Chapter 5 - Ancient Greece

Question 1

Kouros
(New York Kouros)

Answer 1

600 BCE, Archaic
Marble
Mimics ancient Egyptian sculpture with frontal pose and rigid body
Unnatural style, angular and disproportionate
Kouros used as grave markers

Question 2

Kroisos

Answer 2

Anavysos, Greece
530 BCE, Archaic
Marble
Mournful statue of a man that died at war
Archaic smile to show a happy life and good death
More naturalized form, but still disproportionate
Encaustic painting technique - with colored wax

Question 3

Peplos Kore

Answer 3

Acropolis, Athens, Greece
530 BCE, Archaic
Marble
Kore - offerings to gods
Later thought to be deity Artemis - animals on skirt, may have held boy and arrow
Holes on head for crown
Peplos - traditional gown

Question 4

Athenian Agora

Answer 4

Athens, Greece
600 -150 BCE
Used for government, markets, and gatherings
Temples for gods and goddesses
Stoa - long hallways with columns, covered
New Bouleutenon - where senators would meet
Panatheonaic way - path named for procession

Question 5

Dying Warrior, West Pediment

Answer 5

Temple of Aphaia, Agena
500-490 BCE, Archaic
Marble
Chest pierced with bronze arrow - dying warrior
Archaic style - less detailed body, less naturalized pose, archaic smile

Question 6

Dying Warrior, East Pediment

Answer 6

Temple of Aphaia, Agena
480 BCE, First Classical
Marble
First classical statue
Naturalistic form, diminished archaic smile

Question 7

Kritios Boy

Answer 7

KRITIOS
Acropolis, Athens
480 BCE, Classical
Marble
Severe style - shift from archaic to classical
Relaxed pose, right foot forward
Contrappasto - counterbalance (shifted waist)

Question 8

Riace Warrior

Answer 8

Sea of Riace, Italy
460-450 BCE, Classical
Bronze, copper and silver inlay
Spent 2k years in saltwater
Hollowcasting (cireperdue) - clay model with beeswax to shape molten bronze into hollow form
Further naturalized rendition
Most classical statues were originally bronze

Question 9

Doryphoros (spear bearer)

Answer 9

POLYKLEITOS
Roman marble copy
Pompeii, Italy
450-440 BCE, Classical
Canon standard of perfection
looks to be in movement - contrappasto
Perfect head to body ratio (1-7)
Originally held spear in left hand
Chiastic (cross balance) - asymmetrical balance

Question 10

Parthenon (Temple of Athena Parthenos)

Answer 10

IKTINOS and KALLIKRATES
Acropolis, Athens, Greece
447-438 BCE
Focus on algebra and geometry
x = 2y + 1 - 17 colums on sides, 8 in front
Ionic and Doric

Question 11

Helios and his horses, and Dionysus (Herakles?)

Answer 11

East Pediment, Parthenon
438-432 BCE, Classical
Marble
Depiction of Athena’s birth
Helios rises from the east with energetic horses
Part of Phidian program

Question 12

3 Goddesses (Hestia, Dione, Aphrodite)

Answer 12

East Pediment, Parthenon
438-432 BCE, Classical
Marble
Clothing in great detail
Wet drapery - clothing clings to the figure
Mastery of both male and female form
Helios sinks to the left

Question 13

Panathenaic Festival Procession Frieze

Answer 13

Parthenon
447-436 BCE, Classical
Marble
Horsemen of North Frieze - bas relief (low relief)
Seated gods and goddesses (Poseidon, Apollo, Artemis)
Elders and Maidens - maidens would sew peplos to drape on statue of Athena

Question 14

Erechtheion

Answer 14

Acropolis, Athens
421-405 BCE
6 Ionic Columns, 6 caryatids (women statues in place of columns)
Built to replace an earlier temple for Athena
For battle between Poseidon and Athena
Built on uneven ground - would not excavate sacred land

Question 15

Temple of Athena Nike

Answer 15

KALLIKRATES
Acropolis, Athens
427-424 BCE
4 Ionic columns on East and West side
Reference to victory against Persians - Frieze on parapet for victory
Amphiprostyle

Question 16

Nike Adjusting Her Sandal

Answer 16

South Parapet in Temple of Athena Nike
410 BCE, Classical
Marble, relief
Taking off sandal to enter sacred ground
Chain folds in cloth draw attention to shadow
Extreme contrappasto

Question 17

Grace stele of Hegeso

Answer 17

Dipylon cemetery, Athens
400 BCE, Classical
Marble
Stele of a woman from an affluent family
Opening jewelry box from servant
Slight hierarchy of scale
Inscription - “Hegeso, daughter of…”

Question 18

Artemis and Apollo slaying the children of Niobe

Answer 18

NIOBID PAINTER
Orvieto, Italy
450 BCE, Classical
Athenian red figure calyx Krater
Artemis and Apollo in perfect profile, children in 3/4
Statue of Herakles, warriors praying
Vessel to mix wine and water

Question 19

Aphrodite of Knidos

Answer 19

PRAXITELES
Roman marble copy
350-340 BCE, Late Classical
First Greek statue of woman in the nude
Humanizing qualities of late classical style
Bold step to render goddess nude - modest hand and averted gaze
Next to hydrea for bath

Question 20

Apoxyomenos (scraper)

Answer 20

LYSIPPOS
Roman marble copy
330 BCE, Late Classical
1 to 8 canon of head to body
Athlete’s arm breaks out of shallow rectangular box - encourages viewing from all angles
Scraping oil off the body

Question 21

Weary Herakles (Farnese Herakles)

Answer 21

LYSIPPOS
Roman marble copy
Signed by GLYKON OF ATHENS
320 BCE, Late Classical
Realist depiction of a weary demigod
Carrying three apples and lion’s cloak without satisfaction
Exaggerated musculature

Question 22

Battle of Issus

Answer 22

PHILOXENOS OF ERETRIA
House of Faun, Pompeii
310 BCE, Late Classical
Roman Tessera mosaic copy of painted original
Use of detailed shading with mosaic tiles
Alexander the Great battles Darriush(?)

Question 23

Reconstructed West Front of the Altar of Zeus

Answer 23

Pergamon, Turkey
175 BCE, Hellenistic
Depicts Gigantomachy
Most sculptures larger than life
Zeus, Athena, Herakles
Hellenistic - exaggerated dynamics, dramatic
Ionic columns

Question 24

Athena battling Alkyoneos, detail of gigantomachy frieze

Answer 24

Pergamon, Turkey
175 BCE, Hellenistic
Marble
Athena battles Alkyoneos and Gaea, Nike in back
Segments carved in both high and low relief
Athena holds titan above the ground, Gaea holds dramatic expression

Question 25

Nike of Samothrace (Nike alighting on a warship, Winged Victory)

Answer 25

Samothrace, Greece
190 BCE, Hellenistic
Marble
15ft tall with ship base
Missing arms, head, and one wing no longer original
Found in situ
Exaggerated wet drapery
Tension between upward and downward motion

Question 26

Aphrodite (Venus of Milo)

Answer 26

ALEXANDER OF ANTIOCH-ON-THE-MEANDER
Melos, Greece
150-125 BCE, Hellenistic
Marble
More scandalous - falling fabric, gaze not demure
Detached hand held apple from Paris
Exaggerated S-curve

Question 27

Sleeping Satyr (Barberini Faun)

Answer 27

Rome, Italy
230-200 BCE, Hellenistic
Marble
Satyrs kept Dionysus company
Drunkenly sleeping on a rock on a panther skin
Puts more focus on genitals

Question 28

Apollonius, Seated Boxer

Answer 28

Rome, Italy
100-150 BCE, Hellenistic
Bronze, with copper inlay
Athletic, but not young or beautiful
Defeated - broken nose, gashes, swollen ear, collapsing posture
Sitting a sign of humility and informality

Question 29

Laocoon and His Sons

Answer 29

ATHANADOROS, HAGESANDROS, POLYDOROS OF RHODES
Rome, Italy
Early 1st cent BCE
Marble
Laocoon fights for his and his son’s life
Raw emotion and wear in faces - wrinkles on Laocoon
First only father, sons added later