1. Geometric Orientalizing Archaic Classical Hellenistic
Ancient Greece
Geometric
Orientalizing
Archaic
Classical
Hellenistic

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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. 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

8. 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

9. Human Heroes
Herakles (Hercules): granted immortality for the Twelve Labors
Theseus: killed the Minotaur
Perseus: killed Medusa (snake-haired)

10. Trojan War Heroes Greeks Trojans Agamemnon Odysseus (Ulysses) Achilles
Petroclus
Ajax
Paris
Priam
Hector
Sarpedon
Aeneas (progenitor of the Romans)!!!!!! LINKAGE!!!!!

11. Geometric Art
BCE

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. Orientalizing Art
BCE

16. 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