NARRATOR: ALL CIVILIZATIONS RISE AND FALL, AND SOMETIMES ALL THEY LEAVE BEHIND IS THEIR ART.

THE IMAGE OF THE HUMAN BODY IS ONE OF THE EARLIEST AND MOST ENDURING ART FORMS.

OUR COMPULSION TO CREATE IMAGES OF OURSELVES IS ONE OF THE MOST INTIMATE AND DEFINING STATEMENTS ON WHO WE THINK WE ARE.

ANTONY GORMLEY: THE BODY IS THE MOST WONDERFUL VEHICLE FOR ACTUALLY EXPRESSING OUR FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS ABOUT THE WORLD BACK TO IT.

NARRATOR: NOT JUST SIMPLE REPRESENTATIONS OF THE HUMAN FORM TO BE ADMIRED, THE ART OF THE BODY CAN QUESTION OUR RELATIONSHIPS TO EACH OTHER, PROJECT WORLDLY POWER, EVEN BE RECRUITED TO FIGHT FOR US IN DEATH.

IN THIS EPISODE, WE WILL EXPLORE THE DIFFERENT WAYS HUMANS SEE THE SCULPTED BODY-- HOW WE USE IT AS A MEASURE TO SEE AND JUDGE PEOPLE FROM CULTURES OTHER THAN OUR OWN.

MARY BEARD: THE HISTORY OF ART IS NOT JUST A HISTORY OF ARTISTS, OF THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO PAINTED AND SCULPTED.

IT'S ALSO THE HISTORY OF THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO LOOKED AND INTERPRETED WHAT THEY SAW AND THE CHANGING WAYS IN WHICH THEY DID SO.

NARRATOR: AND MORE THAN ANY OTHER ART FORM, SCULPTURE REPRESENTS SOME OF OUR DEEPEST IDEAS ABOUT WHAT CIVILIZATION IS.

[BIRDS CALLING] NARRATOR: THESE JUNGLES IN SOUTHERN MEXICO HAVE BEEN FARMED FOR GENERATIONS.

FOR AS LONG AS PEOPLE CAN REMEMBER, LOCAL FARMERS HAVE HARVESTED THE CACAO TREES.

BUT HALF-BURIED IN THE DENSE UNDERGROWTH IS ANOTHER, FAR MORE MYSTERIOUS HARVEST... ONE THAT WAS SEEDED NEARLY 3,000 YEARS AGO.

THE REMAINS OF A VANISHED CIVILIZATION, ONE OF THE EARLIEST TO PRODUCE SCULPTED IMAGES OF THE HUMAN FORM.

A CIVILIZATION THAT WAS SO UNEXPECTED, ARCHAEOLOGISTS DIDN'T REALIZE THEY WERE THE PROTOCULTURE OF MESOAMERICA-- THE OLMECS.

BENITO DURAN: IN 1862 WAS THE FIRST OLMEC HEAD DISCOVERED IN HUEYAPAN BY A MEXICAN ARCHAEOLOGIST.

BACK THEN, PEOPLE RELATED THESE OLMEC HEADS WITH AFRICAN PEOPLE.

YOU CAN SEE THE FACIAL ASPECT OF THESE PEOPLE, AND YOU CANNOT TELL THAT THESE WERE ANCIENT PEOPLE FROM MEXICO.

REBECCA GONZALEZ-LAUCK: THEY SEEM TO BE INDICATING THE ENTRANCES TO THE ANCIENT OLMEC CITY.

THEY ARE REPRESENTING DIFFERENT INDIVIDUALS, AND OBVIOUSLY, YOU'RE NOT GONNA CARVE JOHN SMITH.

YOU'RE GONNA CARVE ROYALTY OR HIGH LEADERS.

NARRATOR: THIS COLOSSAL STONE HEAD STANDS OVER 7 FEET TALL AND WEIGHS NEARLY 19 TONS.

ITS EYES ARE MORE THAN A FOOT ACROSS.

IT WAS CARVED FROM A SINGLE BLOCK OF BASALT SOME 3,000 YEARS AGO USING NOTHING MORE THAN STONE TOOLS.

AND IT WAS TRANSPORTED FROM NEARLY 40 MILES AWAY BY RAW MANPOWER, PROBABLY USING WOODEN SLEDS AND RAFTS.

DURAN: THE OLMEC ICON BECOMES SO IMPORTANT BECAUSE IT'S SO ENIGMATIC.

IT'S A CULTURE THAT NOBODY KNOWS UNTIL NOW.

WE ARE BARELY SCRATCHING THE SURFACE ABOUT THAT ANCIENT CULTURE.

GONZALEZ-LAUCK: I DON'T THINK WE'LL EVER KNOW HOW OLMEC THOUGHT.

THEY USED ART AS A FORM OF COMMUNICATING, AND I THINK YOU HAD TO BE AN OLMEC TO UNDERSTAND THE THEMES THAT WERE BEING TRANSMITTED THROUGH THE SCULPTURE.

BUT THERE CAN BE APPROXIMATIONS.

NARRATOR: FOR THE MOST PART, OLMEC ART IS IMAGE AFTER IMAGE OF THE HUMAN BODY, A GROUP OF FIGURINES FASHIONED FROM GRANITE AND JADE.

WHATEVER THEY WERE FOR, THEY WERE FOUND JUST LIKE THIS.

GONZALEZ-LAUCK: JADE IS USUALLY FOUND IN OFFERINGS.

IT'S A VERY SPECIAL MATERIAL.

THEN IT WAS BURIED IN THESE SPECIAL CONCENTRATIONS.

NARRATOR: OTHER PRECIOUS MATERIALS USED IN OLMEC ART INCLUDE OBSIDIAN.

THIS TINY CLAY STATUE CLASPS A MIRROR MADE OF IT.

THE OLMEC FASCINATION WITH HUMAN APPEARANCE IS ALMOST UNIQUE IN THE EARLY AMERICAS.

ESTHER PASZTORY: OTHER CULTURES ARE NOT INTERESTED IN DOING THIS.

I MEAN, TAKE THE INCA OF SOUTH AMERICA, FOR EXAMPLE.

THEY ARE NOT AGAINST FIGURATION, BUT THEY HAVE NO FIGURES.

NARRATOR: THIS BABY-FACED FIGURE MAY DATE BACK TO 1200 BCE, THE VERY BEGINNING OF THE OLMECS' THOUSAND-YEAR-LONG CIVILIZATION.

BUT NO ONE KNOWS HOW OLD THIS FIGURE IS, THE SO-CALLED "OLMEC WRESTLER."

PASZTORY: IT IS SO PERFECT.

IT'S MUCH MORE REALISTIC THAN ANY OTHER OLMEC WORK.

NARRATOR: THIS REALISM HAS PERPLEXED ART HISTORIANS SINCE THE 1960's.

THERE'S NOTHING ELSE LIKE IT IN OLMEC ART.

BUT IS THIS OBJECT MYSTERIOUS BECAUSE OF THE WAY IT LOOKS OR THE WAY WE HAVE BEEN TAUGHT TO LOOK AT IT?

HOW DIFFERENT EYES BEHOLD DIFFERENT THINGS IS ILLUSTRATED BY AN IMPOSING MONUMENT FROM ANCIENT EGYPT.

"MY NAME IS OZYMANDIAS, KING OF KINGS.

"LOOK ON MY WORKS, YE MIGHTY, AND DESPAIR.

"NOTHING BESIDE REMAINS.

"ROUND THE DECAY OF THAT COLOSSAL WRECK, "BOUNDLESS AND BARE, THE LONE AND LEVEL SANDS STRETCH FAR AWAY."

THESE WORDS ARE FROM THE FAMOUS SONNET "OZYMANDIAS," PUBLISHED IN 1818 BY THE ENGLISH POET PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY, WHO SOME CLAIM WAS INSPIRED BY SKETCHES OF THE SITE.

CALLED "THE COLOSSI OF MEMNON," IT'S NOT DIFFICULT TO SEE WHY THESE ERODED STATUES MIGHT CATCH THE EYE OF A ROMANTIC POET.

BUT ANOTHER KING OF KINGS, THIS TIME THE ROMAN EMPEROR HADRIAN, SAW SOMETHING VERY DIFFERENT WHEN HE CAME TO EGYPT OVER 1,700 YEARS EARLIER.

HADRIAN HAD BEEN TRAVELING FOR MONTHS.

HE HAD NOW COME TO GAZE UPON A MONUMENT BUILT 13 CENTURIES BEFORE THE ROMAN EMPIRE WAS FOUNDED.

AND, LIKE SHELLEY AFTER HIM, HE, TOO, ASSIGNED A MEANING TO THE COLOSSAL STATUE.

SALIMA IKRAM: THE COLOSSI OF MEMNON WERE A VERY POPULAR TOURIST DESTINATION IN THE ROMAN WORLD.

THEY THOUGHT OF THEM AS MONUMENTAL IMAGES OF MEMNON, WHO HAD BEEN A CHARACTER IN "THE ILIAD."

AND SO THIS LINKED THEIR MYTHIC PAST AND THEIR STORIES TO EGYPT AND TO THEIR OWN SORT OF RITES OF TRAVEL.

THESE COLOSSI NOT ONLY WERE THESE HUGE MONUMENTAL THINGS, BUT ONE IN PARTICULAR SANG AT DAWN, AND THIS WAS PROBABLY CAUSED BY CRACKS IN THE ROCK, AND SO WHEN THE WIND WOULD BLOW THROUGH THEM, IT WAS AS IF THEY WERE SINGING.

[WIND BLOWING] NARRATOR: RECORDS INDICATE THAT THE COLOSSUS STOPPED SINGING MORE THAN A THOUSAND YEARS AGO.

BUT THE REASON THESE STATUES WERE FIRST BUILT STRETCHES BACK MUCH FARTHER, TO THE REIGN OF AN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN RULER.

IKRAM: THE COLOSSI OF MEMNON ACTUALLY BELONGED TO KING AMENHOTEP III, AN EGYPTIAN PHARAOH.

BUT, OF COURSE, FOR THE GREEKS AND THE ROMANS WHO VISITED, IT WAS A METHOD OF LINKING THE REAL EXOTICA TO SOMETHING THAT WAS MORE FAMILIAR, AS IT WERE, AND IT WAS A WAY OF TAMING THE LANDSCAPE AND GAINING CONTROL OVER IT IN SOME RESPECT.

NARRATOR: THE VARIOUS INTERPRETATIONS OF THESE COLOSSI-- A PHARAOH, A HOMERIC HERO, A COLOSSAL WRECK LOST IN THE SAND-- REVEALS THAT HOW WE LOOK CHANGES WHAT WE SEE.

THIS WAS TAKEN A STEP FURTHER 800 YEARS AFTER THE COLOSSI WERE BUILT BY THE STATUES OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS.

THIS IS "PHRASIKLEIA," A NAME THAT MEANS "AWARE OF HER FAME."

SHE IS A TOMBSTONE CARVED IN MARBLE AROUND 550 BCE.

THE TRACES OF RED PIGMENT ON HER PATTERNED DRESS ARE A REMINDER THAT MOST GREEK SCULPTURE WAS COLORFUL, SOMETIMES EVEN GAUDILY PAINTED.

BEARD: NOW, SHE'S NOT EXACTLY PLANK-LIKE, BUT SHE IS PRETTY STIFF.

HER FACE ISN'T PARTICULARLY INDIVIDUALIZED, AND SHE'S GOT THAT STANDARD EARLY GREEK SMILE ON HER LIPS.

PRETTY ENIGMATIC.

AND HERE SHE'S GRASPING HER CLOTHES IN A SLIGHTLY ODD WAY.

100 YEARS LATER, AND THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN AN ELABORATE PATTERN OF FOLDS THERE.

HERE, HER HAND ACTUALLY LOOKS AS IF IT'S MOLDING PLASTICINE.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT HER SO MUCH IS THE WAY THAT SHE ENGAGES US AS VIEWERS.

SHE'S LOOKING STRAIGHT AHEAD, AND SHE'S CHALLENGING US TO LOOK BACK AT HER.

AND SHE'S GOT A FLOWER IN HER HAND.

IT'S NOT QUITE CLEAR WHETHER IT'S FOR HER, OR SHE'S ABOUT TO GIVE IT TO US.

AND UNDERNEATH, IT SAYS THAT IT IS THE TOMB SCULPTURE OF "PHRASIKLEIA," AND THEN, AS IF IN HER OWN VOICE, IT SAYS, "AND I SHALL ALWAYS BE CALLED A MAIDEN, "BECAUSE I GOT THAT NAME FROM THE GODS INSTEAD OF MARRIAGE."

THAT IS, SHE DIED BEFORE HER WEDDING DAY.

NARRATOR: PHRASIKLEIA'S APPEAL LIES IN HER INNOCENCE, BUT HER NEUTRAL SMILE AND BLANK GAZE WOULD SOON BECOME THINGS OF THE PAST.

A REVOLUTION WAS COMING TO THE GREEK WORLD THAT WOULD SWEEP AWAY STATUES LIKE "PHRASIKLEIA," REPLACING THEM WITH A WHOLE NEW ART OF THE HUMAN BODY AND A NEW WAY OF SEEING IT.

ONE OF THE PLACES WE CAN SEE THE POWER OF THIS GREEK INFLUENCE IS IN THE ART OF ROMAN-RULED EGYPT.

THESE PORTRAITS ARE AROUND 2,000 YEARS OLD.

THEIR FACES ARE FULL OF LIFE AND VITALITY, ALMOST UNNERVINGLY REALISTIC.

AND THEY BECOME EVEN STRANGER WHEN WE SEE THEIR TRUE ORIGINS... BECAUSE THESE PORTRAITS BELONG TO MUMMIES.

FEW HAVE REMAINED INTACT, BUT THIS IS ONE OF THEM.

IT BELONGS TO A MAN CALLED ARTEMIDORUS, AND HIS EXTRAVAGANT COFFIN PORTRAYS A NEW WAY OF DEATH.

IKRAM: WE SEE A WONDERFUL FUSION OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF ARTISTIC AS WELL AS RELIGIOUS BELIEFS IN THE FUNERARY ART OF THE GRECO-ROMAN PERIOD IN EGYPT.

AND SOMEONE LIKE ARTEMIDORUS, YOU SEE THIS PORTRAIT WHICH IS MORE IN THE CLASSICAL STYLE, SET WITHIN THIS RED SHROUD WITH ALL THIS GOLD DECORATION.

BUT ALL THE GOLD DECORATION, SAVE FOR A WREATH WHICH CROSSES BOTH CULTURES, IS DERIVED FROM ANCIENT EGYPTIAN RELIGIOUS BELIEFS.

SO YOU HAVE THE EGYPTIAN GODS, YOU HAVE SCENES OF MUMMIFICATION, YOU HAVE SCENES OF WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IN THE AFTERLIFE.

SO THIS CREATES THIS FANTASTIC FUSION OF DIFFERENT CULTURES AND IS ONE OF THE GREAT PRODUCTS OF THIS TIME PERIOD.

NARRATOR: ANCIENT HISTORIANS TELL US THAT THESE PAINTED COFFINS WERE ACTUALLY KEPT IN A FAMILY HOME.

SUCH WAS THEIR POWER TO REMEMBER THE DEAD.

MODERN SCHOLARS AGREE IT WAS LIKELY TRUE.

IKRAM: WHEN SOMEONE HAD DIED, INITIALLY THEY WOULD BE ENCOFFINED, BUT THE COFFIN WOULD BE IN THE HOUSE.

AND THERE WERE LOTS OF SCUFF MARKS AT THE BASES OF A LOT OF THE COFFINS, AS IF THEY HAD BEEN STANDING UP IN A SPACE WHICH WAS USED.

SO, YOU KNOW, CHILDREN KICKING A BALL AGAINST IT OR PEOPLE RUBBING AGAINST IT.

AND IT WAS UP TO A VERY PARTICULAR HEIGHT, WHICH WOULD ARGUE FOR THIS BEING IN THE HOUSE.

BEARD: WHEN ROMANS THOUGHT ABOUT WHERE THE IMPULSE TO PORTRAITURE CAME FROM, THEY HAD A VERY VIVID STORY TO TELL ABOUT A YOUNG WOMAN WHO WAS THE CREATIVE GENIUS BEHIND THE VERY FIRST PORTRAIT.

HER LOVER WAS GOING AWAY ON A LONG JOURNEY, AND BEFORE HE WENT, HE GOT A LAMP, AND SHE THREW HIS SHADOW AGAINST A WALL AND TRACED AROUND IT TO CREATE A SILHOUETTE.

SHE WAS TRYING NOT JUST TO MEMORIALIZE HIM, BUT TO KEEP HIS PRESENCE IN HER WORLD.

I THINK SOMETHING LIKE THAT GOING ON WITH THE FACE OF ARTEMIDORUS.

NARRATOR: BUT THE ART OF THE BODY COULD DO MORE THAN KEEP THE DEAD AMONG THE LIVING.

IT COULD ALSO BE HARNESSED TO FIGHT FOR THE DEAD, AND IN CHINA, THIS HAPPENED ON A MASSIVE SCALE.

IN 200 BCE, CHINA AS WE KNOW IT WAS BORN, UNITED UNDER THE FIRST EMPEROR, QIN.

QIN UNIFIED 7 WARRING STATES INTO ONE REALM, STANDARDIZING MONEY, WEIGHTS AND MEASURES, EVEN THE CHARACTERS OF THE CHINESE LANGUAGE.

BUT ABOVE ALL, HE FORGED A NEW SOCIAL CONTRACT WHICH PROMOTED SOCIAL HARMONY AND SAFETY OVER THE WANTS OF THE INDIVIDUAL.

JAY XU: IT MAY SOUND SIMPLISTIC, BUT I THINK THE WORD THAT I WOULD USE FOR THE FIRST EMPEROR WAS CLEARLY AN EGOMANIAC.

EVERYTHING HE HAD IS BIGGER THAN ANYBODY ELSE.

NARRATOR: BUT AS WELL AS STANDARDIZING CHINA, THE EMPEROR QIN COMPLETED A PROJECT HE BEGAN AS A TEENAGER.

IN 1974, FARMERS IN SHAANXI PROVINCE DISCOVERED TERRACOTTA SHERDS BURIED IN THE EARTH.

SMALL TERRACOTTA FIGURINES WERE OFTEN BURIED WITH IMPORTANT CHINESE NOBLES AND KINGS.

BUT WHAT EMERGED FROM THE EARTH WERE FIGURES FAR LARGER THAN ANY THAT HAD EVER BEEN DISCOVERED BEFORE.

SCENES OF MASS ARCHAEOLOGY FOLLOWED.

XU: THESE TERRACOTTA WARRIORS, THEY WERE ALL BURIED.

THEY WERE NEVER MEANT TO BE SEEN IN PUBLIC.

THEY WERE NOT FOR PUBLIC CONSUMPTION.

NARRATOR: SPREAD OUT OVER MORE THAN 22 SQUARE MILES, THE SITE WOULD BECOME PERHAPS THE GREATEST ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIND OF THE 20th CENTURY...

THE TERRACOTTA ARMY.

WHAT WE SEE TODAY IS JUST A FRACTION OF THE 7,000-STRONG ARMY THAT ORIGINALLY STOOD GUARD OVER THIS VAST NECROPOLIS.

THE ARMY FORMS THE LARGEST TABLEAU OF SCULPTURE ANYWHERE ON THE PLANET EVER.

ITS PURPOSE--TO CONFRONT DEATH WITH THE HUMAN FORM AND PROJECT THE FIRST EMPEROR IN THE LIFE BEYOND... AN AFTERLIFE THAT CLOSELY MIRRORED THE WORLD HE WAS LEAVING BEHIND.

XU: RECORDS DESCRIBED THIS MAUSOLEUM MIMICKING THE WORLD, OUR EARTH.

IT HAS A CEILING THAT'S SIMULATING THE STARS IN THE NIGHT SKY.

SO YOU CAN TELL THAT HE WAS VERY BIG ON TRANSFERRING THE REAL WORLD INTO THE NEXT AFTERLIFE.

NARRATOR: WHAT MAKES THE ARMY SO IMPRESSIVE IS THE APPARENT INDIVIDUALITY OF EACH WARRIOR AND THE ATTENTION TO EVEN THE SMALLEST DETAILS.

NARRATOR: BUT LOOK CLOSER, AND THEIR INDIVIDUALITY DRAINS AWAY.

THESE ARE NOT TRUE LIKENESSES OF ACTUAL PEOPLE.

XU: THE HEADS WERE MADE INDEPENDENT OF THE BODY.

SO YOU COULD IMAGINE A... LIKE, A BIG, INDUSTRIAL-SCALE ASSEMBLY LINE.

THAT IS, THERE ARE PEOPLE SPECIALIZING IN MAKING THE BODIES OR THE FEET, AND THEN PEOPLE SPECIALIZING IN MAKING THE HEAD.

CLEARLY, THE LAST FINISHING TOUCH MUST BE THE ACTUAL SCULPTING SO THAT NONE OF THEM ACTUALLY LOOK IDENTICAL.

NARRATOR: QIN'S DESIRE TO BE BURIED WITH LIFELIKE WARRIORS IS THOUGHT TO BE A THROWBACK TO HIS COUNTRY'S ANCIENT PAST, WHEN KINGS WERE BURIED WITH DOZENS OF HUMAN SACRIFICES TO FIGHT FOR THEM IN THE AFTERLIFE.

PROBABLY BECAUSE HE WAS EAGER TO COMPLY WITH THE TEACHINGS OF CONFUCIUS, WHO SOUGHT TO BAN SUCH PRACTICES, QIN SUBSTITUTED TERRACOTTA MODELS.

XU: THOSE SOLDIERS ARE VERY HANDSOMELY TALL.

THEY ARE ABOUT 6 FEET.

SO THEY WERE EITHER, AT THAT TIME, VERY TALL PEOPLE, OR THEY ACTUALLY MAYBE ARE EVEN A BIT LARGER THAN LIFE.

HA HA!

NARRATOR: THE TERRACOTTA ARMY IS A DRAMATIC STATEMENT OF POWER.

JUST HOW SYMBOLICALLY IMPORTANT IT WAS IS PROVEN BY A LITTLE-KNOWN STORY ABOUT THE FATE OF THE ARMY SHORTLY AFTER IT WAS IN PLACE.

BEARD: MANY, IF NOT MOST, OF THESE SOLDIERS WERE DISCOVERED IN PIECES, SMASHED AND BURNT BY A REBEL AGAINST THE DYNASTY OF THE FIRST EMPEROR, WHO LAUNCHED A DIRECT ATTACK ON HIS TOMB.

THERE'S SOMETHING IN THAT KEEN DESIRE TO DESTROY THEM THAT GIVES US OUR CLEAREST SENSE OF THE POWER OF THESE IMAGES.

NARRATOR: SUCH DESTRUCTION SHOWS HOW ANCIENT PEOPLE SAW IMAGES OF THE HUMAN FIGURE AS MUCH MORE THAN PASSIVE ARTWORKS.

THEY COULD ALSO, QUITE LITERALLY, BE THE PERSONIFICATION OF POWER.

AND ONE OF THE GREATEST EXAMPLES IN ALL OF HISTORY OF HOW THE HUMAN IMAGE COULD PROJECT POWER, NOT OVER THE DEAD BUT OVER THE LIVING, IS FOUND BACK IN ANCIENT EGYPT.

400 MILES SOUTH OF CAIRO STANDS THE REMAINS OF THE MOST SPECTACULAR TEMPLE COMPLEX IN EGYPT.

3,000 YEARS AGO, THIS WAS A POWER BASE FOR THE PHARAONIC DYNASTIES OF THE NEW KINGDOM.

IMAGES OF POWER ARE EVERYWHERE.

BUT THERE'S ONE PHARAOH WHO INVESTED MORE IN HIS IMAGE THAN ANY OTHER.

HE WAS RAMESSES II.

TODAY, MORE COLOSSI BEAR THE NAME OF RAMESSES THAN ANY OTHER PHARAOH.

OUTSIDE THE TEMPLE OF LUXOR ARE TWO OF THE MOST IMPRESSIVE.

THEY'VE BEEN SEATED HERE SINCE 1200 BCE.

BEARD: RAMESSES GIVES US ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS CASES IN THE ANCIENT WORLD OR EVEN IN THE MODERN WORLD OF A KING TRYING TO ASSERT HIS CLAIMS TO POWER THROUGH IMAGES OF HIMSELF.

AND ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS PLACES HE TRIED TO DO THAT WAS THIS TEMPLE ON THE BANKS OF THE NILE.

IT WAS A REAL IMAGE FACTORY.

ON ITS WALLS THERE WERE CARVINGS OF THE VICTORIOUS PHARAOH IN ACTION, AND ITS COURTYARDS ARE STILL LITTERED WITH CHUNKS OF STATUES OF HIM.

NARRATOR: BUT HOW DID RAMESSES EFFECTIVELY BECOME THE IMAGE OF EGYPT'S NEW KINGDOM?

WHAT WAS THE SECRET THAT ENABLED HIM TO SO COMPLETELY DOMINATE ITS MONUMENTAL ICONOGRAPHY?

THE ANSWER IS LESS SURPRISING THAN MANY THINK.

IKRAM: HE WAS RATHER LATE IN THE GAME, AND THEREFORE HIS STATUES HAVE SURVIVED BETTER THAN THOSE OF HIS PREDECESSORS, ESPECIALLY BECAUSE HE USURPED THE STATUES OF HIS PREDECESSORS AND PUT HIS NAME ON THEM.

WHAT HE WAS DOING, BUT WITH MORE INTENSITY, PERHAPS BECAUSE HIS REIGN WAS SO MUCH LONGER THAN ANY OTHER EGYPTIAN PHARAOH, WAS TO MAKE SURE THAT EVERYONE KNEW WHO THE KING WAS, HOW HE WAS GREAT, AND HOW THEY MUST BE LOYAL TO HIM AND BE TERRIFIED OF HIM.

BEARD: THE ONE THING YOU REALLY GET HERE IS THAT SIZE MATTERS.

THESE VAST MONUMENTAL FIGURES, PERHAPS 4 OR 5 TIMES LIFE-SIZE, AND WITH THAT NICE HINT THAT THEY'D BE EVEN BIGGER IF THEY BOTHERED TO STAND UP FOR YOU, SIMPLY DOMINATE.

THEY TAKE OVER YOUR FIELD OF VISION.

IT'S AN ASSERTION OF THE POWER OF THE PHARAOH THROUGH HIS HUGE, SUPERHUMAN, ENTHRONED BODY, AND THAT'S AN ASSERTION THAT CERTAINLY WORKED FOR US.

AND IT'S IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO THINK THAT WHEN PEOPLE WALKED PAST HERE 3,500 YEARS AGO, THAT THEY, TOO, WOULD HAVE GOT WHAT THE MESSAGE WAS INTENDED TO BE.

NARRATOR: RAMESSES' USE OF MASS ART TO PROJECT HIS POWER AND PRESENT HIMSELF AS THE IMAGE OF A GOD HAS MANY ECHOES.

FROM EGYPT'S MODERN-DAY PHARAOHS, THE GIANT SCULPTURES OF JESUS WHO GAZE DOWN UPON THE FAITHFUL...

IT'S AN IMPULSE THAT APPEARS THROUGH THE AGES AND ACROSS CULTURES.

AND SOMETIMES, THESE MONUMENTAL REPRESENTATIONS WERE USED TO ENDORSE THE MOST BRUTAL REGIMES AND THEIR LEADERS.

GRAPPLING WITH THIS DANGEROUS LEGACY HAS SPURRED CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS TO FIND NEW WAYS OF LOOKING AT THE MONUMENTAL HUMAN FORM.

IN 1998, SCULPTOR ANTONY GORMLEY CHOSE TO TURN THE POWER OF ONE MAN ON ITS HEAD AND CREATE A MONUMENT TO EMBODY THE PEOPLE.

THIS IS "THE ANGEL OF THE NORTH."

STANDING 66 FEET TALL, WITH A WINGSPAN OF 178 FEET, IT WAS BUILT TO CELEBRATE THE INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE OF THE NORTHEAST OF ENGLAND.

GORMLEY: "THE ANGEL OF THE NORTH" IS MY BEST-KNOWN WORK.

IT WAS AN ATTEMPT TO SAY, "CAN WE MAKE AN OBJECT THAT DOES EXACTLY "WHAT WE WERE TALKING ABOUT IN RELATION TO RAMESSES II, "BUT FOR A SECULAR AGE IN ORDER TO CELEBRATE "EVERYTHING THAT THE PEOPLE OF THE NORTHEAST, "RATHER LIKE THE PEOPLE IN THE MIDDLE NILE VALLEY, UH, COULD DO?"

NARRATOR: GORMLEY'S WORK FOCUSES ON THE ENDURING POWER OF THE HUMAN FORM.

GORMLEY: THE BODY IS THE PRIMARY INSTRUMENT THROUGH WHICH ALL OUR PERCEPTIONS OF THE WORLD COME, AND IT'S ALSO THE MOST WONDERFUL VEHICLE FOR ACTUALLY EXPRESSING OUR FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS ABOUT THE WORLD BACK TO IT.

I THINK THAT WE HAVE ALWAYS TRIED TO MAKE AN OBJECTIVE ACCOUNT OF WHO WE ARE.

WHAT IS MAN?

WHAT IS ART?

BUT THAT THESE TWO PROCESSES ARE PARALLEL AND FEED INTO EACH OTHER.

BY THE MAKING OF THIS THING THAT STANDS OUTSIDE OF LIFE BUT IS A REFLECTION ON IT, WE INFORM LIFE OF SOME OF THE THINGS THAT ARE HIDDEN OR ARE IMPLICIT.

THERE ARE ONLY TWO SUBJECTS, AND THERE IS BODY AND SPACE.

[TRAFFIC SOUNDS] NARRATOR: GORMLEY EXPLORED THE INTERRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THESE TWO SUBJECTS IN 2010, WHEN 31 CASTS OF HIS OWN NAKED BODY WERE INSTALLED IN AND AROUND NEW YORK'S MADISON SQUARE AND LONDON'S SOUTH BANK.

THEIR BLAND NORMALITY IS AN IMPLICIT REJECTION OF THE BODY-CONSCIOUSNESS OF MUCH CONTEMPORARY CULTURE.

YET OUR FASCINATION WITH THE BODY BEAUTIFUL HAS DEEP ROOTS IN WESTERN CIVILIZATION...

ROOTS THAT RETURN US TO ANCIENT GREECE AND A REVOLUTION IN ART THAT WOULD COMPLETELY TRANSFORM THE WAY WE SEE THE HUMAN BODY.

NO CIVILIZATION WAS QUITE SO OBSESSED WITH THE BODY AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO SOCIETY AS THE ANCIENT GREEKS.

BEARD: GREEK ART ALMOST NEVER MEANS LANDSCAPE.

IT ALMOST NEVER MEANS STILL-LIFE.

GREEK ART MEANS STATUES AND DRAWINGS, PAINTINGS AND MODELS OF HUMAN BEINGS.

THESE IMAGES WERE EVERYWHERE.

THEY WERE OUT IN THE WORLD, PLAYING THEIR PART.

IMAGINE THE PUBLIC PLAZAS, THE SHADY SANCTUARIES FULL OF PEOPLE IN STONE AS WELL AS PEOPLE IN FLESH AND BLOOD.

NARRATOR: STARTING AROUND 600 BCE IN THE CITY OF ATHENS, THESE DISTINCTIVE RED-AND-BLACK CERAMICS REFLECT THE EARLIEST STIRRINGS OF THIS GROWING PREOCCUPATION.

BUT THE IMAGES ARE MUCH MORE THAN MERE DECORATION.

THEY REPRESENT A SOCIETY IN TRANSITION, ONE THAT WOULD SOON BECOME THE WORLD'S FIRST DEMOCRACY.

ANDREW STEWART: THE VASE PAINTERS PARTICIPATE IN WHAT YOU MIGHT CALL A CIVIC DISCOURSE.

THEY USE TRADITIONAL FORMATS, SUCH AS MYTHOLOGY, TO THINK VISUALLY ABOUT WHAT'S GOING ON IN THE CITY.

NARRATOR: THIS LARGE CUP IS ADORNED WITH SATYRS, MYTHICAL HALF-MEN, HALF-BEASTS FAMED FOR THEIR COMIC ANTICS.

IT WOULD HAVE BEEN USED AT AN ALL-MALE ATHENIAN DRINKING PARTY CALLED A SYMPOSIUM.

STEWART: THEY INVENT THE ALREADY-KNOWN.

THEY DISCOVER THAT FIRE BURNS AND ALL THAT KIND OF STUFF, WHICH IS VERY FUNNY.

AND SO YOU LOOK AT THESE CUPS WHEN YOU ARE IN YOUR CUPS, AND AS YOU DRINK THE WINE, YOU SUDDENLY SEE IN THE INTERIOR OF THE CUP A SCENE OF A SATYR DOING SOMETHING THAT YOU KNOW WILL LEAD HIM TO DISASTER.

THAT'S HILARIOUS.

NARRATOR: HUMOROUS CUPS LIKE THESE NEVERTHELESS SERVED AN IMPORTANT SOCIAL FUNCTION.

ENCOURAGING SUCH MALE BONDING WAS CONSIDERED VITALLY IMPORTANT TO MAINTAINING SOCIAL ORDER IN THE CITY.

STEWART: IT IS TO SHOW PEOPLE WHO THEY ARE OR WHAT THEY MIGHT BECOME.

SO IT PRESENTS MEN DOING THEIR THING, BONDING, HOMOSOCIALITY, AS IT WERE.

NARRATOR: THE IMAGES OF WOMEN ALSO REINFORCE WHAT ATHENIANS REGARDED AS IMPORTANT SOCIAL NORMS.

BEARD: THIS ONE HERE IS, IN A SENSE, A TEMPLATE FOR BEING AN ATHENIAN WIFE.

THERE SHE IS.

SHE'S SITTING DOWN.

SHE'S BEING HANDED HER BABY BY A SERVANT GIRL, AND AT HER FEET SHE'S GOT A WOOL BASKET.

THAT ABOUT SUMS UP THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION, WHAT WERE ATHENIAN WIVES FOR?

THEY WERE FOR MAKING BABIES AND MAKING WOOL.

STEWART: NO VASE PAINTER SAT DOWN AND SAID, "I'M GOING TO REINFORCE SOCIAL NORMS BY PAINTING A PICTURE," BUT THAT IS MAYBE THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCE.

NARRATOR: IF EARLY ATHENIAN POTTERY REFLECTS HOW MEN AND WOMEN WERE EXPECTED TO LIVE WITHIN THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF THE CITY, ITS STATUES ATTEMPT TO EMBODY THE INTERIOR LIFE WITHIN.

THE BEGINNING OF THE FIFTH CENTURY BCE SAW AN AMAZING TRANSFORMATION IN GREEK SCULPTURE.

RIGID FIGURES WITH THE FIXED GAZE OF "PHRASIKLEIA" GIVE WAY TO DARING NEW EXPERIMENTS IN THE HUMAN FORM.

ONE OF THE FIRST OF THESE IS KNOWN AS THE "KRITIOS BOY," AND HE WOULD TRANSFORM HOW WE SEE THE SCULPTED HUMAN BODY.

STEWART: THE "KRITIOS BOY" SHOWS US THAT YOU CAN SIGNAL INTERIORITY THROUGH THE PERSON'S MOVEMENT, THROUGH THEIR STANCE, BUT PARTICULARLY IF YOU LOSE THE ARCHAIC SMILE AND YOU HAVE AN EXPRESSION WHICH ISN'T NECESSARILY BLANK, THAT IMMEDIATELY INVITES YOU, THE SPECTATOR, TO PSYCHOLOGIZE IT.

SO, WITH THAT ONE STEP, THE STATUE ACQUIRES NOT JUST A BODY THAT IS AN ORGANISM RATHER THAN A MECHANISM, BUT ALSO... WELL, WE WOULD PROBABLY CALL IT THE SOUL.

AND THAT SOUL IS WHAT BRINGS IT INTO YOUR WORLD AS A PART OF YOUR WORLD AND ALLOWS YOU TO INTERACT WITH IT.

THAT IS A MOMENTOUS STEP.

NOBODY HAD EVER TAKEN THAT STEP IN EGYPT OR IN MESOPOTAMIA OR WHEREVER YOU WISH TO POINT.

JONATHAN JONES: GREEK ART WASN'T INVENTED IN A VACUUM.

THE GREEKS DID DESCRIBE OTHER PEOPLES AS BARBARIANS, AND THEY DID SEE THEMSELVES DEFYING THE EAST, BECAUSE THEY LITERALLY WERE.

THEY WERE AT WAR A LOT OF THE TIME.

AND SO I THINK THEY CONSCIOUSLY CREATED AN ART OF SOMETHING CALLED CIVILIZATION.

NARRATOR: WITH A SENSE OF SUPERIORITY BORN OUT OF DEFEATING ENEMIES MANY TIMES GREATER THAN THEMSELVES, GREEK SCULPTORS PURSUED THE PERFECTION OF THE HUMAN FORM AS THE EMBODIMENT OF HARMONY AND VIRTUE.

JONES: THE GREEKS DIDN'T JUST INVENT THE NUDE STATUE.

THAT HAPPENED AT THE SAME TIME THAT THEY WERE INVENTING PHILOSOPHY, THEATER, ESPECIALLY TRAGEDY, AND ADVANCED MATHEMATICS.

AND IT'S A CULTURE THAT WAS VERY INTERESTED IN THE IDEA OF HARMONY.

SO GREEK TEMPLES ARE PROPORTIONED IN ORDER TO REVEAL THE HARMONY OF THE COSMOS.

AND THE GREEK IDEA OF A PERFECT BODY OR A GOD-LIKE BODY, THAT'S THE SAME.

IT'S THE IDEAL PROPORTIONS OF A HUMAN BEING REFLECTING THE HARMONY OF THE COSMOS.

AND THIS STRESS ON HARMONY IN GREEK ART MEANS THAT ANYTHING THAT'S NOT HARMONIC CAN BE SEEN AS BARBARIC.

NARRATOR: IT IS THIS VISION OF THE BODY BEAUTIFUL THAT WAS TAKEN UP BY THE ROMANS.

UNEARTHED IN ROME IN 1885, THIS STATUE IS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN DELIBERATELY BURIED IN ANTIQUITY AND IS OFTEN REGARDED AS ONE OF ITS GREATEST MASTERPIECES.

IT'S CALLED THE "BOXER AT REST."

BEARD: BOXING WAS ALWAYS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE ANCIENT ATHLETIC REPERTOIRE.

YOU CAN TELL THAT HE ONCE HAD A FIT BODY, BUT IT'S REALLY SUFFERED.

WHAT'S EQUALLY STRIKING IS THE LOVING CARE WITH WHICH THIS WRECK OF A HUMAN BEING HAS BEEN DEPICTED.

HE'S GOT A BROKEN NOSE AND CAULIFLOWER EARS, FLABBY FROM WHERE HE'S TAKEN ALL THOSE BLOWS.

AND, IN FACT, HE'S STILL BLEEDING FROM FRESH WOUNDS.

AND THERE THE BLOOD IS SHOWN IN COPPER, AND THE BRUISES ON HIS CHEEKS ARE BROUGHT OUT BY THE SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT COLOR OF A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT BRONZE ALLOY.

IT'S ALMOST AS IF THE BRONZE HAS BECOME THE MAN'S SKIN.

NARRATOR: BUT WHAT MAKES THE BOXER SO INTRIGUING IS THE PRICE HE PAID FOR HIS VICTORY AND THE REALISM IN HOW IT HAS BEEN DEPICTED.

BEARD: HE INTRODUCES A VERY DIFFERENT TYPE OF CHARACTER FROM THOSE EARLY YOUTHFUL, WELL-TONED ATHLETES, NOT JUST IN THE WOUNDS AND THE SCARS, BUT IN THE EMOTIONAL COLLAPSE.

IN A WORLD IN WHICH THERE WAS SOMETHING OF A CULT OF YOUTHFUL ATHLETIC PROWESS, ALL THOSE TELLING REALISTIC DETAILS ADD UP TO A REMINDER THAT THE BODY BEAUTIFUL WAS NOT SO VERY FAR FROM THE BODY BRUTALIZED.

NARRATOR: YET FOR ALL THE PATHOS THE BOXER EVOKES IN US TODAY, THE ROMANS WOULD HAVE SEEN HIM AS ANYTHING BUT A LOSER.

STEWART: YOU KNOW THAT HE WILL WIN BECAUSE THE STATUE PROVES IT.

NOBODY IN ANTIQUITY EVER SET UP STATUES TO THE DEFEATED.

IN FACT, THEY HAD TO SLINK BACK INTO TOWN AND WERE OFTEN PELTED WITH RUBBISH BECAUSE THEY FOUGHT ON BEHALF OF THEIR CITY.

SO YOU KNOW THAT DESPITE ALL THESE WOUNDS, DESPITE ALL THAT TIREDNESS, DESPITE EVERYTHING, THAT HIS GRIT WILL WIN THROUGH AND THAT HE'LL MUSTER THAT FINAL BURST OF STRENGTH TO OVERCOME HIS OPPONENT.

SO YOU, IN OTHER WORDS, HAVE GIVEN HIM A LIFE.

NARRATOR: THESE LIVING STATUES, INTRODUCED BY THE GREEK REVOLUTION, HAVE CAST A LONG SHADOW OVER THE HISTORY OF ART AND CIVILIZATION.

JONES: AFTER THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, WHEN CLASSICAL ART DISAPPEARED FOR A WHILE, IT'S BEEN REVIVED AND REVIVED AND REVIVED AGAIN AND AGAIN ALL OVER THE WORLD.

IT'S INFLUENCED BUDDHIST ART, BY THE SILK ROAD GOT INTO AFGHANISTAN, IT INFLUENCED EARLY ISLAMIC ART, AND IN EUROPE, OF COURSE, IT'S BEEN REVIVED MANY, MANY TIMES.

MAYA JASANOFF: WHEN WE THINK OF THE CLASSICAL BODY AS THE PARAGON OF THE BEAUTIFUL BODY, WE ARE PARTICIPATING IN A VERY DISTINCTIVE CULTURAL TRADITION THAT WAS LAID DOWN FOR US, OF COURSE BY THE ROMANS AND THE GREEKS, WHO MADE THESE SCULPTURES TO BEGIN WITH, BUT ALSO BY THE PEOPLE WHO REDISCOVERED THOSE SCULPTURES IN THE RENAISSANCE AND THE ENLIGHTENMENT AFTERWARD.

NARRATOR: REMARKABLY, ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL FORCES BEHIND THIS VISION OF GREEK ART AS THE MOST CIVILIZED AND PERFECT EVER CREATED WAS THE PIONEERING WORK OF ONE MAN.

THIS IS A SUPERB REPLICA OF AN ANCIENT GREEK STATUE BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN CARVED AROUND 300 BCE.

IN THE 18th CENTURY, IT WOULD ACHIEVE UNPARALLELED FAME AS THE GREATEST SCULPTURE EVER MADE, AND HE'S KNOWN AS THE "APOLLO BELVEDERE."

BEARD: THE APOLLO TAKES HIS NAME FROM THE BELVEDERE SCULPTURE COURT IN THE VATICAN, WHERE, SINCE THE EARLY 16th CENTURY, HE'S STOOD ON DISPLAY.

LOVELY AS HE IS, THAT'S PROBABLY WHERE HE WOULD HAVE STAYED, ONE SCULPTURE AMONG MANY, HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL FAME GIVEN TO HIM BY ONE MAN-- JOHANN JOACHIM WINCKELMANN.

NARRATOR: WINCKELMANN WORKED HIS WAY UP AS LIBRARIAN AND RIGHT-HAND MAN TO SOME OF THE BIGGEST ART COLLECTORS OF THE DAY AND FINALLY BECAME DIRECTOR OF ANTIQUITIES AT THE VATICAN ITSELF.

BEARD: WINCKELMANN WAS A MAN WHO'D ENTHUSED OVER ANY NUMBER OF GRECO-ROMAN BODIES, BUT THE "APOLLO BELVEDERE" REALLY TICKED HIM OVER THE EDGE.

THIS WAS QUITE SIMPLY, HE WROTE, "THE MOST SUBLIME STATUE OF ANTIQUITY "TO HAVE ESCAPED DESTRUCTION, AN ETERNAL SPRINGTIME," HE WENT ON.

"CLOTHES THE ALLURING VIRILITY OF HIS MATURE YEARS "WITH A PLEASING YOUTH "AND PLAYS WITH SOFT TENDERNESS "UPON THE LOFTY STRUCTURE OF HIS LIMBS.

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE," HE ASKED, "TO DESCRIBE IT?"

NARRATOR: BUT DESCRIBE IT HE DID, LAYING OUT HIS THEORIES IN A BOOK THAT CHANGED THE ART WORLD.

PUBLISHED IN 1764, IT WAS IN THESE PAGES THAT HE ELEVATED THE APOLLO BEYOND A MERE ARTWORK TO BECOME THE ULTIMATE SYMBOL OF HIGH CIVILIZATION.

JASANOFF: WHEN WINCKELMANN WAS CELEBRATING THE BODY OF THE GREEK STATUE, HE WAS LAYING CLAIM TO A CERTAIN KIND OF AESTHETIC TRADITION THAT HE THEN SUCCESSFULLY PLANTED IN THE HEART OF AN ONGOING WESTERN TRADITION AND UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT COUNTS AS THE BEAUTIFUL BODY.

NARRATOR: AS A RESULT, THE GRECO-ROMAN STYLE WAS CARRIED TO EVERY CORNER OF EUROPE AND FAR BEYOND.

AND JUST AS WINCKELMANN MIGHT HAVE WANTED, IT BECAME THE VERY EMBLEM OF CIVILIZATION.

JASANOFF: AND SO THIS IS WHY YOU SEE, AT THE END OF THE 18th AND THE EARLY 19th CENTURIES, THE REBUILDING OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE UNDER NAPOLEON.

YOU HAVE THE BRITISH EMPIRE BUILDING ITSELF IN THE IMAGE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

AND YOU SEE ABROAD, IN PLACES LIKE CALCUTTA, EXPRESSIONS OF THE SAME KIND OF NEOCLASSICAL AESTHETIC URGE PLACED THERE BY THE BRITISH TO TRY TO SAY, "WE BELONG TO THIS TRADITION."

SO THE DOMINANCE OF A PARTICULAR TYPE OF AESTHETIC VISION IN HIGH FINE ART IN THE MODERN WEST IS AN EXPRESSION OF A PARTICULAR KIND OF POWER.

NARRATOR: ONE EXAMPLE OF HOW THE POWER TO IMPOSE A CERTAIN WAY OF SEEING MAY HAVE DISTORTED OUR VIEW OF THE ART OF ANOTHER ANCIENT CULTURE IS TO BE FOUND BACK IN MEXICO.

AND IT REVEALS HOW A FAMOUS PIECE OF OLMEC SCULPTURE MIGHT IN FACT BE A MODERN FAKE.

IN 1964, MEXICO WAS IN THE MIDST OF REDISCOVERING ITS ANCIENT HERITAGE.

A NATIONAL PROGRAM OF MUSEUM-BUILDING WAS CELEBRATING AND RECLAIMING THE OLMEC, THE MAYA, AND THE AZTEC AS AMONG THE GREAT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WORLD.

DURAN: BACK THEN, I THINK THE HISTORY WAS AN IMPORTANT PART OF OUR FORMATION AS MEXICANS, AND I THINK THE GOVERNMENT WANTS TO GAIN RECOGNITION ABOUT OUR ANCIENT CULTURES AND MAKE MEXICO UNIQUE.

NARRATOR: BUT WHEN IT CAME TO THE VERY EARLIEST CIVILIZATION OF THE OLMEC, THE NEW NATIONAL MUSEUM MADE A VERY SPECIAL PURCHASE.

IT WAS THE "OLMEC WRESTLER"... ACQUIRED BY THE MUSEUM FROM A MYSTERIOUS PRIVATE COLLECTION FOR AN UNPRECEDENTED SUM.

THE "WRESTLER" CAME TO BE SEEN AS THE GREATEST ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT OF OLMEC CIVILIZATION.

BUT FOR SOME, THE WRESTLER CONFORMS FAR TOO EASILY WITH WESTERN WAYS OF SEEING.

PASZTORY: THE "WRESTLER" IS NOT THE RIGHT TYPE OF BASALT FROM THIS AREA.

IT'S A DIFFERENT KIND OF BASALT.

IT'S ALSO A DIFFERENT KIND OF SIZE, BECAUSE WE NOW HAVE A NUMBER OF OLMEC SCULPTURES OF A CERTAIN CANONICAL SIZE, AND THE WRESTLER IS SMALLER THAN THAT.

SO VARIOUS PEOPLE HAVE COME TO SEE IT AS A FAKE.

NARRATOR: IN ITS POISE, POSE, AND PROPORTION, THE "OLMEC WRESTLER" ALMOST REMINDS US OF A GRECO-ROMAN SCULPTURE.

BUT NOTHING ELSE LIKE IT HAS EVER BEEN FOUND IN OLMEC ART.

PASZTORY: THE EMPTY AREAS BETWEEN THE ARMS... NO WAY WOULD A STATUE LIKE THIS HAVE SURVIVED UNBROKEN AS IT HAS.

THE BEARD AND THE MUSTACHE, ESPECIALLY, ARE PECULIAR AND CLEVER.

NARRATOR: THE "WRESTLER" SHOWS US HOW, IN MANY DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE WORLD, OUR WAYS OF SEEING HAVE BEEN INFLUENCED BY THE BIASES AND EXPECTATIONS OF CLASSICAL IDEALS OF PERFECTION.

YET, EVEN WITHIN THE GREEK TRADITION, THERE ARE OTHER FUNDAMENTAL WAYS IN WHICH IT IS CONDITIONED HOW WE SEE THE HUMAN BODY... BECAUSE IT WAS SPECIFICALLY THE LEGACY OF THE GREEKS THAT SOME ARGUE TRANSFORMED THE ANCIENT VIEWER INTO A VOYEUR.

200 YEARS AFTER "PHRASIKLEIA," THIS IS WHAT FEMALE SCULPTURE HAD BECOME.

THIS NOTORIOUS BODY BELONGS TO THE GREEK GODDESS APHRODITE.

IT'S A STATUE BASED ON THE WORK OF THE FOURTH-CENTURY SCULPTOR PRAXITELES.

BEARD: IN THE ANCIENT WORLD, THIS WAS CELEBRATED AS A MILESTONE IN CLASSICAL ART BECAUSE IT WAS THE FIRST NAKED STATUE OF A WOMAN.

IT WASN'T JUST THE NAKEDNESS.

THIS APHRODITE BROKE THE MOLD IN A DECIDEDLY EROTIC WAY.

JUST LOOK AT HER HANDS.

ARE THEY MODESTLY TRYING TO COVER HERSELF UP?

ARE THEY POINTING US IN THE DIRECTION OF WHAT WE WANT TO SEE MOST?

OR ARE THEY SIMPLY A TEASE?

PRAXITELES HAS ESTABLISHED THAT EDGY RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN A STATUE OF A WOMAN AND AN ASSUMED MALE VIEWER THAT HAS NEVER BEEN LOST FROM THE HISTORY OF EUROPEAN ART.

NARRATOR: ALTHOUGH CULTURES FROM AROUND THE WORLD HAVE EVOLVED RADICALLY DIFFERENT WAYS OF SEEING THE FEMALE FORM, THE IMPACT OF BOTH IMPERIALISM AND GLOBALIZATION HAS TENDED TO GIVE UNDUE PROMINENCE TO THE WAY IT IS SEEN IN THE WEST, A WAY OF LOOKING THAT REMAINS A CONSTANT SOURCE OF DEBATE AND CRITICISM.

JASANOFF: I THINK THAT WE STILL HAVE A LOT OF REALLY UNEXAMINED ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT WHAT CONSTITUTES A BEAUTIFUL OR DESIRABLE BODY.

WE HAVE A LOT OF UNEXAMINED ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT WHAT CONSTITUTES AN ATTRACTIVE OR AESTHETICALLY APPEALING WAY TO LOOK.

AND YOU HAVE ONLY TO OPEN UP THE PAGES OF A WOMAN'S MAGAZINE, AS PEOPLE ARE COMMONLY POINTING OUT, TO SEE HOW INCREDIBLY NARROW THE SPACE IS IN A CERTAIN KIND OF WESTERN AESTHETIC CONSCIOUSNESS FOR WHAT A WOMAN CAN LOOK LIKE.

SIMILAR KINDS OF THINGS CAN BE APPLIED TO MEN AS WELL.

NARRATOR: REINFORCED BY COMMERCIAL INTERESTS, THE CULT OF YOUTH AND BEAUTY BEGUN BY THE ANCIENT GREEKS IS PERHAPS MORE POWERFUL THAN EVER TODAY.

BUT IT'S BY CHALLENGING THE TRADITION OF CLASSICAL ART THAT MUCH OF THE MODERN ART OF THE BODY DRAWS ITS POWER.

BROOKLYN-BASED ARTIST KEHINDE WILEY INTENTIONALLY BORROWS FROM AND REAPPROPRIATES THE CLASSICAL TRADITION TO ADDRESS QUESTIONS OF THE STATUS, POWER, AND IMAGE OF YOUNG AFRICAN AMERICANS.

WILEY: MY VOYAGE STARTED AS SOMEONE WHO WAS AN AMERICAN MAKING WORK ABOUT AMERICA.

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE FOR A BLACK AMERICAN ARTIST TO GO THROUGH THE WORLD TRYING TO CAPTURE, ON SOME SMALL LEVEL, THE ECHO OF DIFFERENT CULTURAL INFLUENCES FROM ONE SOCIETY TO THE NEXT?

NARRATOR: WILEY RECRUITS HIS MODELS FROM THE STREET AND INVITES THEM TO CAST THEMSELVES BASED ON FIGURES FROM CLASSICAL PAINTINGS, AND HE HAS TRAVELED ALL OVER THE WORLD TO EXPLORE THE LEGACY OF COLONIALISM AND THE DIFFERENT WAYS WE SEE.

WILEY: THE WORK THAT I'M DOING IN THIS PROJECT IS ABOUT PLAYING WITH ART HISTORY, PLAYING WITH IMAGES OF POWER, DRAWING THAT CONNECTION BETWEEN CLASSIC EUROPEAN PAINTING.

I LOVE THE HISTORY OF ART.

I LOVE LOOKING AT THESE BEAUTIFUL IMAGES, BUT I ALSO RECOGNIZE THAT THERE IS SOMETHING QUITE SINISTER ABOUT THEIR PAST.

JASANOFF: THERE ARE MANY WAYS IN WHICH WE STILL HAVE REALLY UNEXAMINED ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT WHAT CONSTITUTES BEAUTY, WHAT CONSTITUTES VALUE, WHAT CONSTITUTES A DESIRABLE BODY, WHAT CONSTITUTES SOMETHING OF VALUE.

Civilizations is available on DVD.

To order visit shop.pbs.org or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS Also available for download on iTunes.