Chapter 5

Classical Period

Over the span of 160 years between c. 480 and323 B.C.E., the Greeks established an ideal of beauty that has endured in the Western world toto this day. Scholars have associated Greekclassical art with three general concepts: humanism, rationalism, and idealism.

Our words “classic” and “classical” come from theLatin word classis, referring to the division of people into classes based on wealth. Consequently, “classic” has come to mean “firstclass”, “the highest rank”, “the standard of excellence.” Greek artists in the fifth century BCEsought to create ideal images based on strictmathematical proportions.

The ancient Greeks believed the words of theirphilosophers and followed these injunctions in their art: “Man is the measure of all things,” that is,seek an ideal based on the human form; “Knowthyself.” seek the inner significance of forms; and“Nothing in excess,” reproduce only essential forms.

In their embrace of humanism, the Greeks evenimagined their gods as perfect human beings. Butthe Greeks valued human reason over humanemotion. They saw all aspects of life, including thearts, as having meaning and pattern. Nothing happens by accident.

It is not surprising that great Greek artists and architects were not only practitioners but theoreticians as well. In the fifth century BCE, the architect Iktinos and artists Polykleitoswrote books on theory.

Temple of Zeus, Olympia

• The first great monument of Classical art and architecture.

• Site of the Olympic Games

• Architect was Libon of Elis.

CONTRAPPOSTOCONTRAPPOSTOCONTRAPPOSTO (or COUNTERPOISE), an Italian word, describes the stance of the human body in which one leg bears the weight while the other is relaxed. An asymmetry is created in the shoulder-hip axis. This is a natural, relaxed body pose. Early sculptures of human figures, while anatomically correct, appeared stiff and unnatural

Here is an example of an Egyptian sculpture from the 4th Dynasty, c. 2500 BCE., Menekaura and a Queen. Notice the unnatural stiffness of the figures.

CONTRAPPOSTOCONTRAPPOSTO

If we look at the early Greek sculpture, the Anavysos Kouros (c 525 BCE), the unnatural stiffness is still present.

CONTRAPPOSTOCONTRAPPOSTO

...the shoulders are level

...the hips are level

...both fists are level

...even the knees are level

...but the left leg is thrust forward. The left leg is forward and would have to be six inches longer!

Does the Anavysos Koursos statue demonstrate contrapposto?

The Answer is NO.

CONTRAPPOSTOCONTRAPPOSTO

Contrapposto first appeared in classical Greek sculpture.

...the left shoulder is higher than the right shoulder

...an angle from the right shoulder to the left hip. The leg is relaxed and the hip bone is lower.

...the right leg bears all the body’s weight.

Also notice how the knees are not level and at an angle. The shoulders counterbalance the hips.

If the hips and shoulders were parallel, we could not balance and would fall over!

Doryphoros (Spear Bearer) Polykleitos

• https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/greek-art/classical/v/polykleitos-doryphoros-spear-bearer

• Video on Doryphoros (Spear Bearer)

• 5 min

• Class quiz

POLYKLEITOS, Doryphoros (Spear Bearer)

Flashcard

Chiastic (cross balance)

Chiastic (cross balance) is asymmetrical balance

…right arm and leg rigid & stiff creating columnar stability and anchoring

…the bent left arm and leg

…head turns right, hips twist left, back foot turns outward creating a twist in the body

CONTRAPPOSTOCONTRAPPOSTO

The classical Greeks progressed to where they were able to model the human in a nonsymmetrical, relaxed stance that appears much more realistic. This was lost during the Middle Ages and was rediscovered by artists like Donatello during the Renaissance

Acropolis Plan

Athens originated as a Neolithic acropolis, or“part of the city on top of a hill” (akro means“high” and polis means “city”) that later served asa fortress and sanctuary. As the city grew, the Acropolis became the religious and ceremonialcenter devoted primarily to the goddess Athena,the city’s patron and protector.

• Video on Parthenon

• 15 min.

• https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/greek-art/classical/v/parthenon

• Take Notes

• Class quiz

Aerial View & Model of the Acropolis

http://mil.ccc.cccd.edu/classes/art100/module6.htmGardner’s Art Through the Ages

IKTINOS and KALLIKRATES, Parthenon

Flashcard

www.utexas.edu/courses/classicalarch/images.html www.columbia.edu/.../syllabus/syllabus97.html picasaweb.google.com/.../7HcF7AcM6TqhilvE5xxkOg www.dkimages.com/.../Plans-and-Drawings-4.html 4puffin.creighton.edu/eselk/intro-phil_on-line... http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Arts/Parthenon/Parthenon1.jpg

PHIDIAS, Athena Parthenos

Marble copy

http://harpy.uccs.edu/greek/sculpture-slides.html

harpy.uccs.edu/greek/sculpturefemale.html

Stokstad, p. 191faculty.cva.edu/Stout/Egyptian/Egyptian.html www.uvm.edu/.../?Page=mainpagelinks/ambrose.htmmandarb.net/virtual_gallery/sculptures/gaul.shtml l www.sacred-destinations.com/greece/athens-par... flickr.com/photos/75048666@N00/2247900527 www.utexas.edu/.../img18parthmetoprcon.html www.sikyon.com/athens/Parthenon/parthenon_eg.html

Lapith versus centaur

Three Goddess (Hestia, Dione, and Aphrodite?)

Flashcards

Helios and his horses, and Dionysis

1. Helios 4. Nike 7. Hera 10. Atlas

2. Herakles 5. Athena 8. Hephaistos 11. The Hesperides

3. The Fates

6. Zeus 9. Hermes 12. Nyx

 

www.solvinglight.com/features/0404/reconstruc... www.theplaka.com/athens/acrop/parthenon.htm www.utexas.edu/.../img18parthmetoprcon.html

• https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/greek-art/classical/v/phidias-sculpture-from-the-east-pediment-of-the-parthenon-c-448-432-b-c-e

• 5 min.

Parthenon, West Pediment: Athena vs. Poseidon

www.uvm.edu/.../?Page=mainpagelinks/ambrose.html

Details of the Panathenaic Festival procession frieze

Flashcards

www.dkimages.com/.../Plans-and-Drawings-4.html 4

Gardner’s Art Through the Ages

• https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/greek-art/classical/v/parthenon-ergastines

• 5 min

Temple of Athena Nike• The Iconic Temple of

Athena Nike (victory of war), was designed and built around 425 BCE. Reduced to rubble during the Turkish occupation of Greece in the seventeenth century CE, the temple has since been rebuilt.

Nike (Victory) Adjusting Her Sandal

• https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/greek-art/classical/v/sandal-nike

• 5 min

Athenian Agora(not in your textbook)

• Archaic through Hellenistic

• In Athens, as in most cities of ancient Greece, commercial, civic, and social life revolved around the marketplace, or agora. The Athenian Agora, at the foot of the Acropolis, began as an open space where farmers and artisans displayed their wares.

• Over time, public and private structures were erected on both sides of the Panathenaic Way, a ceremonial road used during an important festival in honor of Athena.

• A stone drainage system was installed to prevent flooding, and a large fountain house was built to provide water for surrounding homes, administrative buildings, and shops.

• By 400 BCE, the Agora contained several religious and administrative structures and even a small racetrack. Also, the military headquarters, and two buildings devoted to court business were at located at the Agora.

Grave stele of Hegeso Flashcard

• Function?

• Content?

• Setting/location of thewomen?

• How does the jewelrybox represent “man”?

NIOBID PAINTER, Artemis and Apollo slaying the children of Niobe

Krater

web.uvic.ca/grs/bowman/myth/gods/apollo_i.html

3-Quarter Profile

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/greek-art/greek-pottery/v/niobid-krater

6 minClass Quiz

Homework

• Chapter 6 The Etruscans= class

• Read Chapter 7 The Roman Empire

• Pages 178- 206

• Quiz Wednesday 10/8

Late Classical

• The Spartans defeated Athens in 404 BCE. They set up a pro-Spartan government so oppressive that within a year the Athenians rebelled against it. The Athenians killed Spartan leader, Kritias, and restored democracy.

• Athens recovered its independence and its economy revived, but it never regained its dominant political and military status.

• Athens did retain its reputation as a center of artistic and intellectual life.

• In 387 BCE, the great philosopher-teacher Plato founded a school just outside Athens, as his student Aristotle did later.

• Among Aristotle’s students was young Alexander of Macedon, known to history as Alexander the Great.

• In 338 BCE Philip II, who was the leader of Macedon, defeated Athens and rapidly conquered the other Greek cities.

• He was assassinated two years later. His kingdom was passed down to his 20 year old son, Alexander.

• Alexander led a united Greece in a war of revenge and conquest against the Persians. Alexander crushed the Persian army and conquered Syria and Phoenicia.

• By 334 BCE, Alexander had occupied Egypt.

• The Egyptian priests of Amun recognized Alexander as the son of god, an idea he readily adopted.

• Alexander died of a fever in 323 BCE. He was only 33 years old.

• Changing political conditions never seriously dampened the Greek’s artistic creativity. Artists experimented widely with new subjects and styles. However, they maintained a classical approach to composition and form.

• A sophisticated new group of patrons drawn from the courts of Philip and Alexander, wealthy aristocrats in Asia Minor, and foreign aristocrats eager to import Greek works and, sometimes, Greek artists.

Praxiteles, Aphrodite of Knidos

What did the Greeks focus on?Original?Ground breaking?

Battle of Issus, (AKA Battle of Alexander the

Great and Darius)

Flashcard

Schneider Adams, p. 151

• https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/greek-art/hellenistic/v/alexander-mosaic-c-100-b-c-e

• 6 min.

• class quiz