Classical Architecture (Mature Classical):
• The 5th c. BCE (400s) is known as the “Golden Age of
Athens”
• The Persians destroyed the temples and statues on the
Acropolis (literally “city on a hill”) in 480 BCE Athens. The rebuilding of the Acropolis under Pericles (leader of Athen), during the latter 5 th c. BCE when Athens was at the height of its power, represents the Classical phase of Greek art in full maturity.
• They are not the fruits of Athenian democracy, but the byproducts of Athens’ tyranny over the rest of the Delian
League and the abuse of Athens’ power.

Text
Stokstad plate 5-38 Model of the Acropolis, Athens, c.400 BCE

Text
Stokstad plate
5-37
Below the
Acropolis was the Agora
(marketplace) of Athens

Classical Architecture:
• The greatest Athenian architects and sculptors of the
Classical period focused their attention on the construction and decoration of the 4 main buildings of the Acropolis:
1. Parthenon
2. Propylaia
3. Erechtheum
4. Temple of Athena Nike
• More human creative genius is concentrated on the Periclean
Acropolis than in any other time or place in the history of Western Civilization!

Classical Architecture: 1) The Parthenon
• The Parthenon was the centerpiece of the Acropolis
• It was dedicated to Athena, was the greatest temple and the only one to be completed before the Peloponnesian War (between Sparta and
Athens, 431-404 BCE).
• It had 4 religious uses:
1. as Temple of Athena
2. as Byzantine Church
3. as a Catholic Cathedral
4. as a mosque.
It was ruined in 1687 when the Turks had stored gunpowder in the cella and it exploded during a siege of Istanbul by Venice.
Stokstad plate 5-39
Iktinos and Kallikrates,
Parthenon, the Temple of
Athena Parthenos (view from the northwest),
Acropolis, Athens,
Greece, 447-438 BCE.

Classical Architecture:
• The Parthenon may be viewed as the culmination of 200 years of searching for perfect proportions in Doric temple design (like Doryphoros , which we’ll see later, is for human anatomy)
• The Parthenon architects and the Doryphoros sculptor all believed that beautiful proportions resulted from strict adherence to harmonious numerical ratios
• Didn’t matter whether they were designed in a huge temple or a life-size statue.
• You can actually express the controlling ratio of the parts of the Parthenon by an algebraic formula: x = 2y + 1
[Unfortunately, The corrosive emissions of factories and autos are decomposing the ancient marbles!]

Phi is the golden ratio = 1.61803399
A golden rectangle is a rectangle with dimensions which are of the golden ratio.
A rectangle whose sides are related by phi is said to be a golden rectangle, or one of the sides has length 1(x) and the other has length phi(x).
It has been claimed to be the most aesthetically pleasing shape of rectangle

• Yet the Parthenon as actually constructed is quite irregular!
• stylobate and entablature curve upward in a particular place
• peristyle columns lean inward slightly

Classical Architecture:
• Because of all these deviations from the norm, virtually every
Parthenon block and drum had to be carved according to the special set of specifications its unique place in the structure dictated.
• Why? Although some modern architects talk about how the tilts and curves create a dynamic balance in the building (a kind of architectural contrapossto), the Roman architect
Vitruvius wrote that these adjustments were necessary to compensate for optical illusions.
• Parthenon, though Doric order, contains some Ionic elements: Ionic columns in the goddess treasury room of the
Parthenon; inner frieze on top of the cella was Ionic.
• This mix of Doric and Ionic features characterize the 5thcentury buildings of the Acropolis as a whole.

Classical Architecture:
• Parthenon is Doric order, but less massive than the Archaic
“basilica”, even though larger. .
Parthenon
“Basilica” at Paestum

Classical Architecture:
• In Classical architecture, a general lightening and readjustment of the proportions:
• Lower entablature in relation to width and height of columns.
• Columns more slender, tapering and entasis less pronounced, smaller and less flaring capitals, spacing of columns wider.
• Load carried by the columns has decreased and so the supports can fulfill their task with a new sense of ease.

Reconstruction drawing of Parthenon

• 2)The Propylaia
The Propylaia is the monumental entry gate at the west end of the acropolis, begun in 437 BCE under Mnesicles.
Abandoned because of Peloponnesian War.
Mnesikles,
Propylaia,
Acropolis,
Athens, Greece,
437-432 BCE

• In designing the Propylaia, Mnesicles had to deal with difficult terrain, had to transform a rough passage among rocks into an overture to the sacred precinct on which it opens.
• the western porch (façade) of the Propylaia was flanked by two wings. The wing to the north is a first: first known instance of a room especially designed for the display of paintings: “ pinakotheke ”

3)The Erechtheum:
• the Erechtheum was a sanctuary with several religious functions. It may have covered a spot where a contest between Athena and Poseidon was believed to have taken place. there were 4 rooms: the eastern one dedicated to
Athena Polias (Athena the city goddess). The name comes from Erechtheus, a legendary king of Athens.
Stokstad plate 5-47
Erechtheion (view from
The east), Acropolis,
Athens, Greece, ca. 421-405 BCE

Porch of the Maidens
[Gardner plate 5-51]
Plan of the Erechtheion

Greek Architecture:
• the Porch of the Maidens is a porch attached to the western side of the Erechtheum, facing toward the Parthenon. Its roof is supported by 6 caryatids. on a high parapet, instead of regular columns.
Stokstad plate 5-48
Caryatid from the south porch of the Erechtheum,
Acropolis, Athens, Greece, c. 421-405 BCE. Marble,
7’ 7” high.

Greek Architecture:
• Vitruvius might have distinguished the ionic style of the porch of the maidens from the Doric style of the Parthenon by describing the former as feminine and the latter as masculine.

4) Temple of Athena Nike
• the first Ionic building on the Acropolis was the temple of
Athena Nike on the southern flank of the Propylaia--built between 427 and 424 BCE.
Stokstad plate 5-49
Kallikrates, Temple of Athena Nike,
Acropolis, Athens,
Greece, c. 427-424 BCE

Classical Greek Sculpture
• more mature classical style of the Periclean Era.
• Look at Doryphoros (Roman copy) by Polyclitus.
Stokstad page 145
Polykleitos, Doryphoros (Spear Bearer), also known as Achilles.
Roman marble copy from Pompeii,
Italy, after a bronze original of ca. 450-440
BCE, 6’ 11” high.

Classical Style (Mature Classical Style):
• contrapossto more emphatic., differences in every muscle., turn of the head, detailed anatomy, harmonious proportions.
• Renowned as the standard embodiment of the Classical idea of beauty.
• Known as the “Canon” (rule, measure, law), so great was its authority:
• Polyclitus believed that beauty resided in perfect proportions, in harmonious numerical ratios, and he set down his own prescription for the ideal statue of a nude male athlete or warrior in a treatise called “The Canon”.
• He called Doryphoros “the Canon”

Doryphoros represents two fundamentals of Greek aesthetics:
Rythmos and Symmetria, derived from music and philosophy.
Classical Greek sculpture appeals equally to the mind and the eye, so that human and divine beauty become one.

• Discobolis was sculpted by Myron, c. 450 BCE. He condensed a sequence of movements into a single pose without freezing it. Involves violent twist of torso in order to bring arms into same place as action of the legs. Fully coiled figure in perfect balance (copy harsher and less poised than original)
Stokstad plate 5-1
Myron, Diskobolus (Discus Thrower).
Roman marble copy after a bronze original of ca. 450 BCE, 5’ 1” high

Dying Niobid, c. 440 BCE.Marble, 59” tall
• During the Classical period, sculpture is endowed with a new spaciousness, fluidity and balance
• See Dying Niobid, c. 440 BCE
• United motion and emotion that makes the beholder experience the suffering of a victim of a cruel fate.
• She had humiliated the mother of Apollo and Artemis by boasting of her 7 sons and daughter; the two gods kill her children and then her
• She is the earliest known large female nude in Greek art. In her face for the first time, human feeling is expressed as eloquently as in the rest of the figure

• Very different agony of death from
Dying Warrior. “Pathos”— suffering, covered with nobility and restraint so that it touches rather than horrifies us.

• Compare Niobid with earliest Gorgon at Corfu. But Niobid shows the same pinwheel stance, though the meaning has been radically reinterpreted

Classical Sculpture: The Elgin Marbles
• The largest and greatest group of Classical sculptures that remain to us are the marble decorations of the Parthenon.
• Much removed in 1801-1803 by Lord Elgin—called the Elgin
Marbles —greatest treasure of the British Museum.
• They represent various deities. No violence or pathos, but a deeply felt poetry of being
• The drapery is thin, as in the three goddesses, seems almost a liquid substance as it flows and eddies around the forms underneath.
Stokstad plate 5-42
Three goddesses (Hestia,
Dione, and Aphrodite?), from
The east pediment of the
Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens,
Greece, ca. 438-
432 BCE. Marble, greatest
Height approx. 4’ 5”

Classical Sculpture:
• The turning of the bodies under the elaborate folds of their costumes make them seem anything but static. The “wet” drapery unites them in one continuous action, so that they seem in the process of arising.
•Anticipates future rejection altogether of pediment as focal point of architectural sculpture, because it boxed in the figures too much

Classical Sculpture:
• Anticipates future rejection altogether of pediment as focal point of architectural sculpture, because it boxed in the figures too much
• The figures are so freely conceived in depth they create their own aura of space —not shelved in a pediment.
• Treats the triangular fields as no more than a purely physical limit —like a frame cutting off the picture

Classical Sculpture: Panathenaic Procession”
• The Parthenon was more lavishly decorated than any Greek temple before it.
• The frieze of the Parthenon, a continuous band 525 feet long, shows the “Panathenaic Procession” honoring Athena in the presence of the other Olympic gods.
Stokstad plate 5-46
Elders and maidens of east frieze, Details of the Panathenaic procession frieze, from the Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens, Greece, ca. 447-438 BCE
Marble, approx. 3’ 6” high.

Classical Sculpture: Panathenaic Procession”
Seated gods and goddesses (Poseidon, Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite,
And Eros), Details of the Panathenaic procession frieze, from the Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens, Greece, ca. 447-438 BCE
Marble, approx. 3’ 6” high.

Classical Sculpture: Panathenaic Procession”
• most remarkable quality is the rhythmic grace of the design, particularly striking in the spirited movement of the groups of horsemen.
Stokstad plate 5-45 (sort of)
Horsemen of north frieze, Details of the Panathenaic procession frieze, from the Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens, Greece, ca. 447-438 BCE
Marble, approx. 3’ 6” high.

Classical Sculpture:
• 92 Doric metopes show violent action such as Lapiths and centaurs, combat of gods and giants. Sack of Troy by the
Greeks, Greeks fighting Amazons who according to legend had desecrated the acropolis).
• Very high relief; some parts fully in the round--Because these figures were so high above the ground where they could barely be seen, the figures fill as much of the limited field as possible and are carved so deeply as to appear nearly in the round.
• Sculptor knew how to distinguish vibrant, powerful living beast forms from dying corpses on ground
Lapith vs. centaur, ca. 447-438 BCE. metope from frieze on the South side of the Parthenon Marble, approx. 4’ 8” high.

• Other themes: birth of Athena, contest between
Athena and
Poseidon over who would become patron deity, other gods
• Whole thing forms allegory of the
Athenian victory over the Persians, who also destroyed the
Acropolis.

Classical Sculpture:
• Most of the Parthenon’s reliefs and statues are today exhibited in a special gallery in the British Museum in
London, where they are known popularly as the “Elgin
Marbles”.
• In early 1800s, Lord Elgin, British ambassador to the
Ottoman court at Istanbul, was allowed to dismantle them and ship them to England.

Phidias
• Chief overseer of all artistic enterprises was Phidias, sponsored by Pericles.
• Term “Phidian style” is sometimes used to describe the
Parthenon sculptures but only a generic and questionably accurate label. Phidias did the designs, but probably lots of sculptors because all done between 440 and 432 BCE.
• Phidian style: statues exhibited men and women as creatures of optimum perfection and began to look alike: perfect straight noses, blank glances, shapely mouths, and beautiful muscular bodies give the work a feeling of superficiality and unattainable excellence of appearance. Lacking was the sense of naturalism and emotion provided earlier by the
Severe style. Old age and undesirable features were absent.
• This style dominated Athenian sculpture until the end of the
5 th c. BCE, and later, though large-scale sculpture came to a halt because of the Peloponnesian War

Classical Sculpture:
Phidias’ Gold and Ivory Athena
[reproduction]
[Gardner plate 5-44]
Phidias, Athena Parthenos, in the cella
Of the Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens,
Greece, ca. 438 BCE. Model of the
Lost statue, which was approx. 38’ tall.

Classical Sculpture: Plan of Parthenon
Phidias’ Gold and Ivory Athena
• it was destroyed centuries ago
• we know about it from Greek and Latin descriptions and from
Roman copies
• 38 feet tall
• Parthenon designed to fit around it!
• Cella had to be wider than usual, which required 8 rather than the usual 6column façade

Classical Sculpture:
Phidias’ Gold and Ivory Athena
• Athena was fully armed with shield, spear and helmet and held Nike in her extended right hand has many allusions to the Persian defeat by the Greeks — metaphors for the triumph:
--of order over chaos,
--of civilization over barbarism,
--of Athens over Persia

Classical Sculpture:
• “Nike”—personification of victory, for example found on the balustrade erected around the Temple of Athena Nike. This
Nike is taking off sandals —old tradition about to step on holy gourd. One wing is open, one closed —to help keep balance.
• “Wet” drapery like 3 goddesses.
•A row of vase-like supports surmounted by a railing
Stokstad plate 5-50
Nike adjusting her sandal, from the south side of the parapet of the Temple of Athena
Nike, Acropolis, Athens, Greece, ca. 410
BCE. Marble, approx. 3’ 6” high

Classical Sculpture:
• Grave Stele of Hegeso—grave steles produced in large numbers by Athenian sculptors, export probably helped spread Phidian style.
Stokstad plate 5-51
Grave stele of Hegeso,
From the Dipylon cemetery,
Athens, Greece, ca. 400 BCE
5’2” high. Marble

Grave Stele of Hegeso
•Gentle melancholy-woman has picked necklace from box held by a girl servant and seems to be contemplating it as if it were a keepsake.
•Here relief merges almost imperceptibly with the background, so ground no longer appears as a solid surface but assumes transparency of empty space.
•Novel effect-probably inspired by painting

Classical Painting:
Polychromy in Vase Painting
• Writers during Classical period tells us that the most renowned artists were painters of monumental wooden panels displayed in public buildings, both religion and secular
• Great breakthrough in mastering illusionistic space, but we have no murals or panels to verify claim, only vase painting
• Look at white-ground technique on vases to get some idea

Classical Painting:
White-ground technique Vase Painting
• Lechythos: oil jugs used as funerary offerings.
• white coating on which painter could draw as freely and with same spatial effect as pen and paper now
• white ground is treated as empty space from which sketched forms seem to emerge
—if draftsman knows how to achieve it
• same Phidian reverie (day-dream) as previous stele
[Gardner plate 5-56]
Achilles Painter, Warrior taking leave of his wife, Attic whiteground lekythos), from
Eretria, Greece, ca. 440 BCE. Approx. 1’ 5” high.

Classical Painting:
White-ground technique Vase Painting
• shows command of foreshortening
• also internal dynamics of the lines—swelling and fading, makes some contours (like chair) stand out boldly while other merge or disappear
• and color: vermilion (red/brown) and ochre (yellow)

Classical Painting:
• but after this, vase painting becomes satellite art-shorthandspotty and overcrowded like the ”Peleus and Thetis pelike”.
• This is effective end of Greek vase painting, which disappeared by the end of the 4 th c. BCE

Late Classical (4 th c. BCE) Architecture
:
Architecture
• in the 4 th c. BCE, Greek open-air theaters achieved a regular, defined shape.
• This one at Epidauros was designed by Polykleitos the
Younger, ca.350 BCE
Stokstad plate 5-70
Polykleitos the
Younger, Theater,
Epidauros, Greece, ca.
350 BCE

• in the 4 th c. BCE, Greek open-air theaters achieved a regular, defined shape.
• concentric rows of seats with staircases at regular aisles
• in center is orchestra
• like Dodger stadium except center is baseball field
Stokstad plate 5-71

Late Classical (4 th c. BCE) Architecture they remained constrained within the rigidity of the orders
• the limitations of Greek architecture were: a concern with monumental exteriors at the expense of the interior space concentration of effort on temples of one particular style; lack of interest in a structural system more advanced than post and lintel

Late Classical (4 th c. BCE) Architecture:
• Monumental tomb for and named after Mausolos, a prince in
Asia minor who was Persian governor of the region who admired Greek culture

Late Classical (4 th c. BCE) Architecture: Mausoleum
• Completed after his death in 353 BCE under direction of wife, who was rumored to have drunk her dead husband’s ashes mixed with wine.
• She was also his sister
• His tomb was one of the 7 wonders of the world--now a large burial structure is called a “mausoleum”.
• Only a few traces left— probably about
150 feet high, rose from a base 126 by 105 feet

Late Classical (4 th c. BCE) Architecture: Mausoleum
• Three main sections:
See Stokstad plate 5-56. Reconstruction drawing of the Mausoleum (tomb of Mausolos),

Late Classical (4 th c. BCE) Architecture:
• Three main sections:
1. a plain-surfaced podium

Late Classical (4 th c. BCE) Architecture:
• Three main sections:
1. a plain-surfaced podium
2. a colonnaded section in the Ionic order

Late Classical (4 th c. BCE) Architecture:
• Three main sections:
1. a plain-surfaced podium
2. a colonnaded section in the Ionic order
3. a stepped roof topped with marble statues of a fourhorse chariot and driver

Late Classical (4 th c. BCE) Sculpture:
• 4 th c. sculpture in general developed different canon of proportions for males —taller.
• calm and noble detachment gave way to more sensitively rendered images of men and women with expression of wistful introspection, dreaminess, or even fleeting anxiety.
• We think this is Mausolos
--If so, earliest Greek portrait to have survived in original and to show a clear-cut personal character.
--Or may be new heroic idea: glorification of experience, maturity, and intellect over youthful physical beauty and athletic vigor.
--Drapery is sharp-edged and stifftextured: encases body
Stokstad plate 5-57 Mausolos (?), from the Mausoleum
(tomb of Mausolos), Halikarnassos, c.350 BCE. Marble, ht 9’10”.

Late Classical (4 th c. BCE) Sculpture:
Late Classical sculpture dominated by 3 sculptors:
1. Scopas
2. Praxiteles
3. Lysippos

Late Classical (4 th c. BCE) Sculpture:
Scopas
• Battle of Greeks and Amazons, attributed to Scopas:
--dynamic style-
--strained movements
Skopas, Panel from the Amazon frieze, south side of the Mausoleum, mid-4th century BCE. Marble, ht 35”.

Late Classical (4 th c. BCE) Sculpture:
Scopas
• Battle of Greeks and Amazons, attributed to Scopas:
--dynamic style-
--strained movements
-passionate facial expression.

Late Classical (4 th c. BCE) Sculpture:
Scopas
• Battle of Greeks and Amazons, attributed to Scopas:
--dynamic style-
--strained movements
--passionate facial expression.
• d eepset eyes are hallmark of Scopas’ style
A “passionate facial expression”

Late Classical (4 th c. BCE) Sculpture:
Scopas
• Battle of Greeks and Amazons, attributed to Scopas:
--dynamic style-
--strained movements
--passionate facial expression.
• deep-set eyes are hallmark of Scopas’ style
• so no longer rhythmic flow of Parthenon frieze:

Late Classical (4 th c. BCE) Sculpture:
Scopas
• Battle of Greeks and Amazons, attributed to Scopas:
--dynamic style-
--strained movements
--passionate facial expression.
• deep-set eyes are hallmark of Scopas’ style
• so no longer rhythmic flow of Parthenon frieze:
--sacrifice continuity and harmony to give each figure greater scope for sweeping, impulsive gestures

Late Classical (4 th c. BCE) Sculpture:
Scopas
• Battle of Greeks and Amazons, attributed to Scopas:
--dynamic style-
--strained movements
--passionate facial expression.
• deep-set eyes are hallmark of Scopas’ style
• so no longer rhythmic flow of Parthenon frieze:
--sacrifice continuity and harmony to give each figure greater scope for sweeping, impulsive gestures
--Not as unified, but bold innovation —one portion shows an
Amazon seated backward on horse.
-“Pre-Hellenistic” style

Late Classical (4 th c. BCE) Sculpture:
Praxiteles
• Aphrodite of Knidos—first fully nude woman by Greek wellknown sculptor
Stokstad plate 5-60
Praxiteles, Aphrodite of Knidos, Roman
Marble copy after an original of ca.
350-
340 BCE. Approx. 6’ 8” high.

Late Classical (4 th c. BCE) Sculpture:
Praxiteles
• Aphrodite—first fully nude woman by Greek well-known sculptor
• Greeks had admired nudity among athletic young men, but among women it had been considered a sign of low character —that’s why reticent to depict it
• perhaps now idea of Aphrodite was starting to merge with some of the characteristics of the Phoenician goddess Astarte (Babylonian Ishtar) who was almost always shown nude in near Eastern art

Late Classical (4 th c. BCE) Sculpture:
Praxiteles
• Here, goddess is preparing to take a bath —water jug and discarded clothing
• right arm looks like modesty but actually emphasized her nakedness--same with bracelet on left arm
• well-toned body—square shoulders, thin waist, slim hips —sense of athletic strength
• seductive pose, original was public model of high moral

•story: Hermes has stopped to rest in a forest to Nysa to entrust the upbringing of
Dionysus to the nymphs.
•Hermes leans on a tree trunk—notice that the tree is an integral part of the composition
•His slender body forms a sinuous, shallow S-curve that is the hallmark of many of Praxiteles’ statues
•He’s supposed to be holding a bunch of grapes as a temptation for the baby.
•His expression is dreamy
•This is the kind of tender and very human interaction between an adult and a child that had been absent from
Greek statuary before the 4 th c. BCE
•Modeling is deliberately smooth and subtle, producing soft shadows that follow the planes as they flow almost imperceptibly one into another
Stokstad plate 5-59
Praxiteles, Hermes and the Infant Dionysus, from the Temple of Hera, Olympia, Greece. Marble copy after an original of ca. 340 BCE, approx. 7’ 1” high.

Delicacy of features contrasts with Doryphoros —compare them to see how broad a change in artistic attitude and intent took place from the mid-5th to the mid-4th c. BCE.
Sensuous languor and an order of beauty that appeals more to the eye than to the mind replaced majestic strength and rationalizing design.

Lysippos
Late Classical (4 th c. BCE) Sculpture:
Stokstad plate 5-61
Lysippos, Apoxyomenos (Scraper). Roman
Marble copy after a bronze original of ca. 330 BCE,
Approx. 6’ 9” high.

Late Classical (4 th c. BCE) Sculpture:
Lysippos
• more difficult to explain his style than the style of Scopas and
Praxiteles, because there’s a disparity between the Roman copies of his statues and written account
• His realism was legendary —said to have no master other than nature
• But look at Apoxyomenos —not that great!
• But bold thrust into space of the right arm, at the cost of obstructing the view of the torso, is noteworthy and new
• gives figure new capacity for spontaneous three-dimensional movement.
• Also: diagonal line of the free leg, and unruly hair —spontaneity.

History:
• In 404 BCE Sparta defeated Athens, set up government under tyrant Kritas —
--so oppressive that within a year, Athenians rebelled and restored independence and democracy, though never as dominant
--Struggles began among city-states.
• Phillip II of Macedon had established Macedonian dominance over Greek city-states in 338 BCE, but was assassinated in
336 BCE.

Stokstad plate 5-62
Lysippos (?), Alexander the Great, head from a Hellenistic copy (c.200 BCE) of a statue, possibly after a 4thcentury BCE original. Marble fragment, ht ~16”.

•Roman mosaic copy of a Hellenistic painting during Alexander’s time
•Great Battle between Alexander the Great and King Darius III 9of Persia
•Darius fled battlefield in his chariot (his own army ended up killing him)
•Philoxenos’s painting shows technical mastery of problems that had long fascinated Greek painters, such as foreshortening and subtle color modulations
Stokstad plate 5-66
Philoxenos of Eretria, Alexander the Great Confronts Darius III at the Battle of Issus, ca. 310
BCE, Roman copy from Pompeii, Italy,
Late 2 nd or early 1 st c. BCE. Tessera mosaic, approx. 8’10” x 16’ 9”

Hellenistic Art: 323-31 BCE
• Alexander the Great’s conquest of India, the Near East, and Egypt (where he was buried) ushered in a new cultural age that historians and art historians both call
Hellenistic
•It begins with the death of Alexander at age 33 in 323 BCE and ends with the defeat of
Queen Cleopatra of Egypt by Augustus Caesar.
•After Alexander’s death, his empire was divided into three separate parts, each ruled by its own rulers
•But the cosmopolitan civilization of the former empire continued, with Greek art influences mixed with Asian, forming Hellenistic Art

Hellenistic Architecture
•New architects break old rules
•The Hellenistic architects broke the rules of canonical temple design with great scale a theatrical surprise element
•For example, the Altar of Zeus, erected on the acropolis of the city of Pergamon:
Stokstad plate 5-75 Reconstructed west front of the Altar of Zeus, from Pergamum,
Turkey ca. 175 BCE

• It is the most famous of all Hellenistic sculptural ensembles
• Monument’s west front has been reconstructed in Berlin.
• The altar proper was on an elevated platform and framed by an
Ionic stoalike colonnade with projecting wings on either side of a broad central staircase.
• All around the platform was a sculptured frieze almost 400 feel long populated by about 100 larger-than-lifesize figures
• Subject is the battle of Zeus and the gods against the giants—it is the most extensive representation that Greek artists ever attempted of that epic conflict (called the Gigantomachy) for control of the world

Nike is placing a victory wreath on Athena
Stokstad plate 5-76
Athena battling Alkyoneos, detail of the gigantomachy frieze, from the Altar
Of Zeus, Pergamon, Turkey. Marble, approx. 7’ 6”high

Nike is placing a
(missing) vi ctory wreath on Athena
Stokstad plate 5-76
Athena battling Alkyoneos, detail of the gigantomachy frieze, from the Altar
Of Zeus, Pergamon, Turkey. Marble, approx. 7’ 6”high

• The frieze is a tumultuous narrative that has an emotional intensity that has no parallel to earlier monuments.
• The battle rages everywhere, even up and down the very steps one must ascend to reach Zeus’s altar
•Violent movement, swirling draperies, and vivid depictions of death and suffering are the norm
•Wounded figures writhe in pain and their faces reveal anguish
•Deep carving creates dark shadows and the figures project from the background like bursts of light

Also on Pergamon Acropolis:
• Sculptor reproduced distinctive features of the foreign Gauls:
--long, bushy hair
--mustaches
--the torques (neck bands) they frequently wore
• This one was probably the centerpiece —a heroic Gallic chieftain defiantly drives a sword into his own chest just below the collarbone
• prefers suicide to surrender
• He’s already killed his wife who would have been sold as a slave
• have to walk around it to get full appreciation:
-from one side you see the Gaul’s intensely expressive face
--from another side you see his powerful body
-from a third side you see the woman's’ limp and almost lifeless body
Stokstad plate 5-73
Epigonos(?), Gallic chieftain killing himself and his wife. Roman marble copy
After a bronze original from Pergamum, Turkey, ca. 230-220 BCE

This Gaul is a trumpeter who collapses upon his large oval shield as blood pours out of the
Gash in his chest
Stokstad plate 5-74 (top)
Epigonos(?), Dying Gaul. Roman marble copy after a bronze original from
Pergamon, Turkey. Ca. 230220 BCE, approx. 3’ ½ “ high.

• He stares at the ground with a pained expression on his face
• reminiscent of the dying warrior from the east pediment of the Temple of Aphaia at Aegina, but the suffering Gaul’s pathos and drama are far more pronounced
•Male musculature was rendered in a n exaggerated manner —note the chest’s tautness and the left leg’s bulging vein-implying that the unseen Atalid hero who has struck down this noble and savage foe must have been an extraordinary man

Stokstad plate 5-78
Nike alighting on a warship (Nike of
Samothrace), from Samothrace, Greece,
Ca. 190 BCE. Marble, figure approx. 8’ 1” high.
The statues theatrical effect was amplified by its setting.
This sculpture was part of a two-tiered fountain.
In the lower basin were large boulders.
The fountain’s flowing water created the illusion of rushing waves dashing up against the ship.
The sound of splashing water added an to the sense of drama.
Art and nature were combined.

Stokstad plate 5-81
Alexandros of Antioch-onthe-Meander, Aphrodite
(Venus de Milo), from
Melos, Greece, ca. 150-
152 BCE. Marble, approx.
6’ 7” high.
This demonstrates that the “undressing” of
Aphrodite by Praxiteles had become the norm by this point in Greek art, but Hellenistic sculptors went beyond the Late Classical master an openly explored the female form’s eroticism.
Here, Aphrodite is more modestly draped than the “Aphrodite of Knidos but more overtly sexual.
Her left hand (separately preserved) holds the apple Paris awarded her when he judged her as the most beautiful goddess of all.
Her right hand may have lightly grasped the edge of her drapery near the left hip in a halfhearted attempt to keep it from slipping farther down her body.

Stokstad plate 5-81
Alexandros of Antioch-on-the-Meander,
Aphrodite (Venus de Milo), from Melos,
Greece, ca. 150-152 BCE. Marble, approx. 6’ 7” high.
Compare this
Hellenistic work to
Late Classical Period
Aphrodite of Knidos

[Gardner plate 5-86]
Seated boxer, from Rome,
Italy, ca.
100-50 BCE. Bronze, approx.
4’ 2 ½ “ high.
Hellenistic sculptors often rendered the common theme of the male athlete in a new way.
This boxer is not a victorious young athlete with a perfect face and body, but rather a heavily battered, defeated veteran whose upward gaze may have been directed at the man who had just beaten him.
This boxer’s broken nose, distorted face, bleeding wounds and “cauliflower ears” add the sense of realism that the Hellenistic artists sought.
He far from resembles the powerful bearded
Riace warrior from the Early Classical period.

Stokstad plate 5-80
Old market woman, ca. 150-100 BCE.
Marble, approx. 4’ ½ “ high
This is one of a series of statues of old men and women from the lowest rungs of the social order. Shepherds, fishermen, and drunken beggars are common- the kind of people who were pictured earlier on red-figure vases but never before were thought worthy of monumental statuary.
This old woman is depicted carrying chickens, fruit, and vegetables to sell at the market.
Her face is wrinkled, her body is bent with age, and her spirit is broken by a lifetime of poverty.
She carries on because she must, not because she derives any pleasure from life.
Hellenistic art reflects a new and unstable social climate in Greece. Social instability gave way to the depiction of a much wider variety of physical types, including different ethnic types.

This sculpture was discovered in Rome in
1506 ( at the height of the Italian
Renaissance).
The Roman poet Vergil vividly described the strangling of Laocoön and his two sons by sea serpents while sacrificing at an altar. The gods who favored the
Greeks in the war against Troy had sent the serpents to punish Laocoön, who had tried to warn his compatriots about the danger of bringing the Greeks’ wooden horse within the walls of their city.
Everything about this piece speaks to the
Hellenistic ideal. The facial expressions are exaggerated, the muscles fully flexed, dramatic movement is indicated, and strong diagonals dominate the composition.
Stokstad plate 5-77
Athanadoros, Hagesandros, and
Polydoros of Rhodes, Laocoön and his sons , fromTitus’s palace, Rome, Italy,
Early 1 st c. CE. Marble,Approx. 7’ 10 ½ “ high.

amphora: a two-handled jar used for general storage purposes, usually to hold wine or oil.
“Archaic smile”: A representation of the human mouth with slightly upturned corners, characteristic of early Greek sculpture produced before the fifth century BCE attribute: assign a work to a maker or makers.
black-figure: In early Greek pottery, a technique for silhouetting dark figures against a light background of natural, reddish clay, with linear details incised through the silhouettes.
cella: the chamber (Greek —naos) at the center of an ancient temple; in a classical temple, the room in which the cult statue usually stood.
centaur: In ancient Greek mythology, a fantastical creature, with the front or top half of a human and the back or bottom half of a horse.
colonnade: a series or row of columns, usually spanned by lintels.
contrapossto: The disposition of the human figure in which one part is turned in opposition to another part (usually hips and legs one way, shoulders and chest another), creating a counter positioning of the body about its central axis. Sometimes called weight shift because the weight of the body tends to be thrown to one foot, creating tension on one side and relaxation on the other.
Corinthian capital: A Corinthian capital may be seen as an enriched development of the
Ionic capital, though one may have to look closely at a Corinthian capital to see the
Ionic volutes, at the corners, perhaps reduced in size and importance, scrolling out above the two ranks of stylized acanthus leaves and stalks.
cornice: the projecting, crowning member of the entablature framing the pediment; also, any crowning projection.

dipteral colonnade: the term used to describe the architectural feature of double colonnades around Greek temples.
Doric order: one of the two systems (or orders) evolved for articulating the three units of the elevation of an ancient Greek temple —the platform, the colonnade, and the superstructure (the entablature). The Doric Order is characterized by, e.g. capitals with funnel shaped echinuses (the bottom part of a capital), columns without bases, and a frieze of alternating triglyphs (the projecting, grooved member of a Doric frieze) and metopes (panel between triglyphs, often sculptured in relief). encaustic: a painting technique in which pigment if mixed with wax and applied to the surface while hot.
entablature: the part of a building above the columns and below the roof. The entablature has 3 parts: architrave (epistyle), frieze, and pediment.
frieze: the part of the entablature between the architrave and cornice; also, any sculptured or ornamented band in a building, on furniture, etc.
gable: the triangular space of a pediment.
Ionic Order: An order of classical Greek architecture characterized by tall, slender, fluted columns and prominent volutes on the capitals. kore: Greek for “young woman”—a statue of a young woman from the Archaic Period.
kouros (plural “korai”): Greek for “young man”—a statue of a young man from the Archaic
Period.
krater: an ancient Greek wide-mouthed bowl for mixing wine and water.
kylix: an ancient Greek shallow drinking cup with two handles and a stem.
lozenge: a diamond-shaped figure naos: see cella

oracle: (1) A shrine consecrated to the worship and consultation of a prophetic deity, as that of Apollo at Delphi. (2) A person, such as a priestess, through whom a deity is held to respond when consulted. (3) The response given through such a medium, often in the form of an enigmatic statement or allegory. pediment: in classical architecture, the triangular space (gable) at the end of a building formed by the ends of the sloping roof above the colonnade; also, an ornamental feature having this shape.
peplos: a simple long woolen belted garment worn by ancient Greek women that gives the female figure a columnar appearance.
peripteral colonnade: a colonnade or peristyle peristyle: in ancient Greek architecture, a colonnade all around the cella and its porch(es).
porch: an exterior appendage to a building, forming a covered approach or vestibule to a doorway.
raking cornices: the cornice on the sloping sides of a pediment.
red-figure: in later Greek pottery, the technique of silhouetting red figures against a black background with painted linear details; the reverse of the black-figure technique.
rosettes: A painted, carved, or sculptured ornament having a circular arrangement of parts radiating out from the center and suggesting the petals of a rose.
sanctuaries: (1) A sacred place, such as a church, temple, or mosque. (2) The holiest part of a sacred place, as the part of a Christian church around the altar. slip: a mixture of fine clay and water used in ceramic decoration.
stadium: A large, usually open structure for sports events with tiered seating for spectators.

stylobate: the uppermost course of the platform of a classical temple, which supports the columns.
tempera: a technique of painting using pigment mixed with egg yolk, glue or casein, also the medium itself.
treasury: in ancient Greece, a small building set up for the safe storage of votive offerings.
volute: a spiral, scroll-like form characteristic of the ancient Greek Ionic and the Roman composite capital.
white ground: an ancient Greek vase painting technique in which the pot was first covered with a slip of very fine white clay, over which black glaze was used to outline figures, and diluted brown, purple, red, and white were used to color them.