For an art work, what exactly does it mean to be " after a Greek work of 45

Question:

For an art work, what exactly does it mean to be " after a Greek work of 450 B.C."?

for instance <<Head of Zeus, marble, Roman, after a Greek work of 450 B.C. >>

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

The Greeks were city-states for hundreds of years before the Roman Empire. For instance, Athens was a city but also a state, or practically a separate country with walls around it. Another city-state was Sparta. The Greeks were not continuously united as a country in the ancient world (before Christ), but in places like Athens, the arts and sciences thrived, including sculpture, the theatre, mathematics, philosophy, history, and astronomy, in the years around 300 to 200 B.C. Then the Roman Empire grew in strenght as the Greek city-states became weaker, and the Romans conquered these Greek cities. The Romans imitated Greek art. So we know, for instance, that a Roman artist chiseled the head of Zeus in marble, long after 450 BC when the Greek original was made. The Greek original doesn't exist, but the Roman imitation does. Many Roman pieces of sculpture exist that are modeled after original Greek pieces, which are known about because of historical records. Zeus, for instance, was a Greek god, according to historical Greek writings, not a Roman god. So the Roman sculpture is an imitation of a Greek one because the Romans didn't have Zeus as one of their gods. They saw a Greek sculpture of Zeus, admired it, and decided to create one themselves. So in your quote, a Roman sculpturer carved a head of Zeus in marble, which was modeled on a Greek piece originally carved in 450 BC.