The Greek Civilization

THE ART OF ANCIENT GREECE

Ancient Greek Culture:Ancient Greek culture covers over a thousand years of history, from the earliest civilizations in the area to the cultures that became the Ancient Greeks. Following a Greek Dark Age, Greece once more flourished and developed into the ancient culture that we recognize today . Greek culture is focused on their government, art, architecture, philosophy, and sport. Athens was intensely proud of its creation of democracy, and citizens from all poleis ("cities") took part in civic duties. Cities commissioned artists and architects to honor their gods and beautify their cities. Greek philosophers, mathematicians, and thinkers are still honored in society today. As a religious people, the Greeks worshipped a number of gods through sacrifice, ritual, and festival.

The art of Ancient Greece is usually divided stylistically into four periods •Geometric (1000 BC)•Archaic (7th century BC) black-figure style of vase painting•Classical (480 BC to 448 BC) •Hellenistic (336 BC to 323 BC) Alexander the Great

The Ancient Greeks created what has become known as classical art.  Many of America's governmental buildings have been designed with Classical Greek structures.  Greeks are seen by many as the cornerstone to the western traditions of art and ideas. The Ancient Greeks are known for three main items

sculptures temples vase paintings. The art work embodies much of what made the Greek

civilization great. The Ancient Greeks were organized into independent city-

states. These themes can be seen very clearly in their human depictions.

The Greeks idealized humans, showing the strong and youthful depiction of men and women.

The topics shown in their vases reflect the importance of strength, athletic competition,  and battles. 

Their temples reflected their religious beliefs in the gods.

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Ancient Greek art is mainly in four forms:

Architecture Sculpture Painted pottery and Music.

The Ancient Greeks, especially Athenians, were blessed with close marble quarries.  In comparison, the Romans had to go great distances to bring marble into their capital of Rome.  The marble was very strong and could hold very large loads of weight.

Because of this the Greeks were able to build beautiful temples and buildings which are copied or imitated even to present day

The architecture of the temples took three major forms; Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.  All three styles can be quickly identified by the top of the

columns.  The Doric columns are a circular ring under a square piece of

marble which supports the cross beam.  The Ionic column tops appear to have two scrolls on either side of

the column right below the cross beam. The Corinthian is an out growth of the Ionic.

ANCIENT GREEK ARCHITECTURE

The earliest buildings that were built in Greece, in the New Stone Age, are small houses or huts, and wooden walls around them for protection. Later there are bigger houses, and stone walls around the villages.

By the Early Bronze Age, we find one bigger house in the middle of the village, and fancier, bigger stone walls.

In the Late Bronze Age, under the influence of Western Asia, and the Minoans on Crete, there are Palaces and big stone tombs, as well as paved roads and bridges, and dams (and more stone walls).

During the Greek Dark Ages the palaces were burned, But at the end of the Dark Ages, with the beginning of the Iron age and the Archaic period in Greece, we see a new type of building: the temple for the gods. These earliest temples are built in the Doric style . There are houses, but no more palaces. But roads and bridges and stone walls begin to be built again

There are three main periods of Greek Sculpture; Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic.

The Greeks were blessed with a large supply of marble, which was what they used most in their sculptures. 

Bronze was also used in their artistic work of humans.

Many of the original sculptures were damaged or destroyed.  Yet, many still survived because the Romans make copies or duplications of the original works.

GREEK SCULPTURE

The Archaic period was the earliest period in Greek Sculpture. These works have a stiff and ridged appearance similar to that of the Egyptian sculpture.

The second period, the Classical period, was between the Archaic and Hellenistic times.  The Classical period shows a very large shift from the stiff Archaic to a more realistic and sometimes idealistic portrayal of the human figure. 

Females, after the 5th  century B.C., were depicted, often with flowing robes.  The robes gave the sculpture the idea of movement and realism in an effort by the artist to show humans more realistically.  

The third period, the Hellenistic period it is more difficult to see the distinctions between the Classical and Hellenistic period.The Greeks portrayed a young, vigorous, and athletic person in their works.   These works idealized the individual and in a way, attempted to capture the idea of youth and strength in their design.  The works reflect the commonly held views of youth, strength, and courage which were encouraged in the Greek City states.

Greeks portrayed the gods in very similar fashion as they did the regular humans.There were no distinctions of size or body make up in their sculpture which would suggest that the gods where greater or more powerful then the humans.This is also similar in Greek stories, where the gods are shown to have very human characteristics, both good and bad. 

Painting of the Ancient Greeks has survived primarily in the form of Vase Painting.  The paintings were done in red and black with some use of accent colors.  The vases depicted battles, heroes, gods, and every day life. 

Very few Greek painted pictures have survived the 2500 years since they were painted. So most of what we know about Greek art comes from the pictures they painted on fancy pottery.

ANCIENT GREEK VASE PAINTINGS

Lekythos, ca. 550–530 B.C.; Archaic, black-figureAttributed to the Amasis PainterGreek, AtticTerracotta

Amphora, ca. 490 B.C.; Classical; red-figureAttributed to the Berlin PainterGreek, AtticTerracotta

In antiquity, clothing was usually homemade and the same piece of homespun fabric could serve as a garment, shroud, or blanket.

Greek vase painting and traces of paint on ancient sculptures indicate that fabrics were brightly colored and generally decorated with elaborate designs.

Clothing for both women and men consisted of two main garments—a tunic (either a peplos or chiton) and a cloak (himation). The peplos was simply a large rectangle of heavy fabric, usually wool, folded over along the upper edge so that the over fold (apoptygma) would reach to the waist. It was placed around the body and fastened at the shoulders with a pin or brooch. Openings for armholes were left on each side, and the open side of the garment was either left that way, or pinned or sewn to form a seam. The peplos might not be secured at the waist with a belt or girdle. The chiton was made of a much lighter material, usually imported linen. It was a very long and very wide rectangle of fabric sewn up at the sides, pinned or sewn at the shoulders, and usually girded around the waist. Often the chiton was wide enough to allow for sleeves that were fastened along the upper arms with pins or buttons. Both the peplos and chiton were floor-length garments that were usually long enough to be pulled over the belt, creating a pouch known as a kolpos. Under either garment, a woman might have worn a soft band, known as a strophion, around the mid-section of the body.

ANCIENT GREEK DRESSES

Men in ancient Greece customarily wore a chiton similar to the one worn by women, but knee-length or shorter. An exomis, a short chiton fastened on the left shoulder, was worn for exercise, horse riding, or hard labor. The cloak (himation) worn by both women and men was essentially a rectangular piece of heavy fabric, either woolen or linen. It was draped diagonally over one shoulder or symmetrically over both shoulders, like a stole. Women sometimes wore an epiblema (shawl) over the peplos or chiton. Young men often wore a short cloak (chlamys) for riding. Greek men occasionally wore a broad-brimmed hat (petasos), and on rare occasions, Greek women donned a flat-brimmed one with a high peaked crown. Both women and men wore sandals, slippers, soft shoes, or boots, although at home they usually went barefoot.

The Greeks loved music, and made it an important part of their lives. They thought of music as a way of honoring the gods, and making the world a more human, civilized place.

They had pipes, and lyres, and drums, and cymbals. Their pipes were made from wood or reeds, with holes cut in them for your fingers to play the tune.

Some were played vertically, like a recorder, and some were played sideways, like a flute. Sometimes people played more than one pipe at a time.

Pipes and drums were played in a loud, lively way, for dancing, and people played this music when they were worshipping Dionysus, the god of wine and parties.

ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC

The Greeks also had lyres, which are like small harps, and might have sounded something like a guitar. According to the Greek story, the first lyre was made from a turtle shell by the god Hermes when he was a baby, and then Hermes gave it to Apollo. Apollo was the god of reason and logic, and the Greeks thought of music as a great expression of order and patterns. Lyre music was played calmer, and more soothingly, than the pipes and drums.

Apollo playing the lyre