500-300BC Art and Archaeology notes

Early Classical .1 - Introduction

• Is there a sharp shft between the archaic and the early classical?

  • Ridgway - suggests that there is a distinct change

    • Severity of form and facial feature

    • Change in drapery from the Ionic chiton to Doric peplos

    • Interest in motion now fully developed

    • Subject matter now includes higher characterisation (Attic drama?)

    • Human emotion

    • And a new concept of man and his ethos (character formed by habit and self-discipline)

• Can we find this change in the Anavyssos kouros and the Riace warrior B?

  • See linear and geometric treatment of the body giving way to naturalistic rendering of muscle

  • Static stance → complex contraposto (muscles responding to motion)

  • And the face especially = no more Archaic smile, with specific character (naturalistic beard, strong straight nose, prominent lower lip BUT still quite symmetrical and smoothed surfaces)

Early Classical ._ - Aphaia

• And may also see this transition into early classical in the pedimental sculpture of Aphaia in Aegina

  • The building seems to have burnt down some time between 500 and 490BC and then rebuilt (Persian invasion)

    • Had medised in 491BC apparently (acc. to Herodotus) but then did fight in the invasion = destroyed

    • Had been a mid-6th century before, but then replaced in 500 before being destroyed again

  • More sculptures were found however than could fit into the two pediments → suggestion is that another set were remade in 480s (but why only change ONE pediment?)

    • But pediments discuss similar theme! The two Trojan wars

    • Telamon fought with Heracles, and Ajax fought with Achilles against Troy

    • Could this be seen as an allegory? Would mean both were post-war… (intentionally archaised?)

  • West corner figure = stiff, one axis, leg unnaturally over the other, no response to arrow, archaic smile / East corner figure = twisted torso, broken axis, arm limp, head faced down with less prominent smile

Early Classical .2 - personal styling?

• There ARE some other differences in these sculptures as well as the style, and that is the character and physical adornments of the figures

• Men for example seem to now cut their hair short

  • Contrast the Anavyssos kouros (530BC) to the portrait of Themistocles (Roman herm from Ostia, original 470BC) - snailcurls on brow and long pellet-shaped braids to cropped, slightly curled hair with matching beard

  • We also begin to see more naturalistic depiction of pubic hair (no longer styled)

    • Riace warrior B - not the full shape which we see on a kouros from 500BC Athens (sunken star shaped)

  • Clothing also seems to shift

    • 500BC Acropolis youth wears a chiton and himation over the top

    • And 500BC Athenian acropolis dedication of trousered male on horse (heavily coloured and patterned too)

    • BUT in the 5th century we begin to see a shift to the himation alone eg. two male figures on white-figure lekythoi, the elders on the Parthenon east frieze (block IV) and dedication of youth by Lysikleides at Rhamnous 400BC

• Female figures?

  • Can also make an argument for a shift here - from the Acropolis kore 682 (long chiton pulled to side, ruffled himation over with earrings) to Athena on temple of Olympian Zeus (simple peplos, no jewellery, hair is tied up in simple style)

    • Also look to Artemis on the Niobid krater c. 460BC, and depiction of woman visiting a grave c. 460 white-ground lekythos

Early Classical .3 - Evolution?

• Neer argues for a more slowly evolving style (NOT driven by singular event or sculptor)

  • ‘the new style does not represent a radical break or rupture with the Archaic past so much as an ongoing adjustment of emphasis’

• For this argument, the dating of sculptures around 500-480BC is critical (arguments often occur to date items pre-480BC)

  • The Miletus torso? Interesting because it isn’t Athenian

    • Dated 479BC - inspired by Athens?

    • 494 was battle of Lade, and then 479 sees Athenian led troops overcome the Persians here (Mykale)

    • Herodotus - Milesians all fled, and see no archaelogy from first half of 5th (ceramic markers)

    • = overall stiff posture and leg BUT linea alba, assymetry and contraposto

    • BUT nothing else found = beginning of what? How had they returned so suddenly to their workshops?

  • The bronze Poseidon from Livadostra?

• ALSO Fullerton - ‘even if the ‘change’ can be pinned to the years of and following the Persian wars, it need not follow that it occurred because of them’

• But we must also be careful of promoting teleology, suggesting that it was inevitable that the artistic style would develop umprompted in this direction towards the Classical

  • Things did change! Desire for scenes and interaction in pieces

Early Classical ._ - what did the ancients think?

• How did the ancients view this period?

  • Poseidippos of Pella (late 4th to early 3rd) says that if we saw the old sculptures, we would not reproach Lysippus

  • And Polyklitos is included in this group of ‘old sculptures’ !

  • And Cicero comments on an evolution of sculpture from 500BC Canarchos, to 480 Calamis (hard but more lifelike), 480-440 Myron (did not attain lifelikeness) and ending with (460-410) Polykleitos who is quite perfect

• Aeschylus fragment - ‘consider whether…this image could be more my looks, this Daedalus reproduction; all it lacks is a voice’ (might be a pun on satyr-masks in a temple!)

  • Interest in art that now lived in the world around them, rather than in vaccuum

• But also here Aeschylus asked to make paean for Delphi but denied as Tynnichos made the best one

  • To write a new paean would be to compare the new statues with the old

  • → the old are better ! Because they were held to be divine, and inherently separate from man

  • This is from the work of Porphyry, almost 700 years later…

  • But does fit with the subversive idea that not everything new is an improvement (depends on what the function was!)

  • Could argue that the early Classical evolved out of a desire to construct more naturalistic bodies while retaining the disengaged feeling of the divine = the neutral, severe look (they did not know the classical was to come)

Early Classical ._ - the orientalist

• Much of the scholarship surrounding this shift in style is imbued with an air of orientalism

  • Authors revealing their true feelings about the ‘East’ through their desire to cleave the ‘asiatic’ and true ‘Classical’ apart

  • Fullerton so - ‘the restrictive essentially Asiatic, formulae of the Archaic era gave way to a new palette of forms and figural types - heavier, simpler, still idealised but more reflective of visual experiences…’

    • ‘more rational than ornamental’

  • Joubin - ‘reaction against the Ionian style and Ionian influence’

  • Carpenter - ‘uncontaminated by any unHellenic trait’

• Stewart

  • ‘disciplined’ early classical

  • And baffling to deny that this wasn’t revolutionary

  • ‘Spearhead a movement’

  • Evolution is a ‘utopian construction of a smooth, untroubled ahistorical landscape’

• Is the sculptor deciding to turn away from the ‘Asiatic’ or is it the patron? WHO is cultivating this new “liberating” style?

Early Classical .4 - externally dated monuments

• Certain monuments can be dated NOT only by style

• The temple of Apollo, Eretria was destroyed by the Persians in 490BC

  • Herodotus 6.101

• The Athenian treasury, Delphi is post-490BC

  • Pausanias 10,11,5

  • This is however a little suspect because was the panel of statues added later?

• Persian sack of the Athenian acropolis is 480BC

  • Thus the votive marbles (especially korai) must be pre-480BC

  • Herodotus 8.53 discusses sack of 480 and 9.3 of 479BC

• And lastly, in 478BC the Themistoclean wall in Athens re-used funerary stelai and bases as building material after the Persian sack

  • Thucydides 1.90-93 discusses this

  • = anything in the wall has to have been made in the ‘two years’ after war OR before!

  • And one of these examples is the ball-player base (development outside of the actual sculpture) which shows intense interest in the movement of the body in miniature, especially the twist of the torso

  • But still includes the snailcurl hair-style, overly developed glutes and archaic smile

Early Classical .4 - Eretria

• Herodotus _ discusses the burning of Eretria in the 490BC attack of the Persians

  • Fullerton - believed to be 510-495BC for the building of this temple

  • Three main pieces are preserved of this temple - the upper torso of Athena, the group of Theseus carrying Antiope and the kneeling Amazon archer

• The group shows at least an interest in depicting interaction and movement

  • The group can be viewed from different angles!

  • Antiope’s head tilts down as Theseus looks right

  • But still the archaic smiles, the snail-curls, the lack of effort or impression from the lifting action = not developed!

• Can we compare this to the Athenian treasury at Delphi

  • Metope of Theseus and Antiope

  • Post 490s

  • Not intertwined, as Theseus leans over Antiope (his torso facing fully outwards, muscles incised)

  • Same flatness of body

  • In both instances, eyes were painted on!

• Is there a development here? Especially with an Athenian post 490 piece!

  • It is for this reason that often this treasury is suggested to be an earlier creation

  • Before or after Marathon… - was believed that Theseus appeared on the battlefield at Marathon! Would make sense as a post-Marathon hero

  • And Amazons as a parallel to the Persians as foreigners

Early Classical .5 - the Persian debris pit (korai)

• Kore pit

  • Included many korai

  • Situated on the South side of the acropolis, near the wall and behind the Erechtheon

  • Kore 670, Kore 672 and Kore 682 - NOT a copy and paste but they do have similar features

    • Schematic hair styling

    • Tiaria

    • Interest on patterning and texture through drapery

    • However, do see legs pulling through the fabric (682 - the left knee-cap is prominent, with the bone and its protective tissue bulging through the fabric)

    • Can perhaps see how this developed to the Angelitos’ Athena!

      • More of a bend to the right knee, but same prominence

      • And also interest in the schematics of the fabric (columnar flutes on the left side)

      • But is in a simpler peplos and right arm up (breaking out of the marble) probably to hold a spear and folds are more doughy

    • The Euthydikos kore is another complex issue

      • Has schematic hair (but more naturalistically falling over the breasts)

      • Strong almond incised eyes

      • BUT no archaic smile and less heavily sitting cheeks

      • This seems like a development in style within the same tradition!

      • Is this tension? Or part of a slow development

Early Classical .5 - the Persian debris pit (korai)

• Kore pit

  • Included many korai

  • Situated on the South side of the acropolis, near the wall and behind the Erechtheon

  • Kore 670, Kore 672 and Kore 682 - NOT a copy and paste but they do have similar features

    • Schematic hair styling

    • Tiaria

    • Interest on patterning and texture through drapery

    • However, do see legs pulling through the fabric (682 - the left knee-cap is prominent, with the bone and its protective tissue bulging through the fabric)

    • Can perhaps see how this developed to the Angelitos’ Athena!

      • More of a bend to the right knee, but same prominence

      • And also interest in the schematics of the fabric (columnar flutes on the left side)

      • But is in a simpler peplos and right arm up (breaking out of the marble) probably to hold a spear and folds are more doughy

    • The Euthydikos kore is another complex issue

      • Has schematic hair (but more naturalistically falling over the breasts)

      • Strong almond incised eyes

      • BUT no archaic smile and less heavily sitting cheeks

      • This seems like a development in style within the same tradition!

      • Is this tension? Or part of a slow development

Early Classical .6 - the Kritios boy

• Kritios boy was also found in the acropolis but found in a time where stratigraphy and intense notation were not the priority

  • = have little information about where it was found (eg. depth)

  • And don’t have its base = no information on the dedicator or sculptor

• As it was found on the acropolis, it was believed to be pre-480 much like the korai

  • And the head was believed to have been broken off by the Persians (sharp cut)

  • And limbs too

  • = doesn’t seem to have occurred from falling

  • BUT no sign of burning…

• The reason for the name ‘Kritios boy’ is also because he is believed to have a similar face to the younger man (Harmodios) from the tyrannicide group

  • Sculptor was named Kritios

  • Furthermore, the eyes of the Kritios boy are missing = suggestion that they were inlaid (much like bronze!)

• Could compare to the facial features of the Euthydikos kore (heavy, impassive mouth, broad oval outline, slight cheekbones and chin)

  • As well as the blonde boy

• But it is also not perfect!

  • Both feet should be reconstructed as firmly planted on base surface which doesn’t fit with the pose!

Early Classical ._ - kouros 692

• The arms are held far from body without struts needed

• While the placement of the buttocks is incorrect, the left leg is advanced and bent = the marble statue breaks out from the canonical pose of the kouros type!

• Part of the Ptoion 20 group

• Quintilian quote - it is the curve of the body that allows for motion and the sense of rigour…

  • Bending and tilting provide movement

  • Do we see this here?

Early Classical .7 - the Tyrannicides

• After the Archaic original was believed to have been seized by the Persians, another was dedicated in 477BC to be placed in the Athenian agora

  • Were returned by Hellenistic king (Pausanias 1.8.5 credits Antiochus)

  • Symbol of Athenian liberation (is it?)

  • And depicted over and over eg. on vase-paintings, reliefs and gems

    • Have Roman copy in Naples (was still thought relevant then!)

      • And also find a plaster cast from a Roman sculptor’s workshop in Baiae = part of the process!

    • RF jug fragment, 400BC

    • Also in relief on the Elgin throne, 4th c. Athens

    • And on a shield device on an Athenian panathenaic prize amphora, 400BC

• Evidence of age differentiation between the two!

  • Aristogeiton has heavier, sagging skin, thicker torso, beard

  • He also holds his chlamys over the younger man like a shield = leaning into a narrative rather than a simple pose

  • BUT also have the archaic smile, vertical folds of himation, treatment of beard not naturalistic!

• We may also look at the other works of Kritios and Nesiotes (had been working in 500BC! Why would he change his design, Alkibios, kithaeros player)

  • Known from 6 inscribed bases found on the acropolis

  • One made after 480BC, dedicated by Hegelochus as memorial of toils of Ares, and dowel holes suggest that the base supported a large bronze figure in striding position (like tyrannicides?)

  • May also look a little earlier to the Athena Promachos from the Athenian acropolis gigantomachy pediment (from end of 6th) & the Ugento Zeus = both have advanced foot flat on the ground while the other foot has heel raised

  • = Might have been a common pose of attacking = NOT revolutionary

Early Classical .8 - outside Athens?

• The Persian wars seemed to be a central part in the development of Athenian identity

  • But was it for all Greeks?

• Olympia is an excellent example

• But also look to temple E at Selinus, 460BC

  • The Zeus and Hera metope which includes a peplos and a himation over the waist, chest out, leaning back on the rock with attempt at a twisted torso in relief

  • Compare peplos to the peplos statue from Xanthos, 460BC (region where the chiton comes from!)

• The Leonidas sculpture

  • Which nicely pairs archaic and early classical elements (not everyone wished for this novel style!)

  • Breaking axis of body, softly rendered muscles, heroic nudity and Archaic smile! With deep-set eyes too

  • Is quite rough on its face, and only a torso - how was it broken?

• Despotiko! Island sacked during Miltiades’ abortive mission against Paros 489BC

• Kanochos’ Apollo statue

  • Of Sikyon

  • Monumental sculpture in bronze, but only known from written sources (apparently robbed by Persians and then returned to the Milesians by Seleucos I)

  • Have coins, gems and small bronzes with strong ‘severe’ features & a headless statue in forum Romanum which is believed to be copy

  • IF plundered, has to be pre-494BC…

• Also an interesting question when we think of the best Classical sculptors! eg. Polykleitos

  • He wasn’t Athenian! Did he learn from them?

Early Classical .9 - other factors?

• The Persian wars and specifically this desire to express an austere, self-restrained pose in contrast to the extravagant East could NOT have been the only reason!

• Firstly, the technology was changing

  • Bronze was now the material of choice

  • See the production of a bronze on the Foundry kylix (480BC, Berlin)

  • Allowed for more imbalanced poses and softer rendering (plasticity of clay prototypes)

  • Which can be seen in the chariot group from Delphi (small marble block nearby with the name of Polyzalus as dedicator, recut over erasure which seems to say ‘ruler of Gela’ = Hieron?

    • Copper and silver additions

    • And cap of crescent shaped curls = not schematic!

• And statue habits were changing too!

  • No longer do most of our statues from this period represent aristocratic individuals

  • But rather state dedications eg. the Athena Promachos

  • And the Athenian treasury and Parthenon

• Changes in funerary art too

  • Cicero discusses potential sumptuary law in Athens! - ‘And as Demetrios of Phaleron writes…post aliquanto, some time after (Solon), on account of the scale of the tombs which we see in the Kerameikos, it was decreed by law that: no-one should make a tomb more elaborate than 10 men in 3 days / not be decorated with plaster / nor herms be placed on it

    • And we do have a shift in what we find! No intricate works until 430!

    • See rather lists of war-dead (eg. 460BC, war-dead of Erechtheis)

  • But elsewhere do find funerary stelai eg. the Nisyros stele now in Istanbul, and the girl with jewellery box, believed to be from Paros

Early Classical .10 - democracy?

• Could one argue for a shift BUT for an entirely different reason?

  • Could the Cleisthenic reforms and the shift to democracy be the reason for the change>

  • ‘An increasingly subjective treatment of the viewer’s experiences corresponds precisely to the establishment of rudimentary democratic institutions in Athens’ Fullerton

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Temple ._ - the temple of Olympian Zeus

• The games were reformed in 471BC by Elis (took over from Pisa)

  • And we find a Spartan votive shield for battle of Tenega (over Athens) at the apex of the temple

  • = 456BC must be the terminus ante quem

  • Pausanias 5.10.4 describes it, AND the supporting block that once carried the shield included a little inscription that validated Pausanias’ words

  • However he also says at 5.10.2 that the temple and cult statue were made from the spoils from Pisa (but she isn’t a very well-known or rich city…, but might have held touristic revenue from the games)

• The temple is not that well-preserved today because of an earthquake in 6th c AD

  • And by this point, had already been made into a church

  • The nearby rivers did cover it in silt which provided some protection for the ruins

• The temple is a canonical Doric temple (2X+1, X)

  • 6×13 columns, double porch, two layers of internal columns

    • These columns were also made from local shell limestone and stucco (cheaper!)

    • All of the sculptural work was Parian marble (some in pentelic though…restoration post earthquake?)

    • Parian sculptors then? Do see strong resemblance to the blonde boy… (Parian workers in Athens)

  • High steps up to the temple

Temples ._ - East pediment

• 3m for height and 1m for width within the space of pediment

  • Carved most of the sculpture but left the back rough (NOT relief)

  • May have used clay models before to fully understand the space

• Pausanias suggests that Paionios sculpted the pediments but he is too late in the 5th century

  • May have read the inscription on the base of the Nike of the Messenians which was made by Paianios and which mentions he also made the acroteria

• So we don’t know BUT both are quite different in their narrative

  • The east depicts a tranquil parade of figures without interaction

  • Does mean it is a little hard to work out the order of these figures (and Pausanias does not say whether he means his or Zeus’ right…)

  • Each figure however is characterised dependent on the narrative = that of Pelops’ victory over Oinamaos in a chariot-race (Pelopeion to the N of temple, and also hear of success in Pindar 1.67-88)

  • eg. Oinamaos with his hands on his hips and uptilted head (self-confidence) / Pelops with slimmer build and down-turned face

  • Hippodamia is in the movement of pulling her dress over her head = bridal pose

• Decision to choose moment just before action, about the character

Temples ._ - West Pediment

• Contrast between East and West here, as W is all about physical contact and the overlapping chaos

  • Only one figure not involved in the chaos and this is Apollo at the centre (gods remain ordered and disconnected)

  • May compare to the depiction of Aollo on the Niobid krater 460BC

    • Shooting arrow, and see Apollo’s hand is hole perfect for metal arrow to be inserted

  • Pausanias believed this to be Pirithoos but most likely the figure to Apollo’s right defending his bride

• This is a depiction of the new centauromachy (old one included Heracles)

  • Attempt at regaining social order in the form of marriage

  • Theseus with his double-axe is in a pose similar to the tyrannicides = regaining social control

• One could also suggest that the depiction of the centaurs as biting may be a warning to the contestants (don’t do what these beasts do!)

  • Centaur P

  • One also has a cauliflower ear (like a boxer)

Temples ._ - the metopes

• On the front and back porch, we find twice 6 metopes

  • Only two of the metopes have been preserved in full

  • Which is why Pausanias’ descriptions are so helpful here

• Heracles’ labours is a relevant subject for the metope as he was believed in some myths as the founder of the games

  • But was a figure who could also provide models for the athletic visitors

  • Canon was however quite new at this point

• The narrative starts at the back-porch and follows the chronological order

  • And see the figure of Heracles aging as the metopes progress!

  • Different age categories in the games?

• Special metopes

  • First depiction of a deity sitting on a rock! With the Stymphalian birds

  • Atlas metope is beneath the pinnacle of the roof!

  • Impressive use of space with the bull (X)

• May also compare to the metopes on the temple of Selinus (460-450BC)

  • Eg. Hera and Zeus ! Seated Zeus

Temple ._ - the cult statue

• Was constructed later than the temple

  • Around 438BC

  • Pheidias, who was apparently exiled from Athens for putting his and Pericles’ likeness on the shield of Athena Parthenos

• Despite seated, this statue covered more than half of the height of the whole temple

• Chryselephantine, and since ivory cracked, oil needed to be regularly poured over it = pile of oil before the statue

  • This would create a wonderfully sparking pool of scented oil in which one could see the statue reflected

• Pausanias describes the painted walls on the inner side of the temple

  • Pheidias’ brother?

  • We have no archaeological evidence of this

  • Nor of the galleries on the upper floors

Temples ._ - Olympic games

• Olympian sanctuary

  • One of the panhellenic games (alongside the Pythian)

  • Sacred truce occurred a month before the games = warfare had to stop for this period

  • And the Olympic games were never cancelled, despite the warfare between city states

  • Olympia was not a city-state in itself but rather a site administered by Elis, a city-state in the north of Peloponnese

• The games included wrestling, pentathlon, chariot racing etc

  • And all athletes would travel a month before the games to Elis

  • Oath to Zeus, then to Pelops (his tomb was in the sanctuary)

  • Games, and then banquet

• The victor would be crowned by the branches of the sacred olive tree (the highest olive tree)

  • And would enjoy privileges for life, including free meals for life and exemption from taxes

  • Potentially also be sung about by a poet

• No women allowed to watch