ANCIENT GREECE GARDINER CHAPTER 5-1 PP

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 8 th century

GEOMETRIC ART – DIPYLON KRATER  Human figure returns to Greek art in the Geometric period in the 8 th 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 ( 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 ( BCE)  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 7 th 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 it 4.Body of vase thrown on a wheel 5.Handles shaped and sepately 6.Piment/glaze/slip applied to surface 7.Three phase firing process-> red, black, red and black

ORIENTALIZING AMPHORA  Corinthian black-figure amphora  Animal friezes  Rhodes, Greece  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  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