ancient greece
DESCRIPTION
Ancient Greece. Geometric Orientalizing Archaic Classical Hellenistic. Key Ideas. Innovations led to classical art Idealized human form Temple architecture still influential today Mostly sculpture, architecture and pottery Pottery has paintings on it - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Ancient Greece
GeometricOrientalizing
ArchaicClassical
Hellenistic
Key Ideas
• Innovations led to classical art• Idealized human form• Temple architecture still influential today• Mostly sculpture, architecture and pottery• Pottery has paintings on it• Polytheistic religion rooted in mythology – deities
were human-like• Transition from the mythical to the rational• Formation of city-states: i.e., Sparta, Athens, Corinth
More key ideas…..
• Artists begin signing sculpture and pottery• Celebration of the athlete• Sculptural innovations: nude male figures
(along with some female nudes, eventually); large-scale marble and bronze sculptures (bronze allowed for more bold composition); stone sculptures no longer attached to walls or blocks; very realistic depictions; fluidity
Deities/Heroes
• 12 major ‘Sky’ deities live on Mt. Olympus – they defeated the ‘Earth’ deities (AKA – Titans or Giants)
• Human heroic deeds attributed to the deities• Many Roman equivalents• Characteristics of individual deities change
over time
5 Children of the Earth and Sky
• Zeus (Jupiter) – supreme deity• Hera (Juno) – sister/wife of Zeus – goddess of
marriage• Hestia (Vesta) –goddess of the hearth• Poseidon (Neptune) – god of the sea• Hades (Pluto) – god of the underworld, the
dead and wealth
7 Sky Gods Offspring of the First 5
• Ares (Mars) – god of war • Hephaistos (Vulcan) – god of fire and forgery• Apollo (Phoebus) – god of sun, light, truth, music,
archery, healing• Artemis (Diana) – goddess of the hunt, wild animals
and the moon• Athena (Minerva) – goddess of war, wisdom,
civilization, victories and cities• Aphrodite (Venus) – goddess of love• Hermes (Mercury) – messenger of the gods
Supporting gods
• Demeter: goddess of agriculture
• Persephone: goddess of fertility and queen of the underworld
• Dionysus: god of wine• Eros (Cupid): god of
love
• Nike: goddess of victory• Pan: god of
wilderness/protector of shepherds/half goat
• Ge: goddess of the Earth/mother of the Titans
Human Heroes
• Herakles (Hercules): granted immortality for the Twelve Labors
• Theseus: killed the Minotaur• Perseus: killed Medusa (snake-haired)
Trojan War Heroes
Greeks• Agamemnon• Odysseus (Ulysses)• Achilles• Petroclus• Ajax
Trojans• Paris• Priam• Hector• Sarpedon• Aeneas (progenitor of the
Romans)!!!!!! LINKAGE!!!!!
Geometric Art
900-700 BCE
Geometric Art Key Ideas
• Followed the 200 year “Dark Age” of ancient Greece that came after the collapse of Mycenaean society
• Ceramic decoration using linear motifs: diamonds, spirals, cross-hatching
• Ceramic painted using slip (mixture of clay/water)
• First Greek temples – very simple
Centaur, 10th century BCE, terra-cotta
• Cross-hatching• Geometric shapes• Reduction in form – simplified
geometric solids• Thrown on a potter’s wheel, then
solid legs , arms, tail added• Painted with red slip• May symbolize duality of humans
(good/bad)• Found in cemetery
Funerary Krater, 8th Century BCE, terra-cotta, approx. 43”
• Krater is a grave marker• Humans are part of narrative• Focus is on the reaction of
mourners, not the deceased• Repetitive geometric pattern of
funeral • Body is ready to be cremated (new
burial practice for the area• Afterlife in ancient Greece was not
able to be understood, according to their beliefs
• Torsos are triangles• Stylized shields• Dots for eyes
Orientalizing Art
700-600 BCE
Olpe, 600 BCE, ceramic with black-figure decoration
• Olpe is a pitcher• Stylized flowers (rosettes)• Source of motifs was near east and
Egypt• Hybrid creatures• Less densely-packed design than in
geometric