A Ktisis Medley

 A KTISIS MEDLEY

#ktisis #medley #images #hellenisticart 

KTISIS continues to fascinate me. 

She seems to be a Stoic concept however most of the images found so far were uncovered literally if they were floor mosaics from houses in Asia Minor and in "Late Antiquity" just over a period of a couple of centuries.

Was there some kind of local revival of Stoicism?

Greek Stoicism not Roman as the Ktisis image often appears as a set along with other personifications of Ideas and Virtues. And the style is very Hellenic. 

Anyway here is a medley of every image I have been happen to find online excepting a few of very poor quality.

Some day I will find the missing pieces of data I need and do a full length article or mini ebook 

If anyone knows of any frescoes of her let me know ?

The ruler may symbol the concept of a Canon a building guide or the idea of Ktisis as being building as the foundation of civilisation and creation ?

 

KTISIS

#Ktisis #creation #hellenisticart #mosaic #greekart

KTISIS as a word and idea is an excellent example of semantic change.

It seems to have originally been used to refer to the foundation and building of colonies but then to refer both the larger settled built up urban world and to to the idea of the world as a created thing both by Stoics and Christians. 

The artists who used Ktisis as a theme seem to have made a point of being extra careful with the lettering and always portrayed Ktisis as an aristocrat or queen. 

In this final image Ktisis is shown contemplating a measuring instrument and the artists has been less careful with the lettering but the breaking up of the word emphasizes accidentally or intentionally the tilt of her head and her facial expression.

Solar Crowns

Last week and the week before  I showed you a variety of headgear worn by monarchs on coins and other art and showed you how UNLIKE modern crowns they were.

So why did later European monarchs start wearing spiked crowns rather than jewelled headbands?

One reason might have been the radiate solar crown used by some Hellenistic monarchs and LATE Empire Caesars.

The god Helios was traditionally shown wearing a crown of rays.

Hellenistic and Roman SYNCRETISM lead to people identifying Apollo or Helios with various Near Eastern and Egyptian Solar Deities. 

I suspect an attempt to identify with Horus lead to the Ptolemies using a radiate crown.

The First Caesars however did not wear crowns but the revival and spread of various Solar deities from Syria and Persia, the cults of Sol Invictus, Mithras, and Shams, and others lead to a brief revival of the radiate crown started by Aurelianus who had coins issued showing Helios on one side and his image with a radiate crown on the other.

I'm thinking also that perhaps some later jewellers were given Roman coins to melt down and remove the "pagan" imagery and were asked to recycle the coins into crowns but seing the coins and perhaps survivng mosaics or statutes of Helios got ideas.

I have more Helios art I'll share soon.

Name this ruler?

I'm shamelessly testing you to see if you remember a earlier series of posts in which I showed images of the heirs of Alexander.

This rather austere looking ruler who looks almost Roman was a king with a name starting with A from which derives a famous city.

People tend to think of Hellenistic sculpture as being "Baroque" and emotional and expressionistic and dramatic. No its not all like that.