Unit 2.3: Ancient Greece

Anavysos Kouros

Artist: N/A

Period/Movement: Archaic Greek

Medium: Marble with remnants of paint

Location: Greece

Significance: strict ideal for men: athletic = god, grave maker, archaic smile, idealized to look like Apollo (yet doesn’t)

Peplos Kore

Artist: N/A

Period/Movement: Archaic Greek

Medium: Marble, painted details (faded over time)

Location: From the Acropolis

Significance: found in a temple at the Acropolis, representative of the goddess Artemis, Kore= female figure, clothed figure (traditional modesty and gender roles, stiff pose, archaic smile

Doryphoros (Spear Bearer)

Artist: N/A

Period/Movement: Classical

Medium: Roman copy (marble) of Greek original (bronze)

Location: Greece

Significance: contrapposto form (classical), represents the ancient Greeks’ idea of perfect human, he wrote a document about human proportions (canon), added support system was Roman copy indicator

Grave Stele of Hegeso

Artist: N/A

Period/Movement: Classical

Medium: Marble and paint

Location: Greece

Significance: wet drapery, high relief, grave maker, shows Hegeso and servant (she is picking out jewelry), domestic life and women’s role in society

Niobides Krater

Artist: Anonymous vase painter known as Niobid Painter

Period/Movement: Classical

Medium: Clay, red figure technique

Location: Greece

Significance: function: to mix water with wine, center of the vase honors the hero Hercules, on the back: scene of Niobe who has 14 children and brags about them being more beautiful than children of goddess Leto—> results in Apollo and Artemis killing Niobe’s children, sharp contrast in imagery and technique

Athenian Agora

Artist: N/A

Period/Movement: Archaic through Hellenistic

Medium: Plan

Location: Greece

Significance: an elevated spot to be closer to the gods, dedicated to goddess Athena, market place, politcal center, a place of sacred spaces, path leading up to Acropolis (Panathenaic Way)

Acropolis

Artist: N/A

Period/Movement: Classical

Medium: Marble

Location: Athens, Greece

Significance: elevated closer to Gods, dedicated to goddess, Athena, holds all the sculptures and he Parthenon, a series of ruins dedicated to the glory of Athena

Parthenon

Artist: N/A

Period/Movement: Classical

Medium: Pentelic Marble

Location: Acropolis, Athens

Significance: high relief on metopes, low relief on frieze, triangular composition, storage of gunpowder, treasury, served as a mosque, original temple for Athena, an explosion blew out the heart of the building 

Temple of Athena Nike

Artist: N/A

Period/Movement: Classical

Medium: Pentelic Marble

Location: Acropolis, Athens

Significance: ionic temple columns, depict the battle of the Greeks vs. the Persians, shows a gathering of Gods around the enthroned Zeus, Nike= goddess of victory

Helios, horses, and Dionysus

Artist: N/A

Period/Movement: Classical

Medium: Marble

Location: East Pediment of the Parthenon

Significance: constructed into a pediment, showing standards of canon, Helio is seen rising from the left suggesting the rising sun, horses that pull his chariot, and the reclining male figure has been identified as either Dionysus or Hercules

Victory adjusting her Sandal

Artist: N/A

Period/Movement: Classical

Medium: Marble

Location: Acropolis, Athens

Significance: wet drapery, high relief, Nike sacrifices herself— removing her shoes (walking on holy ground), off balance pose that contrasts with classical style

Plaque of the Ergastines

Artist: N/A

Period/Movement: Classical

Medium: Marble

Location: Ionic Frieze on the Parthenon

Significance: frieze, once brightly colored, high relief, wet drapery, representation of Athen’s civic life (citizens, animals and offerings)

Winged Victory of Samothrace

Artist: N/A

Period/Movement: Hellenistic

Medium: Marble

Location: Greece

Significance: wet drapery, sense of naturalism, the Greeks victory over Rhodes, sense of drama and power, highly expressive

Great Altar of Zeus and Athena at Pergamon

Artist: N/A

Period/Movement: Hellenistic

Medium: Marble

Location: Asia Minor (present-day Turkey)

Significance: expressive and dramatic sculptures, Greek culture’s triumph over chaos, mythic battle between giants and Olympian gods

Seated Boxer

Artist: N/A

Period/Movement: Hellenistic

Medium: Bronze

Location: Greece

Significance: hollow and made from lost wax casting, shift in Greek art toward more emotional and diverse subjects, older and defeated athlete