Ancient Greece

Jhanet Cruz
Patricia De Leon
Micah-Ela C. Lao
 Geography of Greece
• Greece is a small
country in Europe.
• Greece is near the
Mediterranean Sea.
• The main part of
Greece in on a
peninsula.
• A peninsula is a body of
land surrounded by
water on three sides.
• The rest of Greece is
made up of islands.
 Greek geography
• Greece is mountainous
• The mountains are
steep and rocky
• Greek communities
often times developed
independently because
of the mountains, thus
they were diverse
• As a result, they fought
each other a lot.
 Greek City-States
• A city-state is a city with its own laws,
rulers, and money.
• City-states were cities that acted like
countries.
Technology results from
necessity
• Since Greek coastal cities
were sandwiched between
the ocean and the sea, they
developed an awesome
navy for trading and
fighting.
 Technology results from scarcity

• All cities need fresh

water. This is a
Greek aqueduct,
basically a brick
water pipe.
• The first aqueduct
was Assyrian, but
most ancient
societies had them.
Terracing saves water and
soil in mountainous
environments
The Greeks were the original
Olympiads.
Their scientists studied the best
way to perform sports
 Greek Invention
• The Greeks invented • The Greeks invented
the crane. dice.
 Greek Architecture
• Greeks invented
arches and columns.
• This obviously took
advanced
mathematics.
Greek Military
• This is a hoplite, a
Greek infantry
soldier.
• Hoplites were
middle-class
freemen who had to
pay for their own
weapon and shield.
 Greek Military
• This is a phalanx.
• Soldiers get in a
tight box. They
each have a large
shield and a 9 foot
long spear.
Flamethrower!!!!!
Greek religion was
polytheistic.
 Political terms
• All of Greece wasn’t
a democracy.
• Most of Greece was
a monarchy a type
of government ruled
by a king or queen.
• At right is Pericles, a
good king of Athens.
Sparta
• Sparta was an isolated
city-state that was
culturally and
politically different
from Athens.
• Sparta was an
oligarchy, government
ruled by a few. They
had 2 kings.
• During the
Peloponnesian Sparta
sacked Athens.
 Sparta
• Sparta was very powerful and had its own
army.
• Sparta conquered other city-states to gain
wealth and power.
• There were three classes of people in
Sparta.
• Citizens, non-citizens, and slaves.
 Sparta’s Classes
• Only men born in Sparta were citizens.
• Women were not allowed to become
citizens, however, women were allowed to
own land and businesses, which gave them
more freedom than other Greek city-states.
• The second class in Sparta was people who
came from other city-states or other
countries. They could own businesses but not
become citizens.
• The third class was slaves.
 Sparta warriors
• Spartan society was
obsessed with war.
• Learning to read and write
in Sparta was not very
important.
• Training to become a good
soldiers was important.
• Boys were sent to military
school at a young age.
 Sparta warriors
• Boys who are born
deformed are left to
die on
mountainsides
• Girls were also
trained to be good in
sports.
 Athens
• Athens was another important Greek city-
state.
• The people of Athens wanted to rule
themselves and not have a king or queen.
• Athens became the world’s first democracy
around 508 B.C.
• A democracy is a government in which all
citizens can vote and have equal say in what
happens.
Athens
• Athenians were
tough but were
encouraged to
engage in
activities like art,
philosophy,
music.
 Democracy in Athens
• Athens was the first democracy
because all citizens could vote, but
only half the people in Athens were
citizens.
• Women, people born outside of
Athens, and slaves could not vote.
Direct participation was the key
to Athenian democracy. In the
Assembly, every male citizen was
not only entitled to attend as often
as he pleased but also had the
right to debate, offer
amendments, and vote on
proposals. Every man had a say in
whether to declare war or stay in
peace. Basically any thing that
required a government decision,
all male citizens were allowed to
participate in.
 Pericles
• Pericles was the leader
of creating democracy
in Athens.
• He had many buildings
constructed.
• Pericles had the
Parthenon and the
Acropolis built.
Parthenon and
Acropolis
 Education in Athens
• Education was very important in
Athens.
• Boys went to school to learn to read
and write. They also learned many
sports.
• Girls were not allowed to go to school
or learn to play sports.
 The Greek Alphabet
• The Greeks borrowed their alphabet from
the Phoenicians.
• Most European languages, including English
borrowed ideas from the Greek alphabet.
 Socrates
• Socrates was a
philosopher of Ancient
Greece.
• A philosopher is
someone who tries to
explain the nature of
life.
• Socrates taught by by
asking questions. This
method of questioning
is still called the
Socratic method.
 Plato
• Plato was a student of
Socrates.
• He started a school
called The Academy.
• Plato’s writing took the
form of a dialogue
between teacher and
student.
 Aristotle
• Aristotle was
another Greek
philosopher and
student of Plato.
• He wrote about
science, art, law,
poetry, and
government.
 Alexander the Great
• Alexander the Great
was the son of King
Phillip II of Macedonia.
• Alexander conquered
Persia, Egypt, the
Middle East and
Northern India.
• He died at age 33 from
malaria.
 Alexander the Great
• Alexander was a
brilliant military
strategist.
• His favorite book
was Homer’s Iliad
Alexander spread Hellenistic
culture throughout Asia.
• Hellenistic is a
fancy word for
Greek.
• Alexander spread
Greek technology
and ideas
throughout his
empire
Alexander’s Empire
Is it

GREEK
Or is it

ROMAN ? 38
39
40
 GREEK ROMAN
Preferred Structure: Temples to Glorify Gods Civic Buildings to honor
Empire

Walls: Made of cut stone blocks Concrete with Ornamental

facing

Trademark Forms: Rectangles, Straight Lines Circles, Curved Lines

Support System: Post and Lintel Rounded Arch

Column Style: Doric & Ionic Corinthian

Sculpture: Idealized Gods & Realistic (Verism) humans,

Goddesses idealized officials
Painting: Stylized figures floating in Realistic images with
Space perspective
Subject of Art: Mythology Civic Leaders, military
triumphs
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Temple of Athena Nike Temple of Portunus
Classical Greek Rome, Italy - ca. 75 BC
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PARTHENON
Greek

PANTHEON
Rome

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Polykleitos, Doryphoros, Augustus Primaporta,
High Classical Greek Pax Romana (Roman)
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Athena and Alcyoneus
frieze from the Altar of
Zeus at Pergamon, c.180
BCE.

HELLENISTIC GREEK

Spoils from the Temple of

Solomon, Jerusalem.
Relief on the Arch of Titus

EARLY EMPIRE ROME

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Etruscan Supremacy: 700-509 BCE
Provided link between Greek and Roman Art
KEYWORDS: TERRA-COTTA, COMPOSITE ORDER

Roman Republican Period: 509-27 BCE

Begins with overthrowing last Etruscan King and ends with Julius
Caesar… Major buildings built more for POLITCAL use than for
WORSHIP
KEYWORDS: TEMPLES, ARA PACIS, HOMAGE TO RULERS

Early Empire Period: 27 BCE-180 CE

KEYWORDS: WALL PAINTINGS, CONCRETE, ARCH, COLOSSEUM

The High Empire: 180-195 CE

Five Good Emperors (Trajan, Hadrian, etc.) kept things prosperous
and peaceful.
KEYWORDS: COLUMN OF TRAJAN, HADRIAN’S WALL, PANTHEON

The Late Empire: 195-400 CE

Diocletian had Empire divided into four parts.
KEYWORDS: TETRARCHY, ARCH OF CONSTANTINE
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The Roman Architectural Revolution

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 Temple of Portunus
Republic Rome Rome, Italy - ca. 75 BC EARLY REPUBLIC ROMAN
A superb example of Roman eclecticism
is the Temple of Portunus, the Roman
god of harbors.

Follows the Etruscan pattern:

• High podium is accessible only at the

front, with its wide flight of steps.
• Freestanding columns are confined to
the deep porch.
• The structure is built of stone overlaid
originally with stucco in imitation of the
white marble temples of the Greeks.

• The columns are Ionic, complete with

flutes and bases.
• In an effort to approximate a peripteral
Greek temple - while maintaining the
Etruscan plan - the architect added a
series of engaged Ionic half-columns
around the cella’s sides and back.
Model of a typical Etruscan Temple
• The result was a pseudoperipteral 6th Century BC

temple.
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Republic Rome Temple of “the Sibyl” or of “Vesta”
Tivoli, Italy - early first century BC

The Romans’ admiration for the

Greek temples they encountered in
their conquests also led to the
importation of the round, or tholos,
temple type.

The travertine columns are Corinthian

In contrast with Greek practice, the

cell wall was constructed not of
masonry blocks but of a new
invention: concrete.

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 Aulus Metellus
Republic Rome Late 2nd - early 1st century BC

Artists of the Republican Period sought to

create very realistic images of their rulers.
Dressed in the traditional draped toga,
Aulus Metellus poses with authority and
persuasiveness.

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Republic Rome Funerary Relief with Portraits of the Gessii
Rome (?), Italy - ca. 30 BC

The surviving sculptural portraits of prominent Roman Republican figures are uniformly literal
reproductions of individual faces. Although their style derives to some degree from Hellenistic
and Etruscan portraits, Republican portraits are one way the patrician class celebrated its
elevated status. Slaves and former slaves could not possess such portraits, because, under
Roman law, they were not people but property. Yet when freed slaves died, they often ordered
portraits for their tombs - in a style that contrasts sharply with that favored by freeborn patricians.
This image depicts former slaves who have gained their freedom and right to have their portraits
created.
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Republic Rome
Head of a Roman patrician, from Otricoli,
Italy, ca 75-50 B.C.
Republican patrician portraits :

Mostly men of advanced age (generally these

elders held the power in the state)

One of the most striking of these so-called veristic

(superrealistic) portraits is of an unidentified
patrician.

We are able to see this man’s personality: serious,

experienced, determined- virtues that were admired
during the Republic.

Kresilas, Pericles
Classical Greece
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Imperial Rome
Octavian Caesar (the great-nephew
and adopted ‘son’ of Julius Caesar)
became the first Roman Emperor in
44BC. By 27 BC, the Senate
conferred him the title ‘Augustus’
(meaning ‘exalted’ or ‘sacred’).

For the next 41 years, Augustus

Caesar led the empire thru a period of
peace and prosperity known as the
Pax Romana, or Roman Peace.

The inclusion of Venus’ son, Cupid, is

a reminder of Augustus’ divine descent
(related to Goddess Venus).

Furthermore, this depicts the return of

Roman military standards by the
Parthians. The marble statue was
originally painted. Augustus of Primaporta,
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Early 1st Century BCE EARLY EMPIRE ROMAN
Imperial Rome
The Ara Pacis (or ‘Altar of Augustan
Peace’) was a monument dedicated in
9 BC to commemorate Augustus;
return to Rome after establishing
Roman rule in Gaul.

Included on this monument was the

Imperial Procession – a relief showing
the family members and other who
attended the dedication. (This is much
different than the ‘Procession of the
Gods’ frieze located on the Parthenon
in Athens.)

Ara Pacis, 13-9 BCE.

EARLY EMPIRE ROMAN. 54
Imperial Rome

Augustus Caesar was elevated to

Divine Status after his death (as
memorialized with the Ara Pacis)…
Here is an onyx cameo of the ‘crowning’
of Augustus as Jupiter – King of the
Gods. His adopted son, Tiberius, holds
a lance and steps out of the chariot on
the left, ready to be the next Emperor.

This piece combines:

• The idealized heroicism of
Classical Greek Art
• The dramatic action of Hellenistic
Art
• The Roman realism and depiction
of historical events Gemma Augustea, Onyx
ca 1 Century AD, EARLY EMPIRE ROMAN
st

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Pompeii & the Aerial view of the amphitheater, Pompeii,
Cities of Vesuvius Italy, ca 80 B.C.

The forum was an oasis in the heart of

Pompeii - an open, airy plaza.
Throughout the rest of the city, every
square foot of land was developed. At the
southern end of the town, immediately
after the Roman colony was founded in
80 B.C., Pompeii’s new citizens erected a
large amphitheater. It is the earliest such
structure known and could seat some
twenty thousand spectators. The word-
amphitheater means “double theater”,
and the Roman structures closely
resemble two Greek theaters put
together, although the Greeks never built
amphitheaters. Greek theaters were
placed on natural hillsides, but supporting
an amphitheater’s continuous elliptical Arena is Latin for “sand”, which soaked up the
cavea required building an artificial contestants’ blood. Instead of refined
mountain- and only concrete, unknown to performances, the Amphitheater held mostly bloody
the Greeks, was capable of such a job. gladiator combats.
Barrel vaults also form the tunnels
leading to the stone seats of the arena.
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 Pompeii & the
Cities of Vesuvius Brawl in the Pompeii amphitheater
Pompeii, Italy, ca. A.D. 60-79

This painting that is found on the wall of

a Pompeian house depicts an incident
that occurred in the amphitheater in A.D.
59. A brawl broke out between the
Pompeians and their neighbors, the
Nucerians, during a contest between the
two towns.

The fight left many wounded and led to a

10 year prohibition against such events.

The painting shows the cloth awning

(velarium) that could be rolled down from
the top of the cavea to shield spectators
from either sun or rain. It also has the
distinctive external double staircases
that enabled large numbers of people to
enter and exit the cavea in an orderly
fashion.

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The Roman House

58
59
 Atrium of the House of the Vettii
Pompeii & the Pompeii, Italy, second century B.C., rebuilt A.D. 62-79

Cities of Vesuvius
One of the best preserved houses at
Pompeii, partially rebuilt and an
obligatory stop on every tourist’s
itinerary today, is the House of the
Vettii, an old Pompeian house
remodeled and repainted after the
earthquake of A.D. 62

The photograph was taken in the

fauces. It shows the impluvium in the
center of the atrium, the opening in the
roof above, and in the background, the
peristyle garden with its marble tables
and mural paintings.

The house was owned by two

brothers, Aulus Vettius Restitutus and
Aulus Vettius Conviva, probably
freedmen who had made their fortune
as merchants. Their wealth enabled
them to purchase and furnished
houses that would have been owned
only by patricians.
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Pompeii & the
Dionysiac mystery frieze
Cities of Vesuvius Pompeii, Italy, ca. 60-50 B.C.

61
 Pompeii & the Dionysiac mystery frieze
Cities of Vesuvius Pompeii, Italy, ca. 60-50 B.C.

Especially striking is how some of the figures interact across the corners of the room. Nothing
comparable to this existed in Hellenistic Greece. Despite the presence of Dionysos, satyrs, and other
62
figures from Greek mythology, this is a Roman design.
 General view of wall paintings from Cubiculum M of the
Villa of Publius Fannius Synistor
Early Empire Boscoreale, Italy, decorated ca. 50-40 B.C.
In the early Second Style Dionysiac mystery
frieze, the spatial illusionism is confined to the
painted platform that projects into the room.
This cubiculum is a prime example of mature
Second Style designs in which painters
created a 3-D setting that also extends
beyond the wall.

All around the room the painter opened up

the walls with vistas of Italian towns and
sacred sanctuaries. Painted doors and gates
invite the viewer to walk through the wall into
the created world. Their attempt at
perspective was intuitive and it not conform to
the “rules” of linear perspective that would
later be discovered by the Renaissance
masters.

Although this painter was inconsistent in

applying it, he demonstrated a interest in, but Intuitive perspective was a favored tool of Second Style
lacking knowledge of linear [single painters seeking to transform the usually windowless
walls of Roman houses into “picture-window” vistas that
vanishing-point] perspective. It was most
expanded the apparent space of the rooms.
successfully employed in the far corners,
where a low gate leads to a peristyle framing
a tholos temple [see detail on next slide]. 63
 Detail of tholos from Cubiculum M of the Villa of Publius
Fannius Synistor
Early Empire Boscoreale, Italy, ca. 50-40 B.C.

Illusionism:

The Second Style is, in most respects, the antithesis of the

First Style. Some scholars have argued that the Second Style
also has precedents in Greece, but most believe it is a Roman
invention.

The Second Style evolved in Italy around 80 B.C. and was

popular until around 15 B.C., when the Third Style was
introduced.

Second Style painters aimed not to create the illusion of an

elegant marble wall, as First Style painters sought to do.
Rather, they wanted to dissolve a room’s confining walls and
replace them with the illusion of an imaginary three-
dimensional world, which they did only pictorially.

The First Style’s modeled stucco panels gave way to the

Second Style’s flat wall surfaces.

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 Gardenscape - Villa of Livia
Primaporta, Italy
Republican Era /Early Empire ca. 30-20 B.C.
Second Style picture-window wall

Second Style painters favored

linear perspective seeking to
transform usually windowless walls
of Roman houses into “picture-
windows” vistas that expanded the
apparent space of the rooms.

Recession is suggested by
atmospheric perspective, which
creates the illusion of distance by
the greater reduction of color
intensity, the shift of color toward an
almost neutral blue, and the
blurring of contours as the intended - The flimsy fence is the only architectural element
distance between eye and object - The wall seems to frame the landscape
increases. - The fence, trees, and birds in the foreground are precisely
painted, while the details of the dense foliage in the background
are indistinct.

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 4th style wall painting in room 78 of the
Domus Aurea (“golden house”) of Nero
4th style, Rome, Italy 64-48 A.D.

In the Fourth Style the obsession with illusions

returned once again.

This style became popular around the time of

the Pompein earthquake

In the Golden House of Nero, where this

mural is located, all the walls are a creamy
white with landscapes and other motifs
painted directly on the white walls.

The paintings that are on the walls are

“irrational fantasies” They depict fragments of
buildings, columns supporting half pediments,
double story columns supporting nothing at
all.

Architecture became just another motif in the

artist’s design.
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 Neptune and Amphitrite wall mosaic
Herculanium, Italy 62-79 A.D.

The house of Neptune and Amphitrite takes its

name from this mosaic. Shown here are
Neptune, sea god, and his wife Amphitrite set
into an elaborate niche.

They preside over the running water of the

fountain in the courtyard in front of them.

Mosaics were usually confined to floors in the

ancient world. In the Roman times, however,
mosaics were used to decorate walls and
even ceilings. This foreshadowed the
extensive use of mosics in the Middle Ages.

The subject chosen for Roman mosaics were

diverse although mythological themes were
immensily popular.

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 Portrait of a husband and wife;
Pompeii and the Cities of Vesuvius Pompeii,Italy AD 70-79

Originally formed part of a Fourth Style wall

of an exedra, recessed area on the opening
of the atrium of a Pompeian house.

Standard attributes of Roman marriage

portraits are displayed here with the man
holding a scroll and the woman holding a
stylus and a wax writing tablet. These
portraits suggested high education even if it
wasn’t true of the subjects.

The heads are individualized to the subject’s

features, not simply standard types.

This is the equivalent of modern wedding

photographs.

68
 Still life with peaches, detail from a wall
Pompeii and the Cities of Vesuvius painting; Heraculaneum, Italy; AD 62-79
Roman painters’ interest in the likeness of
individual people was matched by their concern
for recording the appearance of everyday
objects.

This still life demonstrates that Roman painters

sought to create illusionistic effects while
depicting small objects. Here they used light
and shade with attention to shadows and
highlights.

The illusion created here is the furthest advance

by ancient painters in representational
technique. It appears that this artist understood
that the look of things is a function of light. Also,
the goal was to paint light as one would strive to
paint the touchable object that reflects and
absorbs it. This illusion of light marks the furthest
advance by ancient painters in
representational technique; it would not be
seen again until the Dutch in the 1700’s.
Still Life, Dutch
ca. 1700
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Augustus Rome's first emperor. He also added many territories to the empire.

Claudius He conquered Britain.

He was insane. He murdered his mother and his wife and threw
Nero
thousands of Christians to the lions.
Before he was emperor he destroyed the great Jewish temple of Solomon
Titus
in Jerusalem.
He was a great conqueror. Under his rule the empire reached its greatest
Trajan
extent.
He built 'Hadrian's Wall' in the north of Britain to shield the province from
Hadrian
the northern barbarians.

Diocletian He split the empire into two pieces - a western and an eastern empire.

He was the first Christian emperor. He united the empire again chose his
Constantine
capital to be the small town Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople.

He was the last emperor of Rome, nicknamed Augustulus which means

Romulus Augustus
'little Augustus'.

He was the last 'great' emperor. He conquered many territories, created

Justinian
the 'Justinian Code' and built the fantastic church Santa Sophia.

The last emperor of Constantinople. He died defending his great city

Constantine XI
against the Turks.

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