Chapter Two Ancient Greece Prehistoric Aegean Art Dates

Chapter Two Ancient Greece

Prehistoric Aegean Art Dates and Places: • 2500 -1200 BCE • Styles difined by regions: Cyclades Islands (Cycladic) Crete (Minoan) Peloponnesos (Mycenaean) People: • Kings, priests, warriors • Described in Homer’s Iliad

Prehistoric Aegean Art Themes: • Human figures • Nature • Funerary offerings • Palaces and citadels Forms: • Formal conventions vary • Post-and-lintel and masonry construction Stairwell in the residential quarter at the palace at Knossos, ca. 1700 -1400 BCE, Fig. 2 -4.

Prehistoric Aegean: Cycladic Dates and Places: • 2500 -1700 BCE • Cyclades Islands People: • Little known Example: • Schematic figures • Painted funerary offerings Figurine of a woman, ca. 2500 -2300 BCE, Fig. 2 -2.

Prehistoric Aegean: Minoan Dates and Places: • 1700 -1200 BCE • Island of Crete People: • Palace builders • Prosperous • Rituals involving animals Octopus jar, ca. 1500 BCE, Fig. 2 -7.

Prehistoric Aegean: Minoan Aerial view of the palace at Knossos, ca. 1700 -1400 BCE, Fig. 2 -3.

Prehistoric Aegean: Minoan Example: • Labyrinthine yet open palace plan • Light and air wells • Open courtyard • Wood columns with bulbous capitals • Administrative, commercial and religious center Aerial view of the palace at Knossos, ca. 1700 -1400 BCE, Fig. 2 -3.

Prehistoric Aegean: Minoan Bull-leaping from the palace at Knossos, ca. 1450 -1400 BCE, Fig. 2 -5.

Prehistoric Aegean: Minoan Example: • Palace fresco paintings of people and nature • Conventional representations by gender • Minoan figures slender and animated Bull-leaping from the palace at Knossos, ca. 1450 -1400 BCE, Fig. 2 -5.

Prehistoric Aegean: Mycenaean Dates and Places: • 1700 -1200 BCE • Mainland Greece People: • Kings and warriors • Prosperous • Ancestors of the Greeks Funerary mask, ca. 1600 -1500 BCE, Fig. 2 -13.

Prehistoric Aegean: Mycenaean Lion Gate, Mycenae, ca. 1300 -1250 BCE, Fig. 2 -10.

Prehistoric Aegean: Mycenaean Example: • Citadel built of Cyclopean masonry • Corbeled arch • Relief sculpture on relieving triangle • Inside: tholos with dome housing funerary goods Lion Gate, Mycenae, ca. 1300 -1250 BCE, Fig. 2 -10.

Greek Art Dates and Places: • 900 -30 BCE • Greek mainland nearby outposts People: • Democratic city-states • Human-centered • Poetry, philosophy, Olympic games • Worship of gods Kritios Boy, ca. 480 BCE, Fig. 2 -31.

Greek Art Themes: • Humans • Mythology • Trojan War Forms: • Conceptual→Optical • Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders • Mathematical proportion Restored façade of the Temple of Aphaia, Aegina, ca. 500 -490 BCE, Fig. 2 -28.

Greek: Geometric and Archaic Geometric krater, ca. 740 BCE, Fig. 2 -14.

Greek: Geometric and Archaic Example: • Abstracted human figure • Storytelling • Two-dimensional Geometric krater, ca. 740 BCE, Fig. 2 -14.

Greek: Geometric and Archaic Kroisos, ca. 530 BCE, Fig. 2 -17 and Peplos Kore, 530 BCE, Fig. 2 -18.

Greek: Geometric and Archaic Example: • Archaic kouros (female version is kore) • Egyptian pose but with motion • Nude hero • Archaic smile and paint to look lifelike Kroisos, ca. 530 BCE, Fig. 2 -17.

Greek: Geometric and Archaic Temple of Hera, ca. 550 BCE, Fig. 2 -21.

Greek: Geometric and Archaic Example: • Doric temple • Mathematical order and proportion • Cult statue and pediment frieze reliefs Temple of Hera, ca. 550 BCE, Fig. 221.

Greek: Geometric and Archaic Euthymides, Three Revelers, ca. 510 BCE, Fig. 2 -26.

Greek: Geometric and Archaic Example: • Red-figure vase painting • Signed by artist • Narrative with varied poses • Red-figure painting allows for more detail • Foreshortening Euthymides, Three Revelers, ca. 510 BCE, Fig. 2 -26.

Greek: Classical Polykleitos, Doryphoros, ca. 450440 BCE, Fig. 2 -35.

Greek: Classical Example: • Marble copy of hollowcast bronze sculpture • Contrapposto with ordered human motion • Asymmetrical balance • Canon of proportion Polykleitos, Doryphoros, ca. 450 -440 BCE, Fig. 2 -35.

Greek: Classical Restored view of the Acropolis, Athens, Greece, Fig. 2 -36.

Greek: Classical Example: • Doric Temple of Athena on Acropolis • Relief sculpture in pediments and friezes • Symmetria from numerical ratios • Adjusted for viewer’s eye Plan of the Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens, Greece, 447– 432 BCE, Fig. 2 -37.

Greek: Classical Achilles Painter, Warrior taking leave of his wife, ca. 440 BCE, Fig. 2 -46.

Greek: Classical Example: • White-ground lekythos • Emulates polychrome painting • Scene of daily life Achilles Painter, Warrior taking leave of his wife, ca. 440 BCE, Fig. 2 -46.

Greek: Late Classical Praxiteles, Aphrodite of Knidos, ca. 350 -340 BCE, Fig. 2 -47.

Greek: Late Classical Example: • Late Classical less interested in order and perfection • Sensuousness despite modest pose • Roman marble copy Praxiteles, Aphrodite of Knidos, ca. 350 -340 BCE, Fig. 2 -47.

Greek: Late Classical Philoxenos of Eretria, Battle of Issus, ca. 310 BCE, Fig. 2 -50.

Greek: Late Classical Example: • Roman mosaic copy of Greek painting • Natural light and shadows • Motion and expression • Foreshortening • Alexander versus Persian king Darius Philoxenos of Eretria, Battle of Issus, ca. 310 BCE, Fig. 2 -50.

Greek: Hellenistic Altar of Zeus, ca. 175 BCE, Fig. 2 -52.

Greek: Hellenistic Example: • Kingdoms rise after death of Alexander • Monument to Zeus • Motion, emotion, drama • Dramatic light and shadow for narrative Altar of Zeus, ca. 175 BCE, Fig. 2 -52.

Greek: Hellenistic Old market woman, ca. 150 -100 BCE, Fig. 2 -58.

Greek: Hellenistic Example: • New interest in realism versus idealism of Classical era • Representation of aging process • Different types of people, not just heroes and gods • New social climate Old market woman, ca. 150100 BCE, Fig. 2 -58.

Greek: Hellenistic Athanadoros, Hagesandros, and Polydoros of Rhodes, Laocoön, first century CE, Fig. 2 -59.

Greek: Hellenistic Example: • Sculpture for Roman patron • Found in Emperor Titus’ home, described by Pliny • Trojan priest punished by gods • Emotional through pose and facial expression Athanadoros, Hagesandros, and Polydoros of Rhodes, Laocoön, first century CE, Fig. 2 -59.