Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
CHW 3M The arts – sculpture, architecture, pottery, literature, and theatre – are often considered the crowning achievements of Greek civilization Greek males had the leisure time to follow artistic pursuits Greek city-states were open to outside influences and welcomed new ideas Greeks learned from their near-eastern neighbours and built on their accomplishments Ancient Greek Art Three distinct time periods. 1. Archaic (600BC-480BC) • strongly influenced by Egypt • stiff in appearance 2. Classical (480BC-323BC) • art was a product • meant to show “ideal beauty” 3. Hellenistic (323BC-30BC) • art was an expression • realism Early statues were done in wood. Later sculptors used stone and bronze. Sculptors in ancient Greece excelled in representing the human form Earliest Greek sculptures depicted people in awkward, rigid poses These figures seem almost stiff or ritualistic in their stance The hair looks unnatural, like a wig, and folds in clothing are merely suggested by a few simple lines or patterns An early Greek statue, from the 7th century BCE Artists in the classical period sought to represent the ideal human form – the most beautiful representation possible The great philosopher Socrates described the goal of these sculptors when he said, “It is so difficult to find a perfect model that you combine the most beautiful details of several, and thus contrive to make the whole figure look beautiful.” Paid attention to accurate representation of natural movement and details of appearance Sculpted the faces as dignified and serene Focus shifted from idealism to realism Human faces on these sculptures displayed much greater emotion Features may look contorted or strained One famous sculpture from Hellenistic period, known as the “Lacoon” portrays a mythical event of the Trojan War, when Apollo sent snakes to destroy Lacoon, the priest of Troy, for warning his fellow citizens about the Trojan horse Faces of figures reveal terror and agony Most pottery was intended for everyday use and included drinking cups, mixing bowls, and oil jars Corinth and Athens were among the most important centres for pottery After the 6th century, Athens became the dominant manufacturer The pottery industry flourished in Athens because extensive beds of fine potter’s clay, containing a high iron content, were located quite near the city When the pottery was fired in a kiln, the iron content gave it a rich reddish tinge, a distinctive quality of all pottery made in Athens Mainland Greek pottery dating from the late Dark Ages was simple, yet pleasing to the eye The potters decorated the vessels with abstract patterns of lines, circles and bands of colour This style is now refferred to as “geometric” Even when the artisans began to represent human figures in the 8th century BCE, they portrayed them in the same geometrical, abstract way Potters moulded vessels using hand-operated wheels Once shaped, the pots, cups and vases were kept in a damp room until ready for decorating At the first stage of painting, the potters covered the surface with an ochre wash to heighten the colour of the clay They then added a design to the pottery Once the potters completed the decorating, they fired the painted pieces in a kiln to ensure a lasting finish During the 6th century BCE, Athenian potters used the reddish colour of the clay as the background on their vases They then added figures depicting events from mythology and everyday life in black During the classical period, the reverse colours became more popular. Potters glazed the background black and added the figures in red. Black lines provided the details. Ancient Greek Pottery Very few paintings have survived from the days of Ancient Greece • must of what we know comes from pottery paintings. Black-Figure Pottery Red-Figure Pottery Architecture Most building were built with vertical columns. Architects of Ancient Greece built according to strict mathematical rules and careful proportions . This gave a: • feeling of balance • simplicity • beauty There were three main styles: • Doric • Ionic • Corinthian Temples consisted of a long hall with rows of columns on the outside supporting a low peaked roof A triangular piece was sent in the front and back above the columns, under the peak This design is sometimes called post-and-lintel construction, because the vertical walls of columns (posts) held up the horizontal beams of the roof (lintels) at right angles The Greeks did not use the arch in their buildings Symmetry and proportion were key principles in Greek architectural design If you divided a symmetrical design in half with an imaginary line, each half would appear to be the same In proportional design, each part of the structure would also stand pleasing in relation to the next If a column was between 6 m and 9 m high, for example, its width at the top would the six-sevenths of its width at the bottom If the column was between 12 m and 16 m high, the width of the top would be sevent-eighths of the width at the bottom Temples were the most important building is Ancient Greece. They focused on • religious feeling • local pride The most famous temple is the Parthenon, which sits atop the Acropolis in Athens The decorated area between the top column and the roof, often carved of stone, is the frieze In an Ionic temple, the frieze might run continuously around the whole building In a Doric temple, the frieze was a series of individual panels called metopes, separated by stone slabs. Each stone slab was decorated with three carved vertical lines Doric Capital: The Doric style was plain, massive and dignified. This was the style most favoured by the Athenians in the 5th century BCE and was used in the construction of the Parthenon Ionic Capital: The Ionic Capital curled out on either side in volutes like a pair of ram’s horns Corinthian Capital: The later Corinthian style was rich and ornate. The capital was carved to represent a bunch of acanthus leaves Ancient Greek Literature The Greeks wrote a great deal, and a surprising amount of what they wrote is still available to us today. Their writing is traditionally divided into types: 1. The Epic Two connected works written by Homer around 700BC. Major sources of inspiration and widely quoted in ancient world. The Iliad: The story of the Trojan war The Odyssey: Odysseus journey home after the war 2. Poems Usually very short and poked fun and government or rival state. Often lyrically and meant to entertain guest at a dinner party. Ex. Archilochus and the Spartans 3. Philosophy First written as a dialogue between two people. Aristotle later wrote volumes of books in prose. 4. History Documented historically events written in prose. The two most famous Ancient Greek historians were Herodotus: Persian Wars Thucydides: Peloponnesian Wars We could argue that no single writer had a greater influence than Homer, the epic poet from Chios The Iliad and the Odyssey, written during the Dark Ages, helped to create a “national literature” for the ancient Greeks As part of every Greek boy’s education, the poems became a unifying force in Greek culture Epics were long poems telling stories of heroic deeds that often affected the fate of an entire city or people Not all poems dealt with major deeds or sought to glorify the past The Poet, Hesiod, who lived just after Homer, produced a popular poem called Works and Days in which he detailed the daily life of the farmer in ancient Greece Hesiod also wrote Theogony, an account of the creation of the universe and the history of the gods Another popular form of literature Lyric poems are shorter and more personal than epics, expressing feelings of love Most of them were written to be sung, accompanied by the lyre Sappho Pindar, poems often celebrated the victors of the Olympic Games, often performed in a precession for the athletes as they returned in triumph At dinner parties, guests often sang lyric poetry to musical accompaniment Fable is another literary form that we associate with ancient Greece Fables are short, concise tales that use animal characters to convey a moral message Many children today still read Aesop’s fables, including such popular stores as “The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf,” “The Fox and the Grapes,” and “The Hare and the Tortoise” No one knows the true identity of Aesop The historian Herodotus claimed that Aesop was a slave who had lived a century earlier Today, historians consider it more likely that the popular collection of fables was composed by a variety of anonymous authors The ancient Greeks also enjoyed drama Greek tragedies and comedies attracted thousands of spectators to annual drama competitions Greek theatre was an outdoor event Theatre at Epidauros The site chosen for the construction of a theatre offered a slopping area where a natural auditorium could be built The site allowed for banked tiers of audience seats, an orchestra and a stage Theatre at Delohi Theatre at Dionysus The circular area in the centre of the theatre was called the orchestra, a Greek word meaning dancing place It was given this name because the 15 members of the Greek chorus recited and danced in this area during the performance of the play Behind the orchestra was the stage, and behind the stage either a building or a tent where the actors changed and where properties were stored The stage, which always represented either a temple or a palace, had a central door with additional doors opening to the sides Properties were kept to a minimum because what was said was considered far more important than what was seen Playwrights wrote their dramas so that the leading actor never assumed more than one role The other two actors portrayed all other characters Actors wore masks made of linen, cork or wood with highly exaggerated features, designed to be seen from the back of the theatre When a performer switched masks, the audience knew that he was changing roles Tragedians: Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides Comedic playwrights: Aristophanes Aeschylus wrote about murder, revenge, divine justice, and the relationships between humans and gods Sophocles chose moral and religious beliefs as his themes and considered how destiny affected the lives of individuals Euripides wrote of everyday life, and questioned the moral and religious beliefs of his contemporaries Aristophanes ridiculed people, ideas, and social customs Held in March called the City of Dionysia, dedicated to Dionysus The four-day event opened with a procession, followed by sacrifices to the god at an altar set up in the middle of the orchestra On each of the 3 days, the playwrights selected for the competition presented their works Most citizens attended and came prepared to view several plays at a sitting, sometimes for 10 hours a day Most of the plays were tragedies, but each day ended with a comedy A panel of 10 citizens judged the competition At the end of the 4th day, a winner was determined by vote 5. The Plays Plays originated out of the festival for Dionysus and became immensely popular with the Greeks. There were two main types of plays. Tragedy Tragedies often were based around mythical stories and never ended well for the hero. Their purpose was to bring the audience member to a spiritual awakening that would help them be fuller, more useful and responsible citizens. Comedy Comedy was supposed to be a mockery of people and situations, a criticism against immorality, greed and corruption. The language used in comedy’s are very vulgar by today’s standards.