Greek Art and Archaeology: Geometric to Hellenistic Periods

A comprehensive vocabulary practice set of 64 flashcards covering major artworks, vessel types, sculptural developments, and historical themes in ancient Greek art from the Geometric period to the Hellenistic era.

Hero's Grave from Lefkandi

A 10th century BC monumental apsidal building in Euboea containing a cremation and horse burial.

Nestor's Cup

An East Greek kotyle (drinking cup) dating to 720 BC bearing one of the earliest known Greek inscriptions in hexameter verse.

Dipylon Amphora

A monumental Attic Geometric amphora dating to 760-735 BC used as a storage vessel and grave marker, painted with a prothesis (lamentation) scene.

Attic Geometric Krater with Ekphora

A wine-mixing vessel dating to 760-735 BC used as a grave marker, depicting ekphora (the funerary procession to the grave) and chariots.

Attic Geometric Krater with Prothesis and Battle Scene

An Attic Geometric funerary mixing vessel dating to 760-735 BC depicting a prothesis scene alongside an elaborate coastal or naval battle.

Attic Geometric Oinochoe with Shipwreck Scene

A wine-pouring vessel dating to ca. 740-720 BC decorated with shipwrecked sailors swimming among fish around an overturned ship.

Ash Altar Offerings at Olympia

Terracotta and bronze votive dedications to Zeus from the ash altar at Olympia dating from the 9th to 7th centuries BC, prominently including bronze tripods and animal figurines.

Bronze Tripod Leg from Olympia

An 8th-century BC cast bronze tripod leg discovered at Olympia featuring relief decoration interpreted as the struggle for the tripod.

Mantiklos Apollo Figurine

A bronze statuette dating to 700 BC dedicated to Apollo as a tithe (tenth of earnings), inscribed with a dedication to the Far Shooter, bearer of the Silver Bow, requesting a pleasing return.

Analatos Painter Amphora

A Protoattic amphora dating to 700-680 BC displaying chariots, chain dancers, and sphinxes with Orientalizing floral motifs.

Eleusis Amphora

A monumental Protoattic amphora dating to 650-625 BC depicting Odysseus and his companions blinding the cyclops Polyphemos on its neck.

Protocorinthian Alabastron

A perfume vessel dating to 660-650 BC decorated with Near Eastern-inspired motifs including a griffin, lotuses, and the tree of life.

Protocorinthian Aryballos with Lion Head

A miniature perfume vessel dating to 640 BC fashioned with a plastic lion-head spout and painted with fine polychrome battle and hunting registers.

Phoenician Silver Bowl

A portable luxury item dating to 750-600 BC that facilitated the spread of Near Eastern and Egyptian artistic motifs to Greece.

Chigi Olpe

A Protocorinthian wine jug dating to 650-640 BC renowned for its polychrome friezes depicting a hoplite phalanx battle, the Judgment of Paris, riders, and a hunt.

Lady of Auxerre

A Daedalic limestone kore dating to 650-600 BC created as an agalma ('delight' or 'treat') for a divinity.

Nikandre Kore

An early Daedalic marble statue from Delos dating to the mid-7th century BC, dedicated by Nikandre to Artemis near the Temple of Apollo.

Sophilos Dinos

An Attic black-figure wine mixing bowl dating to 580-570 BC signed by the painter Sophilos, depicting the wedding procession of Peleus and Thetis.

The François Vase

A monumental Attic black-figure volute krater dating to 570 BC, signed by Kleitias as painter and Ergotimos as potter, illustrating episodes from the myths of Peleus and Achilles.

Achilles and Ajax Gaming Amphora

An Attic black-figure amphora dating to 540-530 BC signed by Exekias depicting Achilles and Ajax playing a board game during the Trojan War.

Suicide of Ajax Amphora

An Attic black-figure amphora dating to 550-540 BC signed by Exekias depicting Ajax calmly fixing his sword into a mound of earth before his suicide.

Euphronios Krater

An Attic red-figure calyx krater dating to 515 BC signed by Euphronios, depicting Sarpedon carried to the underworld by Sleep (Hypnos) and Death (Thanatos) under Hermes' guidance.

Euthymides Revelers Amphora

An Attic red-figure belly amphora dating to the late 6th century BC signed by Euthymides, featuring dancing revelers and the competitive inscription “as never Euphronios”.

New York Kouros

An early Attic marble statue of a standing nude youth dating to 590 BC, displaying stylized anatomy, a rigid frontal pose, and advanced left leg.

Calf-Bearer from the Athenian Acropolis

An Archaic marble votive statue dating to 560 BC representing a bearded man carrying a sacrificial calf across his shoulders.

Acropolis Kore (520-500 BC)

A Late Archaic draped female votive sculpture from the Athenian Acropolis showcasing intricate Ionic drapery folds and wavy braided hair.

Grave Monument of Phrasiklea

An exceptionally preserved Archaic marble kore dating to 540 BC commemorating an unmarried maiden holding a lotus bud.

Kroisos Kouros

An Attic marble funerary kouros from Anavysos dating to 530 BC, marking the grave of the warrior Kroisos with rounded, fleshy anatomy.

Archaic Grave Stelai of Warriors and Athletes

Funerary stone slabs dating to 550-510 BC depicting idealized profiles of deceased youths as javelin bearers, runners, or boxers.

Siphnian Treasury North Frieze

An Archaic architectural relief at Delphi dating to 525 BC showing the Gigantomachy, the cosmic battle between the Olympian gods and giants.

Siphnian Treasury East Frieze

A Delphi relief dating to 525 BC depicting an assembly of pro-Trojan and pro-Greek gods on Mount Olympus alongside the Trojan War combat of Achilles and Memnon.

Siphnian Treasury Pediment

An Archaic pedimental composition from Delphi dating to 525 BC depicting Herakles and Apollo struggling for possession of the Delphic tripod, arbitrated by Zeus.

Kritios Boy

An Early Classical marble statue from the Athenian Acropolis dating to 480-460 BC illustrating the earliest known shift in weight (contrapposto).

Doryphoros

A renowned sculpture of a spear-bearer created by Polykleitos around 440 BC embodying the Classical canon of ideal anatomical proportions and contrapposto.

Parthenon Metopes

A set of 92 high-relief marble panels dating to 447-432 BC depicting the Gigantomachy, Centauromachy, Sack of Troy, and Amazonomachy.

Parthenon Frieze

A continuous interior marble relief dating to 447-432 BC illustrating the Panathenaic procession, mortal participants, the peplos ceremony, and seated Olympian deities.

Classical Athenian Grave Stelai with Women and Children

Marble funerary monuments dating to 430-330 BC celebrating the domestic sphere, maternal care, and family bonds.

Lebes Gamikos

An Attic red-figure wedding vase dating to 410 BC decorated with preparations for a bride's wedding ceremony.

Grave Stele of Hegeso

An Attic Classical funerary stele from the end of the 5th century BC depicting a seated woman examining jewelry brought by her standing maidservant.

Attic Black-Figure Loutrophoros

A tall ceramic vessel dating to the late 6th century BC used in wedding and funeral rituals, featuring a prothesis scene.

Attic White Ground Lekythos

An oil flask dating to 440 BC decorated on a white slip ground with scenes of mourners making preparations to visit a grave.

Attic Black-Figure Lekythos with Weaving Scenes

An oil vessel dating to 550-530 BC depicting domestic textile labor, including spinning and weaving on an upright warp-weighted loom.

Attic Red-Figure Hydria with Spinning Scene

A three-handled water vessel dating to 450-425 BC illustrating everyday domestic life with a woman seated and spinning wool.

Temple of Apollo at Bassae Frieze

An interior relief frieze dating to the late 5th century BC showcasing dramatic, swirling battles of Centauromachy and Amazonomachy.

Attic Plates with Scythians

Attic ceramic plates dating to 520-500 BC depicting foreign Scythian archers identified by their patterned trousers, tunics, and pointed caps.

Attic Red-Figure Kylix with Greek Defeating Persian

A drinking cup dating to 480 BC showing a heroic, nude Greek warrior defeating an armed Persian soldier in trousers.

Myson Amphora with Abduction of Antiope

An Attic red-figure wine storage jar dating to 490 BC by Myson depicting the mythological Greek hero Theseus abducting the Amazon queen Antiope.

Attic Red-Figure Kantharos with Greek and Amazon

A high-handled drinking cup dating to 430-420 BC featuring combat between a Greek hoplite and an Amazon warrior.

Attic Red-Figure Krater with Fleeing Persian

A wine-mixing vessel dating to 460 BC depicting an Athenian soldier pursuing a retreating Persian, reflecting Athenian perceptions of eastern foreigners.

Attic Red-Figure Kylix with Symposium Scene

A drinking cup dating to 490-480 BC illustrating the cultural activities, conversation, and physiological effects of wine intoxication at an aristocratic symposium.

Attic Red-Figure Kylix with Maenads and Satyrs

A drinking cup dating to 490-480 BC showing frenzied Dionysian reveling with dancing satyrs and maenads.

Attic Red-Figure Cup Tondi

Circular painted interiors of drinking cups dating from the late 6th to early 5th century BC, often depicting intimate, comic, or uninhibited consequences of overdrinking.

Temple of Athena Nike South Frieze

An Acropolis relief frieze dating to ca. 420 BC depicting historical battle combat between Greeks and Persians, possibly referencing Plataea (479 BC).

Temple of Athena Nike North/West Frieze

An architectural relief dating to 420 BC depicting a battle between Greeks, reflecting the internal conflicts of the Peloponnesian War era.

Bronze Boxer from Olympia

A Late Classical bronze head dating to 350 BC portraying an athlete with bruised facial realism, broken nose, and cauliflower ears.

Aphrodite of Knidos

A groundbreaking monumental sculpture by Praxiteles dating to 350-340 BC, revered as the first full-scale female nude in Greek statuary.

Nereid Monument

A Lycian dynastic tomb from Xanthos dating to 390-370 BC built for King Erbinna, combining Greek Ionic architecture and Nereid statues with Persian court and military themes.

Great Altar of Pergamon

A monumental Hellenistic altar complex dating to the c. 160s BC (160 BC) encircled by a dynamic high-relief frieze of the Gigantomachy.

Portrait of Alexander the Great

A Hellenistic marble portrait head (336 BC or Roman copy) characterized by youthful vitality, dynamic neck turn, and the distinctive anastole cowlick.

The Alexander Mosaic

A Roman floor mosaic copy of a 4th-century BC Greek painting depicting the defeat of the Persian forces under Darius III by Alexander the Great at the Battle of Issos (333 BC).

Alexander Sarcophagus

A temple-shaped marble sarcophagus dating to the last quarter of the 4th century BC, sculpted for King Abdalonymos of Sidon with relief scenes of Greeks and Persians fighting and hunting together.

Statuette of Serapis

A 3rd-century BC Hellenistic syncretic deity created under the Ptolemies that blended elements of Greek and Egyptian religion according to the formula: $\text{Hades} + \text{Osiris} + \text{Apis} = \text{Serapis}$.

Silver Coin of Alexander the Great as Herakles

A Macedonian silver tetradrachm dating to 336-323 BC featuring the head of Herakles (or Alexander depicted as Herakles) wearing the lion skin headdress.

Coin of King Lysimakhos of Thrace

A Hellenistic silver coin dating to 305-281 BC showing the deified head of Alexander the Great adorned with the horns of Zeus Ammon.