Your Idea of the Past is WRONG

this video is brought to you by atlasvpn if asked to picture the ancient world most likely the image you'll see in your mind will be erroneous here is why hello Noble ones welcome back to my channel this is the Metatron speaking and when thinking about the Classical period specifically ancient Rome and ancient Greece most of us have this image of all white temples and icy White marble statues if this is what you normally imagine then you'll be in fact incorrect that is because our arbitrary reconstructive imagination based on the state of preservation of both buildings and statuary which are of course thousands of years old is not apt so to try and recreate a faithful mental image of the past visually we'll need the help of many years of intensive scientific and archaeological research of classical architectural wonders [Music] in the same way that the ruins of a temple are just a shadow of its former appearance in Period statues and architecture bear of color are only vestiges of their true former polychromatic glory as it's often the case things are a lot more complex of what they seem to be to the untrained eye and there is an entire elusive secret world when it comes to the magnificence of the already jaw-dropping artistic Perfection of classical Monumental art let me elaborate color as an integral part of italic architecture namely the interplay of architectural and sculptural polychromy is now an established fact the ability to expertly utilize color in combination with the correct materials and the expert manipulation of the perception of the exteriors of buildings was an integral part of the overall effects created on Monumental facades and the basis of the realization of life-like features on sculpture we could say that this was in fact symptomatic of ancient Mediterranean art it allowed to distinguished Heroes and the divine and it stands as a testament through time of an even greater level of artistic sophistication but how do we know that the statues and buildings were in fact in color and why do we have this erroneous idea of all white being the norm well both questions are rather deep to answer the First on winning day coordinated palette of interdisciplinary perspectives and interpretations let's begin with this there are several indicators of color being used in Period one visible traces of paint pigment on statues and temples for example look at the hair of this statue here are other examples so as you can see original traces of pigment still remain on some specimen we can call this first kind of evidence observable data two invisible traces of paint pigment which of course require dedicated specialized equipment to be revealed through the usage of ultraviolet fluorescence and infrared refraction we can now detect some of these original paints that will be otherwise invisible to the naked eye and also the so-called ghost traces left behind some of these computer-based results seem to suggest that there is a sort of pattern in use within several different types of decoration features number three iconographic representation of statues in color now this is my favorite something that we can use to navigate through time is period art and representations in other words if we look at original Fresco so murals we can see everyday scenes represented and in within these everyday scenes we can also see that statues oftentimes are represented fully painted that is because to them that was the norm that's what they were seeing and we are even so lucky as to have found a representation of a man beginning to paint a statue having considered these forms of evidence are guiding theoretical framework of this video will be to critically analyze what the sources tell us in combination with iconographic literary and material evidence now before diving into the midden bones and the plethora of evidence and information I'm going to share with you today be excited because it's going to be great I'm going to rock your world but before doing that I would like to very briefly address the second question why do we have this wrong or erroneous idea or image of all white statues of white temples of white buildings are white when it comes to both ancient Rome and ancient Greece and of course if you browse the internet you will find a plethora of articles that blame you guessed it white supremacy why politics then should I say extremely politicized ideas and people need to try and invade even history of art is beyond me now I could of course completely ignore this but the reason why I do want to address this very briefly and I'll do it later on the video now since I want to give you a 100 neutral politics free presentation I will address this on section 4 where I will not only give you the real reason why we have this mental image that is incorrect but I will also dismantle this old idea of oh it's because you know white statue so it must be white supremacy by giving you the precise reasons as to why it is in fact as an approach fundamentally ontologically flawed foreign it is my opinion that one of the best ways to fully understand and properly visualize ancient art is through a specific discipline art and there is a form of Modern Art that I believe can really help us visualize what ancient Greece and ancient Rome would have looked like no not that kind of Modern Art out of here I'm talking about video games the video game Assassin's Creed Odyssey that has spectacular job in recreating an accurate portraying what Athens would have looked like in the Classical period including the statues and the buildings and temples in their full polychromatic Glory let me show you probably the main reason why surfaces and their decoration in color was so important to the ancient people was because through the colors used but not only the colors also the materials chosen they could not only achieve decoration or embellishment but they could modify the interplay of light and shadows creating new evocative mental States if color can convey meaning within the calculable reactions of the light in connection to ancient religion beliefs symbolism and culture now in the Roman period the main construction materials where wood volcanic tufa travertine and Limestone but as we reach the late Republican period generally speaking second and first century BC both white and colored marbles together with cast concrete would become the norm and in the Imperial period followed also by brickwork now there were several ways to treat these surfaces for example roughening polishing but they would also be coated with the separate layers of paint stucco gold bronze terracotta Mosaic and marble itself and even though right now visually we've just experiencing Greek architecture in color you should also apply the same for Roman architectural polychromy now if you're enjoying all of this information there is much more to come after a very brief word from a dear sponsor now if you're like me and you like to serve 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active on my machine so that is because one account lets you use multiple devices I personally really like Atlas VPN not only because it's a great choice but also because it's really affordable and that links to today's special offer the summer deal for protection that's 1.79 a month for three years plus four months for free so if you've been considering getting a VPN but you weren't sure about the prices then now is the time and don't forget to click the link in the description that's 1.79 a month for three years plus four months for free keep in mind that this is a Time limited offer so big quick and click the link in the description and big thanks to Atlas VPN for sponsoring my video the exterior of both Civic and sacred buildings would have been fully decorated in full color the same for the beams The Columns and roofs decorated in lavish figural schemes architectural terracotta would be usually refined with diluted clay and then it would be fully colored using brushes and even wood most likely was in full color the only problem with wood is that it says completely gone and it's almost entirety original thick white layers were used to cover all sorts of architectural materials now sometimes they could be left bare white particularly if they wanted to contrast with then highly colored sections which would then become accents but another thing that these thick coating achieved usually as thick as five millimeters would be to waterproof and help resisting the weather but if any of you is a miniature Warhammer painter or something like that you will know that you prime your Miniatures before you apply paint and so did they both the Romans and the Greeks had this idea of priming their build buildings and sculptures with white in order to be able to apply paint more securely now to focus a bit more into white marble in ancient italic architecture and statuary it's a bit of a late phenomenon particularly we're talking about large-scale usage that is because until the second century BC marble was mostly imported and it becomes available locally at the quarries of Luna near Carrara in the first century BC but rather than just buying white marble it was also common practice to use naturally colored marble ancient authors tell us that the earliest Imports of large columns in colored marble arrived in Rome during the first half of the first century BC even though there is archaeological evidence even earlier than that bronze was probably one of the most loved materials by both the Greeks and the Romans a bit more by the Greeks but still by both we are aware of statues made in Italian bronze although they would have also been painted the only thing is that usually for the skin part that will be left bronze so the actual metal giving it a little bit of golden skin look but hair eyes nails and even equipment would have been painted and bronze was also used as parts of decorations on buildings the problem is that that's one of the first things that gets stripped off a building whether there is a sack or even just in the medieval period so there is that we don't have a lot of material Goods to demonstrate bronze as a decoration on top of buildings but we do have literary evidence for it for example according to plini the Elder bronze came in different Alloys and Carla Hues it was used for doors capitals and also roofs of temples just help you imagine those words right now in your head if we were to go back in time we would be a draw dropping experience as we were to see the temple of the father of the Gods with a roof filled in gilded tiles now already the idea that sculptures and statues would have been in full color and painted can be mind-blowing but it doesn't stop there silver and gold guilt but also inlaid materials were present now of course there is a certain level of guesswork that goes into the recreation of what the past would have looked like the reason being that the majority of the original paint is of course gone so to focus more on the statues how should we imagine them eyes eyelashes lips hair everything would have had its color attention to detail would have been given even to the accessories whether it be weapons or armor for example a range of fully wooden scabbards and scepters most likely jewelry would have been made with real jewels on the most lavish cases there is also evidence on some status particularly the bronze ones where in late decoration was achieved through the usage of ivory gems and even glass for the eyes all in all it appears that ancient Romans really did try to make their statues as lifelike as possible now let's address this silly statement that the reason why we keep imagining statues and temples why it is because white supremacy well you see this is an assumption and the things about assumptions specifically the ones about the former nature of social reality they need verifications they must be corroborated by external factors now and I can't believe I have to say this but specifically era based ideology cannot be used as an explanation or a motive for certain events before they were even invented and we know that white supremacist is a 19th century ideology strongly perpetrated in the 20th century with roots that go perhaps back as far as the 17th century if I want to be generous thus to try and use white supremacy has a reason why we imagine all white marble of the otherwise historically correct fully chromatic ones of ancient Rome is ludicrous because there was already White marble statuary in the Renaissance thus to try and use white supremacy as a reason why we imagine all white marble of the otherwise historically correct fully chromatic ones of ancient Rome is ludicrous because there was already white marble statutory in the Renaissance so unless you want to prove to me that someone or should I say the likes of Michelangelo was born in 1475 was a white supremacist 300 years before the very maybe beginning of the roots of the problem and the ideology unless you can link the majority of Renaissance Italian art and artists to white supremacy which spoiler alert you can't the statement has zero Foundation the birth of monochromatic sculpture is the Renaissance in the Italian Renaissance mostly the majority of statues were made in direct monochromatic theme of course they were also fully painted works of art say for example the crucifix by the very Michelangelo I'm not saying that all statuary was monochromatic or was left white some polychromatic art also exists but that's where that happened that's what it originates it predates any modern ideas such as white supremacy of quite a few centuries and the reason why I have such a problem with it is because this silly politicized statement has been used by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York why are they pandering political nonsense and of course I'm aware that when we talk about political extremes we find problematic statements when it comes to ancient Roman all sides of politics for example on the other side of politics we also find statements such as the ancient Romans were all Nordic people and that's why they were great also baseless nonsense but I'll address that one on a dedicated video Dear Metropolitan Museum of Art can you talk history of Art and history without having to talk politics at the same time so now that we have debunked the possibility of it being white supremacy the cause of all these white statues and white marble then where does it come from well there are a few possibilities much of the monochrome art and the beauty of white marble which by the way still is very beautiful has its roots in this renewed interest towards the Classical period and the heroic era of late media evil sculptures and Painters these artists were trying to recreate or reproduce a heroic past now much of the color of the original ancient Roman and Greek statues had already been lost by the time these artists started to try and reproduce these works and that's not because as these articles flimsely claim medieval Italians were trying to hide people of color from history but it was due to the unearthing and restoration methods applied to the said statues such as excessive rubbing and cleaning from debris but the main reason as to why the statues lost their color is time the destructive power of time which is one of the most neutral forces in the universe it is my opinion that the information that I have presented here today has the power to enrich our understanding of a beautiful culture and past that precede us and it shouldn't be used for petty reasons to try and perpetrate a political message but as always if you have any questions on this topic or different topic that you would like me to cover feel free to let me know your opinions in the comments below your mind your opinions and your positions are always taken in high regard thank you very much for sharing them thank you very much for watching and as always remember the Metatron has spread his wings also don't forget to click in the link in the description below to take advantage of the amazing offer that Atlas VPN has for you goodbye

Channel: Metatron

Views: 344,925

Keywords: ancient greece, ancient rome, roman, greek, ancient, legion, emprie, republic, roman empire, legionary, history, historical, accurate, inaccurate, incorrect, myth, wrong, absurd, political, teach, teacher, teaching, professor, reacts, article, MET, museum, armour, bronze, classical, period, era, epoche, statue, art, artistic, funny, fun, amazing, wow, what, incredible, unbelievable, bad, why would people, seriously, how is it possible, discussion, speak, past, europe, european, white, black, race, racial, hypothesis, interesting

Id: 0IcS5xas08I

Length: 17min 41sec (1061 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 08 2023