Greek Art:

Sculptures and
Architecture
Greece

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 Greek
Sanctuaries &
Temples
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Greek Sanctuary
× Sanctuaries exist in a variety of locations
and sizes, but all can be said to be places
that are set apart from ordinary life in
which humans can connect with the
divine. In Greece, this interaction took
place at both a group and individual level.
In festivals, the community collectively
celebrated its relationship with a god
through ritual actions and offerings.
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 Communal acts could include, especially at the most prominent sites and cults,
processions, performances of choral songs or plays, dancing, sacrifices of animals or
harvest followed by communal feasting, dedications of gifts, and competitions in 17
both athletics and the arts, including music, poetry, drama, and dance.
Composition
× The sanctuary or temenos is usually
defined by walls or boundary markers to
distinguish the sacred space clearly.
Entrances are limited and regulate the
flow of traffic, which will be set on path-
ways that provide an order to the visit or
ritual. The most essential ritual feature of
the sanctuary is its altar, where sacrifices
take place outside before the assembled
participants. The space around the altar is 18
Some sanctuaries were specific to a particular god, or rite of passage, but
not necessarily so. Zeus, it appears, was not necessarily limited worship 19
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The 5 Century
th

BC
Architectural
Sculptures
 Architecture, architectural, sculpture,
and relief
florid style
term used for late classical art in which drapery is shown thin
and tightly clinging to the body, often with many small
folds that reveal the anatomy
contraction
the practice in Doric architecture of adjusting the distance
between columns at the corners to compensate for the
placement of the triglyphs and metopes

The architectural sculpture consisted of two pedimental

groups: on the west a Centauromachy and on the east,
looking over the open area where the athletes took their
oaths, the oath of Pelops and Oinomaos before their
chariot race 
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 NIKE BY PAIONIOS, C.
420 BCE. MARBLE, 6
FT 4 ¾ IN (1.95m)

Pausanias also records an

inscription on the Nike acroteria
over the pediment that it was a
votive offering from the Spartans
for their victory over the Athenians
at Tanagra in 457, providing a 
terminus ante quem for the building.

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 METOPE 10 FROM THE
TEMPLE OF ZEUS AT
OLYMPIA
We can study stylistic change in architectural
sculpture by turning our attention to one of the
metopes from the cyclic narrative of the labors of
Herakles. Metope 10, which stood just to the right
side of the opening of the opisthodomos, shows the
retrieval of the apples of the Hesperides.

he style of the figures has often been called doughy,

as is characteristic of the Severe Style, but it has
been recently argued that in fact the figures are
mostly unfinished.

To lessen the weight for transportation, much of the

carving was done in the quarry and workshop on
Paros. Apparently the sculptures were set into place
without being finished completely on site, hence the
hair, faces, and clothing lack some of the detailing
seen in free-standing sculpture of the period.
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THE ACROPOLIS AT ATHENS
× The first half of the fifth century was basically one of
constant conflict in Greece. Athens and other cities were
fighting the Persians most of the time, and between 462
and 451 BCE Sparta and Athens were fighting each other as
well.
× Following a truce with Sparta, Athens and Persia concluded
a peace treaty in 450, so that for the first time in many years
there was peace in Greece.
× Much of this was the result of the work of Perikles, who
became prominent in Athenian politics when he was one of
the prosecutors of Kimon in 463/2 that led to Kimon's
ostracism and exile.
× In the next year he was allied with Ephialtes in reforming the
Athenian democratic constitution and, after the murder of
Ephialtes, dominated Athenian politics until his death in
429.  25
 Parthenon, Athens
width 101 ft 3 ¾ in
The Parthenon (30.88 m)
is larger than the Temple of Zeus at
Olympia and has eight columns across the front and
seventeen down the side. This larger size allowed the
naos of the building to be just over 100 Attic feet in
length, a hekatompedon, which would hold a massive
gold and ivory statue made by Pheidias. The 8:17
colonnade ratio, like 6:13, follows a formula of x:2(x)
+ 1. Using 4 as “x” in the formula, one gets a
proportion of 4:9, the squares of 2:3, and the basic
ratio for the entire Parthenon. For example, this 4:9
proportion determines the width and length of the
building (30.88:69.51 m). It also determines the
height of the colonnade and entablature to the width
(13.73:30.88 m). The diameter of the columns and
the distance between the centers of the columns
(1.91:4.29 m at the center) also is a ratio of 4:9. This
use of ratio created symmetria in the building, as it
had in the contemporary sculpture of the
Doryphoros. 26
 Parthenon, Athens
plan with subjects of sculptural program 27
 Late 5th Century Sculpture
× The drapery style of the pedimental figures, especially Aphrodite, has the
combination of thick folds and smooth surfaces clinging to the body that we
saw on the slightly later Nike of Paionios, and this style is prevalent in
architectural sculpture and relief for the remainder of the century.
× Between 420 and 410 BCE, a parapet wall was added around the bastion
that featured reliefs on each side of multiple Nikes bringing a sacrifice to a
seated Athena.
×  In the example, we see a Nike adjusting the straps of her sandal, a familiar
type of pose that recalls the recumbent Aphrodite from the Parthenon
pediment.
× The unsteady and twisting pose makes the fabric stretch and clump over
her body, and the effect around the breasts and abdomen leaves little to the
imagination.
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 Nike Figure from the
Parapet of the temple of
Athena Nike
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 Grave Stele of
Ampharete from
Kerameikos

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 Painting
× The elements of human representation that we found in fifth-
century sculpture, such as contrapposto, rhythmos, pathos, and 
ethos, are also found in painting of the fifth century.
× Additionally painters have two other challenges to naturalistic
representation: how to show a body with mass and volume on
a two-dimensional surface, and how to represent a three-
dimensional space in which the figures move not just from side
to side, but forward and backward relative to the two-
dimensional picture plane.
× By the end of the fifth century, we will see that some of the
features of illusionistic pictures that we take for granted, such
as foreshortening, skiagraphia (shading to create volume), and 
skenographia(perspective), become common in painting.
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× skiagraphia
× Greek term meaning “shadow painting or drawing,” it refers to
the use of highlights and shading (chiaroscuro) to suggest the
three-dimensionality of an object in a painting
× skenographia
× Greek term meaning “scene painting,” it refers to the use of a
perspectival system to represent a three-dimensional space in
a picture
× white-ground vase painting
× form of vase painting, especially in Athens, in which a slip of
white calcareous clay was placed on a vase. Figures were then
drawn with outlines and washes of color

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× epinetron
× a device worn over the knee to protect against abrasion and
cuts from working with wool
× epaulia
× term designating the reception held by a bride in her new home
on the day after the wedding procession

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ATTIC WHITE-GROUND KYLIX ATTRIBUTED TO THE SOTADES PAINTER
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ATTIC red-figure calyx krater ATTRIBUTED TO THE niobid painter
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Hellenistic
Period
The style and proportions of the figures recall
classical works like the stele of Dexileos or the
riders on the Parthenon frieze. Whereas the
overlapping figures in the center create a dense
composition, placing Alexander on the left
isolates him visually and makes him a focal
point, an effect that was heightened by the
colored paint, traces of which are still visible.

Alexander Sarcophagus from Sidon, c. 325–

311 BCE. Istanbul, Archaeological Museum. 6
ft 3/4 in (1.95 m); height of frieze 273/16 in (69
cm). Battle scene with Alexander the Great.

North frieze of the Parthenon

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× Another representation of Alexander shows his
nearly universal appeal during the Hellenistic
period. A floor mosaic with an extraordinarily
large central picture was found in an exedra in
the House of the Faun in Pompeii, one of the
most lavish houses in that city.
× 14.2 Alexander Mosaic from the House of the
Faun, Pompeii, late 2nd–early 1st cent. BCE.
Height of figure panel: 8 ft 1011/16 in (2.71 m).
Naples, Museo Nazionale Archeologico 10020.
Battle between Alexander the Great and Darius.

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Alexander Mosaic from the House of the Faun, Pompeii, late 2nd–early 1st
cent. Battle between Alexander the Great and Darius. 39
 Techniques used in Making the Mosaic
Exedra
× a recess or alcove set off from the main body of a structure like a stoa or
colonnade
opus vermiculatum
× a mosaic technique that uses small square (<4 mm) tiles or stones called
tesserae to create patterns and images
tessera (pl. tesserae)
× small squares used to make patterns and pictures in an opus
vermiculatum mosaic
chiaroscuro
× Italian term referring to the use of a range of tones in an image to
create the appearance of three-dimensionality. It can also refer to the
strong contrast between light and dark in a work that enhances 40
 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HELLENISTIC
PERIOD
× As J. J. Pollitt has argued, there are five qualities that we should consider as
fundamental to Hellenistic culture and its art.
× the Alexander Sarcophagus and Alexander Mosaic as exemplar, one quality is
the cosmopolitan character of Hellenistic culture
× That Abdalonymos on his sarcophagus uses classicizing images of Alexander to
proclaim his legitimacy as the ruler of Sidon is emblematic of this more
multicultural outlook.
× Hellenistic culture was also more academic than its predecessors, according to
Pollitt
× Along with cosmopolitanism, the Hellenistic age emphasized individuality
× Concurrent with individualism was a mental attitude that Pollitt has called an
obsession with Tyche, a Greek Goddess of Fortune
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SCULPTURAL
STYLES AND
DATING
• The sculpture recovered from two shipwrecks illustrates well
the issues and variety of Hellenistic styles
• Even though the Odysseus statue has endured much damage
from exposure to the ocean environment, the composition is
still more dynamic than much of classical sculpture.
• The composition uses more diagonals in the positioning of
torso and limbs, creating an asymmetry and tension in the
figure that add to its drama.
• It resembles works in the so-called baroque style of Hellenistic
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× There were also classicizing marble statues
× An example is Eros, once identified as “Agon” or the
personification of athletic competition
× It bears some similarities to the work of Polykleitos
but there is an exaggeration in the curve of the limbs
and torso and a softer quality to the musculature that
suggest a Hellenistic date

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Styles used in the
Sculpture
× A baroque style of Hellenistic sculpture defined by its dynamic
compositions using diagonal lines, exaggerated musculature and
poses, powerful emotional expression, and strong contrast of
light and dark
× Rococo style of Hellenistic sculpture named after European
rococo art and characterized by lighter or erotic themes and a
more decorative or humorous than dramatic appeal
× neo-severe style or severizing term for sculpture that imitates
qualities of the Severe Style of the early classical period but was
produced in later periods
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