Transcript Chapter 7 - HCC Learning Web

Chapter 7
Golden Age Athens
The School of Hellas
The Golden Age of Athens
• 480 BCE (defeat of the Persians at Salamis) to 404 BCE
(defeat by Sparta in the Peloponnesian Wars)
• A culture of astonishing sophistication and diversity
• Aristotle’s term, eudaimonia—“the good or
flourishing life”—defines Athens during this Golden
Age
Athens as It Appeared
in the Late 5th century BCE
Demographics and Politics of Athens
• Athens’ population by the middle of the Golden Age was
approx. 275,000,of which only 40,000 were citizens. The rest
were slaves (between 80,000 and 100,000) and metics, free
men who were not citizens because they hailed from some
other polis or colony in Greece, and women
• The City Council of 500, elected annually, met in the agora,
the open area used for congregating or as a market
• No person dominated Athenian political life during the Golden
Age more than Pericles (495-429 BCE). Although an aristocrat
by birth, he was democracy’s strongest advocate
“I say that Athens is the school of Hellas,
and that the individual Athenian in his
own person seems to have the power of
adapting himself to the most varied forms
of action with the utmost versatility and
grace.”
--Pericles, Funeral Speech (431 BCE)
The Classical Style
• In the Golden Age, the beautiful body comes to
reflect not only physical but also mental superiority
• Increasing naturalism
• Liveliness of posture and gesture and a sense of
capturing the body in motion became the primary
sculptural aim and the very definition of classical
beauty
Kritios Boy
Marble, 46”
ca. 480 BCE
• Discovered in 1895 in a
pile of debris on the
Acropolis
• Attributed to the sculptor
Kritios
• Contrapposto (“counterpoise”) stance—slightly
bent knee, extended leg
more natural
Anavysos Kouros
Kritios Boy
Polyclitus and The Canon
• One of the great artists of the Golden Age
• His Doryphoros a demonstration of Polyclitus’s
treatise on proportion known as The Canon (from
Greek kanon, meaning “measure” or “rule”
• Ideal human form determined by the height of
the head from the crown to the chin. The head
was one-eighth the total height, the width of the
shoulders was one-quarter the total height, and
so on.
Doryphoros (Spear Bearer)
Marble, 6’6”
ca. 540-440 BCE
Riace Warrior
• Possibly the work of Phidias, chief sculptor and possibly
architect for the Acropolis
• One of two statues recovered in 1972 off the Italian coast
near Riace; possibly once part of an ensemble of thirteen
• Advanced contrapossto pose, high degree of naturalism
(each eyelash is individually cast), and imposing
monumentality
• Created through lost-wax technique
Riace Warrior
Bronze, 6’8”
ca. 450 BCE
The Acropolis
• Cost of rebuilding the Acropolis, which had been left
in a state of ruin after the Persian invasion of 480 BCE,
was enormous, financed mostly by tributes that
Athens assessed upon its allies in the Delian League
• Phidias—chief sculptor; Ictinus, Callicrates, and
Mnesicles—chief architects
• Work began in the 440s BCE and continued until 406
BCE
Model of the Acropolis
The Acropolis
• Dedicated to Athena, patron of Athens and goddess
of war and wisdom
• Complex consists of four main structures: the
Propylaia, the Parthenon, the Temple of Athena
Nike, and the Erechtheoin
The Propylaia
• Designed by Mnesicles and completed in 432 BCE
• Entryway of five gates flanked with porches and
colonnades of Doric columns—an architectural tour
de force
• North wing included a picture gallery featuring
paintings of Greek history and myth, none of which
survive
Temple of Athena Nike
• Designed by Callicrates and built in 425 BCE
• Overlooking the entryway just to the west
• Far more delicate—graced by slender Ionic columns
• Probably meant to celebrate what the Athenians hoped
would be their victory in the Peloponnesian Wars, as
nike is Greek for “victory”
Temple of Athena Nike
The Parthenon
• Completed in 432 BCE after 15 years of construction
• The epitome of classical architecture. Represents the
Doric order in its most perfect form
• Based on the Golden Section, believed by the Greeks
to be the most beautiful of all proportions. It represents
a ratio of approximately 8:5, or 1.618:1. The east and
west facades are Golden Rectangles—the width of the
building is 1.618 times the height
The Parthenon
Sculpture at the Parthenon
• Designed and probably carved by Phidias
• Interior centerpiece was giant (40’) statue of
Athena Parthenos (parthenos—“maiden”)
• Skin was ivory, and dress and armor, which were
removable, were gold. She was, in essence, an
actual treasury
• Original long since destroyed
Model of the Athena Parthenos
The sculpture of Athena Parthenos was located in
the Pantheon’s cella or naos, the central interior
room of a temple in which the cult statue was
traditionally housed
Decorative Sculptures
of the Parthenon
Located in three main
areas: in the pediments
at each end of the
building, on the
metopes, or square
panels between the
beam ends under the
roof, and on the frieze
that runs across the
outer wall of the cella
Young Men on Horseback
Segment of the North Frieze
Marble, 41”
This is just a small section of the entire procession, which extends completely
around the Parthenon
Lapith Overcoming a Centaur
South Metope
Marble Relief, 4’5”
• Originally brightly
painted, making the
sculptures appear
strikingly lifelike
• The 92 metopes on the
four sides of the
temple narrate battles
between the Greeks
and four enemies: the
Trojans, giants,
Amazons, and centaurs
The Erechtheion
• Work began in the 430s BCE and took 25 years
• Asymmetrical and multi-leveled
• Surrounds sacred spring dedicated to Erechtheus, the first
legendary king of Athens
• Among its unique characteristics is the Porch of the Maidens,
which is supported by six caryatids (female figures serving as
columns) all assuming a classic contrapossto pose. All six
figures are unique; the folds on their chitons fall differently,
and their breasts are different sizes and shapes
Erechtheion
Greek Theater
• Drama originally a participatory ritual tied to the cult
of Dionysus—dialogues among choruses of people
• Thespis (mid-sixth century BCE) is credited with first
assuming the role of an actor by interacting with the
chorus
• Three major forms of Greek drama: the satyr play,
comedy, and tragedy
The Competitions
• Performance of tragedies celebrated in March;
festivals for comedies occurred in January
• Plays performed in sets of four—tetralogies—all by
the same author, three of which were tragedies and
the fourth a satyr play
• Audiences as large as 14,000—including slaves,
metics, and women—determined the winner by their
response
Performance Space
• Originally in an open area of
the agora called the
orchestra (“dancing space”
• Athenian theater (theatron,
“viewing space”), dedicated
to Dionysus, built into the
hillside of the Acropolis
• Theater at Epidaurus
renown for its view and
unparalleled acoustics
Theater, Epidaurus
Early 3rd century BCE
The Hellenistic World
• Begins with the rise to power of Alexander the Great
(356-323 BCE) and ends with the Roman defeat of
Cleopatra in 30 BCE
• Growing tendency to value emotional expression at
least as much, and sometimes more, than the
balanced harmonies of classical art
Alexander’s Empire as of
His Death in 323 BCE
Hellenistic Art
• Growing taste for images of men and women in
quiet, sometimes dreamy and contemplative
moods
• Sense of animation, drama, and psychological
complexity
• Most admired sculptors were Lyssipus, Praxiteles,
and Skopas (very little of the latter’s work
survives)
Lysippus and Heroic Sculpture
• Favorite of Alexander the Great
• Animated subjects by showing them in the midst
of action
• Challenged Polyclitus’s classical canon of
proportion. Small heads and slenderer bodies
lent his statues a sense of greater height
Lysippus, Apoxyomenos (The Scraper)
Bronze, 6’8”
ca. 350-325 BCE
The Sensuous Sculpture of Praxiteles
• Praxiteles (flourished 370-330 BCE) was one of the
300 wealthiest men in Athens due to his skill
• His Aphrodite of Knidos caused a sensation as it may
well have been the first fully nude depiction of a
woman in Greek sculpture
• His canon for depicting the female nude—wide hips,
small breasts, oval face, and centrally parted hair—
remained the standard throughout antiquity
Aphrodite of Knidos
Marble, 6’8”
350-325 BCE
• Commissioned by people
of the port city of Knidos,
a Spartan colony in Asia
Minor
• Enshrined in a circular
temple, easily viewed
from every angle
• Quickly became an object
of religious attention—
and openly sexual
adoration
Epigones (?), Dying Gaul
Marble, 37”
ca. 220 BCE
The brutal realism together with the nobility and heroism of the defeated Gaul places
this work among the earliest examples of Hellenistic expressionism, the attempt to
elicit an emotional response in the viewer
Nike (Victory) of Samothrace
Marble, 8’1”
ca. 300-190 BCE
• Probably commissioned to
celebrate a naval victory
• Dynamic forward movement
of the striding figure balanced
dramatically by the open
gesture of her extended wings
and the powerful directional
lines of her windblown gown
• New direction in art—freedom
to explore the emotional
extremes of human
experience