Curated Guides > Syllabus > Ancient Greek Art and Architecture Syllabus
Ancient Greek Art and Architecture Syllabus
This course explores major works of ancient Greek art and architecture, proceeding from the Bronze Age to the Hellenistic period. We learn how to analyze these works and consider what they reveal about the contexts in which they were made and used.
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Collapse AllThis unit introduces ancient Greece. It then examines sculptures produced by the Cycladic civilization, which existed in the Aegean thousands of years before the ancient Greek civilization emerged, to introduce the basics of formal analysis and reinforce the importance of archaeology in the study of ancient Greece.
Map of the Cyclades (underlying map © Google)
- Tools of art history
- What is art history and where is it going?
- How to do visual (formal) analysis
- Describing what you see: sculpture
- Defining ancient Greek art
- Ancient Greece, an introduction
- Introduction to ancient Greek art
- What is archaeology: understanding the archaeological record
- Cycladic art
- An introduction to the ancient Aegean
- Cycladic art, an introduction
- Male Harp Player of the Early Spedos Type
- Male Harp Player from Keros
- Early Cycladic figurines
- How do we define ancient Greece?
- How do we define ancient Aegean art?
- What is archaeology, and what role does it play in the study of ancient Greek art?
- How did ancient Cycladic sculptors use local resources to create art? What stylistic elements are typical of their work?
- What were the main uses of Cycladic sculptures? How does the history of looting in the Cyclades affect our understanding of the sculptures’ functions in antiquity?
- Ancient Greece
- archaeology
- Aegean
- Bronze Age
- Cycladic
- marble
- Spedos type
- archipelago
- polychromy
- looting
- findspot
Key Questions
Key Terms
This unit explores the art and architecture of the Minoans (on the island of Crete) and Mycenaeans (in mainland Greece), two civilizations that existed in the area of modern day Greece during the Late Bronze Age. As ancient Aegean cultures, they also interacted with the Cycladic civilization discussed in the previous unit.
Map of Ancient Aegean cultures (underlying map © Google)
- Minoan
- Minoan art, an introduction
- Knossos
- Restoration versus conservation: the Palace at Knossos (Crete)
- Snake Goddess
- Bull-leaping fresco from the palace of Knossos
- Octopus vase
- Akrotiri, Thera
- Mycenaean
- Mycenaean art, an introduction
- Lion Gate
- The “Palace” and Grave Circle A
- The Treasury of Atreus
- Warrior Krater
- What does the palace at Knossos (and its decorations) tell us about life in the Minoan civilization?
- What sorts of communal activities did Minoan artworks and buildings facilitate?
- How do the architectural and artistic styles of the Mycenaeans differ from those of the Minoans? What does this tell us about the civilizations’ differing priorities?
- What stylistic elements did the Mycenaeans adopt from the Minoans, and how did they adapt them for their own needs?
- How does modern conservation affect our understanding of Minoan art and architecture?
- Ancient Aegean
- Crete
- Greek mainland
- Minoan
- Mycenaean
- fresco
- ritual
- Marine style
- citadel
- Pictorial style
- krater
- Linear B
- tholos
- shaft grave
- Cyclopean masonry
- megaron
Key Questions
Key Terms
This unit introduces key examples of Geometric Greek art. It considers the functional aspects of Geometric artifacts and the reasons that a rigid, legible representational style was embraced during the Geometric period.
Attic clay kantharos, 735–700 B.C.E. (Geometric), 142 cm high (Benaki Museum of Greek Civilization, Athens)
- Introduction
- The Geometric period, an introduction
- Commemorating the Dead in Greek Geometric Art
- Greek Vase-Painting, an introduction
- Making Greek vases
- Pottery and sculpture
- Dipylon Amphora
- Terracotta Krater
- Krater with ship scene
- Man and centaur
- How do Geometric funerary vessels serve the needs of the elites who used them? What stories do they tell, and how are these appropriate to their function?
- How would you describe the characteristics of the Geometric representational style? How does that style facilitate the legibility of images
- Why was legibility a priority for Geometric artists?
- What is a votive offering?
- Geometric period
- ceramic
- amphora
- krater
- abstraction
- meander pattern
- slip
- iron oxide
- three-phase firing process
- potter's wheel
- silhouette technique
- centaur
- narrative
- votive offering
- filling ornament
Key Questions
Key Terms
In this unit, we learn about the distinctive stylistic characteristics of Protoarchaic Greek ceramics and sculptures. We come to understand how these artifacts reflect an increase in interactions between communities throughout the Mediterranean in the Protoarchaic period.
Map with Athens and Thebes (underlying map © Google)
- Ceramics
- Ancient Greek vase production and the black-figure technique
- Eleusis Amphora
- The Chigi Painter, The Chigi Vase
- Sculpture
- Lady of Auxerre
- Nikandre
- Mantiklos “Apollo”
- What artistic innovations occur during the Protoarchaic period? How are they facilitated by increasing interactions with other cultures throughout the Mediterranean?
- What is the most popular sculptural style in the Protoarchaic period, and what are its main characteristics?
- What kinds of stories are being told on vases in the Protoarchaic period? What morals do they tell?
- Protoarchaic period
- Orientalizing (outdated term)
- black-figure technique
- register
- olpe
- amphora
- Corinth
- Eleusis
- Daedalic style
- ideal/idealized
- sanctuary
- Apollo
- symmetry
Key Questions
Key Terms
This unit reviews the most important Athenian artworks made during the Archaic period. In addition to introducing the stylistic developments that characterize this period, we consider what these artworks tell us about the interests of Athenian elites.
Ajax carrying the body of Achilles. Kleitias (painter) and Ergotimos (potter), François Vase (volute-krater), mid-6th century B.C.E., Attic black-figure (made in Athens), 66 cm (Museo Archeologico, Florence)
- Ceramics
- Black-figure
- The François Vase: story book of Greek mythology
- Sophilos: a new direction in Greek pottery
- Exekias, Attic black figure amphora with Ajax and Achilles playing a game
- Red-figure
- Exekias, Dionysos Kylix
- Euphronios, Sarpedon Krater
- Sculpture
- Kouroi and Korai, an introduction
- Marble statue of a kouros (New York Kouros)
- Anavysos Kouros
- Peplos Kore
- In Full Color, Ancient Sculpture Reimagined
- How does the style of Athenian vase-painting change in the Archaic period? What are the major innovations in vase-painting? What are the functions of these vases?
- What kinds of statues did the Athenian elites make to commemorate their dead and honor their gods in the Archaic period? What ideals do these statues project, and how?
- What role does written text play in Archaic Greek art? How do dedicatory inscriptions on statues and painted words on vases affect our understanding of the objects?
- How does the loss of paint on ancient sculptures shape our understanding of them? Why has the notion that ancient sculpture was unpainted in antiquity been perpetuated in modern times?
- symposium (pl. symposia)
- black-figure technique
- red-figure technique
- volute krater
- dinos
- amphora
- kylix
- kouros (pl. kouroi)
- kore (pl. korai)
- Archaic smile
- marble
- fillet
- symmetry
- grave marker
- votive offering
Key Questions
Key Terms
This unit covers Archaic Greek architecture, focusing especially on structures erected in major sanctuaries throughout the Greek world. The importance of these sanctuaries in Greek religion is emphasized, and some of the votive offerings dedicated within them are discussed.
The Erechtheion, 421–405 B.C.E. (Classical Greek), Acropolis, Athens (photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
- Introduction
- Introduction to ancient Greek architecture
- Greek architectural orders
- Greek sanctuaries as artistic hubs
- Olympic games
- Architecture
- Ancient Greek Temples at Paestum
- Sanctuary of Apollo, Delphi
- Siphnian Treasury, Delphi
- Votive offerings
- The Kouroi of Kleobis and Biton
- Bronze helmet donated by Olympic gold medalist Son Gijeong
- How did Archaic Greek temples facilitate ancient Greek religious practices? What architectural orders were they made in? What messages did their decoration convey to mortal and divine viewers?
- What role did Panhellenic sanctuaries (and the festivals that occurred within them) play in Archaic Greek life? How did the sites act as arenas for competition?
- What kinds of votives were being dedicated in Archaic Greek sanctuaries? How do their styles and inscriptions reflect the identities of their dedicators?
- temple
- treasury
- Doric order
- Ionic order
- pediment
- column
- column capital
- relief sculpture
- triglyph
- metope
- volute
- fluting
- entasis
- stylobate
- frieze
- entablature
Key Questions
Key Terms
The new ideals of the Early Classical period are explored in this unit, which proceeds in two parts. The first part examines the famous Temple of Zeus at Olympia, continuing the previous unit’s focus on sanctuaries. The second part considers developments in other media from across the Greek world.
Map of Ancient Greece (underlying map © Google)
- Introduction
- Classic, classical, and classicism explained
- Contrapposto explained
- Architecture
- Temple of Zeus, Olympia
- Metope with Athena, Herakles, and Atlas from the Temple of Zeus, Olympia
- Sculptures and ceramics
- Kritios Boy
- Artemision Zeus or Poseidon
- Riace Warriors
- Charioteer of Delphi
- Niobid Krater
- Sotades Painter, White-ground cup
- Painting
- Tomb of the Diver
- How does the ideal human representation in the Early Classical period differ from that of the Archaic period?
- How are movement and realism incorporated into Early Classical artworks?
- How do painting techniques change in the Early Classical period? What do they tell us about monumental wall paintings from the period?
- Olympia
- Olympic
- Zeus
- sanctuary
- Panhellenic
- metope
- Severe style
- bronze
- copper alloy
- lost-wax casting technique
- contrapposto
- white-ground
- krater
- symposion (pl. symposia)
- fresco technique
Key Questions
Key Terms
The ideal human form that developed during the High Classical period was celebrated for years to come. This unit explores this ideal form through a focused examination of the period’s most famous sculptures. It also considers why we often study Roman copies of Greek originals.
Polykleitos, Doryphoros (Spear-Bearer), Roman marble copy of a Greek bronze, c. 450–440 BCE (Museo Archaeologico Nazionale, Naples; photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
- Introduction
- Roman copies of ancient Greek art
- The conservator’s eye: Marble statue of a wounded warrior
- The Athenian Agora and the experiment in democracy
- Sculpture
- Polykleitos, Doryphoros (Spear-Bearer)
- Myron, Discobolus (Discus Thrower)
- Grave stele of Hegeso
- How do High Classical sculptors represent the ideal male form? How does that differ from how they represented the ideal female form?
- Why do we often have to study Roman copies of Greek sculptures, rather than Greek originals? What are some differences between the copies and originals?
- Roman copy
- Greek original
- patina
- restoration
- oxidize
- conservation
- invisible restoration
- polychromy
- contrapposto
- marble
- Polykleitos
- Myron
- stele
- relief
Key Questions
Key Terms
The most famous works of ancient Greek art and architecture were built on the Athenian Acropolis during the High Classical period. This unit explores these works and considers issues surrounding the ownership of the Parthenon marbles, empowering learners to form their own opinions about debates related to cultural heritage.
Iktinos and Kallikrates (sculptural program directed by Phidias), Parthenon, Athens, 447–432 B.C.E.
- Parthenon
- The Parthenon, Athens
- Phidias, Parthenon sculpture (pediments, metopes and frieze)
- Plaque of the Ergastines
- Who owns the Parthenon sculptures?
- Erechtheion
- The Erechtheion
- Caryatid and Ionic Column from the Erechtheion
- Temple of Athena Nike
- Temple of Athena Nike on the Athenian Acropolis
- Nike Adjusting Her Sandal, Temple of Athena Nike, Acropolis, Athens
- Why was the Athenian Acropolis built up so dramatically during the High Classical period? Who was responsible for the building project, and what messages did it project?
- What elements of High Classical style are evident on the Athenian Acropolis, and where do we see them?
- What functions did the buildings on the Acropolis fulfill? How did they fulfill them, and how were they made particularly extravagant?
- What are the issues of ownership and cultural heritage surrounding the Parthenon? Based on what you’ve learned, what is your opinion about the ongoing debates?
- Perikles
- Persian wars
- Pheidias
- acropolis
- cult statue
- caryatid
- Athena
- Nike
- polis (city-state)
- wet drapery
- Doric order
- Ionic order
- relief
- triglyph-metope frieze
- continuous frieze
Key Questions
Key Terms
The ideal human form changed in the Late Classical period, moving away from rigid musculature towards something more fluid and approachable. In this unit, these stylistic changes are explored through the study of Late Classical sculptures.
Lysippos, Apoxyomenos (Scraper), Roman copy after a bronze statue from c. 330 B.C.E., 6' 9" high (Vatican Museums, photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
- Lysippos, Apoxyomenos (Scraper)
- Lysippos, Farnese Hercules
- Underwater archaeology and the Antikythera Shipwreck
- The Antikythera Youth
- Praxiteles, Apollo Sauroktonos
- Capitoline Venus (copy of the Aphrodite of Knidos)
- Piraeus Athena
- Statue of a Victorious Youth
- How does the ideal male form change in the Late Classical period?
- What innovations are made in representing women in the Late Classical period?
- Who were the most important sculptors in the Late Classical period? What are the defining characteristics of their styles? How can we tell if we are looking at a work by their hand, or a copy by someone following them?
- Lysippos
- Praxiteles
- underwater archaeology
- Aphrodite
- Venus
- lost-wax casting technique
- Herakles
- Garden of the Hesperides
- gymnos
Key Questions
Key Terms
This unit explores the art of the Hellenistic period in two parts. First, learners discover how Alexander the Great devised representations of himself with the aim of validating his rule throughout his kingdom. Then, we consider how artisans working in various kingdoms around the Hellenistic world embraced emotional extremes and drama in their work.
The Alexander Sarcophagus, c. 312 B.C.E., Pentelic marble and polychromy, found in Sidon, 195 x 318 x 167 cm (İstanbul Archaeological Museums)
- Alexander the Great
- The Alexander Sarcophagus
- Alexander Mosaic from the House of the Faun, Pompeii
- Portraits of Alexander the Great
- Sculpture
- The Pergamon Altar
- Dying Gaul and Ludovisi Gaul
- The Dying Gaul, reconsidered
- Apollonius, Boxer at Rest (or The Seated Boxer)
- Barberini Faun
- Nike (Winged Victory) of Samothrace
- Bronze statue of Eros sleeping
- What are the distinguishing characteristics of representations of Alexander the Great? How does he portray himself as a ruler?
- Do you think Alexander the Great really looked like his ancient portraits? Why or why not? What is the purpose of using an idealized image?
- What types of people do we see represented in Hellenistic sculpture? What new emotional extremes do they embody?
- What is a stereotype? What stereotype is embodied by the Dying Gaul, and how has it been perpetuated since its creation?
- Hellenistic
- Alexander the Great
- Macedonia
- sarcophagus
- mosaic
- tesserae
- portrait
- likeness
- Pergamon
- Gauls
- faun
- stereotype
Key Questions
Key Terms
The ancient Romans borrowed many artistic styles and techniques from the ancient Greeks. This unit explores when, where, and why the Romans deployed Greek styles in the earliest stages of their rise to power, during the Republican and Early Imperial periods.
View of the Roman Forum from the Capitoline Hill (photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
- Introduction
- Digging through time: Archaeology in Rome
- Seizure of Looted Antiquities Illuminates What Museums Want Hidden
- How an ancient Greek bronze ended up in the Vatican
- Architecture
- An introduction to ancient Roman architecture
- Temple of Portunus, Rome
- Maison Carrée
- The Colosseum
- Painting and Sculpture
- Scenes from Homer’s Odyssey, Via Graziosa
- Augustus of Primaporta
- Augustus as Pontifex Maximus
- Ara Pacis Augustae
- How is the study of ancient Rome shaped by archaeology and looting? How does this compare to archaeology’s role in the study of ancient Greek art and architecture?
- How are the Greek architectural orders used in Rome? What other architectural elements did the Romans borrow from Greece, and what did they invent?
- How are ancient Greek myths adapted by Roman artists?
- How did Augustus adapt elements of Classical Greek style for his own images and buildings? Why was he so interested in borrowing from this period?
- Roman concrete
- forum
- engaged columns
- peripteral
- pseudoperipteral
- pronaos
- tufa
- amphitheater
- domus
- Augustus
- Parthians
- standards
- cuirass
- Roman Republic
- Early Imperial period
Key Questions
Key Terms
In this concluding unit, learners consider how elements of ancient Greek style continue to be used in art and architecture, from Renaissance Italy to 18th-century England to present-day Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The unit encourages us to consider what kinds of values classicizing styles carry today.
Leonardo da Vinci, “Vitruvian Man,” c. 1490, pen and watercolor over metalpoint on paper, 34.4 x 24.5 cm (Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice)
- Renaissance Italy
- Leonardo da Vinci, “Vitruvian Man”
- Raphael, School of Athens
- Baroque Italy
- Guido Reni, Aurora
- 18th- and 19th-century England
- Wedgwood factory, The Pegasus Vase
- Robert Smirke, The British Museum
- Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, A Reading from Homer
- Neoclassicism in France
- Neoclassicism, an introduction
- Jacques-Louis David, The Death of Socrates
- Pierre-Alexandre Vignon, Church of La Madeleine
- Neoclassicism in the Americas
- Hiram Powers, The Greek Slave
- Manuel Vilar, Tlahuicole
- Contemporary politics and classical architecture
- How have artists from each of the periods discussed in the unit adapted classical myths and ideals into their work? Why are they creating classical-inspired works?
- What elements of the Greek architectural style are evident in the buildings considered in this unit? What message were the architects of these structures trying to convey with their buildings?
- Where have you seen elements of Greek architectural style in your own surroundings? What do you think architects are trying to convey when they use Greek architectural elements in modern buildings?
- classicizing
- Renaissance
- Baroque
- Neoclassicism
- Homer
- Socrates
- oil painting
- pediment
- frieze
- jasper
- plaster cast
