ancient greek art/archaeology

Cycladic culture

First “Greek” culture, named of the Cycladic islands, metals were important, pottery and towns formed

Cycladic islands

Off the coast of Greece, very close together, form a circle

Bronze Age

3000-1000 BCE, Cycladic culture early Bronze Age

How much of Cycladic artifacts looted

80%, mostly when Greece formed in 19th century

Grotta-Pelos culture

Cemeteries with cist graves, handmade pottery, few settlements, marble figurines

Keros-Skyros culture

More settlements, new pottery shapes, more playful/innovative

Marble figurines

Very important/iconic, naked women with obvious breasts/private areas, simple and consistent, folded arms, did not stand, possible purposes religious funerary toys, def fertility related in some way

Fakes

Many Cycladic statues in museums are faked and undetectable, mostly in early 20th century (harpist)

Crete

Largest island in Aegean with a strategic location

Tholos

tomb from Crete

Mycenean culture

Mainland Greece, very expansive, massive collapse, Nichoria

Epic Cycle

“golden age of heroes”, Trojan war, Homer, myth vs history, once considered real, tomb of agaememmon

lion gate

massive brick gate outside Myceanan city

Heinrich Schleiman

Obsessed w/finding mythological places, v. controversial, liar, colonialist, stole artifacts, bad excavations, tried to find Troy

“Mask of Agamemnon”

Schleiman claimed to find it, debate over legitimacy

Citadels

Huge palaces on hills, wealthy burials, militarism

shaft grave

big rectangular pit with stone/wood roof, multiple people with weapons (men) and jewelry. Rich Athenian woman

Megaron

Ceremonial hall in palaces, 3 pronged rooms, large hearth, lots of decorations

Linear B tablets

syllabic script, represents syllables/words

Tau, Phi, Psi figurines

religious figurines, small, shows up in many contexts

Late Bronze Age

Lots of collapse in the Mediterranean

Iron Age/geometric age

1100-700 BCE

What disappeared

Palaces, Linear B, pottery

Developments

New alphabet, more complex pottery, city state, temples, chieftains house

Phoenicians

Society in Levant, multiple city states, set up cities/colonies in Mediterranean, brought alphabet, Nestor’s cup, kommos temple,

Pattern styles

Submycenean, protogeometric, early geometric, middle geometric, late geometric

Evolution of pottery

From swirls/circles to black and limited to tons of patterns

Parts

Mouth, lip, handle, neck, body, foot

Other pottery

Often in graves, more advanced pottery in cities, and most difference between kids and adults

Majority imports

Metalware, ivory carvings, trinkets, textiles

Came from

Phoenician, Egyptians, Assyrians

Changes

New motifs, more fun, new shapes

Sphyrelaton

Large iron statues, technology from SE Asia, ex Dreros Apollo/Mantiklos Apollo

Dedalic Statue

Syrian influence, large terracotta statues, free standing, ex. lady of Auxenne, Nikandre Kore

Herm

Ugly torso sculpture

Kore

Statues of young unmarried women worshipping

Architecture

Lots of stone, big well preserved buildings

temples

stone was expensive, and thus showy, for religion and also gathering, city markers, and government, boom in 7th-6th cent.

Leftkandi

chieftain’s house, crazy burials, pottery found

Apollo Daphnephoros

earliest temple, many phases, made of mud/wood/thatch, large, lots of labor, all allowed

Order

how to build a temple, doric and ionic, mainland and islands

layout

front porch, main hall/noas, adyton/statue room, rear porch, peristyle/colonnade columns, distyle, prostyle,amphistyle

doric order

low foundation, straight/direct fluted columns, rectangle top, triglyph pediment roof

ionic order

bottom has more steps, column sits on base, flat capital, frills on columns, roof has decoration

temple of Artemis

early all-stone temple, large, decorations with Medusa

temple of Apollo

Apollo common, roof painted w/myths, and boiling ladies

Temple C

lots of mythology metopes

Cases

A mass produced industry, depicted mythological and daily life scenes, produced all around the Mediterranean

Provenance

Lack of origin/context

Arete

Excellence, used in scenes of warriors, hoplite

Athenian vases

Showed what it meant to be Athenian, specific myths Theseus, Minotaur, gigantomancy, Athena

Submycenean pottery

Simple with plainer geometric designs 1030-1000 BCE

Proto geometric pottery

More complex geometric designs like circles and zig zags, 1050-900 BCE

Early geometric

More abstract and ornamental designs, wavier, 900-850 BCE

Middle geometric

More elaborate decorative zones, 850-760 BCE

Late geometric

More people and animals, 750-650 BCE

Pronaos

Front porch of temple

Opisthodomos

Back porch of temple

Entablature

Frieze of temple

Peristyle

Row of columns surrounding the temple

Adyton

Restricted inner chamber

Sanctuary

Especially holy places, in prominent location, communication between humans and Gods

Pan Hellenic

Sanctuaries that served people all over Greece for oracles/festivals

Olympia

Zeus sanctuary, hosted Olympic Games, negotiated politics, since 10th c BCr

What was left

Votives and sacrifices

Tropaia

Spoils of war left as sacrifices

Types of pottery

Amphora krater eye cup kylix olpe

Tyrant slayers

Famous statues, represents ancient Athenian values, people moving

Symposium

Gatherings of elite men drinking, related images on cups, idea of equalitu

Classical changes

More identity, preciseness, city growth, plays, philosophy

Periods

Early high or late classical

Naked statues

Both real and idealized, youthfulness, militarism, harmony and balance, athleticism

Examples

Kritios boy, Doryphoros, disc thrower, niace bronzes

Women

No nude women, excluded from society, exception of Aphrodite

Spartans

Athens new enemies

Agora

Important meeting place in center of Athens

Attica

Region with main city being Athens

When monuments started

6th century, much was hard to find or understand

Akropolis

Big buildings in the center of Athens, Athena Nike temple, caryatids

Akropolis walls

Made of old temples

Parthenon

Main elaborate religious building, statues of gods and goddesses, triumph of civilization

Greek plays

Religious, asked viewers questions, had actors, choruses, masks, all male, commissioned by elites for prestige

Theater of Dionysus

In the acropolis, famous plates were performed there, dates to 300s BCE

Thorikos

First known theater, massive

Parts

Orchestra = stage, theaton = seats, kerikedes = sections, klimakes = aisles, skene = set, parados = wings, took advantage of landscape

Performance

During religious holidays, such as Enaia and City Dionysus

Tech

Ekklaylema = movable brick, mechane = crane

funerary procedure

women had to do the rites because of miasma, loud, dramatic, self-harming, customs were restricted

funeral ritual

prothesis/laying out, ekphora/procession, and burial/cremation

lekythos

vessel that stored oil for funerals, left at graves, had images of the afterlife/death

graves

were generally more humble for democracy, but family tombs got fancier during peloponesian war

statues gender

women: modest, beautiful, mothers and virgins

Houses

Not where wealth was showed off, somewhat gender segregated, generally small and unprivate, courtyards common, rooms could generally be used for whatever, beautiful mosaics in Macedonia era

Prostitues

Lower class women and slaves, sex was power to elite men, no moral qualms

Hetaira vs Porne

Hetaita: high class prostitute, companion

Porne: lower class prostitute, woman for sale

Prostitution in art

Allowed to be nude, sex was idealized

Brothels

Smaller rooms, erotic pottery, multiple entrances/exits, graffiti, water, adornment, dining ware

Textiles

Very time consuming, ANCIENT, considered women’s work

Parts of textile making

Scouring, carding, spinning, weaving, fulling

Laurion

Famous silver mines in Attica started in Bronze Age took off in 5th c, helped Athens become a big power