Ancient Greek Art Periods and Key Works

Classical Period (5th-4th centuries BCE)

  • Begins with Persian defeat in 480 BCE (Naval victory at Salamis).

  • High point of Greek civilization.

  • Key figures: Sophocles, Euripides, Aeschylus, Aristophanes (playwrights); Pericles (statesman); Socrates (philosopher); Herodotus (historian).

  • Art features: Anatomically correct body, idealized perfect form, realism, combination of outer world and inner beauty.

Early Classical Sculpture

  • Kritios Boy (ca. 480 BCE):

    • Introduces contrapposto.

    • Breaks from Egyptian style.

    • Transitional from Archaic to Classic.

High Classical Sculpture

  • Warrior Riace (460-450 BCE):

    • Bronze, contrapposto.

    • Idealistic and realistic.

    • Created using cire perdue (lost wax method).

  • Diskobolos (Discus Thrower) by MYRON (ca. 450 BCE):

    • Captures the "pregnant moment" – height of the action paused.

  • Doryphoros (Spear Bearer) by POLYKLEITOS (ca. 450-440 BCE):

    • Embodiment of The Kanon treatise, defining ideal proportion (symmetria).

    • Ratio of head to body is 1:71:7.

    • Follows Chiastic principle (balance of opposites) and contrapposto stance.

The Acropolis

  • Rebuilt under Pericles after destruction by Xerxes in 480 BCE.

  • Financed by the Delian League tribute.

  • Expressed Athenian power and tribute to Athena.

  • Key structures: Propylaia (entrance, Mnesikles), Parthenon (main temple), Erechtheion, Temple of Athena Nike.

The Parthenon (IKTINOS and KALLIKRATES, 447-438 BCE)

  • Doric order, octostyle, peripteral temple.

  • Sections: Pronaos, Cella (naos), Opisthodomos, Opisthonaos.

  • Optical Illusions:

    • Upward curvature of stylobate and architrave.

    • Entasis (slight swelling) of columns.

    • Slight inward angle of columns.

    • Less distance between end columns.

  • Decorations:

    • 9292 metopes (Lapiths vs. Centaurs; Greeks vs. Amazons; Gods vs. Giants; Sack of Troy).

    • 524524 feet of Ionic frieze depicting the Panathenaic Festival.

  • Athena Parthenos by PHIDIAS (ca. 438 BCE):

    • Massive chryselephantine (ivory and gold) statue, approx. 38′38' tall.

Late Classical Period (4th century BCE)

  • Marked by Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE), plague in Athens, death of Pericles.

  • Rise of Sparta, Thebes, then Philip II of Macedon; Alexander the Great's rule begins 336 BCE.

  • Shift in focus to individual and real world; end of serene idealism.

  • Less concern for strict mathematical proportions and rational order.

  • Emphasis on individual sculptural style.

Late Classical Sculpture

  • Aphrodite of Knidos by PRAXITELES (ca. 350-340 BCE):

    • One of the earliest monumental female nudes.

    • Sensuous, not explicitly erotic.

  • Apoxyomenos (Scraper) by LYSIPPOS (ca. 330 BCE):

    • Introduced a new canon of proportions: head is 1/81/8th of the body size, resulting in a more slender figure.

Hellenistic Period (323 BCE - 31 BCE)

  • Follows Alexander's death; empire divided among generals.

  • Decline of city-states; emergence of a cosmopolitan world.

  • Greek becomes international language; Alexandria a cultural center.

  • Changes in style:

    • Pronounced realism and expressiveness.

    • Experimentation of pose and drapery.

    • Individuality and interest in emotions.

    • Expanded repertoire of depicted people.

Hellenistic Sculpture

  • Dying Gaul (Epigonos?, ca. 230-220 BCE):

    • Depicts suffering and emotional intensity, reflecting realism.

  • Venus de Milo (Aphrodite of Melos) by ALEXANDROS OF ANTIOCH-ON-THE-MEANDER (ca. 150-125 BCE):

    • Dynamic pose and expressive drapery.

  • Seated Boxer (ca. 100-50 BCE):

    • Bronze, cire perdue.

    • Focus on raw emotion, aging, and physical toll; pronounced realism.

  • Laocoon and his sons by ATHANADOROS, HAGESANDROS, and POLYDOROS OF RHODES (Early 1st century CE):

    • Dramatic, highly emotional, and complex composition depicting intense struggle and suffering.