Survey 1 ch05

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Art History
Sixth Edition
Chapter 5
Art of Ancient Greece

Learning Objectives (1 of 2)
5.a Identify the visual hallmarks of Greek Geometric, Orientalizing,
Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic period art for formal, technical, and
expressive qualities.
5.b Interpret the meaning of works of Greek Geometric, Orientalizing,
Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic period art based on their themes,
subjects, and symbols.
5.c Relate artists and works of the distinct periods of Greek Geometric,
Orientalizing, Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic period art to their
cultural, economic, and political contexts.

Learning Objectives (2 of 2)
5.d Apply the vocabulary and concepts used to discuss ancient Greek
art, artists, and art history.
5.e Interpret ancient Greek art using appropriate art historical methods,
such as observation, comparison, and inductive reasoning.
5.f Select visual and textual evidence in various media to support an
argument or an interpretation of ancient Greek art.

Exekias (potter and painter) AJAX AND ACHILLES PLAYING A GAME
c. 540-530 BCE. Black-figure painting on a ceramic amphora,
height of amphora 24" (61 cm). Musei Vaticani, Rome. Photo © Musei
Vaticani/IKONA [Fig. 05-01]

The Emergence of Greek Civilization
• Colonies in the mountainous regions of Italy, Sicily, and Asia Minor
were tied together by common language, heritage, religion, and art.
• Greek artists sought to improve existing artistic trends and fashions,
causing rapid shifts in style as compared to stable trends in Egypt.

ANCIENT GREECE
The cultural heartland of ancient Greece consisted of the Greek mainland, the islands of
the Aegean, and the west coast of Asia Minor, but colonies on the Italic peninsula and the
island of Sicily extended Greek cultural influence farther west into the Mediterranean.
[Map 05-01]

Historical Background
• Independent city-states formed after Mycenaean rule, each with its
own city as political, economic, religious, and cultural center.
• Athens, Corinth, and Sparta emerged as some of the most prominent
cities.
– Athens established a representative government in which citizens
could participate in assemblies.

Religious Beliefs and Sacred Places
• Greeks believed in gods who were immortal, but possessed human
forms, emotions, and flaws.
• Sanctuaries were thought to be sacred to one or more gods.
– Each building was treated as a monument.
– They might include treasuries, statues, housing, or a natural
element.

Greek Art c. 900–c. 600 BCE
• Athens was a major center of ceramic production.
• Through trade, Greeks began to borrow exotic foreign motifs and
create abstract designs.

The Geometric Period (1 of 2)
• Between 900 and 700 BCE, ceramic vessels bore linear motifs.
• Large funerary vessels were used as grave markers.
• The Funerary Krater depicts the mourning human figures in geometric
shapes such as triangles and in full-frontal or full-profile views.

Attributed to the Hirschfeld Workshop FUNERARY KRATER
From the Dipylon Cemetery, Athens. c. 750-735 BCE. Ceramic, height 42-5/8" (108 cm).
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Rogers Fund, 1914. (14.130.14) © 2016. Image
copyright The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence
[Fig. 05-02]

The Geometric Period (2 of 2)
• Greek artists produced figurines of wood, ivory, clay, and cast bronze.
• Man and Centaur is nearly contemporary to the Funerary Krater.
– The theme of warring men and centaurs was prominent in Greek
art.
– Elemental shapes form solid and negative space, making this
sculpture interesting from multiple viewpoints.

MAN AND CENTAUR
Perhaps from Olympia. c. 750 BCE. Bronze, height 4-5/16" (11.1 cm).
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917. (17.190.2072).
© 2016. Image copyright The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence
[Fig. 05-03]

The Orientalizing Period
• By the seventh century, pottery painters preferred large motifs and
moved away from linear decoration.
• The Corinthian olpe shows animals with rosette flower forms in an
example of the black-figure technique.

OLPE (PITCHER)
From Corinth. c. 650-625 BCE. Ceramic with black-figure decoration, height 12-7/8" (32.8
cm). J. Paul Getty Museum, Villa Collection, Los Angeles, California.
[Fig. 05-04]

The Archaic Period, c. 600–480 BCE
• Despite meaning "antiquated," the Archaic period was a time of
achievement and innovation in Greece.
• It was during this period that Sappho and Aesop created their literary
works.

The Sanctuary at Delphi (1 of 2)
• Delphi was renowned as an oracle where the god Apollo was believed
to communicate with humans.
• The Pythian Games, similar to the Olympic Games, were held at
Delphi.
• The sanctuary of Apollo was largely developed during the Archaic
period to include a main temple, performance and athletic area, and
monuments.

AERIAL VIEW OF THE SANCTUARY OF APOLLO, DELPHI
Greece, 6th–3rd century BCE. © DeAgostini/Superstock. [Fig. 05-05]

RECONSTRUCTION DRAWING OF THE SANCTUARY OF APOLLO, DELPHI
© Dorling Kindersley. [Fig. 05-06]

The Sanctuary at Delphi (2 of 2)
• Treasury of the Siphnians
– This treasury was built in the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi
between 530–525 BCE.
– Instead of columns, it features caryatids, or carved forms of
women on pedestals that support an Ionic entablature.
– The frieze and pediments originally contained relief sculpture.

RECONSTRUCTION DRAWING OF THE SANCTUARY OF APOLLO, DELPHI
© Dorling Kindersley [Fig. 05-07]

BATTLE BETWEEN THE GODS AND THE GIANTS
Fragments of the north frieze of the Treasury of the Siphnians, Sanctuary of Apollo,
Delphi. c. 530-525 BCE. Marble, height 26" (66 cm).
Archaeological Museum, Delphi. © Craig & Marie Mauzy, Athens. [Fig. 05-08]

Temples (1 of 5)
• Builders experimented with temple plans and elevation designs.
• An example of the Doric order remains at the former colony of
Poseidonia.
– Peristyles surround the main cella, or room.
– An unusual two-aisle, two-door design suggests two presiding
deities.

PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF HERA I, POSEIDONIA (ROMAN PAESTUM)
Southern Italy. c. 550-540 BCE. [Fig. 05-09a]

EXTERIOR VIEW OF THE TEMPLE OF HERA I, POSEIDONIA (ROMAN PAESTUM)
Southern Italy. c. 550-540 BCE. © Fotografica Foglia, Naples. [Fig. 05-09b]

Temples (2 of 5)
• The temple of Aphaia on Aegina
– The plan features six columns on the facade and twelve on the
sides, with a cella that could be entered from both short sides.
– Columns have a slight swelling in the middle known as entasis.
– It was set in relation to an outside altar as cult ceremonies
occurred there.

TEMPLE OF APHAIA, AEGINA
View from the east. c. 500 or c. 475 BCE.
Column height about 17' (5.18 m). © Craig & Marie Mauzy, Athens. [Fig. 05-10]

Elements of Architecture
The Greek Orders
• Basic components of a column include a shaft (formed by drums) and
a capital.
• Doric
– Fluted shafts on a stylobate
• Ionic
– Filleted shafts and a top volute
• Corinthian
– Stylized acanthus and astragal

ELEMENTS OF ARCHITECTURE: The Greek Orders

Temples (3 of 5)
– No sculpture remains from the metopes and the pediments are
exhibited in Munich.
 They were originally painted brightly.
– The challenge of triangular pediments was explored through
compositions such as in the Dying Warrior sculpture, where a
figure reclines.

RECONSTRUCTION DRAWING OF THE TEMPLE OF APHAIA, AEGINA
c. 500 or c. 475 BCE. Courtesy of Laurence King Publishing, John Griffiths Pedley, Greek
Art and Archaeology, 4th edition ©2007. [Fig. 05-11]

PLAN OF COMPLEX OF THE TEMPLE OF APHAIA, AEGINA
c. 500 or c. 475 BCE. [Fig. 05-12]

WEST PEDIMENT OF THE TEMPLE OF APHAIA, AEGINA
c. 500-490 or 470s BCE. Width about 49' (15 m).
Surviving fragments as assembled in the Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek,
Munich (early restorations removed). Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich.
[Fig. 05-13]

DYING WARRIOR
From the right corner of the west pediment of the Temple of Aphaia, Aegina.
c. 500-490 or 470s BCE. Marble, length 5'6" (1.68 m).
Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek, Munich. Staatliche Antikensammlungen,
Munich/Studio Koppermann. [Fig. 05-14]

Temples (4 of 5)
– On the east pediment, a warrior twists his body in a downward
motion toward his shield.
– This figure has softer flesh and greater definition than the figure on
the west pediment.

DYING WARRIOR
From the left corner of the east pediment of the Temple of Aphaia, Aegina.
c. 490-480 or 470s BCE. Marble, length 6' (1.83 m).

Temples (5 of 5)
• Color in Greek Sculpture
– German scholar Vinzenz Brinkmann analyzes sculptures using
ultraviolet and x-ray fluorescence, microscopy, and pigment
analysis; he and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann then reconstruct them to
look like the originals.
– The patterns on the reconstruction of the archer are the most
striking and make the figure more lifelike.

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann
RECONSTRUCTION OF ARCHER
From the west pediment of the Temple of Aphaia, Aegina. 2004 CE.

ARCHER ("PARIS")
From the west pediment of the Temple of Aphaia, Aegina. c. 500-490 or 470s BCE.
Marble. Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek, Munich. Staatliche
Antikensammlungen, Munich/Studio Koppermann. [Fig. 05-17]

Free-Standing Sculpture (1 of 4)
• Large and made of wood, terra cotta, limestone, or white marble were
materials of choice.
– They would have been brightly painted.
• Kore (pl. korai), a clothed young woman, and kouros (pl. kouroi), an
often nude young man, were frequent subjects.

• Metropolitan Kouros
– This statue features a rigidly upright figure in a stance reminiscent
of Egyptian figures.
– The closed-lip Archaic smile is a common feature among kouroi
from this time.
– Anatomy is linear, rigid, and symmetrical.

METROPOLITAN KOUROS
From Attica, Greece. c. 600-590 BCE. Marble, height 6'4-5/8" (1.95 m).
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Fletcher Fund, 1932. (32.11.1). © 2016. Image
copyright The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 05-18]

• Berlin Kore
– This funerary statue stands in an immobile position.
– Drapery falls in thick parallel folds.
• Anavysos Kouros
– This statue features enhanced musculature and served as a grave
monument to a war hero.

BERLIN KORE
From the cemetery at Keratea, near Athens. c. 570-560 BCE.
Marble with remnants of red paint, height 6'3" (1.9 m).
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Antikensammlung, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin. ©
2016.Photo Scala, Florence/bpk, Bildagentur für Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte, Berlin
[Fig. 05-19]

ANAVYSOS KOUROS
From the cemetery at Anavysos, near Athens. c. 530 BCE.
Marble with remnants of paint, height 6'4" (1.93 m).
National Archaeological Museum, Athens. © Craig & Marie Mauzy, Athens. [Fig. 05-20]

• "Peplos" Kore
– Although named for a young girl's garment, this figure is not
actually wearing a peplos.
– Sculpting of the flesh conveys a sense of bone structure
underneath.
– This sculpture was originally painted with a frieze of animals,
possibly marking her as a goddess.

“PEPLOS” KORE
From the Akropolis, Athens. c. 530 BCE. Marble, height 4' (1.21 m).
Akropolis Museum, Athens. © Craig & Marie Mauzy, Athens/Acropolis Museum, Athens,
Greece. [Fig. 05-21]

Painted Pots (1 of 5)
• Ceramics usually showcased scenes of human interaction.
• Black-figure vessels
– This was the dominant style of painting around the sixth century
BCE.
– Multiple bands in the Geometric style gave way to a single
narrative scene over time.

SOME STANDARD SHAPES OF GREEK VESSELS
[Fig. 05-22]

• The Amasis Painter
– A band of decoration above and below a central figural
composition distinguishes this painter's style.
– The Dionysos amphora shows a joyful interaction between
humans and a god with strong shapes and patterns.

Technique
Black-Figure and Red-Figure
• Black-figure technique
– Slip was used to silhouette shapes of figures against unpainted
clay.
– Details were incised using a sharp tool.
• Red-figure technique
– Painters covered the pot with slip but reserved space for figures.
– Instead of engraving details, painters drew using liquid slip.

Lysippides Painter
HERAKLES DRIVING A BULL TO SACRIFICE
c. 525-520 BCE. Black-figure decoration on an amphora.
Ceramic, height of amphora 20 15/16" (53.2 cm).
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Henry Lillie Pierce Fund (99.538). Photograph © 2017
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
[Fig. 05-23]

Andokides Painter
HERAKLES DRIVING A BULL TO SACRIFICE
c. 525-520 BCE. Red-figure decoration on an amphora.
Ceramic, height of amphora 20 15/16" (53.2 cm).
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Henry Lillie Pierce Fund (99.538). Photograph © 2017
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
[Fig. 05-24]

Amasis Painter
DIONYSOS WITH MAENADS
c. 540 BCE. Black-figure decoration on an amphora.
Ceramic, height of amphora 13" (33.3 cm).
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France. Bibliothèque nationale de France [Fig. 05-25]

• Exekias
– Athenian black-figure painter Exekias signed many vessels as
both potter and painter.
– He portrayed Trojan War heroes Ajax and Achilles in the scene at
the beginning of the chapter.
 Story was critical to engaging with paintings on ceramics.

• Red-figure vessels
– These were created in an opposite manner to black-figure vessels.
– This technique offered greater freedom and flexibility of detail.
– Human figures became livelier and had a more developed sense
of bodily form in this technique.

• Euphronios
– The death of Sarpedon is rendered on a calyx krater and would
have been used as a punchbowl during a symposium.
 In this scene, there is a balanced composition of verticals and
horizontals that flatter the shape of the vessel.
 Elaborate details and the impression of real space convey a
sense of pathos in the viewer.

Euphronios (painter) and Euxitheos (potter)
THE DEATH OF SARPEDON
c. 515 BCE. Red-figure decoration on a calyx krater.
Ceramic, height of krater 18" (45.7 cm).
Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia, Rome. © 2016. Photo Scala, Florence - courtesy of the
Ministero Beni e Att. Culturali. [Fig. 05-26]

The Early Classical Period,
c. 480–450 BCE
• Three concepts surround Greek Classical art: humanism, rationalism,
and idealism.
• The phases of Greek Classical art are separated by formal qualities.
• The Early Classical period begins after a decisive victory of the Greeks
over the Persians.

Marble Sculpture
• Greek sculptors moved more toward lifelike poses of their subjects, an
example being Kritios Boy.
– This pose shows the beginnings of contrapposto, seen in the
engaged left leg and relaxed right leg.
 Alternate tension and relaxation
– A slight turn of the head invites the viewer to move around the
figure.

KRITIOS BOY
From the Akropolis, Athens. c. 475 BCE. Marble, height 3'10" (1.17 m).
Akropolis Museum, Athens. The damaged figure, excavated from the debris on the
Athenian Akropolis, was thought by its finders to be by the Greek sculptor Kritios, whose
work they knew only from Roman copies.
© Craig & Marie Mauzy, Athens. [Fig. 05-27]

Bronze Sculpture (1 of 3)
• A new hollow-casting, lost-wax process technique allowed for more
complex action poses in bronze.
• The painted Athenian kylix on the next slide shows a late Archaic
foundry in which large bronze statues were being produced—evidence
that such capability existed as early as the first decades of the fifth
century BCE.

Foundry Painter
A BRONZE FOUNDRY
490-480 BCE. Red-figure decoration on a kylix from Vulci, Italy.
Ceramic, diameter of kylix 12" (31 cm). Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Preussischer
Kulturbesitz, Antikensammlung. © 2016. Photo Scala, Florence/bpk, Bildagentur für
Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte, Berlin. Photo: Ingrid Geske [Fig. 05-28]

• The Charioteer
– Most ancient bronzes were melted down for the sake of recycling
material but this work survives.
– This youth's face is idealized yet lifelike with its onyx eyes.
– Realistic features of the figure's feet may have been cast from
molds from the feet of a living person.

CHARIOTEER
From the Sanctuary of Apollo, Delphi. c. 470 BCE.
Bronze, copper (lips and lashes), silver (hand), onyx (eyes), height 5'11" (1.8 m).
Archaeological Museum, Delphi. © Craig & Marie Mauzy, Athens/Archeological Museum,
Delphi. [Fig. 05-29]

• The Riace Warriors
– The warrior bronze reflects idealized smoothness in harmony with
realistic details, such as the "perfected" anatomy proportion with
swelling veins in the back of the hands.
– Eyeballs of bone and other inlays of metalwork add to the lifelike
quality of the figure.

WARRIOR
Found in the sea off Riace, Italy. c. 460-450 BCE.
Bronze with bone and glass eyes, silver teeth, and copper lips and nipples, height 6'9"
(2.05 m). National Archeological Museum, Reggio Calabria, Italy.
© akg-images/Nimatallah. [Fig. 05-30]

Ceramic Painting (1 of 2)
• Douris was a prolific Early Classical artist with over 40 surviving pots.
• The Frolicking Satyrs psykter was designed to make the satyrs seem
to be walking in circles.
– Psykters were wine coolers made to float in a krater, reserved for
symposia.

Douris
FROLICKING SATYRS
c. 480 BCE. Red-figure decoration on a psykter. Ceramic, height 11-5/16" (28.7 cm).
British Museum, London. © The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved.
[Fig. 05-31]

Ceramic Painting (2 of 2)
• Douris also painted lyrical compositions, such as in the tondo on the
next slide.
– The scene was only visible when the viewer lifted the cup to drink
from it and there were several meanings for the educated reveler
to understand.

Douris
A YOUTH POURING WINE INTO THE KYLIX OF A COMPANION
c. 480 BCE. Red-figure decoration on a kylix. Ceramic, height 12-3/4" (32.4 cm).
The Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Napoli e Pompei. Courtesy
Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo - Museo Archeologico Nazionale
di Napoli. [Fig. 05-32]

Wall Painting
• Well-preserved Early Classical wall paintings such as those in the
Tomb of the Diver document the style of the time.
• These paintings were done in the buon fresco style.
• Scenes on the walls feature themes of transition between this world
and the next.

RECONSTRUCTION DRAWING OF THE TOMB OF THE DIVER, POSEIDONIA
(ROMAN PAESTUM)
c. 480 BCE. Illustration: Peter Bull. [Fig. 05-33]

A SYMPOSIUM SCENE
From the Tomb of the Diver, Poseidonia (Roman Paestum). c. 480 BCE.
Fresco on travertine slab, height 31" (78 cm). Paestum Museum.
© akg-images/Andrea Baguzzi. [Fig. 05-34]

A DIVER
From the Tomb of the Diver, Poseidonia (Roman Paestum). c. 480 BCE.
Fresco on travertine slab, height 3'4" (1.02 m). Paestum Museum.
© akg-images/Erich Lessing. [Fig. 05-35]

The High Classical Period,
c. 450–400 BCE
• Some historians refer to this period as the "Golden Age," although any
qualifier reflects the value judgments of the art historians discussing it.
– It was also a time of turmoil and destruction.
• Perikles dominated Athenian politics and was a great patron of the
arts, thus supporting this movement.

The Akropolis (1 of 2)
• Meaning "city on top of a hill," this city center was dedicated to Athena.
• Perikles began the rebuilding of the Akropolis after Persian troops
destroyed it in 480 BCE.
• Pheidias supervised this project, which required staggering amounts of
labor and cost.

THE AKROPOLIS, ATHENS
Reconstruction drawing as it appeared c. 447-432 BCE. [Fig. 05-36]

The Akropolis (2 of 2)
• Work continued through the fifth century BCE.
• Notable architecture includes the temple of Athena Nike, the
Erechtheion, and the Parthenon.
– The bronze figure of Athena had a spear tip and helmet that
reflected up to ten miles away at the port of Piraeus.

Kallikrates and Iktinos
THE PARTHENON
Akropolis, Athens. 447-432 BCE. Pentelic marble. Photograph: view from the northwest.
© Craig & Marie Mauzy, Athens. [Fig. 05-37a]

The Parthenon (1 of 6)
• About 22,000 tons of fine marble were used throughout the design.
• The ratio of 4:9 that expresses the relationship of breadth to length and
space between columns is one key to the overall harmony and
balance.
• Sculpture conveys unity through political and ideological themes.

PLAN OF THE PARTHENON
Akropolis, Athens. 447-432 BCE. [Fig. 05-37b]

• The pediments
– Most sculpture in the round has been damaged or lost.
– Statues from the east pediment are the best preserved and portray
the birth of Athena.
 Central figures are missing.
 Three interlocked female figures are likely Hestia, Dione, and
Aphrodite.

PHOTOGRAPHIC MOCK-UP OF THE EAST PEDIMENT OF THE PARTHENON (USING
PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE EXTANT MARBLE SCULPTURE)
c. 447-432 BCE. The gap in the center represents the space that would have been
occupied by the missing sculpture. The pediment is over 90 feet (27.45 m) long; the
central space of about 40 feet (12.2 m) is missing. British Museum, London. © The
Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved. [Fig. 05-38]

• The Doric frieze
– This frieze depicts legendary battles of a centaur against a Lapith,
a god against a Titan, a Greek against a Trojan, and a Greek
against an Amazon in 92 metope reliefs.
– Forms are reduced to essential characteristics with forms that are
contradictory, yet carefully choreographed.

LAPITH FIGHTING A CENTAUR
Metope relief from the Doric frieze on the south side of the Parthenon. c. 447-432 BCE.
Marble, height 56" (1.42 m). British Museum, London. © The Trustees of the British
Museum. All rights reserved. [Fig. 05-39]

• Processional frieze
– This 525-foot-long frieze ran along the cella interior.
– The underlying message was thought to be that the Athenians are
a healthy, vigorous people, yet a new interpretation of the frieze is
that this is a scene from mythological history.

HORSEMEN
Detail of the Procession, from the Ionic frieze on the north side of the Parthenon.
c. 447-432 BCE. Marble, height 41 3/4" (106 cm). British Museum, London. © The
Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved. [Fig. 05-40]

YOUNG WOMEN AND MEN
Detail of the Procession, from the Ionic frieze on the east side of the Parthenon.
c. 447-432 BCE. Marble, height 3'6" (1.08 m). Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Bridgeman Images. [Fig. 05-41]

• Processional frieze
– As with the metope reliefs, viewers can easily accept
disproportional elements of this composition.
– Sculptors took into account a low viewpoint of the spectator and
carved the top part of the frieze in higher relief.
– Originally, the entirety of the frieze was painted.

• Statue of Athena Parthenos
– The original vanished, but descriptions and copies give us a sense
of the 40-foot-tall statue.
– Athena was decorated in gold and ivory, wearing armor and
holding both a shield and a winged Nike in her hands.

RE-CREATION OF PHEIDIAS’S HUGE GOLD AND IVORY FIGURE OF ATHENA
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto.
With permission of the Royal Ontario Museum © ROM. [Fig. 05-42]

"The Canon" of Polykleitos
• The canon included a system of ratios between a basic unit and the
length of various body parts.
– There were also guidelines for commensurability.
– Cross-balancing is known as contrapposto.
• The Spear Bearer was created to demonstrate perfect proportion.

Polykleitos
SPEAR BEARER (DORYPHOROS)
Roman copy after the original bronze of c. 450-440 BCE.
Marble, height 6'11" (2.12 m); tree trunk and brace strut are Roman additions.
National Archaeological Museum, Naples.
© akg-images/De Agostini Picture Lib./Nimatallah. [Fig. 05-43]

The Propylaia and the Erechtheion
(1 of 3)
• The Propylaia originally had no sculptural decoration, but its north wing
that served as a dining hall became the earliest known museum.
• The asymmetrical plan of the Erechtheion reflects multiple functions as
well as the terrain on which it was built.

THE MONUMENTAL ENTRANCE TO THE AKROPOLIS, ATHENS
The Propylaia (Mnesikles) with the Temple of Athena Nike (Kallikrates) on the bastion at
the right. c. 437-423 BCE. Studio Kontos Photostock. [Fig. 05-44]

(2 of 3)
• The site of the Erechtheion was, in mythology, where Poseidon and
Athena held a contest for patronage of Athens.
• The north and east porches of the Erechtheion contain exemplary Ionic
orders.
• The Porch of the Maidens on the south side features six caryatids
supporting an Ionic entablature.

ERECHTHEION
Akropolis, Athens. 430s-406 BCE. View from the east. Porch of the Maidens at left; the
north porch can be seen through the columns of the east wall. © S.Borisov/Shutterstock
[Fig. 05-45]

PORCH OF THE MAIDENS (SOUTH PORCH), ERECHTHEION
Akropolis, Athens. Porch c. 420-410 BCE. © Boris17/Shutterstock. [Fig. 05-46]

(3 of 3)
• The Temple of Athena Nike
– Probably built by Kallikrates, this temple was built in the Ionic style
about 425 BCE.
– A surviving statue, Nike (Victory) Adjusting Her Sandal, shows
delicate and light textile draped over the figure's unstable pose.

NIKE (VICTORY) ADJUSTING HER SANDAL
Fragment of relief decoration from the parapet (now destroyed), Temple of Athena Nike,
Akropolis, Athens. Last quarter of the 5th century (perhaps 410-405) BCE.
Marble, height 3'6" (1.06 m). Akropolis Museum, Athens. © Craig & Marie Mauzy,
Athens/Akropolis Museum, Athens [Fig. 05-47]

The Athenian Agora
• All aspects of life revolved around the marketplace, the agora.
– Governmental buildings
– The stoa
– A large fountain house
– The bouleuterion, or council room
– Tholos, another meeting place
– Private houses on the outskirts

RECONSTRUCTION DRAWING OF THE AGORA (MARKETPLACE), ATHENS
c. 400 BCE. [Fig. 05-48]

City Plans
• A mathematical concept of urban development based on the
orthogonal (grid) plan was implemented as early as the eighth century
BCE.
• Hippodamos of Miletos envisioned a plot consisting of a square 600
feet on each side and divided into quarters.
– This is still in use in American and European cities and suburbs.

Art and Its Contexts
Woman at a Fountain House
• The Priam Painter recorded the event of women's daily trip to the
fountain house, significant because most women in ancient Greece
were confined to their homes.
• The building in which they are depicted is designed like a stoa and is
supported by Doric columns.

Priam Painter
WOMEN AT A FOUNTAIN HOUSE
520-510 BCE. Black-figure decoration on a hydria.
Ceramic, height of hydria 20 7/8" (53 cm).
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. William Francis Warden Fund. (61.195).
Photograph © 2017 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. [Fig. 05-49]

Stele Sculpture
• Stelai (s. stele) were used as gravestones and featured low-relief
carvings of the person to be remembered.
– One on the next slide shows a girl in a peplos carved with
extraordinary detail.
– A later stele commemorates a couple, presumably in a joint grave,
with an air of softness and delicacy in flesh and fabric.

GRAVE STELE OF A LITTLE GIRL
c. 450-440 BCE. Marble, height 31-1/2" (80 cm).
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. © 2016. Image copyright The Metropolitan
Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 05-50]

GRAVE STELE OF KTESILAOS AND THEANO
c. 400 BCE. Marble, height 36-5/8" (93 cm).
National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
© 2016. Photo Scala, Florence. [Fig. 05-51]

Painting
• The Painted Stoa on the Athenian Agora was decorated by the most
famous artists of the time, including Polygnotos of Thasos.
• White-ground ceramic painting may echo lost contemporary wall and
panel painting.
• Lekythoi such as the one below were used to pour libations.

Style of the Achilles Painter
WOMAN AND MAID
c. 450-440 BCE. White-ground lekythos. Ceramic, with additional painting in tempera,
height 15-1/8" (38.4 cm). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Francis Bartlett Donation of 1912.
(13.201). Photograph © 2017 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston . [Fig. 05-52]

The Late Classical Period,
c. 400–323 BCE
• Athens was defeated by Sparta in 404 BCE, then regained
independence without returning to dominance in the realm of political
and military status.
• Alexander the Great succeeded Philip II and led Greece in a war of
revenge against the Persians.
• Despite changing political conditions, Greek artists experimented
widely.

HELLENISTIC GREECE
Alexander the Great created a Greek empire that extended from the Greek mainland and
Egypt across Asia Minor and as far east as India.
[Map 05-02]

Sculpture (1 of 4)
• Previously, sculptors accepted and abided by standards for ideal
proportions.
• A new canon associated with Lysippos emerged for male figures,
which would be eight or more "heads" tall rather than six-and-a-half or
seven-head height.

Sculpture (2 of 4)
• Praxiteles
– In 1875, a statue of Hermes carrying Dionysos was discovered,
but it was likely a copy and not an original.
 Hermes possesses a smaller head and more S-curving pose
than the Spear Bearer of Polykleitos.
 Contrasting textures juxtaposed with flesh add striking depth.

Praxiteles or his followers
HERMES AND THE INFANT DIONYSOS
Probably a Hellenistic or Roman copy after a Late Classical 4th-century BCE original.
Marble, with remnants of red paint on the lips and hair, height 7'1" (2.15 m).
Archaeological Museum, Olympia. © Craig & Marie Mauzy, Athens/Archaeological
Museum, Olympia . [Fig. 05-53]

Sculpture (3 of 4)
• Praxiteles
– His Aphrodite statue was the first by a well-known Greek sculptor
to depict full female nudity.
 Her seductive pose and gesture of modesty were yet unseen
in sculpture.
 Hellenistic and Roman copies of this particular statue likely
numbered in the hundreds.

Praxiteles
APHRODITE OF KNIDOS
Composite of two similar Roman copies after the original marble of c. 350 BCE.
Marble, height 6'8" (2.04 m). Musei Vaticani, Museo Pio Clementino, Gabinetto delle
Maschere, Rome. © 2016. Photo Scala, Florence. [Fig. 05-54]

Sculpture (4 of 4)
• Lysippos
– Many copies, though no originals, survive of his work.
– The Man Scraping Himself (Apoxyomenos) depicted an athlete not
engaging in sport, but rather using a strigil.
 The figure has a pronounced curve and an arm that projects
into the viewer's space.

Lysippos
MAN SCRAPING HIMSELF (APOXYOMENOS)
Roman copy after the original bronze of c. 350-325 BCE.
Marble, height 6'9" (2.06 m). Musei Vaticani, Museo Pio Clementino, Gabinetto
dell’Apoxyomenos, Rome. © akg-images/Nimatallah. [Fig 05-55]

Metalwork
• Goldsmiths followed similar stylistic trends and standards and
specialized in creating earrings with tiny sculptures.
– These could be worn or placed on the ears of marble statues.
• Pictured are a representation of Ganymede caught in an eagle's grasp,
measuring only slightly more than 2 inches tall.

EARRINGS
c. 330–300 BCE. Hollow-cast gold, height 2-3/8" (6 cm).
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1937. (37.11.9-10).
© 2016, Image copyright The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence.
[Fig. 05-56]

Painting (1 of 2)
• Alexander the Great Confronts Darius III at the Battle of Issos is a
Roman first-century mosaic replicating a Greek painting of about 310
BCE.
– This copy documents a growing taste for dramatic narrative in
Greek paintings.
• Painters in the fourth century BCE were interested in creating believable
illusions of the real world.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT CONFRONTS DARIUS III AT THE BATTLE OF ISSOS
Floor mosaic, Pompeii, Italy. 1st-century BCE Roman copy of a Greek wall painting of
c. 310 BCE, perhaps by Philoxenos of Eretria or Helen of Egypt.
Entire panel 8'10" × 17' (2.7 × 5.2 m). Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples.
© Fotografica Foglia, Naples. [Fig. 05-57]

Painting (2 of 2)
• Opulent floral borders known as Pausian designs frame a mosaic floor
from a palace at Pella (Macedonia).
– The scene of the Stag Hunt by Gnosis shows modeled figures that
are all the more impressive because they are comprised of natural
pebbles, not uniformly cut marble.

Gnosis
STAG HUNT
Detail of mosaic floor decoration from Pella, Macedonia (in present-day Greece).
c. 300 BCE. Pebbles, central panel 10'7-1/2" × 10'5" (3.24 × 3.17 m).
Signed at top: “Gnosis made it.” Archaeological Museum, Pella.
Studio Kontos Photostock. [Fig. 05-58]

The Hellenistic Period, 323–31/30 BCE
• Following Alexander's unexpected death, three generals carved out
kingdoms in the breaking empire.
• Alexander's artistic legacy was a generation of artists who focused on
the individual rather than an idealized canon.
– Works turned from the heroic to the everyday and appealed to the
senses.

Architecture (1 of 2)
• Corinthian capitals, unlike in Doric and Ionic orders, had acanthus
leaves and coiled flowers around a basket-shaped core.
• The Temple of Olympian Zeus at the foot of the Akropolis followed
long-established conventions but was much larger than Greek temples
that were constructed before it.

TEMPLE OF OLYMPIAN ZEUS, ATHENS
View from the southeast with the Akropolis in the distance. Building and rebuilding
phases: foundation c. 520-510 BCE, using the Doric order; temple designed by Cossutius
begun 175 BCE; left unfinished 164 BCE; completed 132 CE using Cossutius' design.
Height of columns 55'5" (16.89 m). © Amanaimages Inc./123RF. [Fig. 05-59]

Architecture (2 of 2)
• Greek theaters
– No theater survives in its original form, however, the theater at
Epidauros is a characteristic early example.
– A semicircle of tiered seats was built into the hillside and faced the
orchestra, the circular performance area, and proscenium platform
stage.
– This design provided uninterrupted sight lines and excellent
acoustics.

OVERALL VIEW (A) AND RECONSTRUCTION DRAWING (B) OF THE THEATER,
EPIDAUROS
Peloponnese, Greece. 4th century BCE and later. © Craig & Marie Mauzy, Athens.
[Fig. 05-60a]

OVERALL VIEW (A) AND RECONSTRUCTION DRAWING (B) OF THE THEATER,
EPIDAUROS
Peloponnese, Greece. Fourth century BCE and later. © Dorling Kindersley. [Fig. 05-60b]

Sculpture in Pergamon (1 of 2)
• Hellenistic sculptors produced an enormous variety of work in two
broad, conflicting trends.
• Pergamon
– This city became a hub of a new experimental sculptural style.
– The bronze figures of a Gaul only survives in marble copy but
shows an attempt to appeal to viewers' emotions.

Art and Its Contexts
The Celts
• Funerary goods of the Celtic peoples survive despite their being driven
into the northwest by the Romans.
• Torcs were worn by noblemen and consisted of abstract design.
– The pattern is an integral part of the object, not applied decoration.
– The golden torc on the next slide is similar to the neck ring worn
by the dying trumpeter.

TORC
Found at Soucy, France. Celtic Gaul, 3rd-1st century BCE.
Gold, height 5” (12.7 cm), length 5-5/8" (14.5 cm).
Musée Nationale du Moyen-Âge, Paris. Photo © RMN/ Jean-Gilles Berizzi. [Fig. 05-61]

Epigonos (?)
DYING GALLIC TRUMPETER
Roman copy (found in Julius Caesar's garden in Rome) after the original bronze of
c. 220 BCE. Marble, height 36-1/2" (93 cm). Museo Capitolino, Rome. © Vincenzo Pirozzi,
Rome fotopirozzi@inwind.it. [Fig. 05-62]

Sculpture in Pergamon (2 of 2)
• The sculptured frieze around the base of a Great Altar depicts a battle
between gods and giants in the Hellenistic style.
– Figures fill the space along the base of the altar but also protrude
into the viewer's space.
– Classical preference for smooth surfaces was replaced by
dramatic forms and deeply undercut high relief.

RECONSTRUCTED WEST FRONT OF THE ALTAR FROM
PERGAMON (IN PRESENT-DAY TURKEY)
c. 175-150 BCE. Marble, height of frieze 7'7" (2.3 m).
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. © 2016. Photo Scala, Florence/bpk, Bildagentur für Kunst,
Kultur und Geschichte, Berlin. [Fig. 05-63]

ATHENA ATTACKING THE GIANTS
Detail of the frieze from the east front of the altar from Pergamon. c. 175-150 BCE.
Marble, frieze height 7'7" (2.3 m). Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. © 2016. Photo Scala,
Florence/bpk, Bildagentur für Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte, Berlin.
[Fig. 05-64]

Sculpture
• The Laocoön
– This work by sculptors Hagesandros, Polydoros, and Athenodoros
is thought to be a Hellenistic original from the first century BCE, but
may be a copy.
– The complex composition relates a story from the Trojan War.
 It was meant to be viewed frontally despite being sculpted in
the round.

Hagesandros, Polydoros, and Athenodoros of Rhodes
LAOCOÖN AND HIS SONS
Original of 1st century BCE, or a Roman copy, adaptation, or original of the 1st century CE.
Marble, height 8' (2.44 m). Musei Vaticani, Museo Pio Clementino, Cortile Ottagono,
Rome. © 2016. Photo Scala, Florence. [Fig. 05-65]

Three Statues of Women (1 of 3)
• The Nike of Samothrace
– Originally, this statue was carved for a hillside niche, explaining
the forward thrust of Nike's body balanced by enormous wings
behind her.
– Contrasting textures of feathers, fabric, and skin typify the finest
Hellenistic art.

NIKE (VICTORY) OF SAMOTHRACE
Sanctuary of the Great Gods, Samothrace. c. 180 BCE (?). Marble, height 8'1" (2.45 m).
Musée du Louvre, Paris. Photo © RMN-Grand Palais/Gérard Blot/Christian Jean.
[Fig. 05-66]

• Old woman
– Hellenistic sculpture saw a rise in representation of ordinary and
unusual people as subjects.
– This figure has traditionally been seen as an aged woman on her
way to the agora, but can be interpreted as a follower of Dionysos
on her way to a religious festival.

OLD WOMAN
Roman 1st century CE copy of a Greek work of the 2nd century BCE.
Marble, height 49-1/2" (1.25 m). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Rogers Fund,
1909. (09.39). © 2016 Image copyright The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art
Resource/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 05-67]

• Aphrodite of Melos
– Some Hellenistic sculptors looked to the style of Praxiteles and
Lysippos for inspiration.
– The Aphrodite has proportions recalling High Classical sculpture,
but a twisting body and three-dimensional drapery are features
updated by Hellenistic stylization.

Alexandros from Antioch-on-the-Orontes
APHRODITE OF MELOS (ALSO CALLED VENUS DE MILO)
c. 150-100 BCE. Marble, height 6'8" (2.04 m). Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Photo © RMN/Hervé Lewandowski. [Fig. 05-68]

Think About It (1 of 2)
1. Discuss the development of a characteristically Greek approach to the
representation of the male nude by comparing the Anavysos Kouros
(FIG. 5–20), the Kritios Boy (FIG. 5–27), the Spear Bearer (FIG. 5–
43), and Hermes and the Infant Dionysos (FIG. 5–53). What changes
and what remains constant?
2. Choose a work from this chapter that illustrates a scene from a Greek
myth or a scene from daily life in ancient Greece. Discuss the nature
of the story or event, the particular aspect chosen for illustration by
the artist, and the potential meaning of the episode in relation to its
cultural context.

Think About It (2 of 2)
3. What ideals are embodied in the term "High Classicism," and what are
the value judgments that underlie this art-historical category? Select
one sculpture and one building discussed in the chapter, and explain
why these works are regarded as High Classical.
4. Distinguish the attributes of the Doric and Ionic orders, focusing your
discussion on a specific building representing each.

Survey 1 ch05

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