Week 3: The Birth of the Classical Tradition in Greece
The material on the Classical world is divided into two parts. We begin in the Geometric and Archaic periods in Greece to locate the roots of the Classical tradition, and then explore the development of Classicism through the Hellenistic period (the time of Alexander the Great). Next week we'll focus on Roman Classicism and the inclusion of new traditions from the East into the vocabulary of Western art and architecture.
Maps: Ancient Greece (here's a simple outline map with major cities labeled); an interactive map of Greek colonies from the 9th through the 6th centuries BCE; the Aegean world. A map based on NASA satellite imagery can be found here (it's an .swf file, so requires Flash. Right-click and choose "zoom" to enlarge it to readable size and move it around).
Greek Architecture
Diagrams: Space-spanning construction devices (same as last week): post and lintel, and corbel. You may run across alternative terms, but remember that the "megalithic stone system" is post-and-lintel; pyramids are a variations on corbelling; and vaults are variations on the arch (both the corbel, and the "true" arch we'll be getting to next week).
The term order refers to the relationship among specific segments of a post and lintel system designed by the Greeks: entablature, column, capital, and base. Here's a nice summary of the three Greek orders with individual drawings of each, and another: Orders of Greek architecture. Diagrams of Greek temple plans. I also highly recommend the Met's Timeline of Art History article on Architecture in Ancient Greece. For a detailed description of all the Classical orders, based on the 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, see this article in the Classic Encyclopedia. Here's a helpful dictionary of architectural terms. A just-discovered travel site from Turkey has a clear introduction to Greek architecture that includes orders, temples, and theaters. However, be leary of the examples provided, because some of the temples no longer exist. And this just in from a former student, The Five Noble Orders of Architecture, from a book by the Baroque architect (to be discussed week 10), Giacomo da Vignola.
The textbook provides a good overview of the Greek Doric and Ionic orders. What's linked below is supplementary:
Doric Order (These are not arranged chronologically)
"Basilica" (Temple of Hera I), ca. 550-530 BCE.; Temple of Poseidon (Temple of Hera II) [right background], view from SE., ca. 460 BCE. Both are Archaic temples. An aerial view is available from Great Buildings Online--showing the differences in the plans between the two.
Temple of Hera I with detail of entasis, wide echinus and abacus of Archaic-style Doric capital, ca. 550-530 BCE. The naos is divided in two by a row of columns, and from the air an apse is visible. This article includes more information and a plan.
Tholos, Delphi, ca. 380 BCE. Here's another page with two views, and information on Delphi; and here's a reconstruction drawing. (Note: "tholos" refers to a circular building, from the Greek tholos, meaning circle. In the Bronze Age it's generally applied to beehive tombs of the Minoan style; in the Classical period, it refers generally to round temples.)
Parthenon, Athens Acropolis, 447-432 BCE
Temple
of Athena Nike, Athens Acropolis, 448 BCE.
Erechtheion,
Athens Acropolis, 421 and 406 BCE. Columns on the Poseidon
Porch.
A good example of an Ionic column and capital from the late Classical period can be seen on the Met's Timeline of Art History: Ionic capital, torus (foliated base), and parts of a fluted column shaft from the Temple of Artemis at Sardis, 4th century BCE.
The Ionic may have evolved from the earlier Aeolic style popular in the Archaic period. The link is to a history page on a district in Greece. Scroll down for a photo of Aeolic capitals.
Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens; begun 515 BCE, completed CE 132 by the Roman Emperor Hadrian. These are some really nice shots from Sacred Destinations (click for bigger images).
Sculpture, Ceramics, Mosaics
Geometric
*Horse Pyxis, Attica (mainland Greece) ca. 750 BCE. Click on "Land and Time" and then on "Geometric Period." While you're here, take a look at some of the works from other periods as well.
The following objects are available on the Met Timeline, and the article on the period provides more examples.
Geometric krater from Athens (750-700 BCE)
*Geometric sculpture of a man and centaur from Olympia (?), c. 750 BCE.
Archaic
*Aristodikos Kouros c. 510-500 BCE.
A painted reconstruction of the Peplos Kore from Cambridge University is available at the link, and includes (for the fashion folk) instructions on how to construct your own peplos.
Classical Greece
Ceramics
Diagram: big drawings and descriptions of each vase type: Greek Vases (from KET Distance Learning). See also a diagram of basic shapes from a course page at Waycross College.
*Euphronios krater, ca. 515 BCE. Here's the Met's statement on the return of the krater to Italy. (A description appears below the image.) The krater has now been returned to Italy and I'm not sure how much longer the image will be available on the Met website. Here's another article with some images from the New York Times about the krater's homecoming in Italy.
Mosaics
Delos (Aegean): *mosaic floor of "Dolphin House" (4th c. BCE). The link is to the Sacred Destinations page (with more images of Delos available).
Focus: Classical Greek Architecture at its peak: the Athenian Acropolis
Many of the images that follow come from the Perseus Project site. Because of its popularity, it sometimes gets bogged down with users, and sometimes it's just slow. But don't give up--just try again later. See also the newer, expanded version of Kevin Glowacki's Ancient City of Athens with its massive section on the Acropolis and its buildings.
Map of Acropolis (at the time of Pericles). The Royal Ontario Museum's model of the Acropolis, and the Learning Sites 3D model. A terrific resource on the Athens Acropolis is available from Ancient Greece.org, and includes maps, images--just about everything you'll need to understand the site. Another source of valuable images is this course page by Sandra J. Shaw. Those of you interested in old photographs might find these from the L. H. Jeffrey Archive (Oxford University) interesting. For those with short attention spans, Wikipedia has a decent article with a map and some nice pictures; and this blog from Korea features some gorgeous recent (2006) pictures of the Acropolis and its buildings--as well as some pretty stunning views of Athens from the Acropolis. Close-ups of a model are included at the end--but the page has a tendency to time out because of the size of the images..
Hint: It would be a very good idea to print out a copy of an Acropolis map and to know where the buildings we discuss are located on it.
Propylaia. Built by Mnesicles between 437 and 432 BCE. (Wikipedia's article)
Model of the Athens Acropolis, Royal Ontario Museum (the Propylaia is in the center).Multiple recent views of the Propylaia (Kevin Glowacki's Ancient City of Athens page)
Temple of Athena Nike. Built by Kallicrates, commissioned by Pericles in 448 BCE. Also known as Nike Apteros (Wingless Victory).
Reconstruction drawing from Prof. R. John's History of Architecture course at the University of Miami.
Segments of Frieze sculpture: 1, 2, 3
Fragment of Balustrade frieze ("Nike Tying Her Sandal" or "Nike Loosening Her Sandal")
Reconstructions of Nike Temple by the same folks who did those of the Propylaia, above.
Parthenon. Iktinos and Kallicrates, 447-438 BCE. Many good shots, diagrams, etc. are available on the Shrine of the Goddess Athena website's page on the Parthenon.
Eastern facade (image from Martijn Moerbeek, Hellas:Net; see his Acropolis page for a good history.)
Nashville reconstruction of the Parthenon
Southeastern elevation (and the Bryn Mawr Lantern Slide view)
Parthenon Sculptures
Statue of Athena Parthenos (reconstruction), Royal Ontario Museum (not, as noted under the Stokstad photo, the Nashville version; that appears below).
Other reconstructions: Roman copy, Varvakion Statuette, the Nashville reconstruction (this was gilded in 2002), a reconstruction drawing.
Metope, Parthenon (from Reed College's page on the Parthenon).
Reconstruction drawing of Metopes (bottom of page; the other drawings locate the figures on the building)
East Pediment: Birth of Athena (reconstruction drawing)
West Pediment: Contest between Athena and Poseidon for the patronage of Athens (reconstruction drawing)
Frieze (page is a Flash presentation from Columbia University)
Parthenon Frieze model, Royal Ontario Museum
Acropolis model showing Erechtheion. Plan and another plan (from Perseus)
East elevation (from Southeast); reconstruction drawing showing East elevation; another view from the East (East facade)
View from Southwest, showing West facade, Caryatid Porch, and Poseidon porch
Reconstruction drawing of West elevation
Front and rear views of a Caryatid
Here is a lovely, "zoomable" drawing of caryatids from Stuart and Revett's The Antiquities of Athens (1762-1816).
View from interior of Caryatid Porch
View of North entrance to Poseidon Porch
Interior of Poseidon Porch, showing Ionic capitals and coffers (and another view).
Additional Resources |
Bulletin: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has completely revamped its exhibits of Greek and Roman art. See this excellent article in the New York Times by Michael Kimmelman (you have to register, but it's free) with a nifty interactive feature, and the Met's own pages on the new space. The Foundation of the Hellenic World website now features an exhibit called Meeting at the Ancient Agora; go to "the visitor's experience" to see a colored reproduction of the Hephaisteion (Thesion) on the edge of the Athens Agora. The parent website also features several articles that might be of interest. A 2008 article in Smithsonian explores the "mysteries" of the Parthenon, also the topic of a recent documentary on the Science channel. Overviews of Greek and Roman Art and Architecture New and terribly entertaining: A page from Columbia called Real? Virtual: Representing Architectural Time & Space includes an interactive map of the Parthenon in Nashville. It actually looks more accurate on the inside than it does on the exterior. Also, see the panoramic views and other features of other classical sites, which you can reach from the main page. Rome Reborn 2.0 is a cooperative international effort to map ancient Rome in 3D. Several detailed photos and videos area available in the Gallery. Greek and Roman Art (Metropolitan Museum of Art) Architecture in Ancient Greece provides a quick summary of the elements of ancient Greek architecture. See also the Digital Archive of Ancient Architecture. Art Images for College Teaching has a section on Ancient Art, which includes both Greek and Roman works, as well as art and architecture from other parts of the ancient world. Perseus Project's Art and Archaeology section Historical maquettes (models) of Rome Lantern Slides of Classical Antiquity from Bryn Mawr University is a page of wonderful old photos of many of the sites we will study in this class. The website was put together by the Center for the Study of Architecture/ Archaeology, and is devoted to advancing the use of computers, computer technologies, and digital information in the service of rchitectural history, archaeology, and related disciplines. See especially it's page on the Propylaea Project. Greece For a frequently-updated, exhaustive list of internet sources on Greek Art, see Chris Witcombe's Art History Resources on the Web: Ancient Greece. The Ancient City of Athens by Kevin Glowacki is one of the best educational sites on Greece available on the web. Excellent photographs, plus essays and other material. The University of Pennsylvania's Forum Antiquum: Greek Art and Archaeology. My alma mater has done me proud with many of the pages she's produced for students of the ancient world. This extensive collection of links and information almost makes this part of the sidebar unnecessary. Here's a page from Reed College on Archaic Kouroi. For a brief introduction to the background of the kore figure, see this page on the myth of Demeter and Persephone, or read the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. Bruce
Hartzler's Archaic Period Slides: a nice collection of several
pieces in a variety of media from his course, Survey
of Classical Here is an extensive article about the Parthenon by Michael Lehanas, with several diagrams, drawings, and other images. See Dr. J's Illustrated Parthenon Marbles and The Parthenon Marbles page for information on the frieze, metopes, and pedimental sculptures on the Parthenon, as well as on the controversy regarding their present location in the British Museum. This article explains Dr. Joan Connelly's new interpretation of the Parthenon frieze and cites the original paper. Greek Landscapes is constructed by Thomas Sakoulas, a native Greek. It contains maps, reconstruction drawings of the Parthenon, and satellite images. Doric Greek temples in Sicily can provide some idea of Greek influence in Italy A page on the Parthenon from Reed College. If you'd like to know how all this stuff fits together, see Prof. Donald Kagan's series of lectures on Ancient Greek History from Academic Earth, which offers lectures and courses on a wide variety of subjects online. Rome An entire course on Roman architecture, taught by Yale's Diana Kleiner is available for free through Academic Earth. Connections The Shrine of the Goddess Athena is a site devoted to the history, chronology, and ubsequent influence of Athena/Minerva on Western culture. Painting of the Pantheon by Giovanni Panini, 1740 (and one from 1732) and an engraving based on Panini's painting. Art and Science Here are several sites devoted to the geometry of Classical art and design (and its influence on later art). Keep in mind, though, that searches on the Golden Section, Pi, and other aspects of this ratio can lead you to some sites of questionable value. The Golden Section: a page from the Perseus Project from a course on Greek science. Ewers Architecture's page on the Golden Section, explaining the company's logo--including a simple diagram. The Golden Section in Art and Architecture consists of a series of slides illustrating the principles involved, and ends with a quotation from Luca Pacioli: "Without mathematics there is no art." For an illustration of the mathematics associated with perspective in Classical architecture, see these pages on the Parthenon and the Column Paradox. Here's a cute (and helpful) animation on how to derive a golden section, by Dean Allen. This one shows you how to use a golden section in layout design: Golden Mean, and here you can use it for type design. Here's a simple definition of entasis, from Wikipedia, with a diagram. A "momentary vignette" from Loggia which explains entasis can be found here (click on the image for the definition). While I was searching for information on entasis, I ran across this page of notes on the Parthenon by Dr. Jan Mainzer of Marist College for a course on Art and Values. You might find the "flashcard tutorial" and other copious information helpful. Kelley Library Resources Groenewegen-Frankfort, H. A. Art of the Ancient World: Painting, Pottery, Sculpture, Architecture from Egypt, Mesopotamia, Crete, Greece, and Rome. Ref N 5330 .G764 The Visual Dictionary of Ancient Civilizations. CB 311.V584 1994 Everyday Life in Ancient Times: Highlights of the Beginnings of Western Civilization in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. CB 311 N3 1961 |
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