Greece is undoubtedly the cradle of Western civilization, it not only part of the humanist and the ideal of beauty that will take effect for more than 20 centuries, but its influence extends to all areas of knowledge. From Greece comes the philosophy, medicine, democracy, art, tragedy, poetry ...
inquisitive mentality
to the Greeks gave birth to philosophy. The reason was applied to all sciences, which devoted themselves to reach perfection and the truth and the result was the emergence of think tanks such as the Schools and Academies. The first reference to mathematics and science in general as a philosophical concept we have in Ionia, Asia Minor (now Turkey) where Thales founded a school whose main feature was the naturalistic explanation of the phenomena surrounding. Athens later becomes the most important cultural center of antiquity and characters emerge as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle to make blush of timidity modern philosophers. The Greeks are responsible for an art that will make all the artistic production in Europe for over 2,000 years. However, the aesthetic or ideal of Greek beauty is defined rigorously with the laws of mathematics and philosophy. Assessing a work that evokes the universal rhythm and balance that mandates that all parts of a whole are proportionate to each other, therefore the artist must meet a set of rules called "canon." Consequently we have an ideal of beauty associated with the canon, in order to share, in truth, a work of art more mathematical calculations involving the use of a simple square, was a philosophical concept of balance. Religion shaped
Greek civilization with great originality, becoming a milestone fundamental in the life of ancient Greece. Unlike the primitive religions, daughters of fear of the unknown, religion or more precisely Greek mythology, born of the union of reason and poetry. Eager to bring all things to the world of ideas, the Greeks gave human form to the more abstract, the theories and legends about the origin of the cosmos and all mythological allegories.
Zeus and the Olympian gods were worshiped not only the magnificence of the State which regarded religion as something official, but also privately by citizens. The gods were offered prayers, hymns, festivals, sacrifices, and they were consulted for decision making in the oracles. But the Greeks were not subject to a rigid theology, its spirit of liberty and the pursuit of truth allowed to question the system of things, but these theological and philosophical inquisitions always ended up settling the magnificence of the gods, "... as said philosopher Xenophanes "At first, the gods do not reveal all, but men are discovering over time." Tales (of Miletus), which was a perfectly rational, able to predict an eclipse ... insisted however that "all things are full of gods" and this was the common Greek attitude ... "(The Greece classic. CM Borra. Time-Life International.) Consequently
Greek myths were extended to all art forms from the construction of a magnificent temple to the development of a simple jar for drinking water, through an epic poem or a song lyric. Hence, philosophy, science, religion and art merge resulting works and literary works that evoke the free spirit of Greek, his search for truth and love of beauty.
The Greek history begins from 1600 BC with the arrival of the Achaeans, first Greek-speaking people, who settled in the Peloponnese resulting in Mycenaean culture were the founders of the strengths of Mycenae, Tiryns and Pylos and glory comes to us through the Homeric poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, Agamemnon was the king who led the war against Troy. (The Mycenaean world was developed after the existence of the bright and peaceful civilization of Crete, also known as Minoan, for his legendary King Minos, who disappeared mysteriously, possibly by a natural disaster.)
The Mycenaeans ruled the Aegean Sea until the year 1200 BC when they were killed by the successive invasions of the Dorians, another Greek people much less civilized. Thus Greece entered a dark period, called "Medieval Hellenic" nearly five centuries, during which culture, writing and maritime domain virtually disappear. Around 800 BC Greece which phoenix emerges and begins to form a Greek identity of all the Hellenic peoples (Achaeans, Dorians, Ionians and Aeolian) with religion, customs and similar gear.
Thanks to the prosperity and population growth in the Greek colonies spread throughout the Mediterranean and Black Sea coast leading to the revival of maritime trade not only with their colonies, but with the neighboring towns of Egypt, Phoenicia, Persia.
is how the world of the Greeks was developed around the sea. It was not accidental raise the divinity of the god Poseidon and the second in the mythological hierarchy. The sea was a source of food and battlefield, but in particular was the trade route that connected to distant cities. Indeed, the Greek peasant was never able to feed all of Greece, but produced wine, wheat, olive oil and wool, which together with pottery and jewelry were sold through marine routes of the Aegean seas, Black Mediterranean.
Unlike other civilizations, such as Egyptian and Assyrian, who built huge temples and pyramids thanks to compulsory and free the slaves. Greek art is done by free men who paid for their work, thus runs away from the obsession with the colossal and built based on a scale characteristic of a city and not an empire. The Greeks sought greatness in size but in proportions and balance of beauty. In the field of architecture's most iconic buildings temples were classified according to the order types or styles of columns (Doric, Ionic and Corinthian). The ultimate artistic expression was sculpture, subject to a canon of proportions to achieve the perfection of the human body. As for painting, beautiful specimens are preserved in the decoration of ceramics, which show him ahead of his technique and virtuosity.
In previous chapter try on the artistic development of Mycenaean Greece, the treaty itself of Hellenic culture, and they are usually seen in the Dorian invasion as the beginning of Hellenic civilization.
Greek art features:
religious 1 .- .- The gods appear in all art forms. The temple, abode of their gods, is the most important building and occupies a special place in the Acropolis. The sculpture and painting preserved in pottery represent the gods, demigods and the many myths that make up the Greek theology. The Greek religion was anthropomorphic gods were like humans, but enhanced, with human strengths and weaknesses. Some myths are poetic explanations of Greek cosmology, the origin of the world, but sometimes whimsical stories address where the gods are facing each other to meet their human passions such as gaining power, encourage your friends, take revenge on the enemy or to conquer love.
Greek Mythology .- The Greeks developed a complex mythology, where gods, though they were immortal, had human attributes. Most of these deities had cults character holiday, such as theater or the Olympics. From left to right, represent some of the most important Greek gods, recognized by their attributes: Zeus (the scepter and lightning), Athena (his armor), Hermes (the caduceus, winged sandals and hat), Artemis (the arc) Apollo (the lyre), Aphrodite (pink) and Dionysus (the grape).
2 .- The ideal of beauty .- There is no universal criterion to define beauty, each individual or social group in each time period or the beauty perceived in a particular way, however, the Greeks established a concept of beauty that has prevailed in the Western world for 25 centuries. For them, art is not a simple imitation of nature but tend to represent a perfect nature.
The philosophical school of Pythagoras noted that the perfect beauty was related to a system of mathematical proportions, so that the most beautiful objects were the most harmonious and proportionate.
"... There is no separation, according to this view, between art, science, mathematics and philosophy, all human knowledge is destined to the pursuit of perfection ..." (Wikipedia).
"... Art must pursue the appearance of the secret order that rules the world and that is the beauty ..." In this sense the Greek considered beautiful all linked to the concepts of proportion, measure, rhythm, balance, making all things, including the construction of a temple or the completion of a statue are subject to the laws of number. "... According to this beauty, all the parts of a whole are to one another, provided by a common measure. That's what we call a relationship, the Greeks called it canon which means rule ... "(" History of Art. "Germain Bazin, Ediciones Omega. P. 69).
Consequently, the perfection of numbers, proportion and harmony was reflected in the architecture and sculpture with the application the concepts of "architectural order" and the "canon of beauty."
The Parthenon is the architectural work which best reflects the architectural canon or order, its beauty lies in the numerical relation of each of the parts of the building to the whole, for the purpose of achieving a harmonious and pleasant work in sight.
In sculpture, the classical ideal of beauty was achieved by Polykleitos, who wrote a treatise on sculpture where he established his Canon of proportion applicable to the human body. The perfect man should be subject to the laws of harmony, understood in the Pythagorean sense of proportion as the divine order.
thus established Policleto inter alia, that the height of the body should rest with seven heads, the foot should measure twice the length of the hand, leg from foot to knee and had to be 6 spans the same extent between the knee and the center of abdomen ... To demonstrate the beauty and accuracy of its canon, carved the Dorífero, a completely naked young athlete jauntily carrying a spear. Subsequently, other sculptors modified measures to achieve a more stylized and elegant.
The Dorífero. copy of a work of Policleto .- (The carrier launches). 2.12 mts. Archaeological Museum of Naples. The beauty is conceived as the result of mathematical calculations. The famous Canon of Polykleitos unfortunately lost explains the principles of the system of proportions that the human body should have, among other measures indicated that the head should be the seventh of the body.
3 .- natural and idealized representation of the human figure .- The human body was the main reason of Greek art. For millennia the man had been considered a subject to be despised despots gods and kings, but the Greeks gave dignified and self-worth as an individual and thinking "... The world is full of wonders - Sophocles said - But nothing is as wonderful as the man himself ... "
Now this natural representation of the human form was idealized and perfect answer to a conception of the human body, flawless tangible, only sculpted figures of gods and young athletes in fullness of its beauty.
only from the Hellenistic period, through the exploration of human emotion, a deeper knowledge of anatomy and the pursuit of individuality will reach a realistic concept of man. In this last phase of Greek art, it represents a human being full of emotion and shortcomings, so for example if you're dying embodies the pain and agony if you are elderly your wrinkles are seen on the marble.
Venus de Milo .- Anonymous. (Aprox.130 to 100 BC) (211 cm.) Marble. Louvre Museum. It is one of the most representative sculptures of Hellenistic period, a paradigm of beauty and sensuality of women, admired by all and copied by artists like Dali. Milo was found in one of the Cyclades islands and unearthed by a farmer who sold the French ambassador in 1819. The Turkish government claimed the statue in 1960 arguing that the statue had been taken illegally from the island under the rule of the Ottoman Empire at that time. By being denied the statue threatened that if not returned, it would never recover their arms. As for his arms, no one believed they were in possession of the Turks and it is assumed that one held the robe and the other the apple of gold award from the Prince Paris to Aphrodite, by winning the most beautiful goddess Olympus, which provoked the end of the Trojan War.
4 .- .- foreshortening The great discovery of Greek art was the foreshortening. Although during the Archaic period the sculptures were rigid, symmetrical and subject to the law of the frontal, little by little the Greek artist started to represent the human figure in the same perspective that the see, giving natural movement. It is only during the Hellenic period, the Greeks achieved mastery of foreshortening and consequently the body turn and twist giving a new perspective to the human figure in motion.
The foreshortening is used in painting and sculpture to represent a body part is rotated relative to the rest. According to the encyclopedia Wikipedia, foreshortening is to reduce the length of the objects under the rules of perspective, is the term used to refer to a body at an angle or perpendicular to our eye level.
The foreshortening occurs mainly in the Hellenistic period, circa 320 BC, as indicated and then longer used during the Middle Ages, reappearing in the Renaissance.
Laocoon and his sons .- (2.45 mts) white marble. Vatican Museum. Rhodes School Hellenistic period .- It is a Greek original found in 1506 on land that had been part of the Palace of the Emperor Titus. Miguel Angel helped identify it as the work described by Pliny the Elder. When he found he lacked the right arm of Laocoon, he's one of the sons, the hand of another child, and parts of the snakes, Miguel Angel proposed restoring and even held the arm of Laocoon but never to colocársele. In 1905 he found his arm, as Michelangelo had sculpted and restored the work. Represents the priest Laocoon and his sons devoured by two sea snakes, which were deserving punishment for trying to warn the Trojans of the danger of the famous Trojan horse. The figures appear in different scale, reminiscent of Egyptian art that gave the larger figure. This work follows the pyramid and the most noticeable feature is the foreshortening, the bodies turn its central axis masterfully.
.- 5.-Polychrome long been believed that the white marble temples and sculptures were typical of Greek beauty, even the great archaeologist Winckelmann in his "History of ancient art" spoke of the whiteness of the marble as a aesthetics rule "... like white is the color that reflects as much light rays, is more noticeable and therefore a body will be much more beautiful the whiter it ... "It is so radiantly Winckelmann idealized white marble and rose to the rank of law, respected by Michelangelo, Bernini, Antonio Canova, etc. to make their sculptures. ("Greek Art." Michael Siebler, Edt. Taschen. P. 23)
But the discovery of new sources Greek archaeological study with modern tools and devices have demonstrated the falsity of that fact. The reality is that Greek art was polychrome.
We therefore get used to the idea of \u200b\u200ba Parthenon with its walls, reliefs and colorful columns, because the Greeks believed that a work was not completed until the painters did their work.
"... Pliny the Elder includes an anecdote that illustrates this thesis. On one occasion by asking what their favorite marble sculptures, the famous sculptor Praxiteles answered "Nicias manum quibus admovisset" (those who put their hands Nicias). Accordingly, not only highlighted Nicias for his paintings, but also for his "cirumlitio" by fully painting a statue ... "(" Greek Art. "Michael Siebler, Edt. Taschen. p. 25)
Recreation a statue of the pediment of Afea, Munich Glyptotek . The image shows the lush polychromy that characterized Greek art. Afea Doric temple located on the island of Aegina was initially believed he was dedicated to the god Zeus or Athena, but from the excavations of 1901 it is determined that was built in honor of the nymph Afea, daughter of Leto and sister of Apollo and Artemis. A nymph is credited with the invention of hunting nets. The sculptures were made in the severe style, a style of transition between the archaic and classical period.
periods of Greek art:
Greek art history is divided into four periods: Geometric, Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic responding roughly to four historical stages: the dark ages or medieval Hellenic , monarchy, democracy and the imperial era. In this chapter We refer to the historical background of these artistic moments that will be further developed to study the architecture, sculpture and ceramics primarily.
1 .- Geometric Period
has been established that the beginning of the Greek dark ages is related by successive invasions of the Dorians from the north of Greece and so-called Sea Peoples, however, is still intriguing as some nomads were able to prevail and end with a civilization much more advanced and militarily superior as Mycenaean, thence to consider potential natural disasters and even rivalry between the Mycenaean peoples themselves.
The truth is that the Mycenaean civilization gives way to a dark age where the economy is reduced to a rudimentary agriculture, forget the technique for the construction of palaces and buildings in stone and the booming maritime trade is replaced by looting . Even lose consciousness of linear writing Mycenaean, so there are no texts or documents that testify to this era.
These independent groups gradually settle and remain in agricultural work and piracy, then go for defensive reasons gradually merging to form the future city-states. Own
the Greek Dark Ages (1100 to 750 BC) are the geometric designs in ceramics, the size of small figurines xoanon style calls "cubist" and in terms of architecture built wooden shrines, which have not survived.
Dypilon Glass. Geometric Period. (Approx. 750 BC). The geometric decoration based on lines and frets of ceramics is to give name to this historical period.
2 .- Archaic Period
From the seventh century BC the nascent city-states, while maintaining their independence, they become aware of cultural unity, religious, linguistic and racial and also identify as Greeks or Hellenes. At that time the most important cities were Helida Sparta, Athens, Corinth and Thebes, which were ruled by kings.
King, initially supported by a powerful and privileged aristocracy, will give way to the figure of the tyrant, a conception very different from today. These "tyrant" are popular conscious aristocrats who assume power in different ways: coups, popular revolts and intrigues, but will govern for the people and implementing policies in their favor, which will eventually bring economic prosperity and social peace.
At this time the Greek economy recover and culturally, the coin reappears, writing and producing an astonishing revival of the arts.
population growth and the need for expansion have resulted in the colonization under the direction of the Polis or city-states. The Greeks went offshore and founded cities that maintain an economic alliance with the mother city or metropolis. Establishing, among other colonies of Ionia in Asia Minor where they developed the most emblematic cities of Miletus, Pergamum and Ephesus, in Magna Graecia (Southern Italy and Sicily) founded the cities of Syracuse and Pesto, in France the city of Massilia and City in Spain Ampurias.
map expansion of Greek culture. red symbols represent the Greek colonies, while the yellows are Phoenician colonies .- With this vast array of Greek colonial maritime commerce grows abnormally and is exported to the colonies and villages wine, wool, oil oil and high quality products such as pottery and jewelry in exchange for raw materials needed for their development.
In artistic matters important temples are built in stone and develop the Doric and Ionic, in which the ancients saw them respectively the beginning male and female respectively. The best preserved temples from this period are found in Magna Grecia.
As for the sculpture was made with a strong Egyptian influence, the statues of the Kouros and Kores, naked pictures of young girls dressed in traditional Greek robes were offered as votive offerings in temples. At the end of the sculpture was a departure from Egyptian models, breaking the law and therefore frontal magnificent works are performed with a purely Greek language.
ceramics reached its peak with the styles of black figures painted with red figures. The decoration of the vessels with the most varied forms allows us to discover the advanced painting technique. Also allows us to graphically reconstruct the life and religion of the Greek people with graphic evidence of their customs.
Kouros and Kores .-. statues are stiff and symmetrical, which comply with the principle of frontal or frontal, typical of Egyptian sculpture, the figure is made to be viewed from the front. Kouros or Kuros word means young man often depicted nude. The Kores or female figures have the same characteristics of their male counterparts, but are represented naked. Note in both illustrations the typical "archaic smile."
3 .- Classical Period
.- The V and IV centuries BC representing balance and the artistic maturity of Greece.
At this time ending the tyranny in Athens and birth of democracy reached its highest level of development.
Among the most outstanding historical events occurred in this stage are the Wars of Medicine, in which the Greeks are forced to defend their freedom against the Persians.
The sculpture enjoys his crowning moment, the figures of Myron, Policleto, Plaxíteles, particularly Phidias Scopas and milestones in the arts, the latter not only decorated the Parthenon, but also made one of the seven Wonders of the World: The chryselephantine Zeus, which has now disappeared and have references for referrals or testimonials.
chryselephantine Zeus. Phidias. (Aprox.432 BC) is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The statue average 12 feet tall and was sculpted in ivory overlaid with gold and precious stones. According to testimony at the time, God was sitting on a throne with a naked torso and head crowned with an olive branch. In his right hand holding a Nike (Victory) and the other a scepter topped with an eagle. Appeared on the throne in relief scenes of the birth of Aphrodite, goddess of love and the killing of the children of Niobe. Reproduction more reliable for the currency of Elis, in one side appears enthroned Zeus and the other details of his head. According to literary sources, Phidias to make the statue of Zeus established the idea of \u200b\u200bwhat a god should be. Perhaps the statue was transported to Constantinople where it was destroyed by fire.
literary flourishes in the tragedy with Aeschylus, Sophocles and Eurípedes, comedy with Aristophanes, history with Herodotus and Thucydides, and finally emerge Socrates, Plato and Aristotle in Philosophy.
Recreation Acropolis of Athens .-
The two great powers are the cities of Athens, and Sparta great cultural development characterized by his spirit and military training Both come into conflict during Peleponeso War, a bloody civil war that brought about the end of the Athenian hegemony and democracy and the weakening of city-states.
4 .- Hellenistic Period.The Hellenistic period began with Alexander the Great (ca. 320 BC) and ends with the suicide of Cleopatra and Mark Antony (30 BC). Is the period between the decline of Greek cities such as Athens, Thebes and Sparta and the rise of Roman power. Peleponeso
The war between Athens and Sparta had resulted in the first lost its political and cultural hegemony, though Sparta was unable to consolidate power. The final outcome would come from the north, when King Philip of Macedonia dominates the city-states. Then, his son Alexander built the largest empire ever known. His campaigns in Asia Minor, Egypt, Persia and India not only changed the political map, but the culture and social life throughout the empire. Greek art, therefore, is fed by the Eastern influence and in turn strongly influences the cultures of Egypt and the Middle East.
Thanks to a booming economy, the emergence of a wealthy aristocratic class and the urban development of the new cities of Alexandria, Pergamum, Rhodes, Antioch and the arts achieve greatness and made three so-called "Seven Wonders of the World" the new temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Lighthouse of Alexandria and the Colossus of Rhodes, all missing.
Doric and Ionic styles decay arises from disuse and Corinthian style. Civil architecture appears as buleuterión or council house and create libraries.
The ideal of beauty represented in sculpture in the archaic and classical periods essentially unchanged. The plastic is influenced by expressionism and therefore Lisipo is looking for realism. Represent not only figures of young athletes and gods in the fullness of maturity, but which are carved figures of children and the elderly, previously unknown. Emerges the portrait and the triumphant figure of a beardless young man with his curly head, evoking the head of a lion is used to identify Alexander the Great.
Alexander Mosaic. (5.82 x 3.13 mts.). (Approx. 200 BC). Found in the House of the Faun in Pompeii, now in the Archaeological Museum of Naples. The size of the tiles is 2 to 3 cm and the total number to 1,500,000. The mosaic is considered a faithful copy of one of the paintings Eretria philoxenos or Apelles and represents the battle of Issus, where Alexander defeated Darius III of Persia. In the scene shows Alexander with her head uncovered and attacking with the spear. Persian soldiers are terrified and disarray in their ranks, on the ground are broken arms, horses, knocked down and killed or wounded soldiers. The colors of the mosaic are: white, yellow, red and black, all in various shades. The Roman city of Pompeii, buried by Vesuvius in 79 AD absorbed the culture, customs and religion of the Magna Grecia.
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