The+Art+of+Ancient+Greece

= = = = =‍Male Lyre Player ( 2700-2500 BCE. ) = This is a cyclades sculpture. It was used as a grave marker and entertained the dead women. The duck or swan shape symbolized that the instrument was a prized possession. It is also made of simple shapes such as tiangles and squares. He is obviously seated and wedged between the chair and instrument.
 * The Art of Ancient Greece**

= = =‍Parthenon= (ca.447-438 B.C.E.) The Parthenon was a High classical peice of architecture. It is also the Temple for Athena, and was bulit by Iktinose and Kilakrates.This building is considered the " ideal" Greek architecture, with post and lintel, and Doric order.The greeks actually made this building "not perfect" to be perfect, such as making the middle of the floor a little thicker than the rest to look straight, and avoid optical illusions.

=‍ Geometric Krater = ( ** a.c. 740 B.C.E. ** ) This Vase was crafted around 740 B.C.E. in Athens, Greece to be used as a grave marker. Because this was a grave marker, it was crafted without a bottom so that rain or liquid offerings could pass through it and into the ground. This Vase depicts the funeral of a High ranking person in Greek society. This vase is in the Geometric style which took advantage of all the space on a vase and covered it in geometric designs. In geometric vase painting the human form was meant to convey gender rather than realism.

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‍ Kouros
This is an archaic sculpture showing the nude male youth. It was sculpted around 600 B.C.E. This boy shows no emotion. The sculpture shows a frontal, rigid stance. The left foot is forward with the arms at the side and fists clenched. The thumbs are facing forward, and there is no muscle definition. It shows the human form in art.

This sculpter was made during 560 B.C.E. It is of a man named Rhonbos supposedly bring an offering to Athena for thanks in his prosperity. It is showing more of the human form in this scupture. He is wearing a thin coat, and it is also showing that he is a matured man. He smiles as he bring his offering. And it is in the korose form because he looks like he is in movement, and portrayed alive.
 * Calf bearer**

=‍**Temple of Hera I**=
 * c. 550 BC**

The Temple of Hera I was made during the Archaic period in Ancient Greece. The temple was created as a sacred space dedicated to Hera. The Temple of Hera I is an example of a temple that has a Doric design. It has a peripteral colonnade, a frieze with triglyphs and metops, stylate base, pediment, cella, pronaos, and opisthodomos. The temple is an example of the Greeks early effort at the Doric design before they realized that their earlier efforts had a major flaw. Early Doric designs had an odd number of columns in the front and back of the temples which forced them to have a row of columns down the middle of the temple which did not allow room for a statue of the deity the temple was created for. After the Temple of Hera I was finished Greeks realized their flaw and later Doric temples consisted on an even number of columns in the front and back. (

=‍**Dying Warrior**= This sculpture, which is much like the one below, was also once placed in the Temple of Aphaia just a decade earlier. However, this particular sculpture was located on the West pediment of the temple. The Archaic sculpture took recognition because it represented the transition from the Archaic Period to the Classical Period. Reasons of why this sculpture is considered Archaic are that the torso is rigidly frontal (nude), eyes looking directly to the spectator, and the emotional grin on his face as he is being punctured by the spear (unnatural manner).
 * ( 500-490 BCE. )**

=‍Dying Warrior= This sculpture was made during the Archaic period in Ancient Greece. This sculpture was located on the East pediment of the Temple of Aphaia. Since this was made during the Archaic period, the dying warrior shows the archaic smile. The Archaic smile shows that the greeks were trying to portray emotion into their sculptures. Also like all greek male statues he is nude. The Dying Warrior shows no sign of pain.

Kritios Boy was the first sculpture in the Classical Period and was revolutionary to the world of sculpture. Before this, human form was most accurately represented by Koros or Kore statues. Kritios Boy was the first sculpture to exhibit Contrapposto, or "Shift of the hips." This gave a new lifelike look to sculptures and broke away from primitive attempts at depicting the human form.
 * Kritios Boy **



Diskobolos This sculpture, by Myron, was built around 450 BCE during the High classical period. The sculpture features the ideal human form, as well as an almost extreme example of contrapposto in the form of two balancing arcs in the statures form. One runs from finger to finger, and the other from head to toe. This form was intentioned to mirror the tension of a bow string. It's important to note that this tension is not mirrored in the athlete's face, witch displays willful determination on the task at hand.

= = == =‍ Achilles and Ajax a Playing Dice Game =
 * Achilles on the left, and Ajax on the right.
 * Black-figure amphora
 * By the Exekias Painter.
 * From Vulvi, Italy
 * Clay. Ca. 540—530 B.C.
 * Height 2' high.
 * Rome, Vatican Museums, Etruscan Museum.



‍ Doryphoros
This sculpture was created by Polykleitos around 450-440 BCE during the High Classical time period. When sculpting this piece Polykleitos was trying to create an ideal balanced sculpture. He employed contrapposto (weight shift) and chiastic, or cross, balance in order to achieve this goal. These techniques are apparant by the pronounced muculature and fact his right arm and left leg are relaxed and the tensed supporting leg opposes the flexed arm that used to hold a spear. Also, the sculpture's head is turned to the right with its hips to the left.

= =  Dying Gaul (230-220 BCE) The Hellenistic sculptures portray emotion. The Dying Gaul portrays the emotion and agony of dying. His male musculature is exaggerated. The chest is taut and the veins are bulging in his foot. You can see the pain in his body language. Unlike the Classical sculptures that looked at the audience, this Hellenistic sculpture is looking at the ground. This sculpture shows the evolving ideal human figure in Greek art.



=‍** Seated Boxer **= 100-50 BCE This is a Hellenistic sculpture of a defeated boxer. The bronze original is showing emotion which is characteristic to the Hellenistic period. The Seated Boxer is looking up at his opponent and not at the viewer which is also typical of the time period. This sculpture is very detailed from the broken nose and teeth to the cauliflower ear and the blood.

This statue of Aphrodite (goddess of love) also known as **Venus de Milo**, is approximately 6' 7'' high and made of marble. Found in the Hellenistic period of ancient Greece, this statue exerts a sexual body stance even though the goddess is half clothed. The drapery that is almost fallen down is meant to tease spectator with the nude female form. The emotion, sexuality, and drama is typical of the Hellenistic period. The body also shows underlying anatomy under neath the light clothing material and contrapposto with the slight movement of her body.
 * ca. 150-125 BCE **

=‍ Laocoon and His Sons = The sculpture of Laocoon and His Sons was made around the first century. It is based off of a story from the Roman poet, Vergil's, //Aeneid.// The Trojan, Laocoon, is punished by the gods for trying to warn his fellow Trojans about the dangers of accepting the wooden horse into their kingdom. As sea serpents strangle the men, the bodies seem rigid and tensed; the men's faces are pained. This marble sculpture is truly Hellenistic in style, due to the strong appeal to emotions, agony, and defeat.



=‍** Erechthion (421-405 BCE) **=

====‍** The Erechtion is a temple located in the Acropolis i Athens, Greece. The temple faces East with six ionic columns decorating its entrance. A unique feature of the Erechthion is that it actually has two porches. One in the north west corner of the building, which has ionic columns and one in the southwest corner which is characterized by six female statues acting as columns. These are known as Caryatids. The Erechthion is set on uneven terrain, giving it an asymmetrical plan. The temple honored the Greek goddess Athena, but also housed shrines to a host of other Greek gods and goddesses. **====



‍**Achilles and Ajax Playing a Game of Dice (ca. 540-530 BCE)**

 * This prime example of black-figure pottery was crafted by the rugged hands of Exekias, a master of the style. It is denoted as black-igure by it's black figures. The concept later changed to red-figure pottery due to eventual trading with the Egyptians. The context of the work is the famed heroes Achilles and Ajax playing dice. However, they keep their weapons at the ready as a sign of always being aware of danger. This may have been a somewhat patriotic piece, effectively saying that the Greek people as a whole embody the sense of and ability to handle danger shown by the two figures.**