Ancient Greece's Golden Age and the Acropolis

• Ancient Greece's "Classic" or "Golden Age" focused on Athens and its Acropolis.

Quick Time Line

• Geometric Period: 1050 BCE - 700 BCE
• Orientalizing Period: 700 BCE - 600 BCE
• Archaic Period: 600 BCE - 480 BCE
• The Golden Age of Perikles (Classic Phase): 480-350 BCE
• Late Hellenism: 350-30 BCE

The Acropolis

• The Acropolis is located on the highest point in Athens, Greece.
• It was first constructed as a fortress/governmental palace around 1000 BCE.
• The current version dates from 450 BCE, during the "Golden Age of Perikles."
• The Acropolis in Athens is the most famous, but many existed in Greece.
• It was equivalent to a modern civic center, containing galleries, temples, and a bank.
• The base of the Acropolis held a marketplace and two theaters.
• Temples combined religion and patriotism, a reflection of the relationship between church and state at the time.
• "Acropolis" means "high city," as it's the highest point in Athens.
• The Acropolis and its buildings were renovated under Perikles, whose leadership defined 480-400 BCE.
• Perikles, a general in the Persian War (c. 480 BC), rebuilt the city after its destruction by the Persians.
• He founded the Delian League in 478 BC to fund the reconstruction, using money from other city-states.
• Around 480 BCE, Sparta, Athens, and Corinth created the League of Delos.
• The Greek island of Delos was the League's treasury.
• Perikles moved the treasury to Athens to boost its economy and rebuild the Acropolis.
• Thucydides recorded Perikles's role in Athens in "Perikles' Funereal Oration."

The Panathenaic Procession

• The procession order reflects how Athenians encountered Acropolis buildings during celebrations.
• "Panathenaic" means "all of Athens" and relates to the Athenian goddess.
• The Acropolis was primarily devoted to Athena although polytheistic (many gods)
• The Athena's, goddess of wisdom, was the main one for the city A pathway around the hill's perimeter was used for the "Panathenaic Procession" every four years.

Panathenaic Procession Route

• Starting in Athens's Agora, it passed the Herodean and Dionysus theaters.
• The procession went around the base of the hill, entering the Propylaia (Pinakotheke).
• Walking around the hill allowed Athenians to appreciate the high point's magnificence.
• The journey concluded at the Parthenon, where Athenians offered tributes to Athena.

Athenian Theaters

• Athenian theaters followed the design of the Epidauros theater.
• The symmetrical hemisphere (half circle) design was comparable to modern stadiums.
• Theaters could seat 12,000 people..
• The stone material amplified actors' voices from the orchestra.
• Actors entered from the parados (wings), with a simple skene (backdrop) behind them.
• Theaters were important for Athenians to gather, convey cultural values, explore ideas, and serve as a social and economic hub for festivals.
• Devotion to Dionysus (Bacchus), god of drama and wine, indicated the ideas' importance.
• Theater provided liberation and distraction from external difficulties.
• The Theater of Dionysus in Athens accommodated 14,000-17,000 people on the Acropolis's slope.
• Mass gatherings could trigger laws against disturbances during performances.
• Performances occurred outdoors, in daylight, with constant movement from hawkers, attendees which were considered part of the panorama as much as actors.
• The City Dionysia or Greater Dionysia festival in late March honored Dionysus.

Greek Tragedy Form

• The physical design of Greek theaters influenced how plays were written and performed, emphasizing symmetry.

Greek Tragedy Components

• Prologos (prologue): The opening scene that provides background and introduces the conflict, similar to the skene setting.
• Parados: The entry and comments of the chorus from the stage wings (parados), serving as commentary.
• Episode: Acts with dialogues and choral odes (stasimon), mirroring the main action in the orchestra.
• Stasimon: A choral ode at the end of each episode summarizing action, hinting at future events, and containing similar information to the parados.
• Exodos: The final stasimon, the actors' exit, and the play's ending.

Dionysus in a Boat by Exekias

• Decorated in black-figure style is from a kylix (wine cup) that depicts Dionysus in a boat
• A grapevine grows from ship, surrounded by dolphins/porpoises.
• The black-figure style was achieved using watered-down slit clay over red clay, with scraffito used for detailing.
• The vessel features Dionysus, god of wine/theater, because it is fitting for a wine vessel.
• The dolphins may represent sailors transformed for hubris against Dionysus, referencing "The Bacchae."
• There were seven dolphins and bunches of grapes for symbolism.
• Dionysus's mother, Semele, had an affair with Zeus, angering Zeus' wife, Hera
• Hera tricked Semele, resulting in Semele's death and Dionysus's rebirth from Zeus's thigh.
• Hera dismembered Dionysus, leading to Zeus swallowing and re-birthing him.
• Dionysus lived with satyrs, became god of liberation, and returned to his mother's land.
• Sailors tried to enslave him, resulting in Dionysus cursing them into becoming dolphins.
• The kylix shows Dionysus sailing to Thebes for revenge after his family doubted Zeus.
• Athenian gods had human qualities, exhibiting love, favoritism, and deceit.
• Myths conveyed stories and cultural values through pottery, architecture, poetry, and performing arts.
• The Herodean and Dionysus theaters at the Acropolis's base revealed Greek culture's value of these arts.

The Greek Orders

• Greek temple architecture is designed using the post and lintel style.
• The columns are the posts and the entablature is the lintel
• Each column style or order has a unique physical appearance.

The Doric Order

• The Doric order is the simplest design with no base simple fluting, and a plain capital.
• The entablature has three sections: an unornamented architrave, a frieze with triglyph marks, and metope, which may have relief sculptures.
• The Parthenon follows the Doric order.
• It is considered the most masculine and was named after the Dorian region.
• Entasis, a slight swelling, in the column's center corrects curvature or shows weight support.

The Ionic Order

• The Ionic is more intricate with a base, fluting, and a volute ornamented capital resembling the letter "i".
• The entablature is divided into an unornamented architrave and a frieze, which may have relief sculptures.
• The Nike Temple is Ionic.
• The Ionic in thought to be a bit more feminine in its design
• Some believe it is a problematic design because it does not turn well as exemplified by the Nike Temple corner.

The Corinthian Order

• The Corinthian is complex with a base, fluting, and an ornamented capital, reminiscent of a salad basket with acanthus leaves.
• The entablature includes an unornamented architrave and a frieze which may have relief sculptures.
• The Corinthian is like a Carmen Miranda or "drag queen" compared to other orders.
• It was named after the region of Corinth, taken over by the Greeks.

Nike Temple,

• Located on the Acropolis in Athena a temple of Nike with a small Ionic order (dimensions 27'x9')
• The temple is amphiprostyle with east and west facades.
• Stone's limited flexibility leads to minimal space between columns.
• A continuous frieze runs in the entablature.
• Facing west, with blank side walls, it has two seeming entrances.
• A low wall (parapet) surrounds the temple, featuring flat relief sculptures.
• The parapetis adorned by a bass relief carving- of Winged Victory, or Nike.

Symbolism

• Nike, the winged goddess, is a symbol that represents victory.
• The temple's location at the Acropolis's entrance signifies victory is at the forefront of Athenian thinking

Historical Context

• It was once a lookout point used to spot approaching intruders.

Nike from Parapet

• A high relief features a winged Nike adjusting her sandal among similar winged figures.
• Only the torso and legs remain well preserved.
• Naturalistic yet idealized figure, enhanced by clinging drapery (wet drapery style).
• Winged figures were the personifications of victory for celebration
• Idealization of the female form here illustrates kalos concept.
• Male figures on the Acropolis were nude compared to nude females from the second century forward
• Wet drapery highlights idealized women, perhaps reflecting taboos against female nudity
• Drapery may indicate the female form is submissive and the male form signifies strength.

Stele of Hegeso,

• Stele of Hegeso shows two female figures rendered in profile, similar to the Nike parapet.
• Figures exist in a post and lintel temple with an "environmental feel"
• Physical aspects as rendered through the wet drapery, and are idealized.
• Facial anatomy is naturalistic, with a straight nose bridge, "Greek nose," a distortion.
• These scenes like this are everyday scenes or genre.
• It symbolizes and suggests feminine pursuits of wealth complimenting status. .
• The stele memorialized by the artist to create a portrait of woman in the grave.

Lekythos with "Mistress and Maid"

• The stele mimics that of Hegeso, two women in profile.
• Physicality and wet drapery are shown as idealized.
• Noses display a straight line (Greek nose).
• In the white-ground technique, a white clay slip covered the pot, with black glaze outlining figures and brown, purple, red coloring.
• Women often display the role of establishing men and women, even after death