Author Question: Describe the features and purposes of the Great Stupa. What will be an ideal ... (Read 103 times)

james · **on:** Jun 23, 2018

Describe the features and purposes of the Great Stupa.

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Built by Justinian in the first half of the sixth century, what church was probably conceived as a political and religious statement?

a) San Vitale
b) St. Apollinaire
c) Santa Costanza
d) Hagia Sophia

Anna · **Reply #1 on:** Jun 23, 2018

Answer to Question 1

Answer: The ideal answer should include:
1. The Great Stupa is a shrineliterally, a burial mound, a form dating from prehistoric times. These shrines, decorated with sculpture and painting, were erected throughout India under the third-century rule of Ashoka, although the Great Stupa is the earliest surviving example.
2. By the time of construction of the Great Stupa, the form housed relics from Buddha himself or from later holy persons.
3. This stupa is made of rubble piled over the original shrine, faced with brick to create a hemispherical dome that symbolizes the earth.
4. A white stone railing encircles the sphere, around which ceremonial processions of pilgrims would move in a clockwise motion, retracing the path of the sun, symbolically walking the Buddhist Path of Life around the World Mountain.

Answer to Question 2

Answer: a