CALGARY, ALBERTA.- The Glenbow Museum presents the exhibit Egypt, Greece and Rome: Art of the Ancient Mediterranean World through June 3, 2007. The cultures of Egypt, Greece and Rome have determined much of how we order, value and understand our world. Artistic and cultural traditions of the West can be traced back to these three major cultures which were constantly influencing one another. Travel and trade across the Mediterranean fostered this complex pattern of cross-influences.

After his death nearly 2,800 years ago, the body of a young Egyptian priest named Pennu underwent a mummification process. Like other Egyptians, he believed preservation of himself and his coffin would guarantee his passage into eternal life. It is unlikely, however, that Pennu had imagined his coffin travelling to Calgary nearly three thousand years later!

From the beginning of Egyptian history, religious beliefs prescribed the preservation of the body after death. Many of the works featured in Egypt, Greece and Rome: Art of the Ancient Mediterranean World were produced to decorate the tomb chambers of kings, queens and high officials and for the purpose of eternal life. These tomb artifacts, through their design, inscriptions and symbols, shed much light on daily Egyptian life.

Ancient Greek art and culture, which flourished from contact with the Egyptian and Aegean civilizations, features the Greeks' interest in human nature and anatomy, and their search for ideal forms that represent the dynamic power of life. Elegantly simplified divine images were carved from Greece's rich resources of white marble.

The nude human figure emerged as the principle theme of art and the perfect human body was used to tell stories of gods and heroes. In Egypt, figures remained monumentally solid, but in Greece artists sought to combine ideal beauty with increasing naturalism. The unclothed human figure in its most perfect manifestation was admired for its harmonious beauty. The archetypical proportions of the human body were the measure and standard of beauty for all things. Known for their sculptures, their temples and their vase paintings, the form and content of Greek art became the model and standard for much of later Western art.

As Roman generals conquered Greece and the eastern Mediterranean in the second century B.C., they and the Roman public became increasingly enamoured with Greek art, first obtaining originals, making copies and then eventually creating their own variations. Greatly influenced by Greece, Roman art brought its predecessor's realism to a new height by stressing the dynamism of human expression in sculpture. Their realistic portraits, honoring likeness of character and great achievements, but at times in unflattering ways, would have been rejected by the Greek lovers of beauty.

The art of both Greece and Rome are now considered as the origin of European art and culture. The Renaissance, a movement that took place in Italy during the 15th and 16th centuries, strove to revive the Greek and Roman art and culture.