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ANCIENT GREECE
GARDINER CHAPTER 5-1
PP. 99-105
ANCIENT GREECE - BACKGROUND

The cultural values of the Greeks
form the foundations of Western
Civilization

Man is “measure of all things”

Humanistic worldview

Democracy = rule by the demos,
the people

The Greek contribution
politics
art
literature
science
ANCIENT GREECE - BACKGROUND

Greeks = Hellenes

Mixture of Aegean and Indo-European invaders

Never formed a single nation -> established city-state = the polis

Dorians from the North settled the Peloponnesos

Ionians settled Asia Minor/Turkey and the Aegean islands

776 BCE the Greeks states held their first games at Olympia -> the
first Olympiad

From this date forward the Greeks regarded themselves as citizens
of HELLAS(the ancient Greek name for Greece)

Those who didn’t speak Greek = “barbarians”
ANCIENT GREECE - BACKGROUND

The Greek gods differed from those of Egyptian and Mesopotamian
deities -> immortal but otherwise human -> “ the Greeks made their
gods into humans and their humans into gods”

The Greek ideal = the perfect individual;

Focus of many Greek artists = beautiful humans

ATHENS -> the symbol of ancient Greek culture

Playwrights -> AESCHYLUS, SOPHOCOLES, EURIPEDES

The city -> the AGORA = city square, STOAS = covered colonnades,
PALAESTRAS = gymnasiums

The ideal of a balance between intellectual and physical discipline
-> “a sound mind in a sound body” = ASICS
ANCIENT GREECE - BACKGROUND

Greeks borrowed from the cultures of Near East and Egypt

Existence of slavery

Exclusion of women from public life

Dominated by wellborn white males

most admired virtues were statecraft and military valor

Educated in the values of Homer’s heroes and athletic exercise in
the palaestra -> war among the city-states was chronic
THE GOD AND GODDESSES OF
MOUNT OLYMPUS

ZUES – king of the gods

HERA – wife and sister of Zeus

POSEIDON – lord of the sea

HESTIA – goddess of the hearth

DEMETER – goddess of grain and ag.

ARES – god of war

ATHENA – goddess of wisdom and warfare

HEPHAISTOS – god of fire and metalworking

APOLLO – god of light and wisdom

ARTEMIS – goddess of the hunt and wild
animals

APHRODITE – goddess of love and beauty

HERMES – messenger of the gods
GEOMETRIC AND ORIENTALIZING
PERIODS


1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Disintegration of the Bronze Age social order -> destruction of the
Mycenaean palaces
The Dark Age of Greece -> loss of knowledge of
how to cut masonry
Construct citadels and tombs
Paint frescoes
Sculpt stone
Arts of reading and writing
Depopulation
Poverty
Loss of contact w/outside world
Revival of Greek culture begins in the 8th century
GEOMETRIC ART – DIPYLON KRATER

Human figure returns to Greek art in the
Geometric period in the 8th century -> small
bronze figurines and paintings on ceramic
pots

Geometric krater

Dipylon cemetery in Athens

740 BCE -> marked a grave

Over 3 feet tall

Bottom of krater is open -> pour libations?
Drain for rainwater?

Abstract angular motifs = GEOMETRIC period
= formative period of Greek art

Meander = key pattern around rim

Two bands of human figures and horse
drawn chariots

Mourning scene and procession in honor of
the deceased
GEOMETRIC ART – HERACKLES AND
NESSOS (750-730 BCE)

Geometric sculpture -> small solid
cast bronze group -> two figures
locked in hand to hand struggle

Herackles vs. the centaur Nessos

CENTAUR = half man half horse

Centaur is composite monster ->
man in front and horse in back

Man and centaur are bearded
and wear helmets -> man is bigger
than horse = the victor

Painted and sculpted figures in
Geometric art are nude -> natural
beauty of the human figure
ORIENTALIZING ART – MANTIKLOS
APOLLO (700-680BCE)

600’s BCE Greek trade and
colonization accelerated -> Greek
artists exposed to Eastern artworks

So many motifs borrowed from
Egyptian and Near Eastern art ->
the 7th century is called the
ORIENTALIZING period

Small bronze statuette dedicated
to Apollo by Mantiklos -> is it
Apollo? Mantiklos? Neither?

Votive offering

Increased interest in reproducing
human anatomy -> pecs/abs
GREEK VASE PAINTING
1. Signed/brand
name?
2. Remove impurities
in clay
3. Knead it
4. Body of vase
thrown on a wheel
5. Handles shaped
and sepately
6. Piment/glaze/slip
applied to surface
7. Three phase firing
process-> red,
black, red and
black
Geometric Amphora. 8th century BCE.
Pitcher (Olpe) from Corinth. c. 600 BCE.
Ceramic with black-figure decoration, height 11 1/2".
ORIENTALIZING AMPHORA

Corinthian black-figure amphora

Animal friezes

Rhodes, Greece

625-600 BCE

1’2” high

AMPHORA = two handled storage
jar

Animals and composite creatures,
SIREN on the neck = part bird, part
woman

BLACK FIGURE PAINTING

Black silhouettes, delicate incised
detailing, bright polychrome overlay
TEMPLE PLAN A, PRINIAS

First Greek stone temple

Prinias on Crete -> 625 BCE ->
called Temple A -> honor and
unknown deity

Resemlbes Mycenaean
magaron -> porch, main room
w/two interior columns flanking a
hearth or sacrificial pit

Exterior had 3 piers on porch

Doorway with huge lintel with
sculpted frieze
LADY OF AUXERRE

650-625 BCE

Limestone

2’ 1 ½ “

From Crete

Goddess or maiden (kore)

Clothed, right hand across chest in
prayer?

More naturalistic -> but abstract
shapes still seen -> triangular flat
topped head, triangle hair, long
skirt w/incised concentric square

Originally brightly painted