(All pictures are taken from wikimedia commons)

Greek art, especially the art of the Classical period has obsessed many modern artists, designers and architects for many years now. Classical Greek principles of art, such as idealism, realism and perspective indirectly influenced our art all the way through the Roman period, the Middle Ages and beyond, but in the Enlightenment, Renaissance and Georgian eras the influence became far more direct, with artists deliberately copying Classical architectural orders, carving techniques and other styles. But the cold white marbles created by more recent copyists are far from the visions of the Greeks, so in this Bluffer’s Guide I’m going to explain not only the principals of art in the Classical period (and the Archaic period, just because I like it) but also some of the reasons for why these styles appeared, what they meant and how they woud be viewed by Greek people at the time. For the sake of ease, I’ll go through in chronological order, looking at the changes in painted pottery, architecture and statuary, finishing with a quick round up of other arts in the ancient Greek world.

But first, let’s bust some jargon! First of all, we need to look at the geography of ancient Greece. Here’s a map (this one focuses on dialects but is useful for our purposes):

A lot of the jargon surrounding the ancient world is to do with places, so let’s look at some of those key sites. One of the most important is Attica, the triangular region surrounding Athens. When I say something is “Attic” I don’t mean it comes from my loft, I mean it comes from Attica. Other important sites, such as Delphi and Olympia, were key religious sites where many artefacts were found (most of what we view as Greek “art” was found in a religious context). Other regions are important because styles are named after them: the Doric areas (named after a semi-mythical tribe) inspired one of the two most common architectural orders, Ionia (the purple region on the map in Anatolia and the islands near it) was the original home of the other key architectural style.

Other technical terms deal directly with certain art forms. Let’s look at pottery first. I won’t go into the processes of production, but the two main painting styles are Black Figure and Red Figure. They’re easy to spot: in Black Figure, the figures are painted on in black slip on a red (terracotta) background, while Red Figure is the opposite with the background painted black leaving red figures. The snazzy diagram below shows some pottery shapes, I’ll just go through the ones I’ll use here. Two-handled jug-like things with narrow necks are amphora (some have a third handle for pouring), large things with big open mouths are kraters (used for mixin wine and water), and smaller two-handled cups are often just referred to as cups for ease, but the wide shallow ones with small are known as kylixes and deep ones with small handles are skyphoi).

Now a quick look at architecture. Here the jargon refers to parts of the building. Columns you’ll probably know, but other features common to both orders are the stylobate (the level plinth on which the building is built), the architrave (the section supported by columns), and the pediment (the triangular space between the top of the architrave and the roof. Now in the Doric order the main difference is columns with plain capitals (the bit at the top of the column) and no base, and a frieze of flat sections called metopes and raised triple sections called triglyphs. Confused? The diagram below illustrates them neatly labelled. 

The Ionic order is most noticeable by it’s tall thin columns with volute capitals (sort of scrolls) and column bases, and a continuous frieze in the architrave (sometimes with patterned strips above or below it). Compare the diagram below with the diagram above and you should be able to spot the differences.

Got it? Good, let’s move on to…

Early Greek Art: Where Did All This Come From?

Before we look at archaic and classical art we need to look at the artistic developments that happened before these periods. The very earliest Greek art comes from the Bronze Age. On the mainland, some of the most beautiful pieces come from Mycenae: huge fortresses of “clyclopean” masonary (really big blocks of stone in other words) and stunningly ornate gold jewellery. Off the mainland, the biggest Greek power was the Minoan civilisation based on the island of Crete, where elaborate palaces painted with stylised frescoes dominated the landscape. However, at the end of the Bronze Age these civilisations crumbled away mysteriously. Was there a drought? An eruption? An invasion? We don’t know, maybe it was a combination of things.

What emerged next was what we call the “protogeometric period”. Why? Because its art is vaguely geometric in style and it comes before the Geometric period. Local pottery styles in Attica and Corinth (called, you guessed it, Protoattic and Protocorinthian) added a little more coloured and figure decoration. Next came the Geometric period, the key pieces being pottery decorated with repeating patterns and tiny stick figures, like this vase showing people mourning. 

Corinthian art starts to show a shift away from this, and the rest of Greek gradually copied in what’s known as the Orientalising period because it appears to copy art styles from the East, including Egyptian and Near Eastern motifs such as scarabs, the Tree of Life and so on. Slowly Orientalising art turned into the Archaic style, which still has a lot of eastern influences.

The Archaic Period

 The key features of the art of the Archaic period (about the 8th to the early 5th centuries BC) are schematic stylisation and pattern. Archaic art is very ornamental and decorative, statues would have been brightly painted, pottery was busy and heavily detailed, and architecture (most buildings we’ll look at in this article are temples, incidentally) was crammed full of decoration and often on a huge scale.

Freestanding Archaic sculpture is easy to talk about because almost all statues found are of two main types: kouroi (singular “kouros”, male statues) and korai (female statues, singular: “kore”). These are young, idealised figures given as votive offerings at important sites by wealthy individuals. They represent the ideal of the young aristocrat: they’re attractive with heavily patterned and coiffed hair (showing that they have the time to be pampered), the kouroi are naked showing their athletic bodies (and showing they’re rich enough to spend their time in the gymnasium) while the korai wear ornately decorated chitons and himations (not familiar with ancient clothing? Check out my Bluffer’s Guide to Ancient Clothing). With their almond shaped eyes and rigid poses there’s a clear eastern feel to them, especially the kouroi. Look at this chap below: his pose, with his hands clenched by his sides and his left foot forward, is directly borrowed from contemporary Egyptian art. What makes archaic Greek art different is that smile. All archaic sculptures seem to have that same smile, it seems to be a way of expressing the character of the statue.

For comparison’s sake, here’s a typical kore, with some traces of paint still on her costume. 

There’s a bit more variantion in architectural sculpture, with figures in the “running kneeling” pose, figures in varying levels of dress and mythical figures like gorgons or Nikai (winged figures of Victory), but they still all have their fixed grins, frontal faces and patterns costumes.

Architecture had similar goals to statuary: everything had to be big, bold and ornate. If it couldn’t be big, as with the tiny Siphnian Treasury at Delphi, it still had to be ornately decorated and smothered with votives. Remember that in ancient times any religious structure would be masked by countless statues, captured weaponry, plaques, pots, interesting objects people found on their way, furniture, cauldrons and more besides. If archaic statues and buildings look fussy by themselves, just imagine them clustered together!

There’s a lot more variation in pottery however. Black Figure pottery in the earlier years of the period closely resemble the architectural sculpture and reliefs: big smiles, stylised forms, running-kneeling poses, and so on. But compare the Black Figure piece above with the early Red Figure below. Early Red figure was a lot more realistic and closer to Classical art: it’s still heavily patterned and idealised but there’s a lot more movement, more accurate anatomy, even more of a sense of narrative. Throughout the archaic and classical periods, pottery seems to develop much faster than either statuary or architecture and it proves that our dating systems can be a little sketchy to say the least.

The Early Classical Period#

Ah, here we go! This is my own personal favourite period of Greek art. It’s still stylised and idealised in some ways, but in others it’s a lot more realistic. Here the focus is on mood, character and simple elegant forms. Gone is the fussy patterning of archaic costume in favour of thick folds; gone is the archaic smile in favour of stern, thoughtful expressions. In statuary, we call it the Severe Style because of its simplicity and treatment of faces. It’s a change that happened in almost all statues from almost all of Greece. Just look at these two chaps:

They’re the Tyrannicides, a pair of lovers who killed the brother of a tyrant in Athens in the sixth century, and as such these two statues have been seen as the first portraits. They were made by two sculptors called Kritios and Nesiostes to replace a previous group by Antenor and were displayed in the agora (public market place and administrative centre) of Athens, which was quite an honour: not only were they the first statues of properly identifiable people put up in the city but they were also the first statues put up in a non-religious context. Or rather, the originals were: these are a Roman copy in marble, they would have originally been bronze. Although they’re typically Severe, they still have some archaic features. Look at Harmodius’s hair (he’s the younger guy), look at those neat little curls, doesn’t it look a bit like a kouros’ hair?

And how about this handsome fellow. He’s the Delphi Charioteer; he was set up in the sanctuary of Delphi to commemorate the victory of the chariot team owned by Polyzalos the tyrant of Gela on Syracuse. Originally, he would have been only a minor part of the group, the focus was a stunning four horse team and chariot, but he’s pretty impressive himself. Look at the thick, columnar folds of his tunic and his weary but noble expression, again typically Severe Style.

The Severe Style appeared in architectural sculpture too, here’s a famous example from the Temple of Zeus at Olympia showing the fight between the centaurs and the Lapiths. You can really feel the tension of the battle here, just look at the frowning faces of those centaurs, the stern glare of Apollo as he stands at the centre and the struggling Lapith women, complete with two hiding in the corners. The use of that tricky triangular space is typical too; in the archaic period the habit was to simply shrink the figures to fit, but in the Early Classical period, sculptors started to adjust the poses of figures; far more effective!

So why this change from the pretty patterns of the archaic period to these simple but effective new figures? Well it seems to be something to do with what was happening at the time. The Early Classical period saw the start of the Persian Wars, with almost the whole of Greece joining together to dispel the invading Persian army. Suddenly borrowing styles from the east was no longer acceptable, least of all fashionable. The Greeks now needed a new style to express their own collective identity. The Severe Style is the first truly Western style of art and it’s a brilliant expression of how the Greeks wanted to be seen.

Changes happened in other art forms too. In architecture, big was no longer beautiful. Here we see a shift away from just trying to make everything big and towards careful use of proportions and optical illusions to make a temple look it’s absolute best. Pottery on the other hand went for a similar theme to Severe Style statuary: moody looking stocky figures pausing in the midst of action. There’s a lot less dynamism in early classical pottery than there had been in the late archaic period and actually a smaller range of types of scenes. Pottery stays pretty similar for the next few decades, but architecture and statuary change a fair bit as we enter.

The High Classical Period

 This is a bit of an odd period really. This is the one that for the last few centuries people have been raving about, but this “golden age” is a bit of an imaginary one. It generally refers to anything around the time of the Parthenon in Athens, but the problem is, by the time the Parthenon was finished, any dredge of a golden age was long over since Athens was in the middle of the Peloponnesian War with Sparta: they were out of money, suffering from famines and plagues, and were losing the war. High Classical then is a snapshot of a few months of Athenian history.

And of course the key monuments of the High Classical moment are on the Athenian Acropolis. Using the spoils of the Persian wars and tributes from the city-states of the Delian League, Athens rebuilt the temples of their city sanctuary to become some of the most celebrated and studied structures ever built. Now I’ve got to say, I’m not mad keen on the Parthenon, so if I sound less than enthusiastic I apologise.

But let’s start with the Parthenon, since everybody else seems to love it. The Parthenon wasn’t actually a temple but a large treasury; it had no cult statue. The hug chryselephantine (gold and ivory) statue of Athena Parthenos designed by the great sculptor Pheidias, was more of an elaborate votive than a cult figure. In terms of architecture, the Parthenon was the culmination of the obsession with optical refinements and proportions. To make it look its best, the number of columns was increased, the stylobate and architrave curved, the columns bulged in the middle and curved inwards and so on; all this counteracted various tricks of the eye to make it look just that bit better. If that wasn’t enough, they went seriously over the top with the architectural sculpture: besides the enormous statue of Athena Parthenos, all 92 metopes were decorated with reliefs of centauromachies, amazonomachies and gigantomachies (“-omachy” is a suffix from Greek meaning battle, I’m sure you can work out who the battles were against!) all representing the Athenians fighting the Persians, as well as an Ionic frieze inside the porch and two huge pedimental groups showing the birth of Athena and the contest between Athena and Poseidon for patronage of Athens. It was very unusual to have all of the metopes decorated, and even more unusual to have both a Doric and Ionic frieze. The Ionic frieze gets a lot of attention since it’s a rare example of architectural sculpture showing everyday people, namely the people of Athens during the Pathathenaia (a festival to Athena).

Stylistically it’s typically High Classical: the thick heavy folds of the Severe Style are abandoned in favour of fussy, clinging lightweight fabrics; the expressive faces are replaced with rather gormless, mask-like pouts. Now remember that these would be brightly painted, making the statues look more like gaudy shop-window mannequins than the pure white marbles we see today. Add to that image a plethora of votives and several other, equally gaudy, buildings surrounding the Parthenon and the result would have been overwhelming. To modern tastes, it would have been pretty tacky.

The repeating motifs of Greeks fighting mythical eastern monsters surrounded by winged Nikai suggests a period of ease and prosperousness but by the time the Parthenon was finished, Athens was in turmoil again. Other parts of Greece and the east copied some of the styles but the brief period of success was over.

The Late Classical Period

 Late Classical art on the mainland has a certain sombre feel to it but it still has that gaudy, showy abandon of the High Classical. Statuary gains a sense of emotion again, architecture stays small and “perfect”, pottery becomes more feminine and elaborate.

The greatest master sculptor of the later years of the Classical period was Praxiteles, an artist with a real sense of humour. Don’t believe me? Have a look at the charming young androgen above, he’s Apollo Sauroktonos or “Apollo the Lizard Slayer”, a title given to the god after he wrestled and killed the monstrous Python, but that weedy little lizard he’s teasing here is hardly a threat. Or how about the lovely little group below, Hermes holding the infant Dionysus and teasing the little lad with a bunch of grapes. Compare the treatment of the anatomy and pose to the figures we’ve seen before; these guys are far more relaxed, they’re still slim and athletic but they’re somehow softer and more feminine; these are gods at play, an entirely new idea in Greek art.

Pottery painters seem to have gone for a similar tack. Have a look at the pot below, by the Medias Painter. Here we have the mask-like faces of High Classical sculpture and the clingy costumes (check out that fabric, it looks more like spaghetti!) but with the playful, feminine themes of contemporary Late Classical sculpture. Also, notice that there’s now more than one ground line. There’s often a lot more female-orientated products in this period; knee guards for sewing, makeup pots and so on. Why? Well all the men were out fighting the war, so women were more likely to buy things.

Temple architecture didn’t change an awful lot, but what we do start to get is more elaborate tombs, and interestingly, a lot of Greek-influenced tombs in Anatolia and the east, paving the way for monumental structures like the Mausoleum (named after its owner Mausolus) at Halicarnassas (modern Bodrum in Turkey).

Other Arts

The Greeks didn’t just stop at playing with stone, bronze and clay, oh no. They continued to make stunning gold jewellery, small figurines of precious metals and terracotta (often used as votives) and cut gems (a bit like more recent cameos). One of the most intriguing arts however is one we don’t have a lot of evidence for: wall painting. We know that wall painters were valued as celebrities alongside the most famous sculptors. The painter Polygnotos was so respected that one town gave him free food for a year. He painted grand scenes in Athens and Olympia, generally of mythical scenes like the Sack of Troy and Odysseus’ journey to the Underworld. The paintings, originally painted on wooden panels are now lost, but we know something of the style of the paintings through a number of different surviving objects. First of all, there’s red figure pottery. Remember those multiple ground lines I mentioned? Well take a look at the pot below, by the Niobid Painter. Not only does this have more of a background than most contemporary pots but also notice the abdomens of the two shirtless chaps: they have 8 packs! Now of course this isn’t what real people look like, and in his other pots the Niobid Painter draws men with 6 packs, as normal, so art historians think that this pot is a copy of a wall painting.

Now take cast your eyes over the two pictures below. The pot is a white ground lekythos (a special sort of pot used only for burials), the wall painting is from a Hellenistic tomb belonging to one of the relatives of Alexander the Great and shows Hades abducting Persephone. Wall paintings like this are rare but lekythoi are more common, and they’re both useful for looking at Classical painting since unlike black and red figure they involve painting onto a white background. The painting style seems to be quite impressionistic, using bold sweeps of the brush to suggest movement and form and is quite unlike the techniques used in sculpture or relief.

Further reading

Obviously I only had the time to talk about a handful of pieces. If you want to look at more, try John Boardman’s books on Greek art, painting and sculpture for the Thames and Hudson World of Art series. For more on how Greek art fits into the social history of the country, try Art and Experience in Classical Greece by J J Pollitt.

For more of my guides to the ancient world, check out:

• What did the Romans ever do for us?
• Silchester – Exciting new Pre-Roman finds
• A Quick and biased guide to Greek mythology
• The bluffer’s guide to Ancient Clothing
• The Bluffer’s Guide to Early Roman Emperors
• Greek Myths: Hades and Persephone