ANCIENT GREECEGARDINER CHAPTER 5-1

PP. 99-105

ANCIENT GREECE - BACKGROUND

The cultural values of the Greeks form the foundations of Western Civilization

Man is “measure of all things”

Humanistic worldview

Democracy = rule by the demos, the people

The Greek contribution

politics

art

literature

science

ANCIENT GREECE - BACKGROUND

Greeks = Hellenes

Mixture of Aegean and Indo-European invaders

Never formed a single nation -> established city-state = the polis

Dorians from the North settled the Peloponnesos

Ionians settled Asia Minor/Turkey and the Aegean islands

776 BCE the Greeks states held their first games at Olympia -> the first Olympiad

From this date forward the Greeks regarded themselves as citizens of HELLAS(the ancient Greek name for Greece)

Those who didn’t speak Greek = “barbarians”

ANCIENT GREECE - BACKGROUND

The Greek gods differed from those of Egyptian and Mesopotamian deities -> immortal but otherwise human -> “ the Greeks made their gods into humans and their humans into gods”

The Greek ideal = the perfect individual;

Focus of many Greek artists = beautiful humans

ATHENS -> the symbol of ancient Greek culture

Playwrights -> AESCHYLUS, SOPHOCOLES, EURIPEDES

The city -> the AGORA = city square, STOAS = covered colonnades, PALAESTRAS = gymnasiums

The ideal of a balance between intellectual and physical discipline -> “a sound mind in a sound body” = ASICS

ANCIENT GREECE - BACKGROUND

Greeks borrowed from the cultures of Near East and Egypt

Existence of slavery

Exclusion of women from public life

Dominated by wellborn white males

most admired virtues were statecraft and military valor

Educated in the values of Homer’s heroes and athletic exercise in the palaestra -> war among the city-states was chronic

THE GOD AND GODDESSES OF MOUNT OLYMPUS

ZUES – king of the gods

HERA – wife and sister of Zeus

POSEIDON – lord of the sea

HESTIA – goddess of the hearth

DEMETER – goddess of grain and ag.

ARES – god of war

ATHENA – goddess of wisdom and warfare

HEPHAISTOS – god of fire and metalworking

APOLLO – god of light and wisdom

ARTEMIS – goddess of the hunt and wild animals

APHRODITE – goddess of love and beauty

HERMES – messenger of the gods

GEOMETRIC AND ORIENTALIZING PERIODS

Disintegration of the Bronze Age social order -> destruction of the Mycenaean palaces

The Dark Age of Greece -> loss of knowledge of

1. how to cut masonry

2. Construct citadels and tombs

3. Paint frescoes

4. Sculpt stone

5. Arts of reading and writing

6. Depopulation

7. Poverty

8. Loss of contact w/outside world

Revival of Greek culture begins in the 8th century

GEOMETRIC ART – DIPYLON KRATER

Human figure returns to Greek art in the Geometric period in the 8th century -> small bronze figurines and paintings on ceramic pots

Geometric krater

Dipylon cemetery in Athens

740 BCE -> marked a grave

Over 3 feet tall

Bottom of krater is open -> pour libations? Drain for rainwater?

Abstract angular motifs = GEOMETRIC period = formative period of Greek art

Meander = key pattern around rim

Two bands of human figures and horse drawn chariots

Mourning scene and procession in honor of the deceased

GEOMETRIC ART – HERACKLES AND NESSOS (750-730 BCE)

Geometric sculpture -> small solid cast bronze group -> two figures locked in hand to hand struggle

Herackles vs. the centaur Nessos

CENTAUR = half man half horse

Centaur is composite monster -> man in front and horse in back

Man and centaur are bearded and wear helmets -> man is bigger than horse = the victor

Painted and sculpted figures in Geometric art are nude -> natural beauty of the human figure

ORIENTALIZING ART – MANTIKLOS APOLLO (700-680BCE)

600’s BCE Greek trade and colonization accelerated -> Greek artists exposed to Eastern artworks

So many motifs borrowed from Egyptian and Near Eastern art -> the 7th century is called the ORIENTALIZING period

Small bronze statuette dedicated to Apollo by Mantiklos -> is it Apollo? Mantiklos? Neither?

Votive offering

Increased interest in reproducing human anatomy -> pecs/abs

GREEK VASE PAINTING

Geometric Amphora. 8th century BCE. Pitcher (Olpe) from Corinth. c. 600 BCE. Ceramic with black-figure decoration, height 11 1/2".

1. Signed/brand name?

2. Remove impurities in clay

3. Knead it4. Body of vase

thrown on a wheel5. Handles shaped

and sepately6. Piment/glaze/slip

applied to surface7. Three phase firing

process-> red, black, red and black

ORIENTALIZING AMPHORA Corinthian black-figure amphora

Animal friezes

Rhodes, Greece

625-600 BCE

1’2” high

AMPHORA = two handled storage jar

Animals and composite creatures, SIREN on the neck = part bird, part woman

BLACK FIGURE PAINTING

Black silhouettes, delicate incised detailing, bright polychrome overlay

TEMPLE PLAN A, PRINIAS First Greek stone temple

Prinias on Crete -> 625 BCE -> called Temple A -> honor and unknown deity

Resemlbes Mycenaean magaron -> porch, main room w/two interior columns flanking a hearth or sacrificial pit

Exterior had 3 piers on porch

Doorway with huge lintel with sculpted frieze

LADY OF AUXERRE

650-625 BCE

Limestone

2’ 1 ½ “

From Crete

Goddess or maiden (kore)

Clothed, right hand across chest in prayer?

More naturalistic -> but abstract shapes still seen -> triangular flat topped head, triangle hair, long skirt w/incised concentric square

Originally brightly painted