Discovering the Humanities THIRD EDITION CHAPTER The Greek World: The Classical Tradition Discovering the Humanities, Third Edition Henry M Sayre Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliates All Rights Reserved Learning Objectives Outline how the Cycladic, Minoan, and Mycenaean cultures contributed to the later Greeks' sense of themselves Define the polis and explain how it came to reflect the values of Greek culture Learning Objectives Describe how Pericles defined and shaped Golden Age Athens Characterize the values of the Hellenistic world in terms of politics, philosophy, and art The Acropolis, Athens, Greece Rebuilt in the second half of the 5th century © Craig & Marie Mauzy, Athens mauzy@otenet.gr [Fig 2.1] BCE The Greek World • Athens was the center polis of the Greek world in the fourth and fifth centuries BCE • About 8,000 isolated poleis, or citystates, composed Greece • The poleis of city states consisted of an urban center surrounding a natural citadel, which was called an acropolis The Greek World • At the foot of the acropolis was the agora, a large open space serving as a meeting place, marketplace, and civic center • The stoa was the principal architectural feature of the agora It consisted of a long open arcade supported by colonnades, or rows of columns The Greek World • Aristotle (384–322 BCE) was a philosopher who pursued eudaimonia, "the good or flourishing life." This attitude of striving for complete excellence defines Athens in the Golden Age Greek The Stoa of Attalus, Athens, Greece 150 BCE © Craig & Marie Mauzy, Athens mauzy@otenet.gr [Fig 2.2] The City-states of Ancient Greece [Fig Map 2.1] Bronze Culture in the Aegean • Seafaring cultures took hold in the islands of the Aegean Sea • The later Greeks considered the activities and culture of Bronze Age Aegean peoples as part of their own prehistory Their word for the way they knew them was archailogia, or "knowing the past." Aristotle's Poetics • One of the most important ideas that Artistotle expressed is catharsis, the cleansing, purification, or purgation of the soul • The audience is struck with "fear and pity" at the sight of the actions onstage The Golden Mean • Syllogism includes two premises from which a conclusion can be drawn in the form of, "A is B; and A is C; therefore, B is also C." • The Golden Mean is the middle ground between any two extremes of behavior For example, the Golden Mean between cowardice and recklessness is courage Alexandria • This city, ruled by the Ptolemies, housed the world's first museum • Dinocrates laid out the city in a grid, enclosed by a wall and accessible by four gates at the ends of its major avenues • Three harbors brought together different cultures with the purpose of increasing commerce Reconstructed west front of the Altar of Zeus, from Pergamon ca 165 BCE Marble Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Antikensammlung, Pergamonmuseum © Vanni Archive/Corbis [Fig 2.40] Reconstructed west staircase frieze of the Altar of Zeus, from Pergamon ca 165 BCE Marble Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Antikensammlung, Pergamonmuseum akg-images/Erich Lessing [Fig 2.41] Video: Studio Technique: Sc ulpture Carving (Relief) Detail of the east frieze of the Altar of Zeus, from Pergamon ca 165 BCE Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Antikensammlung, Pergamonmuseum akg-images/Erich Lessing [Fig 2.42] Pergamon: Hellenist Capital • Without a successor designated at the time of Alexander's death, his three chief generals divided the empire • The fourth kingdom of Pergamon rose to become a center of Hellenistic culture, functioning as a treasury The Library at Pergamon • The Attalids created a huge library filled with over 200,000 Classical Athenian texts • Parchment found its root in the sheets of tanned leather, or pergamene, found at Pergamon's library • The building program flourished under the rule of Eumenes II A New Sculptural Style • The altar of Pergamon presents scenes with theatrical effects and diagonal forces that diverge from the balance and order of Classical art • Expressionism is a style that attempts to elicit an emotional response in the viewer A New Sculptural Style • Dying Gaul exhibits expressive theatricality in the twisting of the Gaul's body • The Nike of Samothrace reflects this new sculptural style, presenting dynamic forward motion and directional lines of a windblown gown against the figure's body Epigonus (?) Gaul, Roman copy of an original bronze of ca 220 BCE Marble Height: 83" Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome © DeAgostini Picture Library/Scala, Florence [Fig 2.43] Epigonus (?) Dying Gaul, Roman copy of an original bronze of ca 220 BCE Marble Height: 37" Museo Capitolino, Rome © Photo Scala, Florence - courtesy of Sovraintendenza di Roma Capitale [Fig 2.44] Closer Look: Nike (Victor y) of Samothrace Nike (Victory) of Samothrace, from the Sanctuary of the Great Gods, Samothrace ca 300–190 BCE Marble Height 8'1" Musée du Louvre, Paris © RMN/Gérard Blot/Christian Jean [Fig 2.45] Continuity & Change • It is likely that Virgil had seen the sculpture of Laocoön and His Sons, as such a scene appears in the Aeneid • Though Rome conquered Greece in 146 BCE, Greece could be said to have "ruled" Rome, at least culturally • Many works pictured in this text are actually Roman copies of Greek originals Video: Students on Site: Laocoön Hagesandros, Polydoros, and Athanadoros of Rhodes Laocoön and His Sons Hellenistic, 2nd–1st century BCE or marble copy of an original, Rome, 1st century Marble Height 6'10" Museo Pio Clementino, Vatican Museums, Vatican State © 2014 Photo Scala, Florence - courtesy of the Ministero Beni e Att Culturali [Fig 2.46] ... with the bull The Legend of Minos and the Minotaur • The Minotaur was the result of union between Pasiphae and the bull • Minos ordered Athens to sacrifice 14 young men and women each year to the. .. the Minotaur • Theseus was victorious in defeating the Minotaur using a sword given to him by Minos's daughter and a spindle of thread leading him out of the maze Mycenaean Culture on the Mainland... vastly Mycenaean Culture on the Mainland • The Vaphio Cup was executed using repoussé, a technique in which the artist hammers out the design from the inside • The walls of the city of Mycenae