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EASILY one of the most interesting things we have discussed in class, we did this last week. The gigantomachy frieze on the altar of zeuss depicts a battle between the mythological gods and the giants. It is centered around the goddess Nyx (the goddess of the night) and in my mind brings with it 2 important, recurrent ideas. Both of these ideas are connected through the question of identity. One is who are we? And the second is where are we? I think that both questions are addressed explicitly by the interpretation of the scene being depicted as the night sky, and the gods as stars and constellations within that sky, battling not only for their survival but also for the identity and namesake of Greece. It also shows a significant concern for the geographical relations that the ancient grecians recognize. They are figuring out where they fit into the world. The idea of a map of the world has been represented in many cultures, and very explicitly in Mesopotamia and Egypt. This frieze represents a recognition of a much larger area of the world, something much closer to our modern day conception of geography. Less and less do we see a stylistic minimalization or simplification in order to get an end result, a phenomenon called the “fallacy of affirming the consequent.” This is a broad and encompassing attempt in itself to not only define geographical relations, but on a much more domestic level, to identify what, indeed, is Grecian culture. In the depiction of a war with titans, the Grecian gods shown fighting is a classical symbol for the pursuit of identity. Not only are the fighting in a philosophical sense (of good and of evil), but also, they are fighting for their right to individuality, for an exact definition of who, as Greeks, they are. So, this frieze depicts not only an appreciation for the cosmos of foreign identity, but similarly, for the cosmological domestic order of a city state, a nation, and a collected people. The use of mythological entities further shows a Grecian appreciation of their unique heritage.