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Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology

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Posted at Dec 01/2008 12:32PM:
Abigail Taft: The power or the element of a work of art to arouse and evoke feelings of empathy, sympathy, pity, or sorrow. In the Greek language it is translated as suffering. It was extremely evident in the drama and emotion depicted in Hellenistic art. Today, pathos is still used in art. For example, many advertisements are pathos-based and evoke emotion or sympathy out of the public in order to persuade them one way.

Pathos is a Greek word which describes the emotions found in a person at a specific time. Hellenistic sculptors often used pathos to a large extent in their depictions of faces. Hellenistic sculpture is often overly emotional, with the artist choosing to depict the most dramatic moment possible. Fear, hate, and love are all emotions which the Hellenistic artist masterly carved into the marble. This was in stark difference to previous Classical Greek art which emphasized ethos, or the morality of the subject. - Steven Hang