Unit TWO: Early Greek Art
STUDY GUIDE
R Exekias. Dionysos in a Sailboat, c. 540 BCE
S Dionysus and the Maenads
Dionysos (and the ecstasis)/ kylix/ sail blowing in
the wind/ comparison with decoration of Geometric
style amphoras
1. “The multi-faceted figure of Dionysus, god of ecstasy,
god of the vine and god of grain, is found in various forms
all over the Middle East. As a baby at Eleusis he
symbolized rebirth; as an adult his cult was based on the
theme of an endless cycle of death and regeneration, and
his sacred rites were bloody, orgiastic and abandoned.
His origins are possibly prehistoric, for he is a shamanic
figure whose survival in Ancient Greece bears witness to
his archetypal power” (Mann and Lyle 111).
1. In the painted image of this
kylix
(drinking
cup)
by
Exekias, “the slender, sharpedged forms have a lacelike
delicacy, yet also resilience
and strength, so that the
design adapts itself to the
circular
surface
without
becoming mere ornament.
Dionysos reclines in his boat
(the sail was once entirely
white), which moves with the
same ease as the dolphins,
whose
lithe
forms
are
balanced
by
the
heavy
clusters of grapes” (Janson
99).
2. “Indra Sinha, an expert on classical and medieval Indian
literature, writes, ‘The connection between Indian Siva and
Greek Dionysus, indeed their complete identification, was long
ago acknowledged by Greek and Indian alike… in particular,
they pointed to the similarity of the Bacchic processions with
drums and cymbals to the dances of the Sydrakoi’ (an ancient
tribe encountered by Alexander the Great in India). Dionysus,
carrying his phallic staff tipped with a pine cone (thyrsus), and
accompanied by a distinctly Eastern panther or tiger, roamed
the forests and mountains” (111).
2. “According to a Homeric hymn, the god of wine had once been
abducted by Etruscan pirates. He thereupon caused vines to grow
all over the ship and frightened his captors until jumped overboard
and were turned into dolphins. We see him on his return journeyan event to be gratefully recalled by every Greek drinkeraccompanied by seven dolphins and seven bunches of grapes for
good luck” (99).
3. “His priestesses, the Maenads or bacchantes, were wild
women indeed- their divinely-inspired frenzies struck terror into
the hearts of men for they were said to hunt and dismember
animals, and sometimes human beings, with their bare hands.
These rites celebrated the dismemberment of the god himself,
and his inevitable regeneration” (111).
4. “In true tantric fashion, Dionysus intoxicated his followers…
His sexual nature was anarchic, and he was also known as the
‘lord of the female sex’. The fact that Dionysus is always
associated with women shows that he is also a son or lover of
the earlier great goddess and requires her for his regeneration.
Seated next to bright, logical on Mount Olympus, he symbolizes
the vibrant and disturbing forces which oppose rational thought
and behaviour… And just as Apollo is to the eternal sun, so the
dying and rising Dionysus is to the waxing and waning moon”
(111).
3. “The way the composition is arranged, and its reliance on
symbolic presentation rather than literal truth, give an excellent
clue to the way in which we ought to approach all black-figure
compositions. This one has its own grammar, but is emphatically
not illusionist art” (Lucie-Smith 63-64).
T Andokides Painter. Ajax and Achilles playing a
dice game (Orvieto), c. 525-520 BCE, Attic
bilingual amphora
red-figure technique/ bilingual vase
5. “Mourning for Dionysus’ death, and joyful celebration of his
resurrection, formed the basis of a ritual extremely widespread
among the Greeks. In springtime, when the vine was bursting
into blossom, Greek women went up into the hills to meet the
reborn god. For two days they drank without restraint, and like
our less religious bacchanalians, considered him witless who
would not lose his wits. They marched in wild procession, led by
Maenads, or mad women, devoted to Dionysus; they listened
tensely to the story they knew so well, of the suffering, death,
and resurrection of their god; and as they drank and danced
they fell into a frenzy in which all bonds were loosed. The height
and center of their ceremony was to seize upon a goat, a bull,
sometimes a man (seeing in them incarnations of the god); to
tear the live victim to pieces in commemoration of Dionysus’
dismemberment; then to drink the blood and eat the flesh in a
sacred communion whereby, as they thought, the god would
enter them and possess their souls. In that divine enthusiasm
they were convinced that they and the god became one in a
mystic and triumphant union; they took his name, called
themselves, after one of his titles, Bacchoi, and knew that now
they would never die. Or they termed their state ecstasis, a
going out of their souls to meet and be one with Dionysus; thus
they felt freed from the burden of the flesh, they acquired divine
insight, they were able to prophesy, they were gods” (Durant,
The Life of Greece 187).
1. “For red-figure vases, the [blackfigure] process was reversed. Figures
were left in red against a painted black
background, and details were painted
in black” (Adams, Art Across Time 144).
The red-figure technique “permitted
freer painting and the representation of
more natural form than had been
possible in black-figure” (147).
2. “The birth of this new technique
came around 530 BC, and the person
responsible is known as the Andokides
Painter, that is, the anonymous
painter who decorated the vases signed
by the potter Andokides” (Kleiner, Mamiya, and Tansey 116). “The
red-figured style allowed artists to delineate physical details on the
buff-colored surface, thereby making the human form appear more
lifelike. Although still flattened and aligned side by side, figures
are posed naturally. Realism, that is, fidelity to nature, has
overtaken the decorative aspect of the geometric and archaic
styles” (Fiero, First Civilizations 110).
35
Unit TWO: Early and Classical Greek Art
U Euthymides. Three Revelers (Vulci), c. 510 BCE, Attic
red-figure amphora
foreshortening
1. “By the late sixth century BC, a group of experimentally minded
painters was following the Andokides Painter. They are known as the
‘Pioneers’ because of their daring attempts at new poses and views.
One of them was called Euphronios… Euphronios shows awkward
postures and emotional states in precisely painted detail is known for
his liking for anatomical detail of bone and muscle, wrinkle of flesh,
and vein. Another of the Pioneers was called Euthymides. An
amphora by him shows older, bearded men at their revels. Gestures
and poses are varied; relief lines and dilute glaze lines explore the
body in motion. The three-quarter view is successfully negotiated,
even if the twisting back view fails” (Pedley 195).
2. “The Pioneers knew one another’s work well
enough.
They used their rivals’ names for
characters in their scenes.
They even issued
challenges: on this amphora Euthymides wrote,
‘Euphronios never managed anything like this.’
The way Euphronios and Euthymides explored
various states of motion has suggested that vase
painters led the way in showing interest in the
body in motion. Contemporary work by sculptors
working in the round was still obedient to a static
code” (195).
3. “Euthymides rejected the conventional frontal
and profile composite views. Instead, he painted
torsos that are not two-dimensional surface
patterns but are foreshortened, that is, drawn in
a three-quarter view.
Most remarkable is the
central figure, who is shown from the rear with a
twisting spinal column and buttocks in threequarter view” (Kleiner, Mamiya, and Tansey 117).
“The god whose face most frequently appears on vases is Dionysos, the god
who presided over the symposion and the revel” (Osborne 149). “The red-figure
technique is about embodiment, about enfleshment” (137).
STUDY GUIDE
V Onesimos. Girl preparing to bathe
(Chiusi), c. 490 BCE, Attic red-figure
kylix
genre scene
1. “Interest in the foreshortening of the human figure
soon extended to studies of nude women, as on the
interior of a kylix (drinking cup) Onesimos painted.
The representation is remarkable not only for the
successful foreshortening of the girl’s torso and
breasts, seen in three-quarter view, but also for its
subject” (Kleiner, Mamiya, and Tansey 117).
2. “This is a servant girl, not the lady of the house,
who has removed her clothes to bathe. Such a genre
scene, not to mention female nudity, would never
have been portrayed publicly in monumental
painting or sculpture of this time. Only in the
private sphere was such a subject acceptable” (117).
“If red-figure painting enabled works of a complexity
and virtuosity previously unknown, it also enabled
striking simplicity. First exploited in decorating the
interior tondos of cups and plates, this simplicity
was then transferred to larger vessels, amphorae and
krateres, where it served to pioneer a whole new
approach to narrative and a new relationship
between the viewer and the pot” (Osborne 145).
A Kritios Boy (Athens), c. 480 BCE, marble
contrapposto/ sophrosyne and hubris
1. This marble statue, known as the Kritios Boy (attributed to the sculptor Kritios), “reflects a moment of self-awareness
in Greek history that is marked by the change from Archaic to Early Classical. Stylization has decreased, remaining
primarily in the smooth, wavy hair and the circle of curls around the head. The flesh now seems to cover an organic
structure of bone and muscle. The Archaic smile has disappeared and the face, like the body, has become idealized and
neutral in expression. But perhaps the most important developments are that the head is turned slightly, and the right
leg, which is forward, bends at the knee, so the left leg appears to hold the body’s weight. The torso shifts so that the
right hip and shoulder are lowered, a pose referred to as contrapposto (from the Latin positus, meaning ‘postitioned,’
and contra, meaning ‘against’). Its use here makes the Kritios Boy seem relaxed, and the frontality and rigid stance of
the Archaic New York Kouros have been modified” (Adams, Art Across Time 153).
2. “The damaged figure, excavated from the debris on the Athenian Acropolis, was thought by its finders to be by the Greek sculptor
Kritios, whose work was known only from Roman copies. Unlike most Archaic kouroi, which represent young men and are usually large,
the Kritios Boy appears adolescent, and the complete figure would have been only a little over 3 feet tall. Despite his age, the Kritios Boy
looks like an accomplished athlete” (Stokstad 180).“The head has hair which radiates in thin strands from the crown and is rolled up over
a fillet. Rolled hair like this is a particular trait of the Severe Style, as is longer hair tied in plaits and wound around the head. He is still
a frontal figure, but now of realistic bone and muscle, no longer a stiff automaton” (Pedley 217). “Rather than mirror the gaze of the mirror
and enter the viewer’s story, this boy turns his head intent upon his own story in which the twist of his hips guarantees that he is an
actor and not merely a spectator. No longer engaged, the viewer now searches for clues about that story, eyeing the boy up and down and
appreciating the attractions of his youthful body. The world and delights of the symposion have entered the religious sanctuary” (Osborne
159).
36
Unit TWO: Classical Greek Art
B Sophrosyne and Hubris
1. “Historians have long struggled to explain this
stylistic change in Greek sculpture as an expression
of Greek political liberty. This developmental model
is one of the principal legacies of the eighteenthcentury Enlightenment, and specifically of the work
of the German archaeologist and art historian
Johann Joachim Wincklemann (1717-68), whose
Geschichte der Kunst des Altertums (The History of
the Art of Antiquity), published in 1764, laid the
foundations for the modern discipline of art history.
For Winckelmann, the great flowering of Greek art
was intimately related to the Greeks’ sense of their
own civic liberty, both as a social group free from
external interference and internal tyranny and in
terms of a particular consciousness engendered by
their autonomous political system. Hence, just as
‘through freedom the thinking of the entire people
rose up like a noble branch from a healthy trunk,’ as
Winckelmann put it, so the arts, the animated
expression of that thinking, rose with them” (Flynn
33-34).
STUDY GUIDE
C Charioteer (Delphi), c. 470 BCE, bronze
cire perdue/ emphasis of calm and reason
1. “A major problem for anyone trying to create a freestanding sculpture is to
assure that it won’t fall over. Solving this problem requires a familiarity with
the statics of sculptural materials- their ability to maintain equilibrium under
various conditions. At the end of the Archaic period a new technique for
hollow-casting of bronze was developed. This technique created a far more
flexible medium than solid marble or other stone and became the medium of
choice for Greek sculptors. Although it is possible to create freestanding
figures with outstretched arms and legs far apart in stone, hollow-cast
bronze more easily permits vigorous and even off-balance action poses. After
the introduction of the new technique, the figure in action became a popular
subject among the ancient Greeks. Sculptors sought to find poses that
seemed to capture a natural feeling of continuing movement rather than an
arbitrary moment frozen in time” (Stokstad, Art History 181).
2. “Unfortunately, foundries began almost immediately to
recycle metal from old statues into new works, so few
original Greek bronzes have survived. A spectacular lifesize
bronze, the Charioteer, cast about 470 BCE, was saved fro
the metal scavengers only because it was buried during a
major earthquake in 373 BCE. Archeologists found it in its
original location in the Sanctuary of Apollo, along with
fragments of a bronze chariot and horses. According to its
inscription, it commemorates a victory by a driver
sponsored by King Polyzalos of Gela (Sicily) in the Pythian
Games of 478 or 474 BCE. The erect, flat-footed pose of the
Charioteer and the long, columnar fluting of the robe are
reminiscent of the Archaic Style, but other characteristics
place this work closer to the more lifelike Kritios Boy,
recalling Pliny the Elder’s claim that three-time winners in
Greek competitions had their features memorialized in
statues” (181).
2. “Scholars are agreed that the emergence of a new
humanism in sculpture around 480 BC does
coincide with a new Greek self-confidence following
the Athenian victory over the Persians at Marathon
in 490 BC and the subsequent repulsion at Salamis
in 480 BC of a further Persian invasion under Xerxes
which had resulted in the sacking of Athens” (34).
3. “The Kritios Boy, found on the Acropolis at Athens
during the nineteenth century, probably dates from
the period of freedom immediately following the
Persian invasion. As such it has been made to bear
much of the burden of historical explanation, being
viewed as a symbol of the artistic and social
transformation that characterized this period of
Greek history” (34).
4. “More than any other figure of its time, the Kritios
Boy encapsulates that peculiarly Greek virtue of
sophrosyne, or self-knowledge, espoused by late
sixth-century dramatists and philosophers and
characterized by a belief in inner restraint and a
denial of excess. Only sophrosyne, it was believed,
could provide a path to enlightenment and so prevent
the forces of chaos and disorder from upsetting the
balance of human happiness. It was arguably the
impact of this maxim within contemporary Greek
culture which helped nurture the new naturalism
heralded by statues such as the Kritios Boy” (34).
5. The antithesis of “sophrosyne” was “hubris.” The
extraordinary power of the Greek hero (called arete
by the Greeks) could, in excess, lead to overweening
pride (hubris) and to moral error (hamartia). The
tragic results of harmatia were the subject of many
Greek plays, especially those by Sophocles. The
Greek ideal became moderation in all things,
personified by Apollo, the god of art and civilization.
Arete came to be identified over time with personal
and civic virtues, such as modesty and piety”
(Janson 101).
3. “Unlike the Archaic Kroisos, for example, the charioteer’s head turns to one
side, slightly away from the viewer. The rather intimidating expression is
relieved by the use of glittering, colored-glass eyes and fine silver eyelashes.
Although the smooth-out facial features suggest an idealized conception of
youthful male looks, they are distinctive enough to be those of a particular
individual. The feet, with their closely observed toes, toenails, and swelled
veins over the instep, are so realistic that they seem to have been cast from
molds made from the feet of a living person. The folds of the robe fall in a
natural way, varying in width and depth, and the whole garment seems
capable of swaying a rippling should the charioteer move slightly or encounter
a sudden breeze” (181).
4. “The setting of a work of art affects the impression it makes. Today, this
stunning figure is exhibited on a low base in the peaceful surroundings of a
museum, isolated from other works and spotlighted for close examination. Its
effect would have been very different in its original outdoor location, standing
in a horse-drawn chariot atop a tall monument. Viewers in ancient times,
exhausted from the steep climb to the sanctuary, possibly jostled by crowds of
fellow pilgrims, could have absorbed only its overall effect, not the fine details
of the face, robe, and body visible to today’s viewers” (181).
5. “In casting bronze by the lost-wax method (also known by the French term
cire-perdue), the artist begins by molding a soft, pliable material such as clay
or plaster into the desired shape and covering it with wax. A second coat of
soft material is superimposed on the wax and attached with pins or other
supports. The wax is then melted and allowed to flow away, leaving a hollow
space between the two layers of soft material. The artist pours molten bronze
into the mold, the bronze hardens as it cools, and the mold is removed. The
bronze is now in the shape originally formed by the ‘lost’ wax. It is ready for
tooling, polishing, and for the addition of features such as glass or stone eyes
and ivory teeth to heighten the organic appearance of the figure” (Adams, Art
Across Time 154).
37
Unit TWO: Classical Greek Art
D Parmenides and Plato
1. “During the fifth century BC, Greek philosophers
and artists shared the quest to comprehend the
universe in rational and logical terms as an orderly
structure and to understand the nature of humanity
and its role in the universe.
The image of the
charioteer appears both in fifth-century sculpture and
in contemporaneous philosophical writings” (Wren 1:
71).
2. “Parmenides (c.515 BC-?) was an influential Greek
philosopher. Born in Elea on the southern coast of
Italy, Parmenides was for a time a member of the
Pythagorean brotherhood that had its center at Croton.
He is believed to have arrived in Athens at the age of
sixty-five, where, according to some accounts, he
became acquainted with his younger contemporary,
Socrates. Parmenides’ ideas are expressed in a didactic
poem, The Way of Truth, written in hexameters. The
poem opens with an allegory describing a chariot
journey in which the nature of reality is revealed to
Parmenides. Guided by the daughters of the Sun, who
are described as ‘immortal charioteers,’ the poet is led
from darkness into light. He arrives at a temple sacred
to the goddess Wisdom, who welcomes him and advises
him that he must be prepared to reject illusion and
learn the truth” (71-72).
3. “Through the voice of the goddess, Parmenides
outlines his belief in the single, unchangeable state of
being. Sensory experience suggests that the universe
is in constant flux, and popular opinion describes the
world in terms of pairs of opposites such as light and
dark, hot and cold, male and female. But reason rejects
the illusions of the senses and apprehends reality. The
universe, for Parmenides, is whole, motionless,
timeless, indivisible, and imperishable” (72).
4. “The allegory of the charioteer was also used the
fourth-century Greek philosopher Plato (c. 429-347
BCE). In Phaedrus, Plato explained his doctrine of the
tripartite nature of the soul. The soul, according to
Plato, consists of three elements – reason, spirit, and
appetite. Reason is what distinguishes man from the
brute and is the highest element of the soul. Reason
has a natural affinity for the invisible and intelligible
world. Akin to the divine, reason achieves immortality.
Spirit and appetite are bound up essentially with the
body. Both are perishable, but of the two, spirit is the
nobler. Related to moral courage, it is the natural ally
of reason. Appetite refers to bodily desires” (72).
5. “Plato compares the rational element of the soul to a
charioteer and the spirit and appetite elements to two
horses. The one horse, the spirit element, is allied to
reason, honor, temperance, and modesty, and is good;
the other horse, the appetite element, is allied to
passion, chaos, arrogance, and insolence, and is bad.
While the good horse is easily driven according to the
directions of the charioteer, the bad horse is unruly
and tends to obey the voice of sensual passion and
therefore must be restrained with a whip. Plato thus
explains the conflict that individuals feel within
themselves. At the same time he unequivocally insists
on the right of the rational element to rule and to act as
the charioteer” (72).
STUDY GUIDE
E Myron. Diskobolos (Discus Thrower), Roman copy of a
bronze original of c. 450 BCE, marble
Olympic games (pentathlon)/ naked contestants/ degree of
concentration and calm/ realization of the idealized human
form and universal ideals/ intersecting arcs
1. “The Early Classical Diskobolos (Discus
Thrower) is known only from Roman copies in
marble. The bronze original was cast by Myron
between c. 460 and 450 BC at the end of the
period. Even in the copy, however, it is clear
that the contrapposto is considerably more
pronounced than that of the earlier Kritios Boy.
A formal analysis of the statue shows that its
design is based on the intersection at the neck
of two arcs. One arc can be traced from the
head, through the curve of the back to the left
heel, and another from one hand to the other.
The overriding movement of the Diskobolos is
circular- the torso twists forward and brings the
shoulders into line with the right thigh. As a
circle, the plane creates a unity of form with the
domed head, the round discus and base, and
finally with the pose. For, in fact, Myron did not
so much create a pose as freeze in time the circular motion of a pivoting
athlete” (Adams, Art Across Time 155).
2. “The second-century AD author Lucian describes a statue by the sculptor
Myron of an athlete ‘stooping in the pose of one preparing to throw, turning
towards the hand with the discus and gently bending the other knee, as
ready to rise and cast.’ This enables us to recognize a number of copies of
the original bronze (supported in marble by the usual tree trunk), of which
this is the most complete. Other authors tell us more about Myron and
suggest that he was born in Attica and worked around the mid-fifth
century. He had a reputation for extreme realism in animal sculpture- a
bronze cow on the Acropolis real enough to be mistaken for flesh and boneand for figures caught in an instant of action- a runner on tiptoes, and this
discus-thrower (Discobolus). In ancient Greece the discus was thrown
‘straight,’ without the pirouetting we see today. The figure recalls some of
the more ambitious action figures in pediments and is in fact conceived
mainly in one plane, like a relief with no background. The cap-like
treatment of the hair is characteristic for such an early bronze and a touch
Archaic… This athlete-in-action inspired dozens of neo-classical versions
and has served as a symbol of the Greek athletic ideal. In 1938 Hitler
requested the ‘gift’ of this copy to Germany. It was sent, and displayed in
Munich, then returned to Rome after the war” (Boardman 94-95).“His
hairstyle, with its mannered, close-cropped curls, seems old-fashioned,
reminiscent of some heads from Olympia, but his pose is wholly new and
unexpected. The original bronze dates perhaps to about 450 BC. Seemingly
free and full of movement, the figure is, however, firmly held in two or three
receding planes, allowing only one convincing viewpoint” (Pedley 221).
3. This sculpture “captures the moment before the action, the ideal moment
when intellect guides the physical effort to follow. The male nudes of the
High Classical Age seem to fulfill Aristotle’s idea of excellence as the exercise
of human will dominated by reason” (Fiero, First Civilizations 113-114). “In
the Ethics, edited by Aristotle’s son Nicomachus, Aristotle examines the
Theory of the Good Life and the Nature of Happiness. He explains that
action in accordance with reason is necessary for the acquisition of
excellence, or virtue. Ideal conduct, suggests Aristotle, lies in the
Golden Mean, the middle ground between any two extremes of
behavior. Between cowardice and recklessness, for instance, one
should seek the middle ground: courage. Between boastfulness
and timidity, one should cultivate modesty. The Doctrine of the
Mean rationalized the classical search for moderation and balance”
(103).
38
Unit TWO: Classical Greek Art
STUDY GUIDE
F The Olympic Games
1. “Since athletics were necessary for war, and yet would die without competitions, the cities of Greece, to provide the highest stimulus,
arranged Panhellenic games. The oldest of these were organized as a regular quadrennial event at Olympia in 776 BC- the first definite
date in Greek history” (Durant, Life of Greece 213). “The feast of Zeus became an international holyday; a truce was proclaimed to all wars
in Greece for the month of the festival, and fines were levied by the Eleans upon any Greek state in whose territory a traveler to the games
suffered molestation” (213). “It was a special holiday for men, since married women were not allowed to attend the festival; these had their
own games at the feast of Hera… Only freeborn Greeks were allowed to compete in the Olympic games. The athletes (from athlos, a
contest) were selected by local and municipal elimination trials, after which they submitted for ten months to rigorous training under
professional paidotribai (literally, youth rubbers) and gymnastai. Arrived at Olympia, they were examined by the officials, and took an oath
to observe all the rules” (213). “All the contestants, whatever their age or rank, were naked; occasionally a girdle might be worn at the
loins. Of the stadium itself nothing remains but the narrow stone slabs toed by the runners at the starting point. The 45,000 spectators
kept their places in the stadium all day long, suffering from insects, heat, and thirst; hats were forbidden, the water was bad, and flies
and mosquitoes infested the place as they do today” (213-214).
2. “The most important events were grouped together as the pentathlon, or five contests. To promote all-around development in the
athlete each entry in any of these events was required to compete in all of them; to secure the victory it was necessary to win three
contests out of the five. The first was a broad jump; the athlete held weights like dumbbells in his hands, and leaped from a standing
start. Ancient writers assure us that some jumpers spanned fifty feet; but it is not necessary to believe everything that we read. The
second event was throwing the discus, a circular plate of metal or stone weighing about twelve pounds; the best throws are said to have
covered a hundred feet. The third contest was in hurling the javelin or spear, with the aid of a leather thong attached to the center of the
shaft. The fourth and principal event of the group was the stadium sprint- i.e., for the length of the stadium, usually some two hundred
yards. The fifth contest was wrestling” (214).“When the toils of five days were over the victors received their rewards. Each bound a
woolen fillet about his head, and upon this the judges placed a crown of wild olive, while a herald announced the name and city of the
winner. This laurel wreath was the only prize given at the Olympic games, and yet it was the most eagerly contested distinction in Greece”
(215-216).
3. “While Egypt and Mesopotamia calculated time according to the rule of dynasties and kings, the ancient Greeks marked time in
‘Olympiads’, four-year periods beginning with the first games in 776 BCE. The central event of the games was a 200-yard sprint called the
stadion (hence our word ‘stadium’)” (Fiero, First Civilizations 81-82). “Greek athletes competed in the nude- from the Greek word gymnos
(‘naked’) we get ‘gymnasium’. Winners received garlands consisting of wild olive or laurel leaves” (82).
G Education and Exercise
1. “Athens provides public gymnasiums and palaestras, and exercises some loose supervision over teachers; but the city
has no public schools or state universities, and education remains in private hands. Plato advocates state schools, but
Athens seems to believe that even in education competition will produce the best results. Professional schoolmasters set
up their own schools, to which freeborn boys are sent at the age of six” (Durant, Life in Greece 288).
2. “When boys reach the age of sixteen they are expected to pay special attention to physical exercises, as fitting them in
some measure for the tasks of war. Even their sports give them indirectly a military preparation: they run, leap, wrestle,
hunt, drive chariots, and hurl the javelin. At eighteen they enter upon the second of the four stages of Athenian life (pais,
ephebos, aner, geron- child, youth, man, elder), and are enrolled into the ranks of Athens’ soldier youth, the epheboi.
Under moderators chosen by the leaders of their tribes they are trained for two years in the duties of citizenship and war.
They live and eat together, wear an impressive uniform, and submit to moral supervision night and day. They organize
themselves democratically on the model of the city, meet in assembly, pass resolutions, and erect laws for their own
governance; they have archons, strategoi, and judges. For the first year they are schooled with strenuous drill, and hear
lectures on literature, music, geometry and rhetoric. At nineteen they are assigned to garrison the frontier and are
entrusted for two years with the protection of the city against attack from without and disorder within” (289-290).
3. “The epheboi are assigned to a special place at the theater, and play a prominent role in the religious processions of the
city; perhaps it is such young men that we see riding so handsomely on the Parthenon frieze. Periodically they exhibit
their accomplishments in public contests, above all in the relay torch race from the Piraeus to Athens. All the city comes
out for this picturesque event, and lines the four-and-a-half-mile road; the race is run at night, and the way is not
illuminated; all that can be seen of the runners is the leaping light of the torches that they carry forward and pass on.
When, at the age of twenty-one, the training of the epheboi is completed, they are freed from paternal authority, and
formally admitted into the full citizenship of the city” (290).
4. “Such is the education- eked out by lessons learned in the home and in the street- that produces the Athenian citizen. It is an excellent
combination of physical and mental, moral and esthetic, training of supervision in youth with freedom in maturity; and in its heyday it
turns out young men as fine as any in history” (290).
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H Polykleitos. Doryphoros (Spear Bearer), Roman copy from a bronze original of c. 450-440 BCE,
marble
Canon of Polykleitos/ harmony of opposites (rhythmos and symmetria)/ four stages of man in Greek life/
education of an ephebe (or ephebos)
1. “Polykleitos of Argos was esteemed by his contemporaries, and his work is still thought of as the
embodiment of Classical style. He is known to have created a canon, which is no longer extant. Most of his
sculpture was cast in bronze and is known today only through later Roman copies in marble. Ancient records
document the fact that the Doryphoros (Spear Bearer) was originally bronze. The figure held a spear in his left
hand and stands like the Kritios Boy, although with a slight increase in contrapposto and in the inclination of
the head. The gradual S-motion of the body is more pronounced and there is a greater sense of conviction in
the body’s underlying organic structure- notably the bulging knee caps, the rib-cage, and veins in the arms.
The head is dome-shaped, as in the Kritios Boy, the Warrior from Riace, and the Diskobolos, but the circle of
curls has been eliminated and the short, wavy hair lies flat on the surface of the head and face” (Adams, Art
Across Time 157). “Typical of Roman copies is the ‘tree trunk’ supporting the back of the right leg, and the
block of marble connecting the hip with the right wrist. Since bronze is a stronger medium than marble, it can
stand on its own more readily and needs no such additional supports” (157).
2. About 450 BCE Polykleitos “developed a set of rules for constructing the ideal human figures, which he set
down in a treatise called The Canon (kanon is Greek for ‘measure,’ ‘rule,’ or ‘law’). To illustrate his theory,
Polykleitos created a larger-than-lifesize bronze statue, the Spear Bearer (Doryphoros). Neither the treatise nor
the original statue has survived, but both were widely discussed in the writings of his contemporaries, and
later Roman artists made copies in stone of the Spear Bearer” (Stokstad 193). “This quest for the ideal can be
seen also in the philosophy of Socrates (c. 470-399 BCE) and his disciple Plato (c. 429-347 BCE), both of
whom argued that all objects in the physical world were reflections of ideal forms that could be discovered
through reason” (193).
3. The two central principles of the Canon of Polykleitos were rhythmos (composition) and symmetria (commensurability), both of which
were grounded in mathematical proportion” (Flynn 36). The ideal proportions contrived by Polykleitos “were thought to depend on the
‘symmetria’ (commensurability) of the various parts of the body, but this term’s exact meaning remains hazy: Did symmetria mean
volume, shape, length, breadth, or height of body parts, or some equation involving these dimensions?” (Pedley 265).
4. “The literary sources do not reveal the identity of this figure, but many these days incline to the view that it is a representation of
Achilles. The doru (spear) after all was a mighty, heroic, war weapon, and Achilles is seen on a contemporary vase with just such a heavy
spear. The original was made about 440 BC. The figure vigorously explores the reaction of the body to the weight leg/free leg pose. The
free leg is place both laterally and behind, the heel raised off the ground. This has been called the ‘walking stance,’ and motion forward is
evidently implied by the balanced figure. Is he standing still or walking? The horizontal axis through the hips tilts as the free leg is
withdrawn, and contracted muscles set the torso in motion. The head turns to the same side as the firmly planted weight leg and holds
the figure still. The expression is the distanced, tranquil High Classical look, seen in many figures of the Parthenon frieze” (265-266).
5. “Throughout the body, tensed forms balance relaxed ones. Reading the statue vertically, relaxed right arm with weight leg balances
tensed left arm (originally holding the spear) with free leg; reading horizontally, weight leg and free leg balance free arm and tensed arm.
The term contrapposto is often used to describe this pose. Realism of bone and muscle, sinew and vein, and hair and flesh of this
athletic figure is integrated into a concept of the ideal, which is dependent somehow on a system of mathematical proportions. This a
figure that represents the ideal is also the most visually accurate, the most real” (266).
6. “The literary memorabilia of Polykleitos, probably extracted from his Canon, suggest a good deal more than the basic system of ideal
human proportions summarized by the architectural historian Vitruvius and famously made graphic by Leonardo da Vinci. According to
this basic system, the length of a man’s foot should be one-sixth of his height, the span of his outstretched hands should equate to his
height and so on” (Spivey 197).
7. “Elusive as the actual Canon is, it is probably most accurately evoked by art historian Erwin Panofsky, who reckons it to have
proceeded on the basis of ‘organic differentiation’ and reminds us that the Canon sought, in Galen’s words, the definition of what
‘constitutes beauty.’ As such, it was unlike the ancient Egyptian system for figures, whereby a grid was laid out and the human form
mapped onto it according to where noses, legs, and feet should be. Rather, Polykleitos started with a figure- a successful athlete, perhaps
a winner of a male beauty contest- and tried to work out how the constituent parts of this body, officially or socially saluted as ‘beautiful’,
related to each other. In this way, in the words of Panofsky, Classical Greek art ‘opposed to the inflexible, mechanical, static and
conventional craftsman’s code of the Egyptians an elastic, dynamic and aesthetically relevant system of relations’” (Spivey 198-199).
8. “In the context of the democratic city, whose young men were like ranks of columns, Polykleitos appears to have created a concept of
the human body articulated as a four-square construction. The honed male body became as unpredictable, then, as the units of Doric
architecture, the iliac crest forming, as it were, an entablature of the loins. It is worth observing that the Doric order itself approached a
virtual ‘canonization’ at just the time of Polykleitos, as is evident from one of the most intact temples in Greece, the Hephaisteion. Placed
on a small rise of the west side of the Athenian Agora, its architects endeavored, like Polykleitos, to underpin satisfying form with a set of
regular proportional relationships. So for those armed with tape measures, the temple yields a ration of 9:4 between its width and the
height of its columns, and again 9:4 of the its length to its width” (199).
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I Athena, Herakles, and Atlas with the apples of the Hesperides, metope from the Temple of Zeus
(Olympia), c. 470-456 BCE, marble
Zeus and Olympia/metopes, trigylphs, and a frieze/ the guttae and the acroterium/ Severe Style/ Twelve
Labors of Herakles (Individualism and the Greek hero)/ the golden apple of the Hespirides
1. “The greatest sculptural ensemble of the Severe style is the pair of pediments of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. They were carved
about 460 BC, perhaps by Ageladas of Argos, and have been reassembled in the local museum” (Janson 128). “Equally important are the
metopes depicting the labors of Herakles, Pelop’s great-grandson, who according to legend laid out the stadium at Olympia. Narrative
scenes had been a feature of metopes since the early sixth century BC, but it was not until a hundred years later that they began to
outgrow their crude beginnings. At Olympia the pictorial and dramatic possibilities are fully exploited for the first time. Our example,
which was featured prominently over the entrance on the east side of the temple, shows Atlas returning with the apples of the Hesperides.
During Atlas’ absence, Herakles has held the celestial globe on his shoulders with the seemingly effortless support of Athena. He looks on
almost in astonishment as he tries to think of a way to trick Atlas into giving up the apples. In contrast to the grim combats featured in
Archaic Greek art, Herakles takes on the more thoughtful air that is basic to the Classical spirit. The scene is depicted with a wonderful
economy of pose and expression that further serves to enhance the hero’s stature. The carving is no less beautiful than on the pediment
and participates fully in the development of the Severe style” (129).
2. “The metope reliefs of the temple illustrated the mythological Twelve Labors imposed by King Eurystheus on Tiryns on Herakles. The
hero, with the aid of the gods and his own phenomenal strength, accomplished these seemingly impossible tasks, thereby earning
immortality. One of the labors was the steal gold apples from the garden of the Hesperides, the nymphs who guarded the trees that
produced them. To do this, Herakles enlisted the aid of the giant Atlas, whose job was to hold up the heavens. Herakles offered to take
on this job himself while Atlas fetched the apples for him. In the episode shown here, Herakles is at the center with the heavens on his
shoulders. Atlas, on the right, holds out the gold apples to him. As we can see, and Atlas cannot, the human Herakles is backed, literally,
by the goddess Athena, who effortlessly supports the sky with one hand. The artist has balanced the erect, frontal view of the heavily
clothed Athena with profile views of the two nude male figures. Sculpted in high relief, the figures reflect a strong interest in realism.
Even the rather severe columnlike figure of the goddess suggests the flesh of her body pressing through the graceful fall of heavy drapery”
(Stokstad, Art History 178-179).
3. “The sculptural scene that once adorned the west pediment shows Apollo helping the Lapiths in
their battle with the centaurs. This legendary battle erupted after the centaurs drank too much wine
at the wedding feast of the Lapith king and tried to carry off some Lapith women. Apollo stands
implacable at the center of the scene, quelling the disturbance supernaturally simply by raising his
arm. Although some figures were restored later and may not exactly reflect their original appearance,
the rising, falling, triangular composition attests to the skill of the artist. The contrast of angular
forms with turning, twisting action poses dramatizes the physical struggles which may have been
symbolic of the triumph of reason over passion and civilization over barbarism” (178).
4. “Sculpturally, it is an extremely bold attempt to freeze violence: anger and pain are for the first
time carved as furrowed brows and gaping mouths. In the context of a sanctuary where combat
sports were part of the regular festival, this may seem like some reflection of athletic endeavour. Yet
the moral of the myth was always clear enough. The bestial Centaurs were forces of disruption;
threats to the order and civilized sanctity of Greek institutions. In the decade following the Persian
vandalism of the Akropolis, it seems reasonable to see at least a nuance of contemporary relevance in
the choice of this theme to decorate a new temple” (Spivey 221).
5. “More than any other hero, Heracles captured the imagination of the ancient Greeks. In many ways he represented the opposite of
what they professed to believe. Their ideal was moderation; Heracles was excessive in everything he did. They had high regard for music;
Heracles murdered his music teacher by bashing in his head with a lyre. They disliked hubris; Heracles once shot at the sun god Helios
because he was shining too brightly. Yet Heracles possessed many qualities that appealed not only to the ancient Greeks but to modern
man as well” (Britt 115).
J The Persians and the Peloponnesian League
1. “When the Greek cities of Asia Minor revolted against Persia in 499 BCE, Athens sent a fleet to assist them. After the revolt had been
put down, the Persian king Darius dispatched a punitive force by sea to Attica. But this force was repulsed by a small Athenian army at
Marathon in 490 BC. The Persian king, unwilling to let such a humiliation go unpunished, planned a full-scale campaign against the
cities of the Greek peninsula. Fortunately for the Greeks, Darius died before he could begin his attack. It was only in 480 BC that his
successor, Xerxes, and a Persian army of over one hundred thousand men crossed the Dardanelles and marched down the Greek
peninsula” (Strayer and Gatzke 38).
2. “The Athenians had hoped for Spartan help at Marathon and were quite ready to form a new league in alliance with the
Peloponnesians, although in so doing they were forced to accept the leadership of Sparta… The Persians broke through the pass at
Thermopylae after the entire Spartan detachment had been killed trying to defend it. With Thermopylae unguarded, the Persians had an
open road into Athens. The Athenian citizens were quickly evacuated to nearby islands, where they watched in horror as the Persians
looted and burned their city” (39).
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The Persians and the Peloponnesian League (CONTINUED)
3. “Though the city was destroyed, Athens was not defeated. Before the Persian attack, Themistocles, an ambitious but farsighted
politician, had persuaded the Athenian assembly to put all the income of the silver mines into building a fleet far larger than a city the
size of Athens would normally require. He realized that, while the Greeks could not expect to defeat the massive Persian armies in battle,
the Greek peninsula with its islands and inlets could never be conquered except by sea. Shortly after the Persians occupied Athens, a
Greek fleet, at least two-thirds of which was Athenian, met the Persian navy in the Bay of Salamis and destroyed it in a single
engagement. Cut off from supplies coming by sea from Asia Minor, the Persians were badly crippled. After a final defeat at Plataea by a
Spartan-led force (479 BC), they retired permanently from the Greek peninsula. In the same year the Greek fleet virtually wiped out the
Persian navy in a battle off the coast of Asia Minor” (39). “The victory over the Persians was to the Greeks what the American Revolution
was to the colonists, an inexhaustible source of pride and confidence. A few small states had defeated a great empire. Now the Greeks
were more sure than ever that they were destined for greatness, that their way of life was superior to that of all other peoples, that they
could succeed in any enterprise they undertook. The century following the Persian Wars was the Golden Age, in which the Greeks made
their indelible mark on the history of civilization” (40).
K Iktinos and Kallikrates. Parthenon (Athens), 447-438 BCE
Athena/ the Persian Wars and the Delian League/ Pericles/ Peloponnesian War/ acropolis/
Propylaia/destruction in 1687/ Phidias/ x=2y + 1/ illusion of uniformity and stability (concept of architecture
as an arrangement of masses in space)/ use of the Ionic order in the cella/ Panathenaic procession/
Arrephorion/ statue of Athena with the Python (representing the “logos”)/ aegis/ east pediment: the birth of
Athena/ west pediment: the contest between Poseidon and Athena
1. “The Parthenon was designed by the architects Iktinos and Kallikrates. Phidias, a
leading Athenian artist of his generation and a friend of Perikles, supervised the sculptural
decorations. Completed in 432 BC as a temple to Athena, the patron goddess of Athens, the
Parthenon celebrates Athena in her aspect as a virgin goddess. Parthenos, Greek for ‘virgin’
(and the root of the word parthenogenesis, meaning ‘virgin birth’), was one of Athena’s
epithets” (Adams, Art Across Time 169). “The great monuments of classical architecture were
designed to serve the living, not – as in Egypt- the dead. In contrast with the superhuman
scale of the Egyptian pyramid, the Greek temple, as Vitruvius observed, was proportioned
according to the human body. Greek theaters celebrated life here on earth rather than the
life in the hereafter, while Greek theaters celebrated life here on earth rather than the life in
the hereafter, while Greek temples served as shrines for the gods and depositories for civic
and religious treasures. Both theaters and temples functioned as public meeting places.
Much like the Mesopotamian ziggurat, the Greek temple was a communal symbol of reverence for the gods, but, whereas the ziggurat
enforced the separation of priesthood and populace, the Greek temple united religious and secular domains” (Fiero, First Civilizations 116).
2. “The Parthenon stands within a continuum of Doric temples. We have seen two earlier examples, at Corinth and at Olympia, but no
previous Greek temple expresses Classical balance, proportion, and unity to the same extent as the Parthenon. Its exceptional esthetic
impact is enhanced by its so-called refinements, which are slight architectural adjustments to improve the visual impression of the
building. For example, lines that look like horizontals actually curve upward toward the middle, thereby correcting the tendency of the
human eye to perceive a long horizontal as curving downward in the middle. Other refinements involve the columns, all of which tilt
slightly inwards; those toward the corners of the building are placed closer together, creating a sense of stability and the illusion of a
frame at each end” (169). “In other refinements, the columns have a subtle swelling, or entasis, and tilt inward slightly from bottom to
top, and the space between columns is less at the corners than elsewhere. These gentle curves and shifts in the arrangement of elements
give the Parthenon a buoyant, organic appearance and prevent it from looking like a heavy, lifeless stone box. It is, in effect, a gigantic
marble sculpture” (Stokstad, Art History 188). “The Parthenon was placed so that it would always be viewed against the sky” (Jessop 15).
“The corner columns were slightly thicker than the rest; otherwise they would look thinner against the open sky” (16). “Even the flutings
on each column were tapered as they rose. In fact, there are few straight lines in the whole temple” (16).
3. “Its damaged state reflects centuries of neglect and misuse. In the 5th century AD the Parthenon became a Christian church, and in the
15th century the Turks conquered Athens and converted the temple into a mosque. They stored gunpowder in the building! When it was
shelled by artillery in 1687, most of the interior and many sculptures were destroyed. Centuries of vandalism and looting, plus modern
air pollution, have further contributed to the deterioration of the Parthenon” (Adams, Art Across Time 170). “The Parthenon is constructed
as a rectangle, which is divided into two smaller rectangular rooms. A front and back porch and a peristyle (colonnade), supported by
the three steps of the Doric Order, complete the structure. The temple was made entirely of marble, which was cut and fitted without the
use of mortar” (171). “The western entrance leads to the smaller room, which served as a treasury. The eastern entrance leads to the
naos, or inner sanctuary. It was originally dominated by a monumental gold and ivory statue of Athena… An inner rectangle of Doric
columns repeats the shape of the room and surrounds the statue on three sides” (171). “Although constructed primarily in the Doric
Order, the Parthenon had two features that were Ionic. Firstly, there were four Ionic columns inside the treasury. And secondly, a
continuous Ionic frieze ran around the top of the outside of the inside wall, which cannot be seen on the plan. The inclusion of Ionic
elements in the Parthenon expresses the Athenian interest in harmonizing the architectural and sculptural achievements of both eastern
and western Greece” (171).
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Iktinos and Kallikrates. Parthenon (Athens), 447-438 BCE (CONTINUED)
4. “The cost and labor involved in this undertaking were staggering. Quantities of gold, ivory, and exotic woods had to be imported. Some
22,000 tons of marble had to be transported 10 miles… Perikles was severely criticized by his political opponents for this extravagance,
but it never cost him popular support” (Stokstad, Art History 186). “The columns were made of 10 to 12 drums joined with metal rods.
Carving the flutes was started when the drums were on the ground and finished when the column had been raised” (Jessop 16). “Builders
cut a slot into the top of each stone block opposite a similar slot in the next block, and they poured in molten lead. When the lead
hardened, the blocks were held firmly together. No mortar or cement was used” (16).
5. “Visitors to the Acropolis in 400 BCE would have climbed a steep ramp on the west side of the hill to the sanctuary entrance, perhaps
pausing to admire the small, marble temple dedicated to Athena Nike (Athena as the goddess of victory in war), poised on a projection of
rock above the ramp. Turning left, they would have passed through the center of an impressive porticoed gatehouse called the Propylaia.
(The Greeks called the gate to a religious precinct a propylon, meaning ‘outer gateway’; for gateways and vestibules opening to large
enclosed spaces, they used the plural, propylaia.) Upon emerging from the gatehouse, they would have confronted a huge bronze figure of
Athena Promachos (the Defender). This statue, designed and executed by Pheidias between about 465 and 455 BCE, showed the goddess
in a helmet and bearing a spear. So tall was it that sailors entering Athens’s port of Piraeus, about 10 miles away, could see the sun
reflected off the helmet and spear tip. Behind this statue was a walled precinct that enclosed the Erechtheion, a temple dedicated to
several deities. Visitors would have been able to see the upper part of this temple above the precinct wall” (186).
6. “At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Thomas Bruce, the British earl of Elgin and ambassador to Constantinople, acquired much
of the surviving sculpture from the Parthenon, which was being used for military purposes. He shipped it back to London in 1801 to
decorate a lavish mansion for himself and his wife. By the time he returned to England a few years later, his wife had left him and the
ancient treasures were at the center of a financial dispute. Finally, he sold the sculpture for a very low price. Referred to as the Elgin
Marbles, most of the sculpture is now in the British Museum, including all the elements seen here except the torso of Selene, which is in
the Acropolis Museum, Athens. The Greek government has tried unsuccessfully in recent times to have the Elgin Marbles returned” (189).
THE PEDIMENTS
7. “The pediment sculptures were designed by Phidias, but work was carried out by skilled craftsmen. The figures were carved first and
then hoisted into position” (Jessop 17). “Like the pediments of most temples,…those of the Parthenon were filled with sculpture in the
round set on the deep shelves of the cornice and secured to the wall with metal pins. Unfortunately, much of the Parthenon’s pedimental
sculpture has been damaged or lost over the centuries. Using the locations of the pinholes, scholars nevertheless have been able to
determine the placement of surviving statues and infer the poses of missing ones. The west pediment sculpture, facing the entrance to
the Acropolis, illustrated the contest that Athena won over the sea god Poseidon for rule over the Athenians. The east pediment figures,
above the entrance to the cella, illustrated the birth of Athena, fully grown and clad in armor, from the brow of her father, Zeus. The
missing central element was probably Zeus seated on a throne with the just-born adult Athena standing at his side” (Stokstad188).
“According to the myth, Hephaestos struck Zeus on the head with an axe, and Athena emerged fully grown and armed. As the goddess of
wisdom, as well as of war and weaving, she was born like an idea from the head of the supreme god” (Adams, Art Across Time 172).
8. “The statues from the east pediment are the best preserved of the two groups. Flanking the central figures were groups of three
goddesses followed by single reclining male figures. In the left corner was the mood goddess Selene in hers. The reclining male nude on
the left has been variously identified as Herakles, Ares, or Dionysos. His easy pose conforms to the slope of the pediment without a hint
of awkwardness. The standing female figure just to the left of center is Iris, messenger of the gods, already spreading the news of Athena’s
birth. The three female figures on the right side, two sitting upright and one reclining, were once thought to be the Three Fates, whom the
Greeks believed appeared at the birth of a child and determined its destiny. Most art historians now think that they are goddesses,
perhaps Hestia (a sister of Zeus and the goddess of the hearth), Aphrodite, and her mother, Dione (one of Zeus’s many consorts). These
monumental interlocked figures seem to be awakening from a deep sleep, slowing rousing from languor to mental alertness. The sculptor,
whether Pheidias or someone working the Pheidian style, expertly rendered the female form beneath the fall of draperies. The clinging
fabric both covers and reveals, creating circular patterns rippling with a life of their own over torsos, breasts, and knees and uniting the
three figures into a single mass” (Stokstad, Art History 188-189).
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Iktinos and Kallikrates. Parthenon (Athens), 447-438 BCE (CONTINUED)
9. “The pediments are almost 100 feet wide at the base and 11 feet high at the central peak. The depth of the pediment bases is, however,
only 36 inches, thus restricting the space available for the sculptures” (Adams, Art Across Time 172). At the left side of the east pediment,
“Helios’ horses mark the rising of the sun, because Athena was born in the east at dawn. The horse of the moon descends at the right
corner. The location of the scene on this pediment also corresponds to the sunrise in the East. Thus, in this arrangement, the artist has
formally integrated sculpture and architecture with iconography” (173).
THE METOPES
10. “The Parthenon metopes illustrate four mythological battles. The best preserved were originally on the south frieze and represent the
battle between Lapiths and Centaurs- also the subject of the west pediment at Olympia. The violent energy of the battle contrasts
dramatically with the relaxing gods on the east pediment. The strong diagonals of the Lapith, the repeated curved folds of his cloak, and
the backward thrust of the Centaur’s contrapposto enliven the metope” (Adams, Art Across Time 172). “The other three metope battles
depicted Greeks against Amazons on the west, the Trojan War on the north, and the Olympians overthrowing Titans on the east. Each set
of metopes expressed an aspect of the Greek sense of superiority. The Lapiths and Centaurs symbolized the universal human conflict
between animal instinct or lust- exemplified by the drunken Centaurs- and rational self-control- embodied by the Lapiths. The Greek
victory over the Amazons symbolized the triumph of Greek warriors over the monstrous female warriors from the east. In the Trojan War,
West again triumphed over East, and in the clash between Titans and Olympians, the more human Greek gods wrested control of the
universe from their primitive, cannibalistic predecessors. As at Olympia, the sculptural program of the Parthenon represented
mythological battles as a way of alluding to recent, and historical, victories. The political subtext of the battles on the Parthenon metopes
is thus the Athenian triumph over the Persians” (172-3).
11. “We can… put together a plausible set of reason why Centaurs might symbolize Persians in this period.
For one, the horse-loving Persians appear to have actually likened themselves to the beasts, and though it
amusing that the Greeks were terrified by the likeness. For another, Classical Greek poetic characterization of
the Centaurs draws attention to their hubris, their over-stretching insolence; the same fault, in Greek eyes,
which brought down Xerxes with all his huge army. More tenuous suggestions can be added: Centaurs were
shown by fifth-century artists as fighting with uprooted trees, as if referring to the Persians’ deliberate
destruction, during their occupation of Attica, of valuable olive trees. What is certain is that the image of
Greek fighting Centaur- even specifically Greek infantry soldier fighting Centaur- became a common motif in
various media during and after the Persian wars. In monumental sculpture, it figures most memorably on the
Hephaisteion, on the metopes of the south side of the Parthenon and on the frieze of the temple of Apollo at
Bassae” (Spivey 221, 224).
12. “Further mythological metaphors for the Persians were developed. The association of the Persians with the Centaurs reduced them to
the level of animals. The association of Persians with Amazons reflected another sort of perceived inferiority; it denigrated them as
women. If myth-making reveals deep-seated cultural traits, then the misogyny of Greek culture is fully exposed by the invention of the
Amazons. An all-female tribe, situated somewhere on the eastern fringes of civilization (like the Persians), they invariably fought on
horseback (like the Persians), using bows and arrows (like the Persians) and wearing soft caps and leggings (like the Persians). Their most
serious encounter with the Greek was when, during the time of Theseus, they landed at Marathon (like the Persians) and stormed the
Akropolis (like the Persians). Of course, there are many elements in the Amazon mythology which do nothing more than mirror the Greek
(male) feat of women in control. For instance, to facilitate their prowess with bows and arrows, the Amazons would amputate their right
breasts, as if to spurn any mothering role (they met men of a neighbouring tribe purely for procreation purposes and discarded any male
infants born to them). This seems to have been too bizarre for the artists as they never show it” (224-225). “The ninety-two metopes that
occupy the frieze illustrate scenes of combat between the Greeks (the bearers of civilization) and Giants, Amazons, and Centaurs (the
forces of barbarism). Carved in high relief, each metope is a masterful depiction of two contestants, one human and the other bestial.
Appropriate to a temple honoring the Goddess of Wisdom, the sculptural program of the Parthenon celebrates the victory of intellect over
barbarism” (Fiero, First Civilizations 119).
THE INNER IONIC FRIEZE
13. “Over the outside of the inner (naos) wall of the Parthenon, an Ionic frieze 525 feet (160 m) long illustrated the Great Panathenaic
procession. This was held every four years, and the entire city participated in presenting a sacred peplos to Athena. The continuous
nature of the Ionic frieze, uninterrupted by triglyphs, is consistent with its content. Thus the shape of the frieze corresponds with the form
of a procession. In order to maintain the horizontal plane of the figures, Phidias adopted a sculptural convention of isocephaly (from the
Greek isos, meaning ‘equal’ or ‘level,’ and kephale, meaning ‘head’). When a work is isocephalic, all the heads are set at approximately the
same level” (Adams, Art Across Time 174).
14. “To improve visibility, the upper parts of the frieze are carved in higher relief. The sculpture was brightly painted and many metal
attachments were used for weapons of men and harnesses of horses… In antiquity, it was best seen from outside the colonnade, different
incidents running on in filmstrip-like sequence” (Pedley 246). “In spite of the large number of riders and horses, there is no confusion or
monotony. Variety is achieved by contrasting human limb with horse’s flank, or drapery with flesh, or different positions of horses’ legs
and heads and human heads and dress and headgear. Yet the head type itself is largely the same, with a rounded skull, a large eye, a
small mouth, a straight nose, and a distant expression. Horse groups, chariots, charioteers, and warriors exploit the same control of
overlapping forms to suggest recession in space” (250).
44
Unit TWO: Classical Greek Art
STUDY GUIDE
Iktinos and Kallikrates. Parthenon (Athens), 447-438 BCE (CONTINUED)
15. “Around the corner and on the east frieze, stately women encounter waiting elders. Poses are unhurried, the drapery of females heavy
and voluminous, that of males clinging and contrasting with exposed arms and chests. The twelve seated Olympian deities are to a larger
scale, as was proper, than the standing Athenians on either side. The outermost of the gods turn to watch the procession, but those
closes to the peplos incident, Zeus on one side and Athena on the other, turn their backs on the scene. Poseidon, Apollo, and Artemis are
seated on stools (only Zeus has a throne), slightly overlapping one another, legs placed in front of furniture to give a sense of space” (250251).
16. “Debate continues as to whether this might be a representation of a specific Panathenaia or whether it
stands as an ideal representation of all such processions… A fresh interpretation juxtaposes a recently
discovered fragment of a play by Euripides, the Erechtheus, with the frieze, and proposes a mythological
reading. In the myth-history of Athens, an important foundation myth records that Erechtheus, an early king,
had to ward off the army of a rival, Eumolpos, if the city was to survive. The oracle at Delphi told Erechtheus
that to save the city he had to sacrifice a virgin daughter. Accordingly, the new interpretation sees the
garment being folded (or unfolded) in the center of the east frieze not as Athena’s peplos, but as a funerary
dress to be worn by Erechtheus’s youngest daughter, who is about to be sacrificed. The figure to the left of the
small daughter is Erechtheus himself with his wife, Praxithea, the first priestess of Athena, the central of the
five figures. To her left are her two other daughters. This interpretation has the great advantage of offering a
mythological reading, though it has not yet been greeted with universal approval. To its great credit, it has
fruitfully invited close reinvestigation of the frieze, it has demonstrated the vitality of the field and the
continuing charge of these ancient monuments, and in recognizing here the importance of Athenian
priestesses and the heroization of women in ancient Athens, it speaks to current interest in the roles of women
in antiquity” (251-252).
17. “The subtleties in the sculpture may not have been as evident to Athenians in the fifth century
BCE as they are now, because the frieze, seen at the top of a high wall and between columns, was
originally completed painted. The background was dark blue and the figures were in contrasting red
and ocher, accented with glittering gold and real metal details such as bronze bridles and bits on the
horses” (Stokstad, Art History 190). “The underlying message of the frieze as a whole is that the
Athenians are a healthy, vigorous people, enjoying individual rights but united in a democratic civic
body looked upon with favor by the gods. The people were inseparable from and symbolic of the city
itself. Despite its patriotic intent, the frieze probably drew wrath from Athenians who felt that it was
disrespectful of the gods to decorate a religious building with scenes of contemporary human activity
rather than mythological figures. Pheidias was supposedly accused of even depicting himself and
Perikles among the figures in the procession, but no one in modern times has been able to identify
what might be their portraits” (190).
THE STATUE OF ATHENA
18. “Phidias’s gold and ivory statue of Athena was dedicated in 438 BC. All trace of the original has vanished,
but we know about he statue from literary descriptions, from reduced copies and adaptations, and from later
copies of parts of it (the shield, for example). Pliny and Pausanias give descriptions of the statue from which we
gather essentials: Athena stood 26 cubits tall (nearly 13 yards or 11.5 meters high), wearing an aegis and an
elaborate helmet, holding a Nike and a spear, with a shield and snake nearby” (253). “If it was difficult for the
modern world to appreciate the extent to which ancient marble sculpture had been painted, it was even more
difficult to imagine the impact of the central focus of the new Parthenon temple complex- the great colossal
chryselephantine cult statue of Athena Parthenos by Pheidias” (Flynn 38).
19. “The decoration of the shield, pedestal, and other attributes of the statue combined a series of related
themes signifying the triumph of civilization over barbarism, echoing Athenian civic pride at having repulsed
the threat of Persian domination and reasserting Greek national identity. Furthermore, the valuable materials
from which the Athena Parthenos was constructed tell us much about how art, politics, and religion were
tightly interwoven practices within the social formation of the Periclean age. Greek literature is rich in
allusions to the power attaching to the golden object, a material mythically associated with divine authority
and heroic power; the golden fleece, the shower of gold, the shield of Achilles, to name but a few, all attest to
the potential of the material to evoke a sense of power divinely endowed. Hence to dress the Parthenos in such
a material was to invoke something of deep consequence within the culture of Periclean Athens, for wealth at
this time inextricably connected to a notion of religious awe, thereby intensifying the significance of such an act into a potent mix of lived
political action and shared historical identity. Pericles was quick to remind his fellow citizens that the gold component of the statue could
be removed and melted down for redeployment should the necessity arise. In her significance both as a symbol of will to power and an
emblem of civic identity, the gold-plated Parthenos embodies that peculiarly Periclean alloy of the political, the social, and the religious”
(41). “The Greeks gained international acclaim for their goldworking techniques, many of which had been inherited from Persia and from
the nomadic Scythians of northern Asia. Gold-rich mining areas of northern Greece provided craftspeople with materials for the
manufacture of jewelry. Particularly popular were pendants, earrings, and headpieces in the form of miniature sculptures, some of which
(like the pendant of Athena) reproduced familiar images of the gods. Much like today, gold jewelry was a mark of wealth that also bore
sentimental and religious value. In Greece and especially in the cities of Asia Minor, men as well as women adorned themselves with
stylish earrings and bracelets” (Fiero, First Civilizations 122).
45
Unit TWO: Classical Greek Art
STUDY GUIDE
Iktinos and Kallikrates. Parthenon (Athens), 447-438 BCE (CONTINUED)
20. “Certain animals, in early Greece, were honored as semidieties…Whether the snake was holy as supposedly deathless, or as a symbol
of reproductive power, we find it passing down as a deity from the snake-goddess of Crete into fifth-century Athens; in the temple of
Athena, on the Acropolis, a sacred serpent dwelt to whom, each month, a honey cake was offered in appeasing sacrifice” (Durant, Life of
Greece 179). The conservatives of Athens accused Pericles of squandering public funds and “indicted Pheidias for embezzling, as they
alleged, some of the gold assigned to him for his chryselephantine Athena, and apparently succeeded in convicting him” (253). “[Pheidias]
was already an old man when, about 348, he formed his Athene Parthenos, for he depicted himself on its shield as aged and bald, and not
unacquainted with grief. No one expected him to carve with his own hands the hundreds of figures that filled the metopes, frieze, and
pediments of the Parthenon” (324). For the Athene Parthenos “Pheidias wished to use marble, but the people would have nothing less that
ivory and gold… It was so placed that on Athena’s feast day the sun would shine through the great doors of the temple directly upon the
brilliant drapery and pallid face of the Virgin” (325). “Cult statues in a temple symbolize the presence of the deity at sacrifices in her
honour. But sacrifices took place at an altar outside the temple and the Parthenon had no new altar of its own” (Boardman 119).
L The Music of the Spheres
1. “The English word music derives from
muse, the Greek word describing any of the
nine mythological daughters of Zeus and
the Goddess of Memory.
According to
Greek mythology, the muses presided over
the arts and the sciences.
Pythagoras
observed that music was governed by
mathematical
ratios
and
therefore
constituted both a science and an art. As
was true of the other arts, music played a
major role in Greek life. However, we know
almost as little about how Greek music
sounded as we do in the cases of Egyptian
or Sumerian music. The ancient Greeks did
not invent a system of notation with which
to record instrumental or vocal sounds”
(Fiero, First Civilizations 124).
2. “From earliest times, music was believed
to hold magical powers and therefore
exercise great spiritual influence” (124).
“Following
Pythagoras,
who
equated
musical ratios with the unchanging cosmic
order, many believed that music might put
one ‘in tune with’ the universe.
The
planets, which Pythagoras described as a
series of spheres moving at varying speeds
in concentric orbits around the earth, were
said to produce a special harmony, the socalled music of the spheres. The Greeks
believed, moreover, that music had a moral
influence. This argument, often referred to
as the ‘Doctrine of Ethos’, held that some
modes strengthened the will, whereas
others undermined it and thus damaged the
development of moral character” (124).
3. “The Greeks devised a system of modes,
or types of scales characterized by fixed
patterns of pitch and tempo within the
octave” (124). “In the Republic, Plato
encourage the use of the Dorian mode,
which settled the temper and inspired
courage, but he condemned the Lydian
mode, which aroused sensuality… Both
Plato and Aristotle recommended that the
types of music used in the education of
young children be regulated by law” (124125).
M Erechtheion (Athenian acropolis), c. 421-405 BCE
contest between Athena and Poseidon/ caryatids/ irregular plan
1. “The Erechtheum is on the northern side of the
Acropolis, opposite the Parthenon. It replaced an old temple
to Athena that housed a wooden, Archaic statue of the
goddess. The temple was destroyed by the Persians, but the
Athenians decided to display the ruins to remind citizens of
the sacrilegious act of sacking the Acropolis. A more
complex Ionic building than the Nike temple, the
Erechtheum is built on an uneven site. The eastern room
was dedicated to Athena Polias, or Athena in her aspect as
patron of the city” (Adams, Art Across Time 177). “The small
southern porch is distinctive for its six caryatids, a
convention already in place in the Siphnian Treasury. But
these now stand in a relaxed ideal form characteristic of the
Classical style. As an ensemble, a perfect symmetry is
maintained so that each set of three, right and left, is a mirror image of the other. The
two corner caryatids, like the corner columns of the Parthenon, are perceived as being
aligned with the front figures when viewed from the front, and with the side figures
when viewed from the sides, thus creating a smooth visual transition between front and
side” (177).
2. “In the metaphorical transformation of columns into human form, several features
are necessarily adapted. For example, the vertical drapery folds covering the support
leg recall the flutes of columns. In the capital over the caryatid’s head, the volute is
omitted, but the echinos has been retained in the molded headdress which creates a
transition from the head to the abacus. At the same time, the headdress is an abstract
geometric form, related to organic human form only by its proximity to the head.
Whereas the Doric echinos effects a transition from vertical to horizontal and from
curved elements to straight, the headdress satisfies the additional transition from
human and organic to geometric and abstract. These caryatids thus illustrate the
harmonious metaphorical relationship between ideal and organic, human and abstract,
that characterizes Classical style” (177). “The Erechtheion, … designed by Mnesikles,
was the second-largest structure erected on the Acroppolis under Perikles’ building
program. Work began on it in the 430s and ended in 405 BCE, just before the fall of
Athens to Sparta. Its asymmetrical plan and several levels reflect its multiple functions
in housing many different shrines, as well as the sharply sloping terrain on which it
was located. The mythical contest between the sea god Poseidon and Athena for
patronage over Athens was said to have occurred within the Erechtheion precinct.
During this contest, Poseidon struck a rock with his trident (three-pronged harpoon),
bringing forth a spout of water. This sacred rock, believed to bear the marks of the
trident, was enclosed in the Erechtheion’s north porch. Another shrine housed a sacred
spring dedicated to Erechtheus, a legendary king of Athens, during whose reign the
goddess Demeter was said to have instructed the Athenians in the agricultural arts.
The Erechtheion also contained a memorial to the legendary founder of Athens,
Kekrops, half man and half serpent, who acted as the judge in the contest between
Athena and Poseidon. And it housed a new shrine for the wooden cult statue of Athena
that was the center of the Panathenaic festival” (Stokstad 191). The caryatids’ held
phiale cups in their hands, to judge from copies, and so were perceived as ministrants
in the sacrifice to Athena and, to a degree, a welcome to processions passing between
them and the Parthenon towards the altar” (Boardman 120).
46
Unit TWO: Classical Greek Art
N Pericles and the
Peloponnesian War
1. “From the modern point of view,
Athens was a small, simply organized
city-state.
However,
in
the
Mediterranean world of the fifth
century BC, the city was an important
naval and commercial power. At the
same time that it controlled an
overseas empire, Athens developed a
democratic pattern of government at
home.
Pericles,
the
greatest
statesman of ancient Athens, brought
Athenian democracy to its zenith,
established Athens as the undisputed
intellectual leader of Greece, and built
two of the most magnificent buildings
on the Acropolis, the Parthenon and
the Propylaea” (Wren 1: 80-81).
2. “Pericles (c. 495-429 BC) was a
member of a powerful and influential
Athenian family.
After receiving an
excellent education in philosophy,
politics, and music, he became
prominent in public life. The leader of
the democratic party, he won the
support and respect of the masses by
initiating
democratic
reforms.
Simultaneously, Pericles pursued a
policy of increasing Athenian power
and influence abroad.
In order to
arrest this growing power, Sparta
sought a pretext to embark on war with
Athens.
The
result
was
the
Peloponnesian War, which was to
embroil the Greek city-states in a
protracted struggle that lasted from
431 BC to 404 BC” (81).
3. “The Peloponnesian War was
described by the Greek historian
Thucydides (c. 460-400 BC). A native
of Athens, Thucydides was an ardent
admirer of Pericles, who, in his view,
combined caution in action with daring
in
imagination
and
intellect.
Thucydides served as a general in the
war, but his failure in 424 BC to
defend the city of Amphipolis against
Brasidas, the brilliant Spartan general,
resulted in his being exiled from
Athens for twenty years” (81).
4. “His direct involvement with the war
ended, Thucydides turned to writing a
contemporary account of the struggle
between Athens and Sparta, known as
the History of the Peloponnesian War.
His intention, he stated, was not only
to recount the chronological sequence
of events but also to study the human
mind and character in times of turmoil”
(81).
STUDY GUIDE
O Temple of Athena Nike (Athenian acropolis), c. 427-424 BCE
parapet/ Nike/ use of drapery to define anatomy and movement of the
figure
1. “Athena was honored as the goddess of victory in the small marble Ionic temple of Athena
Nike, which crowns the southern edge of the Acropolis. It has a square naos, and a front
porch, with four Ionic columns and four steps at the front and back. This repetition reflects
the Classical insistence on unifying the parts with the whole. The small size and graceful
Ionic Order of the Nike temple contrast with the heavier proportions of the Doric columns in
the Parthenon” (Adams, Art Across Time 175).
2. “The Nike temple, like the Parthenon, celebrated a military
victory, but it is not known which one. The issue is complicated
by the fact that it was designed before the Parthenon, but
finished later. The original gold statues of Nike were housed in
the temple, but have since disappeared. The best surviving
sculpture from the Nike temple is the relief of Nike Adjusting her
Sandal, originally located on a balustrade of the parapet. This
figure combines a graceful, curved torso with diagonal planes in
her legs. The sheer, almost transparent drapery (called ‘wet
drapery,’-because it appears to cling to the body) falls in a
pattern of elegant, repeated folds.
Behind Nike are what
remains of her open wings. Their smooth surfaces contrast with
the folds of the drapery, and, at the same time, echo and frame
the torso’s curve” (175-7).
3. “The Temple of Athena Nike (Athena as the goddess of victory
in war), located south of the Propylaia, was designed and built
about 425 BCE, probably by Kallikrates. It is an Ionic order
temple built on an amphiprostyle plan, that is, with a porch at
each end. The porch facing out over the city is blind, with no
entrance to the cella. Reduced to rubble during the Turkish
occupation of Greece in the seventeenth century, the temple has
since been rebuilt. Its diminutive size, about 27 by 19 feet, and
refined Ionic decoration are in marked contrast to the massive
Doric Propylaia adjacent to it” (Stokstad, Art History 192-193).
4. “Statues of Nike, or Victory, were often made without wings, so that she might not be able
to abandon the city” (Durant, Life of Greece 331). Nevertheless, other sources note the
presence of wings. “Her wings-one open, the other closed- help her keep her balance, so that
she performs this normally awkward act with consummate elegance and ease” (Janson 135).
P Grave stele of Hegeso (Athens), c. 400 BCE, marble
depictions of the deceased/ role of women in Greek society
1. “Memorials of this kind were produced in large numbers by
Athenian sculptors, and their export must have helped to spread
the Pheidian style throughout the Greek world. Few of them,
however, can match the harmonious design and the gentle
melancholy of our example. The deceased is represented in a
simple domestic scene that was a standard subject for
sculptured and painted memorials of young women. She has
picked a necklace from the box held by the girl servant and
seems to be contemplating it as if it were a keepsake” (Janson
135).
2. Compared with Egyptian reliefs, this work is “free and
relaxed. The way the upper half is framed by the curve of the two
women’s arms, the way these lines are answered in the curves of
the stool, the simple method by which Hegeso’s beautiful hand
becomes the center of attention, the flow of drapery round the
forms of the body so expressive of calm- all combine to produce that simple harmony which
only came into the world with Greek art of the fifth century” (Gombrich 97).
47
Unit TWO: Classical and Late Classical Greek Art
Q Greek Women
STUDY GUIDE
A Praxiteles. Aphrodite of Knidos, Roman
1. “Every Athenian citizen is expected to have children, and all the
forces of religion, property, and the state unite to discountenance
childlessness. Where no offspring comes, adoption is the rule, and
high prices are paid for prepossessing orphans. At the same time law
and public opinion accept infanticide as a legitimate safeguard
against excess population and a pauperizing fragmentation of the
land; any father may expose a newborn child to death either as
doubtfully his, or as weak or deformed. The children of slaves are
seldom allowed to live. Girls are more subject to exposure than boys,
for every daughter has to be provided with a dowry, and at marriage
she passes from the home and service of those who have reared her
into the service of those who have not” (Durant, Life of Greece 287).
2. “The education of girls is carried on at home, and is largely
confined to ‘domestic science.’ Outside of Sparta girls take no part in
public gymnastics. They are taught by their mothers or nurses to
read and write and reckon, to spin and weave and embroider, to
dance and sing and play some instrument” (289).
3. “Romantic love appears among the Greeks, but seldom as the
cause of marriage” (302). “The Greeks consider romantic love to be a
form of ‘possession’ or madness, and would smile at anyone who
should propose it as a fit guide in the choice of a marriage mate…
Without a dowry a girl has little chance of marriage; therefore where
the father cannot give it to her the relatives combine to provide it”
(303).
4. “The seclusion of women does not exist among the Dorians;
presumably it comes from the Near East to Ionia, and from Ionia to
Attica; it is part of the tradition of Asia. Perhaps the disappearance of
inheritance through the mother, the rise of the middle classes, and
the enthronement of the commercial view of life enter into the
change: men come to judge women in terms of utility, and find them
especially useful in the home” (305-306). “In the home she is honored
and obeyed in everything that does not contravene the patriarchal
authority of her mate” (306).
5. “With a career so open to talent, harlotry becomes in Athens, as in
most other cities in Greece, a well-plied profession with many
specialties. The lowest order of them, the pornai, live chiefly at the
Piraeus, in common brothels marked for the convenience of the
public with the phallic symbol of Priapus. An obol secures admission
to these houses, where the girls, so lightly clad that they are called
gymnai (naked), allow their prospective purchasers to examine them
like dogs in a kennel” (Durant, Life of Greece 299).
6. “The highest class of Greek courtesans is composed of the
hetairai-literally, companions. Unlike the pornai, who are mostly of
Oriental birth, the hetairai are usually women of the citizen class,
who have fallen from the respectability or fled from the seclusion
required of Athenian maids and matrons. They live independently,
and entertain at their own homes the lovers whom they lure. Though
they are mostly brunettes by nature, they dye their hair yellow in the
belief that Athenians prefer blondes; and they distinguish
themselves, apparently under legal compulsion, by wearing flowery
robes. By occasional reading, or attending lectures, some of them
acquire a modest education, and amuse their cultured patrons with
learned conversation… Though all courtesans are denied civil rights,
and are forbidden to enter any temple but that of their own goddess,
Aphrodite Pandemos, a select minority of the hetairai enjoy a high
standing in male society at Athens; no man is ashamed to be seen
with these; philosophers contend for their favors; and an historian
chronicles their history as piously as Plutarch” (300).
48
copy of an original of c. 350-340 BCE, marble
Praxiteles and his love Phryne/ appearance of the
female nude in Knidos/ increased focus on the
individual/ hydria
1. “The leading Athenian sculptor of the Late Classical
style was Praxiteles. A gentle S-shape, sometimes
called the ‘Praxitelean curve,’ outlines the stance of
Praxiteles’ most famous statue, the Aphrodite of Knidos,
which is known only from Roman copies. The east
Greek city of Kos originally commissioned the
Aphrodite, but rejected the finished work because of the
nudity, and it was then accepted by the Anatolian city
of Knidos. It represents the goddess standing next to a water
jar (hydria) after her bath. She picks up drapery with her left
hand and, while the gesture of her right hand implies
modesty, at the same time it calls attention to her nudity.
Compared with Classical sculptures, the Aphrodite has slightly
fleshier proportions and a heavier, fuller face” (Adams, Art
Across Time 178).
2. “More than any earlier Greek sculptor, Praxiteles celebrated
the female nude. In fact, it was with this work that the female
entered the canon of beauty in Greek art, which had been
previously restricted to the male nude. The Aphrodite was
celebrated by the Knidians, who exhibited it in such a way
that viewers could completely encircle it. Later anecdotes
emphasize its realism, relating, for example, that the goddess
emerged from the waves off the coast of Anatolia to see her
likeness. So astonished was she by its accuracy that she
cried out ‘Where did Praxiteles see me naked?’” (179)
3. “The Knidian Aphrodite was
done in marble, which Praxiteles
came to prefer over bronze early in
his career. She achieved such
fame that she is often referred to
in ancient literature as a synonym
for perfection. (According to one
account, Alexander the Great’s
mistress, Phryne, posed for the
statue.) She was to have countless
descendents in Hellenistic and
Roman art… Her reputation rested
at least as much on the fact that
she was (as far as we know) the
first completely nude monumental
cult statue of a goddess in Greek
art. She was placed in an open-air
shrine in such a way that the
viewer ‘discovered’ her in the midst
of bathing; yet through her pose
and expression she maintains a
chaste modesty so as to disarm
any critic” (Janson 141).
4. According to one story, Phryne “had asked of him, as a
proof of his love, the most beautiful of the works in his studio.
He wished to leave the choice to her; but Phryne, hoping to
discover his own estimate, ran to him one day with news that
his studio was on fire; whereupon he cried out, ‘I am lost if my
Satyr and my Eros are burned.’ Phryne chose the Eros, and
gave it to her native town” (Durant, Life of Greece 495).
Unit TWO: Late Classical Greek Art
B Praxiteles. Hermes and the infant Dionysos
from the Temple of Hera (Olympia), copy from
an original of c. 340 BCE, marble
Hermes (and a herm statue)/ caduceus/
prototype of the Good Shepherd/ sinuous,
shallow S curve/ tender human interactions
1. “Sometimes the stylistic categories of canonical Western art
history are thrown into doubt when new discoveries are made.
The so-called Hermes of Praxiteles is a case in point. For
generations, art historians have identified this sculpture as a
fourth-century BC work by Praxiteles (c. 370-330 BC). It has
the slightly fleshy proportions of the Late Classical style, and
the contrapposto creates the S-shaped curve associated with
him. The planar movement seems to fit comfortably between
that of the Classical and Hellenistic styles. But when the
sandals were studied in relation to the known shoe styles of
ancient Greece, it was discovered that these did not belong to
the fourth century. As a result, scholars have concluded that
the work must belong to a later period. It is now generally
thought to be Roman” (Adams, Art Across Time 180).
2. “Discovered in the rubble of the
ruined Temple of Hera at Olympia
in 1875, this statue is now widely
accepted as a very good Roman
copy. Support for this conclusion
comes from certain elements
typical
of
Roman
sculpture:
Hermes’ sandals, which recent
studies suggest are not accurate
for a fourth-century BCE date; the
supporting element of crumpled
fabric covering a tree stump; and
the use of a reinforcing strut, or
brace, between Hermes’ hip and
the tree stump” (Skokstad, Art
History 201).
C Hermes and the Herm statue
1. “The son of Zeus and Maia (daughter of Atlas), Hermes is familiar
to contemporary readers as a handsome youth with winged hat and
sandals and a distinctive staff- the caduceus, still the symbol of
medicine- adorned with writing serpents.
Lighthearted and
funloving, a prankster at birth, Hermes was the fleet-footed
messenger of the gods. A nimble thief himself, he was the god of
Thieves and of Commerce. On a more somber note, Hermes was the
one who led souls to the Underworld. The Greeks, who greatly
admired guile, delighted in stories about Hermes, and he is
mentioned more often than any other god in Greek myths” (Britt 16).
2. “In parts of Arcadia and Attica he was, at an early date,
worshipped as a fertility god in the form of an erect phallus set up at
the roadside. Later it took the form of a pillar, known as a Herm,
which was crowned with a head, usually of Hermes, and with a
phallus halfway down… As a protector of shepherds he has a ram.
He sometimes carries it around his shoulders, the prototype of the
image of the Christian Good Shepherd” (Hall 188).
D Apollo Belvedere, Roman copy of a Greek statue
of the mid-fourth century BCE, marble
reaching into space/ a Roman work of the 2nd century
CE?
1. “So-called from its location in that portion of the
Vatican complex, the statue’s first record shows
that it was already in the papal collection in 1509.
It was regarded by Winckelmann as the epitome of
Greek achievement, exemplifying his ‘beautiful’
style. Scholars today consider it a Roman work,
perhaps deriving from a Hellenistic source”
(Fullerton 21).
2. “The marble copies a bronze of the later fourth
century, and has the archer god striding forward,
bow in(lost) left hand: or rather, not entirely ‘lost
left hand’, since this statue had been cast in
antiquity for the Roman copyists and a cast of the
original hand has been found at Baiae. The pose
might be taken to be advanced Polyclitan but the
slim rather effeminate body and head and the
elaborate coiffure for the traditionally ‘long-haired
Apollo’ introduce a new concept of the Olympian”
(Boardman 140).
3. “Surely owed to Praxiteles is the
humanized
treatment
of
the
subject- two gods, one a loving
adult and the other a playful child, caught in a moment of
absorbed companionship. The interaction of the two across
real space through gestures and glances creates an overall
effect far different from that of the noble, austere deities of the
fifth century BCE on the pediments and metopes of the
Temple of Zeus, near where the work was found” (201-202).
4. “Standards established by Pheidias and Polykleitos in the
mid-fifth century BCE for the ideal proportions and idealized
forms of the human figure had generally been accepted by the
next generation of artists. Fourth-century artists, on the
other hand, challenged and modified those standards. The
artists of mainland Greece, in particular, developed a new
canon of proportions for male figures- some 8 or more ‘heads’
tall rather than the 6 ! or 7-head height of earlier works. The
calm, noble detachment characteristic of earlier figures gave
way to more sensitively rendered images of men and women
with expressions of wistful introspection, dreaminess, or even
fleeting anxiety. Patrons lost some of their interest in images
of might Olympian gods and legendary heroes and acquired a
taste for depictions of minor deities in lighthearted moments”
(201).
STUDY GUIDE
3. “The long sequence of standing male nudes is
‘completed’ in the later fourth century in the work
of the sculptor Lysippus. [The Apoxyomenus] is a
copy of his athlete scarping down his forearm with
a strigil. It was described in antiquity, so the
attribution is secure. Instead of an exercise in
subtleties of balance on feet or shifting of weight
on to exterior supports, we have a figure whose
ease of posture is expressed by a gently spiraling
pose in which the set of the head, the body, the
legs, the gestures, leads the eye and the viewer around the whole.
Earlier statues have been composed for one main viewpoint, usually
frontal, but now there is no prime view and the figure occupies his
own space and environment which the viewer shares” (141).
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Unit TWO: Late Classical Greek Art
STUDY GUIDE
E Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle
1. “Plato (c. 429-347 BCE) was both an influential teacher and a prolific writer. He was the student of the philosopher
Socrates. Socrates (c. 469-399 BC) practiced philosophy by feigning ignorance and posing a sequence of questions in the
apparent hope of receiving enlightenment- a technique which has since become known as the Socratic method.
Throughout his life, he questioned the ethical beliefs and moral standards of his fellow Athenians. In 399 BC he was accused
of impiety and of corrupting the youth. Tried and found guilty, Socrates accepted the death penalty imposed by the court and ended his
own life by drinking hemlock. Socrates left no writings. Plato, however, wrote twenty-six major philosophical treatises, all of which survive.
Almost all are written in the form of a dialogue in which several characters discuss a subject on a high moral plane. In the Republic,
written by Plato in the early to mid-fourth century, Socrates is the main figure. The conversation between Socrates and several friends
seems at first to be simple and homely, but gradually, through the device of the Socratic dialogue, Plato expounds his own political views
and integrates tem into his wider metaphysical and moral beliefs” (Wren 1: 93-94).
2. “Plato held the view that the basic entities of the world are abstract universals, or ‘forms’ (often called ‘ideas’), such as justice, beauty,
and – highest of all- the good. In the Republic, Plato is especially concerned with the issue of justice. He outlines a society in which
justice holds sway, and he argues that the great moral principles that should govern private life are identical with those that must
regulate public life. In his political system, Plato distinguishes three categories of individuals: (1) the person devoted to philosophy, (2) the
person seeking enjoyment, (3) the person qualified for action. The first person attains wisdom, the second gratification, the third
distinction. The ideal society is structured into three classes corresponding to the three types of individuals: (1) the philosopher-kings,
who understand the system of absolute values embodied in the structure of the universe, (2) the general civilian population, which
provides for the material requirements of the community, and (3) the army, whose members respond to the martial needs of the state. In
the just state, each class understands its own function and behaves according to its limits. Such a society is the a true aristocracy (rule
of the best)” (94).
3. “The most famous passage of all Plato’s writings occurs in the Republic, and is known as the Myth of the Cave. In it Plato puts into
symbolic form his view of the human condition, and especially of human knowledge, in relation to reality as a whole. Imagine, he says, a
big cave, connected to the outside world by a passage long enough to prevent any daylight from penetrating into the cave itself. Facing
the far wall, with their backs to the entrance, is a row of prisoners. Not only are their limbs chained, they are also fastened by the neck so
that they cannot move their heads, and therefore cannot see one another, indeed cannot see any part of themselves. All they can see is
the wall in front of them. And they have been in this situation all their lives, and know nothing else” (Magee 31).
4. “In the cave behind them is a bright fire. Unknown to them there is a rampart as high as a man between the fire and them; and on the
other side of this rampart are people perpetually passing to and fro carrying things on their heads. The shadows of these objects are cast
on to the wall in front of the prisoners by the light of the fire, and the voices of the people carrying them are echoed back from this wall to
the prisoners’ ears. Now, says Plato, the only entities that the prisoners ever perceive or experience in the whole of their existence are
those shadows and those echoes. In these circumstances it would be natural for them to assume that shadows and echoes constitute all
the reality there is; and it would be to this ‘reality,’ and to their experiences of it, that all their talk would refer” (31).
5. “If one of the prisoners could shake off his chains, so cramped would he be by a lifetime of entrapment in the half-dark, that merely to
turn around would be painful and awkward for him, and the fire would dazzle his eyes. He would find himself confused and
uncomprehending, and would want to turn back again to face the wall of shadows, the reality he understood. If he were dragged up out of
the cave altogether into the world of blazing sunlight he would be blinded and bewildered, and it would be a long time before he was able
to see or understand anything. But then, once he was used to being in the upper world, if he were to return to the cave he would be
temporarily blinded again, this time by the darkness. And everything he said to the prisoners about his experiences would be
unintelligible to those people whose language had reference only to shadows and echoes” (31).
6. “The way to begin understanding this allegory is to see us human beings as imprisoned in our own bodies, with only other such
prisoners for company, and all of us unable to discern the real selves of one another, or even our own real selves. Our direct experience is
not of reality, but what is in our minds” (31). “In 387 BC Plato founded the Academy, on the outskirts of the city of Athens, as
an institute for the pursuit of philosophical and scientific research. He presided over it for the rest of his life, and it
survived after his death until as late as the sixth century” (Wren 1: 94).
7. “Aristotle (384-322 BC) was, with Socrates and Plato, one of the three philosophers of ancient Greece who among them
laid the philosophical foundations of Western culture. The son of a Macedonian court physician, Aristotle came to Athens
when he was seventeen years old. He joined Plato’s Academy, where he remained for twenty years, until Plato’s death. In
343-42 BC, Aristotle was chosen by Philip of Macedonia to be the tutor of his son Alexander (later known as Alexander
the Great). In 335 BC, at Philip’s death, Aristotle returned to Athens and founded his own school, the Lyceum. A year
before his death, he was accused of impiety, the same charge leveled earlier against Socrates, and Aristotle was forced to flee Athens” (97).
8. “Aristotle believed that knowledge could be divided into three branches: (1) theoretical, which was pursued for its own sake; (2)
practical, which was pursued in order to control man’s social environment; (3) productive, which was necessary in order to make useful or
beautiful things. The Lyceum was a research institute that encompassed all branches of learning. Because of his deep interest in the
natural world, Aristotle made important contributions to the history of science. He carried on extensive botanical, zoological, and
anatomical investigations. One of the originators of the inductive method, Aristotle sought to collect and test all available information
relevant to his studies, to form his hypotheses, and then to apply these hypotheses” (97).
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Unit TWO: Late Classical Greek Art
STUDY GUIDE
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle (CONTINUED)
9. “In addition to studying the phenomena of the natural world, Aristotle also addressed a broad range of philosophical issues. He wrote
about politics and law, poetry and rhetoric, ethics and morality, physical existence and the metaphysical realm. One of the most
important of Aristotle’s works is the Nicomachean Ethics. In it, he investigates the purpose of human conduct. According to Aristotle,
happiness is the goal for which every individual strives and the aim of all his actions. Happiness is defined by Aristotle as an activity of
the rational soul carried out in accordance to virtue. There are, in Aristotle’s view, two kinds of virtue, moral and intellectual. The first,
moral virtue, is the product of habit, of pursing a moderate course of action that avoids extremes. The second, intellectual virtue, is
acquired with time and experience and requires instruction and discipline. The happiness that ensues from moral goodness is highly
desirable but purely human, whereas the happiness that ensues from intellectual excellence approximates the divine” (97-98).
10. “Aristotle’s philosophy examined the meaning of human experience from all possible viewpoints. Concurrently the sculptor Lyssipos,
who served in the court of Alexander the Great, reexamined the body. The Apoxyomenos exemplifies many of the changes in proportion
and pose introduced by Lysippos in the depiction of the human figure” (98).
F Alexander the Great of Macedonia
1. “The fourth century BCE was a turbulent era marked by rivalry and warfare among the Greek city-states. Ironically, however, the
failure of the Greek city-states to live in peace would lead to the spread of Hellenic culture throughout the civilized world. Manipulating
the shifting confederacies and internecine strife to his advantage Philip of Macedonia eventually defeated the Greeks in 338 BCE” (Fiero,
First Civilzations 125). “During the fourth century most of the cities of the Greek peninsula came under the domination of the Kingdom of
Macedon. Macedon was a country of peasants ruled by crude, hard-living warriors who formed a loose federation under a king. Its
culture was not much above the level of that described in the Illiad. These primitive people posed no threat to the Greeks in earlier
periods. The Persian and Peloponnesian wars, however, brought the Macedonians into closer contact with the Greeks of the South. These
contacts resulted in the Macedonians’ rapid progress. During the fourth century, when the Greek city-states were weak, the remarkable
King Philip (359-336 BC) managed to organize the Macedonian warriors into a powerful and unified fighting force. Once his control of
Macedon was secure, Philip began to extend his control over the city-states of the Greek peninsula. Once again, as during the Persian
treat more than a century earlier, there was a great debate among the Greek city-states on how best to meet the danger. Demosthenes of
Athens, the most famous orator of the golden age of Greek oratory, vainly warned his countrymen of the danger from Macedon, and urged
them to unite. But, as so often before, the Greek cities were unable to support any single policy. Many, in fact, looked on Philip as a
liberator of the more powerful Greek cities. Enough cities resisted to provoke a war with Macedon, but they could not cooperate to the
extent of presenting a unified defense. As a result, Philip defeated the collation of Greek city-states in 338 BC and turned the Greek
peninsula into a Macedonian protectorate. Individual cities clung to their theoretical sovereignty, but they could not oppose Philip’s will”
(Strayer and Gatzke 49).
2. “Two year later, before Philip could complete his project by reconquering the Greek cities of Asia Minor from Persia, he was
assassinated. He was succeeded by his twenty-year-old son, Alexander (336-323 BC). Conceited, overbearing, undisciplined, and wildly
temperamental, Alexander was also brilliant and could display mesmerizing charm. He was idolized by his soldiers- no small factor in his
military success- and even among his enemies he became a legend in his own short lifetime” (49-50). “Before his death, Philip had
planned to unify the Greeks and rally them to his banner by leading a combined Greek army in a war of revenge against the Persians.
Determined to carry out his father’s plans, Alexander crossed the Hellespont with a Greek army in 334 BC and soon proved himself one of
the most successful military strategists in history. At the very beginning of his campaign, he won a decisive battle against a Persian force
in Asia Minor. The following year he moved eastward into Syria, where he met and routed an army under the Persian king himself. In
332 BC Alexander invaded Egypt. After conquering the country, he took two momentous steps. He founded the cit of Alexandria, which
soon became the leading seaport of the eastern Mediterranean and a center of Greek scholarship. And he visited the ancient oracle of
Amon in the Libyan desert, where the priests greeted him as the son of the god. Egypt, at least, had long been ruled by a god-king, and
Alexander may have intended to adopt this model as a basis for his position in Egypt and elsewhere. In Greece an official proclamation of
Aelxander’s divinity was eventually issued; how much of an impression this made is uncertain. Some of the Greeks, at least, may have
persuaded themselves that Alexander was the son of Zeus (whom they identified with Amon) and therefore their rightful ruler. In any
case, the precedent set by Alexander was followed by his successors. Even the hard-headed Romans eventually accepted the idea that
their emperor was divine” (50).
3. “From a military point of view the rest was easy. Alexander proclaimed himself king of Persia, defeated the last Persian army without
difficulty, and took his troops on a wild march north to Turkestan, south into the Indus Valley, and back to Babylon. The real problem
was political, not military. How could this vast empire, inhabited by such different peoples, be made into a unit? Alexander apparently
hoped to use Greek culture to control Asian manpower. Greek colonies were founded everywhere, even in western India; Greeks were
encouraged to marry Asian women; and Greek was to be the common language of all the upper classes. Alexander died of fever in 323
BC, at the age of thirty-three, before he could see how his plan worked” (50-51). “Alexander’s sudden death meant that he had no time to
consolidate his empire or to arrange for an orderly succession. His Macedonian generals fought among themselves for his conquests…
Political disunity, however, did not interfere with Alexander’s vision of a commonwealth of peoples united by Greek culture. All the
successor states were dominated by Greeks and by natives who imitated the Greek way of life” (51). “Alexander carved out his empire with
the help of an army of 35,000 Greeks and Macedonians equipped with weapons that were superior to any in the ancient world. Siege
machines such as catapults and battering rams were used to destroy the walls of the best-defended cities of Asia Minor, Egypt, Syria, and
Persia. Finally, in northwest India, facing the prospect of confronting the formidable army of the King of Ganges and his force of five
thousand elephants, Alexander’s troops refused to go any further” (Fiero, First Civilizations 125).
51