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THE EMERGENCE OF GREEK CIVILIZA TION AncientGreecewasamountainouslandofspectacularnatural beautyO. livetreesandgrapevinesgrewonthesteephillsides, producing oil and wineb, ut there was little good farmlandI.n towns,skilled artisans produced metal and ceramic wares to trade abroad for grain and raw materials.Greek merchant ships carried potso,liveoila,ndbronzesfromAthensC, orintha,ndAegina aroundtheMediterraneanSeae,xtendingtheGreekcultural orbit from mainland Greece south to the Peloponneen, orth to Macedoniaa, nd east to the Aegean islands and the coast of Asia Minor (MAP 5 1).Greek colonies in Italy ,Sicily ,and Asia Minor rapidlybecamepowerfulindependentcommercialandcultural centers themselvesb, ut they remained tied to the homeland by common language,heritage,religion,and art. WithinaremarkablybrieftimeG, reekartistsdeveloped focused and distinctive ideals of human beauty and architectural design that continue to exert a profound influence todayF. rom about 900 BCE until about 100 BCE,they concentrated on a new , rather narrow range of subjects and produced an impressive body of work with focused stylistic aspirations in a variety of media. Greek artists were restless.They continually sought to change and improveexistingartistictrendsandfashionse,ffectingstriking stylistic change over the course of a few centuries.This is in stark contrast to the situation we discovered in ancient Egypt,where a desire for permanence and continuity maintained stable artistic conventions for nearly 3,000 years. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Intheninthandeighthcenturies dominance in the Aegean had come to an end,the Greeks began to form independently governed city-states.Each city-state was an autonomousregionwithacity AthensC, orinthS,parta asits political,economic,religious,and cultural center.Each had its own formofgovernmentandeconomya,ndeachmanageditsown domestic and foreign affairs.The power of these city-states initially depended at least as much on their manufacturing and commercial skills as on their military might. Amongtheemergingcity-states,Corinth,locatedonmajor landandseatraderoutesw, asoneoftheoldestandmost powerfulB. y the sixth century BCE,Athens rose to commercial andculturalpreeminenceS.oonithadalsoestablisheda representativegovernmentinwhicheverycommunityhadits ownassemblyandmagistratesA. llcitizensparticipatedinthe assembly and all had an equal right to own private propertyt,o exercise freedom of speech,to vote and hold public office,and to serve in the army or navy.Citizenship,however,was open only to Athenianmen.Thecensusof309 BCE inAthenslisted21,000 RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND SACRED PLACES AccordingtoancientGreeklegendt,hecreationoftheworld involved a battle between the earth gods,called Titans,and the sky gods.The victors were the sky gods,whose home was believed to be atop Mount Olympos in the northeast corner of the Greek mainland.The Greeks saw their gods as immortal and endowed with supernatural powersb, ut more than peoples of the ancient Near East and the Egyptians,they also visualized them in human form and attributed to them human weaknesses and emotions. Amongthemostimportantdeitieswerethesupremegodand citizens1, 0,000 foreign residentsa,nd 400,000 others women,children,and slaves. that is, RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND SACRED PLACES AccordingtoancientGreeklegendt,hecreationoftheworld involved a battle between the earth gods,called Titans,and the sky gods.The victors were the sky gods,whose home was believed to be atop Mount Olympos in the northeast corner of the Greek mainland.The Greeks saw their gods as immortal and endowed with supernatural powersb, ut more than peoples of the ancient Near East and the Egyptians,they also visualized them in human form and attributed to them human weaknesses and emotions. Amongthemostimportantdeitieswerethesupremegodand citizens1, 0,000 foreign residentsa,nd 400,000 others women,children,and slaves. that is, BCEl,ongafterMycenaean goddessZ, eusandHeraa,ndtheiroffspring(see Roman Deities, page 104). ManysitesthroughoutGreecec,alled thought to be sacred to one or more gods.The earliest sanctuaries included outdoor altars or shrines and a sacred natural element such as a tree,a rock,or a spring.As more buildings were added,a sanctuary might become a palatial home for the gods,with one or moretemples,everaltreasuriesforstoringvaluableofferings, various monuments and statues,housing for priests and visitors,an outdoor dance floor or permanent theater for ritual performances andliterarycompetitionsa,ndastadiumforathleticevents.The SanctuaryofZeusnearOlympiai,nthewesternPeloponnese, housed an extensive athletic facility with training rooms and arenas for track-and-field eventsI.t was here that athletic competitions, prototypes of todays Olympic Games,were held. Greek sanctuaries (SEEFIGS .5 5,5 6)are quite different from the religious complexes of the ancient Egyptians (see,for example, the T empleof AmunatKarnak, FIG3. 18)E. gyptianbuilders dramatized the power of gods or god-rulers by organizing their temples along straight,processional ways.The Greeks,in contrast, treated each building and monument as an independent element to be integrated with the natural features of the site,in an irregular arrangement that emphasized the exterior of each building as a discrete sculptural form on display. GREEK ART C. 900 C. 600 BCE Around the mid eleventh century BCEa, new culture began to form on the Greek mainland.Athens began to develop as a major center of ceramic production,creating both sculpture and vessels decoratedwithorganizedabstractdesignsI.nthisGeometric period,the Greeks,as we now call them,were beginning to create theirownarchitecturalformsandweretradingactivelywith theirneighborstotheeastB.yc7.00 BCEi,naphasecalledthe Orientalizing periodt,hey began to incorporate exotic foreign motifs into their native art. THE GEOMETRIC PERIOD What we call the Geometric period flourished in Greece between 900 and 700 BCEe, specially in the decoration of ceramic vessels withlinearmotifss,uchasspiralsd,iamondsa,ndcross-hatching. This abstract vocabulary is strikingly different from the stylized plants,birds,and sea creatures that had characterized Minoan pots (SEEFIGS .4 5,4 10). Large funerary vessels were developed at this time for use as grave markers,many of which have been uncovered at the ancient cemetery of Athens just outside the Dipylon Gate,once the main western entrance into the city.The krater illustrated her(FeIG.5 2) provides a detailed pictorial record of funerary rituals including the relatively new Greek practice of cremation associated with the important person whose death is commemorated by this work. On the top register,the body of the deceased is depicted laying on its side atop a funeral bier,about to be cremated.Male and female figures stand on each side of the body ,their arms raised and both hands placed on top of their heads in a gesture of anguish,as if these mourners were literally tearing their hair out with griefI.n the registerunderneathh,orse-drawnchariotsandfootsoldiersw, ho look like walking shields with tiny antlike heads and muscular legs, move in solemn procession. The geometric shapes used to represent human figures on this pot triangles for torsosm; ore triangles for the heads in profile; round dots for eyes;long,thin rectangles for arms;tiny waists;and long legs with bulging thigh and calf muscles are what has given theGeometricstyleitsnameF.iguresareshownineither full-frontalorfull-profileviewsthatemphasizeflatpatternsand crisp outlines.Any sense of the illusion of three-dimensional forms occupying real space has been avoided.But the artist has captured a deep sense of human loss by exploiting the stylized solemnity and strong rhythmic accents of the carefully arranged elements. Egyptian funerary art reflected the strong belief that the dead, intheafterworldc,ouldcontinuetoengageinactivitiesthey enjoyed while alive.For the Greeks,the deceased entered a place ofmysteryandobscuritythatlivinghumanscouldnotdefine preciselya,ndtheirfuneraryarti,ncontrastf,ocusedonthe emotionalreactionsofthesurvivorsT. hesceneofhuman mourning on this pot contains no supernatural beingsn, or any identifiablereferencetoanafterlifeo,nlypoignantevocationsof the sentiments and rituals of those left behind on earth. Greek artists of the Geometric period also produced figurines of wood,ivory,clay,and cast bronze.These small statues of humans and animals are similar in appearance to those painted on pots. Atinybronzeofthistype (FIG5. 3)d,epictinga MANAND CENTAUR a mythical creature,part man and part horse dates to aboutthesametimeasthefunerarykrater.Althoughtherewere wiseandgoodcentaursinGreekloret,hisworktakesupthe themeofbattlingmanandcentaurp,rominentthroughoutthe historyofGreekart( SEFEIG 5. 33).Thetwofiguresconfront eachotheraftertheman perhapsHerakles hasstabbedthe centaur;the spearhead is visible on the centaur s left side.Like the painter of the contemporary funerary krater,the sculptor here has distilledthebodypartsofthefigurestoelementalgeometric shapes,arranging them in a composition of solid forms and open, ornegatives,pacesthatmakesthepiecepleasingfrommultiple