Classical and Hellenistic Greece

1
Classical and Hellenistic Greece
2
The Classical Period

• Opens with Greeks victory over Persians at
  Salamis in 490 B.C.E.
• Golden Age 480 B.C.E. and 404 B.C.E., Athens
  was defeated in the Peloponnesian Wars. Culture
  lasted until death of Alexander the Great.
• Polis life Human nature dictates life in the
  city
• Perikles Delian League

3
Women in Classical Athens

• Excluded from public affairs
• Household duties organization, supervision and
  labor.
• Hetaera foreign women who worked as courtesans,
  entertainers and prostitutes.
• Some hetaera highly educated

4
The Greek Temple

• Greek Orders of columns Doric, Ionic, and
  Corinthian
• Entablature section above columns where a
  decorative frieze may be located
• Pediment triangular section at one end of roof
• Cella room inside temple

5
The Acropolis

• Propylaea massive gateway
• Erechtheion Ionic temple with two porches the
  south side is called the Porch of the Maidens,
  which has columns that are female figures
  (caryatids).
• Temple of Athena Nike miniature temple surroundd
  by a wall depicting Athena preparing for a
  victory celebration
• Parthenon

6
The Parthenon

• Built by Perikles with funds intended for the
  defense of Athens
• Architects Iktinos and Kallicrates
• Dedicated to Athena
• Refinements (deviations from absolute
  regularity) based on Golden Section, steps and
  entablature curved upward, columns have entasis

7
Parthenon Sculptures

• Phideas sculpted an Ivory and gold statue of
  Athena inside
• Three Goddesses on East Pediment
• West Pediment battle between Athena and Poseidon
  for Attica
• Friezes Battle Between the Lapiths and Centaurs
  and the Pan-Athenaic Procession

8
Classical Humanism

• Belief that Man is the Measure of All Things
  Protagoras.
• Nobility of human intelligence and action
• Human ability to understand and control the
  world.
• Secular humanism controversial today.

9
The Greek Classical Style in Art

• Classical Style naturalism and idealism
• Representing the human figure in motion turning
  point for Greek sculptors
• Idealized, yet moving toward naturalism
• Contrapposto or S curve to figure

10
Greek Classical Sculpture

• Kritios Boy Human figure in motion (fig. 3.10)
• The Doryphoros, by Polykleitos of Argos (fig.
  3.11)
• Myrons Discobolus (fig. 3.13)
• Apoxymenos, by Lysippos (fig. 3.14)
• Praxiteles Aphrodite of Knidos (fig. 3.13)

11
Greek Theater

• Athens Greek Theater
• Developed from celebrations honoring Dionysus,
  god of wine and fertility
• Themes
• Power of the gods
• Course of human destiny
• The nature of love and justice

12
Greek Tragedy

• Open-air theaters or amphitheaters
• Wealthy citizens paid playwrights and producers
• Yearly competition
• Actors in front of the skene
• Chorus actors who danced and chanted on the
  orchestra, the area surrounded by the theatron

13
Greek Tragic Playwrights

• Thespis one actor separate from the chorus
• Aeschylus added a second actor and dialogue.
  Wrote a trilogy called the Oresteia.
• Sophocles Golden Age of Athens, focused on
  individual human concerns. One of his most famous
  plays is Oedipus the King.

14
Greek Tragic Playwrights (cont.)

• Euripides noted for realism, social commentary,
  showed people as they were, gripped by violent
  passions. An example of his work is the play The
  Bacchae.

15
Greek Comedy

• Humorous portrayal of everyday themes and
  characters.
• Sometimes quite ribald
• Aristophanes satirized politics and political
  personalities. Lysistrata is one of his noted
  works.

16
Greek Philosophy

• Philosophy came from Greeks fascination with
  rational inquiry.
• Materialists substance of which all matter was
  composed
• Idealists evidence of a divine and rational plan
  for cosmos--Pythagoras
• Sophists professional teachers,
  skepticsProtagoras. Became cynical.

17
Socrates

• Founded classical Greek philosophy and never
  wrote a word.
• Socratic Method
• Gadfly of Athens morals worth more than life
  itself.
• The unexamined life is not worth living.
• Trial and death tried for religious and moral
  offenses.

18
Plato

• Student of Socrates
• Wrote Socrates dialogues
• Apology Socrates trial
• Phaedo Socrates last conversation
• The Republic ideal city-state/ three parts of
  soul reason, moral courage, appetites
• The Academy

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Aristotle

• Challenged Platos teachings
• Tutor for Alexander of Macedonia
• EthicsHappiness is found in balance between two
  extremes Golden Mean
• Poetics Formal pattern of Greek drama.
• Lyceum

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Aristotle and Plato Contrasted

1. Plato separated Ideal Forms from material things.
   
2. Plato made universals primary and particulars
   secondary.
3. Plato emphasized Being over Becoming.

1. Aristotle insisted on the inseparability of form
   and matter.
2. Aristotle made particulars primary and universals
   secondary.
3. Aristotle emphasized Becoming over Being.

21
Aristotle and Plato Contrasted

• Plato celebrated mathematics as the model of pure
  thought.
• Platos philosophy emphasized stasis.
• 6. For Plato the highest form of knowledge was
  knowledge of the pure Forms or Ideals Platonic
  Idealism.

• 4. Aristotle grounded his philosophical system
  in biology.
• Aristotles philosophy emphasized growth and
  development.
• For Aristotle, knowledge was grounded in
  empirical reality Aristotelian Empiricism.

22
Aristotle and Plato Contrasted

• 7. Platos philosophy tended toward the
  transcendental.
• 8. Plato favored intuition over logic.
• 9. Plato used reason to overcome the physical
  world.
• 10. Platos philosophy influenced Augustines
  theology.

• 7. Aristotles philosophy was directed toward
  the immanent.
• 8. Aristotle made logic the basis of his
  philosophy.
• 9. Aristotle used reason to discover the order
  of the world.
• 10. Aristotles philosophy influenced Aquinas
  theology.

23
Greek Music

• Music of the Muses Goddesses who inspired
  creative arts.
• Lyre
• Aulos
• Music could bring about feelings through modes
• Music lost forever
• Pythagoras intervals octaves

24
Hellenistic Style

• Emotionally charged realism of later Greek
  sculpture
• Alexander the Great Persia and Egypt
• Individuality
• Examples Battle of the Gods and Giants (fig.
  3.22), Nike of Samothrace (fig. 3.24) and Laocoön
  and His Sons (fig. 3.25)

25
Hellenistic Age

• Philip of Macedon subdued Greek city-states.
  Succeeded by son Alexander
• Alexander loved Greek civilization and spread it
  throughout his empire in Persia and Egypt
• Hellenistic Greek-like

26
Hellenistic Legacy

• Collected great classical manuscripts in
  libraries.
• Artists imitated forms and ideas of the Greeks.
• Playwrights copied Greek theater
• Euclid Planets revolve around the sun
• Established Greek culture as the standard.