Art of Ancient Greece

What you must memorize.

Terms and Stuffcity-state -- a polis

an autonomous region having a city as its political, cultural, religious, and economic centerfor example: Athens, Sparta, Corinth or Thebes—remember Antigone

•a stoa –colonnaded pavilion, open on three sides•the importance of the procession•stadium

sanctuaries•Mount Olympos•Sanctuary of Apollo, Delphi (the oracle of Delphi)

Temples

a Mycenaen megaron—the source of the Greek Temple

1. a columned entrance porch

2. an anteroom with a central doorway

3. a living space with a central hearth and four columns supporting the roof around the opening

The Ionic order has a frieze and a base as well as a different capital.

The proportions of the Ionic order are more elongated.

Temple of Hera I, Paestum, Italy c. 550 BCE

Temple of Hera I, Paestum, Italy c. 550 BCE

Doric order (an early version)

columns with fluted shafts but without bases rest directly on the stylobate

Phidias, Kallikrates and IktinosParthenon, Acropolis, Athens

447-428 BCE

Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens447-428 BCE

Athena Promachus (Athena the Defender)

Centaur and Lapith

Parthenon, metope reliefc. 440’s BCE

This sculpture from the Parthenon shows a Centaur rearing triumphantly over a dying human Lapith. This focus on human suffering epitomizes the intense humanism of Greek art. The sculpture also represents Greece's struggle to resist being absorbed into the Persian Empire. The Greeks had a strong notion of their own identity and regarded the Persians as barbarians like the Centaurs. The Parthenon was completed in 432 BCE on the site of an earlier unfinished temple destroyed by the Persians.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/9DWj8vP7RSmAqiuIbW4X8w

TholosSanctuary of Athena Pronaia, Delphi

c. 400 BCE

caryatid

Sculpture and Ancient Greece

Dying Warriorpediment sculptureTemple of Aphaia, Aegina c. 480 BCEArchaic Period

Kouros

c. 525 BCE

Archaic Period

Kritian Boy 480 BCE

Polykleitos

Spear Bearer (Doryphoros)c. 450-440 BCE a marble copy

Praxiteles Hermes and the Infant Dionysos

Alexander the Greatleft: head from a Hellenistic copy, possibly after a 4th century original by Lysippos

Coin with head of AlexanderThis coin was issued by Lysimachus, the former general of Alexander the Great. After Alexander's death, Lysimachus ruled part of Alexander's empire in Bulgaria, northern Greece and Turkey known as 'Thrace'. Lysimachus used Alexander's portrait on his coins to emphasize his position as Alexander's successor. Alexander was worshipped as a god after his death. Here he sports the ram's horns of the god, Zeus Ammon, whom Egyptian priests claimed was Alexander's father. On the reverse of the coin is the goddess Athena.

Alexander was born in the kingdom of Macedon in 356 BCE. By the age of 25 he had conquered Greece, Egypt and Persia, creating an empire spanning 2 million square miles. Following his death in 323 BCE, Alexander's generals began to squabble over his legacy. Since they could not claim a blood-tie, these generals tried to legitimize their rule through other connections with Alexander. Eventually they divided the empire into three main kingdoms in Macedon, Egypt and Persia and went on to form powerful dynasties.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/uw_cy8iCRxSgI9I-rbVadg

Dying Gallic TrumpeterRoman Copy after the original bronze of c. 220 BCE

Laocoon and His SonsHellenistic

Aphrodite of Melos or Venus de Miloc. 150 BCE

Nike (Victory) of Samothrace

from the sanctuary of the Great Gods, Samothrace

c. 190 BCE

Greek Vase Painting

Funerary vasec. 750 BCE

Geometric Period

Panathenaic amphoraca. 530 BCE ArchaicTerracotta

Panathenaic amphoraca. 525-500 BCE ArchaicTerracotta

The Suicide of Ajaxc. 540 BCE

Death of Sarpedonc. 515 BCE

Artemis Slaying Actaeonc. 470 BCE