Chapter 3

Classical Period: 479-404 BCE Begins with the defeat of the Persians led by Xerxes

Late Classical Period: 404-323 BCE Ends with the death of Alexander the Great

Optimism and Unity – victories in the Persian Wars Limitless possibilities Self-confidence Inspiration to our culture

Golden Age of Greece Unparalleled in artistic and intellectual

achievement

Athenians lived in a world of tension and violence Could not live in peace with the other

Greeks, despite their quest for noble ideals Led to war with the rest of Greece in 431

BCE and to the fall of Athens in 404 BCE

Humans can achieve order by understanding why people act as they do and by understanding the motives for their own actions The Classical Ideal = quest for reason and

order Human order can triumph over the chaos of the

natural world Quest for a balanced society

Creating balance = staying within reasonable limits Aim of life should be perfect balance: everything in due

proportion, nothing in excess Hubris = haughtiness, pride, arrogance

Loss of contact with reality, overestimation of one’s own capabilities

Greatest crime in Greek society (only crime) People guilty of hubris generally shamed or humiliated

their victims for personal pleasure or gratification Generally, those guilty of hubris eventually pay the

price

Political and cultural center of Greece Democracy

All male citizens required to participate in government

Ecclesia (general assembly) Boule (directing counsel) Individual magistracies Serve on juries

But Athenians may have had a bit too much pride themselves…

Organization of Greek city-states Defensive: guard against future attacks

Treasury kept on Delos (politically neutral island)

Suspicions arose Athens was using Delian League to form an

empire of subjects Transferring money to Athens to help

build….

Athenian League vs. Spartan Allies 431 BCE – 404 BCE Trying to control Athens from getting out of

hand After a poorly planned attack on Sicily,

Athens surrendered

Great historian; author of History of the Peloponnesian War Detailed description of events Accurate and impartial (even though he was an

Athenian) Attempted to understand human

emotions/behaviors so that history wouldn’t repeat itself

Hoped that future generations would understand why the war occurred, allowing them to better understand themselves

Universal principle of human behavior (emphasis on reason, not on anecdotes)

Theaters = sacred ground Religious experience/ritual

Serious and dignified Masks, elaborate costumes Music Beautiful choreography Outdoor performance

Aeschylus, Sophocles,Euripides

Evolved from choral hymns sung in honor of Dionysus

Festivals of Dionysus Each author submitted

4 plays 3 tragedies (trilogy)

Single story or different stories with common theme

1 light-headed (satyr) Mythological figure:

man with animal ears/tail

Plays judged with prizes awarded to the winning author

Deep awareness of human weakness Dangers of power Belief that good will triumph in the end

The process of being able to recognize what is right is painful

Humans must suffer to learn of their errors

Dramas were bloody and violent Most famous: Oresteia trilogy

Most prosperous/successful 123 plays, only 7 survived

Explored and developed individual characters Combined tragic consequences of individual

mistakes with belief in the collective dignity of humanity

Major theme: Choice between good and evil is never clear or easy, sometimes impossible Destiny/fate, hands of the gods Respect the forces we cannot see

Most religious of the dramatists Most famous: Oedipus the King

The story: Doomed to kill father, marry

mother Impacted ideas of Freud (Oedipus

Complex) Aspects of our existence are

beyond our understanding Cannot avoid our destiny

Downfall of a tragic hero is a result of a flaw (hamartia) Understanding the helplessness of

humanity Warning against self-reliance

(hubris) Weaknesses of Oedipus’s

character overcame his good points and destroyed him

Most widely read, realistic view Closest to our times: exposing social, political,

religious injustices Disillusioned by war-torn years

Characters pushed to the limits Hatred for war, senseless misery

Gods not worthy of respect/worship Sympathy and understanding of women

Challenged basic premises of contemporary Athenian society

Most famous: Bacchae

Aristophanes (comic poet) Futility of war Combined political satire with fantasy

The Birds: men join with birds to form a society, cut off the gods, Zeus hands over authority to the birds

Lysistrata: women withhold sex until peace is negotiated;play ends with Atheniansand Spartans dancing together in peace

Socrates – one of the most important figures in Greek history Wrote nothing! Most of what we know of him came from the

writing of Plato Problems of human behavior/morality Dialogues – how much is really Socrates?

Took no money, founded no school Walked about Athens to talk and argue,

tested traditional ideas through a series of questions

“Following the argument wherever it led”

Acquired many enemies People don’t like to be proven wrong! 399 BCE – put on trial for impiety and

leading youth to question authority Refused to escape because of the strength of

his morality and his respect for the law Put to death by

drinking hemlock

Construction of an “Ideal Society”

Founder of The Academy Devoted to education

and research Forerunner of universities

Focus on mathematics, law, political theory Produced experts for the service of the state

Theory of Forms In a higher dimension of existence, there are perfect

forms Phenomena around us are pale reflections

Challenge to think about how our lives should be organized

Plato’s most gifted student Started competitive school (Lyceum)

Agreed to disagree (rival philosophy) Severed ties with Plato Lectured students in the morning Educated public in the afternoon

Main focus: forms are present in the world around us, no alternate perfect reality

Wrote on every serious study of the time

Classified and categorized life forms

According to Aristotle, the downfall of the tragic hero is his undetected “tragic flaw”

Audience experiences catharsis through various emotional and intellectual connections with the tragic hero Catharsis = cleansing of the soul

Aristotle’s work is basis for Christian theology Official philosophical position of Roman

Catholic Church St. Thomas Aquinas’s synthesis of Aristotelian

philosophy and Christian doctrine

Art – Early Greece

Strong Egyptian influence Few subjects repeated

over and over again Kore – Standing

female figure, clad in drapery

Kouros – Standing male figure, nude Flat planes, rigid

stances, archaic smile

Early Classical works Interest in Realism Showing a figure in

motion Fully rounded Careful study of

human anatomy Ex. Kritios Boy

Natural expression Realistic movement of

hips and stomach muscles

Myron Striving to create a

new standard of human beauty

Principles of proportion, symmetry, and balance

Ex. Discus Thrower Combined realistic

treatment of action with an idealized portrayal of the athlete

Late fifth century BCE During the

Peloponnesian War Individual more

important than ideal Emotional responses

of ordinary people to life/death

Death/mourning increasingly common subjects Ex. Grave stele of Crito

and Timarista

Citadel of Athens

Temple to Athena “parthenos” = virgin = goddess Athena

Classical ideals = proportion,theme of order Supreme expression

Represents the supremacy of Athens, but is also its downfall

Sculptures removed from Parthenon British ambassador

to Constantinople, Lord Elgin

Beginning of the 19th century

Now housed in the British Museum, London

Ex. Three Goddesses

Caryatid – female statues used to support a roof

Form vs. Function Blurring lines of

traditional distinctions between architecture and sculpture Structure vs.

decoration

323 BCE – 146 BCE Death of Alexander the Great to the Roman

Conquest Generals could not name a successor

Divided Macedonian Empire Four most important kingdoms – Syria, Egypt,

Pergamum, Macedonia Continued to spread Greek culture

“to Hellenize” – to spread Greek influence Combined Greek intellectual ideas and artistic

styles with native Eastern ones

CLASSICAL ART HELLENISTIC ART

Realistic figures Calm faces, little emotion Order Restrained Clarity Balance Work produced for state =

religious and political themes

Temples Religious sanctuaries

Realistic portraits Emotional, expressive Freedom Confusion, contrast Light vs. dark Work produced for

individuals = lavish decorations

Responsible to individuals, not humanity or gods

Marketplaces, theaters, technical buildings

CLASSICAL ART HELLENISTIC ART

Wealthy city of Hellenistic Asia

Alter of Zeus – chief religious shrine Decorated with

drama and violence of the battle between the gods and the giants

Intense gestures and facial expressions

Ex. Athena Slaying the Giant

Freestanding sculpture Intended to impress a

wide public Trojan priest, Laocoön,

punished by the gods for his attempt to warn his people against allowing the Trojan horse to enter their gates

Apollo sent two sea serpents to strangle him and his two sons as punishment

Hellenistic kingdoms did not work together Caused their fall

Roman began to take them over individually Ended with Corinth in 146 BCE

Greece made into Roman province Greek art and culture dominated much of

Roman cultural life and was passed on into Western tradition