Read Aloud the Text Content

This audio was created by Woord's Text to Speech service by content creators from all around the world.

Text Content or SSML code:

wans stride in horizontal bands against a light background with stylizedflowerformscalled themA. nexampleofthe FigureandRed-Figure, silhouettes of the animals against a background of very pale buff, the natural color of the Corinthian clay .The artist incised fine details inside the silhouetted shapes with a sharp tool and added touches of white and red slip to enliven the design. viewpoints.Most such sculptures have been found in sanctuaries, suggestingthattheymayhaveservedasvotiveofferingsto the gods. THE ORIENTALIZING PERIOD By the seventh century BCE,painters in major pottery centers in Greece had moved away from the dense linear decoration of the Geometric style.They now created more open compositions built aroundlargemotifsthatincludedrealandimaginaryanimals, abstract plant forms,and human figures.The source of these motifs can be traced to the arts of the Near East,Asia Minor,and Egypt. Greek painters did not simply copy the work of Eastern artists, howeverI.nsteadt,heydrewonworkinavarietyofmedia including sculpture,metalwork,and textiles to invent an entirely new approach to painting vessels. The Orientalizing style (c.700 600 BCE) began in Corinth,a portcitywhereluxurywaresfromtheNearEastandEgypt inspired artists.The new style is evident in a Corinthian olpe,or wide-mouthed pitcher,dating to about 650 625 BCE (FIG5. 4). Silhouetted creatures lions,panthers,goats,deer,bulls,boars,and THE ARCHAIC PERIOD, C. 600 480 BCE The Archaic period does not deserve its name. Archaic means antiquated or old-fashioned, even primitive, and the term waschosenbyarthistorianswhowantedtostresswhatthey perceived as a contrast between the undeveloped art of this time and the subsequent Classical period,once thought to be the most admirableandhighlydevelopedphaseofGreekartB. utthe Archaic periodwasatimeofgreatnewachievementinGreece. InliteratureS,apphowroteherinspiredpoetryontheislandof Lesbosw, hile on another island the legendary storyteller,Aesop, craftedhisanimalfablesA. rtistsandarchitectssharedinthe growingprosperityascitycouncilsandwealthyindividuals sponsoredthecreationofextraordinarysculptureandfine ceramics and commissioned elaborate civic and religious buildings in cities and sanctuaries. THE SANCTUARY AT DELPHI AccordingtoGreekmythZ, euswassaidtohavereleasedtwo eagles from opposite ends of the earth and they met exactly at the ruggedmountainsiteofApollossanctuary(FIG.5 5).Fromvery early times,the sanctuary at Delphi was renowned as an oracle,a place where the god Apollo was believed to communicate with humans by means of cryptic messages delivered through a human intermediaryo,rmedium(thePythia)T. heGreeksandtheir leaders routinely sought advice at oraclesa,nd attributed many twists of fate to misinterpretations of the Pythia s statements.Even foreign rulers journeyed to request help at Delphi. Delphi was the site of the Pythian Games whichl,ike the Olympian Games,attracted participants from all over Greece.The principaleventsweretheathleticcontestsandthemusicd,ance, andpoetrycompetitionsinhonorofApolloA. satOlympia, hundreds of statues dedicated to the victors of the competitions,as wellasmythologicalfiguresf,illedthesanctuarygroundsT. he sanctuary of Apollo was significantly developed during the Archaic periodandincludedthemaintemplep,erformanceandathletic areas,treasuries,and other buildings and monuments,which made full use of limited space on the hillside (FIG.5 6). After visitors climbed the steep path up the lower slopes of Mount Parnassos,they entered the sanctuary by a ceremonial gate inthesoutheastcorner.FromtheretheyzigzaggeduptheSacred Ways,onamedbecauseitwastherouteofreligiousprocessions duringfestivalMs. ovingpasthenumeroustreasuriesand memorialsbuiltbythecity-statest,heyarrivedatthelong colonnade of the Temple of Apollo,rebuilt in c.53B0CE on the site ofanearliertempleB.elowthetemplewasa stoaa,columned pavilion open on three sides,built by the people of Athens.There visitors rested,talked,or watched ceremonial dancing.At the top of the sanctuary hill was a stadium area for athletic contests. TREASUROTYFHE SIPHNIANS . Sanctuariesalsoincluded treasuries built by the citizens of Greek city-states to house and protect their offerings.The small but luxurious TREASURY OF THE SIPHNIANS (FIG5. 7) wasbuiltinthesanctuaryofApolloat Delphi by the residents of the island of Siphnos near the Cyclades, betweenabout530and525 BCEI.tsurvivestodayonlyin fragments housed in the museum at DelphiI.nstead of columns, the builders used two stately caryatids columns carved in the formofclothedwomenwiththeirfinelypleatedfl,owing garmentsr,aised on pedestals andbalancingelaboratelycarved capitalsontheirheads.Thecapitalssupportatall entablature conformingtothe Ionicorder,whichfeaturesaplain,orthree- panel, architraveand a continuous carved frieze,set off by richly carved moldings (see The Greek Orders, page 110). Both the continuous frieze and thpeedimentsof the Siphnian TreasurywereoriginallyfilledwithreliefsculptureA. surviving section of the frieze from the building s north side,which shows a scene from the legendary BATTLE BETWEEN THE GODS AND THE GIANTS (TITANS),is notable for its complex representation of space (FIG5. 8)T. ogiveasenseofthree-dimensionalrecessiont,he sculptors placed some figures behind others,overlapping as many as three of them and varying the depth of the relief to allow view grasp their placement within space.Originally such sculptures were painted with bright color that enhanced the lifelike effect. TEMPLES For centuries ancient Greeks had worshiped at sanctuaries where an outdoor altar stood near a temple that sheltered a statue of a godA. sGreektemplesgrewsteadilyinsizeandcomplexity, stoneandmarblereplacedtheearliermud-brickandwood construction.A number of standardized plans evolvedr,anging fromsimpleo,ne-roomstructureswithcolumned (coveredo, pen space in front of an entrance) to buildings with doubleporches(frontandbacks)u, rroundedentirelyby columns.Buildersalsoexperimentedwiththedesignoftemple elevations thearrangementp, roportionsa,ndappearanceof thecolumnsandthelintelsw, hichnowgrewintoelaborate entablatures.T wo elevation designs emerged during the Archaic period:the Doric order and the Ionic order.The Corinthian order,a variant of the Ionic order,would develop later (see The Greek Orders, page 110). A particularly well-preserved Archaic temple,built around 550 BCEs,tillstandsattheformerGreekcolonyofPoseidonia(Roman Paestum) about 50 miles south of the modern city of Naples,Italy (FIG.5 9).Dedicated to Hera,the wife of Zeus,it is known today THE TEMPLOE F APHAIOA N AEGINA. Afullydevelopedand somewhat sleeker Doric temple part of a sanctuary dedicated to a local goddess named Aphaia was built on the island of Aegina at the turn of the fifth century BCE (FIG5. 10).Spectacularly sited on the top of a hill overlooking the sea,the temple is reasonably well-preserved,in spite of the loss of pediments,roof,and sections ofitscolonnadeE. noughevidenceremainstoformareliable reconstruction of its original appearance (FIG5. 11).The plan combines six columns on the façades with 12 on the sides,and the cella whose roof was supported by superimposed colonnades couldbeenteredfromporchesonbothshortsides.Theslight swelling of the columns (entasis) seen at Poseidonia is evident here as well,and the outside triglyphs are pushed to the ends of frieze, out of alignment with the column underneath them,to avoid the awkwardness of a half metope(rectangular panel with a relief or painting) at the corner. Like most Greek templest,his building was neither isolated nor situated in open spaceb, ut set in relation to an outside altar where religious ceremonies were focused.By enclosing the temple within a walled precinctt,he designer could control the viewer s initial experience of the temple.As the viewer entered the sacred space through a gatehouse the Propylaia the temple would be seenatanobliqueangle (FIG5. 12)U. nlikeancientEgyptian temples,where long processional approaches led visitors directly to the flat entrance façade of a building ( SEEFIGS 3. 183, 22)t,he Greek architect revealed from the outset the full shape of a closed, compacts,culptural massi,nviting viewers not to enter seeking somethingwithinb,utrathertowalkaroundtheexterior, exploringtherichsculpturalembellishmentonpedimentsand frieze.Cult ceremonies,after all,took place outside the temples. Modern viewers,however,will not find exterior sculpture at AeginaN. othingremainsfromthemetopesa,ndsubstantial survivingportionsofthetwopedimentswerepurchasedinthe early nineteenth century by the future Ludwig I of Bavaria and are nowexhibitedinMunich.Theyarepreciousdocumentsinthe developmentofGreekarchitecturalsculptureT. hetriangular pedimentsinGreektemplescreatedchallengingcompositional problems for sculptors intent on fitting figures into the tapering spaces at the outside corners,since the scale of figures could not change,only their poses.The earlier,west pediment of Aegina(FIG. 5 13),dated about 500 490 BCE,represents a creative solution that becameadesignstandarda,ppearingwithvariationsthroughout thefifthcentury BCE.Thesubjectofthepedimentr,enderedin fullythree-dimensionalfiguresis,theparticipationoflocal warriors in the military expedition against Troy.Fallen warriors fill the angles at both ends of the pediment base,while others crouch and lunge,rising in height toward an image of Athena as warrior goddess who can fill the elevated pointed space at the center peak since she is allowed to be represented larger (hieratic scale) than the humans who flank her.