Content Area: Ancient Mediterranean, 3500 B.C.E.–300 C.E.

4

Greek Art

TIME PERIOD

Greek Archaic Art	600–480 B.C.E.
Greek Classical Art	480–323 B.C.E.
Greek Hellenistic Art	323–30 B.C.E.

 

ENDURING UNDERSTANDING: The culture, beliefs, and physical settings of a region play an important role in the creation, subject matter, and siting of works of art.

Learning Objective: Discuss how the culture, beliefs, or physical setting can influence the making of a work of art. (For example: the Parthenon)

Essential Knowledge:

■Ancient Greek art was primarily produced in what is today Greece, Turkey, and Italy.

■Greek art is studied chronologically according to changes in style.

■Greek culture is rich in written literature: i.e., epics, poetry, dramas.

■Greek art is known for its idealization and harmonious proportions, both in sculpture and in architecture.

ENDURING UNDERSTANDING: Art making is influenced by available materials and ­processes.

Learning Objective: Discuss how material, processes, and techniques influence the making of a work of art. (For example: Niobod Krater)

ENDURING UNDERSTANDING: Cultural interaction through war, trade, and travel can ­influence art and art making.

Learning Objective: Discuss how works of art are influenced by cultural interaction. (For example: Anavysos Kouros)

Essential Knowledge:

■There is an active exchange of artistic ideas throughout the Mediterranean.

■Ancient Greek objects were influenced by Egyptian and Near Eastern works.

ENDURING UNDERSTANDING: Art and art making can be influenced by a variety of ­concerns including audience, function, and patron.

Learning Objective: Discuss how art can be influenced by audience, function, and/or patron. (For example: Winged Victory of Samothrace)

Essential Knowledge:

■Ancient Greek art is influenced by civic responsibility and the polytheism of its religion.

ENDURING UNDERSTANDING: Art history is best understood through an evolving tradition of theories and interpretations.

Learning Objective: Discuss how works of art have had an evolving interpretation based on visual analysis and interdisciplinary evidence. (For example: Plaque of the Ergastines)

Essential Knowledge:

■The study of art history is shaped by changing analyses based on scholarship, theories, context, and written records.

■Greek art has had an important impact on European art, particularly since the eighteenth century.

■Greek writing contains some of the earliest contemporary accounts about art and artists.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The collapse of Aegean society around 1100 B.C.E. left a vacuum in the Greek world until a reorganization took place around 900 B.C.E. in the form of city-states. Places like Sparta, Corinth, and Athens defined Greek civilization in that they were small, competing political entities that were united only in language and the fear of outsiders.

In the fifth century B.C.E. the Persians threatened to swallow Greece, and the city-states rallied behind Athens’ leadership to expel them. This was accomplished, but not before Athens itself was destroyed in 480 B.C.E. After the Persians were effectively neutralized, the Greeks then turned, once again, to bickering among themselves. The worst of these internal struggles happened during the Peloponnesian War (431–404 B.C.E.) when Athens was crushed by Sparta. Without an effective core, Greek states continued to struggle for another century.

This did not end until the reign of Alexander the Great, who, in the fourth century B.C.E., briefly united Macedonians and Greeks, by establishing a mighty empire that eventually toppled the Persians. Because Alexander died young and left no clear successor, his empire crumbled away soon after his death. The remnants of Greek civilization lasted a few hundred years more, until it was eventually absorbed by Rome.

Patronage and Artistic Life

So many names of artists have come down to us that it is tempting to think that Greek artists achieved a distinguished status hitherto unknown in the ancient world. Artists signed their work, both as a symbol of accomplishment and as a bit of advertisement. Greek potters and painters signed their vases, usually in a formula that resembles “so and so made it” or “so and so decorated it.”

Many artists were theoreticians as well as sculptors or architects. Polykleitos wrote a famous (no longer existing) book on the canon of human proportions. Iktinos wrote on the nature of ideal architecture. Phidias, who was responsible for the artistic program on the Acropolis, supervised hundreds of workers in a mammoth workshop and yet still managed to construct a complex with a single unifying artistic expression. This was a golden age for artists, indeed.

GREEK SCULPTURE

There are three ways in which Greek sculpture stands as a departure from the civilizations that have preceded it:

1.Greek sculpture is unafraid of nudity. Unlike the Egyptians, who felt that nudity was debasing, the Greeks gloried in the perfection of the human body. At first, only men are shown as nude; gradually women are also depicted, although there is a reluctance to fully accept female nudity, even at the end of the Greek period.

2.Large Greek marble sculptures are cut away from the stone behind them. Large-scale bronze works were particularly treasured; their lighter weight made compositional experiments more ambitious.

3.Greek art in the Classical and Hellenistic periods use contrapposto, which is a relaxed way of standing with knees bent and shoulders tilted. The immobile look of Egyptian art is replaced by a more informal and fluid stance, enabling the figures to appear to move.

Greek Archaic Sculpture

What survives of Greek Archaic art is limited to grave monuments, such as kouros and kore figures, or sculpture from Greek temples. Marble is the stone of choice, although Greek works survive in a variety of materials: bronze, limestone, terra cotta, wood, gold—even iron. Sculpture was often painted, especially if it were to be located high on the temple façade. Backgrounds are highlighted in red; lips, eyes, hair, and drapery are routinely painted. Sculpture often has metallic accessories: thunderbolts, harps, and various other attributes.

Bronze sculpture is hollow and made in the lost-wax process, call cire perdue. Eyes are inlaid with stone or glass, and lips, nipples, and teeth could be made of copper or silver highlights.

Kouros and kore figures stand frontally, bolt upright, and with squarish shoulders. Hair is knotted, and the ears are a curlicue. Figures are cut free from the stone as much as possible, although arms are sometimes attached to thighs. As in Egyptian works, kouros figures have one foot placed in front of the other, as if they were in mid-stride. The shins have a neat crease down the front, as Egyptian works do. To give the figures a sense of life, most kouros and kore figures smile.

Anavysos Kouros, Archaic Greek, c. 530 B.C.E., marble with remnants of paint, National Archaeological Museum, Athens (Figure 4.1)

Form

■Emulates the stance of Egyptian sculpture but is nude; arms and legs are largely cut free from the stone.

■Rigidly frontal.

■Freestanding and able to move; in contrast, many Egyptian works are reliefs or are attached to the stone.

■Hair is knotted and falls in neatly braided rows down the back.

■Some paint survives, some of it encaustic, which would have given the sculpture greater life.

■“Archaic smile” meant to enliven the sculpture.

Figure 4.1: Anavysos Kouros, Archaic Greek, c. 530 B.C.E., marble with remnants of paint, National Archaeological Museum, Athens

Function

■Grave marker, replacing huge vases of the Geometric period.

■Sponsored by an aristocratic family.

Content

■Not a real portrait but a general representation of the dead.

■Named after a young military hero, Kroisos; inscription at base identifies him: “Stand and grieve at the tomb of Kroisos, the dead, in the front line slain by the wild Ares.”

Content Area Ancient Mediterranean, Image 27

Web Source https://www.namuseum.gr/en/collection/archaiki-periodos/

■Cross-Cultural Comparisons for Essay Question 1: Idealization

–Power figure (Figure 27.6)

–Staff god (Figure 28.5a)

–Donatello, David (Figure 15.5)

Peplos Kore, from the Acropolis, Archaic Greek, c. 530 B.C.E., marble and painted details, Acropolis Museum, Athens (Figure 4.2)

Form

■Hand emerges into the viewer’s space, breaks out of the mold of static Archaic ­statues.

■Indented waist.

■Breasts revealed beneath drapery.

■Rounded and naturalistic face.

■Much of the encaustic paint still remains, animating the face and hair.

■Broken hand was fitted into the socket and probably held an attribute; she may have been a goddess.

Context

■She is named for the peplos, thought to be one of the four traditional garments she is wearing.

Theory

■Recent theory proposes that she is the goddess, either Athena or Artemis; the figure is now missing arrows and a bow in her hand, and she may have worn a metal ­diadem on her head.

Content Area Ancient Mediterranean, Image 28

Web Source http://theacropolismuseum.gr/en/content/korai-acropolis

■Cross-Cultural Comparisons for Essay Question 1: Human Figure in Greek Art

–Winged Victory of Samothrace (Figure 4.8)

–Seated boxer (Figure 4.10)

–Victory adjusting her sandal (Figure 4.6)

Figure 4.2: Peplos Kore, from the Acropolis, Archaic Greek, c. 530 B.C.E., marble and painted details, Acropolis Museum, Athens

Greek Classical Sculpture

Classical sculpture is distinct from Archaic in the use of contrapposto, that is, the fluid body movement and relaxed stance that was unknown in freestanding sculpture before this. In addition, forms became highly idealized; even sculptures depicting older people have heroic bodies. In the fifth century B.C.E., this heroic form was defined by Polykleitos, a sculptor whose canon of proportions of the human figure had far-reaching effects. Polykleitos wrote that the head should be one-seventh of the body. He also favored a heavy musculature with a body expressing alternating stances of relaxed and stressed muscles. Thus, on his Spear Bearer (450–440 B.C.E.) (Figure 4.3), the right arm and the left leg are flexed, and the left arm and right leg are relaxed.

The crushing of Athens during the Peloponnesian War had a dramatic impact on the arts, which turned away from the idealizing canon of the fifth century B.C.E. In the Late Classical period of the fourth century B.C.E., gods were sculpted in a more humanized way. Praxiteles, the greatest sculptor of his age, carved figures with a sensuous and languorous appeal, and favored a lanky look to the bodies. Hallmarks of fourth-century work include heads that are one-eighth of the body and a sensuous S-curve to the frame.

Polykleitos, Doryphoros (Spear Bearer), original: c. 450–440 B.C.E., Roman marble copy of a Greek bronze original, National Archaeological Museum, Naples (Figure 4.3)

Form

■Blocky solidity.

■Closed stance.

■Broad shoulders, thick torso, muscular body.

■Idealized body; contrapposto.

■Body is both tense and relaxed: left arm and right leg are relaxed, right arm and left leg are tense.

Content

■Warrior and athlete.

■Hand once held a spear.

■Movement is restrained; ideal Spartan body.

■Averted gaze; he does not recognize the viewer’s admiration.

■Contemplative gaze.

Figure 4.3: Polykleitos, Doryphoros (Spear Bearer), original: c. 450–440 B.C.E., Roman marble copy of a Greek bronze original, National Archaeological Museum, Naples

Context

■Greek name: Doryphoros.

■Represents Polykleitos’s ideal masculine figure.

■Considered a canon for classical body types; the general rule for beauty and form, ­probably linked to a no longer existing treatise by the artist.

History

■Marble Roman copy of a bronze Greek original.

■Found in Pompeii in a place for athletic training, perhaps for inspiration for athletes.

Content Area Ancient Mediterranean, Image 34

Web Source http://collections.artsmia.org/art/3520/the-doryphoros-italy

■Cross-Cultural Comparisons for Essay Question 1: Human Figure

–Female deity from Nukuoro (Figure 28.2)

–Shiva as Lord of Dance (Figure 23.6)

–Braque, The Portuguese (Figure 22.6)

Helios, horses, and Dionysus (Heracles?), c. 438–432 B.C.E., marble, British Museum, ­London (Figure 4.4)

Form

■Greek Classical art; contrapposto.

■Figures seated in the left-hand corner of the east pediment of the Parthenon (Figure 4.16a).

■Sculptures comfortably sit in the triangular space of the pediment.

Function

■Part of the east pediment of the Parthenon.

■This grouping contains figures who are present at the birth of Athena, which is the main topic at the center of pediment—now lost.

Figure 4.4: Helios, horses, and Dionysus (Heracles?), c. 438–432 B.C.E., marble, British Museum, London

Content

■Left: the sun god, Helios, bringing up the dawn with his horses; the male nude is Dionysus, god of wine, and he is lounging.

■Two seated figures may be the goddesses Demeter and Persephone, reacting to the birth of Athena.

Context

■Part of the Parthenon sculptures, also called the Elgin Marbles.

■Phidias acted as the chief sculptor of the workshop.

Content Area Ancient Mediterranean, Image 35

Web Source https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/figure-thought-to-be-of-dionysos-from-the-east-pediment-of-the-parthenon/XgE6C-9WfO4Dbw

■Cross-Cultural Comparisons for Essay Question 1: Sculpture on Architectural Monuments

–Churning of the Ocean of Milk (Figure 23.8c)

–Royal Portals at Chartres (Figure 12.6)

–Last Judgment, Sainte-Foy, Conques (Figure 11.6)

Plaque of the Ergastines, c. 447–438 B.C.E., marble, Louvre, Paris (Figure 4.5)

Form

■Isocephalism: the tradition of depicting heads of figures on the same level.

■Figures stand in contrapposto.

■Carved in high relief, which reflects placement; the more three-dimensional the relief, the better it could be seen from below.

Content

■Six ergastines, young women in charge of weaving Athena’s peplos, are greeted by two priests.

Context

■Part of a frieze from the Parthenon that depicts some 360 figures (Figure 4.16b).

■Scene from the Panathenaic Frieze depicting the Panathenaic Procession, held every four years to honor Athena.

■This is the first time in Greek art that human events are depicted on a temple.

■The scene contains a religious procession of women dressed in contemporary drapery and acting nobly.

Figure 4.5: Plaque of the Ergastines, c. 447–438 B.C.E., marble, Louvre, Paris

■The procession began at the Dipylon Gate, passed through the agora, and ended at the Parthenon.

■Athenians placed a new peplos on an ancient statue of Athena.

Theory

■New theory: Not the Panathenaic procession but the story of the legendary Athenian king Erechtheus, who sacrificed one of his daughters to save the city of Athens; told to do so by the Oracle of Delphi.

Content Area Ancient Mediterranean, Image 35

Web Source http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/plaque-ergastines

■Cross-Cultural Comparisons for Essay Question 1: Relief Sculpture

–Churning of the Ocean of Milk (Figure 23.8c)

–Coyolxauhqui (Figure 26.5b)

–Lintel 25 of Structure 23 from Yaxchilán (Figure 26.2b)

Victory adjusting her sandal, from the Temple of Athena Nike, c. 410 B.C.E., marble, Acropolis Museum, Athens (Figure 4.6)

Form

■Graceful winged figure modeled in high relief.

■Deeply incised drapery lines reveal body; wet drapery.

Context

■Part of the balustrade on the Temple of Athena Nike, a war ­monument (Figure 4.17).

■One of many figures on the balustrade; not a continuous narrative but a sequence of independent scenes.

■The importance of military victories was stressed in the images on the Acropolis.

Figure 4.6: Victory adjusting her sandal, from the Temple of Athena Nike, c. 410 B.C.E., marble, Acropolis Museum, Athens

Web Source http://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en/content/temple-athena-nike

■Cross-Cultural Comparisons for Essay Question 1: Figure in Motion

–Shiva as Lord of Dance (Figure 23.6)

–Nio guardian figure (Figures 25.1c, 25.1d)

–Churning of the Ocean of Milk (Figure 23.8c)

Attributed to Kallimachos, Grave stele of Hegeso, c. 410 B.C.E., marble and paint, National Archaeological Museum, Athens (Figure 4.7)

Form

■Classical period of Greek art.

■Use of contrapposto in the standing figure.

■Jewelry painted in, not visible.

■Architectural framework.

■Text includes name of the deceased.

Function

■Grave marker.

■In Geometric and Archaic periods, Greeks used kraters and kouroi to mark graves; in the Classical period, stelae were used.

Figure 4.7: Attributed to Kallimachos, Grave stele of Hegeso, c. 410 B.C.E., marble and paint, National Archaeological Museum, Athens

Content

■Commemorates the death of Hegeso; an inscription identifies her and her father.

■Genre scene: Hegeso examines a piece of jewelry from a jewelry box handed to her by a standing servant; may represent her dowry.

■Standing figure has a lower social station, placed before a seated figure.

Context

■Erected in the Dipylon cemetery in Athens.

■Attributed to the sculptor Kallimachos.

Content Area Ancient Mediterranean, Image 36

Web Source https://www.namuseum.gr/en/collection/klasiki-periodos-2/

■Cross-Cultural Comparisons for Essay Question 1: Funerary Markers and Materials

–Taj Mahal (Figures 9.17a, 9.17b)

– Sarcophagus of the Spouses (Figure 5.4)

–Tutankhamun’s Tomb (Figure 3.11)

Greek Hellenistic Sculpture

Hellenistic sculptors offer a wider range of realistic modeling and a willingness to show more movement than their classical colleagues. Figures have a great variety of expression from sadness to joy. Themes untouched before, such as childhood, old age, despair, anger, and drunkenness, are common subjects in Hellenistic art. To be certain, there are still Hellenistic beauties, but the accent is on a variety of expressions sweeping across the range of human emotion. Moreover, sculptors carve with greater flexibility, employing negative space more freely. The viewer is meant to walk around a Hellenistic sculpture and see it from many sides; hence, the work is often not meant to be placed against a wall.

Winged Victory of Samothrace, Hellenistic Greek, c. 190 B.C.E., marble, Louvre, Paris (Figure 4.8)

Form

■Monumental figure.

■Dramatic twist and contrapposto of the torso.

■Wet drapery look imitates water playing on the wet body.

■Illusion of wind on the body.

Function

■Meant to sit on a fountain representing a figurehead on a boat; the fountain would splash water around the figure.

Content

■Large heroic figure of Nike placed above the marble prow of a naval vessel.

■Nike is wearing several garments, some of which are folded inside out to show the force of the wind.

■It has been suggested that Nike held a trumpet, a wreath, or a fillet in her right hand. However, the hand found in Samothrace in 1950 has an open palm and two outstretched fingers, suggesting that she was not holding ­anything and was simply holding her hand up in a gesture of greeting.

Figure 4.8: Winged Victory of Samothrace, Hellenistic Greek, c. 190 B.C.E., marble, Louvre, Paris

Context

■Probably made to commemorate a naval victory in 191 B.C.E.; Nike is the goddess of victory.

■The boat at the base is an ancient battleship with oar boxes and traces of a ram.

History

■Found in 1863 in situ on Samothrace.

■Reassembled in the Louvre Museum in Paris and placed at the top of a grand staircase.

■Only one wing was found; the other is a mirror image.

■Only one breast was found; the other is a reconstruction.

■The right hand has been found, but it cannot be attached because no arms have been found.

Content Area Ancient Mediterranean, Image 37

Web Source http://focus.louvre.fr/en/winged-victory-samothrace

■Cross-Cultural Comparisons for Essay Question 1: Location

–Smithson, Spiral Jetty (Figure 22.26)

–Dome of the Rock (Figures 9.12a, 9.12b)

–Lanzón Stone (Figure 26.1b)

Athena, from the Great Altar of Zeus and Athena at Pergamon, Hellenistic Greek, c. 175 B.C.E., marble, Pergamon Museum, Berlin (Figure 4.9)

Form

■Deeply carved figures overlap one another; masterful handling of spatial illusion; figures break into the viewer’s space from the frieze.

■Dramatic intensity of figures and movement; heroic musculature.

Function

■Gigantomachy on the base of the Pergamon Altar (Figure 4.18a) illustrates the victories of the goddess Athena, who is worshipped at the altar.

Content

■Describes the battle between the gods and the giants; the giants, depicted as helpless, are dragged up the stairs to worship the gods.

■Athena grabs Alkyoneos by the hair and drags him up the stair to worship Zeus.

■Nike, on the right, crowns Athena in victory.

■Gaia, the earth goddess, looks on in horror and pleads for the fate of her sons, the giants.

Context

■The gods’ victory over the giants offers a parallel to Alexander the Great’s defeat of the Persians.

■Also acts as an allegory of a Greek military victory by Eumenes II.

Content Area Ancient Mediterranean, Image 38

Web Source http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/Civilization/id/772

Figure 4.9: Athena, from the Great Altar of Zeus and Athena at Pergamon, Hellenistic Greek, c. 175 B.C.E., marble, Pergamon Museum, Berlin

■Cross-Cultural Comparisons for Essay Question 1: Relief Sculpture

–Narmer Palette (Figure 3.4)

–Anthropomorphic stele (Figure 1.2)

–Pyxis of al-Mughira (Figure 9.4)

Seated boxer, Hellenistic Greek, c. 100 B.C.E., bronze, National Roman Museum, Rome (Figure 4.10)

Form

■Older man, past his prime, looks defeated.

■Smashed nose; lips sunken in suggesting broken teeth.

■Cauliflower ears.

■Nude fighter; hands wrapped in leather bands.

■Figure evinces sadness, stoicism and determination.

Function

■May have been a good luck charm for athletes; evidence of toes worn away from being touched.

Materials

■Rare surviving Hellenistic bronze.

■Blood, denoted in copper, drips from his face and onto his right arm and thigh.

■Copper used to highlight his lips and nipples, the straps on his leather gloves, and the wounds on his head.

Figure 4.10: Seated boxer, Hellenistic Greek, c. 100 B.C.E., bronze, National Roman Museum, Rome

Context

■May have been part of a group or perhaps a single sculpture, the head turned to face an unseen opponent.

■Found in a Roman bath in Rome.

Content Area Ancient Mediterranean, Image 41

Web Source http://metmuseum.org/blogs/now-at-the-met/features/2013/the-boxer

■Cross-Cultural Comparisons for Essay Question 1: Individual and Society

–Goya, And There’s Nothing to Be Done (Figure 20.2)

–Kirchner, Self-Portrait as a Soldier (Figure 22.3)

–Munch, The Scream (Figure 21.11)

GREEK ARCHITECTURE

Like the Egyptians, the Greeks designed their temples to be the earthly homes of the gods. Also like the Egyptians, the Greeks preferred limited access to the deity. This is one reason why such grand temples had doors that were removed from public view. In fact, architecturally the front and back of Greek temples look almost identical; only the sculptural ornament is different. When Greeks came to worship they congregated at a temple near the building. Interiors of temples held huge statues whose forbidding presence allowed only those with appropriate credentials to enter.

Figure 4.11: Greek orders of columns

There are three types of Greek temples: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian (Figure 4.11). Greeks in mainland Greece and in the places they settled, like Sicily, ­preferred the Doric style, with its simplified capitals and columns with tapered shafts that sit, without a base, directly on the floor of the temple. Doric temples have unadorned architraves and alternating trigylphs and metopes, the latter depicting episodes from Greek mythology. Greek island architects preferred the Ionic style, with its volute-like capitals, columns that sit on bases, and friezes of sculpture placed along the entablature. Later, the Corinthian order was introduced, in which the capitals have leaves and the straight columns have bases that transition to the floor. The different orders of Greek architecture were occasionally freely mixed, as in the case of the Parthenon, where a Doric temple has Ionic features, like a frieze, introduced on the inside.

Figure 4.12: A tholos, a circular shrine

Figure 4.13: Caryatids act as columns holding up a building

Elaborate Greek temple complexes were placed on a high hill, or acropolis, overlooking the city. Gateways, called propylaea, prepared the visitor for his or her entrance into the complex.

Greek temple architecture shows a reliance on few forms and develops these. However, there are two innovations of note. The first is the circular shrine, called a tholos (Figure 4.12), which represents perfection to the geometry-minded Greeks. The second is the introduction of columns carved as figures, the female version of which are called caryatids (Figure 4.13). These columns have to be carefully executed because the weight of the building rests on the thin points of a body’s structure: the neck and the legs. This means that all caryatids have long hair and solid gowns in order to stabilize the building above.

Besides temples, the Greeks built a number of other important buildings, such as shopping centers and theaters. The theaters are marvels of construction, possessing incredible acoustics, especially considering that the performances were held in the open air. Some 12,000 people seated at the theater at Epidauros could hear every word, even if they were seated 55 rows back.

Except for the rare tholos buildings, Greek temples are rectangular and organized on an inventive, although rigid, set of geometric principles, which tantalized Greek thinkers and philosophers. Temples are built with the post-and-lintel system in mind, the columns never too widely set apart. The columns completely surround the temple core in a design called a peristyle. Pediments, which are seated over the tops of columns, contain sculpture representing the heroic deeds of the god or goddess housed inside. A cornice separates the upper and lower parts of a Greek temple (Figure 4.14).

The doors are set back from the façade, sometimes by two rows of columns, so that little light could enter these generally windowless buildings. This increases the sense of mystery about the interior, where few could go and the deity serenely reigned.

Figure 4.14: Parts of a Doric Greek temple

Athenian Agora, Archaic through Hellenistic Greek, 600–150 B.C.E., Athens, Greece (Figure 4.15)

Function

■A plaza at the base of the Acropolis in Athens with commercial, civic, religious, and social buildings where ceremonies took place.

■Setting for the Panathenaic Festival, ceremonies, and parades to honor Athena.

■The Panathenaic Way cuts through along a hilly terrain from the northwestern to the southeastern corners.

Content

■Surrounding the plaza were important buildings, including:

–a bouleuterion, a chamber used by a council of 500 citizens, called a boule, who were chosen by lot to serve for one year.

–a tholos, a round structure manned by a group of senators 24 hours a day for emergency meetings; served as a dining hall where the prytaneis (executives) of the boule often met.

–Several stoas. A stoa is a covered walkway with columns on one side and a wall on the other.

Content Area Ancient Mediterranean, Image 26

Web Source http://www.agathe.gr/

■Cross-Cultural Comparisons for Essay Question 1: Large Public Rituals

–Presentation of Fijian mats and tapa cloths to Queen Elizabeth II (Figure 28.10)

–Aka elephant mask (Figure 27.12)

–The Kaaba (Figure 9.11a)

Figure 4.15: Athenian Agora, Archaic through Hellenistic Greek, 600–150 B.C.E., Athens, Greece

Iktinos and Kallikrates, The Parthenon, 447–410 B.C.E., Athens, Greece (Figures 4.16a and 4.16b)

Form

■Greek predilection for algebra and geometry is omnipresent in the design of this building: parts can be expressed as x = 2y + 1; thus, there are 17 columns on the side (x) and 8 columns in the front (y), and the ratio of the length to the width is 9:4. Proportions are the same for the cella.

■Unusually light interior had two windows in the cella.

■Floor curves upward in the center of the façade to drain off rainwater and to deflect appearance of sagging at the ends.

■Since the columns at the ends are surrounded by light, they are made thicker so as to look the same as the other columns.

■Ionic elements in a Doric temple: the rear room contains Ionic capitals, and the frieze on interior is Ionic.

Function

■Interior built to house a massive statue of Athena, to whom the building was dedicated; also included the treasure of the Delian League.

■The statue, made of gold and ivory over a wooden core, no longer exists.

Context

■Constructed under the leadership of Pericles after the Persian sack of Athens in 480 B.C.E. destroyed the original acropolis.

■Pericles used the extra funds in the Persian war treasury to build the Acropolis; Greek allies were furious that the funds were not returned to them.

History

■Built as a Greek temple dedicated to Athena, the patroness of Athens.

–According to the story, Athena and Poseidon vied for control over Athens, and offered gifts to the populace to entice them (this story is recounted on the west pediment of the Parthenon).

–Poseidon made salt water spring from the ground on the acropolis.

–Athena made an olive tree grow on the site.

■The sacred sites in which these deeds are associated are in the Erechtheum, a temple adjacent to the Parthenon, including the marks of Poseidon’s trident, the salt water well, and the sacred olive tree.

■After the Greek period, the Parthenon became a Greek Orthodox church and then a Roman Catholic church dedicated to Mary.

■In the Islamic period, it was converted to a mosque.

■Destroyed by the Venetians in an attack against the Turks.

■Half of the sculptures were removed to England by Lord Elgin in the nineteenth century.

Figure 4.16a: Iktinos and Kallikrates, Acropolis, c. 447–410 B.C.E., marble, Athens, Greece

Content Area Ancient Mediterranean, Image 35

Web Source http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/404

■Cross-Cultural Comparisons for Essay Question 1: ­Classical Influence on Later Buildings

–Jefferson, Monticello (Figures 19.5a, 19.5b)

–Porta, Il Gesù (Figure 16.6a)

–Venturi, House in New Castle County (Figures 22.27a, 22.27b)

Figure 4.16b: Iktinos and Kallikrates, the Parthenon, 447–410 B.C.E., Athens, Greece

Kallikrates, Temple of Athena Nike, 427–424 B.C.E., marble, Athens, Greece (Figure 4.17)

Form

■Amphiprostyle: having four columns in the front and four in the back.

■Ionic temple.

Function

■Built to commemorate the Greek victory over the Persians in the Battle of Marathon; Nike is the goddess of victory.

■Once contained a figure of Nike inside.

Context

■Many images of victory on the temple.

■Cf. Victory adjusting her sandal (Figure 4.6) sculpted on a balustrade or railing that once framed the ­building.

Content Area Ancient Mediterranean, Image 35

Web Source http://greatbuildings.com/buildings/Temple_of_Athena_Nike.html

Figure 4.17: Kallikrates, Temple of Athena Nike, 427–424 B.C.E., marble, Athens, Greece

Great Altar of Zeus and Athena at Pergamon, Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), Hellenistic Greece, c. 175 B.C.E., marble, Pergamon Museum, Berlin (Figures 4.18a and 4.18b)

Form

■Altar is on an elevated platform at the top of a dramatic flight of stairs.

■A frieze 7.5 feet high and more than 400 feet long wraps around the monument.

■Ionic columns frame the monument.

Function

■Altar dedicated to Zeus and Athena.

■Cf. Athena (Figure 4.9) on the gigantomachy around the base of the altar.

Context

■Conscious effort to be in dialogue with the Panathenatic frieze on the Parthenon.

Figure 4.18a: Great Altar of Zeus and Athena at Pergamon, Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), Hellenistic Greece, c. 175 B.C.E., marble, Pergamon Museum, Berlin

■Parallels made between the Pergamon victories over the barbarians in a recent war, Alexander the Great’s defeat of the Persians, and the gods’ defeat of the giants in ­mythology.

Content Area Ancient Mediterranean, Image 38

Web Source http://www.smb.museum/en/museums-institutions/antikensammlung/collection-research/3d-model-of-the-pergamon-altar.html

GREEK POTTERY

Much of what is known about Greek painting comes from pottery, which survives in surprising quantities, even though mural painting has almost totally disappeared. Professional pottery had been practiced in Greece from its origins in Aegean society throughout the entire span of the Greek period. Some vessels are everyday items; others serve as tomb monuments. Massive kraters have holes at the bottom so that when libations are poured liquid could run out the bottom of the pot and onto the grave itself. Pots that were used for these purposes often have a scene of the deceased lying on a bier surrounded by mourners. Chariots and warriors complete the grieving procession.

Figure 4.18b: Plan of the Altar of Zeus and Athena at Pergamon, Asia Minor (present day Turkey), Greek Hellenistic, c. 175 B.C.E.

Form followed function in Greek pottery. Most pots were designed for a particular purpose and were so shaped. The portable amphora stored provisions like oil or wine with an opening large enough to admit a ladle. The krater was a bowl for mixing water and wine because the Greeks never drank their wine straight. A kylix, with its wide mouth and shallow dimensions, was a drinking cup, ideal for the display of scenes on the relatively flat bottom.

Painters wrote a myriad of inscriptions that were sometimes literally addressed to the viewer of the pot, saying things like “I greet you.” Inscriptions could explain the narrative scene represented, or identify people or objects. The underside of vases usually indicated the selling transaction of the pot.

In the Archaic period, artists painted in a style called black figure, which emphasized large figures drawn in black on the red natural surface of the clay. Other colors would burn in the high temperature of the kiln, so after the pot had been fired, details were added in highlighting colors. The bright glazing of Greek pottery gives the surface a lustrous shine. At the end of the Archaic period, red-figure vases were introduced by Andokides; in effect, they are the reversal of black figure style pots. The backgrounds were painted in black, and the natural red of the clay detailed the forms.

Archaic pottery has the same stiffness and monumentality of Archaic sculpture. Achievements in Classical sculpture, such as contrapposto, were paralleled in classical pottery as well. Similarly the dynamic movements of the Hellenistic period were reflected in Greek Hellenistic pottery.

Niobid Painter, Niobides Krater, Classical Greek, 460–450 B.C.E., clay, red-figure technique with white highlights, Louvre, Paris (Figures 4.19a and 4.19b)

Form

■First time in vase painting that isocephalism (the tradition of depicting heads of figures on the same level) has been jettisoned.

■May have been the influence of wall paintings, although almost no Greek wall paintings survive. Written sources detail how numerous figures were placed at various levels in ­complex compositions.

Technique

■Red-figure ware.

Function

■Ceremonial krater; practical kraters were used for mixing water and wine or storing ­liquids.

Context

■Called the Niobides Krater because the killing of Niobe’s ­children is depicted on one side.

–Niobe, who had seven sons and seven daughters, bragged about her fertility to the god Leto, who had only two children.

–Leto’s two children, Apollo and Artemis, sought revenge by killing Niobid’s fourteen.

–Niobid is punished for her hubris.

–Niobe’s children are slaughtered.

■On the other side of the vase, the story is the subject of scholarly debate.

–One theory is that it represents Herakles in the center surrounded by heroes in arms and Athena (on the left).

–Another theory is that the warriors of Marathon are depicted placing themselves before a sculpture of Herakles seeking protection in an upcoming battle.

Figure 4.19a: Niobid Painter, Niobides Krater, Classical Greek, 460–450 B.C.E., clay, red-figure technique with white highlights, Louvre, Paris

Figure 4.19b: Lateral view of Figure 4.19a

History

■Found in Orvieto, Italy; many Greek vases found in Etruscan tombs.

Content Area Ancient Mediterranean, Image 33

Web Source http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/attic-red-figure-calyx-krater-known-niobid-krater

■Cross-Cultural Comparisons for Essay Question 1: Ceramics

–Beaker with ibex motifs (Figure 1.10)

–The David Vases (Figure 24.11)

–Martínez, Black-on-black ceramic vessel (Figure 26.14)

GREEK PAINTING

Alexander Mosaic from the House of Faun, Republican Roman copy of c. 100 B.C.E., mosaic, National Archaeological Museum, Naples (Figure 4.20)

Figure 4.20: Alexander Mosaic from the House of Faun, Republican Roman copy of c. 100 B.C.E., mosaic, National Archaeological Museum, Naples

Form

■Crowded with nervous excitement.

■Extremely complex interweaving of figures; spatial illusionism through foreshortening, chiaroscuro, reflection in shield.

Technique

■Use of tesserae instead of previously used pebbles.

■Tesserae allow for greater flexibility and more complex compositions and shadings.

Function

■Roman floor mosaic, found in a house in Pompeii, based on an original Greek mural (?) painting.

Content

■Alexander, at left: young, brave, forthright, assured of success, wears helmet.

■Alexander pierces the body of an enemy with his spear without so much as a glance at his victim.

■Alexander’s widened eye is trained on Darius.

■Darius, in center right on chariot: horrified, weakly cedes the victory; his charioteer commands the horses to make their escape.

■Darius looks stunned as his brother, Oxyanthres, is stabbed, the brother portrayed here as sacrificing himself to save the king.

■The dying man’s right hand is still gripping his weapon, as though he wished to pull it out of his body, but his body is already collapsing onto the bloody corpse of his black horse.

Theories

■Perhaps a copy of a mural made by Piloxenos of Eretria for King Cassander.

■Perhaps made by Helen of Egypt, one of the few female Greek artists whose name has come down to us.

Content Area Ancient Mediterranean, Image 40

Web Source http://alexandermosaik.de/en/

■Cross-Cultural Comparisons for Essay Question 1: Battle and Glory

–Narmer Palette (Figure 3.4)

–Bayeux Tapestry (Figure 11.7a)

–Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People (Figure 20.4)

VOCABULARY

Acropolis: literally, a “high city,” a Greek temple complex built on a hill over a city (Figure 4.16a)

Agora: a public plaza in a Greek city where commercial, religious, and societal activities are conducted (Figure 4.15)

Amphiprostyle: having four columns in the front and rear of a temple

Amphora: a two-handled ancient Greek storage jar

Architrave: a plain, unornamented lintel on the entablature (Figure 4.14)

Athena: Greek goddess of war and wisdom; patron of Athens

Canon: a body of rules or laws; in Greek art, the ideal mathematical proportion of a figure

Caryatid (male: atlantid): a building column that is shaped like a female figure (Figure 4.13)

Cella: the main room of a temple where the god is housed

Contrapposto: a graceful arrangement of the body based on tilted shoulders and hips and bent knees (Figure 4.3)

Corinthian: an order of ancient Greek architecture similar to the Ionic, except that the capitals are carved in tiers of leaves (Figure 4.11)

Cornice: a projecting ledge over a wall (Figure 4.14)

Doric: an order of ancient Greek architecture that features grooved columns with no grooved bases and an upper story with square sculpture called metopes (Figure 4.11)

Encaustic: a type of painting in which colors are added to hot wax to affix to a surface

Entablature: the upper story of a Greek temple (Figure 4.14)

Frieze: a horizontal band of sculpture (Figure 4.5)

Gigantomachy: a mythical ancient Greek war between the giants and the Olympian gods (Figure 4.9)

In situ: a Latin expression that means that something is in its original location

Ionic: an order of Greek architecture that features columns with scrolled capitals and an upper story with sculptures that are in friezes (Figure 4.11)

Isocephalism: the tradition of depicting heads of figures on the same level (Figure 4.5)

Kiln: an oven used for making pottery

Kouros (female: kore): an archaic Greek sculpture of a standing youth (Figures 4.1 and 4.2)

Krater: a large ancient Greek bowl used for mixing water and wine (Figure 4.19)

Metope: a small relief sculpture on the façade of a Greek temple (Figure 4.14)

Mosaic: a decoration using pieces of stone, marble, or colored glass, called tesserae, that are cemented to a wall or a floor (Figure 4.20)

Nike: ancient Greek goddess of victory (Figure 4.8)

Niobe: the model of a grieving mother; after boasting of her fourteen children, jealous gods killed them

Panathenaic Way: a ceremonial road for a procession built to honor Athena during a festival (Figure 4.15)

Pediment: the triangular top of a temple that contains sculpture (Figure 4.14)

Peplos: a garment worn by women in ancient Greece, usually full length and tied at the waist (Figure 4.2)

Peristyle: a colonnade surrounding a building or enclosing a courtyard (Figure 4.16b)

Portico: an entranceway to a building having columns supporting a roof

Propylaeum (plural: propylaea): a gateway leading to a Greek temple

Relief sculpture: sculpture that projects from a flat background. A very shallow relief sculpture is called a bas-relief (pronounced: bah-relief) (Figure 4.5)

Shaft: the body of a column (Figure 4.14)

Stele (plural: stelae): an upright stone slab used to mark a grave or a site (Figure 4.7)

Stoa: an ancient Greek covered walkway having columns on one side and a wall on the other (Figure 4.15)

Tholos: an ancient Greek circular building (Figure 4.12)

Trigylph: a projecting grooved element alternating with a metope on a Greek temple (Figure 4.14)

Zeus: king of the ancient Greek gods; known as Jupiter to the Romans; god of the sky and weather

SUMMARY

The Greeks have had such a powerful influence on history that we have dubbed their art “classical,” a word that means, among many other things, a standard of authority.

Greek temples are typically surrounded by an imposing set of columns that embrace the cella where the god is housed. The temple itself is often set apart from the rest of the city, sometimes located on an adjoining hill called an acropolis. Greek theaters, like the temples, are built of cut stone carefully carved into an important site.

Greek sculpture and pottery (little wall painting survives) are divided into a number of periods. Greek Archaic art is known for its bolt upright figures and animating smiles. The Classical period is characterized by the use of contrapposto, a figure placed in a relaxed pose and standing naturally. Fifth century B.C.E. art is known for its idealized body types; however, more humanizing expressions characterize fourth century B.C.E. work.

The last phase, called Hellenistic, shows figures with a greater range of expression and movement. Often sculptures look beyond themselves, at an approaching enemy perhaps, or into the face of an unseen wind.

Whatever the period, Greek art has provided a standard against which other classicizing trends in art history have been measured.

PRACTICE EXERCISES

Multiple-Choice

1.The Niobides Krater is the earliest known piece of Greek pottery

(A)to show the Niobides myth

(B)to be done in red-figure style

(C)to not have figures arranged in isocephalism

(D)to be influenced by wall painting

2.To emphasize realism seen in the Seated boxer, the artist used

(A)gold to symbolize the boxer’s victory over his opponents

(B)ivory to highlight the tousled nature of his hair during combat

(C)copper to indicate wounds on the hands and other parts of the body

(D)blood to give a sense of the physical combat of boxing

3.Helios, horses, and Dionysos is a sculptural group placed on the pediment of the Parthenon because these figures

(A)helped Athena defeat Neptune

(B)were witnesses to Athena’s birth

(C)are associated with the Athenian king, Erechtheus

(D)were part of the Panathenaic procession

4.The function of the Anavysos Kouros is to

(A)mark the grave of a dead athlete

(B)worship a Greek god

(C)celebrate a military victory

(D)honor athletes from the Olympics

5.The Anavysos Kouros has in common with Egyptian sculpture its

(A)nudity

(B)elongated anatomy

(C)contrapposto

(D)stance

Short Essay

Practice Question 4: Contextual Analysis

Suggested Time: 15 minutes

This work is the Parthenon, built by Iktinos and Kallikrates between 447–432 B.C.E.

Where was the Parthenon built?

Describe at least two reasons why the Parthenon was built on this site.

Using specific contextual evidence, explain how the site influenced the choice of both the materials and the imagery.

ANSWER KEY

1.C

2.C

3.B

4.A

5.D

ANSWERS EXPLAINED

Multiple-Choice

1.(C) All of the statements about the Niobides Krater are true, but only (C) is the first time a vase depicts figures arranged without their heads lined up in isocephalism.

2.(C) There are a number of copper highlights on the work, the most visible being the wounds on the hands of the boxer.

3.(B) Helios, horses, and Dionysos were witnesses to Athena’s birth; therefore, they belong on the pediment of a temple dedicated to her.

4.(A) As an inscription at the base indicates, this sculpture was meant to honor a dead athlete.

5.(D) Both the Anavysos Kouros and Egyptian sculptures such as King Menkaura and queen have the same stance, with one foot placed before the other, even as the torso remains rigid.

Short Essay Rubric

Task	Point Value	Key Points in a Good Response
Where was the Parthenon built?	1	Athens, Greece or The Acropolis in Athens
Describe at least two reasons why the Parthenon was built on this site.	2; 1 point each	Answers could include: ■The site of the Acropolis is associated with Athena’s victory over Poseidon for dominance over Athens. ■The site has a commanding view of the city of Athens, the way Athena would have a ­commanding view over the inhabitants. ■The site is a monumental and visible expression of the cultural and political dominance of Athens over Greek or foreign rivals. ■It was also built on the site of an earlier temple destroyed by the Persians.
Using specific contextual evidence, explain how the site influenced the choice of both the materials and the imagery.	1 point for materials; 1 point for imagery	Answers could include: ■Marble is a permanent material that expresses endurance and beauty. ■Marble glistens in the sun, making the temple more noticeable and impressive. ■The story of the conflict between Athena and Poseidon is spelled out on the west pediment of the Parthenon. ■The Panathenaic frieze recounts the procession held every four years to honor Athena. ■Other sculptures illustrate moments in the life of Athena, including her birth.