Greek Art

Art was very important to most Greeks. Their art mainly consists of their architecture, their sculptures, and their pottery. Art was especially big in the Greek city-state of Athens. What the Greeks did with art did not change only the present, it also changed the future for art. (Geffern, Boardman)


Greek architecture is big in Greek life. It was what housed their religious and government buildings. There were three main types of architectural styles; they were the Doric order, Ionic order, and the Corinthian order. The Doric order was plainer, simpler, and sturdier on top. This architectural style was found primarily on the mainland of Greece and the colonies of Southern Italy and Sicily. The Parthenon is an example of the Doric style. The Ionic architectural style is thinner and more elegant than the Doric. The Ionic style is decorated with a scroll-like design. This style was found in Eastern Greece and on the Greek islands. Examples of this style would be the Erectheum, the Temple of Apollo at Didyma and the Temple of Athena W. The Corinthian style is not used often in the Greek time but it is the most elaborate, decorated with leaves. An example of this order is the Temple of Zeus at Athens. Greek architecture is very adored today. source (Boardman)


Another great par of the Greek art is their sculptures. Many great artists lived during the Greed times this is why their skill was looked at so often. The Greeks used many different materials to build their sculptures and statues some of these materials included stone, marble, and limestone. They would use these because they were in abundance in Greece. There were seven different time periods in Greek sculpture, these were the Mycenaean Art, Sub-Mycenaean Art, also known as the dark age, Proto-Geometric, Geometric Art, Archaic, Classical and Haenistic. Each time-period had their own distinct style. In Greek statues, the ideal body was perfect.source (Boardman)


Greek art was also expressed in pottery, used in everyday life. Most of the painted potteries we find now are bowls or drinking utensils, like jugs or cups. Greek pottery was also divided into time-periods: the Proto Geometric, the Geometric, the Archaic, the Black Figure, and the Red Figure. The most common colors of the paint would have been red, black, white, and yellow. When the Greeks painted their pots, it was part of everyday life. However, today we look at it with awe and imagine their skill.source (Geffern)


The greatness of the Greek Art is to be remembered and looked at for years to come. Greek art has effect on the other time periods of art. Art had great importance to the society of Greece.


Book sources:


Geffern, Anthony (producer). The Greeks: Crucibe of Civilization. NY: PBS Home Video; 1999.


Boardman, John. Greek Art: World of Art. Thames & Hudson; Oxford :1996.


Sorry Mr. Lockwood my blog was really not working I had, had it done but it was somehow deleted because the internet shut down and then the second time it would not work on my moms computer because of the links (which i had done correctly). So i got it in as soon as it would work.


Jessica

Greek Art

my blog is not working i have been trying to work on it and still am..... so sorry i doon know whats wrong with it.

Alexander the Great

I accidently made this blog dissappear. but you had graded it before. Geffern, Anthony (producer). The Greeks: Crucibe of Civilization. NY: PBS Home Video; 1999.

Percelis

The era of Pericles is very important to the Athenian Greek history because this time period is at the apex of their society. Pericles came directly after the win against the Persians. However, before the Athenians could beat the Persian navy their armies had burned down the entire city of Athens. So therefore afterwards the Athenians had to rebuild their city and this task fell into the hands of Pericles; and it is a good thing it did because he made Athens a beautiful site to see. He had many projects under way to get Athens back up and running just as smoothly as it had been. (Geffern)


Pericles ruled with the same methods in place that which Cleisthenies had set into play around 50 years before him. He still used the same governing techniques but the focus for this era was more on the rebuilding of Athens. Pericles did this by having many grand building projects, this would give jobs to many Athenians and it involved many people. These building projects were much like the pyramids such as they were massive town buildings which now are looked at with amaze. Source (Geffern)


One of these building that was made during this time was the great Parthenon on a top of the acropolis. The Parthenon stands for a temple to the virgin. This project was of stunning magnitude it had a budget of one billion dollars in modern terms and was solid marble not just layered with it. It was composed of twenty thousand tons of marble. The building used to enclose a forty foot statue of Athena and in her hand was a six foot statue of Nike. This statue would have been glorious, it was made with marble and ivory, and covered with gold and all kinds of jewels. Source (Geffern, Meiggs)


Another exquisite detail that was added to this new buildings and projects were friezes. Friezes are picture carvings in stone that just alone signal greatness and power. The friezes were originally painted but now look just stone. Pericles was a very hands on guy in his participation with these build projects. He would directly involve him self by finding the perfect people to do the jobs to helping himself. (Geffern, Meiggs)


Many of the great details of most the buildings that were built in this time are now gone. This is mainly because since this was the apex of Athenian society it went down from there. When Athens would be invaded they would take parts of it not altogether knowing that it was great and beautiful, amazing history. Some people believe that because of the grandness of how Pericles made the rebuilding of Athens it enhanced the feud between the Spartans and Athenians, which ultimately destroyed and brought the end of Athens. Source (Geffern, Meiggs)


book sources:

Geffern, Anthony (producer). The Greeks: Crucibe of Civilization. NY: PBS Home Video; 1999.


Meiggs, Russell. The Athenian Empire. Oxford University Press; New York: 1979.

The Difference between the Athenians and the Spartans

Both the Athenians and the Spartans are city-states located in Greece. Despite the fact that they were part of the same country they were bitter rivals. This was because that in Greece when the city-states formed they became little individual governments in itself. However at times the Greek people will work together to save their country against greater powers. There are many differences between the two city-states; Sparta is more known for being brutal, strong, and powerful. On the other hand the Athenians were more interested in the intellectual side of Greece. (Meiggs,Pomeroy)


Today when we look at the Spartans we see that practically all the books explain them as ruthless and brutal. This point of view is for the current time however and the Spartans would not have been as extremely ruthless in the time they were at. Their armies and tactics were extremely strong but their culture, economics, and politics were however stagnant. The people of Sparta were very hard even down to the fact of what they ate was more brutal than the others of that time. Source(Pomeroy)


The women of Sparta alone were tuff, they had to be able to let their little boys leave the house as early as age seven to prepare them for battle. The wives would not get to see their husbands very often and they would not even live together till at least the husband turned thirty; this because all the men would stay and sleep together. (this is why many of the Spartan men were gay) The wives would also have to prepare for the death of their husbands. In Sparta there was not marriage from love it came from the need to multiply. Another thing that the Spartans did that was extremely hard was that they would take their babies to a cliff and if it was too skinny they would throw it off. (Pomeroy)


The Athenians are not as extreme as the Spartans are, they have more influence on the intelligent side to things. They had a huge part to the start of philosophy and most Greek art and architecture came from them. Another part of the Athenian's society that was strong was their government. They were the first society to introduce the prospect of democracy this has a big influnence on the future (today). Their rulers were strong and successfull, along with their generals. (Meiggs)


The Athenians had a much more normal and less extreme way of living compared to the Spartans. This could have caused rivalry between them because each of them had their strong suits. Because they each were powerful in their own ways they made Greece stronger when they worked all together. Source


Book Sources:


Meiggs, Russell. The Athenian Empire. Oxford University Press; New York: 1979.


Pomeroy, Sarah B. Acient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History. Oxford University Press; USA: 2007.