Introduction to Ancient Greek

Art and Architecture

Geometric

Oriental

Archaic

Early Classical

Let’s talk about progress and change.

Remember our old friends the Egyptians?

• c. 2500 BCE • c. 1200 BCE

Approx.

1300

years

• 750 BCE • 450 BCE

Approx.

300

years

Now let’s meet our new friends the Greeks.

The Art of

Ancient Greece

Much of our Western

culture can be traced

to the Greeks, such

as democracy,

architecture, sports,

philosophy, history

and art.

Greece is a beautiful place, but

where is it?

Greece is located southeast of Italy. Greece is

made up of a mainland peninsula and many

islands in the Aegean Sea.

• Greeks remained divided into many polis(city-states) due in large part to themountainous geography of Greece.

• Although Greece never attained a strongcentral unity or government, an appearanceof "Democracy," which means people andpower, appeared in Athens.

• But we must be reminded that this freedomapplied only to males. Slaves and womenhad no legal rights.

Greek Art Key Points

• The human being was placed at the center

of Greek culture.

• The Greeks encouraged all forms of art.

• Proportion, balance and unity were key

Greek ideals.

• The human body was considered beautiful

and perfectly proportioned.

Brief History

• Following the collapse of the Mycenaeancivilization, the Aegean region fell into a period ofsocial disorganization and immigration.

• Many cultural and artistic gains were lost orforgotten.

• The mountains and seas that divided the regionalso contributed to the division of its inhabitants.

• By about 900 BCE self sufficient close knitcommunities were developing on the mainland.

• However they all spoke the same form of Greekand by 800-700 BCE, separate Greek city states,or polis, like Athens and Sparta, had begun toform.

Religion

Knowledge of Greek history is important in

understanding its art, but knowledge of its religious

beliefs is indispensable.

The Greeks drew on their rich tradition of religious

myths as inspiration for much of their art work.

• The Ancient Greeksbelieved:

• The creation of the world involved abattle between the Earth gods calledTitans or Giants and the sky gods.

• The sky gods were victorious.

• The sky gods lived atop MountOlympus in northeastern Greece.

• Their gods were immortal and endowedwith super human powers.

• Unlike the Egyptians and other NearEastern people, their gods could appearin human form.

• The gods were burdened with humanweaknesses and emotions.

Important Greek Gods and Goddesses

• Zeus and Hera

– head god/goddess

• Apollo

– god of healing, arts andthe sun

• Poseidon

– god of the sea

• Ares

– god of war

• Aphrodite

– goddess of love

• Artemis

– goddess of hunting andthe moon

• Athena

– goddess of wisdom

• Hades

– God of the underworld

• Hermes

– Messenger of the gods

• Eros (Cupid)

– God of love

Sacred Places

• Sanctuaries were areasbelieved to be sacred tocertain gods.

• They may have startedout as a simple outdooraltars but grew intoenormous temple areaswith multiple buildingsincluding stadiums.

• The Greeks were veryinterested in athletics andheld elaborate athleticcontests.

Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi

Located high on a plateau near Mt. Parnassus.

Greeks believed it was here that Apollo fought and killed the serpent

son of the Earth goddess.

Theater above the sanctuary

The Oracle at Delphi

• Delphi was a religious and political center.

• In addition, Delphi was renowned as an oracle.

• A place were a god, in this case Apollo, was believed to

communicate with humans.

• People traveled to Delphi to ask the oracle questions and to

seek help from the priest and priestess.

• Most of the oracle answers were enigmatic, such as

"Beware of wooden walls," which could beware of ships

invading your land.

• Greek leaders often sought the advice of an oracle.

Reconstruction Drawing of the

Sanctuary of Apollo

Divisions in Greek Art

• Geometric

• Orientalizing

• Archaic

• Early Classical

• Classical

– Age of Pericles

– 5th and 4h Century

• Hellenistic

G O A E 5 4 H

Go Out After Eating 54 Hams.

• Geometric

• Orientalizing

• Archaic

• Early Classical

• 5th Century Classical

• 4th Century Classical

• Hellenistic

Geometric Period

• first specifically Greek styleof vase painting.

• can be distinguished fromMinoan or Mycenaean.

• Geometric Style becomeswidespread after 900 BCE inall types of art.

• Characterized by linearmotifs, rather than stylizedbirds/plants of Minoan art.

Funerary

Amphora

• Funerary amphora

• Geometric style,

• Depicts (laying-out) and

lamentation over the dead.

• Found in Dipylum.

• 800 BCE

• 42 inches high !

National Museum Athens

Detail from funerary amphora

Greek Burial Site

Funerary Vase

• This large vase is a krater, a bowl for

mixing wine and water.

• Notice the funerary procession with horse

drawn chariot and warriors carrying

shields.

• This vase is the first of its kind to be

found with human and animal figures.

• We see a corpse lying on his side and

animals underneath ready to be

sacrificed.

• The mourning women are shown ripping

out their hair in a gesture of mourning

• The Greeks made no reference to the

afterlife, like the Egyptians.

• This vase was used as a grave marker and

had a hole in the bottom to pour wine for

the deceased to enjoy!

• Not all geometric vase-paintings are asmonumental in size. Hereare small cups decoratedwith similar stick-figures,apparently engaged inbattle, but whether theyrepresented a real or afictional battle is unknown.

• Within a relatively shorttime, however, the pictorialscenes increase in size anddetail, and shortly after 700BCE we find the firstrecognizable scenes takenfrom myths.

Early Greek Architecture

Greeks worshipped at outdoor altars

within walled sanctuaries.

Their temples were designed to

shelter a statue of a god.

Made of mud bricks and wood.

Very few ancient Greek temples

remain today.

Model of

a Temple• Ceramic model of an

ancient temple

• Decorated in the geometricstyle.

• Found near the Sanctuary ofHera near Argos.

• Gives us some idea of howthese ancient temples weredesigned.

• Note the porch, thecolumns, the triangularroof.

Orientalizing

Period

Greek potters shifted away

from the tight geometric

patterns of the past and

began to decorate pottery

with larger more open

motifs of plants and

animals.

• Orientalizing Period• From about 750 BCE onwards, Greeks begin to

venture overseas and develop many colonies insouthern Italy and Sicily.

• Greek artists were influenced by the variety ofartistic styles of their trading partners.

• By 7th c. BCE, they moved away from onlygeometric patterns.

• New Greek style incorporates elements of NearEastern and Egyptian art.

Pitcher (olpe)c. 600BCE

• Large silhouetted creaturesin profile in bands.

• Overall pattern of rosettes.

• Example of black figurepottery:

– Dark shapes over a lightground

– Here the light ground is thenatural buff color of theclay.

• Fine details incised with asharp tool.

• Can you see the MiddleEastern influence?

Let me help you.

Archaic Period

• Greek city states on mainland, on Aegean

islands and in colonies flourished.

• Athens begins to move to forefront.

• 594BCE, Solon becomes political leader

of Athens, instituting legal reforms.

• Dates up to the time when the Greeks

repelled the Persians, an event that

inaugurates new era.

• Greek Architecture begins to flourish.

Early Greek

Architecture

• Most of the earliest ancient

Greek structures were built with

mud-brick and wood and have

not survived.

• At the beginning of the Archaic

period, however, building in

stone began in earnest.

• Influenced by the great

columned halls of Egypt, the

Archaic Greeks started

constructing columned stone

temples with double-sloped

roofs.

• These buildings are not only the most importantstructures which we have studied so far, but theywill also prove to have an effect like no other onlater Western architecture.

• Architectural sculpture also adorned most templesand it was always painted.

• Note, too, that the Greek temple was also not aplace of public worship, for altars were placedoutside the structures.

• Instead, the temples were seen as homes for thecult statues of the deities to whom the buildingshad been dedicated.

Small Early Greek

Temple Plans• Although there were many

varieties of Greek temples,they all had the same basicplan.

• These "variations on atheme" illuminated theancient Greek ideal ofproportion, balance andsymmetry.

• In general, ancient Greekarchitects also strove for a1:2 ratio of width to length

• The Greeks believed theirtemples were houses fortheir gods.

• They derived the basicplan from the Mycenaeanmegaron.

• It was a rectangularbuilding with a frontporch or portico, having 2or more columns.

• The cella is a walled roomwith a single entry. And asacred place for the cultstatue.

Temple in antis at Delphi

• The columns were createdin separate drums orpieces and placed togetherwithout mortar.

• They taper from a widebase to a narrower top(unlike the Minoan).

• The columns supported aroof of wood.

• Greek temples were meantto be observed from theoutside and were brightlypainted.

• Very few people wereallowed into the cella.

Amphiprostyle Temple at Athena

• Most temples had

colonnades of various

types as well:

• prostyle: columns

across the front porch

only

• amphiprostyle:

columns across the

front and back porch

• peristyle: columns

around the cella Tholos Temple at Delphi

Temple of Hera I

Built around 550 BCE in Southern Italy by the Greeks

Post and Lintel construction

Peristyle What order are the columns ?

Greek Architectural

Orders

• The Greeks likedsystems and order.

• In Architecture theycreated three differentorders or styles.

• Each order used aparticular set of designelements.

• Each order can beidentified by the styleof the capital.

• Doric

• Ionic

• Corinthian

Greek Architectural Orders

Emerged in Archaic Period Later

Doric Order

• Doric is the oldest and looks

the heaviest.

• The columns are laid together

in blocks and bonded by iron

dowels and lead clamps.

• Once together, the workmen

shaped the fluted column.

• A flat disc called the capital

rest atop the column.

Ionic Order

• The Ionic columns are

more slender with a volute

capital.

• The entablature has frieze

sculptural reliefs (and

were brightly painted).

Corinthian Order

• Corinthian was originally

used only in the interior,

but came to be used for

temple exteriors.

• The capital is very

elaborate and the volute is

shaped into acanthus

leaves.

• The Greeks admired this

plant because it is

tenacious

Architectural Sculpture

• As Greek temples grew larger and more complex sculpturaldecoration became more important.

• Reliefs would be carved into the gable located in the pediment oralong the frieze.

Pediment

Metope Triglyph

Example of an early relief in pediment of the temple

of Artemis

Dying Warrior from the Temple of Aphaia, c. 500-490 BCE

Archaic Sculpture• New type of large

free-standing statue.

• Made from wood, terracotta or white marble.

• Often life size or larger.

• Standing or striding pose,usually painted.

• Some found withinscriptions forcommemorative purposes.

• Found marking graves orlining the sacred path totemples.A fragment of an Archaic sculpture of a rider,

circa 565 BCE, found in the rubble of the Acropolis.

• Sculpture in the Archaic periodconsisted mainly of the kouros andkore form.

• Kouros were freestanding rigidstatues of nude males.

• Kore statues were representations offemales.

• These statues typically stood rigidand straight-backed, feet together,staring straight ahead with noexpression on the face except for aslight curving of the lips, which isnow dubbed as the ‘archaic smile’.

• The kouros and kore weretechnically accurate humanfigures, but lacked believabilitydue to their static, formulaicsymmetry and the apparent lack oflife and character.

• Kouros c. 580 BCE, marble

• Recalls pose and proportionof Egyptian sculpture.

• Frontal pose, rigid arms, oneleg in front of the other.

• However, all stone is cutaway from the body, makingit truly freestanding.

• More realistic detail inmuscles, knees, hair.

• Not to mention the figure iscompletely nude.

• Archaic smile

Detail of Kouros statue

• Anavysos Kouros

– c. 525 BCE, marble

• Reflects the artist’s increasinginterest in a more realisticrendering of the human form.

• The pose, hair and smile are likethe earlier kouros, but the largertorso, muscular arms and legsexhibit greater anatomicalaccuracy.

• Exhibits heroic strength.

• It was a grave monument to fallensoldier.

– Inscription reads:

• Stop and grieve at the tombof the dead Kroisos, slainby wild Ares in the frontrank of battle

Berlin Korec. 570-560 BCE

marble

• Kore: statue of a youngwoman

• Stands more than 6ft tall,stiffly posed and fullbodied.

• Thick robe and cloak fallin regularly spaced folds,not unlike the fluting on acolumn.

• Figure holds apomegranate, an attributeor identifying symbol ofPersephone, who wasabducted by Hades thegod of the underworld.

Peplos Kore

c. 530 BCE

marble

• Named for a distinctive andcharacteristic garment: the peplos

• Draped rectangle of cloth, foldedover at the top, pinned at theshoulders and belted to give abloused effect.

• Similar to the previous Kore in itsrigid pose, but is a more roundedfemale figure.

• Face and hair more naturalistic.

• Traces of encaustic paintingremain.

Kore from Chios ?

C. 520 BCE marble

• May have been made by asculptor from the island ofChios, near Asia Minor.

• Rich drapery, hair and facialfeatures and large amount ofpaint still on it.

• Increasingly life likeappearance.

• Wears a garment called achiton, like the peplos butfuller.

• Elaborate hairstyle andabundant jewelry add to theopulent effect.

Comparison of three Kore statues

Calf Bearer

c. 560 BCE marble

• Not all archaic statues wereKouros or Kore statues.

• Found in the ruble of theAcropolis.

• Probably represents a priest orworshipper carrying an animalintended for sacrifice.

• Figure’s smile, tufted hair, wideopen eyes with large irises andsemicircular eyebrows all reflectthe Archaic style.

• The sculptor has rendered thecalf with perceptive detail, how?

• The statue is unique in that it doesnot depict a single figure, nor agroup of figures, but a man and acalf closely bound in an exquisitecomposition. Notice the X.

• The arrangement guided the sculptorto depict the arms crossed across thechest of the man as he holds thecalf’s legs.

• The calf is naturally settled by itsweight on the man’s shoulder as itturns its head to face the viewer.

• Overall, the statue is defined withthe typical geometric planes of theArchaic era.

• However certain areas of the figureare rendered in a much smoothermanner, ie. the muscles of theforearms.

Transition from the Archaic Period

to the Early Classical Period

Architectural and Freestanding

Sculpture

The Start of the Classical Period

in Greek Art• Over the next 160 years the Greeks established an ideal of

beauty that has endured in the Western World to the

present.

• The Classical Period is framed by two major historic

events:

– The defeat of the Persians in 479 BCE

– The death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE

• Historians divide this period in to three phases

Three Phases of the Classical Period

• Three phases are based on the formal qualities of the art

– The Transitional or Early period

• c.480-450 BCE

– The Mature 5th Century Classical Period

• c.450-400 BCE

• Formerly called the Golden Age of Pericles

– The Late 4th Century Classical Period c.400-323 BCE

• The speed of change during this short time period is one of

the most extraordinary characteristics of Greek art

Three general concepts of

Greek Classical Art

• Humanism

• Rationalism

• Idealism

– The ancient Greeks truly believed the sayingscarved on the Temple of Apollo, Man is themeasure of all things and followed this conceptin their art.

Humanism

• Seek an ideal based on human form.

• Nothing in excess- produce only essential

forms.

• In their love and admiration of all things

human, the Greeks believed their gods

looked and acted as perfect human beings.

Apollo: an example of the perfect

human ideal

• His body and his mind were in balance.

• He was an athlete and at the same time a

musician.

• A healer and a Sun god.

• A leader of the Muses.

• All qualities the Greeks admired in men.

Rationalism: Reason over emotion

• As much as the Greeks celebrated human ideals, theyvalued reason over emotion.

• They believed logic and reason supported naturalprocesses.

• All aspects of life, including the arts, had meaning andpattern.

• Nothing happened by accident.

• Rationalism provided an intellectual structure for thearts.

– Examples: Creation of the orders in architecture anda canon of proportion for sculpture, What’s that?

Classical Greek Art is based on

careful observation of nature.

• Unlike Egyptian and Near Eastern artists, theGreeks did not rely on memory images.

• Only after careful study and understanding of aform did they begin to generalize, searchingwithin each form for its universal ideal.

• Rather than sculpt the model exactly as it looked,the Greeks tried to distill the essence of the figure.

• This lead to a system of perfect mathematicalproportion for the human figure: canon ofproportion.

Humanism and Rationalism

Produced Idealism

• The idealism that characterizing Greek Art involved:

– The True

– The Good

– The Beautiful

• Remember, the Greeks of the Classical Period established abenchmark for art against which generations of artists havesince measured quality.

– Now you know why we say something is a Classic.

– In the most general usage, a “classic” is something -perhaps a book, a song, a car, or a movie- of lastingquality and universal significance

Early Classical Period

• Historically this begins with theGreeks repelling the Persians andconcludes with the era of thePeloponnesian Wars.

• Some scholars think the Greekdefeat of the Persians led to cultureof confidence which led totremendous social and artisticgrowth.

• In art, there is an emergence of newstyle of figure sculpture.

Persians (foreground) attempting to drive through the pass at Thermoplyae.

Early Classical

Architectural Sculpture

Decorative sculptures that were

imbedded in a building

Temple of Zeus at Olympia

• Began to be built several years after the defeat of thePersians.

• Today, even though the temple is in ruins, it is stillimpressive.

• Built of local stone, but the sculptures were made fromimported marble.

• Themes appropriate to its Olympian setting,demonstrate the power of the gods Zeus, Apollo andAthena.

Reconstruction Drawing of

Apollo with Battling Lapiths and

Centaurs

West Pediment of the

Temple of Zeus, Olympia c.460 BCE

Freestanding Sculptures from the West Pediment

Temple of Zeus, Olympia

• Apollo helping the Lapiths in their battle with the centaurs.

• Battle began after the centaurs drank too much wine at at

the wedding feast of the Lapith king.

• Centaurs tried to carry off the Lapith women.

• Apollo stands calmly in the center of the scene, stopping

the battle by simply raising his arm.

• The rising/falling triangular composition fills theawkward pediment space.

• Struggle between angular and twisting formsdramatizes the physical struggle.

• Calm and regal Apollo in the center symbolizesthe triumph of reason over passion.

Barbarism

vs

Civilization

Athena, Hercules and Atlasmetope from the Temple of Zeus at Olympia

Atlas presenting

Hercules with

the apples from the

Garden of the

Hesperides

• Metope high relief

• Illustrating one of the 12 Laborsof Hercules

• If Hercules performed all 12labors who would gain eternal life

• Hercules makes a deal with Atlasto get the apples

• Hercules will hold up the sky forhim while Atlas steals the apples

• What Atlas does not know andcannot see is that Athena ishelping Hercules

• Artist has balanced the erectfrontal view of Athena with thetwo men in profile

• Reflects an increasing interest inrealism

Transition from the

Archaic to the Early Classical

• At the height of the Archaic period,sculptors decided to reinventconceptions of appearance.

• The first step taken in this transitionare seen in the so-called Kritios(Kritian) Boy, the sculpture of ayoung boy, probably made around480 BCE, attributed to the sculptorKritios, the teacher of Myron (discusthrower).

• The Kritios boy belongs tothe Late Archaic period andis considered the precursorto the later classicalsculptures of athletes.

• The statue is made ofmarble and is considerablysmaller than life-size. (3 ft10 ins).

• With the Kritios Boy theGreek artist has mastereda complete understandingof how the different partsof the body act as asystem.

• The statue supports its bodyon one leg, the left, whilethe right one is bent at theknee in a relaxing state.

• The stance forces a chain ofanatomical events as the pelvis ispushed diagonally upwards on theleft side, the right buttock relaxes,the spine acquires a curve, and theshoulder line dips on the left tocounteract the action of the pelviscalled contra-posto.

• Statue exhibits a number of othercritical innovations that distinguishit from the Archaic Kouroi thatpaved its way.

• The muscular and skeletalstructure are depicted withunforced life-like accuracy, withthe rib cage naturally expanded asif in the act of breathing, with arelaxed attitude and hips which aredistinctly narrower.

• As a final fore bearer of

the classical period, the

“smile” of Archaic statues

has been completely

replaced by the accurate

rendering of the lips and

the austere expression

that characterized the

transitional or severe

period from the Archaic

to the Classical era

480

BCE

580

BCE

The Charioteer c. 477 BCE, bronzefrom Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi

• Height: 5’ 11”

• It is one of the few ancient bronzes to havesurvived, most were melted down.

• The statue was erected at Delphi in 474 BC,to commemorate the victory of a chariotteam in the Pythian Games, which were heldat Delphi every four years in honor ofPythean Apollo.

• It was originally part of a larger group ofstatuary, including the chariot, four (possiblysix) horses and two grooms.

• It was buried and there preserved in alandslide/

• It was excavated by the French in1896/

• Some fragments of the horses were foundwith the statue.

• When intact, it must have been one of themost imposing works of statuary in theworld.

• Stylistically, the Charioteer isclassed as "Early Classical"

• The statue is more naturalistic thanthe kouros of the Archaic period,but the pose is still very rigidwhen compared with later worksof the Classical period.

• One departure from the Archaicstyle is that the head is inclinedslightly to one side. Thenaturalistic rendering of his feetwas greatly admired in ancienttimes.

• An inscription on the

limestone base of the

statue shows that it was

commissioned by

Polyzalus, the tyrant of

Gela, a Greek colony in

Sicily, as a tribute to

Apollo for helping him

win the chariot race.

• The name of the sculptor

is unknown, but for

stylistic reasons it is

believed that the statue

was cast in Athens.

• It has certain similarities

of detail to the statue

known as the Apollo of

Piraeus, which is known

to be of Athenian origin.

• The statue is one of thefew Greek bronzes topreserve the inlaid glasseyes and the copperdetailing of the eyelashesand lips.

• The serene expression ofthe youth's face is muchadmired.

• The headband is of silverand may have been inlaidwith precious stones,which have been removed.

• The statue has inlaid eyesand soft side-curls,demonstrating a veryyoung subject.

Other

Greek Bronzes

• As we have seen, bronze

sculpture was a major art

form of Ancient Greece,

but extremely few still

exist today. Many that do,

such as the next two, were

each discovered in modern

times by underwater-

archaeologists among the

remains of sunken ships.

• The two elegant and finely-finished Riace bronzes arefull-size Greek bronzes ofyoung nude bearded warriors,cast about 460 BC - 430 BCE.

• They were found by StefanoMariottini, a Roman chemiston a Scuba diving vacation in1972, perhaps at the site of anancient shipwreck, off thecoast of Riace, in SouthernItaly.

• They are two major additionsto the surviving examples ofGreek sculpture.

• Their eyes are inlaid with

bone and glass, and they

have silver teeth and

copper lips and nipples.

• Reflects the Greeks’quest

for realism.

• Formerly they held spears

and shields.

• They represent the

transition from Archaic

Greek sculpture to the

early Classic Style.

"Poseidon Soter

at Artemisium”

c. 575 BCE

Greek bronze sculpture

depicting the god Poseidon.

The statue was found in the

Aegean Sea in 1926.

Poseidon

• Poseidon was the Greek god of the sea and

earthquakes.

• Often depicted as a bearded man with long

hair, holding a trident and accompanied by

dolphins and fish.

• He had the reputation for having a very bad

temper.

• The symbol of Poseidon's power was the three

pronged spear known as the trident.

• Storms and earthquakes were a reflection of

his furious rage.

• Poseidon was the brother of Zeus and Hades.

• The Greek god Poseidon was known to the

Romans with the name of Neptune.

Recap:

Early Classical Period Sculpture• During the classical period the Greeks developed a style

that incorporated an idealized yet realistic approach to therepresentation of the figure.

• Greek artists moved toward an expression based onobservation of living beings and refinement of anatomicalelements.

• Gods and goddesses were imagined in human form butideal in proportion, without imperfections.

• The unclothed human figure in its most perfectmanifestation was admired for its harmonious beauty.

• The archetypical proportions of the human body were themeasure and standard of beauty for all things.

Coming Next…..

5th Century Classical

4th Century Classical

• Works referenced:

Janson, History of Art, Abrams 2001

Marilyn Stockstad’s Art History: Second Edition (Volumes one and

two)

Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “Timeline of Art History.” Available

online at http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/splash.htm

Strickland, Carol. The Annotated Mona Lisa. 1992

“The Web Gallery of Art.” Available online at http://www.wga.hu

http://www.artchive.com/artchive/E/el_greco.html