Ancient Greek Flashcards
Ancient Greece has had an outsized impact on _____ despite _____
European and Western culture and its small size
divisions of Ancient Greek
- Archaic
- Classical
- Hellnistic
Archaic division
600 - 480 BCE
classical division
480 to 323 BCE
Hellenistic division
323 to 31 BCE
The Parthenon is the
central temple on the Acropolis in Athens
The Parthenon is in
classical Greece
Temples often hold
looted artifacts
where would temples usually be located
in hard to access spots
Metropolitan Kouros
archaic Greece
kouros
young male
a kouros is a
free standing sculpture
free-standing sculpture
attached to architecture
kore
female structure
korai
female plural
kouroi
male plural
what is common for males in kouros art
they are naked
why are male kouros naked
represent something in between a god, warrior, or victorious athlete
where are kouros found
- cemeteries
- line the path to temples
how do kouros differ from Egyptian
nude, except for the neckband and hairband.
One foot forward, but little sense of actual movement
bodies very geometric.
Function
how is archaic different from other Greek divisions
it’s more linked to death and less public life
similarities of Ka statutes to Kouros
The male poses are similar
The arms are down with hands in fists
The foot is forward
what suggests there was cultural contact between Greece and Egypt
the similar poses of the Ka statues and the kouros
differences of the Kouros to the Egyptian Ka Statues
The Greek kneecaps are softer and almost more realistic and naturalistic
The Greek has gaps around the arms while the Egyptian has a solid rock
Greece is almost always fully naked
Berlin Kore
Archaic Greek
kore are always
clothed
kore are usually holding
devotional objects
kore is usually found
in temples and making offerings to the goddess
kore have more _____ because of the _____
variation and clothing
archaic smile
those staring eyes like Mesopotamian, but tight close-mouthed smile very identifiable
contrapposto
pose that shows a figure with weight shifted to one weight-bearing leg, which means other knee bends and hip lifts, so bent leg ready to move
contrapposto results in
other shifts in the body (across the arms and head) and it is the pose that makes you ready for movement
key to increased naturalism
contrapposto
mark is the beginning of the Early classical period.
contrapposto
The development in Greek art of contrapposto is a marked step towards increasingly naturalistic art (2)
Greeks unite to defeat a much stronger force of Persians at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE
Development of democracy in Athens over the course of the 500s BCE, which is solidified in the 400s BCE, particularly when Athens is led by Perikles
Dying Warrior (that is on the right)
archaic
what was highly valued in ancient Greek culture.
stoicism
stoicism
having control over your emotions and showing little emotion
stoicism in Greek philosophy
accepting your fate, treating others justly and living a virtuous life, even if those virtues might seem quite different than how we would define them today
Riace Warrior
classical period
Riace warrior was made from
bronze
what did bronze allow but marble did not
can be shaped into more poses and have greater freedom
how does the Riace warrior differ from the koroi
these are adult males
what signifies an adult male
beards
musculation
what is important in the Riace Warrior
evidence of contrapposto
why are there very limited bronze statues
Bronze would be melted down in times of need
types of columns
- doric
- ionic
- corinthian
doric column
No bases, simple capital, entablature only has sculptures in the metope
ionic column
a. Bases are fluting in column
b. The capitals have spirals
Continous sculpture on frieze of entablature
corinthian column
Most notable with the elaborate capitals
what does the centaur show in the Centaur vs Lapith
The centaur represents the symbolic degradation of culture
The Greeks wanted to suppress and eliminate the animal of us all
It was against stoicism - a figure of madness
Canon or proportions
set of rules that describes the “best” proportions- that gives ratios that determine the relation of parts to the whole
Woman’s role in society
main duty was to bear children, especially sons
Carrying and collecting water
History of the nude in Greek art
Nudes depicted on vases, but usually sexual or low class
How Hellenistic differs from classical
- Composition complex
- Faces show emotions for one of the first times, less about stoicism
- there is more than one figure, which shows more of a story
