ANCIENT GREECE GARDINER CHAPTER 5-5 PP

THE ATHENIAN ACROPOLIS  Under the leadership of Pericles the Athenians begin rebuilding the Acropolis which had been sacked by the Persians in 480 BCE  Greeks defeat Xerxes  Athens emerges from the war w/enormous power and prestige  478 BCE the Greeks form an alliance for mutual protection called the Delian League -> each member state paid a tribute  Athens assumes the dominant role -> Delian treasury transferred to Athens in 484 BCE -> Pericles converts the Delian League into an Athenian Empire  Pericles uses the surplus money of the Delian League to pay for the Acropolis building project -> the source of financing was tyranny and abuse of power

PORTRAIT OF PERICLES  Famous Roman copy of portrait statue of Pericles by Kresilas  HERM = a bust on a square pillar  429 BCE, from a bronze original  Pericles wears the helmet of the strategos -> general  Unblemished features, classically aloof face, would have had a perfect body -> not a portrait of actual features

PERICLEAN ACROPOLIS  Centerpiece of the Periclean building program on the Acropolis was the PARTHENON/TEMPLE OF ATHENA PARTHENOS  Rebuilt in BCE after the sack of the Persians in 480 Four main 5 th century buildings on the Acropolis 1. Temple of Athena Nike 2. Propylaia 3. Parthenon 4. Erechtheion

PARTHENON: ARCHITECTURE  Architects were Iktinos and Kallikrates  Cella and sculptural decoration overseen by Phidias  Parthenon represents the perfection of proportions in the Doric Greek temple design  Well spaced columns, slender shafts, capitals  Controlling idea of symmetria of the parts x=2y+1 -> harmonious design and mathematical precision of the size of the elements  Fusion of Doric and Ionic (frieze around cella walls) elements -> showing Ionians were descended from Athenians? Or, Athens as leader of ALL Greeks

ATHENA PARTHENOS  Phidias, Athena Parthenos in the cella of the Parthenon on the Acropolis, 438 BCE  Model of the lost chryselephantine statue of Athena -> 38 ft tall gold and ivory, fully armed, and holding Nike (Victory) in her hand  centauromachy reliefs on soles of sandals, amazonomachy on exterior of shield, gigantomachy on interior of shield  All allusions to the defeat of the Persians and the triumph of order over chaos, civilization over barbarism

PATHENON: METOPES  Every one of the 92 Doric metopes decorated with relief sculpture  South side metope shows Lapith versus centaur -> centauromachy -> centaur exulting over defeated Greek -> shows the difficulty of the battle against a dangerous enemy -> again echoes the war against the Persians

PARTHENON: PEDIMENTS  East pediment – celebrates the birth of Athena  West pediment – contest between Athena and Poseidon to determine who would be Athen’s patron deity  Detail from east pediment left side show Helios and his horses -> horse emerge from the floor suggesting rising sun  Olympian presences yet relaxed organic forms -> human anatomy, mechanics of muscles and bones

PARTHENON: IONIC FRIEZE Every inch of the 524 ft Ionic frieze decorated with reliefs  Represents the Panathenaic Festival procession held every four years  Starts on west side/rear of the cella -> proceeds down long sides and ends on eat side over the doorway to the cella  Assigns the key role to the citizens of Athens and the gods are approving spectators

PROPYLAIA  The Propylaia = new monumental entrance to the Acropolis  Mnesikles disguised the change of ground level by splitting it into eastern and western sections -> each one resembling a Doric temple façade  Wide space between central columns -> central ramp -> stairs on either side for pedestrians  Inside were tall slender Ionic columns supporting split level roof -> again mixing Ionic and Doric orders

ERECHTHEION  BCE -> temple to replace the Archaic Athena temple destroyed by the Persians  To be a multiple shrine -> house the ancient wooden image of the goddess -> Athena’s olive tree -> Poseidon’s trident mark -> and the ruins of the Archaic temple  Asymmetrical form is unique for a Greek temple -> reflected the need to incorporate preexisting shrines  Antithesis of the Parthenon  4 sides of different character and each on a different ground level

 Most striking and famous feature of the Erechtheion is the South porch  CARYATIDS replace the ionic columns = female statue columns  Role of the caryatids was decorated architectural supports

TEMPLE OF ATHENA NIKE BCE  The little temple of Athena Nike designed by Kallikrates  Ionic temple at the entrance to the Acropolis  4 columns on both the east and west facades  Part off the frieze depicts the BATTLE OF MARATHON  Around the bttm edge of the building were reliefs of Nike

HEGESO STELE  Grave stele of Hegeso, from the Dipylon cemetery in Athens, 400BCE, marble, 5’2” high  Subject is the deceased girl and her maid in her home -> unusual  Serene moment of daily life -> picking out a piece of jewelry  Jewelry box represents the marriage dowry -> even in a scene of only women the dominant position is displayed  Patriarchal society