Ch 5 Art of Ancient Greece

Abacus

The flat slab at the top of a capital, directly under the entablature.

Acanthus

A Mediterranean plant whose leaves are reproduced in classical architectural ornament used on moldings, friezes and capitals.

Acropolis

Akropolis: the citadel of an ancient Greek city, located at its highest point and housing temples, a treasury, and sometimes a royal palace. The most famous is the Akropolis in Athens.

Architrave

The bottom element in an entablature, beneath the frieze and the cornice.

Archaic smile

The curved lips of an ancient Greek statues in the period s. 600-480 BCE, usually interpreted as a way of animating facial features.

Barbarian

A term used by the ancient Greeks and Romans to label all foreigners outside their cultural orbit (e.g., Celts, Goths, Vikings). The word derives from an imitation of what the "barblings" of their language sounded like to those who could not understand it

Calyx krater

A bell-shaped vessel with handles near the base that resembles a flower calyx.

Capital

The sculpted block that tops a column. According to the conventions of the orders, capitals include different decorative elements.

Caryatid

A sculpture of a draped female figure acting as a column supporting and entablature.

Cella

The principal interior room at the center of a Greek or Roman temple within which the cult statue was usually housed, Also called the naos.

Column

An Architectural element used for support and/or decoration. Consists of a rounded or polygonal vertical shaft placed on a base and topped by a decorative capital. In classical architecture, columns are built in accordance with the rules of one of the arc

Contrapposto

The Italian term meaning "set against," used to describe the Classical convention of representing human figures with opposing alternations of tension and relaxation on either side of a central axis to imbue figures with a sense of the potential for moveme

Drums

The circular walls that support a dome, also name for a segment of the circular shaft of a column.

Elevation

The arrangement, proportions, and details of any vertical side or face of a building. Also name for an architectural drawing showing an exterior or interior wall of a building.

Entablature

In the Classical orders, the horizontal elements above the columns and capitals. The entablature consists of, from bottom to top, and architrave, a frieze and a cornice.

Entasis

A slight selling of the shaft of a Greek column. The optical illusion of entasis makes the column appear from afar to be straight.

Expressionism

Artistic styles in which aspects of works of art are exaggerated to evoke subjective emotions rather than to portray an objective reality or elicit a rational response.

Fluted

In architecture, evenly spaced, rounded parallel vertical grooves incised on shafts of columns or on columnar elements such as pilasters.

Freize

The middle element of an entablature, between the architrave and the cornice. Usually decorated with sculpture, painting or moldings. Also any continuous flat band with relief sculpture or painted decoration.

Kore

An Archaic Greek statue of a young woman.

Kouros

An archaic Greek statue of a young man or boy.

Kylix

A shallow ancient Greek cup, used for drinking, with a wide mouth and small handles near the rim.

Mosaic

Image formed by arranging small colored stone or glass pieces (tesserae) and affixing them to a hard, stable surface.

Negative space

in red figure technique the background is painted with slip and then put through a firing process. (p.118-TECHNIQUE)
Where subject matter is not present, but does contribute to the art piece as a whole.

Orthogonal / grid plan

Any line running back into the represented space of a picture perpendicular to the imagines picture plane. In linear perspective all orthongonals converge at a single vanishing point in the picture and are the basis for a grid that maps out the internal s

Parapet

In relation to Nike (Victory) Adjusting her sandal. Surrounding the temple of Athena there was a low wall faced with sculptured panels depicting Athena presiding over the preparation of a celebration by winged nikes. This parapet no longer exists.

Pediment

A triangular gables found over major architectural elements such as Classical Greek porticos, windows, or doors. Formed by an entablature and the ends of a sloping roof or a raking cornice. A similar architectural element is often used decoratively above

Peristyle

In Greek architecture, a surrounding colonnade. A peristyle building is surrounded on the exterior by a colonnade. Also a peristyle court is an open colonnaded courtyard, often having a pool and garden.

Podium

A raised platform that acts as the foundation for a building, or as a platform for a speaker.

Psykter

An ancient Greek vessel with an extended base to allow it float in a larger krater; used to chill wine.

Rosettes

A round or oval ornament resembling a rose.

Sanctuaries

A sacred or holy enclosure used for worship. In ancient Greece and Rome, consisted or one or more temples and an altar. In Christian architecture, the space around the altar in a church called the chancel or presbytery.

Stoa

In Greek architecture, a long roofed walkway, usually having columns on one long side and a wall on the other.

Shaft

The main vertical section of a column between the capital and the base, usually circular in cross section.

Symposium

An elite gathering of wealthy and powerful men in ancient Greece that focused principally on wine, music, poetry, conversation, games and love making.

Tempera

A painting medium made by blending egg yolks with water , pigments, and occasionally other materials such as glue.

Tesserae

A small piece of stone, glass, or other object that is pieced together with many others to create a mosaic.

Tondo

A painting or relief sculpture of a circular shape.

Ajax and Achilles Playing a Game

c. 540-530 BCE. Black-Figure painting on a ceramic amphora.

Greek terrain

unsuitable farmland, although the people were able to grow olives and grapes on steep hillsides.

Greek artists

they quickly developed new artistic notions such as distinctive ideals of human beauty and architecture. Much in contrast to ancient Egypt artist, who's style had endured the years.

Athens, Corinth and Sparta

These cities were Greece's center for politics, economics, religion and culture.

Corinth

located on land and sea trade routes
developed fair government for all Athenian men

Zeus and Hera

Among the most important deities

Sanctuary of Zeus near Olympia

In the western Peloponnese, had an extensive athletic facility with training rooms and arenas. Held athletic competitions, prototypes of today's Olympic Games.

Greek Sanctuaries

Greeks treated each building and monument as an independent element to be integrated with the natural features of the site, in an irregular arrangement that emphasized the exterior of each building as a discrete sculptural form on display.

Athens

major center of ceramic production, including sculpture and vessels decorated with abstract designs.

Orientalizing period

Greeks began to incorporate exotic foreign motifs into their native art. Style began in Corinth.

Geometric Period

900-700 BCE. Famous period for the decoration of ceramic vessels with linear motifs, such as spirals, diamonds and cross-hatching.

Funerary vessels

developed in geometric period, used as grave markers.

Dipylon Gate

Once the main western entrance into the city of Athens.

The Five children of earth and sky

Zeus, Hera, Hestia, Poseidon, Hades

The seven sky gods

Offspring of the five children of earth and sky.
Ares, Hephaistos, Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Aphrodite, Hermes

Hera

Goddess of Marriage

Geometric style

Style in which figures are show in in either full-frontal or full-profile views.
Example: The Man and Centaur sculpture.

Archaic period

_____ period- time of great new achievement in greece

Sanctuary at delphi

renowned as an oracle, place where Apollo was believed to communicate with humans, site of Pythian Games.

Pythian Games

hosted athletic events, music, dace and poetry competitions in honor of Apollo.

Treasury of the Siphnians

was built in in the sanctuary of Apollo. Frieze on the side of it has the "Battle Between the Gods and the Giants" scene.

temenos

enclosed sacred area reserved for worship. Inside it has an outdoor altar where the Greek worshipped.

porches

covered, open spaces in front of an entrance

elevations

the arrangement, proportions and appearance of the columns and the lintels

Doric order and Ionic order

Two elevation designs that emerged during the Archaic period.

pronaos

enclosed vestibule

Doric, Ionic and Corinthian order

The three classical Greek architectural orders

Doric Order

shaft sits directly on the stylobate. Shaft is formed by drums, its fluted. Capital has an echinus and abacus. Frieze includes triglyphsand metopes.
The architectual order used in the Parthenon.

Ionic Order

Elongated proportions, flutes spearated by fillets, capital has volute, rich decorative moldings.
Used on the North and East porches of the Erechtheion.

Corinthian order

variant of the Ioinc order, developed for interiors, elaborate capitals with stylized acanthus

propylon

gatehouse a viewer would enter through to a temple

Dying Warrior

one of the best preserved fragments form the west pediment of the temple of Aphaia at Aegina.

free standing sculpture

Made of wood, terra cotta, limestone, or white marble. Brightly painted, found marking graves and in sactuaries. Female version called a Kore and a male statue is called a kouros

bouleuterion

building council members met in during the Athenian Agora, was a rectangular building

Hippodamos of Miletos

Major urban planner. Believed that city should be limited to 10,000 citizens, divided into thre classes:farmer, artists and soliders, city should be divided into quarters, city should be divided into three zones: sacred, public and private

Stele sculpture

Upright stone slabs used in greek cemteries as gravestones.

600 to 480 BCE

Years spanning the Archaic period in Greece.

Ionic frieze

The Panathenaic festival procession is depicted on the Parthenon's _____.

Echinus

The cushion-like rounded element that is a part of a Doric capital.

Polykleitos

noted to developing a "canon" of proportion.

Nudity

Praxiteles' Aphrodite of Knidos was considered daring because it displayed ____.

clinging drapery

Phidian style" includes this characteristic.

Phidias

He designed the sculpture of the Parthenon.

Metopes

Alternating panels in the frieze of a Greek temple which are sometimes sculpted.

palmettes

a fan shaped petal design used as decoration on classical greek pottery.

Amphora

a Greek all purpose storage jar with an egg shaped body and two curved handles

Order

In architecture, _____ is a set system of proportion and decoration or ornamentation.

Geometric funerary vases

these were used as grave markers

Panthenon

The ____________'s ionic frieze is a continuous band of sculpture.