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IEVADVĀRDI

Author(s): Māra Ķimele,Inga Pērkone-Redoviča / Language(s): English,Latvian Issue: 2/2015

The collection of research articles “Culture Crossroads”, Issue No. 8 is dedicated to the international research conference organised by the Latvian Academy of Culture “Leftist Ideas in Culture. The Password – Asja” (held in Riga on 6–7 March 2015) and the ideas and insights gained at the conference. The proceedings consist of articles, based on the papers and discussions delivered at the conference. Asja is the theatre director Anna Lācis (1891–1979), more widely known in the world as Asja Lācis – a fascinating personality, a vivid example how leftist ideas have influenced people’s personal and creative biographies. [...]

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ANNA/ASJA LACIS AND THE MULTILINGUALITY OF THE OTHER

Author(s): Susan Ingram / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2015

The article discusses the multilingual nature of Anna/Asja Lācis’s own works as well as those devoted to her. When Anna Lācis’s memoirs were published in German in 1971, the editor Hildegard Brenner pointed out that the name Asja Lācis should appear more often in the research on Walter Benjamin and the cultural scene of Weimar. Asja Lācis did not receive well-deserved acclaim over the subsequent decades either. The conference, which is devoted to Asja Lācis and her work in the context of proletarian theatre and the ideas of leftism, indicates that the situation has changed under the influence of geopolitical and technological circumstances. The article analyses the influence of changes in the world on approaches to translation in culture and ensures an insight into Walter Benjamin’s translation work before meeting Asja Lācis in Capri. The goal of the paper is to analyse the efficiency of such work in order to understand both the difficulties in their relationships and the reception of their literary heritage, which are closely intertwined, as well as to facilitate the dialogue between this reception and leftism, which juxtaposes it to Antonio Gramsci’s works about translatability.

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ANNA (ASJA) LĀCIS KULTŪRU UN IDEOLOĢIJU KRUSTPUNKTĀ

Author(s): Beata Paškevica / Language(s): Latvian Issue: 2/2015

The article explores the course of formation of the positions of Asja Lācis’s theatre aesthetics in the early period of her activity, mainly in Riga during the 1920s. The article takes a chronological look at the first theatre impressions of German and Latvian theatres in Riga. Special attention is paid to Asja Lācis’s change of aesthetic views under the influence of the Russian avant-garde. In contrast to the exuberance of Hedda Gabler and the existential loneliness in Ibsen’s psychological theatre, the new Russian avant-garde theatrical search stressed the biomechanical conception and the role of the actor as a player in a theatre company. The key position in Asja Lācis’s personal work of directing in Riga amateur theatre of the leftist trade unions was the aesthetic requirements of the proletarian cult and the theatre of October. She tried to create a radical avant-garde theatre and expressed her aesthetic views in a number of articles in the Latvian leftist press. Anna Lācis’s experiments in Oryol and the Riga theatres, which were based on her acquired experience of the Russian avant-garde, served as a catalyst for her further cooperation with Walter Benjamin and Bertolt Brecht; it also influenced the development of different contemporary theatre trends.

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ANNAS LĀCIS DARBĪBA LATVIJĀ 20. GADSIMTA 20. GADOS. EKSPRESIONISMA ŽESTS

Author(s): Rita Lūriņa / Language(s): Latvian Issue: 2/2015

The theatre director Anna Lācis belongs to the generation of modernists who found the origins of their creative impulses in the bright and erudite flow of arts education at the beginning of the 20th century. The wheel of the turn of the centuries threw Anna Lācis into the expression of idealism of the revolution, ideology and art forms. The stage requirements for this expression organised the flexibility of the actor along geometrically constructive laconic lines. Anna Lācis was one of the creators of this kind of gesture for a short time in Latvia in the 1920s. Her activity in Latvia was focused on the ideas and practice of formation of the so-called Proletarian Theatre. Anna Lācis’s choice of working with amateurs was determined not only by her position of an adherent to proletarian ideology and her brave civic liberty, but probably also by the coincidence of circumstances. When Anna Lācis was in Latvia, she gladly communicated not only with the left-wing revolutionary intellectuals (the poet Linards Laicens, the writer Leons Paegle, and others), but also with the representatives of Riga theatrical environment of the time. Unfortunately we cannot speak about Anna Lācis’s creative contribution to the Latvian Professional theatre of the time; however, her stagings lend us a wonderful opportunity to see a part of the multi-faceted spectrum that the beginning of the 20th century offered to the stage form of the actor and appreciate the erudition that her education had provided.

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KREISUMA IDEJAS JAUNATNES TE TRA INTERPRETĀCIJĀ. 20. GADSIMTA ČETRDESMITIE – PIECDESMITIE GADI

Author(s): Silvija Geikina / Language(s): Latvian Issue: 2/2015

When discussing the influence of leftist ideas on the Latvian stage, one of the main examples to begin with is the creation and activities of The Children’s and Youth Theatre from the 1940s to the early 1960s. During this period, this theatre can be called an active interpreter of leftist ideas for the audience of children and teenagers. The beginnings of The Children’s and Youth Theatre can also be linked with Anna Lāce. Although she did not actually participate in the organisation of the theatre as she was under arrest in Russia at the time, her daughter Dagmāra Lāce (later – Ķimele) had come to Riga after her mother’s arrest. Her father Jūlijs Lācis, who was the People’s Commissioner for Education and Culture in 1940, helped Dagmāra to return to Latvia. She may have told her father about this theatre and its effect on the aesthetic upbringing of children and teenagers. The overall task and objective of the newly founded Children’s and Youth Theatre was communist education of young people. One of the main demands of communist upbringing was to use the theatre as a portrait of a young hero whom the young audiences – the communist builders would aspire to emulate, who would captivate them with a higher goal, an ideal, and a dream. A search for the young hero – the communist builder continued in the theatre during the first decade after World War II. During this period The Youth Theatre did its best to strictly follow the instructions of Communist Party ideologists.

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ANNA LĀCIS AMONG THE CREATORS OF THE IDEOLOGICAL CHILDREN’S THEATRE

Author(s): Joanna Crawley / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2015

The moral and political coup d’état in West Germany in 1968 brought new ambitions and goals. Women and children were recognised as victims of existing institutions. In order to change their lives, a vision and examples were necessary. This is why the summary of the Programme of the Proletarian Children’s Theatre by Asja Lācis and Walter Benjamin, which appeared in an alternative magazine, and subsequently Asja Lācis’s autobiography, entitled “Profession – Revolutionist”, caused an immediate reaction and became a new organisational strategic basis for work with children and youngsters. In these works, newly established children’s theatres, such as Teater im Märkischen Viertel, Gruppe Spielumwelt, Volker Ludwig’s Reichskabarett (subsequently – Grips) and TAT, found particular inspiration for anti-authoritarian activity. Volker Ludwig saw a way of bridging theatre and emancipation-oriented education in Asja Lācis’s works. The Grips-Theatre, which has existed for over 40 years, has become the most influential ideological theatre for children. Its different kinds of activities are now in use all over the world. The present paper explores the impact of Asja Lācis’s ideas on contemporary children’s theatre, demonstrating how concrete her discoveries were in the context of the theatre of her time.

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THE RELEVANCE OF ASJA LĀCIS’S KINDERTHEATER TODAY: A BRAZILIAN PERSPECTIVE

Author(s): Ligia Cortez,Jorge de Almeida / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2015

The goal of the article is to show that Asja Lācis’s theatre programme, which was based on her reasoning about historical, practical and political issues in the theatre for children and adolescents, can be significant in the development of modern youth theatre in Brazil. Walter Benjamin’s Programme of the Proletarian Children’s Theatre, which included and explained Asja Lācis’s ideas, enhanced a better understanding of the involvement of art and theatre in politics, as well as the education based on emancipated artistic experience. The article views these ideas from a historical perspective by studying the case of “Casa do Teatro”. This institution is an heir to the tradition of education theatre, whose political dimension is associated with the resistance to Brazilian dictatorship (1964– 1984). Through emphasising theatre activities as a type of conscious education, certain aspects of Asja Lācis’s ideas gain the kind of significance that Brecht’s and Benjamin’s works have possibly lost in the context of contemporary politics and the latest trends in theatre development.

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LATVIEŠU KREISIE MĀKSLINIEKI, BOĻŠEVISMA MANIFESTĀCIJA UN ĻEBJADKINA POĒZIJA

Author(s): Pēteris Krilovs / Language(s): Latvian Issue: 2/2015

The author of the article draws from his research conclusions made while directing the documentary “Gustavs Klucis. The Deconstruction of an Artist” about the worldfamous avant-garde artist Gustavs Klucis (1895–1938).The contribution examines the chivalric relationship of the artists with the Bolshevik rule over the period from the October Revolution until World War II, from the first revolutionary art education establishments, production units, and exhibitions to detention camps and execution firing ranges. The main research question, “Is the Bolshevik revolution related to the art of avant-garde and constructivism?” The contribution offers a new version about whether and how the conception of new art supported the conception of a radically anti-human political system. The Russian 1917 Bolshevik revolution formed a strange but also natural alliance with art, resulting in the Russian avant-garde artists taking power. If we talk about the way how Latvian artists moved into the area of leftist ideas, it is more likely to be fate than their art or a philosophical trend. However, a third party intruded into this chivalric romance of art and power. The third party was an undereducated and non-creative perception of the world, called cockroach consciousness, which is best represented by Lebyadkin in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s (Фёдор Достоевский) brilliant novel “Demons” (“Бесы”), which predicts the revolution. The author of this contribution takes a closer look at the role of Latvian artists in creating the attractive features of the Bolshevik revolution and shaping a framework for the repressive system.

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LATVIJAS MODERNISMS UN KREISUMA IDEJAS. MĀKSLINIEKU ROMANA SUTAS UN ALEKSANDRAS BEĻCOVAS PIEMĒRS

Author(s): Nataļja Jevsejeva / Language(s): Latvian Issue: 2/2015

The artists Aleksandra Beļcova (Александра Бельцова) and Romans Suta got acquainted with socialist ideas in Russia: Beļcova in her native gubernia (province) of Chernihiv (Ukrainian: Чернігів, Russian: Чернигов) already at the time of the 1905 unrest, while Suta at the beginning of World War I when he sought refuge in Russia. They both witnessed the 1917 October coup d’état in Petrograd. At the beginning of the 1920s Suta, Beļcova and other artists of the Riga group created cartoons for the leftist satirical magazine “Ho-Ho”. However, it is difficult to judge whether Suta had any specific political persuasion. Suta left an impression that he did not have a definite viewpoint but a particular position in certain issues. The evolution of Beļcova’s leftist views underwent a development which was on the whole characteristic of a number of her contemporaries: from an idealised enthusiasm to disappointment and a sense of tragedy. In the 1920s the ideas of socialists and communists were often synonymous with reforms and progress in the perception ofthe intellectuals. An educated woman-feminist with leftist views, it seems, was an ideal of the time for many people, however, for Beļcova it was not a matter of fashion. For her, leftism meant not so much her political position, as her denial of philistinism and her condemnation of greed. She kept to these principles all her life. It is important that in the art of both Beļcova and Suta, for the exception of several examples of applied art and separate designs, there are no works on themes reflecting any social criticism or something similar which would allow us to call their art proletarian or class oriented, or to ascribe any leftist ideology to it. It is criticism of the modern consumer society, order of the world and devaluation of moral and spiritual values. In this respect contemporary art can also be called leftist art.

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DAŽAS RIETUMU MARKSISTU IDEJAS, ALBERTA BELA PROZA UN LITERĀRAIS KINEMATOGRĀFISKUMS

Author(s): Jūlija Dibovska / Language(s): Latvian Issue: 2/2015

The Latvian writer Alberts Bels (b. 1938) uses elements of literary cinematography in his prose. Although the number of these elements is not large, they testify to the fact that there is nothing unintentional in the writer’s prose. One of the ways how to establish the semantic load of elements of literary cinematography is to examine the context in which these elements are used following the views of the 20th century Marxist leaders. Thus, as an aesthetic value, literary cinematography in Alberts Bels’s writings can be seen as a compromise between traditional culture, which according to Walter Benjamin requires an aura and active experience of the reader, and the new art which was created on the basis of traditional art. If literature takes over the patterns of narrative cinema and uses them to create new, yet non-radical forms and structures, literary cinematography can be regarded as a favourable result of what Benjamin calls the loss of aura in a reproduced work of art.

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Towards Social Cinema: Extending of Riga Poetic Style in the 1970s

Author(s): Inga Pērkone-Redoviča / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2018

In the 1960s, a group of young and very gifted documentary filmmakers established themselves at Riga Film Studio and developed a poetic style, based on visual metaphors which they named themselves as Riga Style but later in the Soviet and East European context the style and its creators came to be known as Riga Poetic Documentary Film School. Yet in the 1970s one can identify pronounced focusing by the documentary filmmakers on social issues, the aspirations to offer in their films analysis of the problems existing in the society and sometimes offering their solution without losing the artistic qualities of the films. The article written in 1971 by Armīns Lejiņš, the script writer and theorist of the poetic cinema, “Poetic Cinema + Scientific Cinema = Social Cinema” can be perceived as their manifesto. Lejiņš was convinced that by combining poetry and science, Riga documentary filmmakers could facilitate henceforth logical, analytical and dialectical thinking culture in their films. Within the framework of my article, I’ll provide a broader insight into the social angle of films by Latvian documentary filmmakers, into their thematic and aesthetic aspects, and also offer a more detailed analysis of the film “The Woman We Expect?” (Sieviete, kuru gaida?, 1978) – the concept, the process of its making, relations with censorship and its reception.

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Asara uz vaiga. Eduarda Pāvula aktiera kodu meklējot

Author(s): Inga Pērkone-Redoviča / Language(s): Latvian Issue: 1/2015

Eduards Pāvuls (1929–2006) is one of the most beloved Latvian theatre and cinema actors, a charismatic player of common people. Starting with the 1950s, Pāvuls becomes a messenger of a new age in the art of acting. In his characters he rejects the histrionically encoded style of acting that is characterised by theatrical signs canonised over centuries. Instead, he uses expression codes taken from real life. Pāvuls succeeds in conveying, what can be called Zeitgeist in the art of acting. In the cinema it is represented by the influence of Method Theatre in Hollywood and by acting based in improvisation in the forms of New Wave films at the turning of the 1950s and the 1960s in the world. However, the essential changes do not so much proceed from acting techniques, but from change in public opinion about what a character should be like in a work of art.

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Starpdisciplinaritāte mūzikas kultūras pētniecībā

Author(s): Ieva Pauloviča / Language(s): Latvian Issue: 1/2008

The meaning of "musical culture" is explained as the sum total of political, economic, social and cultural elements that could have an impact on the development of music in the territory of Vidzeme. In this way the article deals with the approach of interdisciplinarity that can be used today to research musical culture in Vidzeme (formerly Livland) during the 17th century. This method is not prevalent in Latvian musicology. The author suggests the use of this method in the research of music history. In this article, some interdisciplinary examples show how to discover and reflect the musical culture of Vidzeme (historical Livland) during Swedish rule in the 17th century (1621-1710). Several kinds of documentary sources from the 17th century explore typical musical facts. Some of them describe the environment of musical culture and its development. Another document reflects the social and economic life of local musicians' and their musical work. There were many sacristians, singers, teachers and some organists whose work was related to creating the common musical environment in Vidzeme during this century Historical maps of estates and architectural plans of churches give additional information that visualizes historical facts about the musical culture during the 17th century. They are useful as an illustration and a visual source of information. It both gives some new ideas and supports the facts found in written texts. It is possible to study the musical culture of Vidzeme with an interdisciplinary approach. The facts revealed by documents of geography, architecture, history, economics, maps and others reveal crucial information about the social and economic life of musicians and the musical environment in Vidzeme during the 17th century.

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The Symbol of the Tree of Life Resulting from the Interface of Eastern and Western Cultures

Author(s): Elvyra Usačiovaitė / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2008

Dzīvības koka simbols ir radies Austrumos. Tas ir sastopams šumēru, persiešu un palestīniešu literatūrā un mākslā. Saskaņā ar plaši pazīstamo eposu par Gilgamešu, Dzīvības koks aug Debesīs un nodrošina mūžīgu dzīvību dieviem. Tā attēli ir saglabājušies mākslā. Piemēram, asīriešu karalis stāv koka priekšā vai koks, kuram apkārt atrodas spārnoti dēmoni, kas līdzīgi gri-liem. Spilgtākais koka simbols ebreju kultūrā ir menora - septiņu zaru svečturis. Turklāt Dzīvības koks ir minēts arī Bībelē - Pirmajā Mozus grāmatā un |āņa Atklāsmes grāmatā. Dzīvības koka bibliskais tēls, simbolizējot Pestītāju, nonāca grieķu zemēs, kristietībā un ebreju kultūrā. Tādēļ eiropeiskā stila baznīcās Kristus tika rādīts pie krusta, kurš izskatījās kā koks ar lapām, vai arī krusts ir ticis attēlots ar koku un citu augu zariem. Šādi Kristus simboli ir spēcīgi ietekmējuši lietuviešu tautas mākslu. 19. gadsimtā un 20. gadsimta sākumā lietuviešu tautas mākslā tēlotajiem garajiem krustiem bija augu ornamenti un saules stari. Tie simbolizē kristīgo Dzīvības koku. Pateicoties savai oriģinalitātei un krāšņumam, šī mākslas forma ir iekļauta UNESCO Pasaules Kultūras mantojuma sarakstā.

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Nacionālās identitātes refleksija Latviešu komponistu mūzikā

Author(s): Solveiga Selga-Timpere / Language(s): Latvian Issue: 1/2006

Towards the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century such Latvian composers as Jurjānu Andrejs, Emils Dārziņš, Emils Melngailis, Vītols and Alfreds Kalniņš got influenced from that ethical, spiritual and musical heritage which has been stored up in Latvian folk songs, each of them in his own and very specific way. At the same time the common memories, connected with Latvian history and reflected in folk songs, grew fundamental for Latvian national identity. Therefore it was considered to be the source of creation for Latvian composers of the above period, that influenced also composers of the following generations. That resulted in the establishment of a particular tradition of com position which incorporated different features of Latvian national identity. Before 1990 under the conditions of different reigning totalitarian ideologic it was impossible to engage in comprehensive studies of the expression of national identity in music and arts in Latvia. Likewise misunderstood ideas of globalisation do not promote the interest in the cultural values of one's own people and in related ethnical and esthetic aspects in general. The Latvian compos er Emils Dārziņš pointed out in "All Ready for a Journey" an essay written as early as the beginning of the 20th century that the Latvian people have their own cultural mission among other people, citing as an argument the ample amount of folk poetry and songs, their ethical, philosophic depth, the musical versatility and the beauty of melodies, typical for the Latvian ethnic culture, which could be further developed under beneficial conditions of a state in which culture is one of the major priorities of life. Contrary to the assumption that the Latvian nation al awakening begun in the 2nd part of the 19th century the author postulates the hypothesis that the first indications of national awakening in Latvia appeared already in the 18th century alongside with the tradition of choir singing intro duced by Herrnhutian Brethren and further developed and refined by the Latvian farmers in Vidzeme.

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Mākslinieka un varas kolīzija. Gleznotājs Aleksandrs Drēviņš (1889-1938)

Author(s): Vitālijs Salda / Language(s): Latvian Issue: 1/2006

In the 20ies in the Soviet Art the priority was given to the left, underground trends of art. In the art, pluralism was still predominant, and so far it had been tolerated by the Bolshevik Party. Also the Latvian painter Aleksandrs Drēviņš kept to the left positions in his artistic search. In the end of the 20ies considerable changes were taking place in the Soviet Union, and they influenced living and working conditions of both the society as such and the artists in particular. The state policy was more and more distorting the natural way of development of the arts. There expanded the fight against "formalism" in the arts. A. Drēviņš lost a teacher's job in the higher school of art; his paintings were not accepted for exhibitions. The official art criticism turned against him as a "formalist". In fact, he suffered because he refused to paint revolutionary themes or portraits of workpeople - "shock-workers of the construction of socialism", as well as because of his individual brush-work. In the course of Stalin's repressions Drēviņš was murdered in February, 1938. Nowadays A. Drēviņš is an internationally recognized artist.

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Trimdas teātra fenomens

Author(s): Viktors Hausmanis / Language(s): Latvian Issue: 1/1998

Par latviešiem nereti sacīts, ka mēs esot dziedātāju tauta, dziesma līdzējusi bargu kungu laikus pārciest, dziesma palīdzēja modināt tautu trešajai atmodai, un itin bieži dzirdami teicieni par dziesmoto revolūciju. Taču latvieši tikpat bijuši teātra spēlētāji un teātra mīļotāji, kā vecais Ādolfs — mūsu teātra tēvs Ādolfs Alunāns — latviešiem lika teātri iemīļot, tā šī mīlestība nav mitējusies līdz mūsu dienām, un ar teātri bijis gluži tāpat kā ar dziesmu: jo grūtāk gājis, jo latvieši vairāk tiekušies pēc teātra. Atceros vācu laiku. Visu laiku pāri pilsētai un visai Latvijai slējās drauds — vakaros logi aptumšoti, pa reizei klusumu pāršķēla gaisa trauksmju sirēnas, veikali tukši, viss uz kartītēm, bet teātri bija pārpildīti, un grūti kādu biļeti sadabūt. Cilvēki tiecās uz teātri, jo tur vēl valdīja ilūzija par mierīgu dzīvi, tur skanēja smiekli un, pats galvenais, tur valdīja pārliecība par garīguma spēku, teātris kļuva par tādu garīga patvēruma vietu, par garīgu piepildījuma avotu. [...]

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ROMANTIZMI DHE IDENTITETET E TJERA

Author(s): Vehbi Miftari / Language(s): Albanian Issue: 48/2018

In contrast to the Middle Ages, also driven by the pre-romantic clash (the Enlightenment, mainly), romanticism would abandon religious tutelage and return to the belief in the human autonomy. The authority referred by romanticism is no longer the medieval (religious) authority of eternal culture, but the spirit of reconciliation of being with nature, knowledge and humanity. Likewise, the tutelage under which romanticism acts is no longer religious but historical and appears as a tendency for common rebirth. This rebirth, on the other hand, would not be possible without the profound transformation of medieval cultural consciousness into historical consciousness on commonality. This consciousness seeks national rise, while reviewing history as a reshuffle in a national project. The authority of the tradition slowly gets rid of religious dominance and its place is occupied by the authority of historical and cultural memory.

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«Шуйский» период Иоакима Шартомского — подвижника благочестия и иконописца XVII века

Author(s): Yury Anatolevich Ivanov,Sergey Yuryevich Zakharov / Language(s): Russian Issue: 4/2018

In the article the initial stage of selfless activity of Joachim Shartomsky — one of ascetic of piety of the XVII century is considered. World outlook bases of his icon-painting tradition, spiritual influence on local society in the years of end of the Troubles, the reason and feature of his special honoring in the region are shown. The article discusses the early stage activities of Joachim Shartomski one of the ascetics of the XVII century, the Objective of this study is to show how a personal life example of a monk-recluse, making his prayer and service to the people in the form of icon painting has had a significant impact on the local society during the difficult years of complete Turmoil. A brief life description of the ascetic is given; the ideological foundations of his iconographic tradition are shown. The article provides an overview of sources covering different periods of the life of the monk Joachim, especially his early period when he lived in Shuya, Nikolo-Shartomsky monastery. When analyzing the above information, it is noted that Joachim Shartomsky was revered at the local level, but little known in the historical science of ascetic piety, and his personality deserves attention not only as the object of hagiographic studies, but in the historical and iconographic aspects. The combination in the personality of the monk-ascetic of deep ascetic life and iconographic talent is quite rare in the history of Russian iconography. It is emphasized that from the images written by the monk there were not only many healings, but also that the miracles themselves became a factor of spiritual enlightenment of the people in a difficult historical period. The conclusions drawn are that the Holiness of the ascetic gave him an icon of the grace of healing themselves of the miraculous icon became the signs and symbols of the Renaissance of the region. The basic conclusion is the historical fact of the influence of the personality of Joachim Shartomsky and his miracle-working icons on the spiritual aspect of Shuya at the time subsequent to repeated ruin, as well as the acknowledgement that Russian monks contributed to the preservation of statehood in Russia at the time of the vacillation of mind.

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Equestrian Statues in Antiquity: City, People, Monuments

Author(s): Lucia Nováková,Erik Hrnčiarik,Miroslava Daňová / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2018

Grékom vlastná forma štátnej existencie – polis, sa najčastejšie prekladá ako mestský štát alebo obec. Pre tento termín sa ťažko hľadá moderný ekvivalent, keďže jeho definícia zahŕňa komplexný spoločenský systém s ohľadom na politické a sociálno-ekonomické aspekty obyvateľov. Gréci pokladali polis za politické a náboženské zoskupenie občanov, ktoré zahrňovalo určité územie. Na výstavbe verejných stavieb, ako aj uskutočňovaní rôznych spoločenských aktivít sa podieľali občania. Práve preto sa v antike zdôrazňovala úloha komunít, ktoré polis priamo definovali. Neoddeliteľnú súčasť gréckej polis tvorilo množstvo sôch predstavujúcich jej obyvateľov, ktoré zdobili verejné priestranstvá. Pohnuté sociálno-historické udalosti postavili do popredia predovšetkým politikov a vojenských veliteľov, ktorým sa stavali oslavné sochy zvyčajne už za ich života. Tento trend sa ešte viac prehĺbil v neskoro klasickom a helenistickom období, kedy so zmenou štátneho zriadenia obcí a macedónskymi vývojmi nastalo rozšírenie vtedajšieho gréckeho sveta. Osobitnú kategóriou sôch vojenských veliteľov potom predstavovali jazdecké pomníky, pre umiestnenie ktorých bolo najreprezentatívnejším miestom srdce gréckej polis, agora. Narastajúci počet jazdeckých sôch v druhej polovici štvrtého storočia pred Kr. je možné dať do súvislosti so zvyšujúcim sa významom jazdy v gréckej armáde, ako aj postupnou snahou o legitimáciu moci jednotlivcov, štylizovaných podľa aristokratických a napokon kráľovských vzorov.

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