Chapter Two:
Early Greece
Cultures and Values, 6th
Ed.
Cunningham and Reich
History of Early Greece
 The Heroic Age
 The Age of Colonization
 The Archaic Period
[Image 2.1]
Zeus (Poseidon?)
Homer and the Heroic Age
 Significance of the Polis
 Religion, Mythology and
Folklore
 Art & Literature vs. Prayer
The Iliad & The Odyssey
 “the Homeric question”
 Oral Tradition
 Epithets, Elaborate Similes
 Iliad
 Theme of Human Responsibility
 Odyssey
 Return of the Epic Hero
Art and Society
 Painted Vases
 Protogeometric (1000-900 B.C.E.)
 Concentric circles, semi-circles
 Geometric (900-700 B.C.E.)
 Linear designs, the meander
 Human Forms (~800 B.C.E.)
 Amphoras
Age of Colonization
 Prosperity of City-States
 Competition, Image
 Wealth + Over-Population =
Colonization
 Italy, Sicily, Egypt, Asia Minor
 Trade and Cultural Exposure
 Orientalizing
Visual Arts
at Corinth and Athens
 Corinthian Art
 Eastern Motifs
 Commercially Successful
 Athenian Art
 Narrative style (Myth, Daily Life)
 Trade Rivalry: Corinth vs. Athens
The Beginnings of
Greek Sculpture
 Near Eastern and Egyptian
influences
 Kore, Kouros
 Increasing Realism, Naturalism
 Careful study of human anatomy
 Representation of Life and vigor
Sculpture and Painting in the
Archaic Period
 Solon’s Legal Reformations
 Tyrants / Artistic Patronage
 Artistic Developments
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Freestanding Figures
High & Low Relief Carvings
The “Archaic Smile”
Vase Painting
 Black- and Red-Figure Styles
[Image 2.9]
Calf-Bearer
[Image 2.10]
Peplos Kore
[Image 2.13]
Kritios Boy
[Image 2.15]
Euphronios, painter, Euxitheos,
potter, red-figure calyx krater
Architecture:
The Doric Order
 Simple dignity
 No Base/20 flutes
 Capital
 Echinus, Abacus
 Entablature
 Architrave, frieze,
triglyphs/metopes
 Cornice, Pediment
[Image 2.16]
Basilica at Paestum
Architecture:
The Ionic Order
 Ornate, fanciful
 Tiered Base/24 flutes
 Capital
 Volutes
 3-D Architraves
 Running Frieze
Music and Dance
in Early Greece
 Doctrine of Ethos (Musical Theory)
 Dorian, Phrygian modes
 Music=Primarily vocal
 Paean, dithyramb
 Instrumentation
 Cithera, aulos
 Significance of Narratives
 Music and Dance
Literature and Philosophy
 Hesiod
 Theogony, Works and Days
 Lyric verse vs. Heroic verse
 Sappho
 Presocratics
 Materialists, Pythagoreanism, Dualists,
Atomists
 Herodotus (Father of History)
 Right over Might
Chapter 2: Discussion Questions
 What significant differences exist between the
cultures of the iron age and those of the
bronze age? Explain.
 Consider the role of religion in Early Greece.
What does Early Greek theology suggest
about the concerns of the society? Explain.
 What were the causes for and the results of
Greek colonization? Cite specific examples.
 Explain the new directions of art in the
Archaic Period. What do these changes
suggest about the culture that was producing
and patronizing this art?