Ancient Greece Hellenistic Period
I.
1
HELLENISTIC PERIOD (323-31 BCE)
A. Decline of Athens
1. The Golden Age, 479 - 431 BCE
2. The Peloponnesian War, 431 – 404 BCE
a. Consequences
i.
After 27 years of war with Sparta and
other city-states, Athens lost its fleet, its
empire, its power, and its wealth. It had
also lost its self-confidence.
ii.
However, the crisis in public confidence
was accompanied by an artistic
outburst. As people turned to their
private lives, artists began to reflect
their joys and sorrows. For the first
time, the faces of bronze and marble
statues began to show major emotion.
B. Transition
1. Macedon
a. Poor and backward land
b. Heavily forested
c. Populated by hard-bitten mountaineers
d. “Boorish country cousins”
2. Philip of Macedon (ruled from 359 – 336 BCE)
a. Goal
i.
Build up the hardy peasants of his
country into a mighty military force
ii.
Conquer the city-states of Greece
b. The Man
i.
Resolute – unshakable determination
ii.
Gift for manipulation
iii. Diplomacy
iv.
Blandishments – Once an informant
insisted that the walls of an enemy town
were impregnable. “So impregnable,”
Philip asked, “even gold can’t scale
them?”
v.
Impervious to pain
1. “For the sake of ruling and
wielding power, he has had an eye
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knocked out, his shoulder
smashed, his leg and hand
mutilated; he jettisons whatever
part of his body fate wants to take
away, just so long as he can live in
honor and glory with what is left.”
Demosthenes
vi.
Military innovations
1. New phalanx – dense squares 16
men across and 16 deep
2. The Sarissa – an 18 foot lance
vii.
Weaknesses
1. Wine
2. Women
3. Olympias and Alexander
a. Olympias
i.
Princess of Epirus, a powerful
neighboring kingdom
ii.
Acknowledged queen
iii. Claimed to be a descendent of Achilles
4. Alexander
a. The Man
i.
Tutored by Aristotle
ii.
Handsome and athletic – a swift runner,
dashing horseman, a brilliant fencer, a
practiced bowman, and a fearless hunter
iii. Skilled warrior and leader
iv.
Portrait by Lyssippos
v.
Bucephalus – his famous horse
vi.
Visions of glory from the Iliad
b. Conquests
i.
Subdued Macedonia
ii.
Defeated Athens and Thebes at the Battle of
Chaeronea (338 BCE)
iii. Empire extended from Macedonia to Egypt
to India
c. Dies very young and empire is split among his
generals.
C. Legacy
i. Era of small, austere, city-state gone
ii. Now have many kingdoms around the Mediterranean with
Greek culture.
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iii. Kings are rich, priding themselves on the libraries, art
collections, scientific enterprises, and skills as critics and
connoisseurs and learned men at court.
iv. Cosmopolitan world view.
II.
HELLENISTIC ART
A. Introduction
1. A new world (Slide 11)
 Ptolemies rule in Egypt
 Antigonids rule in Macedonia and mainland Greece
 Seleucids rule in Asia Minor (ie Turkey),
Mesopotamia and Persia
2. New Artistic Centers
 Alexandria
 Rhodes
 Pergamon
3. Classical Art – A Review
 Heroic – depicts gods and heroes
 Aloof serenity
 Ideal – quest for the perfect form
 Restraint, calmness
4. HELLENISTIC – a new artistic style
 The everyday – realistic depictions of a wide variety
of individual people
 The old
 The very young,
 Emotion
 Pain
 Death
 Expressionism – the deliberate attempt to elicit a
specific emotional response in the viewer by using:
 Physical struggle
 Emotional struggle
 Drama
B. Hellenistic Architecture
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i. Wide variety and complexity of Hellenistic culture required
1. bigger scale
2. greater diversity
3. theatrical element of surprise
4. willingness to break rules
ii. PAIONIOS OF EPHESOS and DAPHNIS OF MILETOS,
Temple of Apollo, Didyma, Turkey, begun 313 BCE. Slide 15
1. Replacement of temple burned down by Persians in 494
BCE
2. Construction stretched over 500 years and still not
completed.
3. Complex inner plan. Deviation from Classical Greek
architecture that stressed exterior form and relatively
undeveloped interiors.
4. Dipteral
5. Broad façade
6. Used 2x + 1 formula
7. No pediment/No roof: hypaethral
8. Doorway to cella was 5 ft off ground so doorway acted
as a stage for the oracle of Apollo
9. Dipteral colonnade really a big stage that protected cult
statue of Apollo
10. Entered prostyle/cella through side entrances and dark
tunnels and then entered into light of cella.
11. Also a 50 foot wide stairway to oracular room.
iii. City of Miletos, also destroyed by Persians
1. Rebuilt (after 466 BCE) with plan by Hippodamos
a. Father of rational city planning (Aristotle).
b. Grid plan, regardless of terrain
i.
Orthogonal planning (Hippodamian
plan)
1. Separate sections for public,
private, and religious activities.
2. Rational extension of Polykleitos’s
Canon and Iktinos’s treatise on
Parthenon design.
ii.
Example of city with Hippodamian
plan: city of PRIENE, Turkey, 4th C.
BCE and later. Slide 16
1. Houses unpretentious
a. Money went to public
structures.
b. Not symmetrical
c. Open air courtyard
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2. Heart of Priene was agora,
marketplace Slide 17
a. Agora: A place of
congregation; usually a
marketplace
b. Agora framed by stoas
c. Stoa: covered colonnade
that housed shops and civic
offices. Usually for public
use. Columns on one side,
wall on the other.
d. Athen’s agora was framed
by 2 stoas (Stoas of Attalos
II)
 Doric columns on
first floor, Ionic
for second
iv. Pergamon Slides 18 - 20
1. Capital of kingdom (also Pergamon) that was created at
death of Alexander the Great.
a. Pergamon now - ruins on a wind swept acropolis
b. Pergamon then - the Athens of the East!
c. Very rich and was one of the centers of wealth,
art, and culture in Hellenic world.
d. Became part of Roman Empire in 133 BCE.
2. King Attalus I (241 - 197 BCE)
 Won a major victory over the Galatians, a newly
arrived tribe of Celts from Thrace, who had been
menacing most of Asia Minor (a sculpture of Dying
Gaul will be a part of a monument in Pergamon of
this victory)
 Determined to make his capital city “the Athens of
the East!”
 A prosperous economy makes it possible for Attalus
and his successors to employ some of the finest
architects and sculptors in the Hellenistic world.
 The monumental structures that arose on the
acropolis of Pergamon were believed by many to be
equal or even superior to those in Athens itself.
 In addition to the massive royal palace, the buildings
included the Temple of Athena, which housed an
impressive art collection, and a library that was
second in size to that of Alexandria in Egypt. A
theater seating 10,000 people sloped down to a stoa,
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a column-lined promenade that looked out over the
plain below.
3. Altar of Zeus on Pergamene acropolis ca. 175 BCE
a. West front of altar reconstructed in Berlin
(museum).
b. Gigantic on an elevated platform with Ionic stoalike colonnade with projecting wings.
c. 400 foot frieze of about 100 figures engaged in
the Gigantomachy: Gigantomachy was the
victory of the Pergamon over the Gauls in
mythological disguise. (allegory)
i.
Emotional intensity
ii.
Battle rages everywhere even on the
steps up to the altar.
iii. Swirling drapery, vivid depictions of
death
iv.
Deep carving gives dramatic areas of
deep shadow and light: Baroque
(extravagant, complex ornamentation)
v.
Now reconstructed in Berlin
vi.
Portrayed the epic struggle for the
Cosmos between the Giants and the
Olympic Gods. This struggle is known
as the GIGANTOMACHY.
vii.
Original frieze was almost 400 feet long
and contained some 100 larger-than-life
figures.
viii.
The frieze is the most expensive and
expressive representation ever
attempted by Greek artists.
ix.
Let’s take a look:
x.
Athena battling Alkyoneos
1. Athena battling the giant
Alkyoneos. Athena grabs the hair
of the giant as Nike (the goddess of
Victory) flies down to crown the
goddess victorious.
Ancient Greece Hellenistic Period
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2.
Like in other scenes, the dying
giant writhes in agony and his face
is a mask of pain.
3. The emotional faces and often
contorted figures are exemplary of
Hellenistic sculpture.
C. Hellenistic Sculpture
i. Sculptures on Temple of Zeus
1. Gallic chieftain killing himself and his wife, Roman
copy after bronze original, ca. 230 – 220 BCE, possibly
by Epigonos Slide22
 Gallic chieftain killing himself and his wife
 The Gallic chieftain has taken the life of his wife,
who if captured, would have been sold as a slave
 He then defiantly drives a sword into his own chest,
preferring suicide to surrender.
 How do you respond to the statue?
2. Dying Gaul, Roman copy, ca. 230 -220 BCE, possibly
Epigonos Slide 23
a. A trumpeter who collapses upon his large oval
shield as blood pours out of the gash in his chest.
b. Note how he stares at the ground with a pained
expression on his face.
c. Decorated a monument to Attalus victory
d. What emotional response does this statue elicit
from you?
e. Defeat of Gauls is explicit not allegorical like on
frieze
f. Shows bushy hair, moustaches, and neck bands
that were worn by Gauls.
g. Only see the agony of the defeated, not the
victors.
h. Gallic chieftain best seen in the round
(Lysippan)
i.
Twisting composition
ii.
Theatrical gestures and emotional
intensity
iii. baroque
3. Nike of Samothrqace aka“Winged Victory” , ca. 190
BCE, 8’ 1” high Slide 24
a. Built for sanctuary of great gods on island of
Samothrace
b. Discovered in 1863
c. Now in a place of honor in the Louvre
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d. Commemorates a naval victory
e. Nike has just alighted on a Greek warship’s
prow
f. It is believed that her missing right arm was once
raised high to crown the naval victor
g. Compare with Nike crowning Athena at
Pergamon - calm
h. Wings still beating
i. Himation in folds on right leg
j. Chiton pulled across abdomen and left leg
k. Lightness and movement
l. Placed on top of a 2 tier fountain
i.
Boulders on first tier with water
plashing on them
ii.
Looks like ship slicing through waves
iii. Sound of water adds to experience
m. Classical idea of calm, self-contained sculpture is
replaced by baroque (ornate, highly decorative)
sculptures that interact with the environment.
4. Venus de Milo Slide 25
 Discovered by a worker in 1820 on the island of
Milos (then known as Milo)
 Actually is Aphrodite
 Purchased by French ambassador
 Displayed in a place of honor in the Louvre
 More modestly dressed that Aphrodite of Knidos
 But which statue is more sensual?
 Missing arms
 Left hand may have held the apple Paris awarded
her when he judged her the most beautiful goddess
 Right hand may have lightly grasped the edge of her
draper near her left hip
5. Barberini Faun Slide 26
a. Sleep appeals to Hellenistic Greeks: Suspension
of consciousness to fantasy realm
b. Drunken satyr
c. Erotic: spread legs focus viewer on genitals
d. Homosexuality was common in ancient Greece,
part of the cultural norm
i.
Explore erotic of male and female forms
6. Boxer
 Let’s take another look at the Classical athlete
Ancient Greece Hellenistic Period
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

Victorious
Young
Perfect body

A once mighty fighter, but now Slide 28



Defeated
Aging
Battered
9
 How does the statue make you feel?
7. Old Market Woman Slide 29
 Haggard old woman
 Once a young and wealthy courtesan (she has a nice
dress)
 Now, sagging and wrinkled
 Brings an offering in a basket for a Dionysian
festival
 How do you react to the statue?
8. Demosthenes Slide 30








The story of Demosthenes
A frail man with a speech impediment
Enormous courage and conviction
Fights in the Battle of Chaeronea (338 BCE)
Resisted efforts by Phillip of Macedon to take over
Athens.
Flees Athens after the conquest of Philip of Macedon
Takes his life rather than submit to the
Macedonians
What words would you use to describe
Demonsthenes?
How does the statue make you feel?

9.
10. Laocoon and his sons Slide 31





First century CE, for Romans
Discovery in 1506
“It is the Laocoon!”
Michelangelo was there
Pope Julius II’s reward sparks a search for more
classical statues

The story of Laocoon and his sons
Ancient Greece Hellenistic Period 10






Back to the Trojan War
Odysseus has a brilliant idea
The Trojan Horse
Laocoon warns: “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts!”
But Athena is furious
Laocoon is punished

Let’s look at the statue

Attributed to Athanadoros, Hegesandros, and
Polydoros of Rhodes
Looking ahead, the Laocoon will influence
Michelangelo Slide 32
Also looking ahead, the Laocoon’s emotionalism and
drama will be similar to Baroque art


a. Head of Odysseus, to Athanadoros, Hegesandros,
and Polydoros of Rhodes (signed) strengthens
attribution of Laocoon. Slide 33
D. Painting and Mosaics
a. Classical
i. Achilles Painter, Warrior taking leave of his wife, Athenian
white-ground lekythos, Eretria, Greece, 440 BCE. Slide 34
1. Variation of red-figure technique
2. Because some of the colors had to be painted on (as
opposed to glazing) they were impermanent so they
were used almost exclusively as funerary vessels to be
buried with the deceased.
3. Youthful warrior takes leave of his wife at home
(domestic items on wall).
4. Young warrior will not return. Wife is survivor. Very
similar to Hegeso stele
ii. Polygnotos
1. Leading painter of first half of 5th C. BCE (499 – 450
BCE)
2. Work has not survived but is known through stories
and influences on other painters.
3. Famous for painted stoa in Athens.
4. Revolutionary compositional style
a. Did not place figures on the bottom of the
picture plane
b. Place figures on different levels to suggest depth
Ancient Greece Hellenistic Period 11
c. Incorporated landscape to make “windows onto
the world” not just surface designs peopled with
foreshortened figures.
d. As profound a break as rejection of frontality in
statuary.
5. Niobid Painter, Artemis and Apollo slaying the children
of Niobe, Orvieto, Italy, red-figure calyx krater, ca. 450
BCE Slide 38
a. Shows influence of Polygnotos
b. Niobe boasted she was better than goddess Leto
because she had at least a dozen children while
Leto had only two. Hubris = arrogance. Bad
move.
c. Landscape shows rocks occluding (covering up)
a dead body
d. Drew face in ¾ view.
6. Phiale Painter, Hermes bringing the infant Dionysos to
Papposienos, ca. 440 – 435 BCE Slide 39
a. Used colors that could be fired
b. Shadowy idea of what Polygnotos’s painting
might look like
c. Figures on ground plane anyway
7. Youth diving, painted ceiling of the Tomb of the Diver,
Paestrum, Italy, ca. 480 BCE Slide 40
a. Youth diving from life into the next life
b. Hellenistic
1. Gnosis, Stag hunt, from Pella, Greece, ca. 300 BCE,
pebble mosaic Slide 42
a. “Gnosis made it” – earliest signed mosaic
b. Art for floors
c. Made of small stones from riverbank
d. Emblema, central framed panel
e. Light figures against dark background
f. Thin Strips of lead or terracotta define most of
the contour lines and some interior details.
g. Subtle gradations of color suggest volumes of
forms, musculature, and billowing cloaks.
i. Such shading is called skiagraphia
(shadow painting) used in monumental
painting
ii. Said to have been invented in the 5th C.
BCE by Apollodoros.
2. Hades abducting Persephone from tomb 1, Vergina,
Greece, mid 4th C. BCE Slide 43
a. Recent find, rare precious example of Greek
monumental painting.
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b. Hades, Persephone, and chariot in ¾ view.
c. Chariot seems like it will burst into viewer’s
space
d. Note foreshortening
e. Note short, dark brushstrokes to indicate
shadow and volume
3. Philoxenos of Eretria, Battle of Issus, ca. 310 BCE,
Roman copy from House of the Faun, Pompeii, Italy,
late 2nd – early first C. BCE, Tessera mosaic (cut stone
or glass mosaic) Slide 43
a. Not pebbles
b. Subject is Persian King Darius III fleeing battle
with Alexander the Great at Issus
c. Note ¾ view of horse rump
i. Subtle modulation of color and shading
surpasses Pella mosaic or Vergina mural.
d. Persian on right on ground, raises shield to
protect himself from rearing horse
i. Can see reflection of his terrified face in
shield.
e. All figures cast shadows on ground
f. Artist concerned with figures, trees, sky and
light --- not just depicting figures in a blank
background.
i. This will be major concern of western
painting from the Renaissance on.
g. Psychological Intensity
i. Alexander leads army without helmet and
kills a Persian
ii. Alexander is looking at Darius who is
fleeing
iii. Darius reaches out as victory slips out of
his hands.