Ancient Greek Art stands out among other ancient cultures for the development of naturalistic but idealistic portrayals of the human body, where most naked men are generally the focus of innovation. The level of style development between about 750 and 300 BC is remarkable by ancient standards, and in surviving works is best seen in sculpture. There are important innovations in painting, which basically have to be reconstructed due to lack of original quality, in addition to different painted pottery fields.
The Greek architecture, technically very simple, forms a harmonious style with a variety of detailed conventions that are largely adopted by Roman architecture and still followed in some modern buildings. It used the vocabulary of ornaments divided by pottery, metal and other media, and had a major influence on Eurasian art, especially after Buddhism took it outside the expanded Greek world created by Alexander the Great. The social context of Greek art includes radical political developments and major improvements in prosperity; the same Greek achievements impressive in philosophy, literature, and other fields are well known.
The earliest art by the Greeks was generally excluded from the ancient Greek art, and more commonly known as Aegean art; these include Cycladic art and the cultural art of Minoan and Mycenaean of the Greek Bronze Age. Ancient Greek art is usually divided into four periods: Geometric, Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic. The Geometric Age is usually dated from about 1000 BC, although in reality little is known about the art in Greece during the previous 200 years, traditionally known as the Dark Ages of Greece. The 7th century BC witnessed the slow development of the Archaic style as exemplified by the style of black vase paintings. Around 500 BC, shortly before the Persian War (480 BC to 448 BC), was usually considered a dividing line between the Archaic and the Classical periods, and the government of Alexander the Great (336 BC to 323 BC) was taken as a Classical separation from the Hellenistic period. From some point in the 1st century BC onwards "Greco-Roman" was used, or more a local term for the Eastern Greek world.
In fact, there is no sharp transition from one period to another. These art forms develop at different speeds in different parts of the Greek world, and as in any age some artists work in a more innovative style than others. Strong local traditions, and local cult requirements, allow historians to discover the origins of even works of art found far from where they came from. Greek art of various types is widely exported. The whole period saw a generally stable increase in prosperity and trade relations in the Greek world and with neighboring cultures.
The survival rate of Greek art is very different between the media. We have a large number of pottery and coins, many stone carvings, even more Roman copies, and some large bronze carvings. Almost entirely missing are paintings, fine metal vessels, and anything that includes perishable materials including wood. The stone shells of a number of temples and theaters have survived, but few of their extensive decorations.
Video Ancient Greek art
Pottery
By convention, the finely painted vessels of all shapes are called "vases", and there are more than 100,000 pieces that are completely complete, giving (with a lot of inscriptions) an unparalleled insight into many aspects of Greek life. Sculptural or pottery architecture, also very often painted, is called terracottas, and also survives in large quantities. In many literatures, "pottery" means only painted vessels, or "vases". Pottery is the main form of grave goods stored in cemeteries, often as "filthy jars" containing cremated ashes, and is widely exported.
The famous and distinctive style of Greek vase painting with drawings depicted with strong lines, with a thin line in the outline, reaches its peak from about 600 to 350 BC, and is divided into two main styles, almost inversely to each other , black -figure and red painting, other colors that form the background in each case. Other colors are very limited, usually for a small area of ​​white and larger than a different purplish red color. Within the limits of this technique and other powerful conventions, the vase painter achieved remarkable results, combining strong refinements and expressions. The technique of white soil allows more freedom in depiction, but is not well used and is mostly made for burial.
Conventionally, the ancient Greeks were said to have made the most pottery vessels for everyday use, not for display. Exceptions are large Archaic monumental vases made as graves, trophies won in matches, such as Panathenaic Amphorae filled with olive oil, and pieces specially made to be left in the cemetery; some perfume bottles have a bottom that saves money just below the mouth, so a small amount makes it look full. In the last few decades, many scholars have questioned this, seeing more production than was previously thought to be made to be placed in graves, as a cheaper substitute for metalware in Greece and Etruria.
Most living pottery consists of ships to store, serve or drink liquids such as amphorae, kraters (bowls to mix wine and water), hydrants (water jars), libation bowls, oil bottles and perfumes for toilets, pitchers and cups. Ships that are painted to serve and eat food are much more common. Painted pottery is affordable even by ordinary people, and a piece of "polite decorated with about five or six figures costing about two or three days' wages". Miniature is also produced in large quantities, especially for use as a temple offering. In the Hellenistic period, more and more pottery was produced, but most did not have artistic significance.
In earlier periods even fairly small Greek cities produced pottery for their own place. It varies in style and standard. Pottery pots classified as art are produced on several Aegean islands, in Crete, and in rich Greek colonies in southern Italy and Sicily. However, in the Archaic and Early Classical periods, two major commercial powers, Corinth and Athena, dominate. Their pottery is exported throughout the Greek world, expelling local varieties. The pots of Corinth and Athens are found deep in Spain and Ukraine, and it is very common in Italy that they were first collected in the 18th century as the "Etruscan vase". Many of these pots are mass produced products of low quality. In fact, in the 5th century BC, pottery has become an industry and pottery painting is no longer an important art form.
The range of colors that can be used on pots is limited by shooting technology: black, white, red, and yellow are the most common. In the previous three periods, the pots left their natural light colors, and were adorned with a slip that turned black in the kiln.
Greek pottery is often signed, sometimes by pottery or pottery ruler, but only occasionally by painters. Hundreds of painters, however, can be identified by their artistic personality: where their signatures do not survive they are named for their choice of subject, as "Achilles painter", by their working potter, like the Ancient "Kleophrades Artist". , or even by their modern location, such as the Late Archaic "Berlin Painter".
History
The history of ancient Greek pottery was divided stylically into five periods:
- Protogeometric of about 1050 BC
- Geometric of about 900 BC
- Late Geometric or Archaic of about 750 BC
- Black Images from the beginning of the 7th century BC
- and Red Image of about 530 BC
During the period of Protogeometry and Geometric, Greek pottery is decorated with abstract designs, in former usually elegant and large, with plenty of unpainted space, but in often densely packed geometries covering most of the surface, as in large pots by Dipylon Master, which works around 750. He and other potter around the time began introducing the silhouetted figure of a very human and animal style, especially a horse. It often represents a funeral procession, or battle, probably representing those who were fought by the deceased.
The geometric phase is followed by the Orientalizing period at the end of the 8th century, when some animals, many either myth or native to Greece (like sphinx and lion respectively) were adapted from the Near East, accompanied by decorative motifs, such as lotus and palmette. This is shown much larger than the previous figure. Wild Goat Style is a regional variant, very often showing goats. Human figures are not so influenced from the East, but also become larger and more detailed.
The fully-fledged black image technique, with additional red and white details and scratch for the outline and detail, originated in Corinth during the early 7th century BC and was introduced to Attica about a generation later; it developed until the end of the 6th century BC. The red drawing technique, created around 530 BC, reverses this tradition, with pots painted in black and red-painted figures. The red-figure vase is slowly replacing the black figure style. Sometimes larger vessels are engraved and painted. Erotic themes, heterosexual and male homosexuals, became common.
By about 320 BC, beautiful vase paintings had ceased in Athens and other Greek centers, with a late-developed polychromatic style; it may be replaced by metal for most of its functions. West Slope Ware, with a decorative motif on black glass body, continued for more than a century after. Italian red painting ended about 300, and in the following century a relatively primitive vase of Hadra, possibly from Crete, Centuripe ware of Sicily, and the Panathenaic amphorae, now a frozen tradition, is the only large vase painted still made.
Maps Ancient Greek art
Metalwork
Smooth metal is an important art in ancient Greece, but then production is represented very badly by survivors, mostly from the edge of the Greek world or beyond, from as far away as France or Russia. Ships and jewelry are manufactured to a high standard, and exported considerably. Silver-colored objects, at that time more valuable relative to gold than in modern times, are often etched by the makers by their weight, because they are treated as a warehouse of value, and are likely to be sold or melted before very long.
During the geometric and archaic phases, the production of large metal vessels is an important expression of Greek creativity, and an important stage in the development of bronzeworking techniques, such as casting and hammer repousse. Early sanctuaries, notably Olympia, produced many hundred tripods-bowls or sacrificial tripod vessels, mostly in bronze, kept as voters. It has a shallow bowl with two handles held high by three feet; in newer versions, stands and bowls are different parts. During the Orientalising period, such tripods are often decorated with figural protomas, in the form of griffins, sphinxes and other fantastic creatures.
Swords, Greek helmets, and often body armor such as muscle protectors are made of bronze, sometimes decorated with precious metals, as in the 3rd century Ksour Essef cuirass. Armor and "band-shield" are two contexts for the Archaic low-relief scene strip, which also attaches to various objects in wood; band in Vix Krater is a great example. The polished bronze mirror, originally with a decorated back and a korean handle, is another common item; type "folding mirror" then has a piece of hinged cover, often decorated with a relief scene, usually erotic. Coins are described below.
From the late Archaic the best metal work follows the stylistic development in sculpture and other art, and Phidias is one of the sculptors known to have practiced it. The Hellenistic Strait encourages a very complicated look of technical goodness, inclined "intellect, imagination, or excessive grace". Many or most of the forms of Greek pottery are derived from a form that was first used in metals, and in recent decades there has been an increasing view that many of the best vase-painting designs used by silversmiths for vessels with carvings and different metal-coated sections , works from the design drawn.
The overwhelming presence of what may be a relatively common class of large bronze vessels is two volute craters, for mixing wine and water. This is the Vix Crater, c. 530 BC, 1.63 m (5'4 ") tall and over 200 kg (450 pounds) heavy, holding about 1,100 liters, and found in the graves of a Celtic woman in modern France, and the 4th century Derveni Krater, 90 , 5 Cm (35 inches) tall The other Greek elite elite, such as Thracia and Scythians, are keen consumers of Greek metal, and may be served by Greek goldsmiths who settle in their territory, who customize their products to suit taste and function, the hybrid piece forms a large part of the remains, including Panagyurishte Treasure, Borovo Treasure, and other Thrakian treasures, and some Scythian cemeteries, which may contain Greek artists based in the Greek settlement of the Black Sea with other fancy art, the tomb of the Macedonian kingdom at Vergina has produced objects of the highest quality from the cusp of the Classical and Hellenic periods.
Jewelery for the Greek market often has exceptional quality, with an intricate unusual shape and a series of very fine gold imitating the forms of plants, which are worn on the head. This may rarely, if ever, be used in life, but given as a voter and used in death. Many portraits of the Fayum mummy are wearing them. Some parts, especially in the Hellenistic period, are large enough to offer scope for numbers, as does the Scythian taste for relatively substantial gold pieces.
Monumental sculpture
The Greeks decided early on that the human form is the most important subject for artistic endeavor. Seeing their gods have human form, there is little difference between the sacred and the secular in art - the human body is secular and sacred. An Apollo or Heracles naked man had little difference in treatment with one of the Olympic boxing champs that year. In the Archaic Age the most important sculptures were kouros (plural kouroi ), men standing naked (See for example Biton and Kleobis). The kore (plural
Like pottery, the Greeks did not produce sculptures just for the artistic look. Statues assigned either by aristocratic individuals or by the state, and used for public warnings, as offerings to temples, oracles and sanctuaries (as is often demonstrated by inscriptions on statues), or as a marker for graves. The statues in the Archaic period are not all meant to represent a particular individual. They are the ideal depictions - beauty, piety, honor or sacrifice. It always depicts young men, ranging from adolescence to early adulthood, even when placed in graves (probably) elderly citizens. Kouroi all have a similar style. The graduation in the social stature of the person who commissioned the statue was demonstrated by the size rather than the artistic innovation.
Unlike authors, those who practice visual arts, including sculptures, initially had low social status in ancient Greece, although increasingly prominent sculptors may become famous and somewhat rich, and often signed their work (alas, often on the pedestal, which usually becomes apart from the statue itself). Plutarch (Life of Pericles, II) says "we admire the art but hate the maker"; this is a common view in the ancient world. Ancient Greek sculpture is categorized by the usual style periods of "Archaic", "Classic" and "Hellenistic", coupled with some additions that are especially applicable to sculptures, such as Orientating Daedelic style and Severe style from the early classical sculpture.
Materials, form
Ancient Greek sculptures that survive most are made of two types of material. Stones, especially marble or other high quality limestone are most commonly used and hand-carved with metal tools. The stone sculptures can stand freely carved in round (sculptures), or only partially engraved reliefs that still adhere to the background plaques, for example in architecture friezes or stelai grave.
The bronze statue has a higher status, but it survives in a much smaller amount, due to the reuse of metal. They are usually made with the lost wax technique. Chryselephantine, or gold-and-ivory, the statues are cult-images in temples and are considered the highest form of sculpture, but only a few fragmentary fragments survive. They are usually over-lifesized, built around wooden frames, with thin pieces of ivory representing meat, and gold leaf sheets, perhaps on wood, representing clothing, armor, hair, and other details.
In some cases, glass and semi precious glass, glass, and precious stones are used for details such as eyes, jewelry, and weaponry. Other large acrolithic statues use stones for body parts, and wood for the rest, and marble statues sometimes have stucco hairstyles. Most of the statues are painted (see below), and many are wearing original jewelry and have decorative eyes and other elements in different materials.
Terracotta is sometimes employed, for large statues. Some of these examples survived, at least in part because of the fragility of the statues. The most notable exception is the Zeus statue that brought Ganymede found in Olympia, executed around 470 BC. In this case, the terracotta is painted. No doubt there is a pure wooden sculpture, which may be very important in the early period, but effectively no survivors.
Archaic
The Cycladic Art Bronze Age, around 1100 BC, has shown an unusual focus on human figures, usually displayed in direct frontal stance with arms folded in the abdomen. Among the smaller features are the nose, the occasional eye, and the carved female breasts, although the numbers are apparently usually painted and may initially look very different.
Inspired by the monumental stone sculpture of Egypt and Mesopotamia, during the Archaic period the Greeks began again carving on stone. Free-standing figures share the solidity and characteristics of Eastern-style attitudes, but their forms are more dynamic than Egyptian statues, such as the Lady of Auxerre and Torso of Hera (early Archaic period, about 660-580 BC, both in the Louvre, Paris). After about 575 BC, the numbers, like this, both men and women, wear what is called an old smile. This phrase, which has no special appropriateness to the person or situation described, may be a tool for giving characteristic figures of humans.
Three types of characters are applicable - naked youth standing (kouros), girl wrapped standing (kore) and, less often, a seated woman. All emphasize and generalize the important features of human figures and show an increasingly accurate understanding of human anatomy. The young men are misleading or vandalistic statues. Examples are Apollo (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), an early work; Apollo Strangford of Anafi (British Museum, London), much later; and Anavyssos Kouros (National Archaeological Museum of Athens). More muscular and skeletal structures are seen in this statue compared to previous works. The girls stood and wrapped up in various expressions, like on a statue at the Acropolis Museum of Athens. Their curtains are carved and painted with delicacy and thoroughness that are common in the sculpture detail of this period.
The ancient reliefs survived many cemeteries, and from the larger buildings in Foce del Sele (now in the museum in Paestum) in Italy, with two groups of metope panels, from about 550 and 510, and the Siphnian Treasury in Delphi, with friezes and small pedimads. The section, all now in a local museum, survives from the large triangular pediment group of Temple of Artemis, Corfu (c 580), dominated by the great Gorgon, and the Ancient Athena Temple in Athens (about 530-500).
Classic
In the Classical period there was a revolution in Greek statues, usually associated with the introduction of democracy and the end of the aristocratic culture associated with kouroi . The Classic Period sees a change in the style and function of the statue. The poses become more naturalistic (see Charioteer of Delphi for examples of transitions to more naturalistic sculptures), and the technical skills of Greek sculptors in depicting human form in various poses greatly improved. Out of about 500 BC statues begin to portray real people. The statues of Harmodius and Aristogeiton founded in Athens to mark the overthrow of tyranny are touted as the first public monuments to the real people.
At the same time sculpture and sculpture are used more widely. The great temples of the Classical era such as the Parthenon in Athens, and the Temple of Zeus in Olympia, require relief sculptures for decorative decorations, and sculptures in round to fill the triangular plane of the pediment. A difficult aesthetic and technical challenge stimulates many ways of sculpture innovation. Unfortunately these works only survive in fragments, the most famous of which are Parthenon Marbles, half of which are in the British Museum.
The funeral sculpture evolved during this period of the rigid and impersonal kouros of the Archaic period into a very private family group of the Classical period. These monuments are commonly found in the suburbs of Athens, which in ancient times was a tomb in the suburbs. Although some of them describe "ideal" types - grieving mothers, dutiful sons - they are increasingly depicting real people, usually showing people who go to take dignified leave from their families. They are the most intimate and affect the remnants of the ancient Greeks.
In the Classical period for the first time we know the names of individual sculptors. Phidias oversees the design and construction of the Parthenon. Praxiteles made naked women naked for the first time in the Classical Final period (mid-4th century): Aphrodite of Knidos, which survives in the form of copies, said by Pliny as the largest statue in the world.
The most famous works of the Classical period for contemporaries are the giant Statue of Zeus in Olympia and the Statue of Athena Parthenos in Parthenon. Both are chryselephantine and executed by Phidias or under his direction, and are now lost, although smaller copies (in other material) and a good description of both still exist. Their size and grandeur encouraged the emperor to seize it in the Byzantine period, and both were transferred to Constantinople, where they were later destroyed in a fire.
Hellenis
The transition from the Classical to Hellenistic period occurred during the 4th century BC. After the conquest of Alexander the Great (336 BC to 323 BC), Greek culture spread to India, as revealed by the Ai-Khanoum excavations in eastern Afghanistan, and the Greco-Bactrians and Indo-Greek civilizations. The Greek-Buddhist art represents syncretism between Greek art and the visual expression of Buddhism. Thus Greek art became more diverse and more influenced by the culture of society drawn into the Greek orbit.
In view of some art historians, it also declines in quality and originality. This, however, is a judgment that artists and art lovers of time will not share. Indeed, many of the statues previously regarded as classical masterpieces are now recognized as Hellenists. The technical capabilities of the Hellenistic sculptor are clearly evident in major works such as Winged Victory of Samothrace, and Pergamon Altar. New centers of Greek culture, especially in sculpture, flourished in Alexandria, Antioch, Pergamum, and other cities, where the new monarchies were fancy patrons. In the second century, the rising Roman powers had also absorbed many Greek traditions - and the proportion of its products also increased.
During this period, the statue became more naturalistic, and also expressive; interest in portraying extreme emotions is sometimes pushed to the extreme. Common subjects of ordinary people, women, children, animals and domestic scenes become acceptable subjects for sculptures, commissioned by wealthy families for their home and garden jewelry; The Boy with Thorn is an example. Realistic portraits of men and women of all ages are produced, and sculptors no longer feel obliged to portray people as ideals of beauty or physical perfection.
The world of Dionysus, a pastoral idyll inhabited by satyrs, maenads, nymphs, and Sileni, has often been portrayed in vases and earlier sculptures, but rarely in full size statues. Now the works are made, persist in the form of copies including Barberini Faun, Belvedere Torso, and Restir Satyr ; Furietti Centaurs and Sleeping Hermaphroditus reflect related themes. At the same time, new Hellenistic cities emerged throughout Egypt, Syria and Anatolia in need of statues depicting Greek gods and heroes for their temples and public places. It makes sculptures, such as pottery, an industry, with standardization and some quality degradation. For these reasons, many more Hellenistic statues survive the Classical period.
Some of the most famous Hellenistic statues are Winged Victory of Samothrace (2nd or 1st century BC), Aphrodite statue of Melos island known as Venus de Milo (mid-2nd century BC), Dying Gaul (about 230 BC) and the monumental group LaocoÃÆ'¶n and His Sons (late 1st century BC). All of these sculptures depict the Classical themes, but their treatment is much more sensual and emotional than the harshness of the permitted Classic period or their technical skills are permitted.
The multi-figure sculpture group is a Hellenistic innovation, perhaps from the 3rd century, taking an epic battle from the early temple reliefs of the temple from their walls, and placing them as a group the size of a statue. Their style is often called "baroque", with exaggerated body poses, and an intense expression on the face. Relief at Pergamon Altar is the closest original remains, but some famous works are believed to be authentic Hellenistic Roman copies. These included Dying Gaul and Ludovisi Gaul, as well as lesser-known Kneeling Gaul and others, all believed to copy Pergamene's commission by Attalus I to commemorate his victory around 241 over Galatians of Galatia, possibly composed of two groups.
The LaocoÃÆ'¶n Group , Farnese Bull , Menelaus supports Patroclus body ("Pasquino group"), Arrotino i >, and the Sperlonga statue, is another example. From the 2nd century Neo-Attic or Neo-Classical styles were seen by different scholars either as a reaction to baroque excesses, returning to the Classical style version, or as a continuation of the traditional style for cult sculptures. The workshop in style became primarily a copy producer for the Roman market, who preferred a copy of Classic pieces rather than Hellenized.
The late nineteenth-century discoveries that surround the city of Heracleum in ancient Egypt (now drowned), including the description of the 4th century BC, which is extraordinarily sensual, detailed and feminist (contrary to deification) of Isis, marks a combination between Egypt and Hellenes. forms that began around the time of Egypt's conquest by Alexander the Great. But this is a typical Ptolemaic court carving, which generally avoids mixing Egyptian style with its conventional Hellenistic style, while temples across the country continue to use the final version of the traditional Egyptian formula. Scholars have proposed "Alexandrian style" in Hellenistic art, but in fact there is little to do with Alexandria.
The Hellenistic Sculpture is also characterized by an increase in scale, culminating in the Colossus of Rhodes (late 3rd century), the same size as the Statue of Liberty. The combined effects of earthquakes and looting have destroyed this and other great works during this period.
Figurines
Terracotta Statues
Clay is a material often used for the making of sculptures or idols, even before the Minoan civilization and continues until the Roman period. During the 8th century BC tombs in Boeotia often contain "bell idols", female statues with moving legs: head, small compared to the rest of the body, perched on the long neck edge, while the body is very full, in the form of bells. The ancient heron tomb, for local heroes, may receive large numbers of rough-shaped sculptures, with imperfect figurations, generally representing characters by lifting arms.
In the Hellenistic period, most terracotta sculptures have lost their religious character, and represent the character of everyday life. Tanagra figurines, from one of several production centers, were mass-produced using prints, and then painted after being fired. Puppets, female figures and actors dressed in fashion, some of which may be portraits, including among new subjects, are portrayed in a subtle style. It's cheap, and originally displayed in homes like modern decorative sculptures, but quite often buried with its owners. At the same time, cities such as Alexandria, Smyrna or Tarsus produce many strange statues, representing individuals with defective members, bulging eyes and twisting. The statues are also made of bronze.
For the painted terracotta architecture, see Architecture below.
Metal sculptures
Sculptures made of metal, especially bronze, are very common finds in early Greek sanctuaries such as Olympia, where thousands of such objects, mostly depicting animals, have been found. They are usually produced in lost wax techniques and can be considered as the initial stage in the development of a Greek bronze statue. The most common motifs during the Geometric period are horses and deer, but dogs, cows and other animals are also depicted. Human figures occur occasionally. Small metal selector production continued throughout the Greek period. In the Classical and Hellenistic period, a more elaborate bronze statue, which is closely related to monumental statues, also became common. Examples of high quality were gathered by the Greeks, and then the Romans, but relatively few survivors.
Architecture
The architecture (meaning buildings executed with aesthetically aesthetic design) ceased in Greece from the end of the Mycenaean period (about 1200 BC) to the 7th century, when urban life and prosperity recovered to the point where public buildings could be made. Since most of the Greek buildings in the Ancient and Early Classical periods were made of wood or mud bricks, nothing remained of them except some basic plans, and almost no written sources about the early architecture or descriptions of the buildings. Much of our knowledge of Greek architecture comes from the surviving structures of the Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Roman End periods (since ancient Roman architecture strongly uses the Greek style), and from final written sources such as Vitruvius (1st century BCE ). This means that there is a strong bias towards the temple, the most common main building to survive. Here the square blocks used for walls are useful for later buildings, and often the ones that survive are the more difficult parts of the columns and metals to recycle.
For most of the period of strict stone poles and lintel construction systems in use, held in place only by gravity. Corbelling was known in Mycenean Greece, and the arch was known from the fifth century at the latest, but almost of no use to this technique until Roman times. Wood is only used for ceiling and wood roofing in prestigious stone buildings. The use of large terracotta tiles, only held in place with grooving, means that the roof should have a low tone.
Until Hellenistic times only public buildings were built using a formal stone style; these include above all temples, and smaller treasury buildings that often accompany them, and are built in Delphi by many cities. Other types of buildings, often without roofs, are central agora, often with one or more adjacent stoos in the vicinity, theater, gymnasium and palaestra or wrestling school, ekklesiasterion or bouleuterion for assemblies, and propylene or monumental gates. The round building for various functions is called tholos, and the largest stone structure is often the wall of city defense.
The graves for most of the period are only made as elaborate mausoleas around the edge of the Greek world, especially in Anatolia. Private homes are built around a courtyard where funds are allowed, and shows a blank wall to the street. They sometimes have a second story, but very rarely the basement. They are usually built from debris at best, and relatively little is known about them; at least for men, most of the life is spent outside them. Several palaces from the Hellenistic period have been excavated.
Temples and some other buildings such as treasury in Delphi are planned as cubes or, more often, a rectangle made of limestone, which Greece has abundance, and which is cut into large blocks and dressed. It's equipped with columns, at least in front of the entrance, and often on all sides. Other buildings are more flexible in plans, and even the richest houses do not seem to have many external ornaments. Marble is an expensive building material in Greece: high quality marble only comes from Pentelus Mountain in Attica and from some islands like Paros, and transportation on big blocks is difficult. It is used primarily for sculpture decoration, not structurally, except in the most magnificent buildings of the Classical period such as the Parthenon in Athens.
There are two main classical orders of Greek architecture, Doric and Ionic, with the Corinthian order emerging only in the Classical period, and not being dominant until the Roman period. The most obvious feature of all three orders is the uppercase of the columns, but there are significant differences in the design and other decorations between orders. These names were used by the Greeks themselves, and reflect their belief that they came from the Dorian and Greek Ionian peoples of the Dark Ages, but this can not be true. Doric is the earliest, probably first appeared in stone at the beginning of the 7th century, after being developed (though probably not very direct) from its predecessor in wood. It is used in the Greek mainland and Greek colonies in Italy. Ionic styles were first used in Ionic cities (now the west coast of Turkey) and some Aegean islands, probably beginning in the 6th century. Doric style is more formal and hard, ionic is more relaxed and decorative. The more ideologically Corinthian order is the later development of Ionic, initially apparently used only in buildings, and using ionic forms for everything except the capital. The well-known and well-preserved Choragic of Lysicrates monument near the Athens Acropolis (335/334) is the first known use of the Corinthian order on the exterior of the building.
Most of the most famous Greek buildings, such as the Parthenon and the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens, are Doric. The Erechtheum, next to the Parthenon, however, is Ionic. The Ionic sequence becomes dominant in the Hellenistic period, as its decorative style fits better with the aesthetics of the period better than the more controlled Doric. Some of the surviving Hellenistic buildings, such as the Celsus Library, can be seen in Turkey, in cities such as Ephesus and Pergamum. But in the greatest Hellenistic cities of Alexandria in Egypt, almost nothing survives.
Coin design
Coins (probably) were found in Lydia in the 7th century BC, but they were first used extensively by the Greeks, and the Greeks established the coin design canon that has been followed since then. The design of the current coin can still be recognized following the pattern derived from ancient Greece. The Greeks did not see the design of coins as the main art form, although some were designed costly by leading goldsmiths, especially outside Greece itself, among the Central Asian kingdoms and in Sicilian cities who wanted to promote themselves. Nevertheless, endurance and coin abundance have made them one of the most important sources of knowledge about Greek aesthetics. Greek coins are the only art form of the ancient Greek world that can still be bought and owned by private collectors in a simple way.
The most widespread coins, used far beyond their original territory and copied and forged by others, are the Athena tetradrachm, which is excluded from c. 510 to c. 38 BC, and in the Hellenistic era of Macedonia's tetradrachm, both silver. Both maintain the same familiar design for a long time. The most ambitious coins, designed by goldsmiths or gem carvers, often originate from the edge of the Greek world, from new colonies in the early period and new empires later, as a form of marketing their "brand" in modern terms. From the big cities, Corinth and Syracuse also issued consistently interesting coins.
Some of the Greco-Bactrian coins are regarded as the best examples of Greek coins with large portraits with "a nice blend of realism and idealization", including the largest coin printed in the Hellenistic world: the largest gold coin printed by Eucratides (reigned 171-145 BC), silver coins the greatest by the Indo-Greek king Amyntas Nikator (ruled c.95-90 BC). Portraits "show the level of individuality that never fits with the often bland portrayal of contemporaries of their empire farther west".
The Greek designers began practicing putting a profile portrait on the front of the coin. It was originally a symbolic portrait of a protective god or city goddess who issued coins: Athena for Athens, Apollo at Corinth, Demeter at Thebes, and so on. Later, the head of Greek mythological heroes was used, like Heracles on the coins of Alexander the Great. The first human portrait on coins is the people of the Persian satellite in Asia Minor. Greek cities in Italy such as Syracuse began to place the heads of real people on coins in the 4th century BC, as did the Hellenistic successors of Alexander the Great in Egypt, Syria and elsewhere. On the opposite of their coins, Greek cities often put the city symbols: owls for Athena, dolphins for Syracuse and so on. Placement of inscriptions on coins also began in the Greek era. All these customs were then followed by the Romans.
Painting
The Greeks seem to have appreciated the above paintings even statues, and in the Hellenistic period, the appreciation and even the painting practice is a component in a polite education. Ekphrasis is a literary form consisting of descriptions of artwork, and we have a great literature on Greek paintings and painters, with further addition in Latin, although no treatises by the artists mentioned still exist. Unfortunately we hardly have the most prestigious type of painting, on wooden panels or in frescoes, which the lecturer feared.
The contrast with the vase painting is total. There is no literature at all, but over 100,000 surviving examples, giving many honorable oeuvre individual painters. Our idea of ​​what the best Greek painting should be drawn from the careful consideration of the alignment in the vase, the final Greco-Roman copies in mosaics and frescoes, some very late examples of actual paintings in Greek tradition, and ancient literature.
There are several interconnected painting traditions in ancient Greece. Due to their technical differences, they are experiencing somewhat different developments. The earliest paintings appear to have developed along lines similar to vase paintings, relying heavily on the lines and plane of color, but then flowering and flourishing as the vase's painting declines. At the end of the Hellenistic period, technical developments include modeling to show contours in shapes, shadows, foreshortening, some forms that may be improper from perspective, interior and landscape backgrounds, and use of discoloration to suggest distances in the landscape, thus "Greek artists have all the technical tools required for paintings that are entirely illusory ".
Panel and wall painting
The most common and respected forms of art, according to authors such as Pliny or Pausanias, are panel paintings, individual paintings, portable paintings on wooden planks. The technique used is encaustic painting (wax) â € <â € Unfortunately, due to the nature of the perishable material and the great turmoil in the late antiquity, not one of the famous works of the Greek panel paintings has survived, or even a copy no doubt exists, and which gives us most of our knowledge of the Greek statue. We have remnants of a slightly more significant mural composition. The most important surviving Greek example from before the Roman period is a low-quality Pitsa panel of c. 530 BC, Tomb of the Diver from Paestum, and various paintings from the royal tombs in Vergina. More paintings in Etruscan and Campanian tombs are based on Greek style. In the Roman period, there were a number of frescoes in Pompeii and the surrounding area, as well as in Rome itself, some of which were considered to be copies of previous specific masterpieces. In particular copies of certain wall paintings have been identified conclusively in Alexander Mosaic and Villa Boscoreale. There was a large group of later Greco-Roman archaeological remains from the drier conditions of Egypt, the portrait of the Fayum mummy, together with similar Severan Tondo, and a small cluster of miniature portraits painted in a glass of gold. The Byzantine icon also comes from the tradition of encaustic panel paintings, and the Byzantine Illuminated manuscripts sometimes continue the Greek illusionistic style for centuries. The tradition of wall paintings in Greece goes back at least to the Bronze Age of Minoan and Mycenaean, with the fancy decoration of sites like Knossos, Tiryns and Mycenae. It is unclear whether there is continuity between its predecessor and later Greek wall paintings. The wall paintings are often depicted in Pausanias, and many seem to have been produced in the Classical and Hellenical period. Due to the lack of an intact architecture, not much is maintained. The most prominent example is the 11th century monumental BC from hoplite battles from inside the shrine in Kalapodi (near Thebes), and the intricate frescoes of the 4th century "Grave of Phillipp" and "Tomb of Persephone" in Vergina. in Macedonia, or the tomb in Agios Athanasios, Thessaloniki, is sometimes suggested to be closely related to the painting of the high quality panels mentioned above. The tradition of Greek wall paintings is also reflected in the decor of contemporary tombs in Greek colonies in Italy, for example the famous Tomb of the Diver in Paestum. Some scholars argue that the famous Roman wall paintings on sites such as Pompeii are direct descendants of the Greek tradition, and that some of them copied famous panel paintings.
Polychromy: painting on sculpture and architecture
Many figural figures or ancient Greek architecture are painted in full color. This Greek stone aspect is described as polychrome (from the Greek ?????????? , ???? = many and ???? ? = color). Due to intensive weathering, polychologies on sculpture and architecture have substantially diminished in many cases.
Although the word polychrome is made of a combination of two Greek words, it is not used in ancient Greece. The term was coined in the early nineteenth century by Antoine ChrysostÃÆ''me QuatremÃÆ'¨re de Quincy.
Architecture
Painting is also used to enhance the visual aspects of architecture. Certain parts of the superstructure of Greek temples are usually painted since the Archaic period. Such architectural polychromy can take the form of bright colors directly applied to the stone (proved for example in Parthenon, or intricate patterns, often made architectural members of the terracotta (eg Archaic in Olympia and Delphi).) Sometimes terracottas also depicts figural scenes , as well as the 7th century BC metropolis terracotta from Thermon.
Statue
Most Greek sculptures are painted in strong, bright colors; this is called "polychromy". The paint is often limited to parts that describe clothing, hair, and so on, with the skin remaining in the natural color of stone or bronze, but can also cover the statue in their totality; the skin of women in marble tends to be colorless, while male skin may be light brown. Greek sculptural paintings should not only be seen as an enhancement of their sculptures, but have characteristics of different art styles.
For example, the pedimental statues of the Aphaia Shrine in Aegina have recently been shown to have been painted in bold and complex patterns, illustrating, among other details, patterned clothing. The polychromies of stone sculptures are aligned with the use of different materials to distinguish skin, clothing and other details in chryselephantine statues, and by using various metals to describe lips, nails, etc. In high-quality bronzes such as Riace bronze.
Vase painting
The most valuable evidence of ancient Greek painting survives in the form of vase paintings. This is explained in the "pottery" section above. They at least gave some insight into the aesthetics of Greek painting. The techniques involved, however, are very different from those used in large-scale paintings. The same may apply to the subject depicted. It should be noted that explicitly, vase painting is a skill or art apart from pots. It should also be remembered that vase paintings, though by far the most striking source still alive in ancient Greek painting, were not possessed in the highest of antiquity, and were never mentioned in Classical literature.
Mosaic
The mosaic was originally made with round pebbles, and then glass with a tesserae that gave more color and flat surface. They were popular in the Hellenistic period, originally as decoration for the palace floor, but eventually for private homes. Often the main image of the emblematic in the center panel is completed in a much more subtle work than the decorations around it. Xenia motifs, where a house shows examples of the various foods that guests may wish to enjoy, providing the vast majority of living specimens of living life in Greece. In general mosaics should be regarded as secondary intermediate copying paintings, often very directly, as in the Alexander Mosaic.
The Unswept Floor by Sosus of Pergamon (circa 200 BC) is the original and famous work of trompe l'oeil , known from many Greco-Roman copies. According to John Boardman, Sosus is the only mosaic artist whose name survives; Doves is also mentioned in the literature and copied. However, Katherine M. D. Dunbabin confirmed that two different mosaic artists left their signature on the mosaic of Delos. 4th century BC Stag Hunt Mosaic artist may also leave his signature as Gnosis, although this word may refer to the concept of abstract knowledge.
Mosaic is an important element of the art of Macedonia which survive, with a large number of examples are preserved in the ruins of Pella, the capital of ancient Macedonia, Central Macedonia today. Mosaic mosaic-like "Stag Hunt Mosaic and Lion Hunt" shows illusionist and three-dimensional quality that is commonly found in the paintings of the Hellenistic, although the pursuit of hunting Macedonian roughly more clearly than other themes. Delos mosaic 2nd century BCE, Greece was rated by FranÃÆ'§ois Chamoux as representing the pinnacle of Hellenistic mosaic art, with a similar style that continues throughout the Roman period and probably laid the foundation for the widespread use of mosaics in the western world until the Middle Ages.
Engraved gem
The etched gem is a luxurious art with high prestige; Pompey and Julius Caesar are among the next collectors. This technique has an ancient tradition in the Near East, and a cylindrical seal, whose designs only appear when rolled over on wet clay, from which the type of ring is developed, spreads to the Minoan world, including parts of Greece and Cyprus. The Greek tradition emerged under the influence of Minoan on the Helladic culture of the land, and reached the peak of refinement and refinement in the Hellenistic period.
A round or oval Greek gem (along with similar objects in bones and ivory) is found from the 8th and 7th centuries BC, usually with animals in energetic geometric poses, often with borders marked with dots or rims. The earliest examples are mostly softer stones. Gems in the 6th century are more often oval, with rough backs (in the past this type is called "scarabaeus"), and humans or divine figures and animals; the scarab form was apparently adopted from Phenicia.
The forms are very sophisticated for the period, though usually the size of the gems is small. In the 5th century gems became somewhat larger, but still only 2-3 centimeters. Nevertheless, very fine detail is shown, including the eyelashes on a male head, perhaps a portrait. The four gems signed by Dexamenos of Chios are the best of that period, two showing storks.
Carvings of aid became common in the 5th century BC Greece, and gradually most of the spectacularly carved gems were relieved. Generally the help image is more impressive than the intaglio; in the preceding form the document recipient sees this in an impressive sealing candle, while in the later relief is the seal owner who keeps it to himself, perhaps marking the appearance of a gem intended to be collected or worn as a jewelry pendant. in necklaces and the like, rather than being used as seals - which are then sometimes rather large to be used for closing letters. But the inscriptions are usually still upside down ("mirror-writing") so they just read correctly on the impression (or by looking from behind with transparent stones). This aspect also partially explains the collection of traces in plaster or wax from gems, which may be easier to appreciate than the original.
Larger hardstone carvings and brilliant acting, which are rarely in intaglio form, seem to have reached Greece around the 3rd century; Farnese Tazza is the only surviving Hellenistic example (depending on the date set for Gonzaga Cameo and the Ptolemies Cup), but other imitative imaging mirrors with portraits indicate that gem-type acting was made during this period. The conquest of Alexander has opened up new trade routes to the Greek world and increases the range of available gemstones.
Ornament
Synthesis in the Archaic period from the original repertoire of simple geometric motifs with imports, mostly plant based, motifs from the far east created a sizeable vocabulary of ornaments, which artists and craftsmen used with confidence and fluency. Today this vocabulary is seen above all in a large corpus of painted pottery, as well as in architectural remains, but these were originally used in various media, as newer versions were used in European Neoclassicism.
The elements in this vocabulary include a geometric meander or "Greek key", egg-and-arrow, beads and reels, Vitruvian scrolls, guilloche, and from the world of acanthus-style leaf plants, volute, palmette and half palmette, plant rolls of various types , rosette, lotus flower, and papyrus flower. Initially used prominently on the Archaic vase, as figurative painting developed, it is usually lowered to serve as a boundary that limits the edges of different vases or decoration zones. The Greek architecture is well known for developing sophisticated conventions for using prints and other architectural ornament elements, which use this motif in a harmoniously integrated whole.
Even before the Classical period, this vocabulary had influenced Celtic art, and the expansion of the Greek world after Alexander, and the exports of far-flung Greek objects, exposed much of Eurasia to it, including areas north of the Indian subcontinent. where Buddhism flourished, and created Greek-Buddhist art. As Buddhism spreads throughout Central Asia to China and throughout East Asia, in a form that makes great use of religious art, these vocabulary versions are taken with it and used to surround other images and religious images, often by size. and the seemingly exaggerated emphasis of the ancient Greeks. Vocabulary is absorbed into Indian or Chinese, Chinese, Persian and other Asian countries, and further developed in Byzantine art. The Romans took over the vocabulary more or less as a whole, and although much altered, it can be traced throughout the medieval art of Europe, especially in plant-based ornaments.
The art of Islam, where ornaments largely replaced the figurations, developed the Byzantine canyon scroll into the full and endless arabesque, and especially of the Mongol conquests of the 14th century received new influences from China, including the Greek vocabulary. Since the Renaissance and beyond, some of these Asian styles are represented on textiles, porcelain and other items imported into Europe, and affect the ornament there, a process that still continues.
Other art
Although glass was made in Cyprus in the 9th century BC, and was greatly developed at the end of the period, there were only a few remaining pieces of glassware before the Greco-Roman period that showed the artistic quality of the best work. Most survivors are small perfume bottles, in a colorful "feathery" style similar to other Mediterranean glasses. Hellenistic glass becomes cheaper and more accessible to a wider population.
No Greek furniture survived, but there were plenty of pictures on vases and relief alerts, for example it was for Hegeso. It's obviously often very elegant, like the style that comes from it from the 18th century onwards. Some of the carved ivory pieces used as inlays have survived, as in Vergina, and some ivory carvings; this is a very good quality luxury art.
It is clear from the vase paintings that the Greeks often wear intricate dressings, and the skill of weaving is a sign of a respectable lady. Two pieces of luxury cloth survive, from the tomb of Philip of Macedon. There are many references to ornate decoration for houses and temples, but no survivors.
Diffusion and inheritance
Ancient Greek art has had a profound influence on the culture of many countries around the world, especially in treating human figures. In the Western Greek architecture is also very influential, and both in the East and West the influence of Greek decor can be traced to modern times. The art of Etruscans and Romans was largely and directly derived from the Greek model, and Greek objects and influences reached the Celtic art in the northern Alps, as well as throughout the Mediterranean world and into Persia.
In the East, the conquest of Alexander the Great began several centuries of exchanges between Greek, Central Asian and Indian cultures, greatly helped by the spread of Buddhism, which originally took on many Greek features and motifs in Greek-Buddhist art, which were later transmitted as part of the cultural package to East Asia, even as far as Japan, among artists who no doubt are totally unaware of the origin of the motives and styles they use.
After the Renaissance in Europe, humanist aesthetics and high technical standards of Greek art inspired the generation of European artists, with a major revival in the Neoclassicism movement that began in the mid-18th century, coinciding with easier access from Western Europe to Greece itself, and new imports
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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