GREEKSCULPTURESculpture Sculpture is by far the most important surviving form of Ancient Greek art. The human form was the most important subject for artistic endeavor. There was no distinction between the sacred and the secular in art - the human body was both secular and sacred. A male nude could just as easily be Apollo or Heracles or that year's current Olympic boxing champion. In the Archaic Period the most important sculptural form was the kouros (plural kouroi), the standing male nude. Kouroi were all stylistically similar. Thekore(plural korai), or standing female figure, was also common. Greek society did not permit the public display of female nudity until the 4th century BC. The kore is considered to be of less importance in the development of sculpture. Greeks did not produce sculpture merely for artistic display. Statues were commissioned either by aristocratic individuals or by the state, and used for public memorials, as offerings to temples, oracles and sanctuaries or as markers for graves. In the Archaic period, statues were never intended to be representations of actual individuals. Statues were depictions of an ideal - beauty, piety, honor or sacrifice. Gradations in the social importance of the person commissioning the statue were indicated by size rather than artistic innovation. In the Classical period there was a revolution in Greek statuary, usually associated with the introduction of democracy and the end of the aristocratic culture associated with the kouroi. The Classical period saw changes in both the style and function of sculpture. The technical skill of Greek sculptors in depicting the human form in a variety of poses greatly increased. From about 500 BC statues began to depict real people. The statues of Harmodius and Aristogeiton set up in Athens to mark the overthrow of the tyranny were said to be the first public monuments to actual people. Statuary was put to wider uses. The Parthenon in Athens, created the need for decorative statuary, particularly to fill the triangular fields of the pediments Sculptures survive only in fragments, the most famous of which are the Parthenon Marbles, now mostly in the British Museum. Funeral statuary evolved during this period from the rigid and impersonal kouros of the Archaic period to the highly personal family groups of the Classical period. Phidias oversaw the design and building of the Parthenon. Praxiteles made the female nude respectable for the first time in the Late Classical period (mid 4th century): his Aphrodite of Knidos, which survives in copies, was said by Pliny to be the greatest statue in the world. The greatest works of the Classical period, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia and the Statue of Athena Parthenos (both executed by Phidias or under his direction), are lost, although smaller copies and good descriptions of both still exist. Their size and magnificence prompted emperors to seize them in the Byzantine period, and both were removed to Constantinople, where they were later destroyed in fires. The transition from the Classical to the Hellenistic period occurred during the 4th century Following the conquests of Alexander the Great (336 BC to 323 BC). Greek culture spread as far as India, as revealed by the excavations of Ai-Khanoum in eastern Afghanistan, and the civilization of the Greco-Bactrians and the Indo-Greeks. Greco-Buddhist art represented a syncretism between Greek art and the visual expression of Buddhism. Greek art became more diverse and more influenced by the cultures of the peoples drawn into the Greek orbit. New centers of Greek culture, particularly in sculpture, developed in Alexandria, Antioch,Pergamum, and other cities By the 2nd century the rising power of Rome had also absorbed much of the Greek tradition - and an increasing proportion of its products as well. Some of the best known Hellenistic sculptures are the Winged Victory of Samothrace (2nd or 1st century BC), the statue of Aphrodite from the island of Melos known as the Venus de Milo (mid 2nd century BC), the Dying Gaul (about 230 BC), and the monumental group Laocoon and his Sons (late 1st century BC). Hellenistic sculpture was also marked by an increase in scale, which culminated in the Colossus of Rhodes (late 3rd century), which was the same size as the Statue of Liberty.

The Great Phidias

Phidias (or Pheidias) son of Charmides, (c. 490 BC-c. 430 BC) was an ancient Greek sculptor, universally regarded as the greatest of Greek sculptors. Phidias designed the towering statues of the goddess Athena in the Parthenon in Athens and the colossal seated Statue of Zeus at Olympia in the 5th century BC. Hegias of Athens, Ageladas of Argos, and the Thasian painter Polygnotus, have all been regarded as his teachers. According to Plutarch he was made an object of attack by the political enemies of Pericles, and died in prison at Athens. Plutarch gives in his Life of Pericles a charming account of the vast artistic activity which went on at Athens while that statesman was in power. He used for the decoration of his own city the money furnished by the Athenian allies for defence against Persia. It is very fortunate that after the time of Xerxes Persia made no deliberate attempt against Greece. "In all these works," says Plutarch, "Pheidias was the adviser and overseer of Pericles." Pheidias introduced his own portrait and that of Pericles on the shield of his Parthenos statue. The earliest of the great works of Pheidias were dedications in memory of Marathon, from the spoils of the victory. At Delphi he erected a great group in bronze including the figures of Apollo and Athena, several Attic heroes, and Miltiades the general. On the Acropolis of Athens he set up a colossal bronze image of Athena, which was visible far out at sea. At Pellene in Achaea, and at Plataea he made two other statues of Athena, also a statue of Aphrodite in ivory and gold for the people of Elis.

Among the Greeks themselves the two works of Pheidias which far outshone all others, and were the basis of his fame, were the colossal figures in gold and ivory of Zeus at Olympia and of Athena Parthenos at Athens, both of which belong to about the middle of the 5th century. Of the Zeus we have unfortunately lost all trace save small copies on coins of Elis, which give us but a general notion of the pose, and the character of the head. The god was seated on a throne, every part of which was used as a ground for sculptural decoration.The Parthenon Sculptures

Parthenon was dedicated to Athena, the patron deity of Athens, and contained a huge twelve meter high cult statue of the goddess made of wood, ivory, and a whopping 1,140 kilos of gold.

These sculptures are the greatest works of Greek art that have come down to modern times. A frieze ran like a decorative band around the top of the outer walls of the temple. It is 3 feet 3 inches high and 524 feet long. The subject is the ceremonial procession of the Panathenaic Festival. The figures represent gods, priests, and elders; sacrifice bearers and sacrificial cattle; soldiers, nobles, and maidensLater Greek Sculptures

The "Aphrodite" of Melos, commonly known as the "Venus de Milo", is a beautiful marble statue now exhibited in the Louvre, Paris. Nothing is known of its sculptor. Experts date it between 200 and 100 BC.

The works of Phidias were followed by those of Praxiteles, Scopas, and Lysippus. What is believed to be an original work of Praxiteles, the statue 'Hermes with the Infant Dionysus' , is preserved in a Greek museum. This is the only statue that can be identified with one of the great Greek masters. Most of these sculptors are known only through copies of their work by Roman artists. The figure of Hermes as strong, active, and graceful, the face expressive of nobility and sweetness - is most beautiful.

The so-called Satyr or Faun of Praxiteles, which suggested Hawthorne's 'Marble Faun', is probably the work of another sculptor of the same school. Praxiteles' sculpture is less lofty and dignified than that of Phidias, but it is full of grace and charm. Scopas carried further the tendency to portray dramatic moods, giving his subjects an intense impassioned expression. Lysippus returned to the athletic type of Polyclitus, but his figures are lighter and more slender, combining manly beauty and strength. He was at the height of his fame in the time of Alexander the Great, who, it is said, wanted only Lysippus to portray him.

The period following the death of Alexander is known as 'Hellenistic'. Greek art lost much of its simplicity and ideal perfection of form, its serenity and restraint, but it gained in intensity of feeling and became more realistic.

Two works of the period are the Dying Gaul, sometimes calledthe 'Dying Gladiator', and the beautiful 'Apollo Belvedere'.

The 'Laocoon Group', which depicts a father and his sons crushed to death by serpents, illustrates the extremity of physical suffering as represented in sculpture.

A famous late Hellenistic statue is the 'Nike', or 'Winged Victory'. The dramatic effect of her sweeping draperies and the swift movement of the figure are distinctive. In contrast to previous standing figures, this is an action pose, giving a sense of motion and wind at sea. The date of the statue has been disputed. At present it is usually placed between 250 and 180 BC. It was discovered in 1863 on the island of Samothrace and is now in the Louvre, Paris. Excavations on the same site in 1950 uncovered the right hand of the figure. The Greek government gave it to the Louvre in exchange for a frieze that once adorneda temple on the island.

Discus Thrower - circa 460 B.C.

The Pugilist - 1st century B.C. - The National Museum, Rome

The Naxian Sphynx - 560 B.C. - National Museum, Delphi

Torso of Apollo