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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 citystate = the polis

Dorians from the North settled the Peloponnesus

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 palestra -> war among the city-states was
chronic
THE GODS AND GODDESSES OF
MOUNT OLYMPUS

ZEUS – 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

Disintegration of the Bronze Age
social order -> destruction of the
Mycenaean palaces and culture
starts about 1200 -> by 1100 it is
gone

The Dark Age of Greece -> 400
year period -> loss of knowledge
of
1.
how to cut masonry
2.
Construct citadels and tombs
3.
Paint frescoes
4.
Sculpt stone
5.
Arts of reading and writing
6.
Depopulation
7.
Poverty
8.
Loss of contact w/outside world

Revival of Greek culture begins in
the 8th century
GEOMETRIC AND
ORIENTALIZING
PERIODS

8th century -> economic revival
and population growth ->
GEOMETRIC ART

7th century -> increasing trade and
colonization -> ORIENTALIZING ART
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

Herakles 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 separately
6. Pigment/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 with animal
frieze from Rhodes, Greece

625-600 BCE -> during the 600’s Greek trade
and colonization increased -> more
exposure to Eastern artworks

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