Greek Art from Prehistoric to Classical – Key Vocabulary

Geographic & Cultural Frame of Reference

• Map of the Ancient Greek World

  • Shows the expanse of Greek-speaking influence across the Mediterranean, Aegean, Black, Adriatic, Tyrrhenian, and Ionian Seas.

  • Key poleis and regions labelled: Attica (Athens), Lakonia (Sparta), Boeotia (Thebes), Argolid (Mycenae/Argos), Macedonia (Pella, Vergina), Ionia & Asia\;Minor (Ephesos, Miletos, Sardis), Magna Graecia colonies (Tarentum, Syracuse, Akragas), and pan-Hellenic sanctuaries (Olympia, Delphi, Isthmia, Nemea).

  • Illustrates strategic maritime orientation—facilitated trade, colonisation, and cultural diffusion.

Master Timeline (Prehistoric → Late Classical)

• Pre-Neolithic & Neolithic

  • 8300-6000: Franchthi Cave → earliest deliberate burials; Melian obsidian indicates seafaring.

  • 4900: First copper metallurgy in northern Greece.

• Early Bronze & Minoan

  • 3000-1100: Minoan maritime civilisation; Great Palace period at Knossos.

  • 1900-1450: Linear A (undeciphered) in use on Crete.

  • 1500-1450: Theran volcanic eruption influences collapse / myths of Atlantis.

• Mycenaean (Late Bronze)

  • 1600-1100: Mycenaean civilisation; Lion Gate at Mycenae (ca.1400), shaft graves (ca.1550).

  • 1450-1200: Linear B (Early Greek) on mainland.

  • 1200: Legendary fall of Troy.

• Early Iron & Archaic

  • 776: First Olympic Games (Olympia, dedicated to Zeus).

  • 775-750: Wave of colonisation → Marseilles (ca.600).

  • 750: Homer composes Iliad & Odyssey → ethical models for aristocracy.

  • 610: Poet Sappho flourishes (Lesbos) → female lyric voice.

  • 594-593: Solon’s reforms—abolishes serfdom, lays democratic foundations.

  • 556: Panathenaic Festival instituted at Athens.

  • 525: Red-figure pottery invented.

• Classical (5th c. “Golden Age”)

  • Major dramatists: Aeschylus 525/4-456, Sophokles 496-406, Euripides 485-406.

  • 508-507: Kleisthenes’ reforms → full democracy (isonomia) for free male citizens.

  • 490-479: Persian Wars (Marathon 490, Thermopylai/Salamis 480, Plataea 479).

  • 460-429: Periklean era—Athens ascendant; Parthenon built 447-432.

  • Historians: Herodotos 480-420, Thucydides 455-400.

  • 431-404: Peloponnesian War → Spartan victory; decline of Athenian hegemony.

  • Philosophers: Sokrates (trial 399), Plato 429-347, Aristotle 384-322.

• Late Classical & Macedonian Supremacy

  • Sculptors: Praxiteles 360-330, Lysippos 340-310.

  • 338: Philip II defeats Greek coalition at Chaironeia.

  • 334-323: Alexander the Great conquers Persian Empire; spreads Hellenism eastward.

  • 323: Death of Alexander → start of Hellenistic period (beyond scope of current transcript).

Key Aspects of Fifth-Century Life

Myth & Religion

• Anthropomorphic pantheon—12 Olympians (Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Aphrodite, Dionysos, Ares, Hephaistos).

• Sacred attributes: e.g.

  • Zeus → ox, oak.

  • Athena → helmet, spear, aegis w/ Medusa, owl, olive.

  • Hermes → winged sandals, kerykeion.

• Sanctuaries enclosed by temenos walls; altar outside temple → sacrifices public & outdoor.

• No canonical scripture; religion based on reciprocal exchange (votive gifts ≈ ‘do ut des’).

• Pan-Hellenic festivals (Olympia, Delphi, Nemea, Isthmia) every 4 years; enforced ekecheiria (sacred truce).

• Mystery cults (Eleusis) offered personal salvation—early critique/alternative to civic cult.

Death & Afterlife

• Homeric view: psyche leaves as breath; Hades = gloomy realm (“better a serf alive…”).

• Funerary rites: washing, anointing, prothesis (laying-out vigil), ekphora (pre-dawn procession).

• Grave markers: tumuli, marble stelai, sculptured monuments → immortality through remembrance.

Athletics

• Ideal of kalokagathia (beautiful-and-good): perfect body = moral excellence.

• Olympic genesis 776; circuit (periodos) adds Pythian, Nemean, Isthmian games by 6^{th} c.

• Events: stadion footrace, pentathlon (stadion + long jump + diskos + javelin + wrestling), boxing, pankration, chariot/horse races.

• Winners receive olive wreaths, city honors, statues, Pindaric odes.

• Link to military training & civic identity—only free Greek males allowed.

Symposium

• Formalised male drinking party → social, political, intellectual networking.

• Spatial layout: andron with 7 or 11 couches (klinai) lining three walls.

• Symposiarch dictates dilution ratio (common 3:1 water:wine); barbaroi drink undiluted (moral contrast).

• Activities: poetry, lyre/kithara music, kottabos (wine-flinging game), philosophical discussion (cf. Plato).

• Pottery (kraters, kylikes) depict Dionysos & symposiasts, reinforcing ritual play between order & ecstasy.

Warfare

• Hoplite ideal: citizen-soldier equips himself (approx. 70 lbs armour & weapons).

• Arms: 8-10 ft spear, sword, bronze panoply (helmet, cuirass, greaves), \approx30-inch hoplon shield.

• Phalanx tactics—cohesive wall of overlapping shields; battle decided by pushing line.

• Athenian class system (Solon):

  • Pentakosiomedimnoi (≥ 500 medimnoi annual produce) → generals/leaders.

  • Hippeis (≥ 300) → cavalry.

  • Zeugitai (≥ 200) → hoplites.

  • Thetes (< 200) → rowers/archers.

• Imagery on black-figure vases merges myth & contemporary warfare → heroic self-identification.

Architecture

• Temple = core of sanctuary; monumental “statue-house” marking sacred landscape rather than inviting congregation.

• Site-specific symbolism: Poseidon temple at Sounion surrounded by sea; Parthenon atop Akropolis projects Athenian might.

• Orders & proportion (body analogy):

  • Doric (masculine): no base; fluted shaft; simple echinus + abacus capital; triglyph-metope frieze.

  • Ionic (feminine): base; volute capital; continuous frieze.

  • Corinthian (late): acanthus leaf capital; popular in Hellenistic/Roman eras.

• Construction logistics:

  • Marble & limestone quarried, pre-sized at site; dry-fit ashlar with concealed metal clamps; seismic resilience.

  • Multidisciplinary labour (architect, masons, sculptors, painters, metalworkers).

  • Periklean building programme (447-432) epitomises civic piety + political propaganda.

Artists & Materials

Bronze Statuary

• Alloy typically Cu:Sn = 9:1; preferred for large sculpture despite advent of iron.

• Sourcing: copper from Euboea & Cyprus; tin from Asia Minor, Iran, Britain.

• Finishing: cold chiselling for detail; inlaid eyes (stone/glass), copper lips, silver teeth; left unpatinated (warm golden).

Lost-Wax Casting

• Two major techniques:

  • Direct (solid/hollow): clay core → wax layer → clay investment → wax melted → bronze poured.

  • Indirect: master clay model → piece-molds → hollow wax replica assembled → core stabilised by chaplets → cast → chased & welded.

• Diagrams (pp. 45-47) show funnels, vents, chaplets, gates, flow-welds.

Roman Marble Copies

• After late\,4^{th} c. BC expansion, Romans import & imitate Greek art for cultural capital.

• Copy practice: plaster molds from bronzes → marble reproductions with support struts/tree-trunks (structural compensation for stone).

• Large 2nd-c. AD market—domestic villas, baths, theatres.

• Post-Renaissance collecting cleaned & restored copies; modern conservation now preserves fragmentary state.

Ceramics

Technology & Firing

• Fine Attic clay rich in iron; turns orange in oxidising atmosphere.

• Three-phase kiln cycle:

  1. Oxidising: all turns orange.

  2. Reducing (smoke, low O_2): entire vase blackens.

  3. Re-oxidising: reserved areas reclaim orange; gloss-coated areas sinter & stay black.

Black-Figure (BF)

• Invented Corinth 7^{th} c.; perfected at Athens ca.620.

• Figures painted with gloss slip; incised for detail; added red/white highlights.

• Artists:

  • Amasis Painter (560-515): clarity, balanced compositions; possible Egyptian origin.

  • Exekias (550-530): potter + painter; introduces eye-cup, calyx-krater; psychological depth (e.g., Achilles & Ajax gaming).

Red-Figure (RF)

• Invented by Andokides Painter ca.530; reverses colour logic—figures reserved, background black.

• Allows greater plasticity & anatomical accuracy via painted relief-lines & dilute wash shading.

• Pioneer Group: Euphronios, Euthymides—experiment with foreshortening, torsion.

• Specialist workshops:

  • Brygos Painter, Douris, Makron → kylikes.

  • Kleophrades Painter, Berlin Painter → large vessels.

  • Penthesilea Painter → mythic action on small shapes.

• White-Ground Lekythoi (funerary oil flasks): Achilles Painter et al. use white slip + added colours; rare evidence of polychromy.

Iconography & Social Insight

• Early Classical RF: everyday life (athletics, music, symposium, erotics).

• Mid-5th c.: shift to farewell scenes, funerary rites, women’s sphere (weddings, domestic tasks), possibly mirroring wartime losses & social tensions.

• Ethical & philosophical resonance: pottery images serve as visual complements to literature, reinforcing societal values (arete, sophrosyne, xenia).

Ethical, Philosophical & Real-World Connections

• Democratic reforms (Solon, Kleisthenes) illustrate evolving notions of citizenship later theorised by Sokrates, Plato, Aristotle.

• Pan-Hellenic sanctuaries & games promote collective Greek identity vs. “barbaroi,” foreshadowing later pan-national ideals.

• Symposium culture underpins philosophical discourse (Plato’s Symposium) and critiques of excess (concept of sophrosyne).

• Architectural proportional theories parallel Pythagorean mathematical harmonics—anticipate Vitruvian & Renaissance architectural treatises.

• Lost-wax innovations influence modern bronze casting; indirect method still industry standard.

• Preservation & study of Roman copies essential for reconstructing lost Greek originals, raising questions about authenticity & reception.

Quick Reference: Greek Alphabetic Dates (Selection)

• 776: Olympiad I.

• 508: Democratic reforms.

• 447-432: Parthenon construction.

• 431-404: Peloponnesian War.

• 338: Battle of Chaironeia.

• 334-323: Alexander’s campaigns.

Suggested Thematic Essay Prep Questions

• How did athletic and military ideals reinforce each other in Archaic and Classical Greece?

• In what ways does the Parthenon’s sculptural programme express both civic pride and pan-Hellenic myth?

• Assess the symposium as a microcosm of Greek values—include discussion of gender, status, and ritual order.

• Compare the technological and aesthetic implications of black-figure vs. red-figure pottery.

• Evaluate the impact of Roman collecting on the survival and modern perception of Classical Greek sculpture.