Video Criteques

Art and Music

     Art and Music seemed to play a major role to early Mediterranean civilizations. Art was valued because of its beauty and elegance. Music, on the other hand, was like a hobby. When you look deeply at these early civilizations, you can tell that they spent a lot of time with music and arts. Art and Music's importance was signified by the time people would take out of their day to take part in those activities.

     Art was beauty and people liked to create it. Art was used as decorations, a symbol of wealth and prosperity, and/or just basically to make something look nice. Let's say, back in the times of those early civilizations, you just bought a Mediterranean house. I doubt they had sheetrock to cover their walls. They probably just had rocks and pillars as walls and support. You'd probably want to decorate a house like that so it wouldn't look so gloomy. You might try creating art such as a sculptor, painting, decorative dish, or gold jewelry. If you don't feel like making it, there's always a friendly price at the marketplace. My point is, people living in those times probably wanted to brighten up their lives by creating/buying art.

     Then, there's music. Like I said they probably played with music as a hobby. They obliviously enjoyed listening to it because it's apparent they would take a chunk out of their day to participate in it. I personally don't like music. Music plays with your emotions. Early Mediterranean civilizations used music as a form of entertainment. Whether you were young or old, a majority of the population back then used music to entertain themselves. They would hold festivals, feasts, and even private, in-home family nights with music as the main attraction. Music was valued by and played an important role in the lives of early Mediterranean people because of its tune and rhythm.    

     It didn't matter if you were creating art or listening to music, you were certainly taking part of a major activity in the lives of Mediterranean people. A key influence in the arts and music of the Mediterranean civilization was from the civilizations of Western Asia and Persia. In the You Tube video I noticed there was an Asian-influenced statue of a monk, I think. There also was Persian-themed paintings and designs on certain pieces of arts. Oh, and Persian-based architectural building such as the one shown in the very beginning of the video. All of these influences and more contributed to the history and daily lives of ancient Mediterranean civilizations.