Introduction to Ancient Greek
Art and Architecture
Geometric
Oriental
Archaic
Early Classical
Let’s talk about progress and change.
Remember our old friends the Egyptians?
• c. 2500 BCE
• c. 1200 BCE
Approx.
1300
years
Now let’s meet our new friends the Greeks.
• 750 BCE
• 450 BCE
Approx.
300
years
The Art of
Ancient Greece
Much of our Western
culture can be traced
to the Greeks, such
as democracy,
architecture, sports,
philosophy, history
and art.
Greece is a beautiful place, but
where is it?
Greece is located southeast of Italy. Greece is
made up of a mainland peninsula and many
islands in the Aegean Sea.
• Greeks remained divided into many polis
(city-states) due in large part to the
mountainous geography of Greece.
• Although Greece never attained a strong
central unity or government, an appearance
of "Democracy," which means people and
power, appeared in Athens.
• But we must be reminded that this freedom
applied only to males. Slaves and women
had no legal rights.
Greek Art Key Points
• The human being was placed at the center
of Greek culture.
• The Greeks encouraged all forms of art.
• Proportion, balance and unity were key
Greek ideals.
• The human body was considered beautiful
and perfectly proportioned.
Brief History
• Following the collapse of the Mycenaean
civilization, the Aegean region fell into a period of
social disorganization and immigration.
• Many cultural and artistic gains were lost or
forgotten.
• The mountains and seas that divided the region
also contributed to the division of its inhabitants.
• By about 900 BCE self sufficient close knit
communities were developing on the mainland.
• However they all spoke the same form of Greek
and by 800-700 BCE, separate Greek city states,
or polis, like Athens and Sparta, had begun to
form.
Religion
Knowledge of Greek history is important in
understanding its art, but knowledge of its religious
beliefs is indispensable.
The Greeks drew on their rich tradition of religious
myths as inspiration for much of their art work.
• The Ancient Greeks
believed:
• The creation of the world involved a
battle between the Earth gods called
Titans or Giants and the sky gods.
• The sky gods were victorious.
• The sky gods lived atop Mount
Olympus in northeastern Greece.
• Their gods were immortal and endowed
with super human powers.
• Unlike the Egyptians and other Near
Eastern people, their gods could appear
in human form.
• The gods were burdened with human
weaknesses and emotions.
Important Greek Gods and Goddesses
• Zeus and Hera
– head god/goddess
• Apollo
– god of healing, arts and
the sun
• Poseidon
– god of the sea
• Ares
– god of war
• Aphrodite
– goddess of love
• Artemis
– goddess of hunting and
the moon
• Athena
– goddess of wisdom
• Hades
– God of the underworld
• Hermes
– Messenger of the gods
• Eros (Cupid)
– God of love
Sacred Places
• Sanctuaries were areas
believed to be sacred to
certain gods.
• They may have started
out as a simple outdoor
altars but grew into
enormous temple areas
with multiple buildings
including stadiums.
• The Greeks were very
interested in athletics and
held elaborate athletic
contests.
Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi
Located high on a plateau near Mt. Parnassus.
Greeks believed it was here that Apollo fought and killed the serpent
son of the Earth goddess.
Theater above the sanctuary
The Oracle at Delphi
• Delphi was a religious and political center.
• In addition, Delphi was renowned as an oracle.
• A place were a god, in this case Apollo, was believed to
communicate with humans.
• People traveled to Delphi to ask the oracle questions and to
seek help from the priest and priestess.
• Most of the oracle answers were enigmatic, such as
"Beware of wooden walls," which could beware of ships
invading your land.
• Greek leaders often sought the advice of an oracle.
Reconstruction Drawing of the
Sanctuary of Apollo
Divisions in Greek Art
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Geometric
Orientalizing
Archaic
Early Classical
Classical
– Age of Pericles
– 5th and 4h Century
• Hellenistic
GOAE54H
Go Out After Eating 54 Hams.
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Geometric
Orientalizing
Archaic
Early Classical
5th Century Classical
4th Century Classical
Hellenistic
Geometric Period
• first specifically Greek style
of vase painting.
• can be distinguished from
Minoan or Mycenaean.
• Geometric Style becomes
widespread after 900 BCE in
all types of art.
• Characterized by linear
motifs, rather than stylized
birds/plants of Minoan art.
Funerary
Amphora
• Funerary amphora
• Geometric style,
• Depicts (laying-out) and
lamentation over the dead.
• Found in Dipylum.
• 800 BCE
• 42 inches high !
National Museum Athens
Detail from funerary amphora
Greek Burial Site
Funerary Vase
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This large vase is a krater, a bowl for
mixing wine and water.
Notice the funerary procession with horse
drawn chariot and warriors carrying
shields.
This vase is the first of its kind to be
found with human and animal figures.
We see a corpse lying on his side and
animals underneath ready to be
sacrificed.
The mourning women are shown ripping
out their hair in a gesture of mourning
The Greeks made no reference to the
afterlife, like the Egyptians.
This vase was used as a grave marker and
had a hole in the bottom to pour wine for
the deceased to enjoy!
• Not all geometric vasepaintings are as
monumental in size. Here
are small cups decorated
with similar stick-figures,
apparently engaged in
battle, but whether they
represented a real or a
fictional battle is unknown.
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Within a relatively short
time, however, the pictorial
scenes increase in size and
detail, and shortly after 700
BCE we find the first
recognizable scenes taken
from myths.
Early Greek Architecture
Greeks worshipped at outdoor altars
within walled sanctuaries.
Their temples were designed to
shelter a statue of a god.
Made of mud bricks and wood.
Very few ancient Greek temples
remain today.
Model of
a Temple
• Ceramic model of an
ancient temple
• Decorated in the geometric
style.
• Found near the Sanctuary of
Hera near Argos.
• Gives us some idea of how
these ancient temples were
designed.
• Note the porch, the
columns, the triangular
roof.
Orientalizing
Period
Greek potters shifted away
from the tight geometric
patterns of the past and
began to decorate pottery
with larger more open
motifs of plants and
animals.
• Orientalizing Period
• From about 750 BCE onwards, Greeks begin to
venture overseas and develop many colonies in
southern Italy and Sicily.
• Greek artists were influenced by the variety of
artistic styles of their trading partners.
• By 7th c. BCE, they moved away from only
geometric patterns.
• New Greek style incorporates elements of Near
Eastern and Egyptian art.
Pitcher (olpe)c. 600BCE
• Large silhouetted creatures
in profile in bands.
• Overall pattern of rosettes.
• Example of black figure
pottery:
– Dark shapes over a light
ground
– Here the light ground is the
natural buff color of the
clay.
• Fine details incised with a
sharp tool.
• Can you see the Middle
Eastern influence?
Let me help you.
Archaic Period
• Greek city states on mainland, on Aegean
islands and in colonies flourished.
• Athens begins to move to forefront.
• 594BCE, Solon becomes political leader
of Athens, instituting legal reforms.
• Dates up to the time when the Greeks
repelled the Persians, an event that
inaugurates new era.
• Greek Architecture begins to flourish.
Early Greek
Architecture
• Most of the earliest ancient
Greek structures were built with
mud-brick and wood and have
not survived.
• At the beginning of the Archaic
period, however, building in
stone began in earnest.
• Influenced by the great
columned halls of Egypt, the
Archaic Greeks started
constructing columned stone
temples with double-sloped
roofs.
• These buildings are not only the most important
structures which we have studied so far, but they
will also prove to have an effect like no other on
later Western architecture.
• Architectural sculpture also adorned most temples
and it was always painted.
• Note, too, that the Greek temple was also not a
place of public worship, for altars were placed
outside the structures.
• Instead, the temples were seen as homes for the
cult statues of the deities to whom the buildings
had been dedicated.
Small Early Greek
Temple Plans
• Although there were many
varieties of Greek temples,
they all had the same basic
plan.
• These "variations on a
theme" illuminated the
ancient Greek ideal of
proportion, balance and
symmetry.
• In general, ancient Greek
architects also strove for a
1:2 ratio of width to length
Temple in antis at Delphi
• The Greeks believed their
temples were houses for
their gods.
• They derived the basic
plan from the Mycenaean
megaron.
• It was a rectangular
building with a front
porch or portico, having 2
or more columns.
• The cella is a walled room
with a single entry. And a
sacred place for the cult
statue.
• The columns were created
in separate drums or
pieces and placed together
without mortar.
• They taper from a wide
base to a narrower top
(unlike the Minoan).
• The columns supported a
roof of wood.
• Greek temples were meant
to be observed from the
outside and were brightly
painted.
• Very few people were
allowed into the cella.
Amphiprostyle Temple at Athena
• Most temples had
colonnades of various
types as well:
• prostyle: columns
across the front porch
only
• amphiprostyle:
columns across the
front and back porch
• peristyle: columns
around the cella
Tholos Temple at Delphi
Temple of Hera I
Built around 550 BCE in Southern Italy by the Greeks
Post and Lintel construction
Peristyle
What order are the columns ?
Greek Architectural
Orders
• The Greeks liked
systems and order.
• In Architecture they
created three different
orders or styles.
• Each order used a
particular set of design
elements.
• Each order can be
identified by the style
of the capital.
• Doric
• Ionic
• Corinthian
Greek Architectural Orders
Emerged in Archaic Period
Later
Doric Order
• Doric is the oldest and looks
the heaviest.
• The columns are laid together
in blocks and bonded by iron
dowels and lead clamps.
• Once together, the workmen
shaped the fluted column.
• A flat disc called the capital
rest atop the column.
Ionic Order
• The Ionic columns are
more slender with a volute
capital.
• The entablature has frieze
sculptural reliefs (and
were brightly painted).
Corinthian Order
• Corinthian was originally
used only in the interior,
but came to be used for
temple exteriors.
• The capital is very
elaborate and the volute is
shaped into acanthus
leaves.
• The Greeks admired this
plant because it is
tenacious
Architectural Sculpture
Pediment
Metope
Triglyph
• As Greek temples grew larger and more complex sculptural
decoration became more important.
• Reliefs would be carved into the gable located in the pediment or
along the frieze.
Example of an early relief in pediment of the temple
of Artemis
Dying Warrior from the Temple of Aphaia, c. 500-490 BCE
Archaic Sculpture
• New type of large
free-standing statue.
• Made from wood, terra
cotta or white marble.
• Often life size or larger.
• Standing or striding pose,
usually painted.
• Some found with
inscriptions for
commemorative purposes.
• Found marking graves or
lining the sacred path to
A fragment of an Archaic sculpture of a rider,
temples.
circa 565 BCE, found in the rubble of the Acropolis.
• Sculpture in the Archaic period
consisted mainly of the kouros and
kore form.
• Kouros were freestanding rigid
statues of nude males.
• Kore statues were representations of
females.
• These statues typically stood rigid
and straight-backed, feet together,
staring straight ahead with no
expression on the face except for a
slight curving of the lips, which is
now dubbed as the ‘archaic smile’.
• The kouros and kore were
technically accurate human
figures, but lacked believability
due to their static, formulaic
symmetry and the apparent lack of
life and character.
• Kouros c. 580 BCE, marble
• Recalls pose and proportion
of Egyptian sculpture.
• Frontal pose, rigid arms, one
leg in front of the other.
• However, all stone is cut
away from the body, making
it truly freestanding.
• More realistic detail in
muscles, knees, hair.
• Not to mention the figure is
completely nude.
• Archaic smile
Detail of Kouros statue
• Anavysos Kouros
– c. 525 BCE, marble
• Reflects the artist’s increasing
interest in a more realistic
rendering of the human form.
• The pose, hair and smile are like
the earlier kouros, but the larger
torso, muscular arms and legs
exhibit greater anatomical
accuracy.
• Exhibits heroic strength.
• It was a grave monument to fallen
soldier.
– Inscription reads:
• Stop and grieve at the tomb
of the dead Kroisos, slain
by wild Ares in the front
rank of battle
Berlin Kore
c. 570-560 BCE
marble
• Kore: statue of a young
woman
• Stands more than 6ft tall,
stiffly posed and full
bodied.
• Thick robe and cloak fall
in regularly spaced folds,
not unlike the fluting on a
column.
• Figure holds a
pomegranate, an attribute
or identifying symbol of
Persephone, who was
abducted by Hades the
god of the underworld.
Peplos Kore
c. 530 BCE
marble
• Named for a distinctive and
characteristic garment: the peplos
• Draped rectangle of cloth, folded
over at the top, pinned at the
shoulders and belted to give a
bloused effect.
• Similar to the previous Kore in its
rigid pose, but is a more rounded
female figure.
• Face and hair more naturalistic.
• Traces of encaustic painting
remain.
Kore from Chios ?
C. 520 BCE marble
• May have been made by a
sculptor from the island of
Chios, near Asia Minor.
• Rich drapery, hair and facial
features and large amount of
paint still on it.
• Increasingly life like
appearance.
• Wears a garment called a
chiton, like the peplos but
fuller.
• Elaborate hairstyle and
abundant jewelry add to the
opulent effect.
Comparison of three Kore statues
Calf Bearer
c. 560 BCE marble
• Not all archaic statues were
Kouros or Kore statues.
• Found in the ruble of the
Acropolis.
• Probably represents a priest or
worshipper carrying an animal
intended for sacrifice.
• Figure’s smile, tufted hair, wide
open eyes with large irises and
semicircular eyebrows all reflect
the Archaic style.
• The sculptor has rendered the
calf with perceptive detail, how?
• The statue is unique in that it does
not depict a single figure, nor a
group of figures, but a man and a
calf closely bound in an exquisite
composition. Notice the X.
• The arrangement guided the sculptor
to depict the arms crossed across the
chest of the man as he holds the
calf’s legs.
• The calf is naturally settled by its
weight on the man’s shoulder as it
turns its head to face the viewer.
• Overall, the statue is defined with
the typical geometric planes of the
Archaic era.
• However certain areas of the figure
are rendered in a much smoother
manner, ie. the muscles of the
forearms.
Transition from the Archaic Period
to the Early Classical Period
Architectural and Freestanding
Sculpture
The Start of the Classical Period
in Greek Art
• Over the next 160 years the Greeks established an ideal of
beauty that has endured in the Western World to the
present.
• The Classical Period is framed by two major historic
events:
– The defeat of the Persians in 479 BCE
– The death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE
• Historians divide this period in to three phases
Three Phases of the Classical Period
• Three phases are based on the formal qualities of the art
– The Transitional or Early period
• c.480-450 BCE
– The Mature 5th Century Classical Period
• c.450-400 BCE
• Formerly called the Golden Age of Pericles
– The Late 4th Century Classical Period c.400-323 BCE
• The speed of change during this short time period is one of
the most extraordinary characteristics of Greek art
Three general concepts of
Greek Classical Art
• Humanism
• Rationalism
• Idealism
– The ancient Greeks truly believed the sayings
carved on the Temple of Apollo, Man is the
measure of all things and followed this concept
in their art.
Humanism
• Seek an ideal based on human form.
• Nothing in excess- produce only essential
forms.
• In their love and admiration of all things
human, the Greeks believed their gods
looked and acted as perfect human beings.
Apollo: an example of the perfect
human ideal
• His body and his mind were in balance.
• He was an athlete and at the same time a
musician.
• A healer and a Sun god.
• A leader of the Muses.
• All qualities the Greeks admired in men.
Rationalism: Reason over emotion
• As much as the Greeks celebrated human ideals, they
valued reason over emotion.
• They believed logic and reason supported natural
processes.
• All aspects of life, including the arts, had meaning and
pattern.
• Nothing happened by accident.
• Rationalism provided an intellectual structure for the
arts.
– Examples: Creation of the orders in architecture and
a canon of proportion for sculpture, What’s that?
Classical Greek Art is based on
careful observation of nature.
• Unlike Egyptian and Near Eastern artists, the
Greeks did not rely on memory images.
• Only after careful study and understanding of a
form did they begin to generalize, searching
within each form for its universal ideal.
• Rather than sculpt the model exactly as it looked,
the Greeks tried to distill the essence of the figure.
• This lead to a system of perfect mathematical
proportion for the human figure: canon of
proportion.
Humanism and Rationalism
Produced Idealism
• The idealism that characterizing Greek Art involved:
– The True
– The Good
– The Beautiful
• Remember, the Greeks of the Classical Period established a
benchmark for art against which generations of artists have
since measured quality.
– Now you know why we say something is a Classic.
– In the most general usage, a “classic” is something perhaps a book, a song, a car, or a movie- of lasting
quality and universal significance
Early Classical Period
• Historically this begins with the
Greeks repelling the Persians and
concludes with the era of the
Peloponnesian Wars.
• Some scholars think the Greek
defeat of the Persians led to culture
of confidence which led to
tremendous social and artistic
growth.
• In art, there is an emergence of new
style of figure sculpture.
Persians (foreground) attempting to drive through the pass at Thermoplyae.
Early Classical
Architectural Sculpture
Decorative sculptures that were
imbedded in a building
Temple of Zeus at Olympia
• Began to be built several years after the defeat of the
Persians.
• Today, even though the temple is in ruins, it is still
impressive.
• Built of local stone, but the sculptures were made from
imported marble.
• Themes appropriate to its Olympian setting,
demonstrate the power of the gods Zeus, Apollo and
Athena.
Reconstruction Drawing of
Apollo with Battling Lapiths and
Centaurs
West Pediment of the
Temple of Zeus, Olympia c.460 BCE
Freestanding Sculptures from the West Pediment
Temple of Zeus, Olympia
• Apollo helping the Lapiths in their battle with the centaurs.
• Battle began after the centaurs drank too much wine at at
the wedding feast of the Lapith king.
• Centaurs tried to carry off the Lapith women.
• Apollo stands calmly in the center of the scene, stopping
the battle by simply raising his arm.
• The rising/falling triangular composition fills the
awkward pediment space.
• Struggle between angular and twisting forms
dramatizes the physical struggle.
• Calm and regal Apollo in the center symbolizes
the triumph of reason over passion.
Barbarism
vs
Civilization
Athena, Hercules and Atlas
metope from the Temple of Zeus at Olympia
Atlas presenting
Hercules with
the apples from the
Garden of the
Hesperides
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Metope high relief
Illustrating one of the 12 Labors
of Hercules
If Hercules performed all 12
labors who would gain eternal life
Hercules makes a deal with Atlas
to get the apples
Hercules will hold up the sky for
him while Atlas steals the apples
What Atlas does not know and
cannot see is that Athena is
helping Hercules
Artist has balanced the erect
frontal view of Athena with the
two men in profile
Reflects an increasing interest in
realism
Transition from the
Archaic to the Early Classical
• At the height of the Archaic period,
sculptors decided to reinvent
conceptions of appearance.
• The first step taken in this transition
are seen in the so-called Kritios
(Kritian) Boy, the sculpture of a
young boy, probably made around
480 BCE, attributed to the sculptor
Kritios, the teacher of Myron (discus
thrower).
• The Kritios boy belongs to
the Late Archaic period and
is considered the precursor
to the later classical
sculptures of athletes.
• The statue is made of
marble and is considerably
smaller than life-size. (3 ft
10 ins).
• With the Kritios Boy the
Greek artist has mastered
a complete understanding
of how the different parts
of the body act as a
system.
• The statue supports its body
on one leg, the left, while
the right one is bent at the
knee in a relaxing state.
•
The stance forces a chain of
anatomical events as the pelvis is
pushed diagonally upwards on the
left side, the right buttock relaxes,
the spine acquires a curve, and the
shoulder line dips on the left to
counteract the action of the pelvis
called contra-posto.
•
Statue exhibits a number of other
critical innovations that distinguish
it from the Archaic Kouroi that
paved its way.
•
The muscular and skeletal
structure are depicted with
unforced life-like accuracy, with
the rib cage naturally expanded as
if in the act of breathing, with a
relaxed attitude and hips which are
distinctly narrower.
• As a final fore bearer of
the classical period, the
“smile” of Archaic statues
has been completely
replaced by the accurate
rendering of the lips and
the austere expression
that characterized the
transitional or severe
period from the Archaic
to the Classical era
580
BCE
480
BCE
The Charioteer c. 477 BCE, bronze
from Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi
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Height: 5’ 11”
It is one of the few ancient bronzes to have
survived, most were melted down.
The statue was erected at Delphi in 474 BC,
to commemorate the victory of a chariot
team in the Pythian Games, which were held
at Delphi every four years in honor of
Pythean Apollo.
It was originally part of a larger group of
statuary, including the chariot, four (possibly
six) horses and two grooms.
It was buried and there preserved in a
landslide/
It was excavated by the French in1896/
Some fragments of the horses were found
with the statue.
When intact, it must have been one of the
most imposing works of statuary in the
world.
• Stylistically, the Charioteer is
classed as "Early Classical"
• The statue is more naturalistic than
the kouros of the Archaic period,
but the pose is still very rigid
when compared with later works
of the Classical period.
• One departure from the Archaic
style is that the head is inclined
slightly to one side. The
naturalistic rendering of his feet
was greatly admired in ancient
times.
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An inscription on the
limestone base of the
statue shows that it was
commissioned by
Polyzalus, the tyrant of
Gela, a Greek colony in
Sicily, as a tribute to
Apollo for helping him
win the chariot race.
The name of the sculptor
is unknown, but for
stylistic reasons it is
believed that the statue
was cast in Athens.
It has certain similarities
of detail to the statue
known as the Apollo of
Piraeus, which is known
to be of Athenian origin.
• The statue is one of the
few Greek bronzes to
preserve the inlaid glass
eyes and the copper
detailing of the eyelashes
and lips.
• The serene expression of
the youth's face is much
admired.
• The headband is of silver
and may have been inlaid
with precious stones,
which have been removed.
• The statue has inlaid eyes
and soft side-curls,
demonstrating a very
young subject.
Other
Greek Bronzes
• As we have seen, bronze
sculpture was a major art
form of Ancient Greece,
but extremely few still
exist today. Many that do,
such as the next two, were
each discovered in modern
times by underwaterarchaeologists among the
remains of sunken ships.
• The two elegant and finelyfinished Riace bronzes are
full-size Greek bronzes of
young nude bearded warriors,
cast about 460 BC - 430 BCE.
• They were found by Stefano
Mariottini, a Roman chemist
on a Scuba diving vacation in
1972, perhaps at the site of an
ancient shipwreck, off the
coast of Riace, in Southern
Italy.
• They are two major additions
to the surviving examples of
Greek sculpture.
• Their eyes are inlaid with
bone and glass, and they
have silver teeth and
copper lips and nipples.
• Reflects the Greeks’quest
for realism.
• Formerly they held spears
and shields.
• They represent the
transition from Archaic
Greek sculpture to the
early Classic Style.
"Poseidon Soter
at Artemisium”
c. 575 BCE
Greek bronze sculpture
depicting the god Poseidon.
The statue was found in the
Aegean Sea in 1926.
Poseidon
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Poseidon was the Greek god of the sea and
earthquakes.
Often depicted as a bearded man with long
hair, holding a trident and accompanied by
dolphins and fish.
He had the reputation for having a very bad
temper.
The symbol of Poseidon's power was the three
pronged spear known as the trident.
Storms and earthquakes were a reflection of
his furious rage.
Poseidon was the brother of Zeus and Hades.
The Greek god Poseidon was known to the
Romans with the name of Neptune.
Recap:
Early Classical Period Sculpture
• During the classical period the Greeks developed a style
that incorporated an idealized yet realistic approach to the
representation of the figure.
• Greek artists moved toward an expression based on
observation of living beings and refinement of anatomical
elements.
• Gods and goddesses were imagined in human form but
ideal in proportion, without imperfections.
• The unclothed human figure in its most perfect
manifestation was admired for its harmonious beauty.
• The archetypical proportions of the human body were the
measure and standard of beauty for all things.
Coming Next…..
5th Century Classical
4th Century Classical
•
Works referenced:
Janson, History of Art, Abrams 2001
Marilyn Stockstad’s Art History: Second Edition (Volumes one and
two)
Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “Timeline of Art History.” Available
online at http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/splash.htm
Strickland, Carol. The Annotated Mona Lisa. 1992
“The Web Gallery of Art.” Available online at http://www.wga.hu
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/E/el_greco.html