GREEK CIVILIZATION

Greek Civilization
• Also termed as Hellenic Civilization
• Classical Greek Civilization emerged in 8th century B.C. and
flourished during 5th to 4th centuries BC.
• The history of Ancient Greece falls into four major divisions.
• The Archaic period, when the civilization’s main features were
evolving, lasted from the 8th to the 6th centuries BC.
• Classical Greece flourished during the 5th to 4th centuries
BC. This was marked by the period of the Persian Wars (510-
479 BC)
• Golden Age of Athens (479-404 BC)
• Classical era (404-338 BC).
• Greek civilization had a powerful influence on the
Roman Empire.
• Geography played a great role in development of
Greek Civilization
• The wooded country was divided by many low
mountains that made countless small valleys
making communication difficult
• This led to separation of inhabitants into small
groups resulting in city-state organization
• City was built around a fortified hill, called an
“acropolis”.
• Deeply indented coastline of the peninsula
formed many natural harbours
• Greeks were good sailors, merchants and
colonizers
 Society
• Athenian society was ultimately divided into four main social
classes:
• Upper class: The upper class consisted of those born to Athenian
parents. They were considered the citizens of Athens, who owned
more land than the rest. They were the aristocrats.
• Metics, or middle class: Foreign resident of Athens, one who did not
have citizen right, They held lower social status primarily due to
cultural rather than economic restraints. Some were poor artisans
and ex-slaves.
• Lower class, or freedmen: Those who had been freed from slavery
• Slave class: People, who had been captured in war, or became slaves
as a result of debts, which they could not pay, or for crimes
• As the Greek cities grew in size and wealth, their societies became
more complex. New classes appeared, of prosperous craftsmen,
sailors and traders, to stand alongside the older classes of
aristocrats, peasants and slaves.
 Sports
• Ancient Greeks gave importance to athletics
sports and physical education
• They hold competitions in honour of the Gods
• For the Greeks athletics meant the giving of
one’s best effort
• The most significant of these games were the
Olympic Games.
• The ancient and famous Olympic Games were
a sporting event held every four years at the
sacred site of Olympia in honor of Zeus, the
supreme god of Greek religion.
• The first Olympics were held in 776 B.C.
Discus Thrower
 Architecture
• Greek architecture is known for its grace and
simplicity.
• A simple but logical system of construction,
refinement of proportion and details were the
keynotes of their architecture
• Building materials were in abundance
• Numerous forest gave plenty of timber
• Mountains yielded the most brilliant marbles-
bluish white and glittering white with
beautiful textures
• Other materials used were ivory and metals,
especially bronze. They were imported.
 Temple Architecture
• The finest buildings the Greeks erected were their temples;
and the most famous of these is the Parthenon, in Athens.
• The centre of each temple was space known as the “cella”.
Here was located the statue if the god.
• In front of the cella was the porch, and both porch and
cella were surrounded by a colonnade of columns.
• Each column was topped by a “capitals”, a carved block of
stone.
• On top of these rested the “entablature”, a band of carved
stone on which, in turn, rested the roof.
• These elements went together to form a simple yet
gracious building.
 A model of the temple of Aphaia,
Aegina, in the Glyptothek, Munich
Architectural Orders
• The arrangement of columns supporting
a horizontal superstructure is called an
order
• The Greeks had developed three main
orders
1. Doric Order
2. Ionic Order
3. Corinthian Order
• Each order is easily recognized by its
capital
Doric Order
 Doric Order
• The Doric order is the earliest of the three Classical orders
• The Doric columns stand directly on the stylobate without an
individual base.
• They consist of shaft which tapers towards the summit
• Shafts were built up of separate drums joined with wooden or
metal pivots
• It is fluted i.e. 16-20 shallow grooves rising parallel with
shaft.
• Several horizontal grooves form the necking on which rests
the capital
• The purpose of capital is to form the transition from the shaft
to entablature
• The Doric entablature includes a frieze composed of
triglyphs—vertical plaques with three divisions—and
metopes—square spaces for either painted or sculpted
decoration.
Iktinos and Kallikrates, The Parthenon,
Athens, 447 – 432 B.C.E.
 Ionic Order
• Ionic Order has more slender proportions,
greater elegance and grace, more richly carved
decoration than Doric
• Each column has a base with concave and
convex mouldings
• Volutes, scroll-like ornaments, characterize the
Ionic capital.
• The Ionic order developed in Ionia during the
mid-sixth century BCE and had been
transmitted to mainland Greece by the fifth
century BCE.
• The Ionic order incorporates a running frieze of
continuous sculptural relief
Ionic Order
North Porch of the Erechtheion, 421-407
B.C.E., marble, Acropolis, Athens
 Corinthian Order
• The Corinthian order is both the latest and the most
elaborate of the Classical orders of architecture.
• This order was employed in both Greek and Roman
architecture with minor variations and gave the
Composite order.
• The entablature was the same
• Base and shaft of the column differ only slightly
• The capital was new, it had a core which resembled an
inverted bell
• It is decorated all around with acanthus leaves
arranged in one or two rows.
• The frail stalks of plant rise in pairs, spiraling and
meeting at the corners, to sustain the abacus
Corinthian Order
 Theatre
• The Greeks invented the open air theatre
• It had three parts
• Auditorium greater than a semi-circle hewn
out in concentric circles from the rocky
hillside
• A round orchestra for the performance of the
actors
• The skene, which served as a booth for the
actors and as a background for the play
• Proskenion, a small platform used by the
performers
Theatre
 Greek Art
• The historical period of Greek art starts after
Dark Ages(1200-800B.C.), around 900 BC.
• The end of the Dark Age marked the beginning of
a time of innovation and evolution, during which
the identity of Greek art would change and grow.
• Greek sculpture was meant to show perfection.
• They created lifelike images of near perfect
humans.
• The male athlete type was developed by Dorians
which gave them knowledge of anatomy
• The robed feminine type originated in Ionia,
thereby discovering the beauty of drapery
 Sculpture
• The history of ancient Greek art is
divided stylistically into four periods:
• The Geometric Period from 900 -
700BC
• The Archaic Period from 700-480 BC
• The Classical Period from 480-320 BC
• The Hellenistic Period and Beyond
from 320-30 BC
 The Geometric Period
• The Geometric period of Greek Art lasted from 900 to 700 BC.
• Greek pottery was decorated with abstract designs, representations
and repetitions of shapes
• Cover most of the surface, as in the large pots by the Dipylon
Master, who worked around 750
• He and other potters around his time began to introduce very
stylized silhouette figures of humans and animals, especially
horses. These often represent funeral processions, or battles,
presumably representing those fought by the deceased.
• There was harmony and rhythm in making geometric patterns
which gave orderliness and natural balance in their art
• During the Geometric period, the most common medium was
painting on vases.
• Bronze works were produced as well
• Pieces of jewellery -pendants, fibulae (safety pins), pins, and
bracelets.
• The main development center was in Attica, where
found the most important samples, funeral gifts of
tombs and the huge funerary vases of the Dipylon
cemetery in Athens.
• The geometric decoration of the vases is almost always
written, with a glossy black or brown color on the
yellowish surface of the clay,
• Characterized by the geometric, usually straight designs
(crooked lines, triangles, squares, rhombi, crosses,
swastikas, concentric cycles or semicircles) decorating
the horizontal surrounding strips of the vase.
• Other artifacts are bronze tripods, bronze engraved
buckles, some hammered sheets- casings of small
wooden larnakes for storing the ashes of the dead, and
a wonderful bronze armor
• horror vacui: From the Latin, fear of
empty space, it is a style of painting
where the entire surface of a space is
filled with patterns and figures.
• amphora: A two-handled jar with a
narrow neck that was used in ancient
times to store or carry wine or oils.
• krater: An ancient Greek vessel for
mixing water and wine.
Late Geometric Attic spouted krater
730BC
Geometric Amphora
975–950 BC
Geometric Amphora
740BC
 The Archaic Period
• Greek artists started using a number of new methods and tools in
their work.
• Artists began working to recreate more realistic human forms.
• The Greeks from the Archaic Period made marble sculptures of men
called Kouroi and women called Korai.
• Kouros stands nude rigidly with both arms extended at the side and
one leg advanced. The athletic body was an ideal form for a young
Greek male and is comparable to the ideal body of the god Apollo.
• Female korai statues were clothed and throughout the Archaic
period artists spent more time elaborating on the detailed folds and
drapery of a woman’s clothing. This reflected the Greek ideals for
women, who were supposed to be fully clothed, modest, and
demure, but she was also ornamented with jewelry and adorned
with a crown.
• To add an additional naturalistic element to the body, the typical
Archaic smile was added to both male and female statues.
Kouros and Kore
550-540BC
Pedimental Sculpture
 Pottery
• Pottery was more colorful and ornate than ever before.
• Potters began applying colored glaze to their ceramic pieces, creating two
brand new stylistic directions.
• Black-figure pottery came first, in which black glaze was applied to create
designs on red pottery.
• Following this came red-figure pottery, where black forms the background for
designs in the clay's natural red.
• Exekias is considered one of the most talented and influential black-figure
painters due to his ability to convey emotion, use intricate lines , and create
scenes that trusted the viewer to comprehend the scene.
• Red-figure painting was developed in 530 BCE by the Andokides Painter, a
style that allows for more naturalism in the body due to the use of a brush.
• The first red-figure paintings were produced on bilingual vases, depicting one
scene on each side, one in black figure and the other in red figure.
• The painters Euthyides and Euphronios were two of the most talented
Archaic red-figure painters, with their vessels depict space , movement, and
naturalism.
Black-Figure Pottery
Red- Figure Pottery
Red-Figure Krater
540BC
 Classical Period
• Classical Period (450-400 B.C.E.) showed a
great artistic success
• The Acropolis of Athens is an ancient citadel
located on a rocky hill above the city of
Athens and contains remains of several
buildings of architectural and historic
significance, famous being the Parthenion
• Spear-Bearer of Polykleitos is one of the best
known Greek sculpture depicting a solidly
built, muscular standing warrior originally
bearing a spear balance on his left soldier
Acropolis of Athens
Spear-Bearer
450 BC
 Classical Period
• “Late Classical Period” (400-323 B.C.E.), showed
production and development of art
• In addition to a new figural aesthetic in the
fourth century known for its longer torsos and
limbs, and smaller heads
• The term Apoxyomenos comes from the Greek
verb meaning to clean oneself
• Ancient Greek athletes used to scrape off the oils
from the body before competitions with sand and
a sort of spoon, called the strigil.
• This athlete is figured while he is removing the
sand and oil from his extended right arm with
the strigil in his left hand
Bronze Apoxyomenos
Marble Apoxyomenos
The statue of Athena at Parthenos
 Hellenistic Period
• Hellenistic period (323-31BC) began with the death of
Alexander the Great in 323 BC and end with the
conquest of the Greek world by the Romans,
• Hellenistic artists copied and adapted earlier styles, and
also made great innovations.
• Representations of Greek Gods took on new forms
• Image of a nude Aphrodite, for example, reflects the
increased secularization of traditional religion.
• Some artists were more interested in capturing motion
and emotion.
• Great Altar Zeus from Pergamon showed expressions of
agony and a confused mass of limbs convey a newfound
interest in drama.
Aphrodite of Knidos
The Pergamon Altar
200-150BC
 Clothing
• Men wore tunics, over which a large piece of
cloth could be draped.
• Women wore long tunics falling to their ankles,
and they too could drape large pieces of cloth
over themselves.
• These tunics and cloaks were mostly made of
wool.
• Children’s clothing consisted of short tunics.
• Leather sandals were worn on the feet.
• Young men tended to be clean shaven, with hair
cropped short. Older men often wore beards.
• Women grew their hair long, then tied it into a
bun or pony tail with ribbons.
Statue of the goddess Athena
 Achievements
• Greek philosophy reached its high point in the careers of three thinkers who
lived and worked in Athens, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
• For the Greeks, science was indistinguishable from philosophy (in fact,
science was called “natural philosophy” in the West right up to the 18th
century).
• Thales of Miletus is usually regarded as the first prominent Greek
mathematician, and he is credited with developing the methodologies of
observation, experimentation and deduction, which are still used today.
• Thales’ younger contemporaries, Pythagoras and his school, developed
geometry as a branch of knowledge. They uncovered Pythagoras’ theorem,
that the sum of any three angles of a triangle is equal to two right angles.
• One of the main concerns for Greek philosophers was the nature of the
universe, and their thinking about this had theological dimensions
• In medicine, the Greeks dissected animals to refine their ideas on anatomy.
• Romans had conquered the Greek city-states
by 146 BC.
• Heavy taxes were paid by the provinces to
support the luxury of Rome
• Greece didn't really decline as a culture
because the Macedonians (Alexander the
Great) and the Romans both adopted and
spread Greek culture.