• stoy@lemmy.zip
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    2 months ago

    Without seeing the art, I can think of a few explanations.

    1. The artist is drawing a concept, say an epidemic/disease, as a monster to make it easier to communicate. From what I understand aincient art is often very symbilc, which would fit this very well.
    2. Propaganda, the ruler wants art that shows them as powerfull, strong, and fighting/killing a sky monster is a powerfull message without angering neighbouring leaders into a real conflict.
    3. Fiction/immagination, today works of fiction are very common, so why not in the past as well? Someone painted something just because it looked cool, is that so unresonable?