chaucer (1342–1400) took over many plots and stories from earlier Latin and vernacular literature, translated The Romance of the Rose into Middle English, and saw several earlier writers — some French like Guillaume de Machaut (1300– 1377), some Italian like Dante and Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375) — as his masters or «auctours» while writing his Canterbury Tales, a collection of stories purportedly told by a group of pilgrims riding together to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket at Canterbury. Two strains of literature develop side by side, then: one in the non-Latin or vernacular languages — those spoken in French, English, Italian, German, Scandina- vian, or Spanish regions — and one in Latin. The latter included both the irreverent and comic «Goliardic» poems of learned wandering students and the serious and philosophical poetry of more established clerical authors, often

155 teachers of rhetoric. In time, however, with the rise in literacy and feelings of regional identity among all classes, vernacular literatures came to eclipse those in Latin. Lite- rary types like the short formal lyric, for example, which had earlier been composed in Latin, merged with an oral tradition of popular songs to create vernacular lyrics and even an unusual combination called the macaronic lyric, in which lines alternated among as many as three languages (usually French, Latin, and English). One of the first assaults on the primacy of Latin as a literary language came with the spread of French after the Nor- man Conquest of 1066. When the Normans — Scandina- vian Vikings, who had settled in Normandy (now northern France) in 911 — conquered England in 1066, their French, called Anglo-Norman, displaced Anglo-Saxon, or Old English, as the language of educated people and the governmental elite. Thus, the people of England, as well as those in France, were able to appreciate the extensive body of French literature that was developing, reaching its high point in the courtly romance, a genre that celebrated the values of the more centralized aristocratic system that had replaced earlier tribal social organization. These poems are associated especially with the Continental French writer Chrétien de Troyes (1165–1191), but they spread quickly as a popular form in England where the aristocracy was eager to reinforce its sense of historical legitimacy. Such romances tell stories of chivalry dealing with great heroes of the Cru- sades, knights of Arthur’s Round Table, or such characters from classical antiquity as Alexander the Great. This form was like the modern novel, and it remained perhaps the most widespread literary genre from the late twelfth century through the fifteenth. That Chrétien de Troyes’ name was connected to his romances is unusual in the history of medieval literature, much of which is anonymous. Indeed, aside from Chré- tien, the Anglo-Norman Marie de France (fl. 1160–1210), and some poets writing in Celtic languages, such as the Welsh Rhirid Flaidd (c. 1160), very few names can be at-

156 tached to works in the early medieval period. There are several causes for this anonymity. One, of course, is the tradition of «authority» that made it desirable to claim to be retelling a story from a reputable source. Another is the fact that texts and documents were preserved only in labouriously handcopied manuscripts, carefully written on parchment made of the skins of sheep and goats. In order to be copied, a document had to be considered worthy of this extremely expensive and time-consuming process, which, during the earlier Middle Ages, was almost entirely under the control of the scriptoria in monasteries. Clerical writers would have been discouraged from the vanity of attaching names to their works, and monastic scribes, in general, were not very interested in preserving the identities of secular authors. Some- what later, when orders for manuscripts came from aristocratic courts, there was often more incentive to preserve the name of the patron who sponsored the work than that of the author who wrote it. It was not until after 1300 that the idea of the «author» as we understand it — particularly in the sense of a self-conscious first-person narrator, who seems to have some existence in the real world — became common. When Dante (1265–1321) writes about his love for Bea- trice in his collection of lyric poems the Vita Nuova, it is clear that these are new poems written from the experience of a particular individual living in Florence and loving a real woman, however idealized she may be in the poems. Likewise, when Boccaccio (1313–1375) joins together one hundred tales supposedly told by a group of young people, who have fled the city to avoid the plague, the stories are clearly a fictional work from the hand of a single author, who has planned his manuscript and expects it to enter history in the form, in which he conceived it. The French poets Guillaume de Machaut (1300–1377) and Jean Froissart (1337–1404) are known to have personally planned and supervised the production of manuscripts of their works, and, by the end of the century, Geoffrey Chaucer (1340–1400) wrote short poems complaining

157 of errors in spelling and meter made by his scribe. Near the end of his life Chaucer even wrote a retraction apolo- gizing for the over-worldly poetry of his youth, taking for granted the fact that he would have a permanent reputation. This public self-consciousness and awareness of oneself as a poet with an audience marks the beginning of the modern era in literature. Music Music was a very important part of sacred and secular daily life in the Middle Ages. It was a major component of all religious services, in which prayers were chanted, including the Mass services attended each week by all Christians and the canonical office hours observed several times each day by clergy and monks; it also served a less formal religious role in the devotional songs of the laiety. Music for the sacred services, known as plainchant, is by far the largest surviving repertory of music from the period, consisting of thousands and thousands of compositions from all over Europe. The complexity of the music varies from simple settings that resemble heightened speech to extremely elabourate melodies with wide ranges. Some are for soloists, others for choir, and some for an alternation of choir and soloist. Music in the secular (that is, non-religious) world took a number of forms, and included both professional and amateur musicians. Singing and playing instruments was an ever-present part of relaxation for peasants and nobles: music making took place in the village square, the castle and manor house, the local tavern, and the open air. It was part of the foreground and background entertainment on all social levels in a society where everyone sang and danced. Local amateurs provided music for peasant gatherings, while professional minstrels entertained at the banquets of the aristocracy, but on both occasions everyone would be welcome to join in. Although art and literature provide certain kinds of information about the quantity of music in the world of the peasant, nothing survives of their repertory. Much

158 of the music they performed must have been improvised, and the remainder was known only from memory, handed down from generation to generation with no written record. Actual secular music from the late Middle Ages survives only for the upper classes, although from the similarity of the references concerning music at every social level, we can guess that there was a considerable amount of uniformity at least in terms of melodic and rhythmic styles between the music of both classes. The earliest of the professional performers of the period were known as minstrels (ménestrels or jong- leurs), who were actually general entertainers and did not restrict themselves to music; many were also actors, jugglers, animal trainers, and so on. These were the wandering entertainers, who moved from place to place in search of a paying audience. The music they performed included not only the usual mixture of love songs and dance songs, but also the chanson de geste (song of deeds), a long narrative poem that recounted historic accomplishments, the most famous of which is the French Song of Roland. Love songs, drinking songs, and dance music were an essential part of the relaxation of both nobles and peasants; moreover, the songs of minstrels were a major source for the transmission of myths, history, and current news. Musicians performed a variety of repertory in the streets, and groups of trumpets accompanied people of wealth and political power, announcing their daily arrivals and departures. The type of music most frequently heard during the early Middle Ages can be described as monophonic — music with a single melodic line — which included the sacred plainchant heard in church services, as well as the secular songs and music played on instruments. This use of a single line is a characteristic that European music has in common with the music of the rest of the world, a repertory that has evolved and grown slowly since antiquity. It was during the period of the late Middle Ages, however, that one of the most striking characteristics of Western music came into existence: the development

159 of music in more than one part, called polyphony. In all cultures there exist performances that are not completely monophonic; the use of drones (continuous accompanying notes, like those produced by a bagpipe), for example, is widespread, as is the practice of parallel performance (singing or playing the same melody on two different pitches simultaneously), or performances that would seem to combine elements of both drone and parallel traditions. All of these embellishments can be considered a part of the tradition of improvisation since they are often produced spontaneously during performance. But although the additions and embellishments to monophonic music in the West undoubtedly began in the same way as in other cultures, the Europeans took it much further, developing a system, in which individual parts of a polyphonic composition trace separate melodic and rhythmic profiles. This technique is exclusive to Western culture, and while popular or folk music continued to be mainly monophonic, polyphony soon became a standard part of all European-based art music. The technical element that assisted the birth and development of polyphony was the invention of a written musical notation, which happened between the ninth and eleventh centuries. The original reason for the invention of notation was primarily a desire on the part of the Latin Church to standardize the details of the sung parts of the liturgy by exactly transmitting to all parts of Europe the correct notes and rhythms of the vast repertory of plainchant. A secondary motive was to speed the teaching of new repertory, which until then had been taught only by constant repetition and rote memorization, a relatively slow process that was sus- ceptible to frequent error. In the first half of the eleventh century, an Italian monk, Guido of Arezzo, responded to both needs by inventing a notation system that incorporated exact pitch and duration into a code that could be read with ease — a system that became the basis of the notation still in use today. It is no surprise that

160 the first experiments with composed polyphony developed almost immediately after this innovation. The earliest forms of composed polyphony were developed in the twelfth century at the Cathedral of Notre- Dame in Paris when new two-voice sections were composed to replace already existing sections of plainchant. The idea of new polyphonic substitute sections quickly spread to all parts of Europe, where additional local repertory was soon composed. Europeans were attracted to this kind of sound, and the techniques were quickly applied to nearly all forms of music, both sacred and secular. At first polyphony was thought of as little more than an interesting contrast to the most frequently heard type of music, monophony. Its earliest use was for the more lavish church events and celebrations of the wealthiest citizens. Little by little, however, it gained in popularity until by the fifteenth century it was the preferred repertory for the socially conscious art connoisseur. This also led to a class separation, in which monophonic music was left to the lower social classes while the educated, aristocratic society adopted the new polyphony, the only exception being plainchant, which remained a major part of all sacred ceremonies. Even in sacred settings, however, polyphony was introduced for the most celebrated occasions, replacing some of the traditional chant. Initially the repertories of sacred and secular music were quite separate from one another and consisted of mutually exclusive material. The advent of polyphonic composition and its application to so many areas of sacred and secular repertory helped to break down this distinction as composers began to combine the two. Most of the combinations were more or less innocent, but surprising exceptions can be found as early as the thirteenth century, such as a song based on a chant, with a sacred hymn in one part and a decidedly erotic text in another, all to be sung at the same time. In the early decades of the fifteenth century it became common practice for a composer to adopt secular music, including love songs,

161 as the basic material in the composition of music for the sacred Mass. By the end of the period one of the largest repertories of polyphonic music consisted of settings of five movements for the Mass Ordinary (that is, the parts of the religious ceremony that do not vary throughout the year), all written by a single composer using a sacred or secular melody as a unifying musical theme throughout, and intended to be performed as a celebration of a very special event, such as a coronation, a wedding, or a military victory. The most obvious implication of this practice is that the secular world was increasingly intruding on the sacred. The mixture of secular elements into a sacred repertory that had previously been tightly controlled suggests a slackening of the former rigidity of the Church with regard to its services and ceremonies, as well as a more worldly orientation among those who wrote music for sacred performance. In short, these musical events can be seen as evidence of a general trend in Western history: the weakening of the power and influence of religious authority and the rise of the secular world, a tendency that became the dominant characteristic of the period to follow. Theatre During the Middle Ages, theatre was both a part of daily life and a way of celebrating special occasions. It was not limited to scheduled presentations of formally composed and fully scripted plays, and performances were not confined to particular buildings, dependent on a caste of professional actors or a paying clientele. Rather, medieval theatre was a means of communication within and between communities, from monasteries to parish churches to princely courts to urban marketplaces. There was a wide array of theatrical styles and genres: musical dramas performed as part of the liturgy of worship; bawdy Latin comedies written for the amuse- ment of students and clerics; biblical dramas that translated sacred stories into familiar languages and sce- narios; ballads and tales of heroic deeds chanted and

162 dramatized by professional entertainers; obscene jokes and sketches for late-night entertainment after feasts; royal entries and pageants that made a dramatic spectacle of power; morality plays; farces; and civic rituals on a grand scale. Medieval theatres were not built, but rather made use of pre-existing locations such as the town square, the street, the inn yard, the lord’s hall, and the church. Plays of a kind more familiar to modern readers thus shared the same spaces. They also shared the same audiences as other civic activities such as the preaching of sermons, the news of town criers, royal proclamations, public executions, and religious processions. Theatre was woven into the very fabric of medieval life and was the most effective medium for entertainment, religious instruction, and political propaganda. Medieval theatre developed through a number of stages. In the earliest period, the theatrical legacy of ancient Rome was passed down and revived in the newly Chris- tian world of early medieval Europe. Some classical plays continued to be copied and performed by educated men and women with a knowledge of Latin, while the timeless craft of professional entertainers found new audiences, occasions, and places for its expression. Alongside these established forms, a new and unique type of Christian theatre emerged in church liturgy, which created numerous opportunities for the dramatization of significant events in the life and ministry of Jesus, and in the history of human salvation. By the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, significant surviving texts show that the drama of the medieval Christian Church was becoming a powerful theatrical genre in its own right, blending the Latin language of worship with the vernacular languages of daily life in order to communicate more directly with the growing populations of prosperous towns. Bible stories were updated in order to convey messages of contemporary importance, and plays also became a vehicle for serious social or political commentary. At the same time, plays independent of the liturgy addressed an ever wider array of topics and problems, and experimented with new

163 performance venues and new types of engagement between actors and audiences. Visual Arts The Roman Empire, which at its height encompassed most of Europe, disintegrated during the fourth and fifth centuries, and the culture of classical antiquity disintegrated along with it. The next thousand years, a period known as the Middle Ages, was an era of gradual reconstruction and original invention. During this time ambitious rulers consolidated former Roman and non- Roman territories into the various European states. So- cial and economic expansion accompanied this political process, and by the latter part of the Middle Ages, European civilization had reached a new height of cultural achievement, although in terms that were very different from those of ancient Rome. The visual art of this period is therefore, at its most fundamental, the art of a civilization rebuilding itself and redefining its social and political institutions. As the medieval economy expanded and developed, creating greater financial surpluses and more readily available resources, art became more abundant, more ambitious, and more technically refined. Also fundamental to medieval art is its predominant- ly Christian character. The Latin (western) and Greek (eastern) Christian churches emerged from their origins in the late Roman period to become the dominant religious and social institutions of medieval Europe. The word «Europe» was thought in the Middle Ages not simply as an expanse of territory or a collection of kingdoms or states, but as Christendom, the realm of the Christian church. The visual arts, whether functioning in the service of the church or not, participated in a lively Christian culture and, more often than not, were formulated in expressly Christian terms. Church authorities continually sought to define the role of the visual arts in the Christian experience. In the early medieval period (850–1150) especially, heated debates over the proper use and significance of images were

164 a testament to churchmen’s efforts to come to terms with a form of visual expression that predated Christianity. Noting the pagan origins of the visual arts, some Fathers and Doctors of the church, like Tertullian (c. 160–225) and Augustine (354–430), condemned the use of visual imagery within the church as inappropriate and idola- trous. The most radical among them followed a policy of iconoclasm, the actual destruction of images. Others, such as Pope Gregory I (or «Gregory the Great», c. 540– 604) defended the value and significance of images and art objects within a Christian context, citing biblical prece- dents such as Solomon’s Temple, with its sumptuous and divinely sanctioned decoration. Variations on these two basic positions (for and against visual images) appeared in the writings of church leaders and reformers throughout the early Middle Ages, and such discussions provide important insight into medieval understandings of the visual arts. But regardless of the often theoretical debates of churchmen, the arts flourished, providing a visually stunning record of cultural achievement. Altarpiece and panel painting Painting with oil on canvas did not become popular until the XV-th and XVI-th centuries and was a hallmark of Renaissance art. In Northern Europe the important and innovative school of Early Netherlandish painting is in an essentially Gothic style, but can also be regarded as part of the Northern Renaissance, as there was a long delay before the Italian revival of interest in classicism had a great impact in the north. Painters like Robert Campin and Jan van Eyck, made use of the technique of oil painting to create minutely detailed works, correct in perspective, where apparent realism was combined with richly complex symbolism arising precisely from the realistic detail they could now include, even in small works. In Early Netherlandish painting, from the richest cities of North- ern Europe, a new minute realism in oil painting was combined with subtle and complex theological allusions, expressed precisely through the highly detailed settings

165 of religious scenes. The Mérode Altarpiece (1420s) of Rob- ert Campin, and the Washington Van Eyck Annunciation or Madonna of Chancellor Rolin (both 1430s, by Jan van Eyck) are examples [15]. For the wealthy, small panel paintings, even polyptychs in oil painting were becoming increasingly popular, often showing donor portraits alongside, though often much smaller than, the Virgin or saints depicted. These were usually displayed in the home. During the early part of the Middle Ages, one of the most distinctive cultural phenomena was the influence of powerful rulers who acted as patrons seeking to express their ambitions and political ideals in visual terms. Unlike the works of later periods that were often created by artists who then hoped to sell them on the open market, early medieval art objects owe their existence to the beneficence of individuals who generally had something to gain by their patronage of the arts. The art itself, produced typically in royal or monastic workshops, stands as a record of the political agendas and cultural policies of those individuals. Early medieval art can also be viewed as a synthesis of the different cultural traditions that found expression in the visual arts and elsewhere. The Romans passed on to the early Middle Ages the remnants of a highly developed visual tradition, which, together with the visual heritage of the various Germanic and Eastern peoples who settled in Europe, was transformed into something essentially new. But during these early centuries the art also retained more or less visible traces of the different visual traditions, to which it was indebted. Only later, from about 1200 onward, did there emerge a European visual art that fully transcended its origins as a mixture of separate artistic legacies. By the end of the twelfth century, the rebuilding and reorganization of social and political institutions since the collapse of the Roman Empire was largely accomplished. The visual arts of this period demonstrate a new level of aesthetic confidence and technical mastery. They also manifest a transformation undergone in order to adapt

166 to changing conceptions of the state, of society, of God, of the physical world, and of the relationship of the individual to each of these. Many of the developments that we tend to think of as characterizing the Renais- sance in European art and culture — the renewed interest in classical antiquity, the more scientific observation of nature, the pursuit of more naturalistic ways of depicting the world — in fact, have their origins in the later Mid- dle Ages. It would not be an overstatement to say that during the period from about 1050 to 1400, many «modern» institutions came into existence. The modern nation-state has its origins in the royal states consolidated under mo- narchs like King Philip Augustus of France (r. 1180–1223) and King John of England (r. 1199–1216). Representative government, international commerce and finance, university learning, vernacular literatures (that is, those in the newly developing non-Latin languages), exploration and colonization of distant lands, and many other practices and institutions familiar in the modern age can be traced to this dynamic period in the history of Europe. In the visual arts, the later Middle Ages witnessed a significant «modernization» as well. Beginning in the thirteenth century, visual art could sometimes express a «national identity» — for example, writers of this period became conscious of «national» art, and the terms opus francigenum (French work) and opus anglicanum (English work) can be found in written sources from the period. The arts also reflect, in their attention to details of nature, the new Aristotelian learning of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and iconographic programs are often more complex and comprehensive. Philosophers like Thomas Aquinas and Albert the Great applied the rules of logic and rational analysis to the interpretation of Scripture and the natural world, and their methodology broke large categories of experience into many smaller ones. This approach allowed abstract subjects like theology to be subdivided into concrete elements that provided a virtual handbook of figures and ideas that artists could express in paint, glass, stone, wood, and other

167 media. Art production itself, while still located in courtly workshops as it was during the early Middle Ages, increasingly leaves the monastic setting for the new, professional lay (non-religious) workshops located in towns and cities, often in particular areas of a city, which became devoted to that craft through intermarriage among members of artisan families. There was a much more socially diverse audience for art than was the case in the early Middle Ages, and patrons of art also come from different segments of society: royal, aristocratic and middle class, lay and religious, urban and rural manorial, male and female. Painting in a style that can be called Gothic did not appear until about 1200, or nearly 50 years after the origins of Gothic architecture and sculpture. The transition from Romanesque to Gothic is very imprecise and not at all a clear break, and Gothic ornamental detailing is often introduced before much change is seen in the style of figures or compositions themselves. Then figures become more animated in pose and facial expression, tend to be smaller in relation to the background of scenes, and are arranged more freely in the pictorial space, where there is room. This transition occurs first in England and France around 1200, in Germany around 1220 and Ita- ly around 1300. Painting during the Gothic period was practiced in four primary media: frescos, panel paintings, manuscript illumination and stained glass. Frescoes continued to be used as the main pictorial narrative craft on church walls in southern Europe as a continuation of early Christian and Romanesque traditions. An accident of survival has given Denmark and other Nordic countries the largest groups of surviving church wall paintings in the Biblia pauperum style, usually extending up to recently constructed cross vaults. They were almost all covered with limewash after the Reformation, which has preserved them. Among the finest examples are those of the Elmelunde Master from the Danish island of Møn, who decorated the churches of Fanefjord, Keldby and Elmelunde.

168 In northern Europe, stained glass was the art of choice until the XV-th century. By the XV-th century panel painting supplanted stained glass as the dominant form of Gothic painting. Manuscripts and printmaking Illuminated manuscripts represent the most complete record of Gothic painting, providing a record of styles in places where no monumental works have otherwise survived. The earliest full manuscripts with French Goth- ic illustrations date to the middle of the 13-th century. Many such illuminated manuscripts were royal bibles, although psalters also included illustrations; the Parisian Psalter of Saint Louis, dating from 1253 to 1270, features 78 full-page illuminations in tempera paint and gold leaf. During the late 1200s, scribes began to create prayer books for the laity, often known as books of hours due to their use at prescribed times of the day. The earliest known example seems to have written for an unknown laywoman living in a small village near Oxford in about 1240. Nobility frequently purchased such texts, paying handsomely for decorative illustrations; among the most well-known creators of these is Jean Pucelle, whose work was commissioned by King Charles IV as a wedding gift for his bride, Jeanne d’Évreux. Elements of the French Gothic present in such works include the use of decorative page framing reminiscent of the architecture of the time with elongated and detailed figures. The use of spatial indicators such as building elements and natural features such as trees and clouds also denote the French Gothic style of illumination. From the middle of the XIV-th century, blockbooks with both text and images cut as woodcut seem to have been affordable by parish priests in the Low Countries where they were most popular. By the end of the century, printed books with illustrations, still mostly on religious subjects, were rapidly becoming accessible to the prosperous middle class, as were engravings of fairly high-quality by printmakers like Israhel van Meckenem

169 and Master E.S. In the XV-th century, the introduction of cheap prints, mostly in woodcut, made it possible even for peasants to have devotional images at home. These images, tiny at the bottom of the market, often crudely coloured, were sold in thousands but are now extremely rare, most having been pasted to walls. The Culture of Kievan Rus’ This new cultural era dates back to the adoption of Christianity in 989, when the principalities of Kievan Rus’ came under the sphere of influence of the Byzantine Empire, one of the most advanced cultures of the time. Vladimir the Great’s political choice determined the subsequent development of the Russian culture. Kievan Rus’ became part of the broader Christian world, under Byzantium’s influence. The metropolitan of Kiev was subordinated to the Patriarch of Constanti- nople. The Russian principalities adopted the Byzantine culture during a time when the apogee of the Eastern Ro- man Empire had already been overcome, but its decline was still far ahead. Byzantium remained the only direct successor of the Hellenistic world, which had applied the artistic achievements of antiquity to the spiritual experience of Christianity. Byzantine culture differed from the rest of the world by its refined taste and sophistication. Byzantine art differed in the depth of religious substance and virtuosity of formal methods. The principal achievement of Byzantine theology was the ecclesiastic writings of the holy fathers. The high cultural level of Greek teachers posed difficult tasks for Kievan Rus’. Architecture The great churches of Kievan Rus’ built after the adoption of Christianity in 988 were the first examples of monumental architecture in the East Slavic lands. The architectural style of the Kievan state, which quickly established itself was strongly influenced by the Byzan- tine. Early Eastern Orthodox churches were mainly made of wood with the simplest form of church becom-

170 ing known as a cell church. Major cathedrals often featured scores of small domes, which led some art historians to take this as an indication of what the pagan Slavic temples should have looked like. Byzantine masters built their first cathedrals in Rus and decorated their interiors with mosaics and murals. Samples of pictorial art, such as icons and miniatures of illuminated manuscripts, came to Kiev and other cities from Constantinople. They built the most important cathedral of Kievan Rus’ — Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev and, named it after the principal cathedral of the Byz- antine capital. «Architecture is like a book, the greatest book, that mankind has created. To every mental endeavour there is a page in it, a monument», said Victor Hugo, the great French novelist. In Ukraine there are a great many architectural monuments that have come down to us from the distant and not so distant past. They are joy to the eye and we are thankful to their creators, whose names in so many cases remain unknown, for their magnificent creations. The Cathedral of Hagia Sophia (better known, albeit in- correctly as St. Sophia) was built in the XI-th century and now stands right in the centre of Kyiv, capital of Ukraine. 260 sq. m. of original mosaics and about three thousand sq. m. of genuine frescoes have survived the millennium and still adorn the walls of the Cathedral. In fact, nowhere else in Europe does one find so many frescoes and mosaics of the XI-th century preserved in one church. The Cathedral is surrounded by monastery buildings that date from the XVII-th century. They represent the achievements of Ukrainian Baroque. The Cathedral’s interior has been touched by very few changes. The iconostasis dates from the XVIII-th century and the cast-iron plates on the floor from the XIX-th. Professor Zigmund Czwichowsky, Head of the Insti- tute of Architecture and Urban Development in Warsaw, had this to say about the Cathedral: «Kyiv’s Hagia Sophia is remarkable for its monolithic yet superbly elegant

171 appearance, with the interior adorned by murals of great complexity and sophistication. Just as Hagia Sophia of Constantinople and St. Mark’s in Venice it is one of the most outstanding pieces of the Byzantine architecture». No wonder that St. Sophia of Kyiv sees an unending stream of art historians and laymen flocking to see and admire this marvel of Byzantine and Old Rus architecture. Everyone who steps over the ancient threshold of the Cathedral and walks in is impressed by the towering figure in the central apse of the Holy Virgin with arms raised in prayer. The mosaic stands 6 meters (18 feet) tall. The representation of Mariya Oranta, as it is usually referred to has no rival in the churches of the Chris- tian world as far as the majestic appearance athd sheer size are concerned. The stone and glass cubes of which mosaic is made are very rich in shades of different colours — 177 shades in all. The mosaic pictures of the Eucharist and the Church Fathers strike one as perfectly balanced and executed pieces. The central apse and the inside of the dome are adorned with mosaics and the walls are covered with ancient frescoes. There is a tight unity between the Cathedral’s architectural forms and its murals. The frescoes, like wonderful tapestries decorate the walls, pillars and arches; among the graceful and bright ornamental designs one can see representations of saints and Evangelical scenes. In contrast to any surviving Byzantine church paintings, there are a number of frescoes in the Cathedral chosen to illustrate secular instead of Biblical themes — among them the portraits of some members of the Grand Prince Yaroslav’s family (unfortunately somewhat damaged by the ravages of time). The Grand Prince Yaroslav, nicknamed «the Wise», was a remarkable figure in the early history of Rus-Ukraine. In the first half of the eleventh century he ruled the vast state of Kyiv Rus’, which stretched over a considerable territory in Eastern Europe. As a matter of fact at that time Kyiv Rus’ happened to be one of the biggest civi-

172 lized states in all of Europe. Yaroslav attempted to weave the Kyivan state into the European framework: he himself married the Swedish princess Ingigerd; his sisters were married into the Polish and Czech royal houses; his sons married Byzantine and German princesses, while one of his daughters, Anne, became the wife of the King of France, another of the King of Hungary and a third of the King of Norway. It was Yaroslav the Wise who laid the Cathedral’s foundation stone. The eleventh-century series of paintings on the stairs of the towers of the Cathedral show the scenes from the Games organized at the Hippodrome in Constantinople by Constantine Porphyrogenitus, the Byzantine Emperor, in honour of the visiting Kyivan Princess Olga; the paintings depict the mimes, jugglers, musicians, dancers, animal tamers and chariot races. There are also frescoes in the Cathedral that date from more recent times, of the seventeenth — nineteenth centuries — but they are strictly of religious themes. Of interest are more than 300 graffiti discovered on the walls of the Cathedral; they attest to a rather high level of literacy in the eleventh century Kyiv Rus’. The Cathedral and a number of other buildings around it have been given the status of a national preserve (Sofiya Kyivska). In 1987 the Sofiya Kyivska National Preserve was awarded the European Gold Medal for Preserving Historical Monuments in recognition of the great efforts directed at restoring the Cathedral and the adjacent monastery buildings, and keeping them in good order. In 1990 the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Kyiv was put on the UNESCO list of the world’s greatest monuments. Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, the interior walls of which were covered with frescoes and mosaics is not only a monument of ancient architecture, but also a memorial of victorious affairs of our ancestors. Saints and the family of Prince are depicted next to luxurious and elegant ornaments. Over the steps leading to the choir, you can see the scenes of princely hunting and buffoons’ dances.

173 The period of the highest development of Kievan Rus’ fall at the end of X–XI-th centuries. At that time there appeared stone palaces, churches and fortified towers. The architecture also reached the highest point. With the adoption of Christianity the traditional wooden architecture was replaced by a stone one of Byzantine type, which is partially absorbed the traditions of the Russian builders. There were erected Tithe Church, St. Sophia Cathedral, Kirillovskaya Church, the ‘Spasa na Berestovi’ Church, monasteries and Vydubitsky and Lavra monasteries in Kiev, Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral, the Ca- thedral of Sts. Boris and Hleb, and the Church of Paras- keva Pyatnitsa (Friday) in Chernigov and other cities. Fresco painting Fresco painting is a method of painting on freshly plastered walls with powdered pigments that are resistant to the erosive action of lime. Before the colours are applied to the wet plaster the main lines of the composition are usually traced on the preceding coat. The painting is very durable and is applied to both interior and exterior walls. The origins of fresco painting in Ukraine can be traced back to the IV-th century BC. Frescoes adorned the homes, public buildings, and tombs of the Greek colo- nists and Scythians on the coast of the Black Sea. The most interesting ancient frescoes from the 1-st century BC were discovered during excavations of burial sites in Kerch in the tomb of Demeter. In the Kyivan Rus’ the fresco was the principal method of decorating church interiors. Mosaics adorned churches only in the XI-th and XII-th centuries and were limited to the central part, while frescoes covered all the side apses, vaults, columns and walls of the side naves, and sometimes even the arch supports, galleries, niches, and external portals. In Byzantium, mosaics were never mixed with frescoes in the same building; this is a unique practice of Ukrainian church art. Harmony between mosaic and fresco was achieved by using the same dominant colours. The most famous examples of this decora-

174 tive system are Saint Sophia Cathedral and the Cathedral of Saint Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery (mid-XII-th century, destroyed by the Soviets in 1936, then rebuilt in independent Ukraine in the late 1990s) in Kyiv. A different Kyiv school of fresco painting was represented by the painters who decorated the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyivan Cave Monastery (the XI-th century, destroyed by the Soviets in 1941; rebuilt in the late 1990s). The golden-domed Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra — the cradle of the monasticism on Russian Land and the stronghold of Orthodoxy — rises on the high hills of the River Dnieper’s right bank. According to the earliest tradition of the Church, the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called, while preaching the Word of God in the Scythian Land, blessed the hilly bank of the River Dnieper and said to his disciples: «See ye these hills? Upon these hills will shine forth beneficence of God, and there wilt be here a great city, and God shalt raise up many churches». The monastery alongside with the first churches of Kievan Rus’ had become a ful- filment of the Apostle’s prophetic vision. Through the Providence of God the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra started its existence in Kiev in 1051, during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise and metropolitan ministry of St. Ilarion. The monastery, which became an inexhaustible source of devout prayer, was founded by the miraculous order of the Queen of Heaven, who appeared to the Venerable Anthony’s spiritual Father hegumen of Esfigm- enou Monastery Theoktist on the far Holy Mount Athos, and by the blessing of the Venerable Theodosius. Soon, the monastic devotions of the Venerable Antho- ny became very well known and started to attract towns- folk from Kiev, who came to him for blessing and coun- selling. Prince Izyaslav, the son of Yaroslav the Wise, and Kiev aristocracy visited frequently the cave monastery. They donated money for construction of monastery buildings and a church when the caves could not longer accommodate the rapidly growing number of brethren. This happened about 1062: the Venerable Anthony appointed

175 the Venerable Varlaam first hegumen and withdrew himself to a remote cell for forty years. After the transfer of the Venerable Varlaam to a newly built by Prince Izyaslav Holy-Dmitriy Monastery, the Venerable Anthony blesses for abbotship the Vener- able Theodosius (†1074) as the most meek, humble and obedient monk. When the number of brethren reached 100 monks, the Venerable Theodosius sent one of his monks to Constantinople to eunuch Ephraim to copy the Studion Statute and bring it to Kiev. At the same time Metropolitan George visited Kiev. He was accompanied by one of the monks of the Studion Monastery Michael, who delivered the monastic statute to the monastery. On the basis of these two versions the Statute of the Pechersk Monastery was drafted. Later, all monasteries of the Kievan Rus’ accepted the coenobitic rule introduced by this statute. Laying and construction of the Dormition of the Moth- er of God Cathedral was one of the most important events in the life of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery. It took 15 years for Greek architects and icon-painters to build the Ca- thedral, which was consecrated in 1089 by Metropolitan Ioann. The Venerable Alypios, who is considered to be the father of a special, different from Greek, iconography also participated in painting of the Cathedral. In 1091 the relics of the Venerable Theodosius were transferred to the Cathedral. The Venerable Anthony, according to his will, was buried in the Near Caves. In order to strengthen the faith of the first monks and edify by their example the newly baptised Kievan Rus’, God revealed in the Lavra a lot of wonders and signs. Power of monastic devotion of the Venerable Pechersk Fa- thers amazed their contemporaries and all other generations of faithful. Morality and asceticism distinguished monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, and recluses in the first place. This attracted to the Lavra educated and famous people. The monastery had become a kind of academy for the Or- thodox hierarchs. By the beginning of the XIII-th century

176 50 bishops were nominated to different parts of Kievan Rus out of monastery brotherhood. Many of Pechersk monks had become missionaries and set off to preach Christianity to those parts of Ki- evan Rus’ where population professed paganism. The Venerable Eustratius the Faster in 1096 was captured by Polovtsians and sold to Jews and tortured to death for preaching Christianity. The Venerable Kuksha and his disciple Ioann, who baptised Vyatichi, were also tortured to death. The Venerable Nikon the Dry converted to Christianity one of the famous Polovtsian and his family. Often monks’ sermons and appeals to princes were directed against intestine wars that tore up Ki- evan Rus’, they called for preservation of prince’s power and order of succession to the throne of the Kiev dynasty representatives. Chronicles are also connected with the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery. The Venerable Nikon, hegumen of the Pech- ersk Monastery, was the first noted chronicler. The Vene- rable Nestor the Chronicler is considered to be the author of the Pechersk Chronicle. He finished his great «The Russian Primary Chronicle» about 1113. A unique work of literature — «Kiev-Pechersk Paterikon» — was written in the monastery in the XIII-th century. The Paterikon was based on stories of Monk Polycarp, as well as epistles of St. Simon, Bishop of Vladimir and Suzdal. The Pechersk Monastery played an important role in the unification of the Eastern Slavonic Lands. It was their spiritual, social, cultural and educational centre. The Pechersk Monastery was held in respect not only in Kievan Rus’, but also in Poland, Armenia, Byzantine, Bulgaria and other countries. Starting from the 1240s and until beginning of the XIV-th century the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra witnessed the Mongolian invasion and Tatar yoke and together with people endured hardships. Khans understood the role of Kiev for Eastern Slavs. They hampered in any possible way the revival of the city. The monastery, as the city in general, also suffered heavily from Tatar raids in 1399 and 1416.

177 There are few sources describing the Lavra’s life in that time. Because Chingis-khan and his successors were tolerant to faith due to their superstitions (they worshipped idols from different religions), one can assume that life and divine services did not stop in the monastery. It is known that in 1251, 1274 and 1277 Metropoli- tan Cyrill came over to Kiev from Greece. He consecrated in St. Sofia Cathedral bishops for Vladimir-on-Klyasma and Novgorod. In 1284 Metropolitan Maxim called Coun- cil of Bishops and later consecrated to the episcopacy. According to Metropolitan Makariy (Bulgakov), monks lived not in the monastery but around it «in woods and forests, in secluded caves, and secretly gathered for the divine service in the part of the church that survived destruction». In the middle of the XIV-th century the Lithuanian expansion begins in Ukraine. At that period the Pechersk Monastery lived full life, despite the fact that the Lithu- anian Prince Olgred, to whom Kievan Lands belonged, professed in the beginning the pagan faith, and later, after the Krevsk Union between Lithuania and Poland, Catholicism was spread intensively. The following fact proves this: youth Arsenius from Tver, who was tonsured into monasticism in the second half of the XIV-th century, «was overjoyed in his spirit when in the monastery he found monks, who shined with virtues as stars on the sky, and wishing to imitate them he undertook different obediences during many years...». The Pechersk Monastery influenced in some way the development of the Church in the neighbouring Russian Lands at difficult times for them. So, in the second half of the XIV-th century the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monas- tery Stephan Mokhrinsky the Wonderworker founded not far from Moscow the Mokhrinski Monastery and in Vologda — the Avnezhsky Monastery. Bishop of Tver Ar- senius founded in his diocese the Zheltovodsky Dormition Monastery. In the end of the XV-th century the Pechersk monk Kuzma Yakhromsky founded a monastery on the River Yakhroma in Vladimir district (not far from Moscow).

178 At that time the Pechersk Monastery enjoyed the great fame. Even some Russian princes came to the Lavra and stayed there forever. Moreover, some of them were glorified as well-known ascetics. In particular, in 1439 famous commander Prince Theodore of Ostrog took here monastic vows with the name Theodosius and donated to the monastery all his riches. By the end of the XVI-th century the monastery revived actively despite difficulties linked with spread of Catholi- cism on Ukrainian lands and intrusions into the Lavra’s life of the King and barons. The monastery built churches and acquired new lands. Although it did not enjoy the fame of the first centuries of its existence, it remained one of the biggest spiritual educational and cultural centres of Ukraine. A new wave in the revival of the spiritual authority of the Pechersk Monastery rose during the times of struggle against the Union, when the monastery was headed by the outstanding personalities of that time: Ar- chimandrites Nikifor, Tur, Elisey Pletenetsky, Zakhariya Kopystensky, St. Metropolitan Peter Mohyla, Innoken- tiy Gizel and others. The beginning of publishing in Kiev is connected with the name of Elisey Pletenetsky. The first book that was printed in the printshop of the Kiev-Pech- ersk Lavra and that remained until our times is «Chaso- slovets» (1616–1617). In 1680–90 the monk from Baturin Krupitsk Monastery, the future St. Demetrius the Metro- politan of Rostov, compiled «Life of Saints» that until now is the favourite reading of Christians. Starting from 1786 metropolitans of Kiev and Galich were at the same time Heads of the Pechersk Lavra’s hierarchy (Holy Archimandrites). Superior was number one in the monastery after the Head of hierarchy. As a rule, he was a priestmonk, a hegumen and later — an archimandrite. The Ecclesiastical Synod headed by the Su- perior was the governing body of the monastery. It consisted of heads of the monastery departments. According to the ecclesiastical hierarchy, the Treasurer was number two. He was in charge of bookkeeping of all the monastery departments. Accounts clerk was in charge

179 of reconciliation and monthly and annual balance. Eccle- siastical Superintendent was in charge of keeping order in the Lavra, he supervised monks’ and laybrothers’ behaviour, security issues. Ecclesiarch was in charge of the Lavra’s church buildings, vestries, worship items, candles production, chime and guarding of churches. Cel- larer was responsible for refectory and communion bread bakery and in general of all foodstuffs. Housekeeper was the Cellarer’s assistant. Supervisors of caves were at the head of the caves’ brethren and supervised the order in the caves and cave churches. Head of the medical service was in charge of sick and elderly brethren. Internal steward administered all the property inside the Lavra, while external steward administered the Lavra’s lands and farms outside Kiev. Printer managed the printing house. Librar- ian was in charge of the Lavra’s library. Spiritual Father, who confessed monks, was elected by monks. All Russian Tsars devoted attention to the Lavra: Alexey Mikhailovich and Peter the Great, Catherine II, Anna Ioannovna, Nicholas I and Nicholas II, Alexander I, Alexander II, Alexander III, Pavel, Elizabeth… When visiting the Lavra, Tsars like their people asked for blessing and kissed the Archimandrite’s hand. The Romanovs donated to the Lavra personally or via their envoys golden crosses and icon-lamps, diamond-studded covers for service books, gold-embroidered vestments, brocade and cypress tombs for reposed saints. Names of great dukes and counts were among those who donated to the Lavra: Count Sheremetiev, Duchess Gagarina, Count Rumiantsev-Zadunaiskiy, Countess Orlova-Chesmenskaya and others. Many noble families, merchants, entrepreneurs, foreigners donated significant sums for the Lavra’s needs. Even ordinary people with meagre income considered making donations to the Lavra a Christian duty. The Pechersk Monastery also had on its territory a hotel for pilgrims and a hospital. The Lavra spent more than one hundred thousand roubles for their construction. Every year the monastery provided accommoda-

180 tion and food for up to eight thousand pilgrims. Many of them not only stayed free of charge in the hotel, but also were provided (at the expense of the monastery) with bread and soup during three, four days. And this lasted for many decades! Like other monasteries of the Russian Empire the Lavra allocated significant sums for educational needs. The Lavra had its own primary school, theological college. It also allocated money for education of poor students of Kiev Diocese and even established five stipends in theological institutions of Kiev and Kostroma «In honour of the miraculous life saving of the Emperor Alexan- der II on 4 April 1866». On 1 December 1860 a two-year school for children of Kiev clergy was opened in the Lavra. Later on, it had become a two-year parish school. In 1914 about 130– 140 children received education in it. The Lavra and other monasteries allocated significant amounts of money during the Russian-Japanese war and WWI. In 1806–1812 the Lavra donated «for military expens- es and war casualties» more than sixty thousand roubles. As evidenced, the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery had always participated in all good state or church undertak- ings. Charity, love to neighbours contributed to the immense prestige of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Generous donations from the Royal Family with inscriptions «in commemoration of a special love to the Monastery for feats and prayers of the Lavra brotherhood unto salvation of people’s souls». Many famous people wished to be buried on the territory of the Lavra cemetery. In particular, General-Field- Marshal Boris Sheremetiev made his will to be buried in the Lavra. However, he passed away in Moscow and by the order of Peter the Great his body was transferred to St. Petersburg and he was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Many outstanding personalities of Rus- sia and Ukraine reposed on the Lavra’s Nativity Ceme- tery, in the Dormition Cathedral, on the territory of the monastery. The daughter of the afore-mentioned Boris

181 Sheremetiev, Natalia Dolgorukaya (monastic name — Nektaria), was one of them. Many people knew about her difficult fate. The disgraced duchess became a schema- nun in the Florovsky Monastery (in 1757 being 43 years old). As a very active and educated personality she participated in the reconstruction of the Desiatinnaya Church and other Kiev churches. Nun Nektaria passed away on 3 July 1771 and was buried in the Lavra with honours proper to duchess and ascetic. Commander and famous state personality, favourite of the Royal Family Peter Rumyantsev-Zadunaiskiy, who dedicated all his life to the service of the state, died on 8 December 1769, a month after the death of Em- press Catherine. Emperor Pavel announced a three-day mourning throughout Russian Empire «In commemoration of great services of Field-Marshal Rumyantsev to the state». According to Rumyanstev’s will his body was transferred to Kiev and he was buried near the choir of the Dormition Cathedral. A grandiose monument was erected to him in a specially designed building near the entrance to the Cathedral. In 1911 the land of the monastery took the relics of Peter Stolypin — a prominent state personality of the Russian Empire. A unique necropolis had been formed in the Lavra. First Kiev Metropolitan Mikhail, Prince Theodore of Os- trog, Elisey Pletenetsky, St. Peter Mohyla, Innokentiy Gi- zel and other outstanding personalities repose on the territory of the holy monastery, in its churches and caves. The most difficult times in the history of the Lavra began after the October revolution. According to the Decree of the Soviet government «On separation of the Church from the state and school», all church property was nationalised. On 29 September 1926 the government and the Council of People’s Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR adopted the Resolution «On changing the status of the former Kiev-Pechersk Lavra into the history and culture state museum and transferring it into All-Ukrainian museum town». Gradual isolation of the

182 church community, its ousting by a newly created museum resulted in a complete liquidation of the monastery in 1930. Part of the brethren was taken off from Kiev and executed by shooting, the rest was imprisoned or exiled. The Lavra was ravaged and ruined. The years of WW II did great damage to the architectural and historical valuables of the Lavra. On 3 Novem- ber 1941 the Holy Dormition Cathedral was blown up. It is not yet known who exactly was behind the explo- sion — Nazi or Soviet underground organisations. But the ruining nature and absurd of the both godless regimes are quite evident. By the end of the 1950s under the pressure of the political and party system the Museum turns into an atheistic propaganda-breeder. At that time under the directives of party authorities the wells of Anthony and Theodosius were filled up. These wells were very popular among faithful. They also fulfilled the drainage function. In 1961 by the voluntary decision of the authorities the monastery that revived on the territory of the Lower Lavra in 1941 during the Nazi occupation was closed and its monks were expelled. Literature and education The golden age of the Kievan culture was the period of the reign of Yaroslav the Wise (1019–1054). A characteristic feature of that time is significant flourishing of literature and the spread of literacy not only among the elite, but also among the grassroots of the society. The origins of this cultural development began since Prince Vladimir, who after the adoption of Christianity ordered «to take away» children from «noble people» and force them to study books. Since 1037, Yaroslav gave part of his income to priests so that they taught literacy to people. He organized the translation and re-writing of books and created the first library at St. Sophia Cathedral, and there was a school there too. In 1086 Yaroslav the Wise’s granddaughter Yanka Vsevolodovna founded a female school in Kiev Monastery of St. Andrew. Birch-bark

183 (berestiana) deeds with the records of the domestic settings found in archaeological excavations also point to the widespread literacy. For our topic, especially important are Izborniks of 1073 and 1076, which are collections of articles written by different authors on philosophy, history, geography, medicine, and of materials relating to the inner world of man. Ancient Ukrainian authors raised theoretical questions about the beauty of truth and human reason. Researchers believe that these collections were used as textbooks for children. The history of Kievan Rus, its culture and education cannot be properly appreciated without referring to such monument of the XII-th century as «Tale of Bygone Years» by Nestor the Chronicler, where one can find descriptions of the traditions of people, their everyday life and specifics of art that show the author’s perfect aesthetic taste and his clear-cut judgements about works of art. Among the chroniclers of medieval Ukraine-Kyivan Rus, Nestor is the best-known one. He is believed to have authored the chronicle, Povist vremennykh lit (Story of the Bygone Years), which presents a history of Kyivan Rus from its foundation down to the eleventh century and thus is a major historical source. Very little is known about Nestor or his life. It is known that he became a monk of the Pechersk Lavra Monastery in 1073 and was buried in the monastery after his death, the date of which also remains unknown. Unfortunately, few secular works have been preserved up to our days, and «The Word about Igor’s Regi- ment» occupies among them a central place. For a long time this literary gem was unknown: it was by pure chance that it was found in the early 90s of the XVIII-th century in one of the manuscripts of the XVI-th century. «The word» is written on the basis of a concrete historical fact, i.e. a failed campaign Novgorod-Seversky Prince Igor Svyatoslavich in 1187 against Polovtsy. The author urged the princes to forget quarrels and unite to defend their homeland from the dangerous enemy. The heroes of Old Rus literature were historical figures (princes,

184 tsars, church priests, heroes, warriors), and the subject of depiction was real events. One of the most important secular works of Kievan Rus period is «Instructions for Children» by Vladimir Monomakh, in which Prince Vladimir encourages their children to work tirelessly, to study, because it is the only way to become a ruler and retain the state. When oath-breaking and tyranny were almost the norms of living together, he taught to keep the promise, not to allow a strong man to offend people, claiming that he never insulted «neither a poor smerd nor a poor widow». We face a wise statesman, an educated and brave man who had no rest and gave all his strength to build a more powerful country. Such a covenant could only emerge in the environment where culture occupied an important place in the life of the state. In the X–XI-th centuries, bylina (Russian folk song about epic heroes and their military exploits) epic actively developed. In bylinas in artistic and poetic forms the struggle of people for their independence was described, and there were developed patriotic ideas and ideas about heroes Bahatyrs (Russian epic heroes, brave defenders of the Russian land, carrying out military exploits, characterized by extraordinary force) endowed with wisdom, strength and beauty. Illya Muromets, Dobrynja Nykytych, Alyosha Popo- vich, Mikula Selyanynovych — are the embodiment of patriotism and courage, heroism and boundless devotion to the motherland. According to legends, Ilya, the son of a farmer, was born in the village of Karacharovo, near Murom. He suffered serious illness in his youth and was unable to walk until the age of 33 (till then he could only lie on a Russian oven), when he was miraculously healed by two pilgrims. He was then given super-human strength by a dying knight, Svyatogor, and set out to liberate the city of Kiev from Idolishche to serve Prince Vladimir the Fair Sun (Vladimir Krasnoye Solnyshko). Along the way he singlehandedly defended the city of Chernigov from nomadic invasion (possibly Polovtsi) and was offered knighthood

185 by the local ruler, but Ilya declined to stay. In the forests of Bryansk he then killed the forest-dwelling monster Nightingale the Robber (Solovei-Razboinik), who could murder travellers with his powerful whistle. In Kiev, Ilya was made the chief bogatyr by Prince Vladimir and he defended Rus’ from numerous attacks by the steppe people, including Kalin, the (mythical) tsar of Golden Horde. Music, dancing History has also preserved the names of folk singers of bylinas — Boyan, Mytusy, Ora, which are found in «The Word about Igor’s Regiment», Ipatievsky Chroni- cle and so on. The bearers of folk art were skomorokhs who united in them the qualities of an actor, a dancer, a singer, a musician-instrumentalist, an acrobat and were regular participants of folk entertainments, holidays, special festivities, were often invited to the boyar and princely courts. We cannot ignore musical art of the eastern Slavs that in days of Kievan Rus’ reached a high level. The evidence of this is folk heritage, Old Rus ritual singing, battle (military) music. In the oral folk traditions there continue to develop games, calendar and domestic songs of everyday life, funeral laments and cries (their oldest examples have been preserved in small quantities). The music of princely court is of considerable interest too. According to historians, beginning with the middle of the X-th century, receptions of foreign ambassadors were accompanied by music. This custom was introduced by Duchess Olga, who during her visit to Constantinople in 945 was impressed by music played on different instruments, especially the organ. Accord- ing to the researchers of Kievan Rus musical culture, the princes had at their court professional musicians- instrumentalists, singers and dancers. Besides, singers- and-bylina-tellers and skomorokhs were also the participants of princely entertainments. The frescoes of St. Sophia Cathedral give us unique information about Kievan Rus’ musical instruments.

186 They show musicians who play wind and string instruments. Other widely used instruments were: string- bow — gudok, smyk, pinch — lute, gusli (Ukrainian harp); brass — horns, pipes, trumpets, whistles, sopilkas, dud- kas, zhaliykas, bagpipes, organs; drum — tambourines, cymbals, bells, rattles. The important role was played by church bells that informed people of an enemy’s attack and called them to the assembly. In Kievan Rus’ there were centres where people were taught to sing. An important role in shaping and spreading musical tradition was played by Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. The high educational level of Kievan Rus’ people is confirmed by a large number of written monuments and inscriptions on the spinners, swords, birch-bark deeds, graffiti in St. Sophia’s Cathedral. A characteristic feature of that time was the love of books; there were scriptoriums — workshops for rewriting and decorating books. Handwritten books of Kievan Rus’ had specific and unique features. The masters of the first known books were distinguished for their high level of art culture, perfect taste. Firstly, there was a variety of designs and sizes of books, depending on their content and purpose. They were made and arranged harmoniously, and their size corresponded to the design. As a rule, the text was written in two colours — black and red. The first lines were written in red, hence the expression «red line» (the beginning of a new paragraph), and separate words or sentences, which the reader had to pay special attention to were also written in red. An important elements of the manuscript design were miniatures. Illustrations were «scattered» throughout the text: a-quarter-of-a- page size, half-a-page size, frills, in the margin. A characteristic feature of the books of this period is a large number of illustrations that presented two or three cycles, or even more images. In addition to decorative function, miniatures helped remember the content better. All handwritten books were «dressed» in covers for protection and elegant look. Well-dried and processed boards were used to make the covers; they were tightly

187 fixed to a block, and then covered with leather, or sometimes with expensive fabrics and metal ornaments, like zhukovyny and serednyky, which were richly decorated. Zhukovyny were decorated with gold scan, filigree, zern, and phinipht, while narrative scenes from the Holy Scrip- ture or the lives of the saints were depicted on serednyky. These covers were called okladny. Their obligatory element was an ornamented clasp, cast from metal, most frequently from bronze. Hand-written books of those times present a valuable heritage of our culture. In the XII-th century, all the novelties that came from Byzantium in connection with the baptism of Rus, integrated into the development of our national culture. There started the formation and development of new cultural centres, which prove the tendency to spread cultural innovations from the centre to periphery. Most brightly these processes are presented in chronicles. Chronicles were written in all major towns, even in far Tmutarakan. Libraries were established not only in Kiev but in other towns as well. Kyiv princes were highly-educated people and book-lovers. Thus, Yaroslav the Wise, according to the chronicler, «read frequently in daytime and at night and was an ardent supporter of books». In the early ХІІІ-th century there was finally formed the Kiev Caves Paterikon — a collection of stories about the history of the foundation of Kyiv-Pechersk monastery and its first monks. Everyday objects of that period also should be mentioned. Furniture, dishes, most houses — all this was made of wood, decorated with rich carvings or painted pictures. Clothes for every day were simple but those for festivities were richly embroidered. Decorative-applied art, household art, jewellery art reached a high level of development. The products of Kievan Rus’ craftsmen were famous not only in their native country but also abroad. It was mainly things made of gold — necklaces, colts, chains, earrings, diadems, bracelets, brooches, rings with precious stones, etc. The influence of Byzantine culture, the most advanced in Europe at that time, is felt

188 here. But when in the 11–12-th centuries the technique of enamel objects declined in Byzantine, the Kyiv jewel- lers adopted it, simplified it and produced many beautiful adornments. Diademes and barmies for royal attire were made, and they were made to order. The culture of Kievan Rus’, having mastered the achievements of Eastern Slavs during IX–XII-th centuries, occupied a prominent place among the cultures of European and Asian countries. Numerous archaeological findings and written sources testify to its originality and refute the thesis of some scholars on foreign influences, which were especially popular among the scientists in the XIX-th and early XX-th centuries. The Mongol-Tatar invasion caused enormous damage to the culture of Kievan Rus’. Contemporaries perceived it as the end of the world. Equally dangerous was the confrontation with the West European Catholic world. More than one hundred years passed before the epoch of defeats changed to the epoch of victories. The events of that time were reflected in the literature: «Life of Ale- xander Nevsky», «Zadonshchina» and other literary monuments of the late XIII-th — early XIV-th centuries. The role of the Orthodox Church began to play a greater role in the spiritual life of the society. When preparing for the battle with Mamai, Prince Dimitry Donskoy appealed for support to Sergiy Radonezh, whose authority was very absolute. It was the abbot Sergiy who blessed the Prince and all his army and predicted the victory. There is every reason to believe that art in Kievan Rus’ had certain advantages over autocratic Byzantine art. Ancient Rus accepted Byzantine type of Christianity. Thanks to this had an opportunity to get acquainted with the values of ancient and Byzantine culture and art, but nevertheless it developed them on the basis of the own national culture of Eastern Slavs with its cult of earth-nature and cordocentrism. This idea is proven by examples of Old Rus literature and art: the aesthetic ideal of their creators is close to the folk one. It should be noted that the development of aesthetic awareness, and therefore,

189 aesthetic tastes in the medieval Rus-Ukraine has its advantages over similar processes in Western Europe (before the Renaissance) where there were also authoritarian tendencies, particularly from the Catholic Church. Questions for self-control 1. What predetermined the development of medieval culture? 2. What are the main features of Romanesque architecture? 3. Give examples of Gothic cathedrals. Describe their architectural peculiarities. 4. How did architecture contributed to the defensive character of the tower or a castle? 5. In what ways dancing was class-biased? 6. What are the best examples of literature of this period? 7. What was the role of music in sacred and secular daily life? 8. In what ways does the medieval theatre differ from the modern one? 9. What characterizes medieval visual arts? 10. How did Byzantine influence Kievan Rus’? 11. What historical buildings of Kievan Rus’ do you know?

2.5.The Culture of Rennaissance and Reformations The Renaissance (French for «rebirth»), was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the XIV-th through the XVII-th century, beginning in Italy in the late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. It encompassed the revival of learning based on classical sources, the rise of courtly and papal patronage, the development of perspective in painting, and advancements in science. Architecture and Design By 1500 Italy’s architects drawn mostly from the guilds of sculptors and carpenters in the cities had achieved a remarkable mastery of the elements of ancient design.

190 They had used ancient inspiration to create buildings that functioned well under the quite different circumstances of life in Renaissance cities. During the first quarter of the sixteenth century, architecture, like painting and sculpture, underwent another rapid transformation. This period, known as the High Renaissance, saw painters like Leonardo da Vinci, Donato Bramante, Raphael Sanzio, and Michelangelo Buonarroti entering into the planning of buildings with increasing frequency. As painters trained in the Florentine tradition of disegno, that is, draftsman- like design, each brought with them a new sophistication about the use of light, line, and mass in the construction of buildings. Although natives of Tuscany and central Ita- lian towns, each of these figures worked in Rome at different points in their careers, and that city benefited from the construction of most of the grand projects of the High Renaissance. This style was notable for its great simplicity, harmonious proportions, and unified design. The High Renaissance in Rome was also a time of creative and often frenzied building projects undertaken throughout the city. In domestic architecture, Bramante, Raphael, and others created new edifices notable for the complete integration of classical decoration, as well as their harmonious beauty. Toward the end of the period the sculptor-painter Michelangelo began to turn to architecture as well, applying the skills that he had acquired in the planning and execution of Julius II’s massive tomb project. During the 1510s he returned to Florence, where he designed several projects for the Medici family. Rome had been the great stage, on which High Ren- aissance architects had designed their new monumental and heroic structures. It had been Julius II’s aim to re- make the city into an imposing showpiece that celebrated Rome as the very centre of the Christian world. Rome again became a great centre of architectural and artistic endeavors. Rome became a model for urban planning and renewal that would be imitated throughout Europe in subsequent centuries. Elsewhere in Italy the sixteenth century was a time of great architectural vitality.

191 In Florence, the Mannerist painters and designers of the mid- and late century created new projects characterized by a style of intricate complexity and repetition. Many of the city’s artists worked for the Medici, who now ruled the city as dukes. For inspiration, these figures turned to the architectural works of Michelangelo at the Church of San Lorenzo, notable for its willful violations of classical design tenets. Their projects inspired other designers in Rome and central Italian cities, although their influence rarely spread into the world of northern Italy and Venice. As the Renaissance affected styles throughout the region, Northern Europeans often borrowed ancient decorative elements to create highly ornate decorations that were more Gothic than Renaissance in their overall effect. The presence of Italian architects and painters in France, Germany, and Spain, as well as the journeys of craftsmen to Italy, gradually helped to develop a more complete understanding of classical architecture, its design elements, and its uses, as did the spread of architectural treatises written by Italians like Serlio, Pal- ladio, and Vignola. These works, with their engraved illustrations, deepened the appreciation of classicism among European architects working outside Italy. One notable holdout, though, was England, where a native style of Gothic architecture continued to be popular throughout much of the sixteenth century, with very few attempts at Renaissance classicism. In most of Northern Europe, a shift in the type of building was also evident. In France, the Netherlands, and England, religious controversy between Catholics and Protestants had a dampening effect on the building of new churches in the sixteenth century. At the same time the era was one of great achievement in the building of royal palaces, country châteaux, and public buildings. By 1600, all Western European countries, with the exception of England, had developed vigorous new patterns of building that combined native traditions with Renaissance classicism. These edifices played an important role in expressing the power of the

192 church and state, even as they expressed a new longing for balance, harmony, and order. The Renaissance architecture places emphasis on symmetry, proportion, geometry and the regularity of parts as they are demonstrated in the architecture of Classical antiquity and in particular, the architecture of Ancient Rome, of which many examples remained. Orderly arrange- ments of columns, pilasters and lintels, as well as the use of semicircular arches, hemispherical domes, niches and aedicules replaced the more complex proportional systems and irregular profiles of medieval buildings. Dancing With the coming of the Renaissance, new dance manuals appeared in both Italy and Burgundy, the two major centres of courtly dance of the period. The authors of these books were courtly dance masters, who lived in the houses of Italy’s nobles and who were charged with training noble children and courtiers in the dance steps. These dancing masters also staged elaborate spectacles for Italy’s counts and dukes that expressed the rising taste of the period for pageantry and ritual. The dance masters considered their art to be an athletic exercise that displayed a courtier’s intellect through his ability to subject the body to the mind. Italy’s dance theorists reached back to ancient philosophy to elevate the status of dance into an art, rather than just a mere pastime. By contrast, Burgundian bassedance was an elegant form of processional dance that consisted of a rigid vocabulary of walking steps, performed either sideways, backwards, or in a forward direction. Popular at the court of Burgun- dy, it also spread to England, France, and other northern European regions of fifteenth-century Europe. The development of dance as a social entertainment continued to expand during the sixteenth century, the period of the High and Late Renaissance. New forms of choreographed dances flourished in the elegant court societies of Italy and Northern Europe, notable now for their complex footwork and relatively rigid upper body

193 positions. Men and women now wore corsets that con- stricted the movements of the torso and the upper body. By contrast, tight leggings for men and women’s bell- shaped skirts allowed the feet relatively more freedom to move than had the older long-flowing gowns of the fifteenth century. New types of shoes equipped with soles and heels allowed dancers a greater degree of flexibility on the floor. The dance manuals published at the time reveal an increasingly complex and elaborate language of steps. Jumps, skips, lifts, twirls, stomps, and hops, which had previously been avoided as unseemly and in- elegant, came now to play a vital role in social dance. Dance also played a vital role in Renaissance theatre, particularly in the spectacles staged in Europe’s courts. In Italy, the interludes that occurred between the acts of plays, included dances. As the Renaissance matured in the sixteenth century, urban elites developed a dance culture similar to that which flourished in Europe’s great courts. Wealthy merchants and political figures in the towns avidly studied the dance manuals of the time, and dance schools allowed them to learn the complex steps that had previously only been taught by resident dance instructors in the palaces of the nobility. As a result, dance became a mark of social distinction among gentlemen and ladies. At the same time the sixteenth century records a rising chorus of complaints about the dances of the lower orders, the urban poor and peasants. Many of the charges made against their dances — that they promoted sexual immorality, that they wasted time, and that they were generally lascivious — had long been leveled against folk dances throughout medieval Europe. Literature Petrarch and Boccaccio were the two acknowledged geniuses among early Renaissance humanists. Huma- nism had begun to appear as an educational movement within the Italian cities during the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. In place of the scholastic cur-

194 riculum of Europe’s universities, which stressed logic and the disciplined proof of theological and philosophical principles, the humanists advocated study of the language arts, moral philosophy, and history. Petrarch, who is sometimes called the «Father of Humanism», was the first of many of these scholars to achieve an international fame through his literary works. In a life devoted to writing and study, he tried to create a relevant personal philosophy guided by the works of classical Antiquity. In place of the austere vision of Dante and many medieval writers, Petrarch’s works stressed that there was a place for the enjoyment of literature and the other good things that the world had to offer. Although he remained deeply traditional and Christian in his outlook, his philosophy emphasized that graceful writing and speaking might have a good end if used to encourage its audience to lead a vir- tuous life. Petrarch was not a systematic thinker; he frequently contradicted himself and at times adopted points of view that were in conflict with his earlier positions. But in both his Italian and Latin writings, Petrarch devoted himself to the cause of eloquence, making it the basis for a career that spread his fame throughout Europe. The Decameron was Boccaccio’s undisputed masterpiece, but the author’s literary output was enormous, both in Latin and Italian. Both Petrarch and Boccac- cio’s literary endeavours provided models for later Re- naissance writers. Each figure had conducted extensive studies of ancient prose and poetry, and they had often self-consciously used their works as a way of reviv- ing classical style and literary genres among their fellow humanists. While dedicated to the study of ancient literature, and using it as a guide, both Petrarch and Boc- caccio were also original and innovative artists. In his Italian lyrics, for example, Petrarch perfected the sonnet and expressed psychological insights that would inspire later writers. For his part, Boccaccio created a fictional universe in his Decameron that made use of the medieval genre of the novella. Boccaccio breathed new life into this form by weaving his own consistent perspective,

195 as well as the philosophical insights of early humanism into the work. These features helped to raise his work to the level of a masterpiece. Painting The paintings of the Italian Renaissance differed from those of the Northern Renaissance. Italian Renaissance artists were among the first to paint secular scenes, breaking away from the purely religious art of medieval painters. At first, Northern Renaissance artists remained focused on religious subjects, such as the contemporary religious upheaval portrayed by Albrecht Dürer. Later on, the works of Pieter Bruegel influenced artists to paint scenes of daily life rather than religious or classical themes. It was also during the northern Renaissance that Flemish brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck perfected the oil painting technique, which enabled artists to produce strong colours on a hard surface that could survive for centuries One of the distinguishing features of Renaissance art was its development of highly realistic linear perspective. Giotto di Bondone (1267–1337) is credited with first treating a painting as a window into space, but it was not until the writings of architects Filippo Brunelleschi (1377–1446) and Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472) that perspective was formalized as an artistic technique. The development of perspective was part of a wider trend towards realism in the arts. To that end, painters also developed other techniques, studying light, shadow, and, famously in the case of Leonardo da Vinci, human anatomy. Underlying these changes in artistic method was a renewed desire to depict the beauty of nature, and to unravel the axioms of aesthetics, with the works of Le- onardo, Michelangelo and Raphael representing artistic pinnacles that were to be much imitated by other artists. Concurrently, in the Netherlands, a particularly vibrant artistic culture developed, the work of Hugo van der Goes and Jan van Eyck having particular influence on the development of painting in Italy, both technically with the introduction of oil paint and canvas, and stylisti-

196 cally in terms of naturalism in representation. Later, the work of Pieter Brueghel the Elder would inspire artists to depict themes of everyday life. Outstanding Painters of the Renaissance

Botticelli (1445–1510) Among the painters of the poetic current in the late fifteenth century, Sandro Botticelli stands alone in depth of feeling and delicacy of style. His concentration on line is so deep and his research into the unreal is so enchanting, that it is difficult to believe that he studied with Filippo Lippi, a follower of Masaccio. Although aloof from scientific current and criticized by the young Leonardo da Vinci Botticelli remained the leading painter resident in Florence in the 1480s and 1490s. Before him the old masters had drawn the inspiration for their works from the Bible. Botticelli delighted in myths, fables, and poetry, his nature was imaginative. The artist was the first to make his painting a means for the delight of the secular, as well as the religious world. Botticelli was closely associated with the Medici and his fortune paralleled theirs. After the death of Lorenzo, that ended the world, in which Botticelli had found honours and fame, the painter was greatly impressed by the preaching of Savonarola. Soon he became an ardent disciple of this great prophet. When Savonarola demanded that bonfires should be made of the «profane pictures», he contributed many of his works of art to the bonfire pile. In his later life Botticelli turned to a religious style, and after 1500 gave up painting altogether. Botticelli’s most celebrated pictures, the Prima- vera (The Allegory of Spring) and the Birth of Venus were painted at a slight distance from each other in time, the first on panel, the second on canvas. Later the two paintings were considered companion pieces. Both have been interpreted in different ways. The Primavera with its am- biguous but clear meaning, is far from being the simple pagan mythology that it appears to be at first sight.

197 No explanation of the Primavera is wholly successful. Probably the Primavera symbolizes Lorenzo Medici’s real wedding in 1482. A Christianized Venus, modestly dressed and re- sembling Botticelli’s Madonnas, reigns in the midst of a dark grove of trees bearing golden fruit. At the right Zephyrus, the wind-god, pursues the nymph Chloris; flowers issue from her mouth. She is transformed into the goddess Flora, clothed in a flower-covered gown, from its folds she strews blossoms upon the lawn. At the left Mercury is dispelling tiny clouds from the golden apple, the symbol of the Medici family. Between Mercury and Venus the Three Graces dance in a ring. These lovely creatures are shown in transparent garments. This painting is a complex allegory. As in all Botticelli’s mature works his figures are extremely at- tenuated, with long necks, torsos, arms and sloping shoulders. Their beautiful faces and graceful bodies and limbs seem almost bloodless and weightless, their white feet touch the ground so lightly that not a flower or a leaf is bent. The individual forms are perfectly modelled. Botticelli’s representation of figures in motion is far beyond anything that preceded him and has never been excelled. The composition is based on an interweaving of linear patterns, drapery folds, stream- ing or braided hair, trunks, and leaves. Such a picture, both in content and style, represents a withdrawal from naturalism of the Early Florentine Renaissance. The Birth of Venus may show the effects of Botticelli’s residence in Rome in the early 1480s. Venus, according to the ancient myth, was born from the sea. Upon a sea represented without concern for space, and dotted with little V-shaped marks for waves, Botticelli’s Venus stands lightly in a beautiful cockleshell, wafted by two embracing wind-gods, toward a highly stylized shore. This Venus, proportioned like the Three Graces, differs from the splendid Venuses of classical antiquity. She uses the curving streams of her long hair to cover her nakedness. She can’t wait for the cloak that one of the

198 Hours is about to spread around her. Botticelli’s allegory is related to the Christian tradition with which he tried to reconcile the pagan legend. The composition has been compared to medieval and Renaissance representations of the Baptism of Christ. It may be argued that this is a rather artificial interpretation, but it is an interpretation that made sense to the fifteenth century. Later, under the impact of Savonarola’s preaching and the troubles besetting Italy Botticelli’s imagery becomes less esoteric and more Christian. The best possible example is the Mystic Nativity. In order to emphasize the importance of the Madonna and Child and the relative un- importance of the humans, Botticelli has reverted to the early medieval device of disregarding scale and perspective and grading the actual sizes of the figures according to their importance; hence the Madonna is far the largest although placed apparently in the middle distance. The feature that links Botticelli most firmly with the Floren- tine artistic heritage is his linear perspective. The unreality of Botticelli is a blind alley in the development of Renaissance painting, the brilliance and beauty of his line are not, and it may have influenced the pictorial style of Michelangelo. Answer the following questions 1. What glorified Botticelli? What other painters are mentioned in this text? How were they connected with Botticelli? 2. What impact did Savonarola’s preaching make on Botticelli? 3. What are Botticelli’s most celebrated pictures? How are they interpreted? 4. What gods and goddesses are pictured in the Pri- mavera? What do they do? What is Botticelli’s allegory related to? 5. What is represented in the Birth of Venus? What gods are depicted in this painting? What do they do? Where is Venus placed? How is Venus proportioned? What differs Botticelli’s Venus from the splendid Venuses

199 of classical antiquity? What did Botticelli try to reconcile in the Birth of Venus? 6. What does the Mystic Nativity exemplify? What device did Botticelli use to emphasize the importance of the Madonna and the Child? 7. Whose pictorial style did Botticelli influence? Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) The coming of the sixteenth century saw the rise of great artists in Italy — Raphael, Michelangelo and Le- onardo da Vinci. Their names have never lost their enormous fame. High Renaissance style was founded by one of the most gifted individuals ever born. Leonardo da Vinci, who has always been famous because of the fantastic range of his genius, fulfilled the Renaissance ideal of the Uni- versal Man. He was not only a great painter and sculptor, but also an outstanding architect, an inventor, an engineer, a musician, and the leading physicist, botanist, anatomist, geologist and geographer of his time. Leonardo’s fame as an artist is based on eighteen paintings that came down to us, some of them incomplete, some damaged as a result of his experimental techniques. Leonardo’s art surpassed the achievements of his time. In an era when the continuing power of the Church competed in men’s mind with the revived authority of Classical antiquity, for Leonardo there was no authority higher than that of an eye, which he characterized as «the window of the soul». When Leonardo began his campaign to modernize painting the artist was still a craftsman and a guild member; before the High Renais- sance was over, a great master could live like a prince. Leonardo da Vinci was born in Tuscany. By 1469 he was Verrocchio’s apprentice. In Verrocchio’s workshop Leonardo obtained the best education of his time. The Adoration of the Magi is Leonardo’s first masterpiece. It was commissioned in 1481 for a church outside Florence. It was never carried any further than the monochrome underpaint Leonardo used the pyramidal

200 composition. The groups are based on the actions of the component figures and dissolve as soon as they move. Leonardo did not know it, but this discovery was made in Greece in the V-th century B.C. In this work Leonardo started with the moment of feeling, form came next. The Madonna of the Rocks, of 1483, is one of the earliest and the most famous Leonardo’s pictures. It was intended for the Oratory of the Immaculate Conception in Milan. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception means that the Virgin was freed from the taint of the Original Sin. Leonardo has interpreted this doctrine dramatically. He represented Mary in the midst of a dark world of rock forms. In this strange rocky grotto, where the sun never seems to strike and the plants grow thick but colourless, the Christ Child manifests his Divinity as he blesses the infant St. John, himself taken under the Virgin’s protection. And, like a prophecy of the Bap- tism of Christ by St. John in the Jordan, a river winds away among the pale peaks. This painting makes Leo- nardo a typical artist of the High Renaissance. The Madonna and Saint Anna was designed in Flo- rence in 1501 and completed many years later in Milan. It represents a revolutionary rethinking of the conventional theme of the Holy Family. Leonardo intertwined the figures to form a pyramidal composition. Leonardo makes the Virgin sit on her mother’s lap and merges their bodies in such a way that their heads are like twin heads rising from a single trunk. S. Anna’s head mirrors her daughter’s image. The Virgin, as in traditional representations of this subject, is shown reaching for the Christ Child, who in his turn attempts to ride upon a lamb, the symbol of his sacrificial death. The background is one of the most impressive mountain pictures ever painted. Valleys, rocks and peaks diminish progressively into the bluish haze of the distance until they can no longer be distinguished. Leonardo’s power as an artist and thinker is evident in the Last Supper and the Mona Lisa, his two most famous works. Leonardo’s Last Supper was painted on the end wall of the refectory of the Monastery of Santa Maria

201 delle Grazie in Milan in 1495. In the fresco Christ dis- closes to his followers that soon one of their number will betray him and their cause. The composition is the product of the moment of action and meaning. The Apostles are presented in four groups of three each. Each of these numbers has many meanings: the multiplication of the Gospels by the Trinity is only one, and twelve itself is not merely the number of the Apostles but of the months of the year and the hours of the day and of the night. The numerical division helps to throw the fundamental character of each of the Apostles into full relief, from the innocence of John on Christ’s right to the horror of James on his left and to the protestation of Philip, who placed his hand on his breast. Only Judas knows, and the light does not shine upon his face. The Last Supper is a humanistic interpretation of the narrative. Leonardo has painted a higher reality, thus making a complete break with the Early Renaissance and establishing the ideal world, in which Michelangelo and Raphael later operated. Leonardo painted his masterpiece in an oil-and-tempera emulsion on the dry plaster, and it began rapidly to peel off. As a result the surface is severely damaged. Leonardo da Vinci, because of the scope of his interests and the extraordinary degree of talent that he demonstrated in so many diverse areas, is regarded as the archetypal «Renaissance man». But it was first and foremost as a painter that he was admired within his own time, and as a painter, he drew on the knowledge that he gained from all his other interests. Leonardo was a scientific observer. He learned by looking at things. He studied and drew the flowers of the fields, the eddies of the river, the form of the rocks and mountains, the way light reflected from foliage and spar- kled in a jewel. In particular, he studied the human form, dissecting thirty or more unclaimed cadavers from a hospital in order to understand muscles and sinews. More than any other artist, he advanced the study of «atmosphere». In his paintings such as the Mona Lisa and Virgin of the Rocks, he used light and shade with such subtlety

202 that, for want of a better word, it became known as Leon- ardo’s «smoke». Although Leonardo’s paintings are badly preserved, they are all fascinating. Leonardo created an enigma to which he gives no answer. From 1503 until 1506 Leonardo was painting a portrait of the wife of the prominent Florentine citizen. The painting is known today as the Mona Lisa. The figure sits in a relaxed position, with hands quietly crossed, before one of the Leonardo’s richest and most mysterious landscape backgrounds, traversed by roads that lose themselves, bridges to nowhere, crags vanishing in the mists. This attitude of total calm became characteristic for High Renaissance portraits. The face has suffered in the course of time but nothing has spoiled the sad half smile that plays about the lips. For a year or two Leonardo worked for the notorious Cesare Borgia, designing battle engines, siege devices and making maps. The Florentines commissioned Leo- nardo to paint the Battle of Anghiari on a wall of a newly constructed Hall of Five Hundred in the Palazzo Vecchio. This painting depicted an event from the XV-th century history. It was part of a general programme to celebrate the newly revived republic. Leonardo’s later life was a succession of trips between Florence, Milan and Rome. He painted little in his later years. At his death Leonardo’s artistic influence was immense, but much of his scientific work had to await later rediscovery. Answer the following questions 1. How did Leonardo fulfil the Renaissance ideal of the Universal Man? 2. What does Leonardo’s reputation as an artist rest on? What happened to his other works of art? Why? 3. What is Leonardo’s first masterpiece? What colour dominates in this work of art? 4. In what work of art has Leonardo interpreted the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception? How has he interpreted it?

203 5. What does the Madonna and Saint Anna represent? 6. What compositional form dominates in Leonardo’s works? 7. What is pictured in The Last Supper? Where do the figures operate? How are the Apostles arranged? What does each of these numbers mean? 8. What is the Mona Lisa famous for? What is depicted in the background? 9. What else did Leonardo create in Florence? 10. What did Leonardo do in his later life? Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564) The sixteenth century in central Italy was dominated by the colossal genius of Michelangelo Buonarroti. Michelangelo learned the techniques of painting during a year of his boyhood spent in Ghirlandaio’s studio, sculpture he studied with Bertoldo di Giovanni, the pupil of Donatello. His earliest masterpiece is the Pieta, done in 1498–99/1500 during his first stay in Rome. The perfect formation of the slender Christ, lying across the knees of his mother, excited the admiration of Michelangelo’s contemporaries. The exquisite Virgin looks as young as her son. The ageless Virgin is a symbol of the Church, she presents the timeless reality of Christ’s sacrifice. The extreme delicacy in the handling of the marble and the contrast between the long lines of Christ’s figure and the crumpled drapery folds produce passages of a beauty that Michelangelo never surpassed, despite the grandeur of his mature and late work. The heroic style for which Michelangelo is generally known is seen in the David more than 14 feet in height, which was carved in 1501–4, for a lofty position on one of the buttresses of the Cathedral of Florence. When the statue was completed, it was so beautiful that the Florentines could not sacrifice it in such a position. It was placed in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, where it became a symbol of the republic ready for battle against its enemies. The David became the first true colossus of the High Renaissance.

204 In 1505 Michelangelo was called by the warrior pope Julius II to design a tomb for him. This project with more than forty over-life statues in marble and bronze relief would require a lifetime. After several successive reduc- tions the tomb was brought to completion only in 1545. Three statues remain from the 1505 version. The world-famous statue of Moses was intended for a corner position on the second story of the monument so that it could be seen from below. Like all of Michelange- lo’s works, the Moses, is symbolic and timeless. Moses is conceived as an activist prophet, a counterpart to Saint Paul. The bulk of the figure is almost crushing. Moses’ head with its two-tailed beard, is one of the artist’s most formidable creations; the locks of the beard are lightly drawn aside by the fingers of his right hand. The drapery masses enhance the compactness of the figure. The two Slaves for the 1505 and 1513 versions of the tomb were planned to flank niches around the lower story, in which were to stand Victories. The figure called the Dying Slave is actually not dying but turning languidly as if in sleep; one hand is placed upon his head, the other pulls unconsciously at the narrow bond of cloth across his massive chest. The strikingly different companion figure, the Rebellious Slave, exerts all his gigantic strength in vain against the slender bond that ties his arms. The new figure type created by Michelangelo in the David, and set in action here for the first time, established a standard that influenced a great number of artists. Throughout the late Renaissance and the Baroque, Michelangelesque heavy muscled figure was almost universally imitated. In 1508 Michelangelo was given a commission to fresco the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The upper walls had been frescoed in the 1480s by Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Perugino and Signorelli. Julius II asked Michelangelo to paint the ceiling, a flattened barrel vault more than 130 feet long. It was the most ambitious undertaking of the entire Renaissance. The painting represented the drama of the Creation and Fall of Man and consisted of nine scenes, beginning

205 with the Separation of Light from Darkness and ending with the Drunkenness of Noah. In the vault compart- ments above the windows and in the lunettes around the windows are represented the forty generations of the ancestry of Christ, and in the spandrels at the corners of the Chapel are pictured David and Goliath, Judith and Holo- fernes, the Crucifixion of Human and the Brazen Serpent. In this intricate iconographic structure the coming of Christ is foretold in the nine scenes from Genesis, according to the principle of correspondence between the Old and New Testaments that was illustrated repeatedly throughout Christian art. An added element is the oak tree of the Rovere family, to which Julius II and his uncle Six- tus IV belonged. The Rovere oak tree invaded the scenes of Creation and alluded poetically to the Tree of Life, which stood near the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden and which fruit in medieval theology was Christ. The Fall of Man combines the Temptation and the Expulsion in a single scene, which in one motion leads the eye from the crime to punishment, linked by the Tree of Knowledge, represented as a fig tree. Never in history had nude figures been painted on such a colossal scale. Michelangelo’s vision of a new and grander humanity reaches its supreme embodiment in the Creation of Adam. Instead of standing on earth as in all earlier Creation scenes, the Lord floats through the heavens and is en- veloped in the violet mantle he wears in all the scenes, in which he appears. The violet colour is required for the vestments of the clergy during Advent and Lent, the peni- tential periods before the coming of Christ at Christmas and his resurrection at Easter. The Lord is borne by wing- less angels. Michelangelo’s Creator for the first time makes believable the concept of omnipotence. A dynamo of creative energy, God stretches forth his hand, about to touch with his finger the extended finger of Adam. This image of the creative finger derives from the famous medieval hymn «Come, Creator Spirit» sung at Pentecost, the festival of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. In this hymn the «finger of the paternal right hand» is invoked to bring

206 speech to our lips, light to our senses, love to our hearts, and strength to our bodies. Adam reclines on the barren ground below, longing for life, and love about to be instilled by this finger. Adam means «Earth» and the finger is shown ready to be charged with the energy that will lift him from the dust and make him a «living soul». Adam’s body is the most perfect structure ever created by Michelangelo. It embodies the beauty of Classical antiquity and the spirituality of Christianity. The final scenes as one moves toward the altar were also the last in order of execution. The Lord Congregating the Waters was held to foreshadow the foundation of the Church. The Creation of Sun, Moon, and Plants shows the Lord twice, once creating sun and moon with a cruciform gesture of his mighty arms, then seen from the rear creating plants. Just above the altar the Lord separates the light from the darkness. The seated prophets and sibyls show the majestic possibilities of the draped figure. Although Michelangelo’s figures were clothed they looked nude. The Persian Sibyl was represented as immensely old, Jeremiah as grieving above the papal throne, Daniel aflame with prophecy as he writes in a small volume, the Libyan Sibyl looking down upon the altar, at the eternal Tree of Life. The final phase of the Sis- tine Ceiling is one of the supreme moments in the spiritual history of mankind. It was created during the years when Julius II, who commissioned and inspired the Sistine Ceil- ing, was fighting on the battlefield for the continued life of the Papal States against the armies of King Louis XII, and completed when the victory was won. Answer the following questions 1. Where did Michelangelo learn to paint? Where did Michelangelo study sculpture? 2. What is the Pieta famous for? What does the ageless Virgin symbolize? 3. Where is Michelangelo’s heroic style seen? 4. What was Michelangelo commissioned in 1505? What remained from this project? How did Michelangelo

207 represent Moses? How are the Dying Slave and the Rebel- lious Slave carved? 5. What was Michelangelo commissioned in 1508? How large was the ceiling? 6. What does the painting of the Sistine Ceiling represent? 7. What scenes are pictured in the lunettes around the windows and in the spandrels at the corners? Why does the oak tree invade the scenes of the creation? 8. What does the Fall of Man combine? 9. Where is the beauty of Classical antiquity and the spirituality of Christianity embodied? 10. What do the final scenes represent? Raphael (1483–1520) Raffaello Sanzo, known as Raphael, was the third giant of the High Renaissance. In his art the High Re- naissance ideal of harmony comes to its most complete expression. Raphael was born in Urbino. First taught by his father, Giovanni Santi, a mediocre painter, Raphael worked for some time in the studio of Perugino. In 1504 Raphael painted The Marriage of the Vir- gin for a church of Citta di Castello. The central group is unified around the motive of Joseph putting the ring on Mary’s finger. The architecture of the distant Tem- ple grows out of a wide piazza. The Dome of the Temple is identified with that of Heaven. The perspective of the squares in the piazza moves through the open doors of the building to the point of infinity. About 1505 Raphael arrived in Florence and achieved immediate success. Leonardo and Michelangelo, who were working there on the murals for the council chamber in the Palazzo Vecchio, had establishied the High Re- naissance style. Raphael met the demand with ease and grace. Having absorbed Perugino’s feeling for light and colour, Leonardo’s composition, Michelangelo’s strength and power, Raphael put his personal stamp on everything he did; he was called the «Apostle of Beauty».

208 During his three-year stay in Florence he painted a great number of portraits and Madonnas. The loveliest of which is the Madonna of the Meadows dated 1505. The pyramidal group was influenced by Leonardo’s composition of the Madonna and Saint Anna. But Ra- phael’s picture is simpler. The Virgin sits before an airy landscape with a lake in the distance. The Child stands in front of her. Kneeling before Him is child St John the Baptist, holding the reed Cross. The bodies and heads of the children, the Virgin and the background landscape are full of harmony. To Raphael harmony was the basic purpose of any composition. In 1508 Julius II invited twenty-six-year-old Raphael to paint the Stanze (chambers) of the Vatican. Raphael retained the position as court painter until his early death. His ideals of figural and compositional harmony came to be recognized as the High Renaissance principles. Clas- sical artists of succeeding centuries (Poussin in the XVII-th century and Ingres in the XIX-th century) turned to Rap- hael as the messiah of their art and doctrine. The first room frescoed by Raphael was Stanza della Segnatura. From the complex iconographic programme, it is possible to single out two frescoes on the opposite walls: they typify the Classical and Christian elements reconciled in the synthesis of the High Renaissance. The Disputa (Disputation over the Sacrament), the most complete expression of the doctrine of the Eucharist in Christian art, faces the School of Athens, an equally encyclopaedic presentation of the philosophers of pagan antiquity. In the Stanza painted afterwards, Raphael abandoned the perfect but static harmony for more dynamic compositions, which brought him to the threshold of the Baroque. From this period dates the Sistine Madonna, so called because Saint Sixtus II kneels at the Virgin’s right. The picture was intended to commemorate the death of Ju- lius II in 1513. The saint’s bearded face is a portrait of the aged pontiff. Saint Barbara, patron saint of the hour of death, looks down at his coffin, on which the papal tiara rests. The Virgin, showing the Child, walks

209 toward the observers on the luminous clouds. In har- monizing form and movement this painting represents the pinnacle of Raphael’s achievements. The Virgin and Child in their perfect beauty represent the ultimate in the High Renaissance vision of the nobility of the human countenance and form. After the death of the warrior pope Julius II Giovan- ni de Medici became Roman pope. Raphael painted the portrait of Pope Leo X with Cardinals Giulio de’Medici and Luigi de’Rossi in 1517 (the fateful year when Martin Luther, whom the Pope excommunicated in 1520, nailed his theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenburg). Raphael has shown Leo X as he was in an unsparing portrait — corpulent, shrewd, pleasure-looking. Raphael endowed his subject with a new mass and volume. His analysis of the character was unexpected and profound. Raphael has shown the Pope who was incapable of holding the Roman Catholic Church together. One of Raphael’s last and greatest paintings was the Transfiguration of Christ, painted in 1517. In contrast to the traditional rendering of the subject, Raphael painted an accompanying incident as well. It was told by Matthew and Luke. When Peter, James, and John had accompanied Christ to the top of a high mountain, the remaining Apostles were unable without his presence to cast out the demons from the possessed boy. The lower section is composed of the agitated figures of the Apostles and the youth plunged into semidarkness. The upper loop is composed of Christ, Moses, Elijah, and three Apostles. Christ and the prophets fly in the air as if lifted up by the spiritual experience. In this vision of Christ Raphael embodied his beliefs. The great painter died on Good Friday, April 6, 1520, at the age of thirty-seven. His funeral was held in the Pan- theon and the Transfiguration was placed above his bier. To his contemporaries Raphael’s death seemed the end of an era, but a closer look shows that, in a way, the High Renaissance synthesis of Classical and Christian had already started to dissolve. Inevitably, it was an unstable equilibrium. Nonetheless the great solution remained,

210 on the walls of the Vatican, the ceiling of the Sistine Cha- pel, and in the churches and palaces of Florence and Rome. Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael left a vision of the powers of the human being and the grandeur of human imagination that had not been approached since the days of the ancient Greeks. These solutions continued to inspire artists in every century after the short-lived High Renaissance itself passed into history. Answer the following questions 1. Whose styles did Raphael absorb? 2. What did Raphael paint in 1504? What is depicted in this picture? 3. What was Raphael fond of painting during his three-year stay in Florence? Which one was the loveliest? How did Raphael group the figures? 4. What was the first room frescoed by Raphael? What frescoes is it possible to single out from the complex iconographic programme? What do these frescoes represent? What brought Raphael to the threshold of the Baroque style? 5. What painting represents the pinnacle of Raphael’s achievements? How are the Virgin and the Child depicted? What do the saints symbolize? 6. Whose portrait did Raphael paint in 1517? What year was it? How did Raphael portray the sitter? What did he want to show? 7. What is Raphael’s greatest painting? What is its subject? Is it a traditional rendering of the subject? What is the lower section composed of? What is the upper loop composed of? What did Raphael embody in this vision? Where was this painting placed? 8. What was Raphael’s death to his contemporaries? What does a closer look at the short-lived High Renais- sance show? Titian (1490–1576) The monarch of the Venetian School in the sixteenth century was Titian. A robust mountaineer came to Ve- nice as a boy from the Alpine town of Pieve di Cadore and

211 lived well into his nineties. The young painter was trained in the studios of both Gentille Bellini and Giovanni Bel- lini. Then he assisted Giorgione with the lost frescoes that once decorated the exteriors of Venetian palaces. Once independent, Titian succeeded in establishing colour as the major determinant. Although he visited central Italy only in 1545–46, Titian was aware, probably, by means of engravings, of what was going on in Flo- rence and Rome and assimilated High Renaissance innovations to his own stylistic aims. Titian generally began with a red ground, which communicated warmth to his colouring; over that he painted figures and background often in brilliant hues. Titian’s life was marked by honours and material rewards. He made himself wealthy. His palace in Ve- nice was the centre of a near-princely court, fulfilling the worldly ideal of the painter’s standing as formulated by Leonardo da Vinci. In 1553 Titian began his acquaintance with the Emperor Charles V. There is a legend that the Emperor, on a visit to Titian’s studio, stooped to pick up a brush the painter had dropped. Titian was called twice to the imperial court. An early work painted by Titian about 1515 is known as Sacred and Profane Love. The subject of this enigmatic picture has never been satisfactorily explained. Two women who look like sisters sit on either side of an open sarcophagus, which is also a fountain in the glow of late afternoon. One is clothed, another is nude save for a white scarf. The shadowed landscape behind the clothed sister leads up to a castle, toward which a horseman gallops, while rabbits play in the dimness. Behind the nude sister the landscape is filled with light, and huntsmen ride behind a hound about to catch a hare, while the shepherds tend their flocks before a village with a church tower, touched with evening light. Cupid stirs the waters in the sarcophagus-fountain. The picture becomes a glorification of the beauty and redeeming power of love. Sometimes it is interpreted as the passage from virginity through the water of suffering, a kind of baptism, to a new life in love.

212 Titian made a series of mythological paintings for a chamber in the palace of the duke of Ferrara. One of these, the Bacchanal of the Andrians, of about 1520, is based on the description by the third-century Roman writer Philostratus of a picture he saw in a villa near Naples. The inhabitants of the island of Andros dis- port themselves in a shady grove. The freedom of the poses (within Titian’s triangular system) is completely new. Titian has taken the greatest visual delight from the contrast of warm flesh with shimmering drapery and light with unexpected dark. Like his mythological pictures, Titian’s early religious paintings are affirmations of health and beauty. The Assumption of the Virgin, 1515–18, is his sole ven- ture into the realm of the colossal. It represents the moment when the soul of the Virgin was reunited with her dead body. Above the powerful figures of the Apostles on earth, Mary is lifted physically into a golden Heaven on a glowing cloud by numerous child angels, where she is awaited by God the Father. The bright reds, blues, whites of drapery, the rich light of the picture carry Ti- tian’s triumphant message through the spacious interior of the Gothic Church of the Frari in Venice. In the Madonna of the House of Pesaro, 1519–26, Ti- tian applied his triangular compositional principle to the traditional Venetian Madonna group. The symmetry is broken up by a radical view from one side. The scene is a portico of the Virgin’s palace. At the steps plunging diagonally into depth Titian painted the kneeling members of the Pesaro family and an armoured figure who gives the Virgin as a trophy a Turk, taken in battle. The columns are seen diagonally, their capitals are outside the frame. At the top clouds float before the columns, on which stand child angels with the Cross. The colours are rich and deep. Titian’s portraits do not often sparkle with colour as the male costume of the sixteenth century was black. In his Man with the Glove Titian’s triangular principle is embodied in the balanced relationship of the gloved and

213 ungloved hands to the shoulders and the youthful face. The carefully modelled hands and features are characteristic of Titian’s portraits. Even in this picture, dominated by black and by the soft greenish gray background, colour is everywhere dissolved in the glazes, which mute all sharp contrasts. A subject that occupied Titian in his mature years is the nude recumbent Venus — a pose originally de- vised by Giorgione. In 1538 Titian painted the Venus of Urbino for the duke of Camerino. The figure relaxes in ease on a coach in a palace interior whose inlaid marble floor and wall hangings make gold, greenish, soft red-and-brown foil for her beautiful body, the floods of her warm, light brown hair. Pure colour rules in the picture of Titian’s middle period. In his later years form appealed to Titian less; substance itself was almost dissolved in the movement of colour. In 1546 Titian painted a full-length Portrait of Pope Paul III and his Grandsons. Undoubtedly, this painting was carried to a point that satisfied both artist and patron. The brushstrokes are free and sweeping. But the question still arises whether the picture is really finished. The sketchy technique characteristic of the backgrounds in Titian’s early works was applied by the artist to the whole picture. Veils of pigment transform the entire painting into a free meditation in colour. Colour, indeed, is the principle vehicle of Titian’s pictorial message. In the works of his extremely old age, form was revived and colour grew more brilliant. Titian’s late paintings of pagan subjects are unrestrained in their power and beauty. The devices of rapid movement and excellent colour, ignoring details were used to increase emotional effect in the very late Crowning with Thorns, probably painted about 1570, six years before the artist’s death. The hail of brushstrokes creates cloudy shapes. The agony of Christ and the fury of his tormentors are expressed in storms of colour. The last religious works of Titian reached a point, beyond which only Rembrandt in the seventeenth century could proceed.

214 Answer the following questions 1. Where did Titian come from? Where was he trained? 2. How did Titian implement Leonardo’s ideal of the painter’s standard? Was he treated like equal by the princes of his time? Can you prove it? 3. What mythological pictures are analysed in the text? 4. What does the Sacred and Profane Love represent? What is there in the background? What does Cupid do? What does this picture glorify? What colours dominate in this painting? How is this work of art interpreted? 5. What is depicted in the Bacchanal of the Andrians? 6. What religious paintings are described in the text? What is depicted in these pictures? What differs one picture from another? How are Madonnas shown? What do these pictures symbolize? 7. What portraits are mentioned in this text? How did Titian portray the sitters? Where did Titian apply his triangular principle? 8. What did Titian’s latest work depict? What devices did Titian use to express the agony of Christ and the fury of his tormentors? Caravaggio (1573–1610) The real giant of the seventeenth-century painting in Italy is Michelangelo Merisi, called Caravaggio after his native town in Lombardy. After studying with an obscure local master, he arrived in Rome around 1590. Considered a revolutionary painter Caravaggio was the leading artist of the Naturalistic School. He lived on the fringe of re- spectable society. His short life was marked by violence and disaster. Caravaggio was a lifelong rebel against convention. He shocked conventional people by representing religious scenes in terms of daily life. He was in chronic trouble with authority and had to flee Rome in 1606 after he killed a man in a brawl over a tennis match. During the next years he wandered around Italy. Caravaggio died of malaria in his thirty-seventh year on his return journey to Rome, with a papal pardon in sight. Nevertheless the style of this unruly genius revolutionized European art.

215 In 1597 Cardinal del Mount obtained for Caravag- gio the commission to paint three pictures of Matthew and scenes from his life for the Contarelli Chapel in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome. The greatest of these is the Calling of Saint Matthew, painted about 1599–1600, an event often represented but never in this soul-stirring way. The background is a wall in a Roman tavern; a window is the only visible background object. Matthew is seated «at the receipt of custom» (Matthew 9:9) with three gaudily dressed youths at a rough table, on which coins are visible; figures and objects are painted in a hard, firm style that seems to deny the very existence of Venetian colourism. Suddenly, Christ appears at the right, saying, «Follow me». His figure is almost hidden by that of Peter. Christ shows only his face and his right hand illuminated by a strong light from an unde- fined source at the upper right. Despite his oft-expressed contempt for Renaissance masters, Caravaggio often visually, as if in a vernacular translation, quoted Michelangelo Buonarroti. Christ points along the beam of light with a strikingly real hand whose gesture repeats that of God the Father in the Creation of Adam. Matthew points to his own breast as if to say, «Who, me?» In this realistic scene happens the triumph of divine love. Christ instils a new soul in Matthew. In 1601 Caravaggio painted the Conversion of Saint Paul. It was a favourite subject during the Counter-Re- formation. This scene was usually shown with a vision of Christ descending from heaven, surrounded by clouds and angels. Against a background of nowhere Saul has fallen from his horse toward us, drastically fores horte- ned. He hears the words; but his servant hears nothing and looks down at his master unable to account for the light that shines all around and has blinded Saul. In this picture climax reaches the stage of cataclysm. Caravaggio’s paintings were condemned by Bolognese artists and critics in Rome, and some were even refused by the clergy. Nonetheless, a decade after his tragic death

216 Caravaggio’s everyday naturalism, his hard pictorial style, his intense light-and-dark contrasts had inspired a host of followers in Rome, Naples, Spain, France, the Nether- lands. His revolutionary art must be considered a major factor in the formation of two of the greatest painters in the XVII-th century Rembrandt and Velazquez. Answer the following questions 1. Where was Caravaggio trained? What society did Caravaggio live in? What was Caravaggio’s relationship with authority? 2. How did Caravaggio protest against convention? 3. How did Caravaggio arrange the figures in the Calling of Saint Matthew? What did Caravaggio deny in this painting? 4. What was Caravaggio’s attitude to the Renais- sance masters? How did Caravaggio quote Michelangelo in the Calling of Saint Matthew? What was the source of this quotation? 5. What was the favourite subject during the Counter- Reformation? How did Caravaggio picture it? Did Cara- vaggio paint Saul against a background of nowhere? Was it Caravaggio’s greatest achievement? What were his other achievements? 6. How were Caravaggio’s paintings treated by artists and critics during his life-time? Did this attitude change after his death? Rubens (1577–1640) Peter Paul Rubens exercised in Flanders a great stylistic authority. Born near Cologne, the son of a Protes- tant emigre from Antwerp, he spent his childhood in Ger- many. He received a thorough grounding in Latin and in theology, spent a few months as a page to a countess, and grew up as an unparalleled combination of scholar, diplomat and painter. Rubens spoke and wrote six modern languages, and was probably the most learned artist of all time. His house in Antwerp was a factory, from which massive works emerged in a never-ending stream.

217 Although most paintings were designed by Rubens in rapidly painted colour sketches on wood, all the large ones were painted by pupils and then retouched by the master. Rubens was the man of extraordinary character and intelligence. One visitor recounted how Rubens could listen to a reading of Roman history in Latin, carry on a learned conversation, paint a picture, and dictate a letter all at the same time. Rubens first emerged on the international scene during his visit to Italy in 1600 where he remained for eight years. Artistically Rubens was an adopted Italian, with little interest in the Early Netherlandish masters. With indefatigable energy he set out to conquer the fortress of Italian art. He made hundreds of drawings and scores of copies after Roman sculpture, as well as paintings. An early work in Antwerp Cathedral, the Raising of the Cross, a panel more than fifteen feet high, painted in 1609–10, shows the superhuman energy, with which Rubens attacked his mighty concepts. This central panel of a triptych is a complete picture in itself. There is no hint of Caravaggio’s psychological interests. The executioners, whose muscularity recalls Michelangelo’s figures, raise the Cross, forming a colossal pyramid of struggling figures. In this painting the typical High Renaissance interfigural composition is transformed into a Baroque climax. The power of Rubens can be seen at its greatness in the Fall of the Damned, painted about 1614–18, a waterspout of hurling figures raining down from Heaven, from which the rebels against divine love are forever excluded. As his style matured, Rubens’s characteristic spiral- into-the-picture lost the dark shadows of his early works and took on a Titianique richness of colour. In 1621–25 Rubens carried out a splendid commission from Maria de’Medici, dowager Queen of France, widow of Henry IV, and regent during the minority of her son Louis XIII. Twenty one large canvases represent an al- legorized version of the Queen career, showing her protected at every point by the divinities of Olympus. The series were originally installed in a ceremonial gallery in the

218 Luxembourg Palace. All the canvases show the magnifi- cence of Rubens’s compositional inventiveness and the depth of his Classical learning; but Henry IV Receiving the Portrait of Maria de ‘ Medici is one of the best. The ageing King, whose helmet and shield are taken by Cupids, is advised by Minerva to accept as his second bride the Floren- tine princess, whose portrait is presented by Mercury, as Juno and Jupiter smile upon the proposed union. The happy promise of divine intervention; the youthful figure; the grandeur of the armoured king, and the distant landscape make this painting one of the happiest of Ru- bens’s allegorical works. The Queen never paid for the series. But when she was driven out of France by her former protégé Cardinal Richelieuw, she took refuge in Flanders. Rubens helped to support her during her twelve years of exile — a remarkable tribute not only to the generosity of a great man but also to the position of a Baroque artist who could finance a luckless monarch. In 1630 then 53 years old Rubens married Helene Fourment, a girl of 16. The artist’s happiness received its perfect embodiment in the Garden of Love painted about 1638, a fantasy, in which seven of the Fourment sisters are happily disposed throughout the foreground before the fantastic fountain-house in Rubens’s own garden in Antwerp. Cupids fly above the scene with bows, arrows , a rose garland, and torches, and on the right sits a statue of Venus astride a dolphin. All the movements of Rubens’s colour, all the energy of his composition are summed up in the radiance of the picture, the happiest Baroque testament to the redeeming power of love. Answer the following questions 1. When and where did Rubens first emerge on the international scene? Where was Rubens educated? 2. What could Rubens allegedly do at one and the same time? How did Rubens produce his works of art? 3. What is represented in the Raising of the Cross? What kind of painting is it? Where can the power of Ru- bens be seen? What is depicted in this painting?

219 4. How did Michelangelo and Titian influence Ru- bens’s works of art? In what way did Rubens’s works differ from the masterpieces of the Renaissance masters? 5. What do twenty one large canvases present? What is the best painting? What does it portray? What gods and goddesses are depicted there? How are they shown? What do they symbolize? What makes this painting one of the happiest of Rubens’s allegorical works? How long did Rubens support the dowager Queen of France? What did it show? 6. What is represented in the Garden of Love? What received its full embodiment in this picture? Velazquez (1599–1660) Diego Rodriguez de Silva у Velazquez was the greatest Spanish painter. Born in Seville, Velazquez studied with the local Mannerist Francisco Pacheco. In 1623 Velazquez was appointed court painter and settled permanently in Madrid. By 1627 he was established in the royal household and got the rank of court chamberlain. It gave him a residence attached to the palace and a studio inside it. For more than 30 years Velazquez painted King Philip IV and members of the royal family and court, produced historical, mythological, and religious pictures. His paintings were influenced by Rubens and the Venetian artists. Velazquez never deserted the integrity of his own style. He did not adopt the characteristic devices of allegorical figures, columns, curtains of boiling clouds utilized by most Catholic painters of the seventeenth century. Velazquez was attached to nature. He visited Italy twice and expressed a frank dislike for Raphael and thus for the Italian idealism. Velazquez admired Titian and copied Tintoretto as an exercise in freedom of the brush. Throughout his life Velazquez was deeply concerned with the principles of composition and design. When Caravaggesques realism penetrated Spain, it was felt by the young Velazquez as a liberation. Velazquez’s interpretation of this movement was original. His Triumph of Bacchus, of about 1628, contains numer-

220 ous reminiscences of Titian’s Bacchanal of the Andrians, reinterpreted in basically Caravaggesques terms. Bac- chus is a rather soft Spanish youth, with a towel and a cloak around his waist, as if he had just climbed out of a neighbouring stream. Crowned with wine leaves himself he mischievously puts a crown upon a kneeling worshiper, who is a simple Spanish peasant. Other peasants are gathered around. One peasant with bristling moustache and a hat pushed back hands a cup of wine toward a spectator, while another tries to grab it. The proletarian invitation to join in the delights of wine is painted with a brilliance unequalled by any other Latin painter of the seventeenth century. Yet the emphasis of the solidity of flesh and rough clothing shows that Velazquez is a Mediterranean painter. The Surrender of Breda, of 1635, is a magnificent painting. It is remarkable for its excellent equilibrium. The groups of Spanish victors and defeated Dutchmen are scrupulous- ly equalized. The surrender is carried out with dignity unlike in the conventional representations of the glorification of the victors and the disgrace of the conquered. After the second trip to Italy (1649–51) Velazquez painted his most complex imaginary picture, based on the myth of Arachne, The Weavers, c.1656. The central scene, the moment when Minerva turns Arachne, a mortal girl who challenged the goddess of spinning and weaving to a con- test, into a spider — is depicted in the background. In the foreground the weaver’s workroom is produced so con- vincingly that in later centuries this painting was taken for a large genre scene. The emotion of the workshop, the spinning of the wheel, the handling of the tale as an ordinary event, make this painting one of the most outstanding of Velazquez’s mythological works. Velazquez’s masterpiece, and one of the most extraordinary paintings of the seventeenth century is Las Meni- nas (The Ladies-in-waiting), of 1656. It was initially titled The Portrait of the Family. The painter is depicted in his studio in the royal palace, at work upon a canvas, so large that it can only be this very picture, unique in scale in his

221 entire production. In the centre the light falls on the glit- tering figure of the five-year-old princess, who has paid the painter a visit, accompanied by two ladies-in-waiting, one of whom kneels to give her a cup of water. On the right two dwarfs are portrayed; one is gently teasing with his foot an elderly dog. Through the open door in the background wall light falls on a court official, pausing for a moment, on the steps. Most important of all the mirror alongside the door reflects the King and Queen, who also honour the painter with their presence. Despite the apparent ease and informality of the subject, the picture is carefully balanced in a series of interlocking pyramids that can be ranked with the greatest designs of the Renaissance. In light and dark the illusion of the picture is as real as the intimate and quiet mood. Velazquez’s brush suggests the reality of objects through the sparks and reflections of light on hair, silk, flowers and embroidery, spots of light and colour set down by touches of the brush create the illusion of form. Las Meninas is the culmination of Velazquez’s work. In this painting the artist demonstrates to all time the nobility of his art — a rank that no king can award. Velazquez had no immediate followers, but the painters of succeeding centuries such as Goya and Manet highly esteemed him. Answer the following questions 1. Where was Velazquez trained? What position did he obtain at the court? 2. Whose works did Velazquez distaste and whose paintings did he admire? What did Caravaggesques realism mean to Velazquez? 3. What did Velazquez depict in the Triumph of Bac- chus? What shows that Velazquez is a Mediterranean painter? 4. What is pictured in the Surrender of Breda? In what way does it differ from other pictures of this kind? 5. What makes The Weavers Velazquez’s most complex allegorical painting? What legend was the basis of this work of art?

222 6. What does Las Meninas portray? What makes Las Meninas Velazquez’s masterpiece? What are the figures depicted in this picture doing? What is Las Meninas (a group portrait, a self-portrait or a genre painting)? Rembrandt (1608–1669) Rembrandt van Rijn is the greatest Dutch master, one of the supreme geniuses in the history of art. To this day the art of Rembrandt remains one of the most profound witnesses of the progress of the soul in its earthly pilgrimage toward the realization of a higher destiny. The son of a prosperous miller, Rembrandt was born in Lei- den in 1608. He was trained as a painter by two minor local artists. His rapid success promoted him to move to Amsterdam in 1631. In 1632 Rembrandt’s worldly success was assured. He had more commissions and pupils than he could accept. He married Suskia van Uylenburg, the lovely daughter of a wealthy family. He bought a splendid house, started a collection of paintings and rarities. The universal artist dealt with many world subjects. Rembrandt painted, engraved and drew more than eighty self-portraits. Rembrandt was a master of portraiture. He created around fifty portraits. The best group portraits painted by Rembrandt are the Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp, of 1632, and The Night Watch, of 1642. In the former Rembrandt has not only painted faces, beards and lace ruffles, he has given the composition a new drama. Mystery dominates in his painting, reminding the living of their own inevitable destiny. As for The Night Watch, the members of the Company of Captain F.B. Cocq were dissatisfied with the colossal group portrait. The subject of the painting is the formation of the militia company for a parade. Through wonderful effective lightning Rembrandt has turned a narrative prose into a dramatic poetry. Real events are submerged in the symphonic tide of the colouring. All the men paid equally to have themselves depicted, yet some are sunk in a shadow, one man is concealed except for his eyes.

223 It was inevitable that Rembrandt would lose popularity as a portrait painter, although not at once. In Amsterdam Rembrandt began to paint in a highly imaginative Baroque style. He was influenced by Cara- vaggio’s sharp light-and-dark contrasts and by Rubens’s spiral compositions. A brilliant example of this is the Angel Leaving Tobit and Tobias, of 1637. Rembrandt has followed the book of Tobit available to him as a source in the Apocrypha. The formerly blind Tobit cured by the Archangel Raphael, prostrates himself in gratitude, while his son Tobias looks upward in wonder at the de- parting figure. Seen sharply from the back the angel is taken from the sight into an open cloud in a flash of light. Along with luminary effects goes a new technical freedom. The smooth, detailed early manner is gone. The forms are quickly sketched. In 1642 Saskia died. Rembrandt’s commissions slackened off as a result of his unconventional painting. In 1655 Rembrandt found himself in the midst of several financial troubles. At that period he painted The Polish Rider. The precise meaning of this painting has not been determined. Probably it is an allegory of the man’s earthly journey, its many dangers and uncertain destination. In the grim and rocky valley a pool can be seen. Against the dark hill there is a hut. Near the crest there is a ruined castle. The youth rides in light, alert, with his weapons at ready. The figure and his horse stand forth in a new sculptural grandeur, intensified by the fact that many of the impastos have been laid on with a palette knife. The artist carved the pigments, especially in the dark rocks and the bony forms of the horse. Etching played a special role in Rembrandt’s vast production. He produced more than 290 etchings. For him it was an independent art form. The painter was unique in exploring various etching techniques. His etchings differed from those of his contemporaries in the loose, free- hand style. Rembrandt had a large collection of drawings and prints by other artists, including Mantegna, Carrac- ci, Titian, Raphael and Bruegel. He used their works for

224 inspiration, but there was also an element of competition: Rembrandt tried to surpass his predecessors. Probably in 1669, the year of his own death, Rem- brandt painted the Return of the Prodigal Son. This painting stands at the ultimate peak of Christian spirituality, illuminating the relationship of the Self to the Eternity and can be interpreted as union with divine love. This parable was a favourite in the Baroque art. In Rembrandt’s dark background one can distinguish two dim faces, a seated figure, and more brightly lighted the law-abiding eldest son. In a spontaneous gesture of loving forgiveness, the gentle, aged father comes into light to press to his bosom the cropped head of his ragged son. Faces are reduced. Only the hands of the father and the tired feet of the son are painted in detail. The painting is an allegory of the earthly pilgrimage of man finding rest and meaning in divine redemption. Rembrandt’s language in this work is entirely that of colour and texture. Rich tans and ochres in the prodigal’s worn garments are inundated by the glowing red of his father’s festal cloak against the deep brown of the encompassing dark; solid masses in thick impastos gleam against the translucent glazed. The biblical theme was very important to Rembrandt. In 1634 the artist created the Holy Family, John the Baptist Preaching, Ecce Homo. In Ecce Homo Jesus stands before Pilate, the procurator, the man who is to judge him. Pilate, convinced of Christ’s innocence, presents him to the people with the words «See, the man!» — in Latin: «Ecco Homo». But the people and the priests cry out that Jesus must be crucified. The Passion of Christ was a popular subject. Rembrandt painted a series of seven pictures illustrating this episode. Abraham’s Sacrifice was produced by Rem- brandt in 1635. In Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalen, of 1638, Rembrandt shows Mary’s shock of recognition. Moses Breaking the Tablets was created in 1659. The Old Testament recounts that Moses led the children of Is- rael out of Egypt and through the wilderness. At Mount Sinai he received God’s laws — the Ten Command- ments — written on ‘stone tablets’. But while Moses was

225 on the mountain the people built an idol: a golden calf. When Moses came down from the mountain he saw the people dancing around the idol. In the anger he smashed the stone tablets. Rembrandt illustrates the moment just before Moses threw down the tablets. Besides many paintings of biblical scenes Rembrandt took themes from mythology. In Diana Bathing with her Nymphs, with the Stories of Acteon and Callisto, c. 1634, Rembrandt combined two stories taken from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. In the Rape of Ganymede of 1635 the artist shows how Jupiter, turned into an eagle, carries Ganymede off to Olympus, to place him later in the Heav- ens as one of the signs of the Zodiac, Aquarius. Rembrandt was not understood in his own life-time. He died in poverty. But it is the spirituality of his art that distinguishes Rembrandt from his Dutch contemporaries and makes him the greatest artist of the world. Answer the following questions 1. What does Rembrandt’s art remain to this day? 2. Was Rembrandt a master of portraiture? What portraits did he create? What are Rembrandt’s best group portraits? What dominates in the Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp? 3. What is the subject of The Night Watch? Were the commissioners satisfied with this Rembrandt’s work of art? What did they expect? How are they depicted? 4. Why did Rembrandt begin to lose popularity as a portraitist? 5. What is the best example of Rembrandt’s highly imaginative painting in the Baroque style? What is represented in this painting? 6. What did Rembrandt paint in 1655? 7. How is The Polish Rider interpreted? How is the youth portrayed? What technique did Rembrandt use in this painting? 8. What role did etching play in Rembrandt’s production? 9. What does the Return of the Prodigal Son represent? When was it created? How is the painting interpreted?

226 10. What mythological paintings did Rembrandt exe- cute? 11. What distinguishes Rembrandt from his contemporaries? The Culture of the Polish-Lithuanian period of the 14-th — Early 17-th Centuries on the territory of Ukraine The period of the XIV–XVII-th centuries is characterized by further development of close cultural ties between Slavic nations and deep interest in the study of antiquity. The works by Homer, Plato and others formed the platform for a new outlook with the focus on people, their dignity, creativity, thoughts and feelings. The world and the man were still considered through the religious point of view, but now without medieval asceticism, dogmatism and canonicity. The Ukrainian Art of the XIV-th — early XVII-th centuries went through a rather complicated way in its development from the Middle Ages to Renaissance, from relative «closed at home» to the establishment of humanistic ideals. The middle of the XIV-th century is traditionally looked at as the border between these stages. The development of Ukrainian culture of this period took place in extremely difficult socio-political and historical conditions. The separation of the Ukrainian lands, the absence of the only political centre, social and national oppression to the Turkish, Polish, Hungarian, Lithuanian invaders with constant brutal aggression made by Tatars were the circumstances, which reflected the complex processes of final creating of the Ukrainian ethnos. A very important factor in the cultural process in Ukraine during this period was the Orthodox Church. A new type of school — Greek-Slavic, which combined the positive achievements of Western science of that period with cultural and educational traditions of An- cient Russ (or Kievan Rus, also Kyivan Rus, a medieval state in Europe, from the late IX-th to the mid XIII-th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240) appeared at that time.

227 Simultaneously many persons of Ukrainian origins were educated in Paris, Krakow, Bologna and other universities in Western Europe. The first educational institution, which combined the educational traditions of Kievan Rus and Western Europe, was the Ostrog (Ostroh) high school, founded about 1576. A significant contribution to the development of education had been made by the schools of brotherhoods (the Lviv Dormition Brotherhood, Kyiv Brotherhood School). Their students were given not only the skills of reading and writing but also fundamentals of Greek and Slavic grammar. In the first half of the XVII-th century the centre of scientific knowledge in Ukraine was the Kiev Collegium. Peter Mogyla (1597–1647) carried out the reform of the Kyiv Brotherhood School like in the Western European schools. Since the school was known as the Kiev-Mo- hylanska Academy. Later it became one of the leading centres of education and science not only in Ukraine but throughout the Slavic world. A great influence on the development of culture in Ukraine of this period was made by close cultural ties with Slavic peoples and because of increased study of antiquity. The works by Homer, Plato and others were that background upon which a new outlook with a focus on people, their dignity, creativity, thoughts and feelings was growing. The world and the man were still considered within the religious outlook, but without medieval asceticism, dogmatism and canonicity inherited in the works of painting and sculpture. The genre of historical folk songs and dumy (a duma is a sung epic poem, which originated in Ukraine during the Hetmanate Era in the XVI-th century, possibly based on earlier Kievan epic forms), which make up the heroic epic of modern Ukraine had its origin in this period. Ukrainian culture at the beginning of the XVI-th century was characterized with the features of the Renaissance: – the development of a net of educational institutions; – the development of the printing;

228 – the development of architecture, fine arts; – the appearance of some secular subjects in architecture and painting; – the development of sculpture and architecture as the elements of decoration. Painting The visual art of this period reached significant peaks. Although the works of painting of the XIV-th – the middle of the XVI-th centuries were devoted to the religious subjects, people and secular motifs also penetrated into them. The art of drawing Icons (iconography) gradually moved away from the Byzantine tradition. It was enriched with the scenes from everyday life, the beauty of the real world and the human, elements of the folk art. In many icons you can notice the attraction of the authors to reflecting some life prototypes. An example of such a decision of the plot is the icon «Annunciation» (1579) made by master Fedusko from Sambor. The geography of now existing monuments of monumental painting covers only the western part of Ukrai- nian lands and the Zakarpattia. These Fresco ensembles are in the churches of Lutsk, Khotyn, Kholm, Vladimir. The same was typical for the easel painting. Unfortu- nately, the works of iconography of that period are now present only in the western part of Ukraine — in Gali- chyna, in the Lemko and Boiko regions. The eastern regions and the centre of Ukraine lost almost all their artistic heritage of icons. The easel painting of this period reflected the characteristics of the monumental painting in itself. However, the technical means of describing, the deviation from the Byzantine canons, the epic effect contributed to the birth and maturation of realistic tendencies in the iconography of that period. Since the second half of the XIV-th century a portrait took the leading position in the Ukrainian art. The iconography and the European Renaissance culture had a great influence on the formation of its stylistic, artistic and technical characteristics. The most

229 common manifestations of this genre were three types of portraits: – the so-called «donatorski» (from Lat. Donator — a donator); builders of a temple with a building model in the hands; customers of any sculpture or painting were depicted on them; there also were people who had unselfishly invested into the culture; – the so-called «nadtrunni» images were performed in the style of icons; – formal portraits appeared in the early XVII-th century. A man at full length on the background of columns, expensive draperies, a palace or exquisite landscape was described on them. This kind of portrait can be called a «representative» one, because on it a man was depicted as a representative of a specific social position. A typical example of such a portrait can be the «Portrait of Alexan- der Kornyakt (son)», done in the late 1620s. Thus, the main cultural products of the Ukrainian people in the XIV-th — the early XVII-th centuries gave us a possibility to characterize them as a distinct stage of the development of specific features, closely connected with the Renaissance humanist ideas. In the XV-th and XVI-th centuries a Galician school of icon painting appeared. During the Renaissance icons gradually left their rigidity and became more realistic. In Ukraine portrait painting as a separate genre emerged during the Renaissance (XVI-th century) and was strongly influenced by the icon tradition. The period of the XV-XVI-th centuries treated here undoubtedly belongs to the most original pages in the centuries-long history of the local iconographical school. From this period we have a remarkably great number of icons preserved, incomparably more than from the previous centuries, and they are distinctive for their high artistic quality. The art of the period under discussion knew at least seven presentation types of the Virgin with the Child. On most of the icons they are represented accompanied by the figures of the prophets or apostles, Joachim and

230 Anna and the Byzantine liturgical hymnographers. This feature, uncommon in North-East Rus’ and quite rare among the South Slavs and Greeks, is distinctive for the Western Ruthenian iconography. In painting changes came about gradually. Icons lost some of their flatness and stylization and were painted with more realistic rendering of facial features and with localized landscapes (e.g., the icon Transfiguration from Yabluniv, Kosiv region, Ivano-Frankivsk oblast). In the icon Kiss of Judas from the ‘Passion of Christ’ cycle in the Dormition Church in Lviv, the features of the apostles are individualized, and the figures are more three-dimensional. Portraits of patrons appeared alongside depictions of religious personages (e.g., the portrait of Petro Mohyla in the fresco Supplication [1644–6] in the Transfigura- tion Church in Berestove). Portraits of patrons and their family members without figures of saints came into existence with the rise of rich burghers. In the portrait of the Pochaiv Monastery patron A. Hoiska (ca 1597) the previous static representation and flattened rendering of the figure have given way to a more softly modeled head. Memorial portraits of patrons were usually done on dark backgrounds, and attention was concentrated on the modeling of faces (e.g., the portraits of J. Herburt [1578] and Konstiantyn Korniakt [1603]). Secular portraits of the ruling aristocracy and of the rich also gained in popularity. The portraits of K. Zbaraski and K. and O. Korniakt (early XVII-th century) are full-length formal depictions. The Renaissance style left its imprint on the furniture of the time and in the decorative arts, particularly in the more realistic rendering of plant motifs. The Easter shroud (1655) from the Kyivan Cave Monastery, with its embroidered silver and gold floral borders, is a fine example of the decorative art of the period. Architecture The development of architecture in the XIV-th century was significantly affected by the introduction of the Magdeburg Law into the life of cities. The Magdeburg Law

231 or Magdeburg Rights were a set of German town laws regulating the degree of internal autonomy within cities and villages granted by a local ruler. This fact made a great contribution into the growth of cities, building of castles and forts in the medieval style. At the same time the elements of Renaissance penetrated to the architecture. Many castles and fortresses were built in Po- dillya, Volyn, Galychyna (Kamenets-Podilskiy, Lutsk, Volodymyr-Volynskiy, Ostrog, Lviv, Khotyn, etc.). Cities of the ancient Eastern Ukraine were typically fortified with wooden structures, earthen mounds, ram- parts and ditches (Bratslav, Uman, Cherkasy, Cherni- hiv, etc.). The style of the late Renaissance was of the highest development in the architecture in the second half of the XVI-th — early XVII-th century. The most known buildings of this style are the architectural sights of Lviv, such as the Lviv High Castle (or Lviv Cas- tle Hill), the Hepner building «Black stone» (1570), the tower built due to the expense of the Greek merchant and philanthropist Kornyakt, etc. In the visual arts and architecture the term Rena- issance refers to the style that replaced the prevailing Gothic style of the Middle Ages. Based on a deliberate return to the art and architecture of classical antiquity, it reached Ukraine in the early XVI-th century and was popular there until the mid-XVII-th century. It became most widespread in Galicia (particularly in Lviv) where it was introduced by Italian and Swiss architects employed by local magnates, burghers, and church brotherhoods. Its development paralleled that of cities and towns and their expanding political and economic roles. Some of the earliest examples of the Renaissance style in Ukraine are the Church of the Epiphany in Ostrih (rebuilt in 1521) and the synagogue in Sataniv (1532). In secular architecture its influences can be seen in the application of classical systems of articulation of walls and in the harmonious proportions of the rebuilt castles in Kamianets-Podilskyi (1541–4; photo: Kamianets- Podilskyi castle), Stare Selo (photo: Stare Selo castle) and

232 Olesko in Lviv oblast (photo: Olesko castle), and Berez- hany (1554; photo: Berezhany castle) in Ternopil oblast. Rusticated stones and pilasters were used in the Black Building; the Korniakt building is a smooth masonry construction with pedimented windows in the upper floors and the only inner-courtyard arcaded loggia in Ukraine. Other examples of Renaissance architecture are the buildings of the Dormition Church in Lviv; the Kampian family chapel, completed in 1619 by Paolo Ro- manus; the Boim family chapel (1609–11), which has an elaborately carved entablature and a façade pro- fusely decorated with carved ornaments and relief figures that hide the underlying classical structure; and the Roman Catholic Bernardine Church (1600–30), built by Romanus and Amvrosii Prykhylny, which incorporates baroque elements and is thus an example of a transitional building. The Renaissance had less impact on Ukrainian architecture outside Galicia, because there was little new masonry construction at the time. As old churches were rebuilt, some elements of the late Renaissance were used, but most of these buildings have not survived or were later altered. Saint Elijah’s Church (1653) in Subotiv, founded by Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, combined the northern Renaissance style with baroque elements. Sculpture During the Renaissance sculpture flourished. In Lviv it may be seen in the ornamental and relief carvings of the Black Building, the Korniakt building, and the Kampian and Boim chapels. Their portals and windows are framed with columns and pilasters with elaborately carved plant motifs. The frieze on the exterior walls of the Dormition Church in Lviv has a variety of carved rosettes, sun- flowers, grapevines, and figures in the metopes, as does the Kampian Chapel. The façade of the Boim Chapel is covered with relief carvings executed by a group of craftsmen headed by H. Scholtz; it included Jan Pfister, later one of the best-known sculptors in Lviv.

233 Iconostases were constructed with classical orders and carved plant motifs. The oldest surviving iconostasis, from the Dormition Church in Lviv (1630), is now in the church in Velyki Hrybovychi, Zhovkva region, Lviv oblast. The iconostasis of the Church of Good Fri- day in Lviv is another beautiful example of intricate late Renaissance carving in Ukraine. Memorial tombs were decorated with sculptures of figures in armor reclining or semi-reclining in traditional Renaissance architectural settings similar to those found in northern Italian tombs. Examples include the tombs of Prince Kostiantyn Ostrozky (1579), at the Kyivan Cave Monastery; of M. Herburt, in the Roman Catholic cathedral in Lviv, by the Nuremberg master P. Laben- wolf; of O. Lahodovsky (1573), in Univ; of the Sieniawski family (ca 1573–1642), in Berezhany, by Jan Pfister; and of K. Ramultova, in Drohobych. In book decoration geometric designs gave way to three-dimensional plant motifs. The Peresopnytsia Gospel (1555–61) echoes some aspects of Italian Renais- sance ornamentation. The engravings in the Lviv Aposto- los (1574), particularly the rendering of the Apostle Luke, are a combination of German Renaissance traditions and Ukrainian-Byzantine influences. In the early XVII-th century the centre of engraving shifted from the presses in Lviv (Lviv Dormition Brotherhood Press) and Ostrih (see Ostrih Press) to the Kyivan Cave Monastery Press. It became famous not only for its religious publications, but also for its illustrations of historical themes, portraits, and town plans. The gradual shift from Byzantine iconography and stylization to more realistic representation may be seen in the wood engravings in Kasiian Sa- kovych’s book of verses (1622) published on the occasion of the death of Hetman Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny. The city of Pochaiv (9 thousand residents) is famous for the fact that it is the place of one of the most distinguished Christian sanctuaries of Ukraine. Tra- ditionally, it is considered that Pochaiv Lavra is situated in Pochaiv. However, a glimpse at the city from

234 the hill (386 m high), upon which stands the Dormition Cathedral will be enough to understand that the city is situated beside the Lavra. The life of all neighbouring territories, both in spiritual and political sense, is subordinated to the rhythm of the Pochaiv Dormition Lavra. This island of Orthodox Christianity of Moscow patriarchy looks particularly original in the lands of predomi- nantly Greek-Catholic Ternopil region. Pochaiv is a pilgrimage due to the relics of Saint Job Pechersky (Zhalizo) and Saint Amphilochios. The first one took monastic vows when he was 12. On invitation of the Prince of Ostrog he first arrived in the monastery in Dubno, and after the death of his protector moved to Pochaiv where he was elected Father Superior. It was he who converted the monastery from a hermitage into Lavra. Job was a very modest man, however, according to recollections of his contemporaries, his inner force quickly made him a leader. During his manage- ment the monastery acquired its luster and glory. Job died in 1651 at the age of 100. Eight years later, when his tomb was opened, his body was very well preserved. It was then that Job was canonized. First written reference to Pochaiv dates from 1450. Ac- cording to a legend, the monastery proper was founded by the monks of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra who came to these lands after the capital city of Kyivan Rus’ was ruined by the Mongol-Tatars in 1240. At that time the Virgin Mary appeared within a fire post before several people on the hill. On the rock where she stood she left the imprint of her foot. It was explained that the appearance of the Virgin was a message: Rus would rise from the ashes. Today it is impossible to see this place because the foundation of the temple is forty centimeters above the ground. A wonder- working spring flows from under the stone. The Lavra’s main sacred object is the icon of God’s Mother of Pochaiv, which is kept at the Dormition Cathedral. The Greek metropolitan Neophyte, on his way to Moscow, brought this icon to Ukraine in 1559. As a token of gratitude for hos- pitality he presented it to the noblewoman Anna Hoiska.

235 Thanks to the icon her brother P. Kozynsky, sick from birth, recovered his sight. A. Hoiska handed the icon over to the temple, and bequeathed to the monastery part of her property. True, some time later, her nephew Andriy Ferley tried to seize both the icon and the bequeathed property. The mystic events that happened to him and his wife afterwards made them abandon their attempts. The well-known adventurer and rich man, Kaniv’s head, Mikola Potocki, made a considerable contribution to the development of Lavra. It was due to his financial support that the Dormition Cathedral (architect G. Hoff- man) came into being. Construction lasted from 1771 to 1791. Some sources report that Potocki spent 2.5 million ztoties. The temple can admit six thousand. Some- times Potocki’s generosity is linked with a legend. They say that when he was passing by the temple, his car- riage broke. Beside himself with rage the lord wanted to kill his coachman. However, his pistol misfired again and again. On seeing that his servant was praying fer- vently looking at the Lavra he was struck by what had happened. Then he decided to build a new magnificent temple. Mural paintings in the church were executed by the artists such as L. Dolynsky, G. Bosse, I. Gorbu- nov, Ye. Vasiliev, S. Verkhovtsev. Thanks to M. Potocki’s efforts the icon of God’s Mother of Pochaiv was crowned with magnificent garments consecrated by Pope Clement XIV. Now the icon is found over the holy gates; during a liturgy it is lowered closer to believers. From the early XVIII-th century the monastery was under the care of the basilican fathers. However, due to the fact that the monks upheld the participants in the Polish rising against Russian regime, the czar passed the monastery on to the Or- thodox community. In 1869 the temple was destroyed by a conflagration. Russian czars gave much consideration to Pochaiv Lavra. Three of them — Nicholas I, Alexander II and Alexander III — visited the monastery. Nicholas II’s visit was impeded by the First World War and the Bolshevik revolution.

236 In Soviet times part of the monastery premises was confiscated. Today the cathedral preserves the portraits of its greatest benefactors. The most vivid ornament of the temple is the majestic iconostasis made in 1861 after the design of architect G. Gosse on czar Alexander II’s order. The authors of the icons (32) are the artists M. Lavrov, I. Gorbunov, and Ye. Vasiliev. The Lavra’s bell tower (65 m. high) was built in 1862– 71 (architect K. Rastukhanov). It has five tiers. Among numerous bells the biggest one weighs about 12 tons. The genre of historical folk songs and dumas The genre of historical folk songs and dumy emerged in this period. Dumy are heroic epic poems, which were sung. It emerged in Ukraine during the Cossack Het- manate during 1649–1775, possibly based on earlier Kievan epic forms, which make up the heroic epic of modern Ukraine had its origin. They tell about battles with Turks and Tartars that occurred through XIV-th to XVII-th centuries.The first recording of duma was made in the XVI-th century. They were performed by blind mendicant minstrels called kobzari or lirnyky, depending on the instrument they played. The minstrels were professional performers organized in guilds, which had their own laws, territories and language. Considering the professional stature of performers and the complexity of both duma text and duma music this was the folk version of high art, a somber genre, used not just for entertainment, but for spiritual impact. Dumy were songs built around historical events, many dealing with the military actions in some form. Embedded in these historical events were religious and moralistic elements. There are themes of the struggle of the Cossacks against enemies of different faiths or events occurring on religious feast-days. Although the narratives of the dumy mainly revolve around war — the dumy themselves do not promote courage in battle. The dumy impart a moral message, in which one should conduct oneself properly in the relationships with the family, the community, and the church.

237 Buildings In Ukraine the building of defensive works — castles, fortresses, shaft round cities and villages for protection against attacks of Turkish armies and Crimean-Tatar hordes got the wide scope. Local magnates used the castles for personal safety and serfs retention in obedience. Cossacks showed a lot of ingenuity at strengthenings construction of Zaporizhizhian Host, which for some centuries remained as a military outpost in the south and very often perceived the blows of the Tatar hordes from the Crimean khanate, which bordered with Zaporizhzhian earths. Zaporizhzhian Cossacks used the place for construction of the Host strengthenings (rivers and bogs), dug ditches, filled shaft over which wooden towers with guns towered. Zaporizhzhian Host was unapproachable for enemies on the island Chertomlyk or Bazavluk on Dnepro (near the modern city Nikopol in Dnepropetrovsk region). Already mentioned fortress Kodak (1635) was constructed under the project of French engineer Guillaume Bopla- na over Dnepro on the right high coast of the river. From the land the fortress was enclosed by the deep ditch, in which bottom the pointed oak piles, and the earthen shaft in 1800 m length with bastions in 4 corners were punched in. By then the fortress was considered as the first class work of fortification art. The Ukrainian architects constructed churches of stone, monastic buildings, houses for rich people, city top and foremen. They united original style with the best achievements of Renaissance. In Lviv on the national basis and in accordance with the Renaissance style the building of the known brotherhood figure Konstantin Kornyakt (1580) and Uspensky church (1598–1630), in Kyiv — Artemih’s house (the beginning of the XVII-th century) on Podol were constructed. Named constructions decorated the area of the Market in Lviv and Podol centre in Kyiv. A number of architectural ensembles were restored in Kyiv after Mongol-Tatars invasion (the Pechersky monastery, the Sofia cathedral, Kirillovsky monastery, etc.). The Polish and Ukrainian magnates built the stone palaces.

238 Churches and palaces were decorated with wood- carving, wall painting, stone and wooden sculptures. The iconostasises of many churches made by national handy- man, were the real masterpieces of art. The Ukrainian masters achieved the great successes in moulding from copper and tin and art metals processing. Bells, guns, sabres, lanterns, bowls, candlesticks were decoratively made out. Incrustation (furnish) by gold, silver, jewels, etc., was widely used. Handymen showed the uncommon skill in subjects of daily use decorating: ware, clothes, saddles, harness for horses, carts, sledge, boats. Questions for self-control 1. Where did the Renaissance begin? 2. What main types of buildings were constructed at that time? 3. Did dance become a mark of social distinction or equality? 4. What famous painters of the Renaissance do you know? 5. What is Ukrainian culture of the XIV–XVII-th centuries characterized by? 6. What were the educational traditions of Kievan Rus’? 7. What were the main subjects of Ukrainian painting of this period? 8. How can you describe Ukrainian dumas?

2.6. The Culture of New Time and Enlightenment Modern Age — is an epoch from the XVII-th to the late XIX-th century. It is the historic epoch during which Western European countries culture got that developed form, which marked Europe out from the other world and defines it now as a special kind of culture. The features of New European culture began to reveal itself in the XVII-th century. The Reformation started during the Renaissance and gave the way to rethink the dog- mata of Christianity. The Protestantism itself confirmed

239 the possibility of different views on the Religious texts (also known as scripture, scriptures, holy writ, or holy books). The spiritual atmosphere in the society was changed under the influence of the English Revolution (or Civil War) in the XVII-th century and then the French Revolution in the XVIII-th. They were the signs of beginning a new era in the history of Europe and establishing of new European culture. The heart of life, industrial, cultural, social and cultural activity, moved to cities. Different forms of industrial activity started to develop. Along those changes in activity changes in social communications took place. Old relations of private human being dependence on a human being were broken, «a great family» disappeared but a free autonomous individual showed up. It resulted in speeding up temps of life, social dynamics increasing. Great changes in the development of scientific natural history and philosophy took place. Thus, Galileo Gali- lei (an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revo- lution) was the first to pay attention to the development of methodology of science. He is the father of the idea that science must rely upon observations, experiments and use of mathematical terminology. On this base Isaac Newton (English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian) created classical mechanics and famous philosophers of the XVII-th century — Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, René Des- cartes, Benedict de Spinoza (Baruch Spinoza), Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and others — liberated philosophy from scholasticism and turned it to science. The base of the philosophic cognition became not a implicit belief, but the intellect depended on logic and facts. Essential progress was made in other spheres of spiritual life too: – art in its modern form appeared. It is secular and autonomous in its development; – a novel as a literary genre, opera, modern theatre, architecture of typical buildings, industrial architecture were born;

240 – national Academies of Sciences were created, first newspapers and journals, city transport appeared. Eventually all these affairs found their display in the new outlook: – the world is considered as an object influenced by human’s activity and a human being is looked at as a subject; – the world is shown as a mechanism, exactly a mechanical watch; – a man must get to know this mechanism and master it (a slogan «knowledge is power» is significant then); – nature is divided into animate nature and abiocoen (not-animate nature), but both of them are only a base for growing human’s power; – at last they think that a human being relying on reason must transform the environment of its vital activity doing it top optimal. In the XVII-th century the other specific feature of culture of Modern Age — its multinationality, multilingualism took its origin. Middle Age Latin gave way to national languages, and this fact, on the one hand, enriched European culture with traditions and experience of folk art, on the other made achievements of culture more common to the peoples of Europe. Development of national cultures started and it became the basis of general European culture, united in its diversity. Painters P. Rubens, Rembrandt van Rijn, J. Velazquez, F. Goya, N. Poussin, playwrights Lope de Vega, J.-B. Moliere, a composer Karl Gluck, the «father of the new pedagogy» John Amos Comenius — creative work of every of these XVII-th century geniuses is national and, at the same time, is the achievement of the whole European culture in general. In European countries original art schools and literary trends appeared. Two great artistic styles in European art of that time — the Baroque and the Classicism — are differently reflected in them. The flowering of European culture was the result of interchange between cultural achievements of Europe- an countries. Contacts and interaction of cultures is one of the important conditions of cultural progress, which put Europe forward during the Modern Age.

241 To avoid labels that call attention to political, religious, or social issues in the period, it is called «The Age of Baroque and Enlightenment», a title that calls attention to the two pervasive cultural movements of the age, movements that had far-reaching effects on intellectual life and the arts. Like the term «Gothic», the word «Baroque» was originally used to condemn the arts of seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century Europe. The word may derive from a Portuguese word barroco that had long been used to describe pearls that were rough and heavily en- crusted with sediment. Or its origins might lie in the Italian baroco, a term that referred to a thorny problem in logic. Its use can be first traced to the 1730s, when it began to be used almost simultaneously to describe both music and architecture that were heavily ornamented or overly complex. In the first century and a half after the word «Baroque» entered into European languages, it was universally applied in a negative way, a term of derision that attacked the prevalence of ornate decoration in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The origins of these judgments lay in the new spirit of neoclassicism, a more restrained movement in art and architecture that began to flourish in the mid-eighteenth century. The chief elements of this Ba- roque style, derived from an underlying spirit of creativity that had shaped the arts in Baroque Europe as defi- nitely as a Gothic or Renaissance spirit had molded those of the periods that preceded it. Baroque era flourished in Europe between 1600 and 1750 in art, architecture, and music displaying both great variety and certain common underlying characteristics. Architecture In art and architecture the rise of the Baroque style can be traced to the city of Rome, and to forces that were at work there around 1600. One of the most important sources of inspiration for sponsoring this new style in the visual arts and architecture was the Catho-

242 lic Reformation and its search for an art that might provide a clear and forceful statement of religious truth and at the same time stir the emotions of the faithful. Al- though Baroque artists were often united in their aims of fulfilling these demands, the directions their creativity took them were still extremely varied. In architecture, too, the developing style admitted both the more classically inspired works of Gianlorenzo Bernini alongside the tempestuous and willful designs of Francesco Borromini. Despites such disparities, certain common features can be seen in the new architectural monuments of the age. These included a new sense of movement in buildings, a flow that was created through curved lines and spaces that frequently invited admirers to walk around these structures. Baroque buildings were often created on a massive scale that was intended to awe the viewer; yet despite their size, a coherent unity was achieved in the best of these structures by massing many complex decorative elements to grant them a sense of dramatic climax. This new architectural language was often imposing, larger than life, and it came to be preferred by many seventeenth-century kings and princes since it gave expression to their pretensions and desires to exercise absolute authority over their states. Yet as Ba- roque architecture made its way from Italy to Northern Europe it also developed numerous regional variations, and frequently encountered resistance from native forces that resisted its attractions. Thus, there was multiplicity of architectural styles that co-existed in Baroque-era Europe. Arts In Roman painting, the Baroque embraced the classical naturalism of figures like Annibale Carracci, the gritty realism of Michelangelo da Caravaggio, and the sweeping and swirling complexities of Pietro da Cortona. Somewhat later in Northern Europe, the divergent paths of the visual arts similarly produced the monu- mentally dramatic paintings of Rubens, and the quiet

243 intimacy and inwardness of Rembrandt and other Dutch painters. During this time we can see the formation and development of new genres in painting: a landscape, a portrait and still-life art. The leading national art schools of the XVII-th century were Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, French. The Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens (1547–1640) was one of the greatest artists of the past. His works reflect the Baroque style most vividly. He was one of the most educated people of his time, he was an expert of ancient culture, a philologist (knew six languages, including Latin) and a humanist. Rubens was a proli- fic seventeenth-century Flemish and European painter, and a proponent of an exuberant Baroque style that emphasized movement, colour, and sensuality. He is well- known for his Counter-Reformation altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects. In addition to running a large studio in Antwerp that produced paintings popular with nobility and art collectors throughout Europe, Rubens was a classically-educated humanist scholar, art collector, and diplomat who was knighted by both Philip IV, king of Spain, and Charles I, king of England. The realistic tendency in the art of the XVII-th century is represented first of all by the Dutch artist Rem- brandt (1606–1669). He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history and the most important in Dutch history. His contributions to art came in a period that historians call the Dutch Golden Age. Having achieved youthful success as a portrait painter, his later years were marked by personal tragedy and financial hardship. Yet his drawings and paintings were popular throughout his lifetime, his reputation as an artist remained high and for twenty years he taught nearly every important Dutch painter. Rembrandt’s greatest creative triumphs are exemplified especially in his portraits of his contemporaries, self-portraits and illustrations of scenes from

244 the Bible. The self-portraits form a unique and intimate biography, in which the artist surveyed himself without vanity and with the utmost sincerity. Music In music, the production of the first operas in Flo- rence around 1600, and somewhat later in other Italian cities, has similarly been seen as a «defining moment» in fashioning Baroque music. In contrast to the polyphonic music popular in the late Renaissance, in which many musical lines were simultaneously sung or played, the new operas, cantatas, and oratorios of the emerging Baroque style often favoured the solo voice. Opera, one of the most popular of the Baroque arts, arose from the attempt of late-Renaissance humanists to recreate the dramatic intensity and power of ancient tragedies, which these scholars believed had been entirely sung. The rise of the new art at the end of the Renais- sance also helped to sponsor the use of the basso continuo, or «figured bass» style of composition, an innovation that became one of the defining features of Baroque music. In this technique a composer wrote out the melody line and the lowest note of the accompanying bass. Through notated figures entered above the bass tone, the accompanying ensemble, keyboard, or lute player, derived the other notes that accompanied the melody in chords. This use of basso continuo first flourished in opera, but soon it was almost universally adapted in the ensemble instrumental music of the Baroque era. And although operas began primarily as an elite pastime in Italy’s courts, they soon escaped from those rarefied circles to become one of the era’s most popular urban entertainments. New commercial opera houses appeared, first in Italy, but relatively quickly in northern Europe. But just as was the case in the visual arts and architecture, not every country was seduced by the new Italian medium. Eng- land resisted Italian opera until very late, although attempts were made by native composers like Henry Purcell to nourish the development of a native form. In France,

245 Italian opera was similarly resisted, despite the attempts of Louis XIV’s Italian-born minister Cardinal Mazarini to nourish its development in the 1650s. In most places, particularly in central Europe, Italian opera remained the clear leader throughout the VIII-th century, so much so that Mozart and other late eighteenth-century composers continued to write more works in Italian than in their native languages. Opera was perhaps the most quintessentially Ba- roque form of music since, like the era’s architecture, it satisfied a taste for imposing, monumental drama, and in its fondness for spectacular arias it nourished the age’s fascination with complex patterns of ornamentation and elaboration. At the same time, the musical genres and styles of Baroque were as varied as those evidenced in architecture and the visual arts. Great regional and national variations developed in Baroque-era music, most notably between the patterns of music composed and in the performance practices used in Italy and in France. While operas, oratorios, and cantatas satisfied the taste for vocal music that made use of tuneful, ornamented melodies, the old polyphonic music of the Renaissance did not die out. The polyphonic tradition, sometimes called the «old style» (stile antiche), persisted, and inspired some of the greatest musical writing of the age, including the fugues and polyphonic chorales of Johann Sebastian Bach, works that might be seen as the finest expression, and in many ways the culmination, of the lingering tradition of Renaissance polyphony. In music the Baroque era thus saw the persistence of the old, as well as the rise of the new, and it was these two factors working in tandem that inspired the great vitality of the art in this age. Literature In literature, the expansion and stylistic developments of the national languages continued apace in the seventeenth century. In most places, the triumph of native literature over the neo-Latin poetry and prose of the later Renaissance had already been assured by 1600. At the

246 same time the styles and rhetoric that flourished in Eng- land, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain were so various and divergent that a common classification of them as «Baroque» often seems meaningless. In every country the seventeenth century saw the vigorous publication of devotional texts, as well as newer forms of secular verse, fiction, and journalism; the steady increase in these secular genres continued in the eighteenth century. While some attempts have been made to classify certain writers of the era—figures like Martin von Opitz in Germany, Gi- ambattista Marino in Italy, or John Donne in England — as «Baroque poets», the lack of a common thread of style that was shared by these figures, and between them and other writers of the era, has discouraged the effort to establish a notion of a European «Baroque literature». In France, classicism, an effort to establish clear and distinct rules for the writing of prose and poetry based upon the models of the ancients, dominated many authors’ styles. In England, the later seventeenth century saw the appearance of the Augustan style, a clear, lucid, and relatively unadorned form of expression that continued to flourish throughout most of the eighteenth century. Thus, the dynamics of literary production in much of Europe ran counter to the Baroque aesthetic sensibility, with its fondness for ornamentation, drama, and complexity. In contrast to the melodic lines favoured by poets of the Elizabethan years, Donne’s verse was recognized for its forceful style that bristled with intellectual insights. His poems were difficult to understand, yet filled with re- warding conceits and metaphors for those that struggled to excavate their meanings. Most of the novels written in England to this time had made use of the autobiographical first-person narrative pioneered by Daniel Defoe around 1720. Samuel Richardson abandoned this form, which had been based on seventeenth-century spiritual autobiographies and confessions, and in Pamela he pioneered the «episto- lary style», in which the action is told through a series of letters. In the decades that followed he wrote a string

247 of «sentimental novels with an emphasis on emotions that might have a powerful effect on the human psyche. Dancing By the beginning of the Baroque era considerable development had already occurred in the art of dance throughout Europe, and dance was both a form of social entertainment and an art that was widely used to accompany theatrical productions. The staging of balls was a common diversion at European courts and among the wealthy societies of the Continent’s cities. At the same time dance played a vital role in the spectacles that were staged at Renaissance courts. During the sixteenth century these festivities had grown ever more complex, and kings and princes had come to hire an increasing number of professionals to dance and perform acrobatics in them. Musical theorists of the time came to realize that ancient tragedy had mixed dance, song, and other forms of music, and so in the developing operas of early Ba- roque Italy, dance eventually played a vital role. Ano- ther venue for theatrical dance in both Renaissance and Baroque Italy was the intermedio, an interlude that occurred between the various acts in a comedy or tragedy. The performance of songs and elaborate dances was a common feature of these intermedios. In late sixteenth-century France the ballets de cour, an elaborate type of royal entertainment, appeared that mixed song, dance, poetry, and pantomime together, while in England the masques, a form of court pageant introduced by the Tudor monarch Henry VIII, underwent a dramatic expansion and elaboration under the new Stuart kings. Both the masques and the ballets de cour treated loose themes or myths that served to link the various dances, songs, and tableaux together, but they were not usually integrated dramas that presented a single plot or story line. Rather loose ties and motifs served to bring together the hours of dancing and songs that these productions presented. Masques and ballets de cour, too, were ephemeral productions, that is, they

248 were performed once to satisfy a desire for spectacle and entertainment. Once staged, they were not revived, although music and dances from one production were sometimes adapted to later productions. The performers in these theatricals, too, were largely drawn from the members of the court, although professional dancers and acrobats sometimes were hired to aug- ment their participation. In France, the Bourbon kings Henry IV, Louis XIII, and Louis XIV danced in these spectacles, usually performing in the concluding ballet that drew the evening’s entertainment to a close. While the Pu- ritans were largely to outlaw masques in England during the period of the Commonwealth (1640–1660), the ballets de cour survived in France, and had become by the late seventeenth century a popular art form in royal circles. The ideas of Enlightenment thinkers came to fruition in the second half of the eighteenth century in the emergence of new forms of ballet that attempted to convey meaning, drama, and the human emotions, eventually giving birth to a new genre known as the ballet d’action, a dance containing an entire integrated story line. The rise of the new form soon met resistance, although Enlighten- ment arbiters of tastes like the philosophes weighed in mightily on the side of these new art forms. The late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries had produced a number of notable dancers, but their careers and reputations were soon eclipsed by many new stars. Louis Dupre (1697–1774), a dancer, who first debuted at the Paris Opera in 1714, continued to perform there until his sixties. In 1743 he became a director of the Opera’s school, and in this position he trained many of the great dancers of the later eighteenth century. Dupre was responsible for expanding the virtuosity of performance, and his gracefulness and physique were widely admired. Two ballerinas of the period, Marie-Anne Cupis de Ca- margo (1710–1770; Paris Opera debut 1726) and Marie Salle (1707–1756; Paris Opera debut 1727) were noteworthy for expanding the repertoire of steps and leaps practiced by women and for reforming the conventions that

249 governed female performance. Camargo was apparently the first ballerina to practice two leaps, the pas battu and the entrechat, previously reserved for men, an achievement that caused the philosophe Voltaire to observe that she was the «first woman to dance like a man». She was also the first woman ballerina to dance in slippers rather than heeled shoes, and she shortened the length of her skirt so that she could perform more difficult steps. Perhaps the most influential performer and choreographer of the entire eighteenth century was Jean- Georges Noverre (1727–1810), a reformer who was controversial in his own day but who helped to transform the character of ballet in the second half of the eighteenth century. Noverre took up the Enlightenment’s call to create new forms of ballet that conveyed greater meaning and emotional depth. While he did not create the genre of ballet d’action singlehandedly, he was so vital to its development that he has long been accorded the title «Fa- ther of the Ballet». For inspiration, Noverre turned to the pantomime ballets that had been performed in London and Paris with increasing frequency in the first half of the eighteenth century. Noverre fused these elements together in his works, and in a long and varied career he attempted to establish a philosophical underpinning to the ballet d’action that was consonant with the En- lightenment’s demands for a more meaningful art. No- verre argued that dancers should abandon the elaborate costumes and trappings that hid their expressions from the audience, and that they should become adept, not only at the repertoire of steps that comprised their art, but in the skills of pantomime that might allow them to convey the human emotions and to tell a story. The Baroque (from the Italian Barocco — amazing, bizarre) is a style of art in some European countries, mainly in Spain, Flanders (in a very specific, the most realistic way), in Germany, France and other countries, that evolved in the XVII-th and the first half of the XVIII-th century. Style name is derived from the Italian Baroque-strange and fanciful, intricate. This style spread throughout

250 Europe and America in the XVII-th century. Architectural forms were magnificent, dynamic, free in the elegant interiors of many decorative architectural shapes, sculptures and paintings. The art was characterized by special reflection of the light and shadows. The birthplace of the Baroque style of architecture was Rome. The new style first established in church architecture. The architecture of this era influenced the growth of cities, construction of smart homes. Royal palaces and villas with majestic ensemble parks showed the power and wealth of the aristocracy, the nobles comfortable palaces, religious buildings were decorated with frescoes, the interior walls — with rich fabrics, in the parks ornate fountains were built. Baroque art is characterized by the abundance of external effects and elements. Figure drawing and group shows solemn expressions of sensual. In the XVII-th century, painting took a special place in art. Ba- roque expanded the range of the depicted objects, enriched this field of art new genres. Artists love the warm colours and delicate colour transitions, they drew the play of light and shadow, contrasts of light and darkness, much attention is paid to the materialist picture. An integral part of baroque architecture is sculpture. They decorated the facades of buildings and interior spaces. Baroque decorative sculpture, emotionally complement the architecture of buildings and ensembles. The park was decorated with groups of sculptures on ancient stories, in the squares of the monuments were installed rulers, they enlivened the fountains and stairways. The word «Baroque» is of the Italian origin, literally means «strange», «bizarre». This name corresponds to the very features of the main stylistic trends in European art since the late XVI-th century — mid XVIII-th century. In the history of art in the XIX-th and especially XX-th century the term «baroque» begins to denote all the Euro- pean art of the XVII–XVIII-th centuries. Baroque art has developed and flourished in Italy where a leading architect and sculptor L. Bernini, the painter, the head of democratic realism of Caravaggio, Carracci brothers worked.

251 The followers of academic and other Baroque style were associated with the nobility and the church culture, the heyday of absolutism. Baroque was intended to glorify the power of the church and the secular aristocracy, gravitated toward the front of solemnity and pomp. Dur- ing this period there is a flourishing of architecture in the establishment of urban ensembles and grand palace and park complexes (Cathedral and St. Peter’s Square in Rome, formed a colonnade of Bernini (1657–1663)). Fun- damental feature of the Baroque can be regarded as the desire for the synthesis of art, combined in one ensemble of architecture, sculpture, paintings and decorative arts. In the fine art this period was dominated by stories based on a dramatic conflict — a religious, mythological or allegorical character. The feature of Baroque is noncompli- ance with the Renaissance harmony for the sake of a more emotional contact with the audience. Great importance acquired compositional effects, expressed in bold contrasts of scale, colour, light and shadow. But at the same baroque artists strive to achieve unity of colour and rhythm, a picturesque whole. Baroque became widespread in Flanders (the famous representatives of the Ba- roque in Flanders — P.P. Rubens, F. Snyders, J. Jordae- ns, A. van Dijk), in Spain, Portugal, southern Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, in Western Ukraine, in Lithuania. In France, Baroque merged with classicism in a single magnificent style. One of the dominant styles in European art and architecture in the end of XVI-th — mid-XVIII-th centuries baroque firmly established in an era of intense composition of nations and nation states (mainly the absolute monarchies). Baroque embodied new notions of unity, infinity and diversity of the world, its dramatic complexity and variability of eternal interest in the real environment of the human natural elements of baroque replaced the humanistic artistic culture of the Renaissance and Mannerist art sophisticated subjectivism. Rejecting the inherent culture of the classical Renaissance ideas about harmony and the strict laws of being, of limitless possibilities of man,

252 his will and mind, the aesthetics of the Baroque was based on conflicting rights and peace, ideal and sensible principles, reason and the power of irrational forces. Man in the art of the Baroque presents multi-faceted personality, with a complex inner world, involved in the cycle of conflict and the environment. For Baroque art is characterized by the grandeur, opulence and dynamics, pa- thetic excitement, the intensity of feelings, a passion for spectacular, combining the illusory and real, strong contrasts of scale and rhythms, materials and textures, light and shadow. Synthesis of the arts in the Baroque, which is of a comprehensive nature and affects virtually all sectors of society (from the state and the aristocracy to the urban poor and peasantry in part), it is peculiar solemn, monumental-decorative unity that capture the imagination with its scope. Urban ensemble, street, square, park, mansion — were understood as an organized, growing in the space of an artistic whole, diverse unfolding before the audience. Baroque palaces and churches due to luxurious, fancy plastic fronts, hectic game of light and shade, and complex curved outlines of the plans and bought the picturesque and dynamic and, as it flowed into the surrounding space. Front interiors of buildings were decorated with multicoloured baroque sculpture, sculpture, carvings, mirrors and murals illusory expanded space, and painting plafonds created the illusion yarvened vaults. In the fine art of baroque decorative compositions dominated by virtuoso religious, mythological or allegorical nature, formal portrait, emphasizing the privileged status of public rights. Idealization of the images combine them with the dynamics of violent, unexpected compositional and optical effects, the reality — the fantasy, religious affectation — with emphatic sensibility, and often with acute naturalness and material form, bordering on illusory. In the works of Baroque art real objects and materials (statues with real hair and teeth, the chapel of bones, etc.). In painting, the importance of becoming emotional, rhythmic and colouristic unity of the whole is often relaxed freedom of stroke, in sculpture — beautiful

253 fluidity of form, feeling variability of image formation, the wealth of perspectives and experiences. In Italy — the home of baroque — some of its assumptions and practices emerged in the XVI-th century into the easel and decorative painting by Correggio, Caravaggio’s art, buildings, J. Vignoles (the type of early baroque Church), a sculpture Giambologna. The most complete and vivid embodiment of the Baroque style found in the full religious affectation and sensual works of architect and sculptor, L. Bernini, the architect F. Borromini, the painter Pietro da Cortona. Late Italian Baroque evolved to the fantastic structures G. Gvarini, bravura painting of St. Rose, and A. Magnasco, dizzying lightness of paintings by JB Te- popo. In Flanders, attitude, born of the Netherlands bourgeois revolution of 1566–1602, contributed to the art of baroque powerful life-affirming realistic beginning (painting by P.P. Rubens, Van Dyck, J. Jordaens). In Spain in the XVII-th century some features of Baroque architecture stood out in the austere school X.B. de Her- rera, a realistic painting X. de Ribera and Zurbaran F., sculpture, X. Montanes. In the XVIII-th century in buildings X.B. de Churrigery forms Baroque reached extraordinary complexity and sophistication of the decorative (more hypertrophied in the ultrabarokko of Latin Ameri- ca). Baroque style was a kind of interpretation in Austria, where it combined with the trends of rococo (architect I.B. Fischer von Erlach and Hildebrandt IL, painter FA Maulberch), and the absolutist states of Ger- many (architect and sculptor B. Neumann, A. Schluter, MD Peppepman brothers Azam, the family architect. Dintsenhofer also works in the Czech Republic), Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Western Ukraine, Lithuania. In France, where the leading style in the XVII-th century was classicism, Baroque remained until mid- century side-passage, but with the triumph of absolutism, both directions are merged into a single, the so-called pompous, great style (decoration of halls of Versailles, the paintings Charles Lebrun). The term «Baroque» is sometimes wrongly distributed the entire artistic culture of the

254 XVII-th century, including the phenomenon, far from the baroque in content and style (for example, «Naryshkin- skaya baroque» or «Moscow Baroque», in Russian architecture of the end of the XVII-th century). In many European countries in the XVII-th century there developed national realistic school based on both techniques of Caravaggio and local artistic traditions of realism. They are most clearly expressed in a kind of unique works of great masters (J. Velazquez in Spain, F. Hals, J. Vermeer Delft, Rem- brandt in Holland, etc.), fundamentally different, and sometimes deliberately opposed the concepts of Baroque art. In Russia, the development of Baroque art, which reflected the growth and strengthening of the nobility of the absolute monarchy, falls on the I-st half of the XVIII-th century. Baroque style in Russia was free from exaltation and mysticism (typical for the art of Catholic countries) and had a number of national peculiarities. Russian baroque architecture, which reached the grand sweep of urban and manor ensembles of St. Petersburg, Peterhof (Petrodvorets), Tsarskoe Selo (Pushkin) and others, differs solemn clarity and integrity of the composition of buildings and architectural complexes (architect MG Zemtsov, B. Rastrelli, D. Ukhtomsky), visual arts appealed to the secular, social themes, portrait painting was developed throughout the Baroque period. So, it marked the rise of monumental art and decorative art, closely related to architecture. The art of this artistic style tends to the majesty, pa- thetic of feelings, dramatic character of transmission of complex emotions, and, however, is characterized by some disappointment in the humanistic ideals of the Renais- sance, tends to some trends in the Gothic style. The latter is explained by the influence of the Catholic Church that played a great role in the era of Counter-Reformation. Decorative compositions of religious, mythological character, formal portraits dominated in painting, compositional and optical effects, colour and rhythmic unity, free, temperamental creative manner became of great importance.

255 In Italy, where Baroque was born, many outstanding painters worked. Among them thre were the founder of realism M. Caravaggio, leaders of academicism Car- racci brothers, the unsurpassed master of mural paintings G. Tiepolo. Cheerful, realistic principles were common for Baroque painting in Flanders (P. Rubens, A. van Dyck, F. Snyders). In France, Baroque merged into a single magnificent style with Classicism. Classicism (from Lat. classicus — exemplary) — is a style and trend in literature and art of the XVII-th — beginning of the XIX-th century. It applied to the ancient heritage as a model, an ideal norm. Focusing on ancient designs, Classicism declared the idea of civic duty and moral, pathos, submission of individuality to the interests of the nation and state. In the XVIII-th century Classicism was associated with Enlightenment and based on the ideas of French rationalism, conceptions of moral ideals, clear organization, logicality of images in literature (J.W. Goethe, F. Schiller, M.V. Lomonosov), architecture (J.A. Gabriel, V.I. Bazhenov, A.N. Voronikhin, C.I. Rossi), art (N. Poussin, J-L David, E. Falcone). The XVIII-th century is known as the Age of Enlight- enment (or simply the Enlightenment or Age of Reason). It defined key trends, which shaped the content of Euro- pean culture of Modern Age. A significant place in the culture of that period was occupied by the problems related to commercial, political, legal, moral principles of social life, with the search of the optimal forms its organization. Sentimentalism (also called maudlinism), and Romanti- cism (or the Romantic era/Period) appeared in the art. They are styles, which reflected different reactions of people to the new conditions of social life. Development of knowledge, growth of education are considered as the driving force of the social progress. The prestige of philosophy especially increased in this period. Such geniuses as G. Berkeley and D. Hume in Eng- land, F. Voltaire, J.-J. Rousseau, P. Holbach, D. Diderot

256 in France, I. Kant, J. Fichte, G. Hegel, L. Feuerbach in Germany did it. Their ideas became the base of classical European philosophy. During the whole Modern Age scientists and philosophers are «dominant influence» in the society. European culture in general got mainly the rational character. In the belles-lettres (fiction) realism became one of the main directions. The genre of novel had a great success with the public. It gave a broad multipronged image of reality (O. Balzac, E. Zola, Ch. Dickens and others.). In the visual arts religious themes fell back into the shadow. Romantic-heroic canvases (T. Gericault, E. Delacroix), a realistic portrait and landscape painting, scenes from life of people, genre art, satirical drawings, historical plots (F. Goya, J Ingres, K. Corot, F. Mil- let, G. Courbet and others) became widely spread. However, in the middle of the XIX-th century on the background of seemed positive prospects of social and economic, technical, and scientific process, signs of a future crisis of European culture appeared. Philosophi- cal works with the idea of irrationalism and pessimistic mood (A. Arthur Schopenhauer, S. Kyerkehor) were published. Disappointment in the ideals, loss of faith in the eternal values of life, loss of universally social, moral and aesthetic guiding lines were vividly displayed in Europe- an art of the late XIX-th century. Salon painting appeared then and a viewer enjoyed beauty and delicacy, of ornamental landscapes and nude «Venuses». Attempts to display a fleeting visual impressions gene- rated by unstable conditions and phenomena of the environment were embodied in paintings of impressionism. Impressionism (from French) as a separate direction art appeared in the 1860s (the works of French artists E. Manet, O. Renoir, E. Degas). Development of this direction is associated with the system of plein air (C. Monet, C. Pissarro, A. Sisley, K. Korovin et al.). The artists tried to represent the impression of the environment in their works. For this they created an illusion of light and air made by artistic means, using optical mixing of colours

257 without mixing them on the palette. As an artistic outlook Impressionism was perceived by sculptors (A. Ro- din, M. Rosso, P.P. Trubetskoy), musicians (C. Debussi, J.-M. Ravel) and poets (K. Hamsun, I. F. Annenskiy, etc.) in the late XIX-th — early XX-th century. The negative attitude to the world of bourgeois values forced many writes to start describing the exotic character of faraway countries or distant past, travels and adventures in the neo-romanticism style. The heroes of such books were bright and strong personalities (A. Dumas, R.L. Stevenson). Symbolism became popular in all forms of art. It gave the works a touch of mysticism and enigma (for example, a well-known picture of A. Böcklin «Island of the Dead»). In 1880’s the term «decadence» (a French magazine of that time was named this way) became fashionable. Decadents talked about the twilight of culture, degradation of morality and art. They began to interpret Decadence as a mood of tiredness, pessimism, despair, a sense of destruction and decline of culture. Cossack and Hetman Culture of Ukraine in the XVII–XVIII-th centuries Ukrainian culture of this period reached a relatively high level. It was developed in controversial circumstances, which gave it the following specific features: – Zaporozhian Cossacks had largely determined the directions of economic, political and cultural development and the formation of Ukrainian national consciousness for three centuries; – The development of education in the Left Bank and Slobodian Ukraine (Sloboda Ukraine or Slobids’ka Ukrayina, a historical region, which developed and flourished in the XVII-th and XVIII-th centuries on the southwestern frontier of the Tsardom of Russia) was done on the basis of common Russian reforms. On the territory of Western Ukraine, which was under Polish domination, there were fraternal schools, supported by Ukrain- ian brotherhoods);

258 – An important role in development of education and expansion of knowledge was played by the so-called «collegiums», including the Kharkiv collegium, founded in 1721, the Lviv University and Kyiv-Mohyla Academy; – Printing, including printing of Kiev Pechersk La- vra (Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, also known as the Kiev Mo- nastery of the Caves, is a historic Orthodox Christian monastery) played an important part in the development of education in Ukraine; – Zaporizhian Sich played an important role as the centre of folk art, music, singing; – The activity of G.S. Skovoroda, a prominent Ukrain- ian philosopher, thinker, educator, writer, musician and teacher, was a significant contribution to the process of defining national identity of the Ukrainian culture; – The development of baroque architecture in Ukra- ine had a special artistic value (it was developed, on the one hand, under the influence of the aesthetics of the European Baroque, on the other, was based on the forms and structures borrowed from the authentic wooden architecture; – The appearance of classical architecture in the XVIII-th century was a challenge and response to the Baroque (the severity and sharpness of architectural forms, rejection of magnificent decorations, using of bright colours, etc., were the characteristic features of the classical architecture). Architecture Since the late XVII-th century the achievements of the previous epoch, and the Baroque style, which had spread throughout Europe at the border of the XVII-th–XVIII-th centuries, became the background for the development of the Ukrainian art. However, this style got its special originality in Ukraine on the base of folk traditions in architecture. So, it is possible to call it the «Ukrainian Ba- roque or Cossack Baroque». Ukrainian-Russian relations (especially in the eastern regions) influenced the character of the development of Ukrainian art and architecture.

259 After the death of B. Khmelnytsky 10 hetmans ( the «Hetman» was the highest military officer, and the head of state, in Ukraine’s Cossack Hetmanate, was used by Ukraine’s Cossacks from the 16-th century) were changed during ten years. Some of them turned to Rus- sia and other signed agreements with Poland and Turkey. Such social conditions forced people of the Right Bank Ukraine to run away, to the Sich, or to the so-called «wild field» of southwestern Russia, where they founded the cities of the so-called Sloboda Ukraine — Sumy, Kharkiv, Okhtyrka, Izium and others. Cossack Baroque in the architecture of cathedrals is revealed in the fact that it does not have clearly expressed main façade. The Cathedral is the same at different sides but simultaneously turned to all cardinal directions (cardinal points), to everyone on the square. Such an idea of democracy is a kind of reflection of irrational Baroque attitude, which is the result of disorientation in time and space. The walls of the cathedrals were painted in white. This gave the opportunity to enter a building in harmony with the surrounding landscape with white cottages, wattle and daub («hata-mazanka»). Bath-houses («banya») of an original form were covered by mostly blue or green roofs. An example of a new architectural style is Nicholas Church in Nizhyn (1668–1669), the Church of the Intercession (protection of the Holy Virgin) and the Resurrection Church in Sumy, Transfiguration Cathedral in Lebedyn, Pokriv Cathedral in Kharkov (1686). A bright embodiment of the idea of Ukrainian Cossacks found its vivid display in the Trinity Church of Samara- town (now Novomoskovsk, Dnipropetrovsk region). The Builder of the church was Yakym Pogrebnyak. The Trinity Church was built in four years after the destruction of Za- porizhian Sich. It became a kind of monument devoted to the victory of Cossacks in the Russian-Turkish war. St. Andrew’s Church in Kiev is also an outstanding architectural monument built in the Baroque style too. The building was made by an architect from Moscow I.F. Michurin designed by V.V. Rastrelli.

260 The peculiarity of St. Andrew’s Church is its exquisite proportions of corner piers and the uppers and forms of domes (cupola). The church was successfully connected with picturesque sides of the Dnieper (a great Ukrainian river), the surrounding nature and with the massif of the hill. Other masterpieces of Ukrainian Baroque include the Church of All Saints on the Economic Gate of Kiev Mo- nastery (1696–1701), Catherine’s Church in Chernigov (1715), and the Transfiguration one in the village Velyki Sorochyntsi (1728–1732). The church of Holy Transfigu- ration was built in the estate of Hetman Danylo Apostol. «The Sorochynska church is unique in several respects. It differs from the monuments of the type, to which it belongs. It’s distinguished by a strong pyramidal composition and complexity of the game of architectural objects. In the centre of the location there is a quadrangle to which smaller pentagonal and three-cornered ones between them are attached. The central dome of the church is surrounded by small, tender octagonal towers. It impresses with the height and massiveness of its dodecagonal (of 12 corners) volume. Now there are only five domes left, and there were even nine of them, which complicated and made the composition dynamic.»(P.O. Biletskyy. Ukrainian art of the second half of the XVII-th–XVIII-th c.). The nature and diversity of Ukrainian baroque architecture lies in the fact that in the Left Bank and Right Bank Ukraine masters of different schools cooperated. They were from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (or Commonwealth of Poland, Rich Pospolyta) and graduates of the Moscow «Chamber of stone cases». Great influence on the stylistic features of the architecture of this period was also made by local craftsmen. The most famous landmark, which reflected the influence of Russian architecture, is the Pokrovsky Cathedral in Kharkov built in 1689. Traditions of Russian two-storied stone temples were perfectly combined in this building. It was revealed in the external decoration and specific galleries named «opasanni»

261 because it may be said they surround the building. There are facetted towers like those in the Ukrainian wooden churches. Triangular and tropeic tops of windows were used. The traditions of Western European Baroque can be seen only in the general dynamics of the composition and picturesque forms. In 1744 Russian Empress Elizabeth, daughter of Pe- ter I, during her visit to Kiev chose a picturesque spot on the bank of the Dnipro river for the palace construction. Maryinski Palace was constructed in 1750–1755 in accordance with the project of B. Rastrelli. Empress Elizabeth, however, did not live long enough to see the palace. The first royal figure to stay in the palace was Empress Catherine II, who visited Kiev in 1787. She stayed there for three months: magnificent balls, banquets and receptions followed in succession. In the late XVIII-th and early XIX-th centuries the palace was the main residence of Governors-General. The Palace Complex has a strict symmetrical composition. The main two-floor building and single-floor side outhouses create a wide yard. Palace architecture is made in baroque style: expressive volumes, rich plas- tics of facades. Today Maryinskiy Palace is the residence of the President of Ukraine and is called «Presidential Palace». It is a picturesque Baroque palace on the hilly bank of the Dnieper River. In the early XIX-th century, the palace burned down in a series of fires. Roughly half a century later, in 1870, Alexander II of Russia had the palace reconstructed by the architect Konstantin Mayevsky, using old drawings and watercolours as guide. It was then renamed after the reigning Empress Maria Alexandrovna. By her wish, a large park was established off the southern side of the palace. The palace was used as a residence for visiting members of the imperial family until 1917. During the years of the Russian Civil War in 1917–20, the palace was used as the Kiev revkom headquarters, particularly during the Kiev Bolshevik Uprising. In the 1920s the building belonged to an agricultural school,

262 soon after which it became a museum. The Mariyinsky was badly damaged in World War II, and restored at the end of the 1940s. Another major restoration was completed in the early 1980s. There is a lot of guilded décor in the interior of the palace — about 12 ponds of gold. The central hall is called «White» or «Hall of Balls». State receptions are held there now, ambassadors ac- credited, most important documents signed. Painting Paintings of this period gradually went through the impact of Baroque, Rococo and Classicism. Being common in Europe, the traditions of the P. Rubens school were reflected on many works of baroque painting. Dur- ing the governing of hetman Mazepa this effect became systematic. The so-called «parsuny» (parade portraits) of Cossack colonels became wide-spread. Portraits of B. Khmelnytsky became very popular, his image gradually acquired features of a «parade portrait» and pathet- ic ones. An example of such a point of view is the work «Bogdan Khmelnytsky with regiments», made in the second quarter of the XVIII-th century for a church in Subotyn. Ukrainian portrait was constructed on the base of a strict compositional scheme that was developed in the Ukrainian art in the early XVIII-th century. The traditionalism of representational pose, gorgeous garments, decorative drapery, a row of attributes characterized the personage (a baton, a cross, a book, an emblem (a coat of arms), etc., was typical for the portraits of the Cossack so-called «starshyna» (the higher social level) and the clergy. Speaking about these portraits, we can’t explain their specific features only by the influence of narrow artistic tastes of the aristocratic strata of the Ukrainian society. In many cases, the painter executed an order, but also saw in the person he described not just a lord, but a well-known public figure, whose name was closely connected with the national liberation movement, political and cultural life» (by V.G. Zabolotnyy. Essays on the History of the Ukrainian Art).

263 As time went by, elements of a secular portrait became more and more significant. A creative activity by the Ukrainian artists who had been educated in St. Peters- burg Academy of Arts (V.L. Borovikovsky, A.P. Losenko, D.G. Levitsky) played an important role in the development of the Ukrainian artistic Art in the late XVIII-th century. Ukrainian masters, such as K. Golovachevsky, A. Losenko, I. Sablukov, D. Levitsky, V. Borovykovsky, an engraver I. Martos played an important role in the formation of Ukrainian culture of that time. V.L. Borovikovsky V.L. Borovikovsky is one of the most charming, even enchanting Russian painters of the end of XVIII-th and beginning of XIX-th century. He was born in a noble family in Mirgorod, in 1757. Despite his talent for drawing, he joined the army and dedicated himself to art only after his retirement. He divided his time between painting icons and portraits. The artist owes the change of his fate to Catherine II. Dur- ing one of her trips to the south of Russia, the Empress stopped at Kremenchug and commissioned from Boro- vikovsky two allegorical canvasses of herself. She was so impressed with the results that she invited the artist to St. Petersburg. In the capital, Borovikovsky met Dmitrii Levitsky and became his student. The artist became so popular that he had great difficulties with fulfilling all of his commissions. Moreover, the fame of the secular world seemed to contradict his deeply religious beliefs. He always considered religious painting his main goal in life and his activities as divine predestination. At the end of his life, his dreams came true: he devoted himself almost exclusively to religious art and even considered becoming a monk. He died in 1825, but his artistic legacy was preserved and developed by one of his most talented students, Aleksei Venetsianov. His exquisite taste can be seen in his harmonious combination of olive, lilac, and pearly silver tones with stronger primary colours. But the harmony of colours

264 is not the goal in itself — it leads to the world of peace, tranquility, and «sweet dreams». Through his art Boro- vikovsky shows his belief in the possibility of harmonious coexistence of man and nature. The women in the artist’s canvasses are immersed in poetic, dreamy atmosphere. The trees in the background replicate with their branches and leaves the outlines of the figures. The details do not obscure the spirituality of the portrayed women; their inner worlds, their «eternal feminine» manifests itself in the sparks of their eyes, in their hand gestures, in their lips, in their hair, even in their clothing. The Portrait of Anna Ivanovna Bezborodko with Her Daughters Liubov’ and Cleopatra (1803) demonstrates how Borovikovsky embodies in his art such sentimental- ist ideas as friendship and familial devotion, the tender unity of hearts and nobility of pure feelings. The decorative background with a landscape — an attribute of nature, the true sphere of existence — completes the idyllic picture of family happiness. The dignity of human relationships and the sensitivity of the human soul are reflected in the refined beauty of the portrait’s form. All the elements of the painting — from the graceful gestures of the mother and her children, through the masterfully rendered details, to the virtuosity of the drawing and the perfect technique of applying paint without leaving visible brush strokes on the canvas — turn the work into a precious object. An interesting contrast to Borovikovsky’s female portraits can be seen in the Portrait of Aleksander Boriso- vich Kurakin (1801–2). The painting continues or perhaps brings to its conclusion the development of the ceremonial portrait of the eighteenth century. Following the existing tradition, Borovikovsky shows the vice-chancellor at the court of Paul I standing, in formal clothes, on the background of a column and a heavy curtain. Numerous details emphasize the closeness between the prince and the Emperor; the most important of those is the cross of the Order of the Knights of Malta (the Emperor was its founder and Grand Master), which appears four times

265 on the Prince’s tailcoat and once on the black velvet cape. To leave no doubt about Kurakin’s devotion, Borovikov- sky places him next to a statue of Paul, decorated with a gold double-headed eagle and the Emperor’s insignia. The artist’s painterly technique can be seen as an artistic metaphor for Kurakin’s nickname, «The Diamond Prince». The painting looks like an expensive jewel — this effect is achieved through Borovikovsky’s amazing ability to show minute details (the lace cuffs, the diamond- studded medals, the curtain tassels) and to contrast the textures of various materials, from the soft black velvet to the crisp brocade and the solid marble and plaster. The brightness of colours also contributes to the jewel- like radiance of the painting. D.G. Levitsky Levitsky Dmitry Grigorievich (1735–1822, St. Peters- burg) artist. He was a master of gala and chamber portrait paintings. He studied in Kiev under his father, the Ukrain- ian graphic artist K.G. Levitsky (Nos) and A.P. Antropov (1758–1764), he lived in Antropov’s house in St. Peters- burg. Already by 1762 he was famous as a portrait artist. In 1770 he became a member of the Academy, in 1771– 1787 he was in charge of the portrait class of the Aca- demy of Arts, in 1780 he became a member of the Council of the Academy of Arts and a mason. The 1770s — 80s marked the peak of his creative activity. He mostly painted St. Petersburg inhabitants and visitors. The most famous gala portraits by him are: ‘P.A. Demidov’, 1773, exhibited in the State Tretyakov Gallery, ‘A.D. Lanskoy’, 1782, held in the State Russian Museum, ‘Catherine II’ — the Legislator, 1783, exhibited in the State Russian Museum, they are noted for their size and authenticity. The series of portraits depicting pupils of the Smolny Institute, 1772–1776, held in the State Russian Museum, attracts the eye with its variety of colours and portrayal of psychological elements — making it a masterpiece of the gala genre of portraits.

266 Chamber portraits of D. Diderot, 1773–1774, exhibited in the Geneva Art Gallery, M.A. Dyakov, 1778, exhibited in the State Tretyakov Gallery, U. Mnishek, 1782, held at the State Tretyakov Gallery, Princess E.A. Vo- rontsova, 1780s, exhibited in the State Russian Museum, the artists daughter, 1785, exhibited in the State Tretya- kov Gallery, was characterized by deep description of the personality belonging to the highest accomplishments of Levitsky. Levitsky was a close friend of G.R. Derzhavin, N.A. Lvov and N.I. Novikov. He was buried at Smolenskoe Orthodox Cemetery (the tombstone has not survived). Folk arts and applied arts Folk arts and applied arts (embroidery, pottery, painting Easter eggs, carving, weaving, etc.) were highly developed in Ukraine in the XVII–XVIII-th centuries. The so-called people’s images were wide-spread. A composition «Kozak-banduris» was the most popular in the easel painting, wall paintings and decoration of chests, household items. A bandurist is a person who plays the Ukrain- ian plucked string instrument known as the bandura. The art of embroidery takes central place among other decorative arts of Ukraine. It is known that decorative embroidery began to be developed in the early medieval times of Kyivan Rus’, though, of course, there are good reasons to assume that embroidery had been practiced in the Slavic lands long before the eastern Slavs, ancestors of the Ukrainians, formed their first state, Kyivan Rus’, with Kyiv as its capital. From the available evidence, we can gather that the decorative embroidery done for the upper layers of the feudal society was much more elaborate than that done by and for the lower social strata. In doing the elaborate embroideries gold and silver threads were used; the ornaments went through changes in the course of centuries, experiencing influences of various cultures and traditions. In the early twentieth century, Petro Savytsky, one of the first researchers of the Ukrainian embroidery,

267 studied the collections of embroidery in the museums of Chernihiv, Kyiv, Poltava, St. Petersburg, and of some private collections, and came to the conclusion that the Ukrainian embroidery patterns carried signs of Eastern influences (such influences could have probably come with the invasions of nomads). At the same time, he admitted that, firstly, similar embroidery ornamental designs could be found in many cultures, even though these cultures had never come into contact, and secondly, that it would be very difficult to trace the migrations in time of such designs from culture to culture. Petro Savytsky also drew attention to many specific features of Ukrai- nian embroidery, which were characterized by the high and refined quality of Ukrainian embroidery of the later centuries, of the Cossack period in particular, when the Cossack elite occupied the cultural niche, which was later occupied by intelligentsia. According to Savytsky, the Cossack elite, in the capacity of customers for whom embroidery was made, exercised a considerable influence on the style and quality of embroidery. Ukrainian embroidery was also influenced by designs of other European countries. The collection of Ukrainian embroideries of the History Museum named for V.V. Tar- novsky in Chernihiv contains about 300 items. Most of these embroideries are strips of cloth of various lengths; they are parts of what used to be rushnyky (decorative towels), tablecloths, coverlets, or clothes. V.V. Tarnovsky, a collector and patron of art, called these embroidered items «okrayky» («pieces cut from the edges») and the term is still in use. The museum collection also has items, which are not parts of whole things but complete items such as bedspreads, shirts and rushnyky. The expensive materials, which were used in embroidery, — gold, silver and silk for threads, dyes of different colours — were imported from Poland, Persia, China and other countries. Naturally, the most expensive embroideries were those, in which gold thread was used. The technique of making gold thread must have come from Byzanti-

268 um where it was perfected to a high level of technology. The gold threads were usually of short lengths, as thin as human hairs. Silver was often gilded to be used instead of gold proper; in some cases, yellow silk threads were used instead of gold to create «golden effects». Silver threads were used mostly for embroideries on white fabrics. Various dyes were used to colour silk and cotton threads. The fabrics, on which embroideries were made varied from cheap to costly; most of the embroidery items in the Chernihiv History Museum are thin linen, which was exported from Germany, Holland, Poland and Rus- sia, directly and through intermediaries; in some cases, linen of local production could also have been used. Among more expensive materials, velvets, satins, bro- cades and silks should be mentioned. In the eighteenth century cotton fabrics began increase in popularity. Designs of embroidery vary widely, but stylized phy- tomorphic motifs dominate. The level of stylization varies. Certain designs can be traced to the mosaics, frescoes and marble decorations in the eleventh-century Cathe- dral of Hagia Sophia in Kyiv. Similar designs can be seen on church items and vestments of the clergy that date from the sixteenth and later centuries. The study of the designs used in embroideries done in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries for the Cossack elite, suggest continuity of tradition from the eleventh century onwards, but in later centuries certain European and Oriental influences began to be traceable in Ukrainian embroidery designs. Embroidery designs often include stylized crosses of various kinds and of varying number of arms; crosses are surrounded by stylized petals and leaves. Various plants and flowers, including the exotic ones, served as the starting point for creating decorative and ornamen- tals patterns, woven around representations of crosses. Household items, such as pillow cases, were richly embroidered too. The daughter of Hetman I. Samoylovych was married to F. Sheremetyev, a high-ranking Russian boyar; in her dowry several embroided items are mentioned, among them «a bed sheet embroidered with gold

269 and green thread and six pillow cases to match», and «a bed sheet embroidered richly in gold and red thread and six pillow cases to match». The testament of Ivan Zabila, a Cossack chief, dated from the year 1733, mentions bed sheets «embroidered with griffons in gold and silk, four embroidered pillow cases», and «bed sheets embroidered with ornaments shaped like oak leaves in silk thread». Silk thread embroideries are mentioned in other documents that date from the eighteenth century. Such documents made it possible to date the items in the museum collection and establish their provenance. One of the central pieces of the collection is a bed sheet that used to probably belong to the wife of Hryhory Hala- han, a Cossack colonel from Pryluky. V.V. Tarnovsky obtained this item for his collection from one of the descendants of the colonel. The embroidery of this sheet reveals ornamental motifs typical for the mid-eighteenth century with an abundance of stylized floral motifs, based on real and imaginary flowers. The eighteenth century also saw the changes in the techniques of embroidery, which can be traced to the techniques that came from various places, including distant lands such as China, for example. In the eighteenth century there was a marked increase in the use of cotton thread mostly of purple, white and blue colours. It is in these colours that tablecloths that used to belong to the family of Hetman Ivan Skoro- padsky are embroidered. These embroideries, which are done in cross-stitch, date from 1715–1722. Ukrainian embroiderers developed their own techniques of needlework — zapolochchya, rushnykovi seams and others. As the Cossack elites became wealthier and as they identified themselves less and less with the Cossacks of the old times, their tastes changed and they wanted more expensive and more «Europeanized» items in their households. Clergy remained one of the regular customers of embroidered items; the embroiderers who created these embroideries began to use some of the designs and or-

270 naments used for vestments and church items, in decorating items for use at their homes. Thus, embroidery designs and ornaments spread to the countryside. Some of the rushnyky and women’s skirts of the nineteenth century distinctly bear influences of such designs and ornaments, which continued to be used in later times, and are still used in some embroidery styles. Ukrainian embroideries reveal an amazing continuity that has been sustained for more than a thousand years. Education and Literature In spite of the fact that Zaporizhia Cossacks lived in extremely poor conditions because of continuous wars, they created an original, distinctive and effective system of education and upbringing. The proof of the high quality of education in Sich schools is the fact that a lot of their graduates successfully continued their studies in the best universities of Europe where they differed greatly from other students due to their high level of general culture and sophisticated tastes. For many years Ukrai- nians received higher education abroad in Sorbonne, Krakow, Bologna, Padua schools and other educational centres of Europe, receiving assistance from the leaders of the Sich. By the way, a lot of graduates of Kyiv-Mohyla Collegium joined the Cossack army. In Sich the quality of teaching was constantly in the centre of attention, they encouraged talented and diligent students and paid them stipends. The taste to mental labour was developed since childhood. In parish church and Sunday schools, which children could attend from the age of three, there was a system of games and entertainments aimed at the development of the intellectual potential of the child. Educated people were highly valued in Zaporizhia, that is why great attention in Sich was paid to schools that existed at the expense of Zaporizhia troops (i.e. at the expense of the state, as opposed to European schools that were supported by individuals or church). These institutions had real self-governance and equal

271 conditions of education for children of people of different social strata. «The Church with a bell tower, with a hospital on the one side, and with a school on the other one, they were necessary parts of every Orthodox parish in Zaporizhia region». Schools were divided into Sich, monastery and parish church. Some of them taught music and singing to boys and were called «schools of vocal music and church singing». At the end of the XVIII-th century harlequin-tra- vesty poem of Ivan Kotlyarevsky «Eneida» marked the emergence of the newest literary Ukrainian language and the beginning of modern Ukrainian literature. That work absorbed the pearls of Ukrainian humor, and reflected the bright national life. Comic and satirical tone of Kotlyarevsky’s works was picked up by other writers, first of all, by the members of the so-called Kharkiv coterie (P. Gulak-Artemovsky, E. Grebinka). G. Kvitka- Osnovyanenko — the founder of the Ukrainian art prose who stopped the tradition of Ukrainian language use only in comic genres — also belonged to the Kharkiv coterie. The first educational institution, which combined the educational traditions of Kievan Rus’ and Western Europe, was the Ostrog (Ostroh) high school, founded about 1576. A significant contribution to the development of education had been made by the schools of brotherhoods (the Lviv Dormition Brotherhood, Kyiv Brotherhood School). Their students were given not only the skills of reading and writing but also fundamentals of Greek and Slavic grammar. In the first half of the XVII-th century the centre of scientific knowledge in Ukraine was the Kiev Collegium. Peter Mogyla (1597–1647) carried out the reform of the Kyiv Brotherhood School like in the Western European schools. Since the school was known as the Kiev-Mo- hylanska Academy. Later it became one of the leading centres of education and science not only in Ukraine but throughout the Slavic world. The Ukrainians are highly valued as educators and after the founding in 1721 new schools in Russia the

272 Ukrainians were appointed as teachers; for new Slavo- Latin schools the Synod ordered to send there teachers from Kyiv. Ukrainian teachers brought their teaching methods, textbooks, Ukrainian pronunciation, which prevailed in Moscow in the XVIII-th century. Music Already in the XIV–XVII-th centuries our musicians became famous outside the ancient Ukrainian state. Their names could be found in the chronicles of those times, among the musicians at many royal courts, for instance, at the court of Polish kings. At that time also arise historic songs and ballads — one of the most picturesque fragments of Ukrainian folk music, a kind of symbolic code of the national history and culture. They were composed mostly by Cossacks and about Cossacks. The traveling singers, who were the authors of ballads and performers at the same time, were called kobzars. This fruitful period in the history of Ukrainian culture is also under the influence of the so-called «Cos- sacks baroque», which is the reason why to a great extent Ukrainian musical tradition is connected with the style of baroque. The most famous centres of music culture at that time were Glukhiv singing school and Kyiv-Mo- hyla Academy. Many famous Ukrainian musicians studied there in the XVII–XVIII-th centuries: D. Bortnyansky, M. Berezovsky, A. Vedel that started an epoch in our choral music. Bortnyansky and Berezovsky also studied in Italy: Berezovsky attended Music Academy in Bologna, where he was a student of a famous music theorist Mar- tini at the same time as Mozart, and was considered to be one of the most talented graduates of the academy. After having mastered the European composition technique, these Ukrainian composers chose not to copy Western patterns, but to create pieces, most of which are based on national melodic traditions. Spiritual music of D. Bort- nyansky, M. Berezovsky and A. Vedel still can be heard in many Slavic churches around the world.

273 Such kind of pictures was often accompanied with a piece of poetry or folk songs of Vertep-theatre type (Vertep was a portable puppet theatre and drama in the culture of East Slavs — Ukrainians, Belarusians and Russians — which presented the nativity scene, other mystery plays, and later secular plots as well.). A typical vertep was a wooden box, one or two storeyed. The floors had slots through which the puppeteers controlled wooden puppets. The upper floor of the two-storeyed box was used for the nativity scene, while the lower was for interludes and other mystery plays and secular plays, often of comedy character. H.S. Skovoroda Hryhorii Savych Skovoroda (3 December 1722 — 9 No- vember 1794) was a Ukrainian philosopher, poet, teacher and composer who lived in the Russian Empire and who made important contributions to Russian philosophy and culture. He lived and worked in Ukraine and passionately and consciously identified with its people, differentiating them from those of Russia and condemning Russia’s inter- ference in his homeland. Skovoroda was so important for Russian culture and development of Russian philosophical thought, that he is often recognized as a Russian philosopher. He has been referred to as the «Russian Socrates». Skovoroda received his education at the Kiev-Mohyla Academy in Kiev. Haunted by worldly and spiritual powers, the philosopher led a life of an itinerant thinker-beggar. In his tracts and dialogues, biblical problems overlap with those examined earlier by Plato and the Stoics. Skovoro- da’s first book was issued after his death in 1798 in Saint Petersburg. Skovoroda’s complete works were published for the first time in Saint Petersburg in 1861. Before this edition many his works existed only in manuscript form. Skovoroda’s works during his life were not printed, because the censor found his sacred writings were offen- sive to Monasticism. Brought up in a spirit of philosophical and religious studies, he became an opponent of dead church scholasticism and spiritual oppression of the Mos-

274 cow centred Orthodox Church, based in its philosophy to the Bible. «Our kingdom is within us — he wrote — and to know God, you must know yourself». «People should know God like yourself enough to see him in the world». «Belief in God does not mean — belief in his existence — and, therefore, to give in to him and live according to His law». «Sanctity of life lies in doing good to people». Skovoroda defended the right of the individual in each person, but translated this into specific political language of the time. This meant a strong democratic trend that was associated with sympathy for enslaved peasant masses, with sharp hostility to the Muscovite oppressors. A full academic publication of Skovoroda’s works still does not exist, because manuscripts are held in various archives and libraries where access to them is difficult. Three days before he died, he went to the house of one of his closest friends and told him he had come to stay permanently. Every day he left the house early with a shovel, and it turned out that he spent three days digging his own grave. On the third day, he ate dinner, stood up and said, «my time has come». He went into the next room, lay down, and died. He requested the following epitaph to be placed on his tombstone: «The world tried to catch me, but didn’t succeed». Thus, the second half of the XVII-th — beginning of the XVIII-th century was an important step in the development of the national culture. It was a period of consolida- tion of the Ukrainian people and forming the best features of the national character. Questions for self-control 1. What were some of the great changes in the development of scientific natural history and philosophy from the XVII-th to the late XIX-th century? 2. What are the main characteristics of the Baroque? 3. How did opera develop at that time? 4. What famous painters of this period do you know? 5. What key trends shaped the content of European culture of Modern Age?

275 6. What are the main features of Cossack and Het- man Culture of Ukraine? 7. What role did Zaporizhian Sich play in the development of Ukrainian culture? 8. Who was H.S. Skovoroda? 9. Who were some of the famous Ukrainian painters of that time? 10. What folk arts and applied arts were highly developed in Ukraine in the XVII-th–XVIII-th centuries? 11. What characterizes Ukrainian music of this period?

2.7. Ukrainian National Cultural Renaissance in the late XVIII — early XX-th centuries The term «Ukrainian national and cultural Renais- sance (Revival) reflects a process of formation and development of socio-political and cultural life in Ukraine in the late XVIII-th — early XX-th centuries. The ultimate goal of the national revival is the formation of an independent national state. Ukrainian national revival was a kind of a «defense reaction» to the difficult political, socio-economic backgrounds and cultural depression caused by despot- ic policy of Russian tsarism and also by a significant spread of national identity among the people, intensifi- cation of the Ukrainian national movement. The beginning of the national revival started after the appearance of «Eneida» by I. Kotlyarevsky written with the Ukrainian popular language, creative work by H. Kvitka-Osnovy- anenko and a group of writers in Kharkiv. Humanistic traditions of the Ukrainian culture were the social and spiritual background for the revival. The Ukrainian village was the carrier of the idea of the revival because it saved its native language — the most important carrier of the Ukrainian mentality. Many researchers believe that the process of national revival in Ukraine lasted for 130 years — from the end of Cossacks State to the World War I (from the end of the

276 XVIII-th to the beginning of the XX-th century). This process is divided into three main stages: – the period of collecting heritage; academic, or the so-called «shlyahetskiy» phase (late XVIII-th — mid XIX-th century). – «Ukrainophil», or the cultural (the so-called «nar- odnytskiy») phase (1840–1880); the Narodniks were a socially-conscious movement, which can be translated as «Peopleism»; – political or modernist (1880–1914). All these three phases are characterized by cultural- enlightenment activities of the nobility and the Polish- Ukrainian gentry, appearance of T. H. Shevchenko on the social and political scene in the 1840’s (Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko was a Ukrainian poet, artist and humanist; his literary heritage is regarded to be the foundation of modern Ukrainian literature and, to a large extent, the modern Ukrainian language; Shevchenko also wrote in Russian and left many masterpieces as a painter and illustrator) and the national-cultural movement of the people. The stimulus for the Ukrainian Renaissance was the ideas of The French (Bourgeois) Revolution, which proclaimed the «rights of peoples» and the expansion of Ro- manticism. These ideas announced the identity and value in itself of each culture of every people, stressing that exactly this one is the inexhaustible source, from which the intellectual elite can draw samples for its creative inspiration. Romanticists imagined the model of the world as a giant harp, in which each nation is a specific string in the global harmony of nations. The disappearance of any nation will lead to a universal catastrophe. One of the founders of the world romanticism was J.G. Herder. In 1769 he visited Ukraine and noted a unique identity and originality of the Ukrainian nation. He predicted it a great future similar to the Greek civilization. In his work «Ideas upon Philosophy» he wrote that once Ukraine would be the new Hellas (Ellada). The wonderful climate of the country, worthy character of the people, its musical talent, fertile soil, — all of them

277 would ever wake up. From those small tribes that once the Greeks had been a great cultural nation would arise. Its borders would stretch to the Black Sea and into the big world from there. Fine arts of the second half of the XVIII-th century in the Ukrainian culture are reflected in the works of artists of different directions. Among them there are sculptures (I. Martos), painters (A. Losenko, D. Levitsky, V. Borovykovsky, V. Tropinin). The painters are thought to be Russian although their creative activity was grown on the Ukrainian ground. It is possible to distinguish several stages in the Ukrainian art of the XIX-th century. In the first half of the century there were some rare painters, and there were no great masters among them. The middle of the XX-th century is characterized by creative activity by the founder of critical realism in fine arts of that period — T.H. Shevchenko and his followers — K.O. Trutovsky, I.I. Sokolov, L.N. Zhemchuzhnykov. The second half of the XIX-th century is the golden age of realism. Art of the late XIX-th century is one of the brightest periods of the Ukrainian culture. This was the epoch of formation of critical realism and appearance of the latest artistic trends of the XX-th century. However, the seeds of this renewal were seen during the crisis in the academic style and the creation of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions in 1870. Among its founding members there were V. Perov, I. Kramskoy, G. Mya- soyedov, I. Shishkin, O. Savrasov and others. Such famous Ukrainian artists as M. Kuznetsov, I. Pohytonov, K. Kostandi, O. Murashko, T. Dvornykov, P. Nilus, S. Svitoslavsky, O. Rozmaritsyn, L. Pozen et al. were the members of the Society. The ideas of Ukraine occupied a significant place in the creative work of such painters as I. Repin, N. Ge, M. Yaroshenko, G. Myasoyedov. The real golden age of the Ukrainian art began with the creative work of T.H. Shevchenko (1814–1861). New themes and social reasons that touched the most important social problems of that time appeared in his

278 activity. This great Ukrainian poet suffered a lot so he devoted his life to the representation of miserable people. In the early 1840s Shevchenko paid the greatest attention to the topics taken from the history of the Ukrai- nian people. He also described the way of life of ordinary people, their traditions and customs. In his largest-sized product of oil painting, «Catherine» (1842), he came to the generalization of the phenomenon, typical for the times of serfdom. This canvas was written according to the subject of Shevchenko’s own poem with the same name, created four years earlier. But the artist did not illustrate a particular point of the literary work. By some means of art he developed one of the story lines of the poem. The work reflects a dramatic moment of the episode when a peasant girl Catherine is parting with an officer, who seduced her and left her alone. The artist with a great tact describes this drama, without crossing the line, after which beauty loses its greatness. While being in Ukraine after graduating the academy, Taras Shevchenko created a series of portraits of the Ukrainian intelligentsia. Among them there was the «Por- trait of Mayewska». This work is an example of a typical portrait by T. Shevchenko. In his «The Ukrainian Art» Y.B. Belychko writes that the painter is indifferent to the social state of a model. He sees the value of a human being in his or her natural spiritual beauty. He looks with admiration and affection at the face of the person he is drawing and the image as if it reflects the feelings of the artist. The portrait of Mayews- ka is skillfully shaped into the oval. No accessories attract attention from the face. It is modeled with energetic brush strokes. The form of the whole outline of beautiful eyes, thin nose, smiling mouth is characterized by confidence and elegance. So, it is not a surprise that the painter noted in his «Diary» that a human face seemed to be an expression of the highest excellence and beauty of nature. In the second half of the XIX-th century the artistic life in Ukraine became more and more active. Artistic centres were created. They artistically educated a great many

279 of prominent Ukrainian and Russian painters, including M. Vrubel, K. Kryzhytskyy, M. Pymonenko, G. Dyachenko, S. Kostenko, O. Murashko, K. Kostandy and others. Art Schools of M.I. Murashko in Kiev, M.D. Rayevska- Ivanova in Kharkiv, Odessa Art College played an important role then. Such famous painters as S.I. Vasilkivsky (1854–1917), V.V. Orlov (1842–1914), S.I. Svitoslavskiy (1857–1931) and others were the masters of the genre of landscape. They all were united by a passionate love to their native nature, admiration with its beauty, a realistic description of different states. A deep national phenomenon in the Ukrainian landscape painting is the works by P.O. Levchenko. He is an artist with a delicate taste, emotional perception of nature. His works are characterized with directness and simplicity. The plots of paintings by P. Levchenko are poor peasant huts, dilapidated barns, a field and a mill somewhere near the horizon, a street of a village or a quiet river with thick bushes of willows, etc. The painter was able to emphasize skillfully the beauty of the world in such usual plots. We can’t speak about the Ukrainian culture of the late XIX-th — beginning of the XX-th century without mentioning about the influence of I. Repin (1844–1930). In the history of Ukrainian culture works with Ukrain- ian themes by Repin continued the tradition, which had been started by T. Shevchenko with his series of etchings «Picturesque Ukraine». One of the masterpieces by I. Repin is his great historical canvas «Cossacks Writing a Letter to Turkish Sultan» also known as the »Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV of the Ottoman Em- pire» or «Cossacks of Saporog are Drafting a Manifesto» (1878–1891). The artist was working on this painting more than 13 years. The appearance of the masterpiece had deep reasonable causes due to the constant interest of the painter in the history of Ukrainian and the influence M. Gogol had made on him. Nikolai Vasilievich

280 Gogol was a Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist, novelist and short story writer. The plot of the painting was a legendary episode of collective writing from the life of Ukrainian Cossacks. The legend said that the Cossacks of the Zaporozhian Sich, inhabiting the lands around the lower Dnieper River, had defeated Ottoman Turkish forces in a battle. However, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed IV, demanded that the Cossacks would submit to Turkish rule. The Cossacks led by ataman (or otaman, a title of Cossack leaders of various kinds) Ivan Sirko replied in a specific manner: they wrote a letter, full of insults and profani- ties. A lot of art critics think the painting is a kind of «At- las of laugh». By such a compositional method I. Repin gives not only a figurative and psychological peculiarities of the characters: laugh on the picture has a symbolic background. The main idea of the work is the idea of independence, power, love for freedom. In his book «Ukraine in the art of I. Repin» Y.V. Belychko writes that the scene shown in the picture is determined by spontaneity and psychological acuteness, so typical for the Repin’s creative style. An ungovernable crowd of Cos- sacks gathered around the table. A clerk made himself comfortable at the table, with a cheerful smile on his face and goose feather behind the ear. Each of the Cossacks tries to add his own word, and from the strong language, or is laughing loudly at what is already invented by his comrades. But there are those who disapprove this esca- pade and are aside. Different people surrounded the clerk. Here is a famous ataman I. Sirko, a military judge, and a colonel Taras Bulba (a hero of a romanticized historical novella by M. Gogol, who had a historical prototype) with his two sons, and a bursak (a student of a «bursa» — a religious college) and a «shlyahtych» (nobleman), and a Tartar, Cossacks of different ages and states. All they are different, but there is something in common between them — the power and their desperate bravery. Changes, which indicated the growth of spiritual needs, especially of the urban population, rapidly happened

281 in that culture that was developed at the turn of the XIX-th– XX-th centuries. Symbolism and modern, being created at that time, brought essential corrections into the attitude to the specific problems of Fine Arts. The signs of Mo- dern in the Ukrainian Art had some national features. The brighter they were expressed in the works by Vasil and Fedor Krychevsky, A. Arkhipenko, O. Bohomazov, K. Ma- levich, A. Ekster, D. Burliuk, B. Efimov, M. Boychuk et al. In their book «Ukrainian art of the late XIX-th — early XX-th century» B.B. Lobanovsky and P. I. Govdya wrote that the artists concentrated their attention on the inner world of a person, and it was the most significant affair for the whole art of the XX-th century. Sometimes artistic means with their suggestive but dangerous depth and possibilities of modeling really not known inner matter of life, ups and downs lead to the appearance of a new plastic and picturesque existential mythology or the sense of the nonsense. On the other hand, the symbolism, which is even more associated with poetic verbalization of images, made the painters complicate their visual metaphors». A bright example of Modern with some elements of romantic eclecticism in architecture is the work by an architect V. Gorodetsky (1863–1930). The building of the former Kiev Artistic-Industrial and Scientific Museum (now — The National Art Museum of Ukrainian Fine Arts) is one of his first works. But the most famous work by Gorodetsky is the House with Chimeras on the Banko- va Street in Kyiv (1902–1903). A creative identity of a world-famous Ukrainian sculpture, graphic artist, painter A. Arkhipenko (1887–1964) was formed in the environment of avant-garde searches in the Ukrainian culture of the late XIX-th — early XX-th century. Training in the Kiev Art School, the Moscow School of Painting, a long stay in Paris allowed the artist not only to become acquainted with the works of contemporary art, but also create his own plastic idea. The new plastic concept of A. Arkhipenko was in the fact that he combined different in structure and colour materials — wood, metal, glass — in the same sculp-

282 ture. He also used colours in his work. All these novelties caused an extraordinary effect. The Master combined the simplest forms. He believed that they unambiguously led to some associations with geometry. A. Arkhipenko was the first to introduce the structure of empty space and use of colour in the relief, which were embodied in his «sculpto-paintings» into the expressive possibilities of sculpture. The idea of plastic possibilities of empty space enchanted the sculptor when he was a child. In his memoirs, Arkhipenko tells how he was impressed by the sense of form, which was created by the space formed between two identical vases bought by parents. Plastic searches made by A. Arkhipenko subsequently had a significant influence on architecture and art design. In his book «About me» A. Arkhipenko wrote that nature is not satisfied with what it creates. It brings its power to all living beings. From its creations it makes creators. The author says that once he watched as the wind stirred branches of a tree, and it inspired him to think. In 1924 he created a machine — a mechanical picture, where forms changed, paintings were shown in motion. It was named as «Arhipentura». Next time he was involved by the light and he asked himself why not to make a sculpture of light. Then he invented a system that allowed light to flow through a transparent mass. Arkhipenko effectively worked in painting and graphics. In his works he combined the most expressive features of Modern, Cubism and features of ancient Rus art. The most famous works of Arkhipenko are the «Composition of two figures» (1910), «Dance» (1910), «Red Dance» (1913), «Boxing» (1913). Literature Culture development in Ukraine became extremely complicated because of the language policy, which was carried out by the governments of Poland and Russia. Ukrainian literature, first of all, confirmed and extended prestige of the Ukrainian language, and belief in its big possibilities. Publications of «Aeneida» by Kotlyarevsky

283 in 1798 were the beginning of the new era in the Ukrainian literature. Taras Hryhorovych Svechenko lifted Ukrain- ian literature on the world level. Taras Shevchenko sang of the struggle for freedom, glory, and national self-affir- mation as the national feat. P. Kulish, who was the poet, prose writer, journalist, and literary critic occupies the visible place in the Ukrainian literature of the XIX-th century. In particular the author of «National stories» Marko Vovchok, poets S. Rudansky and L. Glebov confirmed new talents and joined the Ukrainian literatures on the bound- ary of 50–60-th. Grabovsky, Samoylenko made the political contribution to development of the Ukrainian poetry. The most known achievements of the Ukrainian literature connected with I. Franko’s activity. His creativity became the basis of complex studying of connections between Ukrainian and world culture. In 1868 the foundation of society «Prosvita», which was engaged in distribution and deepening of national formations was a very important event in development of Ukrainian culture. From the circle of writers of the 60s Yury Fedkovich along with Panteleymon Kulish, and Marko Vovchok made their way in life by the talent. National stories of Marko Vovchok have a great value. With her whole heart she sympathises with human grief, grieves seeing the life of unfortunate serfs with a silent sadness, rejoices their pleasures. Achieve- ments of many known scientists: P. Kulish, T. Shevchenko, M. Kotsyubinsky, P. Mirnuy, I. Franko enriched Ukrainian literature. Kulish’s literary heritage is very rich and various. His works «Chernaya Rada», «Arina», «Martin Rak», «Brothers» are well-known.The unsurpassed and incom- mensurable contribution to the development of Ukrai- nian literature was made by Т.H. Shevchenko — the ingenious Ukrainian poet, national pride of our people. All literary power of Shevchenko is in his «Kobzar». «Kobzar» is not very big by its external amount, but this monument is difficult and rich by the internal maintenance: it is the Ukrainian language in its historical development, serfdom and soldier’s life in all their complexity, and not died away memoirs about the Cossack liberty along with

284 it. Surprising combinations of influences affect on the one hand — the Ukrainian philosopher Skovoroda and national kobzars, and on the other hand — Mickiewicz, Zhukovsky, Pushkin and Lermontov. In 1845 heroic-romantic poem «Haidamaky» was published. In 1843–1845 Shevchenko wrote the cycle of poems «Three summers» (which central work was «The dream»), the poem «Caucasus», the message «Both dead and live...», poetry «Chigiryne, Chigiryne», «The vault», «Stands in the village Subbotov», etc., in which he sharply opposed socially-national oppression of Ukrainian people. In the prison he wrote poems, which he subsequently united in the cycle «In the casemate». In 1854–1858 he wrote the stories «Musician», «Artist», «Unfortunate», «Cap- tain’s wife», «Twins» in Russian language. The last Taras Shevchenko’s prosaic work was the story «Walk with the pleasure and not without morals» (1856–1858) and diary records «Magazine». In 1859 in Ukraine he wrote a number of high samples of intimate and landscape lyrics. Some works of that period were published in the magazine «Basis» and the almanac «Khata». Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko, (1814–1861) was a Ukrainian poet, artist and humanist. His literary heritage is regarded to be the foundation of modern Ukrainian literature and, to a large extent, the modern Ukrainian language. Shevchenko also wrote in Russian and left many masterpieces as a painter and an illustrator. Taras Shevchenko has a unique place in Ukrai- nian cultural history and in world literature. His writings formed the foundation for the modern Ukrainian literature to a degree that he is also considered the founder of the modern written Ukrainian language (although Ivan Kotlyarevsky pioneered the literary work in what was close to the modern Ukrainian in the end of the XVIII-th century). Shevchenko’s poetry contributed greatly to the growth of Ukrainian national consciousness, and his influence on various facets of Ukrainian intellectual,

285 literary, and national life is still felt to this day. Influ- enced by Romanticism, Shevchenko managed to find his own manner of poetic expression that encompassed themes and ideas germane to Ukraine and his personal vision of its past and future. In view of his literary importance, the impact of his artistic work is often missed, although his contemporaries valued his artistic work no less, or perhaps even more, than his literary work. A great number of his pictures, drawings and etchings preserved to this day testify to his unique artistic talent. He also experimented with photography and it is little known that Shevchenko may be considered to have pioneered the art of etching in the Russian Empire (in 1860 he was awarded the title of Academician in the Imperial Academy of Arts specifically for his achievements in etching). His influence on Ukrainian culture has been so immense, that even during Soviet times, the official position was to downplay strong Ukrainian nationalism expressed in his poetry, suppressing any mention of it, and to put an emphasis on the social and anti-Tsarist aspects of his legacy, the Class struggle within the Russian Empire. Shevchenko, who himself was born a serf and suffered tremendously for his political views in opposition to the established order of the Empire, was presented in the So- viet times as an internationalist, who stood up in general for the plight of the poor classes exploited by the reac- tionary political regime rather than the vocal proponent of the Ukrainian national idea. This view is significantly revised in modern independent Ukraine, where he is now viewed as almost an iconic figure with unmatched significance for the Ukrainian nation, a view that has been mostly shared all along by the Ukrainian diaspora that has always revered Shevchenko. Painting Nikolai Nikolaevich Ge Nikolai Nikolaevich Ge was a realist painter famous for his works on historical and religious motifs.

286 In 1850 he gave up his career in science and entered the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg. He studied in academy under the historical painter Pyotr Basin until 1857. He graduated from the academy in 1857 with a gold medal for his painting The Witch of En- dor Calling Up the Spirit of the Prophet Samuel. Accord- ing to Ge himself, during that period he was strongly influenced by Karl Bryullov. His gold medal provided him a scholarship for studying abroad. He visited Germany, Switzerland, France and in 1860 settled in Italy. In Rome he met Alexander An- dreyevich Ivanov who strongly influenced Ge. In 1861 Ge painted The Last Supper; using the image for his central figure of Christ a photograph taken by the famous Russian photographer Count Sergei Lvovich Levitsky (1819–1898) of Levitsky’s cousin Aleksandr Ivanovich Herzen (1812–1870); the pro-Western writer and outstanding public figure. Ge would recall, «I wanted to go to London to paint Herzen’s portrait,... and he responded to my request with a large portrait by Mr. Levitsky». The final painting’s similarity between the pose of Levitsky’s photo of Herzen and Ge’s pose of the painted Christ led the press of the day to exclaim the painting as «a triumph of materialism and nihilism». It is the first time photography became the main starting point for the solution to a central character of a painting and speaks to the deep influences that photography would have later on in art and movements like French Impressionism. The painting (bought by Tsar Alexander II of Rus- sia) made such a strong impression when it was shown in Saint Petersburg in 1863 that Ge was made a professor of Imperial Academy of Arts. In 1864 Ge returned to Florence and would paint not only Herzen’s portrait but also the Messengers of the Re- surrection and the first version of the Christ on the Mount of Olives. The new religious paintings at that time were not much of a success, and the Imperial Academy refused to exhibit them in its annual exhibition.

287 In 1870 Ge again returned to Saint Petersburg there he turned to Russian history for subject matter. The painting Peter the Great Interrogates Tsarevich Alexey at Peterhof (1871) was a great success, but other historical paintings were met without interest. Ge took the cold response to his work very hard. He wrote that a man should live by doing agricultural work, and the art should not be for sale. He bought a small khutor (farm) in Chernigov gubernia (currently Ukraine) and moved there. He became acquainted with Leo Tolstoy and became an enthusiastic follower of his philosophy. In the early 1880s he returned to art producing religious paintings and portraits. He stated that everybody has a right to have a portrait so he agreed to work for whatever low commission the subject could afford. Among his portraits of the time was his famous portrait of Leo Tolstoy, portrait of Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin and many others. His late paintings on New Testament subjects of that period were praised by liberal critics like Vladimir Stasov, criticized by conservatives as illustrating Ernest Renan rather than the New Testament and forbidden by the authorities for blasphemy. Quod Est Veritas? Christ and Pilate (1890) was expelled from the exhibition; The Judgment of the Sanhedrin: He is Guilty! (1892) was not admitted to the annual Academy of Arts exhibition; The Calvary (Golgotha) (1893) remained unfinished; The Cru- cifixion (1894) was banned by Tsar Alexander III. Ge died on his farm in 1894. Ilya Yefimovich Repin Ilya Yefimovich Repin was born in the town of Chu- huiv near Kharkiv in the heart of the historical region called Sloboda Ukraine. His parents were Russian military settlers. In 1866 after apprenticeship with a local icon painter named Bunakov and preliminary study of portrait painting, he went to Saint Petersburg and was shortly admitted to the Imperial Academy of Arts as a student. From 1873 to 1876 on the Academy’s allowance, Repin so- journed in Italy and lived in Paris where he was exposed

288 to French Impressionist painting, which had a lasting effect upon his use of light and colour. His style was to remain closer to that of the old European masters, especially Rembrandt, and he never embraced Impressionism. Throughout his career, Repin was drawn to the common people from whom he traced his origins. He frequently painted country folk, both Ukrainian and Rus- sian, though in later years he also painted members of the Imperial Russian elite, the intelligentsia, and the aristocracy, including Tsar Nicholas II. In 1878 Repin joined the free-thinking «Association of Peredvizhniki Artists», generally called «the Wanderers» or «The Itinerants» in English. About the time of his ar- rival in the capital, a core group of students rebelled against the academic formalism of the Imperial Acad- emy. Repin’s fame was established by his painting of the Barge Haulers on the Volga, a work which portrayed the hard lot of the poor folk. From 1882 he lived in Saint Petersburg but visited his Ukrainian homeland and on occasion made tours abroad. Beginning shortly before the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881 Repin painted a series of pictures dealing with the theme of the Russian revolutionary movement: Refusal to Confess, Arrest of a Propagandist, The Meeting, and They Did Not Expect Him. The last is considered his masterpiece on the subject, mixing con- trasting psychological moods and Russian and Ukrainian national motifs. His large-scale Religious Procession in the Province of Kursk is sometimes considered an arche- type of the «Russian national style», as it displays various social classes and the tensions among them, set within the context of a traditional religious practice and united by a slow but relentless forward movement. In 1885 Repin completed one of his most psychologi- cally intense paintings, Ivan the Terrible and his Son. This canvas displayed a horrified Ivan embracing his dying son, whom he had just struck and mortally wounded in an un- controlled fit of rage. The terrified face of Ivan is in marked contrast with that of his calm, almost Christlike son.

289 Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV of the Ottoman Empire, 1880–91 (State Russian Museum). One of Repin’s most complex paintings, Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV of the Ot- toman Empire occupied him for more than a decade. He conceived this painting as a study in laughter, but also believed that it involved the ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity. He wanted to portray Cossack repub- licanism, in this particular case, Ukrainian Cossack re- publicanism. Begun in the late 1870s, he completed it in 1891, when it was immediately purchased by the Tsar for 35,000 roubles, an enormous amount at the time. During his maturity, Repin painted many of his most celebrated compatriots, including the novelist Leo Tol- stoy, the court photographer Rafail Levitsky, the scientist Dmitri Mendeleev, the imperial official Konstantin Pobedo- nostsev, the composer Modest Mussorgsky, the cellist Ale- ksandr Verzhbilovich, the philanthropist Pavel Tretyakov, and the Ukrainian poet and painter, Taras Shevchenko. Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky Aivazovsky was born in the town of Feodosiya (Theodo- sia), Crimea (Russian Empire) in a poor Armenian family. His brother was the Armenian Archbishop Gabriel Aiva- zovsky. His family moved to the Crimea from Galicia (then in southern Poland, now in Ukraine) in 1812. His parents’ family name was Aivazian but in Poland it was written Haivazian. Some of the artist’s paintings bear a signature, in Armenian letters, «Hovhannes Aivazian» (Հովհաննես Այվազյան). His father taught him to play the violin and speak Polish and Ukrainian fluently. His talent as an artist earned him sponsorship and entry to the Simferopol gymnasium No.1 and later the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, which he graduated with a gold medal. Earning awards for his early landscapes and seascapes, he went on to paint a series of portraits of Crimean coastal towns before travelling throughout Europe. In later life, his paintings of naval scenes earned him a long-standing commission from the Russian Navy stationed in the Black Sea.

290 In 1845 Aivazovsky went to İstanbul upon the invitation of Sultan Abdülmecid I, a city he was to travel to eight times between 1845–1890. During his long sojourn in İstanbul, Aivazovsky was commissioned for a number of paintings as a court painter by the Otto- man Sultans Abdülmecid, Abdulaziz and Abdulhamid, 30 of which are currently on display in the Ottoman Im- perial Palace, the Dolmabahce Museum and many other museums in Turkey. His works are also found in dozens of museums throughout Russia and the former Soviet republics, including the Hermitage Museum in Saint Pe- tersburg, and the Aivazovsky Art Gallery in Feodosiya, Ukraine. The office of Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Abdul- lah Gül, has Aivasovsky’s paintings on the wall [8]. At 31, Aivazovsky married Julia Graves, an English governess in St. Petersburg. They had four daughters. The marriage was dissolved, and at the age of 65, Aiva- zovsky, married Anna Boornazian, a young Armenian widow from Feodosia. Aivazovsky was deeply affected by the Hamidian massacres of Armenians in Asia Minor in 1895, painting a number of works on the subject such as «The Ex- pulsion of the Turkish Ship», and «The Armenian Mas- sacres at Trevizond» and renouncing a medal, which had been awarded to him in İstanbul. He spent his last years in Feodosia where he supplied the town with water from his own estate, opened an art school, began the first archaeological excavations in the region and built a historical museum. Due to his efforts a commercial port was established at Feodosiya and linked to the railway network. Aivasovsky died in Feodosiya in 1900. Aivazovsky is best known for his seascapes and coastal scenes. His technique and imagination in depicting the shimmering play of light on the waves and seafoam is especially admired, and gives his seascapes a romantic yet realistic quality that echoes the work of the English watercolourist J.M.W. Turner and Russian painter Sylves- ter Shchedrin. Especially effective is his ability to depict diffuse sunlight and moonlight, sometimes coming from

291 behind clouds, sometimes coming through a fog, with almost transparent layers of paint. A series of paintings of naval battles painted in the 1840s brought his dramatic skills to the fore, with the flames of burning ships reflected in water and clouds. He also painted landscapes, including scenes of peasant life in Ukraine and city life in İstanbul. Some critics have called his paintings from İstanbul Orientalist, and others feel the hundreds of seascapes can be repetitive and melodramatic. Questions for self-control 1. How do you understand the term «Ukrainian national and cultural Renaissance (Revival)»? 2. How long did the process of national revival in Ukraine last? 3. What are the features of national revival in Ukraine? 4. Who was T.H. Shevchenko? 5. Who were the famous painters of this period? 6. What were the main themes in painting and literature?

2.8. World Culture in the XX-th–XXI-st Centuries. Modern and Post-modern In the twentieth century the European type of culture spread far from the borders of Europe, covering other continents — America, Australia, and more or less came into life of Asian and African countries such as Japan, Singa- pore, South Africa. The culture of European kind is now typical not only for Europe. It is now called «Western culture». So, we can speak about the existence of common features, typical for Western culture in general and their displaying in the cultures of other countries. Modern Western culture is dynamic. Practical view of the world, individualism, specific relation to time («time is money»), someway destroyed previously established ideals of human behaviour, human relations. This culture is based on business, efficiency. They highly appreciated activity, rationality, professionalism.

292 Modern Western culture is rather stable and still exists, despite of the different voices of philosophers, writers, painters about its death. It managed to survive during two world wars, in the fight against fascist and communist regimes, which proclaimed themselves carries of new and more perfect culture. Moreover, creative possibilities of Western culture even increased. Its achievements in the XX-th century became so great that they changed conditions of life of the whole mankind. A great influence on the content filling of modern western culture was made by those achievements, which took place in different forms of material and spiritual culture, namely: inventions in the field of electronic communications, education, home appliances, discoveries in the field of genetic engineering, deepening into the world of tiny particles and space, creation of new chemical materials with unusual properties and so on. All these changes marked the transition to a new kind of society (which is called «post-industrial», «information», etc.). American futurologist, the author of a conception of a post-industrial society A. Toffler, sees a direct relationship between the development of technology and the way of life, its values. In his work the «Future Shock» A. Toffler maintained the idea that the acceleration of social and technological changes caused a separate individual’s shock and shocked a society as a whole. In such socio-cultural conditions the basic principle in all spheres of social life is pluralism. In the present-day Western art we also can see such as pluralism and the appearance of many new ideas. Dif- ferent trends and directions (expressionism, cubism, ab- stractionism, surrealism, neorealism, hyperrealism), new forms and genres of Arts, associated with the use of techniques (digital photography, electronic music, computer graphics) appeared inside it. A trend towards the synthesis of different arts got its development. These directions in the Arts are associated with the new, modernist, outlook. Modernism (from French «Moderne» — present) opposed with traditionalism as «modern art» or «art of the

293 future». Only the things expressed something new began to be regarded as «modern» ones. A rush after a «big nov- elty» as such starts. The distinctive features of modernism are: – the absence of common sustainable principles (it is impossible to determine «modernism» as a style in the Art — it is rather an aggregate of stylistic directions); – the philosophy of life, neo-kantianism, pheno- menology, intuitionalism, orthodox psychoanalysis (Freud- ism) as a theoretical background of modernism; – rejection of imitation of nature, describing its visual reality, an attempt to penetrate into something secret, invisible and do it like the science does; – elitist character of culture, combined with attempts to reconstruct the society and the desire to become mass. The period from 1907 (the appearance of cubism) to 1960s (the beginning of postmodernism) is considered as the relative frames of the modernism existence. Re- searches thought that France, Germany, Italy and Russia were the centres of modernism. Modernism in the XX-th century includes such directions in the Art: 1. Cubism (from French) is an avant-garde direction in the art of the early XX-th century (P. Picasso, G. Braque, L. Popova), its specific features were constitution of a vol- umetric shape on a plane, using simple geometric shapes (cube, cone, cylinder). The work by Picasso «Les Demoi- selles d’Avignon» («The Young Ladies of Avignon», originally titled «The Brothel of Avignon») (1907) was the «starting point» to Cubism. It did not try to leave the reality, it was just looking for new ways of understanding. 2. Futurism (from Lat. «Futurum») appeared as a social and political movement in Italy in 1909. Its main ideologist was an Italian poet and editor F. Marinetti. In their manifestos futurists offered an idea of «rebel- lion against the tyranny of words» harmony «and» good taste, «proposed to destroy theatres, museums», sweep out «of the Art all used scenes, describe modern dynamic life. They followed Friedrich Nietzsche (who proclaimed

294 that «the world is not something factual, it moves, while in a state of development») and tried to represent movement, accelerated rate of life by means of rhythmic repetition of separate figures and their parts, such as increasing the number of hands, legs for a running man, flashing the corresponding fragments. 3. Expressionism (from Lat. expression) is a direction in literature and art in the early XX-th century. It proclaimed the subjective spiritual world of a human being the only true reality, and named its expression the main purpose of art. Within the frame of expressionism the first works of abstract art appeared. Some paintist, primarily Ger- man, did their Expressionistic works in the antiwar manner (E. Barlah, G. Grosz, O. Dix). 4. Abstract art (from Lat. abstractio) is an artistic outlook, a direction in art of the XX-th century. It is remarkable for replacement of naturalistic of a subject by free play of colours, lines and shapes. Among the founders of abstract art there are V. Kandinsky, P. Mon- drian. They are masters of Orphism or Orphic Cubism. Abstract art apeared in 1910 and became the culmination point in modernism as for its step aside going from «subjectiveness». The first abstract work is a watercolour by Kandinsky (1910). As one French critic said, «it is the first time in the history of painting that nothing can be seen or recognized». Abstract art is notable for simple drawings: the focus is on the light and colour. 5. Suprematism (from Lat. suprematie — domin- ion, advantage) is a direction in art, founded in 1913 by K. Malevich. The theories by H.-L. Bergson and B. Croce were the philosophical basis of Suprematism. It points to domination of intuitive, clean feeling, which operates with clear colour and plane geometric forms while displaying the outside world. The most famous suprematist work by K. Malevich is his «Black Suprematist Square on a white background» (or simply «The Black Square»). While absolute deeping into the substance of the square one’s consciousness, ultimately, comes to the extreme

295 borders of realizing the black as the Absolute. At this point a Square as a symbol of the Earth transforms into a more fundamental symbol. It is the symbol of Heaven. «Black Square» by K. Malevich became a legend in the art of the XX-th century. 6. Surrealism (from French surrealisme — «above the realism», super-realism) a direction in the art of XX-th century. It proclaimed that the sphere of subconscious (instincts, dreams, hallucinations) was the source of art, and the break of logical connections, which replaced free association, was the method of art. Surrealism appeared in the works of painters (S. Dali, P. Blume, Y. Tanguy) in 1930s. Sigmund Freud played an important part in appearance of this direction. In painting paradoxical illogicality of combination of objects and phenomena became the main feature of surrealism. The brightest representative of surrealism is S. Dali. His works may be considered as risky experiments with meanings and values in the European tradition. S. Dali referred to the sphere of the subconscious, with interest in erotica, unimplemented desires, play of fantasy. He combined different objects, opposed them to each other in supernatural situations. 7. Eclecticism (from Greek eklektikos — the one who makes a choice) is an art direction (mainly, in the architecture). During creation of works it used any correlation of forms of the past, national traditions, frank decorative impressionism, interchangeably and equivalency of elements in the works, the violation of hierarchy in the art system and weakening of consistency and integrity. It is typical for eclecticism to have a lot of ornaments; loss of the difference between mass and unique building up in the urban ensemble, absence of stylistic unity, use the principle of «non finito» (incompleteness of the work, openness of the composition), liberation from ancient traditions and background in the culture of different ages and nations, attraction to the exotic things, democracy, a tendency to create something universal, out-of-state type of urban dwelling buildings.

296 8. Primitivism is an art direction, reflecting a simplified view of a man and the world, with an attempt to see the world with the eyes of children, happily and ordinar- ily, without any «adult» complexity. Such an effort creates strong and weak features of primitivism. The direction is an atavistic nostalgia for the past, longing for before- civilized lifestyle. This is opposition to the reality: the world is complicated, and a painter simplifies it. 9. Pop Art is a new figurative art. The appearance of it is associated with the creative activity of neo-dadaists (Neo- Dada) J. Jones and R. Rauschenberg: In 1950s they introduced items of everyday use into art. Thus, Pop-art thinks that the rude world of material things has an artistic and aesthetic status and is opposed to the Abstract Art denial of reality. Theorists of Pop-Art proclaim that in a special context each item loses its original meaning and becomes a work of art. Therefore, the task of the painter is focused on giving a usual thing some artistic features by making an appropriate context of its perception. Aestheticization of the objective world became the principle of Pop art. The later is a composition of household items, sometimes in combination with a plaster cast (a copy made in plaster of another 3-dimensional form) or sculpture. Painted with white oil paint torn boots, old tires or gas stoves, crushed cars, scraps of newspapers or posters and so on became artistic displays of Pop art. Among the painters of Pop art there are E. Warhol, J. Dine, J. Chamberlain et al. Pop art has several varieties: op art (also known as optical art) is a style of visual art that uses optical illusions,organized effects, geometrical combination of lines and spots), env-art (compositions, artistically organized environment that surrounds the viewer) and el-art (objects and structures, driven by electric motors). The later evolved into an independent artistic direction — kinetic art. «Pop Art is: popular, transient, expendable, low-cost, mass-produced, young, witty, sexy, gimmicky, glamor- ous, and Big Business». (G. Hamilton) «The Pop artists did images that anybody walking down Broadway could recognize in a split second — comics,

297 picnic tables, men’s trousers, celebrities, shower curtains, refrigerators, Coke bottles — all the great modern things that the Abstract Expressionists tried hard not to notice». (A. Warhol) «A certain openness characterizes the Art, openness of landscape, which is created by an industrial civilization, according to the ideas of today’s generation». (U. Chartoriyska) 10. Hyperrealism is an art direction. An impersonal living system in a tough and rough world is an invari- ant of a hyperrealistic artistic concept. Hyperrealism creates picturesque overnaturalistic paintings, which reflect the tiniest details of an object. Plots of hyperrealism are deliberately banal, emphasized objective. Handmade the so-called «second» nature of the urban environment: pet- rol stations, cars, houses, telephone booths, described as far from the people, became main themes of the hyperrealistic paintings. Hyperrealism shows consequences of excessive urbanization, destruction of the ecologi- cal environment. It also proves that a megapolis creates an unfavourable environment for life of human beings. 11. Happening is a kind of modern Western culture. A. Kaprow was the author of the first performances in the happening manner («A Town house», «Creation»). Happening is characterized by mysterious, sometimes illogical actions of actors, a great number of used items as stage properties. Some of them were taken in the garbage. Participants of a happening performance are dressed up into bright, absurd costumes, emphasizing that the actors have no soul. They usually resemble boxes, buckets, etc. Happening proposes its own conception of world and personality: the world is a stream of random events, the person must subjectively feel complete freedom, but, in fact, obey the only action, be manipulated. Critics of Western culture say that alongside with the development of different art directions, it has a crisis nature. If not to take any measures, it threatens to lose all its achievements.

298 The main characteristics of Western culture of the XX-th century are: – Elitist and mass character; – Pluralism and unification; – Technical and antitechnical character. Elitist and mass character. The relative separation of culture into «culture for all» and «culture for selected» has always existed. Even in the primitive period, shamans and priests were the cultural elite because they had special knowledge beyond the general culture. With the appearance of writing a division into elite culture for «literate» people and folklore (folk, ethnic) culture took place. In the XX-th century this division had the forms of elite and mass cultures. The Elite culture is oriented to the idea of its creators, perception of the elite as the best part of any society, which has a special sensitivity. This is the form of culture, which includes visual arts, literature, music, and is designed for the higher strata of a society. Modern scientific texts are extremely difficult to understand and they require certain efforts and corre- spondent level of knowledge for their understanding. Having no knowledge in the history of art, aesthetics, literature, culture, etc., it is difficult to fully assess a lot of masterpieces in literature. For example, works by an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early XX-th century J. Joyce; by J.L. Borges, an Argen- tine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, «character of unreality in all literature»; by A.L. Huxley, an English writer, a humanist, pacifist, and satirist; by poet-symbolists). You must be ready to listen to music composed by I. Stravinsky, G. Mahler, A. Schnittke, K. Debussy. Such directions in art as cubism, abstrac- tionism, surrealism demand some special mental abili- ties. Movies by A. Tarkovsky and O. Sakurov must be watched in a special informational context. The so- called «High culture» is becoming specialized. The epoch of encyclopedically educated all-round craftsmen in all

299 spheres is over. Now each field of culture has its own rather small elite. Mass culture is characterized by general accessibility, ease of perception, simplicity, and entertaining character. Its world is of many faces: adventure and detective literature, sentimental prose, cinematography with fights vampires, erotica; music of different kinds (rock, rap, reg- gae, techno, etc.; popular essays and papers about «a bit scientific» or even pseudo-scientific. It wants sensa- tions, sport events, scandals, mysteries. Popular culture does not require any knowledge or thoughts. On the contrary, under the influence of pop culture based on the immediate emotional reactions a human being becomes degraded. So, it is not a surprising thing that it refers to the ancient myths with their irrational and emotional mood and creates new myths, which, in their turn, are also accepted, «not by mind, but by heart» (magic, astrology, card-reading, chiromancy, belief in miracles; racist, nationalist, socialist and other utopias). There are two opposite tendencies in mass culture opposed. One of them is based on the primitive feelings and desires, almost biological instincts (sex appealing, aggression). In its extreme reflection it generates a counterculture, militant and inimical in their attitude to the existing world order in general. The other trend is based on the typical for ordinary people desire to improve their social status and educational level (popularization of science, kinds of comics with a short set of plots of the classical literature, etc.). By the end of the XX-th century the second trend had notably increased, and specialists in culture began to talk about the so-called midculture growing (culture of the medium level). However, the distinction between mass and elite culture also remains an actual problem. Pluralism and unification. Modern culture is pluralistic (from Lat. pluralis — multiple): never before there had been such a diversity of cultural systems and subsys- tems. You can find many different points of view: scientific, philosophical, artistic, religious, ethical, legal, political. At the same time they are relatively independent. Plura-

300 lism is revealed in the middle of every system or subsys- tem: there is a plurality of religions, philosophical concepts, natural-scientific theories, artistic styles, schools of art, theories about personality. Such a contradiction between the integrity of culture and its collaboration with an object through a plurality of changing areas of knowledge leads to the fact that instead of a coherent picture of the world a person gets pieces of a broken «mirror» that he or she is unable to collect. Culture as a whole is «surplus» in the sense that it gives birth to the excessive plurality of possible approaches to any problem that arises in it. Although not all of them are effective, it creates a cultural background, from which new ideas are born. Simultaneously, such a superfluity is not only the result, but also a source of creative development of culture. But the mechanisms of mass culture acts in the opposite direction too, towards unification of cultural life. Its principle is to replicate and spread the same material and spiritual values in the society. Hundreds million of people in different countries may receive the same set of today’s news, watch the same movies and sport events, listen to the same singers or politicians simultaneously. Popular culture standardized everything, from the conditions of life, type of feeding and clothing to the desires, thoughts and ideals. And all this is due to the media that impose individuals from different social strata, the same social stereotypes. «Escaping from freedom» is happening in popular culture: a personality is liberating from a possibility to choose its own position, looking through multiple options, from which one have to choose, having responsibi- lity for choices. The right to make a choice is transferred to another person: — a leader, a news presenter, a priest or simply to the authorities. Unification of tastes, beliefs, ideals, points of view is combined with conformism, loss of personal (I am like others), aversion of other ideas, which are far from the «common thought». Culture is not already excessive at this level. Narrow, uniform, primitive

301 vision of the world, typical for the perception of the majority with poor education, is formed. Primitivism and lack of education make a kind of contribution into the pluralism of contemporary culture: they compare the science with the myth, the logic with the mystical revelation. As for the public opinion it leads to the formation of «rules», which have a right to exist alongside the highest examples of the creative mind (masterpieces). Technicalization. It is widely known that the penetration of techniques into different spheres of life is the greater, the farther the country moved towards a civilization of the Western type. Making life «more technical» is an integral part of modern Western culture. «Being technical» is a means and result of its development. You must pay for those benefits that technical progress brings: the grows of productivity leads towards unemployment, comfort of living gives increasing of people isolation, motorization of the population increases its mobility and air pollution (nature is being destroyed). The domination of machine above the man leads to the fact that people get the features of the machine themselves, become a machine that operates in accordance with the technical environment, in which it is located. Thus, under these conditions a struggle between two opposite directions — technicalization and antitechnicalization starts. These two trends and ideas are corresponded to the opposite views on science: scientism and antiscience (antiscientism) (from English «science»). Scientism is shown in the belief that science is the main driving force of social progress and its development provides means to solve all the problems facing it. Indeed, science has become a leader in the culture. This is confirmed by unprecedented increase in the number of people employed in the sphere of science. It’s worth to be mentioned that the number of modern scientists is more than 90% of the ones having lived. The other direction — antiscience (antiscientism) — agrees with a negative assessment of science. Indeed, it is necessary to accept that some scientific research (in the field of nuclear physics, engineering sciences, ge-

302 netics, etc.) have a menace for the survival of mankind as it is. Antiscientists find science guilty for leading the mankind in the wrong direction, shifting its attention from the comprehension of God and the soul, the inner spiritual development to the cognition and transformation of the environment. In 1970–80s a large-scale «social and cultural shift» took place. It got the name of postmodern (from Lat. post — and after French. moderne — present). It was the time when the limitation of rationalism was recognized and the fact that the consequences of progress threaten the destruction of the culture became clear. Postmodernism looks at this approach as an attempt of reason to dominate over all spheres of human activity. It resulted in technocratic victory of man over nature and socio-political domination of a men over men. One of the main postmodern settings is to get rid of the pretension to any omniscience. The possibility of unlimited number of pictures of the world is accepted, but none of them can be proclaimed the only truth, because there are no ways and methods of comprehension of reality, which could be free from the influence of human desires, needs, motivations. Writers of post-modern create their works without any heroes, individuals or leaders; everything is aimed at destroying the hierarchy of values, mixing of styles, forgetting names and dates. In the sphere of culture and aesthetics postmodernism is a means of getting experience of artistic avant- garde («modernism» as a moral phenomenon). It erases the boundaries between once separate spheres of spiritual culture and levels of consciousness, namely «scientific» and «everyday» consciousness, «high art» and «kitsch». Postmodernism once and for all establishes the transition from «work» to «design» («construction»), from the activities of creation to activities concerning this activity. Postmodernism knowingly refocuses aesthetic activity from creation to compilation and citations, from creation of original works to making collages. But it does not want

303 to approve the deconstruction (instead of creative work), to manipulate and play with citations, but wants to distance itself from the such oppositions as «destruction — creation», «seriousness — a game». The so-called «mass culture» dominates in the cultural sphere and is led by fashion and adds (advertisements). Postmodernism insists on the fact that exactly the fashion is the measure of everything, it gives the background and the right. The things, which are not admitted by fashion, have no right to exist. Even scientific theories must be fashionable to attract attention, because their real advantages are hidden by the external attraction and glam- our. Hence, the whole postmodern life is unstable and ephemeral as capricious and non-predictable fashion. An important feature of postmodern is its theatri- cality, since all essential events take the form of shows, bright plays. Even politics becomes a spectacle, a place of emotional discharge instead of being the sphere of active and serious human, a citizen. Characteristic features of postmodernism are: – the principle of «double coding», which is simultaneously oriented to the masses and the elite; – a turn to some forgotten artistic traditions; – stylistic pluralism (video, environmentalism, happening et al.); – appeal to the grotesque types of artistic imagery, irony, illusion; – art expansionism, which expands and equalizes the terms of art with not artistic fields of activities, such as ecology, politics, computer science, etc. Contemporary Ukrainian Culture Ukrainian culture of the XX-th century was developed on the background of very difficult social and political events: the sudden change of the political regimes — from the national revival started by the initial democratic transformations in 1917, through the establishment of Soviet totalitarianism (or totalitarian rule) — to the days of Ukrainian independence in the 1990s.

304 The new period has the following stages: – development of Ukrainian culture in the period of the national revival (1917–1933); – the period of socialist realism, spontaneous growth of national resistance, the epoch of the Khrush- chev Thaw (or Khrushchev’s Thaw; refers to the period from the mid-1950s to the early 1960s, when repression and censorship in the Soviet Union were reversed and millions of Soviet political prisoners were released from Gulag labour camps due to Nikita Khrushchev’s policies of de-Stalinization and peaceful coexistence with other nations) with the movement of «shestydesyatnyky» (the «Sixties»), russification of the Ukrainian culture and national spiritual renewal (1933–1991); – the period of development of the Ukrainian independent state, revival of the national culture (from 1991 to the present time). A short period of the national revival in Ukraine began after the February Revolution in Russia (1917). The Central Rada (or Tsentralna Rada) as a representative body of the Ukrainian people proclaimed the development of cultural life and education policy, the revival of native languages in schools as one of the main targets. Theatres were established in Kyiv; the capital and the largest city of Ukraine. Among them there are the State Theatre, the State People’s Theatre, the «Youth Theatre» and others. Development of drama theatre in the 1920s was associated with the activity of the founder of the theatre «Berezil», a great producer and playwright L. Kurbas. At the beginning — in the mid of 1920s painters in Ukraine organized a variety of creative societies. It was the Association named after Kostandi in Odessa, — AHChU (the Association of painters of Red Ukraine) and — OSMU (the Union of Modern Artists of Ukraine, 1927) in Kiev. Later, the OMMU (the Union of Artistic Youth of Ukraine) appeared in Kiev. It included the representatives of the realistic trend in the Ukrainian art. The beginning of 1920s was marked with the appearance of a new artistic direction — Constructivism. This

305 is a significant and independent artistic direction, in which the main role is played by forms, ideas and radically new methods of creative activities of members of all branches of art — painting, architecture, applied art, sculpture. Its basic principle is functionality. Constructivism had a great effect on modern art movements of the XX-th century. Such painters as A. Rodchenko, L. Lisitzky, L. Po- pova, V. Tatlin moved the figurative painting into the far background and carried out searches related to construction, colour and line. The very matter of painting was changed. Using the experience of the Italian Futu- rists, Analytical Cubism by P. Picasso and suprematic searches of K. Malevich, the painters of that period demonstrated material and technical values of their projects, emphasizing the social mission. In the book «Constructive art» A Kemeni writes that the Constructive art is designed for the masses. However, it is not capable to develop under the conditions of general anarchy of a bourgeois society. The author said that at that moment the future didn’t have any benefit from the art of the proletariat. He thought that the initial re- quirement for that was the world proletarian revolution. Some features of Constructivism also appeared in the architecture of 1920’s. In the architectural forms of the Gosprom (Derzhprom) building, the covered market in Kharkiv and other buildings we can see a desire to identify properties of materials and structures, strip such constructive elements as beams, brackets of balco- nies and so on. The Building of Gosprom (the name is an abbrevia- tion of two words that, taken together, mean State Indus- try; in English the structure is also known as the State Industry Building or the Palace of Industry) is the first grand in its sizes construction, built in Ukraine during the Soviet era. It consists of three buildings connected by passages on different floors. The plan of each building has a rather complex configuration that resembles a geometrical letters X (buildings at the sides) and letter «Ж» of the Cyrillic script (middle building).

306 Despite the accumulation of volumes, some conceptions of future urbanization and technicalization of life of the socialist society are reflected in the architectural style of the first capital of Ukraine, Kharkiv. The development of culture in 1930s took place on the background and under circumstances, which were of controversial nature. Persecution of scientists, educational figures, cultural workers, whose views and work did not meet the ideological monopoly and personal tastes of J. Stalin (the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6, May, 1941 to 5, March, 1953). Dictatorship of the proletariat was transforming into a personal dictatorship of the leader. The most prominent representatives of the Ukrainian culture were imprisoned into labour camps. One of the most tragic pages of Ukrainian history were collectivization and famine. In 1930s a grand building (Turksib or The Turkestan–Siberian Railway, The Dnieper Hydroelectric Station or DneproGES, the largest hydroelectric power station on the Dnieper River, Kharkiv Tractor Plant, etc.) was everywhere on the territory of the Soviet Union. Such «heroic exploits» and industrialization required skilled and educated professionals, so a great attention was paid to the liquidation of illiteracy and development of educational institutions. But as a result of the oppression of the Ukrainian language and requirements such as «to stop Ukrainization (also spelled Ukrainisation or Ukrainianization, a policy of increasing the usage and facilitating the development of the Ukrainian language and promoting other elements of Ukrainian culture, in various spheres of public life such as education, publishing, government and religion)» in 1932 schools in Ukraine were transferred mainly to those with the Russian language training. Visual art, like other areas of culture, was regulated by the borders of all-embracing method of «socialist realism». It required glorifying of Stalin, the Communist Party and great achievements of socialism. A great many of cultural workers of Ukraine were repressed at that period. But contrary to the ideology of the totalitarian

307 regime in painting, as in other arts, there were undoubted successes. A significant contribution to the development of Ukrainian visual art of that period was made by painters and sculptors I. Trush, A. Monastyrsky, A. Nowa- kowski, C. Hordynsky. They were artists from Western Ukraine. Their creative activity was held with direct contacts with Western European culture and national contributes of previous generations. Since the early days of Great Patriotic War (is used in Russia and former republics of the Soviet Union to describe the period from 22, June, 1941 to 9, May, 1945 in many fronts of the eastern campaign of World War II between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany with its allies) artists of Ukraine subordinated their work to the idea of national defense. All kinds of art and means were mobilized to help the front, for the victory. They began to publish posters, propaganda leaflets, articles by writers and historians dedicated to the heroic pages of the past. Such great historical figures as Yaroslav the Wise, Danylo Halytskyi, Bohdan Khmelnytsky and others. While being in the Soviet rear, painters O. Shovkunenko, K. Trokhimenko created a series of portraits of figures in the Ukrainian culture. Among them there are portraits of academics O. Palladin, P. Tychyna, sculptor B. Yakov- lev et al. I. Shulga created a canvas named «The Council of Pereiaslav», L. Moochnick completed «The heroic defense of Odessa». In the end of 1943 M. Deregus created a series of etching «Ways of War». The state of the Ukrainian art in the postwar period was characterized by intensive development of all its genres. Most artists dedicated their works to describing episodes of heroic battle against Nazi invaders. In particular, a canvas by B. Kostetskiy the «Return» (1947). It is one of the best works in the art of Ukraine during the first postwar years. In his book «The Ukrainian Art» Y.B. Belychko wrote that the picture is related not to the war but to the first days of peace. The canvas by Kostetskiy is read in two emotional dimensions. The context of it is deeply optimis-

308 tic; here you can feel a pleasure from happy meeting with the family. The feelings are overflowing. However, the echo of recent developments returns into clearly heard dramatic music, which makes the emotional content difficult and extends the plot in time and space. The painting of the canvas is restrained; its tone corresponds to the moment of triumph. Kostetskiy refused from psychological characteristics of individual characters, but a unique feature as for the strength of an emotional sound is such a discovery as female hands around a soldier’s neck. The joy of victory in World War II inspired a lot of painters, writers and poets to creative work. A talent of an outstanding Ukrainian artist T. Yablonska (1917– 2005) blossomed in the first postwar years. Her paintings «Bread» (1949) and «Spring» (1950) became the program works of that time, examples of Ukrainian realistic painting of the XX-th century. But it was only the first stage of the development of the outstanding artist. Long and rich creative life of T. Yablonska became a kind of symbol of the Ukrainian culture, a reflection of the main cultural processes of the XX-th century. T. Yablonska said that while working over her painting «Bread», she most of all tried to depict the delight of life itself. She worked with a great inspiration and would not ever give up. Acquaintance with folk art of Armenia and Zakarpat- tya inspired the prominent painter, the People’s Artist of the USSR, for the creation of a number of monumental and decorative works. The pictures «Festive Evening» (1960), «Nameless heights» (1969) and «Youth» (1969) are given a deep philosophical sense. They became an event in the cultural life. In the paintings of this period, created in the tempera technique (tempera, also known as egg tempera, is a permanent fast-drying painting medium consisting of coloured pigment mixed with a water-so- luble binder medium), the artist actively used bright colours and even printer’s ink. A new stage in the creative work of T. Yablonska was opened by her travel to Florence. She created such pictures

309 as the «Evening. Old Florence» (1973), «Flax» (1977) in the spirit of a realistic painting, as well as a series of landscapes in the style of impressionism. In 1990s T. Yablonska enjoyed ancient oriental philosophy and literature, that was directly reflected in her new paintings created with oil, namely «The Bride» (1992), «The time of flowering» (1997) and others. At the late XX-th — early XXI-st century the painter applied the techniques of pastels to create works characterized with unbelievably lyricism and philosophical fullness. They are the «November. Wind»(2004), «Heavy Fog» (2004) and others. T. Yablonska is a great Ukrainian artist, a member of the Academy of Arts of Ukraine, the Hero of Ukraine, the winner of the Shevchenko National Prize. Her creative activity, no doubt, influenced on the development of all Ukrainian arts of the modern period. From the early 1970’s Ukrainian artists, whose creative interests were far from the principles of socialist realism, turned to the monumental art. The development of it was specified by the fact that the relationship of mural paintings with architecture allowed to use a variety of styles, artistic languages, plastic solutions, methods and technologies more freely than in the painting and sculpture. Yu. Yegorov, O. Dubovik, V. Marynyuk, V. Tsyupka, V. Shurevych, V. Tayber, V. Hontarov, V. Pasyvenko, F. Tetyanych, V. Bykov, V. Grigorov, M. and P. Malyshko and many other painters worked in the sphere of the monumental art. Their easel painting belonged to the «Unof- ficial Arts». The monumental art was the kind of art, with the help of which new artistic, aesthetic, stylistic ideas came into the social space by complex, indirect ways. A vivid illustration of the first Ukrainian monumental painting is the design of the lobby of the National Ukrai- nian library named after V.I. Vernadsky. It was made in the encaustic technique (wax painting) by Volodymyr Pasyvenko and Volodymyr Pryadko. The work covers an area about 300 square metres. The main theme of the composition is revealing of the

310 main purpose of science — the protection of life on the earth. This topic is presented by the painters in three- dimensional form. The vertical part of the composition is the «Dialogue». The image of the thinker is shown in the centre; on both sides there are the forms of the Greek oracles: these are the figures, which represent the fight of contrary ideas. The horizontal part of the composition is the «Anxiety». Burnt trees, erosion of once fertile land, the ruins of the As- sumption Cathedral in Kiev-Pechersk Lavra are our present. The top (inclined) part of the composition is «The pain of the earth». Here the stories about human’s tragedies are revealed in the historical perspective: from ancient civilizations (Egypt, India, Greece) to the present day (the Cher- nobyl reactor, which burns, dead earth, sorrow of a man). The centre of the composition is the image of mother, playing with a child. The victory of the human mind is depicted by artists as a view of a beautiful guy, lighted with the fire of love for people and wildlife. He protects a blue deer — a symbol of purity of water, earth and sky, — with his body. At the bottom of the composition there is a bust of the founder and first president of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (1919–1921) Academician V.I. Vernadsky (the author is sculptor B. Dovgan). One of the best representatives of modern Ukrainian art is a living classic of Ukrainian painting Ivan Marchuk (born in 1936), a Ukrainian avant-garde, impressionist, constructivist, and surrealist and hyperrealist. The Art of Ivan Marchuk passed the test of time: the Soviet authorities tried to ban his works, and although the artist’s career started in 1970s, the master gets his recognition only at the time of the Ukrainian independence. Today works by Marchuk are known and honoured throughout the world. His paintings are shown not only in Ukraine, but also in the exhibition halls of Toronto, New York, Sydney. The third President of independent Ukraine described Ivan Marchuk as a nerve and soul of his native land.

311 In the fine, anxious, blinking light of his national poetics we feel a cleanness of a spring, as a testament to protect the spring, to love it with one’s heart, all thoughts. Each nation has figures to whom God gives not only a tremendous talent but also a special concentrated spiritual experience of his or her native land, an impressive artistic intuition. Ivan Marchuk is an artist, on whom the grace of God occurred. He is from those of the Sixties («shestydesyatnyky»). He was shining then when dark forces blew out any fires. Like all people with a rich inner world, he is multiple, very philosophical, perceptible and poetic, and folk. I. Marchuk created an original style of painting. His works are done in the style of «plontanizm», which is characterized by a huge number of tiny strokes. The images on the canvas consist of these strokes, thus creating an unusual effect of luminescence of his works. Ivan Marchuk is the People’s Artist of Ukraine, laure- ate of the T. Shevchenko National Prize of Ukraine. The most essential features of contemporary Ukrainian culture are clearly reflected in his works. They are divided by the author into thematic cycles. They are the «Voice of my soul», «Blossom», «Landscape», «Portrait», «Heritage», «Colourful Preludes», «Abstract Compositions», and the number of pictures today is approaching to two thousand. I. Marchuk says that all his technique is inspired by purely natural phenomena, such as bare trees. The painter watched the bare trees and saw such a fantastic lace, such a beauty. I. Marchuk says that he cannot do, as the others. So, he invented himself such a technique and now he has already, as he says, «looped» millions of kilometers on the canvas. Nowadays achievements of the Ukrainian culture make it possible to critically look at our own, typical only for us type of culture and denote its historical and cultural boundaries. A modern human being begins to realize that the cultural identity of his or her people is inseparable from the cultural identity of other nations, that we all are subjected to the «laws» of cultu-

312 ral communication. The peculiarity of the current state of Ukrainian culture is forming the image of the new culture along with the traditional one. The later image is, first of all, reflected with the ideas of historical and organic integrity and heredity of traditions. The new image is more and more associated with global ideas, with unity of mankind and its general destiny. Planetary thinking is dominating, a new type of a man is born and new pictures of the world appear in the works of art. One of the specific features of the national culture is a new type of cultural communication. It includes the following peculiarities: – an increasing ability to realize a foreign culture, which includes the recognition of the identity of another culture, the other truth, the ability to include them into one’s position and outlook; – recognition of the legitimacy of the existence of many views on the truth, the ability to construct relationship on the base of dialogue and compromise reasonably; – increase of the weight of the realized reflection, developing of new ways to solve cultural issues. Since the year of independence, more favourable conditions for the development of culture in Ukraine have been proposed. Many works of a new semantic class appeared in the workshops of painters, writers and playwrights. All this complicated quite a colourful panorama of cultural life in the new ideological space. A searching innovative vector of modern visual arts, its philosophical, axiological, ethno- cultural paradigmatic approach is very diverse nowadays. The overview of the cultural life in Ukraine in the conditions of a new ideological space is reflected by the active exhibition activity of our artists both domesti- cally and abroad: – in painting and graphics (S. Poyarkov, A. Bludov, P. Bevza, V. Shereshevsky, S. Lopukhova, E. Belsky, V. Shkarupa, S. Prin, A. Gidora, V. Makeev, T. Svire- ly, B. Yehiazaryan, V. Kuts, I. Gorin, M. Yakovchuk, S. Savchenko, O. Malyh et al.);

313 – in sculpture (O. Pinchuk, O. Denisenko, R. Rom- anishin, O. Dergachov, N. Derevianko, E. Derevianko, B. Bystrov, V. Mykytenko, O. Kuzmin, O. Smirnov, O. Su- holit et al.); – in the decorative and applied arts: – A. Bokotey, V. Ginzburg, O. Shevchenko, R. Petruk, I. Tarnawsky working in the techniques of glass and stained-glass; – B. Danilov, L. Bohinskyy, Z. Bereza, N. Isupova, N. and S. Kozak working in the field of ceramics; – L. Zhogol, G. Zabashta, G. Hryshchenko, T. Miskovets, O. Moroz, M. Kirnytska, N. Maksymova, N. Shymin, V. Kho- menko, O. Potiyevska working in the field of textiles; – A. Fedorov, E. Zavarzin, G. Korniyenko, S. Volskyy et al. working in the field of contemporary jewelry design. One of the most popular contemporary Ukrain- ian painter and graphic artist is Sergey Poyarkov (born in 1965), whose works are exhibited at the performances in Russia, the UK and the USA. He says that the most important thing in art for him is that there are no borders. Today art is limited by nothing, neither the form, nor the subject or content. S. Po- yarkov thinks that the greatest achievement of the XX-th century art is the fact that its boundaries extended to the horizon. The wideness of it depends on the very person. The artist says he wants to be himself and thinks that such a desire is the most important for every painter. Each artist has his or her own technique, which corresponds to his inner mood. For S. Poyarkov it is the illustrative graphics. In his works he is not limited to the only technology, and combines watercolour textures, a pencil, an ink and gouache. He combines «illustrative- ness» with polygenre philosophy. The third President of Ukraine said that Sergey Po- yarkov is quite a noticeable figure in Ukrainian art. His artistic skill goes hand in hand with interesting philosophical views as for life. S. Poyarkov says that we live on the top of an iceberg, a great massif processed by previous generations. We live

314 on the top step of a great number of philosophies, discoveries, Napoleonic campaigns, which were before us. From all these people who subordinated land for centuries, we have only portraits now. Because in reality you cannot conquer the land. Conquest and seizure of the land are ridiculous. That is why there are so many candles. One attempt to conquer means one candle. V. Shkarupa (born in 1950) is the author of the international project «Raku-ceramic», symposia Land-Art, and many exhibitions and festivals. His paintings, drawings and ceramics are famous not only in Ukraine but in Rus- sia, Switzerland, Germany and other countries. The most famous exposition by V. Shkarupa are the «Solar wind», «Oriental», «The Other Travel», «The Sun in fishes». The author says that he has remembered himself as an unconscious Fish for a long time. He had unforgotten child- ish memories of infinite water running, bright sun, sand shoals of crystal clear river, lakes, full of life. Among other contemporary Ukrainian artists there is Oleg Pinchuk (born in 1960). He is one of the most famous and most popular sculptors living and working in Ukraine and Switzerland. Modern Ukrainian art is presented by both separate artistic achievements and regional art schools. A broad range of artistic life in Ukraine is reflected in such regional school as: – Kharkiv (N. Myronenko, O. Kudinova, P. Mos, V. Ihu- mentsev, A. Ridnyy, N. Chernova, V. Kovtun, Y. Bykov, V. Hontariv, N. Vyrhun et al.); – Odessa (Y. Egorov, A. Loza, V. Marynyuk, O. Vo- loshinov and others); – Zakarpattya (B. Korzh, N. Ponomarenko, I. Paneyko); – Crimean (S. Shahunov, L. and S. Dzhus, Y. Basov, V. Holynskyi, A. Zubkov, V. Bernadsky et al.); – Kiev (V. Barinova-Kuleba, N. Deryhus, P. Gon- char, L. Dovzhenko, V. Yurchyshyn, V. Marusenko, A. Gu- riev et al.); – Chernivtsi (V. Shevchuk, I. Balan, B. Negoda, T. Tsarik, P. Yakovenko et al.);

315 – Lviv (P. Sypniak, M. Demtsiu, L. Krypyakevych, V. Fedoruk, B. Buryak, L. Medvid et al.). Evgeniya Gapchinskaya borned celebrity in Kharkov, there made off the picturesque separation of artistically- industrial institute. Later there was internship in the Nuremberg academy of arts, then work in Kiev. Already in Germanium of Gapchinskaya formed the style and exactly here became truly popular. Then the Viennese museum «Al’bertina» ordered her the series of works (then they entered in registration of book «Liza and her sleeps»), then there were another series of pictures for the magazine of Vogue. Its painting was come to love for child’s naivety, carelessness and warmth. Now the nice girls of Gapchinskaya decorate not only Ukrainian collections but also western private collections. And let opinions concerning its painting very differ, all talk about its works. Ukrainian famous cultural leaders of the XX–XXI-th centuries

Malevich, Kazimir (February 23, 1878–May 15, 1935) Painter, Designer Kazimir Severinovich Malevich was one of Russia’s leading proponents of modern abstract art in the immediate pre-Soviet and Soviet eras. After experimenting with Parisian influences in the early 1900s, he in 1913 formulated a purely abstract style he called Suprematism, based on the interplay of geometric shapes. Malevich abandoned Suprematism in his later life, and his paintings fell victim to Soviet censors. Malevich was of Ukranian-Polish ancestry, born in Kiev, now in Ukraine. His father worked as an adminis- trator at sugar refineries, and a succession of jobs forced him to move the family around. Malevich began to teach himself to paint in his youth, and he was eventually admitted to the Kiev School of Art. He married Kazimira Zgleits in 1899. Five years later Malevich went to Moscow, where he studied under Fedor Rerberg, hoping to gain ad-

316 mission to the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. Malevich was never admitted to the school, but he held his first exhibition, a group of paintings inspired by the Symbolists, the following year in Kursk. The first of several exhibitions with the Moscow Artists’ Society took place in 1907. Around this time he moved away from the Symbolists, absorbing the styles coming out of Par- is — notably Fauvism and Postimpressionism. Malevich participated in the Jack of Diamonds exhibition in 1910, a large exhibition of modern paintings to which he sent three Fauve-influenced paintings. Bright, impressionistic depictions of peasants, as in Man with a Sack (1911), are characteristic of his painting from this time. The next stage in Malevich’s development was a prim- itivist style, in which he continued to use vibrant colour but painted more simplified and well-defined forms, exemplified in Peasant Woman With Buckets and Child (1912). The influence of PABLO PICASSO and the Cubists worked itself into his paintings as well, evident in the angular forms in The Woodcutter (1912), The Carpenters (1912), and the abstract Samovar (1913). In 1912 he exhibited with a group calling itself The Donkey’s Tail. The development for which he is best known came in 1913, when he created Suprematism, a style that relies on simple, solid-coloured geometric forms in abstract patterns. Airplane Flying (1915), for example, consists of a series of black, yellow, red, and blue rectangles. In other paintings he combined triangles, circles, and rectangles. Black Square (1915) and Black Cross (1916–1917) depict large, single, solid shapes. White on White (1918), one of his most famous works, features a small square rotated inside of a larger one. After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 Malevich was appointed head of the Art Section by the Moscow Soviet of Soldiers’ Deputies. From 1919 to 1921 he taught in Mos- cow and Leningrad. He traveled to Germany in 1926, visiting the Bauhaus and making the acquaintance

317 of Wassily Kandinsky. Bright colours and figurative forms returned to his painting in the late 1920s, some of which resemble the Cubist–inspired paintings of 1912. Peasants reappeared in his painting as well. In 1924 Malevich was appointed director of the Le- ningrad Institute of Artistic Culture. As the Stalin regime tightened its grip on the arts, however, Malevich found himself increasingly under pressure. He was removed from his post at the institute in 1926, and during the last few years of his life his paintings were suppressed. Malevich also designed theatre sets, including Leonid Andreev’s Anathema (1909), Mikhail Matiushin’s experimental opera Victory Over the Sun (1913), and revolutionary poet Vladimir Mayakovsky’s Misteriia-Buff (1918). Nijinsky, Vaslav (March 12, 1890–April 8, 1950) Dancer, Choreographer Vaslav Fomich Nijinsky’s strength, physique, and ability to leap into the air and seemingly hang suspended there captivated audiences in Europe, North America, and South America. A leading figure in Sergei Dyaghilev’s Ballets Russes, he was the world’s most celebrated male dancer of his day, dubbed le dieu de la danse (the god of the dance). Nijinsky was born in Kiev, Ukraine, to parents who were also dancers. His father traveled frequently and later left his mother. Nijinsky became interested in dancing as a youth and showed early promise. At the age of nine, he enrolled in the St. Petersburg Imperial School of Ballet and studied under Nikolai Legat. He first performed on stage in 1908 with the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre. For the next two years, his fame in St. Petersburg grew as he played the Prince in Giselle and other leading roles in The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Chopiniana, and other productions. Nijin- sky danced opposite such noted ballerinas as Mathilde Kschessinskaya, Anna Pavlova, and Tamara Karsavina. In 1909 Dyaghilev asked Nijinsky to join his newly formed Ballets Russes, a Russian dance company

318 he based in Paris. Nijinsky became an overnight sen- sation in the French capital, playing such roles as the Golden Slave in Sche´he´rezade (1910) and the puppet in Petrushka (1911). Nijinsky also starred in Les Syl- phides (1909), Le spectre de la rose (1911), and other productions. Michel Fokine choreographed many of Dy- aghilev’s shows, designing them specifically for Nijinsky. Nijinsky choreographed succeeding shows such as Claude Debussy’s The Afternoon of the Faun (1912), in which he played the faun, and Igor Stravinsky’s Le sa- cre du printemps (1913; The Rite of Spring), which created an uproar at its debut at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris on account of Stravinsky’s music. Nijinsky’s choreography was sensuous, bold, and controversial. In 1913 Nijinsky, who had been Dyaghilev’s lover, as well as his protege, married another dancer in the company, Romola de Pulszky, and an angry Dyaghi- lev fired him from the Ballets Russes. The couple lived in Hungary, and their daughter, Kyra, was born in 1914. Because he was a Russian national, Nijinsky was brief- ly interned in Hungary during World War I. He returned to Dyaghilev’s company in 1916 with a guarantee of the artistic freedom he desired from Dyaghilev’s heavy hand. Til Eulenspiegel (1916), choreographed by Nijinsky, debuted at the Manhattan Opera House in New York. Around the time of Nijinsky’s return to the stage in 1916, his mental health began to succumb to the pressures that surrounded him. He began to keep a diary and drew grotesque, distorted pictures of war casualties and other subjects. In 1917 schizophrenia permanently ended his dancing career. He spent the rest of his life in and out of Euro- pean mental institutions and died in London in 1950. Prokofiev, Sergei (April 23, 1891–March 5, 1953) Composer The Soviet composer Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev wrote for a wide variety of forms — operas, ballets, film scores, symphonies, concertos, and many other forms —

319 and is considered one of the primary influences on twentieth-century music. His most famous works include his Piano Concerto No. 3 and Peter and the Wolf, a children’s fairy tale symphony. Prokofiev was born into a prosperous farming family in Sontsovka, Ukraine. He received his first piano lessons from his mother, a talented amateur pianist, who supported his budding career from the time he showed a gift for music. His father was the successful manager of a nearby landowner’s estate. Prokofiev attended no formal school and was instead tuitored by his parents. By the time he was seven he had already composed several pieces, including a waltz and two marches. Inspired by a visit to the opera in Moscow, he composed an opera, The Giant, when he was nine. In Moscow he was recognized by the composer Sergei Taneyev, who recommended him a tuitor. The Rus- sian composer Reinhold Gliere began to give Prokofiev lessons in the summer. Before Prokofiev entered the St. Petersburg Conserva- tory in 1904, he had already composed a symphony, four operas, and a number of other pieces. Although his musical training at the conservatory was traditional and academic, Prokofiev always displayed a bent toward musical innovation. Early in his career he disliked the Roman- tic and classical composers, a preference that was not popular with his teachers (who included Nikolay Rim- sky-Korsakov) at the conservatory. In 1908 he joined the Evenings of Modern Music, a society where new Euro- pean music was played. The same year he delivered his first public performance, playing several piano pieces. The performance of Prokofiev’s vigorous Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Flat Major (1911) in St. Petersburg established his popular reputation as a composer and provoked a heated debate among critics. He completed his Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor in 1913. Over the objections of some of his teachers, he received the Anton Rubinstein Prize in piano for a performance of the first concerto upon hisgraduation from the conservatory in 1914. During

320 a visit to London the same year he met the ballet impre- sario SERGEI DYAGHILEV, with whom he later worked extensively in the future. Dyaghilev commissioned him to write a ballet but rejected the resulting Ala and Lolli (1914), taken from Scythian mythology and co-written with the poet Sergei Gorodetsky. Prokofiev reworked its music into the symphonic Scythian Suite (1916), which some critics describe as bar- baric and savage. Dyaghilev asked him to write a second ballet, and Prokofiev complied with the six-scene The Tale of the Buffoon Who Outjested Seven Buffoons (1916). Prokofiev’s early operas include the one-act Magdalene (1913) and The Gambler (1916), adapted from Fyodor Dos- toevesky’s story of the same title. He wrote many pieces as revolution raged around him in 1917, including his Third Sonata, marked by intense extremes in emotion; the Fourth Sonata; a violin concerto; a string quartet; the Classical Symphony; and the dark, gloomy cantata Sev- en, They Are Seven. He conceived of the popular Classical Symphony as a modernized eighteenth century symphony, having had the music of Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) specifically in mind as he wrote. Although Prokofiev sympathized with the 1917 revolution, he took little active interest in politics. He left the Soviet Union in 1918 and moved to the United States. Af- ter performing in New York, he began working on a light, comedic opera for the Chicago Opera Company, The Love for Three Oranges (1919), based on a story by the Italian playwright Carlo Gozzi. His Overture on Hebrew Themes (1919) was composed for clarinet, piano, and string quartet on the request of a Russian-Jewish chamber ensemble in New York. In 1920 Prokofiev moved to France. Between 1921 and 1924 he worked again with Dyaghilev, who staged The Buffoon, and composed the popular Piano Concerto No. 3 (1921). In 1922 and 1923 Prokofiev lived in Germa- ny where he began The Flaming Angel, a brooding opera that remained unfinished until 1927. He returned to Par- is in 1923 and wrote the First Violin Concerto (1923),

321 the Symphony No. 2 in D Minor, and the Symphony No. 3 in C Minor (1928), a four-movement symphony for large orchestra. Richter, Svyatoslav (March 20, 1915–August 1, 1997) Pianist, Conductor One of the foremost concert pianists of the twentieth century, the Ukrainian-born Svyatoslav Teofilovich Richter approached the keyboard with massive hands and an imposing presence. His reclusive personality and brooding manner lent an introspective quality to his performances. Richter performed primarily in Europe and the Soviet Union, specializing in Russian composers such as Sergei Prokofiev and Modest Mussorgsky, but his vast repertoire included the works of many others. Richter was born in Zhitomir, Ukraine. His father, an organist and composer, gave him the only musical training he had in his childhood and was later arrest- ed and executed by Soviet police for having a German- sounding name. When he was a teenager his mother took him to the Odessa Opera where he became a coach and accompanist. Richter’s early aspirations were to compose and conduct, but after his 1934 concert debut in Odessa he devoted himself to the piano. In 1937 Richter began several years of study under Heinrich Neuhaus, who became his mentor, at the Moscow Conservatory. There he met and formed a friendship with Prokofiev. Richter later premiered three of his works — the Sixth, Seventh, and Ninth Sonatas — and performed many others as well. In 1945 he won the U.S.S.R. Music Compe- tition, and four years later he was awarded the Stalin Prize. Richter quickly gained fame in the Soviet Union for his performances of Russian composers, as well as others, and he repeatedly performed in provincial areas. During the 1950s he often performed in Eastern Europe and China as well, but he was forbidden to give concerts in the West until 1959. That year he was granted a visa to play in Finland, and the following year he debuted

322 at Carnegie Hall in New York. Richter also played at the funerals of Joseph Stalin and of the novelist and poet Boris Pasternak. Although immensely successful in the United States, Richter disliked extensive travel and large venues and did not often perform in North America. In 1964 he began his long collaboration with the French Fetes Musicales, and he was also associated with the Aldeburgh Festival in England and the Spoleto Festival in Italy. Preferring the spontaneity of live performances to the contrivances of the studio, Richter made many recordings of his concerts. Tatlin, Vladimir (December 28, 1885–May 31, 1953) Painter, Architect, Sculptor, Illustrator, Designer, Teacher Vladmir Yevgrafovich Tatlin founded Constructivism, an artistic movement that explored the use of industrial materials in nonobjective sculptures and reliefs, in the immediate pre-Soviet period in Russia. Best known for his model for the Monument to the Third International, Tatlin painted, sculpted, illustrated books, and designed fabrics, furniture, and theatre sets. Tatlin was born in Moscow and grew up in Kharkov, now in the Ukraine. His mother was a poet, but her influence cannot have been great, since she died when he was two. As a railway engineer his father traveled frequently, leaving Tatlin under the care of an unsympathetic step- mother. At the age of 18 he ran away to sea, and for the next decade he divided his time between the sea and the pursuit of his art career. Tatlin spent time copying church icons and frescoes and entered the Penza School of Art, finishing his studies there in 1910. He next studied at the Moscow Academy of Fine Arts. The first major exhibition of Tatlin’s work came in 1910 at the Second International Art Exhibition at Odessa. His first paintings were representational. In early works such as Fishmonger (1911) and Sailor (1912), Tatlin depicted his human subjects as angular, essentially flat forms. Landscapes and still-lifes,

323 such as Flowers (1912), also appear as subjects in his early paintings. A 1913 visit to Paris precipitated a change from representation to abstraction in Tatlin’s art. There he met Pa- blo Picasso and viewed some of his three–dimensional reliefs. When Tatlin returned to Russia, he began to create abstract «painting reliefs», in which he combined a variety of materials on the canvas. The Bottle (1913), for example, is an abstract work constructed of wallpaper and tinfoil on canvas. Relief (1917) used galvanized iron on wood. Tatlin’s work marked the beginning of Constructivism in Russia. With a group of other artists who included Naum Gabo, Aleksandr Rodchenko, and Antoine Pevsner, Tatlin explored the possibilities of wood and metal in nonobjective sculpture and painting. The movement continued for a short period of time after the revolution of 1917, but the Bolshevik government’s unfavourable disposition toward abstract art prevented Constructivism from flourishing. Tatlin’s best-known work is his design for a the Monu- ment to the Third International, commissioned in 1919. He presented the model at the Eighth Congress of the So- viets in December 1920. The abstract design consisted of an iron, spiral framework supporting rotating geometric shapes (a cube, a cylinder, and a cone). The disapprov- al of Soviet authorities, however, prevented the structure from ever being built. During the 1920s Tatlin taught in Leningrad, Moscow, and elsewhere. His activities for the remainder of his life were varied, extending from book illustration to his experiments with a glider he called Letatlin. In 1923 — he designed fabrics for the Shveiprom factory. His furniture designs included a Bentwood — chair with a moulded seat in 1927. Tatlin illustrated S. Sergel’s On the Sailing Ship (1929), verse by the revolutionary poet Vladimir Mayako- vsky, and Daniil Kharms’s Firstly and Secondly (1929). Early in his career he designed sets and costumes for productions and viewed such as Tsar Maximilian (1911) and the opera Ivan Susanin (1913–1914), and he devoted much of his later career to theatre design as well.

324 Questions for self-control 1. What are the main features of modernism? 2. What is the difference between elitist and mass culture? 3. How do you understand the term «pluralistic culture»? 4. What are the characteristic features of postmodernism? 5. What social and political events influenced the development of Ukrainian culture of the XX-th century? 6. What is constructivism? 7. What are the main features of Ukrainian architectural style of the XX-th century? 8. How did the method of «socialist realism» influence on the development of Ukrainian culture? 9. Who were some of the prominent painters and writers of this period?

325 TEXTS FOR ADDITIONAL READING

Ukrainian cuisine Ukrainian cuisine is famous for its diversity and flavour. The most popular Ukrainian meal is called borscht (borshch, or borscht), a thick soup made primarily with beets, but also prepared with meat, mushrooms, beans, and prunes. Borscht is the country’s national dish. Oth- er soups made of mushroom, bean, and pea, and soups with dumplings are also popular. Ukrainians consume generous amounts of dairy products, such as cottage cheese pancakes, riazhanka (fermented baked milk), and nalysnyky (cheese-filled crepes). Meat is typically boiled, fried, or stewed. Desserts are usually laden with honey and fruit, mainly cherries and plums, and often baked into sweet breads. Some of these desserts are pampushky (a fritter), baba (a rich cylindrical cake soaked with a rum and sugar syrup), and honey cakes. For special occasions such as Christ- mas, the Ukrainians make kutia, a mixture of cooked wheat, poppy seeds, and honey, served cold. Ukrainian meals are considered incomplete without plenty of vodka. Ukraine is famous for its cuisine. It’s really very delicious and rich. For Ukrainian dishes it is typical to include a large set of components. Recipes of Ukrainian cuisine include a variety of fruits and vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, mushrooms and berries. Meat is an essential part of the first dishes, main among them is occupied by borsch. For its preparation 20 different products are used, which determines its high taste

326 quality and nutritional value. Borsch is usually made from fresh vegetables: cabbage, beets, tomatoes, etc., is added with bacon, garlic and parsley. The combination of these products makes borsch very aromatic and tasty. Different variants of porridges are widely spread in Ukraine, such as millet, buckwheat, pumpkin. There are not less popular dishes such as stewed meat with potatoes, vareniki stuffed with cheese, potatoes, cabbage, during summer — with the berries, etc. Significant place in Ukrainian national cuisine since ancient times is occupied with dishes from fish: crucian baked in sour cream; carp stuffed with mushrooms and buckwheat, perch fish baked with mushrooms and cray- fish, etc. There is also a big range of egg dishes (scram- bled eggs with bacon and sausage, etc.). Among traditional sweet dishes there are pancakes with honey, pies with fruits and poppy, fruit jams. For the preparation of sweet dishes plums, apples, pears, ap- ricots, cherries, red currants, strawberries, raspberries, honey and nuts are used. Sviata Vecheria (Holy Supper) Sviata Vecheria, or Holy Supper, was once a pagan feast that has been transformed into a Christian ritual, symbols and all. First, before anyone can be seated, two tablecloths cover the table: one is for the ancestors of the family, because Ukrainians believe that their souls visit the family on Christmas Eve to share the Holy Supper; the second is for the family’s living members. Pagans believed that ancestors were benevolent spirits who, when shown proper respect, would bring good fortune to the living. A bit of hay is spread under the table and both tablecloths to remind those gathered that Jesus was born in a man- ger. There is always an extra place setting for the family’s ancestors. Three braided, circular loaves of bread, called kolach, are stacked in the middle of the table, and a candle is placed in the centre of the one on top. The three rings of bread symbolize the Holy Trinity; their circular shape is symbolic of eternity.

327 One of the most important Ukrainian customs is placing a sheaf of wheat, or mixed grain, stalks under the icons kept in the house. The stalks are called didukh (which means «grandfather») because they represent the family’s ancestors, and Ukrainians believe that the spirits of their ancestors will reside in the stalks during the Christmas holidays. Once the didukh has been positioned in the place of honour, the father (or head of the household) places a bowl of kutia (boiled wheat mixed with poppy seeds and honey) beside it. Kutia is the most important food of the Sviata Vecheria; it is known as God’s food. A jug of uzvar (a mixture of 12 different stewed fruits), called God’s drink, is also served. Once the preliminary rituals have been performed, the father offers each member of the family a piece of bread dipped in honey, previously blessed by a priest, and the family prays. After the prayers, the father extends his best wishes to everyone with the greeting, «Khrystos razhdai- etsia» («Christ is born»), and everyone sits down to enjoy their 12-course meatless Holy Supper. The first course served must always be kutia because it is the main dish of the feast. Next, borscht (a hearty soup of beets or other vegetables) accompanied by vushka (boiled dumplings filled with chopped mushrooms and onions). The third course is some variety of fish, which can be prepared in a number of ways: baked, broiled, fried, served cold in aspic, fish balls, or marinated herring. The fourth course is varenyky (boiled dumplings filled with cabbage, potatoes, buckwheat grains, or prunes). Holubtsi (stuffed cabbage) is also one of the courses, and the meal concludes with uzvar. Caroling in Ukraine Many Ukrainian Christmas Eve traditions are solemn events, but caroling is a joyful and merry custom. The Christmas carols of Ukraine are of pre-Christian origin, as are many of the traditions enjoyed during the Christmas season, and there are two main varieties: the koliadky, sung on Christmas Eve and Christmas

328 Day; and the shchedrivky, sung during the Feast of the Epiphany. Both the koliadky and shchedrivky are the most ancient Ukrainian folk songs, and reflect the country’s pagan past, but many have been Christianized. One pagan carol is about a landowner awakened by a swal- low (a herald of spring) and told to get ready to receive three guests: the Sun, the Moon, and the Rain. In the Christian version the three guests have become Jesus, St. Nicholas, and St. George. Ukrainian carols cover a wide range of subjects; though many have been rewritten to deal with Jesus’ birth and its attendant festivities, others remain purely pagan and contain mythological elements from Ukraine’s ancient past. The content of another group is focused primarily on Ukrainian history between the ninth and 12-th centuries and relate the heroic deeds of the people’s favourite. Most of the carols, however, are songs that glorify the country’s agrarian past and its people. In Ukraine caroling is not a simple matter and re- quires a great deal of planning and thought. For example, each group must have a leader, someone to carry a bag and collect the gifts people give the group; another holds a stick, to which a six-pointed star, with a light at the centre, is attached to a long stick; this symbolizes the star over Bethlehem. And one person must be dressed as a goat. Some groups carry musical instruments with them, including violins, tsymbaly («dulcimer») or the trem- bita (a wooden pipe between eight and ten feet in length, an instrument used in the Carpathian Mountains by the Hutsuls). And carolers cannot simply stroll from house to house singing. It is actually a demanding performance. First the carolers must ask permission to sing. If the people of the household say «yes», then they enter the house and sing carols for everyone in the family, including the smallest children. Then the carolers perform a funny skit involving the goat. The goat that accompanies every caroling group originated in pagan fertility festivities. The goat represented the god of fertility; in the skit the goat dies and is then resurrected, following a common

329 mythological motif. The goat’s death also symbolized the death of winter and the birth of spring. Both of these pagan celebrations fit neatly into Chris- tian mythology.

Family life Birth Godparents play an important role in the life of a Ukrainian child. The child’s first birthday is normally celebrated with an ancient custom called postryzhyny. The family prepares a big feast for this occasion. The godparents hold the child and position themselves near the feast on the table. One of the godparents places a coin inside a soup bowl and passes the bowl to the rest of the family. All of them drop coins in the bowl, which are collected and saved for the baby. Next the baby is made to sit on a high chair, and all the godparents cut off tiny locks of its hair. After this some vodka is poured into the bowl full of coins. The baby’s feet are then dipped into this bowl. This symbolizes that the child dominates over alcohol and money in his or her life. This alcohol is then drunk by the godparents. The rest of the day is spent par- tying with a lot of food, drinks, music, and dancing. Marriage A traditional Ukrainian wedding begins with a formal engagement. The groom and some elders visit the home of the bride and ask her parents for her hand in marriage. Both parties then exchange loaves of bread. If she wishes, the woman can reject her suitor by giving him a pumpkin instead of a loaf of bread. But if all goes well, the preparations for the wedding begin. On the day before the wedding, many guests, along with the bride or groom, may walk through the village announcing the wedding. The bride usually has a farewell party where she, along with her friends, makes the hiltse, a ritual tree, which will be used as a decorative piece during the wedding. After a church wedding, both the bride’s

330 and groom’s houses serve meals separately. A special bread, called a korovai, is baked for this occasion. After their meal the groom and his entourage go to the bride’s house, where he pays a «ransom» for his wife. The couple then joins the bride’s family at the dinner table. Af- ter the wedding cake is cut, the guests exchange gifts with the couple for drinks and the cake. Later the couple visits the groom’s home, where the merrymaking continues. The next morning, the couple has a ceremonial breakfast. Traditional Ukrainian weddings take place in churches (in Ukrainian — Vinchannya). The bride is in white and the groom is in black. In the Ukrainian villages wedding celebrations are known to continue for days or even during the whole week. Wedding parties are accompanied by lively music and dancing, playing games, lots of drinking and eating. Some particular Ukrainian wedding customs include: Before the wedding, the groom goes with his friends (Svaty) to the bride’s house and bargains with «money’ to get a bride from her family. In Ukrainian it’s called «Svatannya». In the bride’s house Svatý should not sit down, drink or eat (if they sit down — children of the couple will start walking late, if they drink — children will be alcoholics, if they eat — children will suffer from gluttony). When leaving the church, the bride and relatives carry baskets of candies, sweets and coins to throw to children and guests. The groom carries the bride down any stairs. During the wedding party the bride throws her wedding bouquet (she has to be with her back to the girls lined up to catch it) and the girl who catches it first will likely be the next one to marry. You cannot have your wedding on Wednesdays, or Fri- days, as these are fasting days, nor in May, because you’ll not be happy all your life! Rushnyk (embroidered towel) at the wedding is a symbol of unity and happiness of inseparable marriage. The bride had to embroider this towel during long lonely evenings before her marriage.

331 By tradition, parents of newlywed meet them with a loaf of bread (called korovai) on rushnyk (a towel). The bride and the groom must bite off a piece of this bread without touching it with hands. It is believed that the one who’s bit- ten off the bigger piece, will be the head of the family. During the wedding parties guests shout «Hirko!» (bitter). That means the couple should kiss each other. This custom has a long history. Previously the bride had to come to each guest with the tray and the guest had to put money on it, then had to take a glass, drink out of it and say: «Bitter!», confirming that the drink was vodka, not water. Then he kissed the bride. Those who just drank, saying «bitter» but not giving the money, didn’t have the right to kiss and have been just watch- ing others’ kissing. Gradually, this custom has changed, so the guests are shouting «hirko» — «bitter» asking the newlyweds to kiss. If you are invited to the wedding in Ukraine, you should know that: You can not bring red roses. You can not give forks, spoons, or knives as a present. You can not give underclothes as a present. You can not wear black clothes. You can not cross the road in front of the bride and the groom when they go to the registry office, or church. You can not wash the dishes during, or after, the wedding party. Death Ukrainians have combined many traditional beliefs from pre-Christian times with the Christian traditions they follow. For example, they believe that good people die easy deaths while the bad suffer agonizing pain during their last hours. When a death occurs in a Ukrain- ian family, the windows and doors are opened to let out the soul. The body may be bathed with certain flowers or herbs. Funerals are held in the morning. Male voices are traditionally associated with Ukrainian funeral services to render an emotional farewell to the departed soul.

332 In Eastern Orthodox Churches, heaven is not a place or a static state. Rather, the Orthodox believe humanity will be made perfect again, as God intended us to be, without hate, greed, and other negative characteristics. People who do not accept God’s love and mercy will experience painful torment, but as the devout acquire a more profound sense of God’s love and wisdom, they know heavenly bliss. Dying alone is considered terrible in Ukraine because there would be no one to light the candle (held by a dying person), or to hear the person’s last words. «May God prevent a death without people!» and «May God prevent a sudden death!» are two common exclamations heard in this country.

Ukrainian huts The general external appearance of the Ukrainian huts, which are always well whitewashed and have flower gardens before the windows, is very picturesque, and contrasts to advantage with the dwellings of the neighbouring races, especially the miserable and dirty Rus- sian «izbas». All the houses of the Ukrainians, excepting, of course, the poorest huts, are divided by a vestibule into two parts. The division into two we do not find in the typical huts of the Poles and White Russians. A further characteristic, in which the Ukrainian house differs from the houses of the neighbouring peoples, is its compara- tive cleanliness. Particularly it does differ in this respect from the Russian izbas, which are regularly full of various insects and parasites, where sheep and pigs, and, in winter, even the large cattle, live comfortably together with the human inhabitants. The well-known authority on the Russian village, Novikov, relates a very characteristic little story in this connection. Several Russian families settled in a Ukrainian village. Naturally, cattle were kept in the living room. And when the Ukrainian village elders expressly forbade the keeping of cattle in the huts, the Russians moved out, because they could not become

333 accustomed to the Ukrainian orderliness. It happens very seldom that the Russians live together with the Ukrain- ians in one and the same village. In such a case, the Rus- sian part of the village lies separate, on the other side of a ravine, a creek, or a rivulet. In the regions of mixed nationality we see, adjoining one another, purely Ukrain- ian and purely Russian villages. The interior arrangement of the houses and the arrangement of the barnyard differentiate the Ukrainian very sharply from his neighbour. Still more decidedly does he show his individuality in his dress. The mode of dress is quite varied throughout the great area of the Ukraine, and yet we observe everywhere a distinctness of type and individuality as opposed to the dress of neighbouring peoples. Only the dress of the Polissye people bears some trace of White Russian influence, on the western border of the Polish influence, in Kuban of the Cauca- sian influence (the Russian influence appears nowhere). But all these influences are slight. Ukrainian dress is always original and esthetic. No one can wonder, therefore, that the Ukrainian costume is surviving longer than the Polish, White Russian and Russian, and is giving way very slowly to the costume of the cities.

Ukrainian Holidays 1 January — New Year’s Day It is one the most favourite of all holidays in Ukraine. As in Western countries on Christmas Eve, Ukrainians give «New Year» presents, Children receive their presents under the New Year Tree on the morning of the 1-st of Jan- uary. Traditionally just prior to midnight there’s a Presi- dential speech broadcast nationally. When the clock strikes Midnight, people open their champaign bottles and raise a toast. With the first glass they congratulate each other as the clock strikes 12 times and fireworks fill the sky. The week before the New Year is a busy one with shopping, parties at work, decorating pine and fir-trees,

334 and cooking the years most delicious meals. The main folk heroes of this holiday are Father Frost (Did Moroz) and his grand-daughter «Sniguron’ka» (The Snow Girl). The tradition of predicting fortunes on this night is very popular among young people. A peculiar tradition includes writing down on a piece of paper your wish for the coming year, then dropping it in to your champagne and drinking it as the clock stikes twelve times. Another «fun» folk tradition pacticed mainly in the villages on New Year night is for the unmar- ried girls to go outside and throw one of their boots over the Hosts’ fence. Whichever way the toe of the boot ends up pointing indicates where the future husband will come from. Nearly all businesses remain closed from December 31-st to January 8-th. 7 January — Orthodox Christmas The period from the 7-th until the 14-th of Janu- ary is Saint Christmas week. During this week people go from one house to another, singing songs and wishing good wishes to health, prosperity, etc., and just having a good time. Most usually are dressed in folksy or carnival type costumes. Such activity is called «Kolya- duvannya» and «Schedruvannya». The songs are called «kolyadky» and «schedrivky». When somebody is singing these songs and greeting you, as a rule, you should give them sweets or food or drinks or whatever you have as a token of appreciation. It is believed that everything that the people have sung in their Kolyadka and Sche- drivka will come true. Also during the new year holidays, up to the 14-th of January it is common for kids (and sometimes adults in the villages) to go from one house to another wishing the owner of the house new year wishes, new happiness, health, etc. All those wishes are usually said in rhymes and with the spreading of seeds, such as wheat or other grains. This shows a wish of prosperity for the house. This practice is called «Posivannya». Some token, usually food, drink, sweets, or money, is given in return.

335 8 March — International Women’s Day International Women’s Day is considered the first Spring Holiday in Ukraine. It is an official day off as both men and women look forward to this holiday. It originated as a day of fighting for women’s rights when on the 8-th of March 1897 women (workers of sewing and shoe factories) gathered in New York demanding 10 hour working days, light and dry work places and equal salaries with men. In 1910 at the International Conference of Women Socialists in Copenhagen, Clara Tsetkin proposed celebrating the International Women’s day on March, 8, which sounded an appeal to all women of the world to join in the struggle for equality. The International Women’s day on March, 8 has been a State Holiday of the Former Soviet Union since the countries inception. Beginning in 1965 it was recognized as an official day off. The Holiday enjoyed vast celebra- tory rituals, including public meetings involving officials at various levels of government in an attempt to report the govenments efforts in supporting Womens Rights and issues concerning them. Gradually International Women’s day became less political and more personal. After disintegration of the So- viet Union, March, 8 has remained on the list of State Holidays in nearly all of the CIS countries, including Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia as the «International Women’s Day». In Uzbekistan it is referred to as the «Day of Mother». April — May — Orthodox Easter Two weeks following the Catholic Easter Holiday is the main Christian Orthodox Holiday established to honour the Resurrection of Jesus Christ following his crucific- tion on the cross and to the coming out of the Jews from Egypt. The date of Easter is usually determined by the Church calendar and calculated according to the so- called «Paskhalias» (the name for the «special tables»). Be- fore and during Easter Ukrainians buy or bake Easter

336 cakes (buisquits with raisins),and hand paint eggs widely known as Pysanka. It is a very important holiday. On East- er night people go to their local church, spending the entire night in Church services! Usually they take with them Easter cakes, painted eggs, and bottles of wine. In the morning (about 4 am) the service concludes with the cler- gyman sprinkling all food with sacred water, which is believed to give strong healing powers. At this time people return home to continue the celebration with food and drink throughout the the day. The traditional greeting on this day is: «Khrystos Voskres!» (Christ is arisen) and the answer «Voyistynu Voskres!» (Truly arisen) followed with kisses and the exchanging of gifts. 50 days after Easter — Holy Trinity Day (Svyata Troyitsya) (or «Green Sunday») This holiday is dedicated to the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles on the fiftieth day after the Res- urrection of Christ (Easter). This event gave rise to Chris- tianity. The meaning of the Holy Trinity is thus: God the Father laid the basis for the church in the Old Testament, the Son brought its meaning into words, and the Spirit acts within it. On this holiday people decorate their houses and apartments with Calamus (an herb) and assorted green branches. This tradition comes from ancient Judaism, in which the Pentecost, the Feast of Harvest, was celebrated outside amongst flourishing Nature. On Holy Trinity Day people go to a cemetery to visit the tombs of relatives and friends who have passed away. In this holiday has emerged the custom of leaving food on the burial tombs of loved ones though no one claims its significance or re- lavance to Christianity. Traditionally people leave some vodka or other alcohol and something to eat along with it, such as a piece of bread or candy. It is considered a good sign to find that the food and drinks have disappeared upon your next trip to the cemetery! Holy Trinity Day is a very important religious holiday in Ukraine.

337 1–2 May — Labour (May) Day The 1-st of May historicaly has been the traditional holiday of Spring. During the Industrialization of the Nineteenth Century, it became an International Day of Solidarity for workers of all countries. The 1-st of May began to be widely celebrated with various groups of workers joining together and paying tribute to the memory of victims of oppression and for the rights of all oppressed workers irrespective of their nationality, sex, age and/or profession. In its convention of 1888 the «American Federation of Labour» declared, that the 1-st of May should become a day for the active struggle of workers for the eight-hour work day. Strikes and Demonstrations were held worldwide. Later, in the former Soviet Union, this holiday was widely and actively celebrated with huge parades and political speeches on Red Square in Moscow and in all other cities. All workers of the Soviet Union, including university and school students, were obligated to attend the parades, bringing flowers, balloons and posters. Noncom- pliance was met with severe persecution. Now in many of the CIS countries, including Ukraine, you can still find some political gathering to celebrate May Day. At this time however, this holiday has become a celebration as the day of triumph for «Nature», from which is a full bloom with birds’ singing, trees budding, and multicoloured flowers painting the countryside. In this celebration people look forward to warm weather and the joys of summer. 9 May — Victory Day This is a holiday of both joy and sorrow. A great tribute is bestowed to those who gave their lives during World War II resulting in today’s peace and happiness. The eternal memory of those lost will last forever throughout the generations. Veterans gather together remember- ing those who perished. Every city has an area on this holiday, in which people gather called «The Eternal Fire».

338 In Kyiv it is located near the famous WWII museum and the «Motherland» Statue and Monument. 28 June — Constitution Day On this day in 1998 the Constitution of Independent Ukraine was adopted. Fireworks and various concerts and musical events are common throughout the country. 24 August — Independence Day Independence Day is the Ukraine’s largest State holiday, which commemorates the adoption in 1990 of the «Declaration of Sovereignty» of Ukraine. Impressive fireworks displays and noteworthy concerts throughout the capital Kyiv and the rest of the country.

Other Holidays 14 January — Old Calendar New Year Old Calendar New Year celebrated as a family holiday. See more above under 7 January — Orthodox Christmas. 22 January — Ukrainian Unity Day (Den Sobornosti) Ukrainian Unity Day (Den Sobornosti) is an important historical event in Ukraine. It goes back to the date when Eastern and Western Ukraine were united. On this day in 1919 the «Treaty of Unity» between Ukrainians was signed and the unity of all Ukrainian lands previously belonging to the Russian Empire (UNR) and the Austro- Hungarian Empire was solemnly proclaimed on Sofiivska Square in Kyiv. «Den Sobornosti» is the symbol of territorial and spiritual unity of Ukraine as a unified sovereign state. 25 January — «Students Day» otherwise known as «Tatyana’s Day» Tatyana’s Day is a pleasant and upbeat holiday highlighting the best, brightest, and most carefree years in the life of every student. On this day, all former classmates tend to grow nostalgic, and recall their fellow students,

339 Deans and Principals, as well as recalling memorable student years. The holiday’s origin goes far back into history. On the 12-th of January according to the Old Ca- lendar (Jan., 25 New Calendar) in 1775, being the day of «Maiden Tatyana the Martyr», Empress Elisabeth Petrovna signed the regulation «Concerning the foundation of Moscow University». This project was developed by the famous Russian Scientist Mikhail Lomonosov and later continued by Ivan Shuvalov. Shuvalov chose this day to sign the regulation not by accident as he desired to present it as a gift to his mother Tatiana Petrovna on her Name Day. «I am giving you a University», said Shuvalov. On Easter, 1791 the «Church of Tatyana the Martyr» was opened. Later, Nikolay I disposed in his Decree to celebrate, not the opening of the University, but the signing of the regulation regarding its foundation. On this holiday all kinds of distinctions — of age and class, grades and ranks, were cancelled, rich and poor were equalized. All felt themselves as fellow citizens of the «Scientific Republic». On this holiday the kitchen was preparing for the students cold snacks along with vodka, cheap wine, and beer. You could find favourite professors, popular journalists, students, lawyers, and administrative figures seated at the table. Vladimir Gilyarovsky describing Tatyana’s day truthfully recalls the popularity of a rhyme «Pyana — Tatyana», which translated as «Drunken Tatyana». Yes, it was a loose, and at times a disgracefully loose holiday. So, thanks to the love of Mother by an omnipotent favourite of Shuvalov, and the decree of emperor Nikolay I, Sacred Martyress Tatyana has turned into a «Patron- ess» of the students, and the day of her commemoration turned into a reckless revelry. Nowadays, on this winter day we congratulate students of all generations. With feelings of gratitude we recollect the teachers who opened the Temple of Sciences for us. Eventhough this holiday is considered more of a Russian holiday, students in Ukraine are celebrating it also as a youth holi-

340 day, for all of those who keep the fire of creativity in their souls, with a thirst for knowledge, search and discovery. 14 February — St. Valentine’s Day St. Valentine’s Day inherited from Western culture, is now very popular in Ukraine. 23 February — Men’s Day (formerly known as The Soviet Army Day) It is a tribute of respect to all the generations of Soviet soldiers and military people who defended courageously our Motherland from invaders. All men, including boys, receive heart-felt greetings and gifts. Now, this holiday is considered as an opposite to Women’s Day on the 8-th of March, as all men get an opportunity to have their own holiday as well. :) So, women have an opportunity to say the warmest and sweetest words to the men they love and to flatter them with attention. 1 April — Fool Day (the Day of laughter) This holiday is celebrated everywhere in Ukraine with people attempting to get the best of each other through trickery and jokes. But nowhere is this holiday taken more seriously than in Ukraines port city of Odessa where an impressive and light hearted parade is held annualy to celebrate both April Fools Day, as well as Odessa itself as the «Humor Capital» of the CIS. 13 May — Mother’s Day Mother’s Day is a day when the Ukrainians express their love, respect, and appreciation to their Mothers. Third weekend of May — Europe Day On this weekend, Ukraine celebrates a day to show unity, respect and an opportunity to magnify the public will and determination to join the Union of European Nations. This holiday weekend is a major cultural event. The Cen- tral Squares of Kiev and other large cities of Ukraine host concerts, performances and shows highlighting European musicians, artists, along with European cuisine as well.

341 Last Sunday of May — Kiev Day (Kyiv) Last Sunday of May — Kiev Day (Kyiv) — the beautiful capital of Ukraine celebrates its day. This is a time when chestnut trees — the symbolic tree of Kiev — are in full bloom and sporting their wonderfully eloquant «white candles». Spring is a great time to visit Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and see it with your own eyes. 1 June — International Child Protection Day Children are the future of the mankind. And this day is their day. Kids right for life and dignity must be re- spected and defended. What is sunnier, joyful, and memorable than the childhood? A child gets to know the world with the help of adults, learns and finds out new interesting things. A child is happy when he is loved, warmed fed and understood. A lot of different concerts, shows and games are held on this day. 5 June — World Environmental Protection Day 6 July — Ivan Kupala Day Ivan Kupala Day is one of the great and enigmatic holidays signifing a celebration in honour of the «God of the Sun» (or «Dazhbog»). It is belived that during this time of summer solstice, the sun is the strongest, before turning to winter. They say that the Sun is a personification of light, celebrating its victory over dark forces, so as it rises it’s «playing», «leaping» and feeling joyful. All Na- ture is also joyful because of this, becoming special and charmed. The name of the holiday is bound to the name of «Kupajla», who is the «Divinity of Fertility»,of the harvest, welfare and medicinal healing herbs and plants. Tra- ditional ceremonies are timed so as to celebrate in honour of youth, beauty, love and purification. On the 6-th of July people set off for gathering of medical hebs and plants. They gather healing herbs at dawn, far from the settlements and paths, all in a good mood and praying. Folklore has it that besides medical properties Kupal’s’ki plants have a considerable magical ef-

342 fect. The main Kupal’s’ki ceremonies were taking place at night July, 6–7. Kupala night is a special night. Not only is it the most mysterious and enigmatic but also the most dissolute night of the year. The people believed that all Kupala’s articles like chaplets, sprigs of sapling, ash, dew and other items had had not only healing properties but also considerable guarding forces from impure spirits, as well as witches, which were thought to be very active on Kupala’s night. All night long people keep Kupala bonfires burning, leaping over the flames, cleans- ing themselves of ill and bad luck. The remnants of the bonfire are distributed to the participants, and maybe taken home, to protect against evil forces. It was considered a good sign for their future if young people, while jumping over the fire, would keep their hands locked and their clothes unsinged. Mothers burn shirts of ill children in the Kupala fire as illnesses are believed to burn away with it. The next ceremony consists of purifying by another element. Water. Girls try to dive in the water in such a way that a chaplet from their hair would float on the surface of the water. Sometimes girls were sending their own personal chaplet with candles alit floating to the other side of the river or lake as the young men would try to capture the chaplet of his favourite girl. If not able to reach it from shore, some would impatiently jump in the water and retrieve the girls chaplet. A kiss awaits the bearer of each chaplet. Especially enigmatic were recitals relating to fern blossoms on Kupala night. In order to see it, you have to go at night to the fern bush to spread under it a linen or towel, on which the Easter cake was sanctified. Next you must draw around yourself a circle with the knife sanctified in the Church, sprinkle the plant with sanctified water and read a prayer. Impure forces then try to drive away and scare the man, i.e. wind, noise, blowing small rocks and twigs. It will not, however, be able to overcome the outlined circle. This is why you need to «fear not». At midnight the fern begins to bloom and fall on the linen. This is when you need to quickly rap the linen and

343 hide it with the fern blossoms in your bosom. Such bravery rewards the person who did this to inherit the power to see how trees walk from one place to another, to understand the language of birds, animals, plants and trees. He will be able to locate treasure hidden in the ground and retrieve it. The highlight of the ritual is a decoration of the sacral sapling — «kupaily» (kupailytsi, gil’tsya, madder). Usually it is the branch of a willow, cherry or ash tree, decorated by field flowers, paper ribbons, and burning candles. Girls dance and sing about love and marriage around the «Kupaily». It is then dipped in water and broken into pieces and given to the girls, «so they would attain riches». The Kupal’ska ritual is highly symbolic. Kupal’s’ki fires symbolize a cult of the Sun. Kupal’s’ka water is a symbol of healing power. A fern is a symbol of a happy future. Magic Ivanivs’ka dew provides beauty and love, and the Kupala tree denotes fertility and happiness. The Kupala ritual, as with Ukrainians, was widespread not only amoung the Slavic people, but also included other segments of Europe and even India. In particular, Bul- garians believed that on Kupala the Sun is «dancing» and «twirling the sabres». Polish girls baked ceremonial «sun» cakes, while Englishmen sought out the fern, not for the sake of the blossom of a burning flower, but for its seeds, which can make a man invisible. 6 June — Day of Journalists Day of Journalists There are many professional holidays in Ukraine, and this is one of them. Being an independent journalist can be dangerous. But at the same time, it is one of the most important and interesting pro- fessions in providing people with unbiased information that they need to understand the world around them. 20 June (Third Sunday of June) — Day of Medical Workers Another important professional holiday. People in white garments are receiving greetings and due respect for their hard and important work. But, try not to get

344 sick on this day, as all doctors, nurses, and health care professionals will be getting together for some very, merry festivities. 22 June — Day of Sorrow and Remembrance of Victims of War This day was the beginning of World War II for the USSR. On this day in 1941 began one of the darkest pages of mankind, the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. A long four years of war were marked with the heroic battles of the Soviet people and their allies for liberation. Many were killed. Nearly every family lost one of their loved ones. This day is to remember those who fought for freedom and defended their families and their country. This day is to remind us also about the terrible human mistakes of the past and to prevent them in the future. 24 June — Youth Day Youth Day is celebrated with a lot of fun, fireworks and concerts! Last Friday of June — Graduation Day The end of June is well known as graduation time for schools, institutes and universities. It is the time when all exams are passed and young girls and boys receive their certificates or diplomas and thus enter their new life. 1 August (first Sunday of August) — Navy Day If you are in Crimea, especially in Sevastopol, don’t miss this day and the opportunity to witness an expressive and impressive festival. Parades, concerts and fireworks. A good time for all guaranteed! :) 1 September — The Day of Knowledge This is a serious holiday called the «Day of Open Doors» and includes all Schools, Colleges, Universities and In- stitutes. It is celebrated as the time when all students begin their new year studies. After a funfilled hot summer students are going back to the «Land of Knowledge».

345 The day starts with meetings held next to each school. You’ll see many nicely dressed students carrying flowers everywhere. 27 September — World Tourism Day World Tourism Day is a wonderful time to visit this site and Ukraine! October 5 — Teacher’s Day This special day was created to focus the World’s attention on the contributions and achievements of teachers, as well as their concerns and priorities. Teachers re- cieve special appreciation for all the hard work they do. 8 October — Lawyer’s Day Lawyer’s Day is another holiday in Ukraine that celebrates the legal profession. 6 December — Ukrainian Army Day In 1991 the Decree regarding the establishment of the Armed forces of Ukraine was signed and is annualy celebrated. 19 December — St. Nicolas Day This day parents and relatives try to surprise their kids by placing small gifts, toys, or books into symbolic shoes or stockings or even under their pillows. St. Nicolas is the most well known Saint from the Kievan Rus era. People consider him first to help with any appeal and trouble. On December 19 he was beautified. Relics of St. Nicolas are kept in Bara city, Italy where people are believed to be cured by a single touch. This day opens the chain of winter holidays. Every child who behaved during the year will receive a present from St. Nicolas on this day. Nowadays it has become traditional to present gifts to every child. 25 December — Christmas Catholic Christmas is also celebrated in Ukraine, especially in its Western regions.

346 QUESTIONS FOR MODULE CONTROL

1. The subject and objectives of the course. 2. The term «culture». The essence of the scientific approach to defining culture. 3. Culture space and cultural forms. 4. Basic culturological concepts. 5. The functions of culture. 6. Typology of culture. The main approaches. 7. Mental field of culture. Specific features of Ukrain- ian mentality. 8. Cultural monuments of the primitive society. 9. Material culture of the Ukrainian people and its peculiarities. 10. Specific features of the spiritual culture of the Ukrainian people and its types. 11. Ukrainian art as a form of the spiritual culture. 12. World and a man in the archaic culture of Ukraine. 13. Culture and traditions of Eastern Slavs. 14. Kievan Rus — a new stage in development of Sla- vonic culture. 15. The emergence of Slavonic written language, libraries and schools in Kievan Rus. 16. Urban Development. Outstanding architectural monuments of Kievan Rus. 17. Monuments of written works of Kievan Rus. 18. Features of culture of the Galicia-Volyn state. 19. Conditions and peculiarities of formation and development of Ukrainian culture in the Polish-Lithua- nian period. 20. Lavra — the centre of literature and education.

347 21. Origin of Printing, the first printers and publish- ers in Ukraine. 22. Characteristic features of the culture of Ukrain- ian Cossacks. 23. The role of Cossacks in development of Ukrainian culture. 24. Features of Zaporizhzhya Sich culture. 25. Reformation movement in Ukraine. Develop- ment of Ukrainian language and education (XVI–XVII-th centuries). 26. Kyiv Mohyla Academy — all-Ukrainian higher educational institution. 27. Development of science in Ukraine in the XVI– XVII-th centuries. 28. Polemic literature and its prominent representatives. 29. The National Liberational War of 1648–1654 and the revival of Ukrainian culture. 30. Development of education on the Left Bank and the Right Bank of Ukraine in the second half XVII-th century. 31. Music and art in the XVII-th century. 32. Enlightenment: development of political and philosophical thought in Ukraine. 33. G.S. Skovoroda — an outstanding figure of Ukrainian culture. 34. The activities of Feofan Prokopovich. 35. Ukrainian Baroque. 36. The birth and development of Ukrainian theatre. 37. Professional music in the XVIII-th century. 38. Genesis and the periods of National Cultural Renaissance in Ukraine in the late XVIII-th — early XX-th centuries. 30. National and cultural revival in Galicia. 40. Characteristic features and trends in the Ukrain- ian literature of the XIX-th century. 41. Development of theatre and drama in Ukraine in the XIX-th century.

348 42. Musical culture of Ukraine in the XIX-th century. 43. Major trends in development of fine arts in the nineteenth century. 44. The place of Shevchenko in development of Ukrainian and Slavonic cultures. 45. T.Shevchenko — the founder of the Ukrainian realist painting and graphics. 46. Repressive measures of the tsarist government concerning the Ukrainian language. 47. Sunday schools, the system of secondary and higher education in Ukraine in the nineteenth century. 48. Development of scientific and technical societies in Ukraine in the XIX-th century. 49. Ivan Franko and Lesia Ukrainka in Ukrainian culture. 50. New national-cultural revival (the end of XIX- th — beginning of XX-th centuries) 51. Revolutionary-democratic trends in the literature and the rise of literary life in Ukraine (the end of XIX-th — beginning of XX-th centuries) 52. A new style of architecture in Ukraine (the end of XIX-th — beginning of XX-th centuries). 53. Development of education in Ukraine in the early twentieth century. 54. M.S. Grushevsky — a scientist and culturological researcher. 55. Cultural Revival in the 20s of the twentieth century. 56. Development of science in Ukraine in the twentieth century. 57. Ukrainization in the 20–30’s of the XX-th century. Its essence and importance. 58. Development of Ukrainian Soviet literature. 59. Art Associations in Ukraine in the 20–30s. 60. «Executed Renaissance» in the 20–30s in Ukraine. 61. The tragic consequences in development of Ukrainian culture in the period of the personality cult. 62. Development of culture in the modern period.

349 63. Devastating consequences of World War II in development of cultural processes in Ukraine. 64. The role of traditions in development of the content and form of spiritual culture of the Ukrainian people. 65. The process of democratization of the state and the development of culture. 67. Perspectives of education, science, literature and art in Ukraine today. 68. Cultural and educational and artistic associations of Ukraine today. 69. The revival of culture of Ukraine at present. 70. The national Ukrainian culture and its relation with other cultures. 71. Cultural processes in Ukraine (50 to 80-ies of the twentieth century). 72. The role of history and culture in shaping national identity. 73. The role of cultural institutions (libraries, museums, clubs, theatres) in the development of national consciousness. 74. The traditions of the people as a means of training the younger generation. 75. Culture of the Ukrainian diaspora.

350 BIBLIOGRAPHY

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