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CHAPTER FIVE
GREEK ART
Closer Look:
Euphronios Krater
Funerary Vase (Krater)
The Classical Orders
The Parthenon
Google Earth Coordinates:
Acropolis
Entry to Tholos, Treasury of Atreus. Mycenae, Greece; aerial view
Video Links:
Parthenon(1.2): Acropolis & Panathenaic Procession
Treasury of Atreus
Compare and Contrast
Key Images
Dipylon Vase, Late Geometric belly-handled amphora, p.106, 5.2
Man and Centaur, perhaps from Olympia, p.107, 5.4
Informing Art: Greek Gods and Goddesses, p. 105
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The Dipylon Vase takes its name from the place where it was found the cemetery
just outside the Dipylon gate in northwestern Athens. This amphora functioned as a
The Orientalizing Style: Horizons Expand
Key Images
The Ajax Painter, Aryballos, p.108, 5.5
Griffin-head protome from a bronze tripod-cauldron, from Kameiros, Rhodes, p.108, 5.6
From ca. 725 650 BCE a new style of painting emerged, replacing the Geometric
style in many areas. One of the foremost centers of production for this style was
Corinth.
Archaic Art
Archaic Architecture
Key Images
The Temple of Hera I, Paestum, p.111, 5.9
Interior of Temple of Hera II, p.112, 5.10
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New York Kouros (Youth), p.113, 5.14
Kroisos (Kouros from Anavysos), p.114, 5.15
Archaic Vase-painting
Key Images
Exekias, Achilles and Ajax Playing Dice, Black-figured amphora, p.121, 5.25
Priam Painter, Women at a fountain house, Black-figured hydria, p. 122, 5.26
Euthymides, Dancing Revelers, Red-figure amphora, p.122, 5.27
Douris Painter, Eos and Memnon, Interior of an Attic red-figure kylix, p.122, 5.28
The Archaic period dates from the mid-seventh century to ca. 480 BCE.
Early Greeks worshiped in open-air sanctuaries. The altar was the central fixture for
cult practice.
Archaic kouros and kore were highly stylized. The Archaic kouros is idealized with
their arms rigidly to their sides and their left foot taking a step forward. Kouroi are
always nude and have been found in a variety of contexts functioning as funerary
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Black-figured technique vase painting dates from the late 7th century BCE. Toward the
end of the 6th century BCE red-figure vase painting was developed, gradually replacing
black-figure between 520 and 500 BCE.
The Classical Age
Early Classical Sculpture
Key Images
Kritios Boy, Athens, p.123, 5.29
Charioteer from Motya, Sicily, p.124, 5.30
Materials and Techniques: The Indirect Lost-Wax Process, p. 128
Architecture and Sculpture on the Athenian Akropolis
High Classical
Key Images
Akropolis (view from the west), Athens, p.130, 5.38
Iktinos and Kallikrates, The Parthenon, Akropolis, Athens, p.132, 5.40
Primary Source: Aristotle, The Politics, from Book VIII, p. 133
Plutarch, Parallel Lives of Greeks and Romans, from the lives of
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Late Classical Architecture
Key Images
Polykleitos the Younger. Corinthian capital, from tholos at Epidauros, p.142, 5.54
Late Classical Sculpture
Key Images
Head of Herakles or Telephos, Temple of Athena Alea, Tegea, p.143, 5.55
Late Classical Painting
Key Images
Niobid Painter, Red-figured calyx krater, from Orvieto, p. 146, 5.59
Reed Painter, White-ground lekythos, p.146, 5.60
The Early Classical period dates from ca. 480 450 BCE. This period is characterized
by an increased naturalism which can be seen in the contrapposto of the Kritios Boy
The Greek idea that nature can be ordered and idealized by human intellect was
demonstrated by artists and architects of the Classical period.
During the Early Classical period Polykleitos, who sculpted the Doryphoros, wrote
a book entitled The Canon (now lost) in which he established standards for the
representations of the human body.
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In addition to the ratio of proportions, the architects also used architectural
refinements including entasis, inclination, and curvature. Because of the perfection of
proportions and architectural refinements, the Parthenon became the gold standard for
temple building from the High Classical period onwards.
The Late Classical period dates from ca. 400 325 BCE. During this period there was a
shift in emphasis in which architects explored a range of other building types, an
Hellenistic Architecture
Key Images
Paionios of Ephesos and Daphnis of Miletos, Temple of Apollo, Didyma, p. 149, 5.62
Theater, Epidauros, p. 152, 5.66
Hellenistic Sculpture
Key Images
Lysippos, Portrait of Alexander the Great, the Azara herm, p. 154, 5.69
Portrait Head, from Delos, p. 154, 5.70
: J.J. Winckelmann and the Apollo Belvedere, p. 157
Hellenistic Painting
Key Images
The Abduction of Persephone, Tomb I, Vergina, p. 161, 5.77
The Battle of Issos or Battle of Alexander and the Persians, p. 162, 5.78
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Dramatic spatial involvement, dynamic movement, and everyday subject matter also
characterize the sculpture of this period.
The major centers of Hellenistic art production included Alexandria, founded by
Alexander in Egypt in 332 BCE, the island of Rhodes, and Pergamon in Asia Minor.
Key Terms/Places/Names
kraters
amphora
meander pattern
aryballos
guilloche pattern
geison
Ionic column
volute
drums
guttae
Douris
contrapposto
Myron
intercolumniation
Nike (plural Nikai)
Mnesikles
Discussion Questions
1. Compare and contrast the black-figure style of vase painting with that of the red-
figure style in both technique and illusionism in painting.
5. Describe the visual impact of Hellenistic sculpture as compared to Late Classical
sculpture.
6. Why did Iktinos and Kallikrates use architectural refinements in the construction of
the Parthenon? What was the overall impact of the use of those refinements?
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Resources
Books
Arias, Paolo. A History of 1000 Years of Greek Vase Painting. New York: Harry Abrams,
1962.
Ashmole, Bernard. Architect and Sculptor in Classical Greece. New York: New York
University Press, 1972.
Blundell, Sue. Women in Ancient Greece. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995.
Boardman, John. The Parthenon and its Sculptures. Austin: University of Texas Press,
1986.
Meiggs, Russell, ed. A Selection of Greek Historical Inscriptions to the End of the Fifth
Century B.C. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
Neils, Jenifer. Goddess and Polis: The Panathenaia in Ancient Athens. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1992.
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Osborne, Robin. Archaic and Classical Greek Art. New York: Oxford University Press,
1998.
Pollitt, J. J. Art and Experience in Classical Greece. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1972.
Pollitt, J. J. The Art of Greece 1400 31 BC: Sources and Documents. New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Smith, R. R. R. Hellenistic Sculpture. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1991.
Spivey, Nigel. Understanding Greek Sculpture: Ancient Meanings, Modern Readings.
New York: Thames and Hudson, 1997.
DVD
Greece: Secrets of the Past.
collaboration with Matte World Digital.
www
Acropolis of Athens (Hellenic Ministry of Culture)
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3D Virtual Reconstructions