Art of Ancient Greece
hi I'm Rick Steves back with more of the best of Europe This Time rather than a particular place we're going thematic and traveling anywhere that theme takes us this time it's the art of ancient Greece from aphrodi and Zeus to Sunsplash temples thanks for joining [Music] us [Music] Europe's first great civilization emerged over 4,000 years ago here in Greece and enlightened people were creating works of stunning Beauty Bey and sophistication we'll Marvel at art from the earliest Greeks the Minoans of creit with their colorful frescos the means of Mainland Greece and fertility symbols from the aan islands then with the temples of the Acropolis in Athens we celebrate how Greek society blossomed into a glorious Golden Age we'll track the evolution of Ancient Greek art from its stiff and awkward Beginnings to stat ues that set the standards of beauty for western civilization and inspired High culture to this day we start with the Minoans on the aisle of creit then to the Myans on the mainland and on to Athens capital of golden age Greece we'll see Greek temples in Sicily and finish with art from Alexander the Great's vast helenistic Empire the first glimmers of a truly European civilization emerged here on the sunny islands of the Mediterranean over 4,000 years ago an impressive civilization on the aisle of creit was creating objects of stunning [Music] Beauty the manans because they enjoyed the luxury of Peace on their remote island were free to build open Airy and unfortified palaces this colorful Palace Fresco exudes their joyful Spirit it shows young Minoans at play in their sport of bull leaping as The Bull charges the daring athlete would grab it by the horns get flung head over heels and hope to stick the landing taada this was a fresco a technique used throughout art history the plaster was painted while still wet when a it dried it locked in the colors colors that still radiate after 4,000 [Music] years these joyous murals so different from the warlike art of other early peoples are a testament to the sophistication of the easygoing Manan [Music] civilization as dominent civilizations inevitably decline their culture is absorbed by the next civilization to rise the manans were followed by the Myans a more warlike people on the Greek mainland they created powerful cities impressive tombs and beautiful art unlike the Minoans the Myans were a militaristic society surrounded by enemies their Citadel was heavily ful fortified and stood on an easyto defend hill flanked by steep Ravines with views all the way to the Sea ideally situated for trade by both sea and land The Citadel of minini flourished its Mighty lion gate would have been on inspiring a symbol of power yet it was simple architecturally with only a coral Arch much weaker than a round Roman style arch which wouldn't be adopted for a thousand years they could only span the width of a single flat stone but the Myans built with huge Stones so huge that a thousand years later Greeks would look with Wonder at these walls and declare no man could build with such Stones it must be the work of the Cyclops in fact this came to be called cyclopian architecture despite their limited technology the Myans were ingenious for example this passageway leads to an under ground Royal tomb the coral stonework was an engineering Marvel designed like a stone Igloo this tomb was the grandest Dome of its day in fact this remarkable Myan structure would remain the biggest dome in the world for over a thousand years this was a vast distance to span with no internal supports a Wonder in its day these early Greeks had the technology to melt tin and copper together to make bronze as people of the Bronze Age they had the best tools and weapons yet and they came with an artistic flare the ornamentation whether for the simple things of everyday life or tools of war was Exquisite the means were famous for their fine gold work such as this so-called mask of Agamemnon a death mask placed on the face of a dead King in his coffin these delicate golden cups are another example of impressive Meenan Artistry from Egyptians to Minoans to means the march of progress was on and next Athens would lead the way rising up from the teeming heart of modern Athens the Acropolis Hill shines like a beacon of Civilization by the year 500 BC here in the city of Athens the Greek people were laying the foundations of what we know as Western Civilization democracy literature theater mathematics science philosophy and art all flourished in Greece during its golden age and this set the template for centuries of European culture that followed Athens Acropolis literally its high city was a place of worship and a refuge in war and just below that here in the Agora or Market Civic life flourished and Greek civilization thrived the Agora had all the basic features of urban Greek life from shopping malls to Temples this covered Portico or stoa is totally rebuilt so we can better imagine it in action crowds would gather here to shop socialize or listen to The Great philosophers of the [Music] age Imagine four centuries before Christ hanging out out in a place like this celebrating the rise of creative thinking you could bump into great philosophers like Aristotle or Socrates hey know thyself but Socrates and Aristotle and the Brilliance of ancient Greece's Golden Age didn't just pop out of nowhere burdened with a rugged isolating landscape and endless inner city Warfare the Greeks spent centuries floundering in an earlier Dark Age they had a Warrior ethos which you can see in their art lots of battle scenes and conflict scenes of wild saders chasing human women or of humans battling centaurs reflected the Greeks long struggle to rise above their Waring Heritage we can follow the rise of Greece through the steady evolution of its art from stiff to balanced to jump off the stage in fact a good art historian can date ancient Greek statues nearly to the decade just by looking at them with a local guide we're tracking the evolution of Greek sculpture from the early archaic age to the classical era that's roughly 700 to 400 BC this is all archaic art meaning the time of Greek history that they started making statues out of marble that were still very much influenced from the Egyptians the AR cake statues uh would have um very common characteristics between them more generic characteristics the hair would be long and uh beautifully curled their faces would have a frozen smile would have uh the almond-shaped eyes the high eyebrows and would in general look very much alike it's like they're all cousins they have the same little Grim yes they do they do and the names were kuros for the boys and Cori for the girls very generic just boy girl just boy girl so they they didn't really have a very sophisticated understanding of the body no the body is looking more oversized all of the parts of the body are there their shoulders their knees and the general characteristics of the body anatomy but yes they were more stiff and steady and if they could move they would look like Monsters so we move to the classical times statues that evolve same way as knowledge of the human body evolves and they able to depict Beauty and Anatomy on in a much better way from the archaic times that the statues were stiff and steady we pass to more freedom and more balance of um the way that the body is depicted and to the contraposto way of posing contraposto is the way of posing the statues would depict that is kind of having the body shaping the shape of letter s with all the weight of the body leaning on the one leg leaving the one shoulder more relaxed and the body showing more movement this is a beautiful statue from the classical times depicting um either Zeus or posidon it's a statue that really shows how confident and strong the Greeks felt right after the end of the war with the Persians so through ART they were absolutely showing the weather they [Music] felt by 500 BC Athens was becoming the bustling center of a growing greek-speaking world the energetic Athenians built up their sacred Hill the Acropolis turning it into the heart of their culture they topped the Acropolis with glorious temples statues and monuments honoring the gods and celebrating their own achievements this Temple was famed for its KDs beautiful maidens functioning as columns striking for their realism and relaxed poses but the greatest Temple was the Parthenon dedicated to Athena the patron of Athens in its heyday the temple was decorated with colorful painted sculpture and inside stood a 40ft tall golden Ivory statue this is a reproduction of the goddess Athena dazzling in both Beauty and power both the statue and the temple had a huge impact on people the temple is massive 230 ft long and 100 ft wide made from the finest White marble and assembled here like a 70,000 piece jigsaw puzzle its 34t tall columns are simple yet elegant The Architects used clever if subtle optical illusions that added to the harmonious effect the steps intentionally Arc upward in the middle to compensate for how a flat line appears to Sag The Columns lean together just slightly and bulge in the middle as if absorbing the weight of the stone roof altogether it's organic rather than static Stone it feels alive with perfect proportions as if heroically connecting with the gods subconsciously it works a 2,500-year old architectural Triumph the typical greek temple is circled by decorative panels carved reliefs called metapas the building inside the columns is called the Cella which itself is often decorated by a ring of carved reliefs called a freeze and remember it wasn't just bare White marble it was full of color this reconstruction shows how a Temple's triangular pediments were filled with statues originally brightly painted which told the mythological story of that place of worship the Parthenon was decorated with over a hundred such reliefs and statues the best taken in the early 19th century by the English are at least for now in the British museum in [Music] London the parthenon's 500 foot long freeze portrays a festive annual parade up to the Acropolis the realism is impressive the anatomy correct the men's muscles the H's bulging veins and the sense of movement and energy of the procession this pediment was decorated with the legend of the birth of Athena the gods are lounging at a banquet when suddenly there's a stir and they all turn to watch as Athena arrives from the relaxed poses to the women's pleated robes to the dramatic gestures and a struck horses the realism is stunning the Greeks prided themselves on creating order out of chaos and the Parthenon with its classic Greek proportions dramatic statues and elegant reliefs represents the struggle and ultimate Triumph of rational thought of order over chaos as the Greek culture spread temples like these were built all over the ancient Mediterranean world this Doric temple in Sicily shows the predictable layout the temple normally faced East it was ringed by columns made of real marble or stucked to look that way it sits on a raised base with steps the inner room or Cella was reserved for priests and gods regular worshippers gathered [Music] outside these Stones supported a massive sacrificial altar always at the East End of the temple it was said they could sacrifice a 100 oxen at once as thousands gathered and with the meaty Feast that followed there was always a good turnout these columns knocked over in an earthquake illustrate how Greek columns were made not from a single piece but from stacks of stone drums held together with a peg in the center and capped with a capital once the drums were stacked the grooves were carved that's called fluting and then a layer of plaster was added to make it look like marble finally the Temple's decorative features were painted with bold colors by the way the style of temples evolved over time and can be identified by the capitals the capitals or tops of the columns were both functional to minimize the distance the lentil needed to span and decorative while just the tip of the architectural Iceberg the capitals are handy indicators helping us identify the three main architectural orders or sty the earliest style Doric has flat practical plates as capitals in the next order ionic the capitals are decorated with understated Scrolls the final order Corinthian features leafy capitals boldly decorative with no apologies necessary how to remember all of these as the orders evolve they gain syllables Doric Ionic Corinthian [Music] whatever the order Greek temples with their ingenious engineering and perfect proportions are Stone symbols of how the rational Greeks were conquering chaos and ushering in a golden age led by Athens the Golden Age roughly around 450 BC was the peak of Greek civilization it was the age of Socrates and Plato of democracy philosophy and a flowering of the Arts including drama and performance arts every city had a theater performance arts were woven into society going to a play was like going to church it was where morals were taught Greeks generally built their theaters into hillsides given their size often with over 10,000 seats and the obvious lack of modern amplification the Acoustics needed to be excellent and they still are friends Greeks Wayfarers in these times of Discord fear is rampant in our society I contend that the flip side of fear is understanding and those who travel will reap great understanding by meeting people who find other truths to be self-evident and god-given during the Greek Golden Age the age when the Greeks created some of the greatest works of art ever The Guiding principle was the golden mean in other words nothing in excess in both life and art it was all about the golden mean everything was to be in balance for the Greeks the human body epitomized the balance and Order of the cosmos the balanced contraposto pose again weight resting on one leg is found on countless statues they were looking for the perfect balance between opposites between Stillness and motion like this athlete as he coils pausing just before unleashing the discus the correct proportions of these perfect humans echoed the order of the Greek Cosmos and symbolized their highest ideals the optimistic Greeks portray their gods as humans with perfect Anatomy this well-proportioned statue from a later period is Venus Deo this goddess of love epit IES the balance the Greeks so admired split Venus down the middle from nose to toes and see how the two Hales balance her contraposto pose sets her entire body in motion her left leg Rises while her right shoulder drops her knee points one way her face the other all this gives her body a pleasing scurve as Venus slowly orbits around her vertical axis amid an Entourage of twisting and striding statues each modeling the ideal human form Venus de Milo Reigns Supreme summing up all that was best in the ancient Greek world for the Greeks the evolution of their goddesses mirrored the evolution of their society from the simple figurines of the earliest times to the stiff but stable statues of the Archaic Period after their centuries of turmoil settling into the Golden Age becoming ever more relaxed and realistic and finally the wild exuberance of this goddess emblematic of the next stage in Greek art the helenistic era the Golden Age of Greece was followed by the age of helenismo and balance was pushed aside by cultural exuberance there was more motion and more emotion eventually Greeks to the North in Macedonia emerged as a political and military power where one remarkable man Alexander the Great was about to take Greek culture and spread it far and wide around 330 BC Greek values were spread abroad by the conquests of Alexander within a decade this young and determined leader had established the so-called helenistic Empire a unified greek-speaking culture that stretched from Europe to Egypt and deep into Asia the art from this age reflected the fast Changing Times with influences from all across the Cosmopolitan Greek world compared with the golden age helenistic art is ultra realistic like this weary bronze boxer with exhaustion written all over his battered body helenistic portraits were less idealized and more individual even eccentric once balanced Golden Age statues were now charged with energy dramatically capturing turbulent scenes a good example is this Nike or goddess of Victory perched on the prow of a ship celebrating yet another Greek Conquest she thrusted her arm up like a Super Bowl champion as her seaspray dress whips in the wind she stands steady like a Pillar of Strength celebrating the Ecstasy of [Music] Victory taking us from the thrill of a helenistic victory to the agony of defeat this man and his sons wrestle with snakes punished for trying to warn his fellow Trojans about Greek Invaders the scene ripples with drama the poses twist straining every muscle the the line of motion runs diagonally up the leg and through the body taking helenistic imbalance and exuberance to a whole new level this bronze horse and jockey is also charged with helenistic energy the high-spirited detail is astonishing right down to the horse's dramatic head and the concerned look on the young jockey's face and prancing in pairs these chariot forces also capture the exuberant Spirit of the age again the realism is remarkable the bulging veins the creases in their necks as they rear back heaving chests so alive with flashing eyes and flaring nostrils they are the epitome of equestrian energy Greek culture and its art was Galloping both East and West with the helenistic age it became dominant across much of their Known World the same Gods same plays in the same language were celebrated in theaters like this throughout a vast Empire but great as Greece was it was soon to be eclipsed ancient Greece eventually fell but it lives on in so many ways Europe offers a lifetime of artistic treasures and the more you understand its art the more you'll appreciate the society that created it I hope you've enjoyed our sweep through the highlights of ancient Greece and Europe was just getting started I'm Rick Steves and till next time keep on [Music] traveling [Music] [Music]
2024-04-28 04:32
