Paintings from the Middle Ages were focused on more religious subjects. Hope it help!
The pose used in the Augustus of Primaporta indicates the emperor's "prime of youth but a leader and also that he was a man of the people".
Augustus of Primaporta is a marble statue of Augustus Caesar, the first and a standout among the most noteworthy rulers of Old Rome, which was found on April 20, 1863 in the Manor of Livia at Prima Porta, close to Rome. The dating of the Prima Porta piece is generally challenged. It is believed to be a duplicate of a bronze original. The stone worker may have been Greek.
Answer:
Dante is standing at the mouth of hell with Virgil and he feels a great sense of dread and apprehension about continuing. Virgil then tells him that a women told him to find Dante and be his guide in hell, this lady was Beatrice. She came down from Heaven to tell Virgil of Dante's story and ask him to help Dante. Beatrice was Dante's true love (in real life and in the story) who died and is now counted among the blessed in Heaven. She had learned of Dante's plight from St. Lucia, also in Heaven, who in turn heard about the poor poet from the Virgin Mary. Beatrice symbolizes divine love and is sent by Mary and Lucia to help Dante by enlisting Virgil's help. Beatrice also knows that Dante will listen to Virgil if he knows that she has intervened and still loves him and that he is being watched over.
The period that followed Alexander the Great is the Hellenistic Period.
