Gods, Heroes, and Athletes: The Art of Ancient Greece
  
       
  Greek Humanism :: The Geometric And Orientalizing Periods :: The Archaic Period :: The Early And High Classical Periods :: The Late Classical Period :: The Hellenistic Period :: Hellenistic Art Under Roman Patronage   Images courtesy of
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  THE HELLENISTIC PERIOD

After Alexander:

The Hellenistic period spans the two centuries from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE to the beginning of the Roman imperial period under Augustus. Alexander's far-flung empire was divided up after his death among his Greek generals who cultivated a new, cosmopolitan, Greek-based culture, called Hellenistic.

Architecture

Breaking old rules:

Hellenistic culture's greater variety, complexity, and sophistication called for an architecture on an imperial scale and of wide diversity, something far beyond the requirements of the Classical polis, even beyond that of Athens at the height of its power.

5-74: PAIONIOS OF EPHESOS and DAPHNIS OF MILETOS, Temple of Apollo, Didyma, Turkey, begun 313 BCE. Restored view of facade (left) and plan (right).
  1. Temple of Apollo
  2. Temple of Apollo
  3. Temple of Apollo
  4. Temple of Apollo
  5. Temple of Apollo
The ideal city:

When the Persians were finally expelled from the Greek poleis of Asia Minor in 479 BCE, the cities were in near ruin.

5-75: Model of the city of Priene, Turkey, fourth century BCE and later. Staatliche Museen, Berlin.
  1. Priene
  2. Priene
  3. Priene
  4. Priene
Life in a Greek home:

As in any city, ancient or modern, houses occupied most of the area within Priene's walls, rather than civic or religious buildings.

5-76: Plan of House XXXII, Priene, Turkey, fourth century BCE.
  1. house
  2. house
  3. house
Philosophers and stoas:

The heart of Priene was its agora, bordered by stoas.

5-77: Stoa of Attalos II, Agora, Athens, Greece, ca. 150 BCE (Acropolis in the background).
  1. stoa
  2. stoa
  3. stoa
  4. stoa
  5. interior
Pergamon

A Hellenistic Acropolis:

The kingdom of Pergamon enjoyed great wealth and power for 100 years or more before it was absorbed into the Roman Empire in 133 BCE During this time, the city of Pergamon was embellished with two important monuments commemorating the defeat of invading Gauls: a statuary group set up on the city's acropolis, and a massive Ionic altar with a frieze showing the battle of the gods and giants.

5-78: Reconstructed west front of the Altar of Zeus, from Pergamon, Turkey, ca. 175 BCE. Staatliche Museen, Berlin.
  1. altar
  2. altar
  3. altar
  4. detail
  5. detail
A gigantic struggle:

The subject of the frieze on the Altar of Zeus is the battle of Zeus and the gods against the giants. It is the most extensive representation Greek artists ever attempted of the epic conflict for control of the world.

5-79: Athena battling Alkyoneos, detail of the gigantomachy frieze, from the Altar of Zeus, Pergamon, Turkey. Marble, approx. 7' 6" high. Staatliche Museen, Berlin.
  1. frieze
  2. frieze
  3. frieze
  4. detail
  5. detail
Nobility in defeat:

On the Altar of Zeus, the victory of Attalos I over the Gauls was presented in mythological disguise.		    
       
  5-80: EPIGONOS(?), Gallic chieftain killing himself and his wife. Roman marble copy after a bronze original from Pergamon, Turkey, ca. 230-220 BCE, approx. 6' 11" high. Museo Nazionale Romano-Palazzo Altemps, Rome.
  1. Epigonos
  2. Epigonos
  3. Epigonos
  
       
 
 
       
       
  5-81: EPIGONOS(?), Dying Gaul. Roman marble copy after a bronze original from Pergamon, Turkey, ca. 230-220 BCE, approx. 3' 1/2" high. Museo Capitolino, Rome.
  1. detail
  2. statue
  3. statue
  4. detail
Sculpture

Hellenistic sculpture exhibits a "baroque" exaggeration of form and emotional intensity. Physical movement and gesture are given an almost theatrical pathos and drama. Moreover, statues are made to interact with their environment, sometimes as part of a tableau, which heightens the illusion of their presence and actions. Both female and male figures display a heightened erotic sexuality as the body is explored both in action and repose. Hellenistic sculptors also expanded the range of subject types by drawing from the lower social classes and including more realistic portraits and images of children and old people.

Victory in a fountain:

One of the masterpieces of the Hellenistic baroque style was not created for the Attalid kings; rather, it was set up in the sanctuary of the Great Gods on Samothrace.		  
       
  5-82: Nike alighting on a warship (Nike of Samothrace), from Samothrace, Greece, ca. 190 BCE. Marble, figure approx. 8' 1" high. Louvre, Paris.
  1. Nike
  2. Nike
  3. Nike
  4. Nike
  5. Nike
  6. Nike
Hellenistic eroticism:

Bold steps in redefining the nature of Greek statuary had already been taken in the fourth century BCE in different ways by Praxiteles, Skopas, and Lysippos.

5-83: ALEXANDROS OF ANTIOCH-ON-THE-MEANDER, Aphrodite (Venus de Milo), from Melos, Greece, ca. 150-125 BCE. Marble, approx. 6' 7" high. Louvre, Paris.
  1. Venus
  2. Venus
  3. Venus - detail
  4. Venus
  5. detail
Aphrodite attacked:

This statue is a far cry from the solemn depictions of the deities of Mount Olympus produced during Classical times. Also different from earlier periods is the way Eros was represented. In the Hellenistic age he was shown as the pudgy infant Cupid, whereas in earlier Greek art he was depicted as an adolescent.		  
       
  5-84: Aphrodite, Eros, and Pan, from Delos, Greece, ca. 100 BCE. Marble, 4' 4" high. National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
  1. statue
  2. statue
  3. statue
  4. detail
Sleep and intoxication:

Archaic statues smile at their viewers, and even when classical statues look away from the viewer, they are always awake and alert. Hellenistic sculptors often portrayed sleep.		  
       
  5-85: Sleeping satyr (Barberini Faun), from Rome, Italy, ca. 230-200 BCE. Marble, approx. 7' 1" high. Glyptothek, Munich.
  1. statue
  2. statue
  3. statue
  4. statue
  5. statue
A battered boxer:

Although Hellenistic sculptors tackled an expanded range of subjects, they did not abandon such traditional themes as the Greek athlete.		  
       
  5-86: Seated boxer, from Rome, Italy, ca. 100-50 BCE. Bronze, approx. 4' 2 1/2" high. Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome.
  1. seated boxer
  2. seated boxer
  3. seated boxer
  4. seated boxer
The aged and the ugly:

The realistic bent of much of Hellenistic sculpture-the very opposite of the Classical period's idealism-is evident above all in a series of statues of old men and women from the lowest rungs of the social order.		  



     
  5-87: Old market woman, ca. 150-100 BCE. Marble, approx. 4' 1/2" high. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
  1. old woman
  2. old woman
Strong spirit, weak body:

These sculptures of foreigners and the urban poor, however realistic, are not portraits. Rather, they are sensitive studies of physical types.

5-88: POLYEUKTOS, Demosthenes. Roman marble copy after a bronze original of ca. 280 BCE. 6' 7 1/2" high. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen.
  1. statue
  2. statue
  3. statue
  
 
 
       
       
  Greek Humanism :: The Geometric And Orientalizing Periods :: The Archaic Period :: The Early And High Classical Periods :: The Late Classical Period :: The Hellenistic Period :: Hellenistic Art Under Roman Patronage