History Essay Samples

Unraveling the Immense Influence of Greek Artistic Legacy

Ancient Greek art considerably influences other countries’ cultures, mainly in architecture and sculpture. Classical art owes its lasting influence to its reasonableness, simplicity, absolute beauty, and humanity. The Greek love of beauty, their religion, and a growing nationalism spirit found a complete expression in its art. However, it experienced a crisis of the Persian invasion (490-479 BC), which stimulated the young and virile nationality to pursue enormous achievements. Only after the Persian invasion did the Greeks reach their complete stature and begin developing in arts. The Athenian Acropolis was adorned and restored with the matchless Erechtheum, Parthenon and other buildings. The Parthenon represented the visible and tangible Athenian imperial power, unfettered by the depredations of the Peloponnesian War.

Nonetheless, Ancient Greek art was expressed in all things which they made. It also concerned pottery. The heritage of Greek art still exists, and its influence on other cultures is enormous.

Ancient Greek Art

Ancient Greek art has a substantial influence on other countries’ culture, mainly in the areas of architecture and sculpture. Classical art owes its lasting influence to its reasonableness, simplicity, absolute beauty, and humanity.

By the eighth century BC, the Greeks, the greatest maritime people, had begun visiting other countries and learning new cultures. In Egypt, they saw many wonderful examples of sculpture and painting. In Asia Minor, the Greeks were impressed by the gigantic Assyrian and Babylonian sculptures, which showed narrative scenes.

Initially, the Greek statues were flat and stiff; only approximately in the sixth century BC the sculptors started learning about the human body and making all in proportions.

The Greek love of beauty, their religion, and a growing nationalism spirit found a complete expression in its art. However, it experienced a crisis of the Persian invasion (490-479 BC), which stimulated the young and virile nationality to pursue enormous achievements. Only in the fifth century, after the invaders’ prescription, the Greeks reached their complete stature. The Persians had ruined the country, and the Greeks began to rebuild it. Greek poets created works glorifying Greek genius and the new era, as shown in Athens’s beautiful and outstanding creations. The Athenian Acropolis was adorned and restored with the matchless Erechtheum, Parthenon and other buildings. There were many beautiful temples in other Greek cities, particularly that of Zeus in Olympia.

The fifth century BC produced the whole flowering of sculpture art. Three famous masters are known in this sphere. Myron is famous for his boldness, with the help of which this master fixed moments of violent action in bronze. His famous work is “Discobolus”. The greatest Greek sculpture is the sculpture of Phidias.

Furthermore, under his direction, the sculptures ornamenting the Parthenon were cast. His masterpieces were the statue of Athena, which was made of gold and ivory, and the statue of Zeus in the temple of Olympia. Unfortunately, they disappeared. Only the sculptures of the frieze and pediments of the Parthenon are kept safe. Many of them, such as the Elgin Marbles, are preserved in the British Museum.

In 447 BC, when the Athenian Empire was in power, the work started on the Parthenon. The Parthenon represented the visible and tangible Athenian imperial power, unfettered by the depredations of the Peloponnesian War. In addition, it symbolized the influence and power of the Greek politician, Perikles, who defended its building. The construction of the Pantheon showed everyone that Athens was not just the chief of the Greek defense league against the Persians but a main head over other Greek states. Callicrates and Ictinus were co-architects of the Parthenon. Moreover, Ictinus is identified as an architect of the Temple of Apollo at Bassae and the Telesterion at Eleusis. Callicrates is identified as an architect of the Temple of Nike in the Sanctuary of Athena Nike on the Acropolis, the Classical circuit wall of the Acropolis and, maybe, the Central of three incredible walls linking Piraeus and Athens.

In 454 BC, the Athenians transferred the League coffers from the Panhellenic sanctum at Delos to the Athenian Acropolis. The reason that the Parthenon was constructed with the League resources, the construction might be read as an expression of the Athenians’ confidence in this once more naked imperialism. However, in 480, the Persians destroyed the temples on the Greek Acropolis.

The Parthenon sculptures are the greatest works of art kept safe in modern times. The frieze is like a decorative band. It ran around the top of the outer temple’s walls. The frieze is 524 feet long and 3 feet 3 1/2 inches high. The theme is the ceremonial Panathenaic Festival’s procession. There are figures of gods, elders and priests; sacrificial cattle and sacrifice bearers; nobles, soldiers and maidens. A low relief distinguishes them. All are beautifully composed and vividly alive within the narrow band. The riders and their horses are very grateful. These figures seem to move on in a rhythmical movement. On the east frieze, the assembly of Olympian gods is represented; it consisted of two groups. The one group is Artemis, Aphrodite and Eros. The second group is Nike, Hera and Zeus. It is the most pertinent iconographic precedent for this assembly.

Around the exterior of the entrance above the columns were ninety-two almost square panels, well known as the metopes. Every panel represented two figures in the fight. In the west and east triangular pediments, the groups of figures have remained, which serve as the highest examples of monumental sculpture in the world. The east pediment illustrated the contest between Poseidon and Athena over the site of Athens. The west pediment represented the amazing birth of Athena out of Zeus’s head. The bronze accessories and the use of color enhanced the magnificence of the pediment groups.

One of the most famous sculptures well known worldwide as the “Aphrodite” of Melos or the “Venus de Milo”. Its sculptor is unknown. This sculpture dates between 200 and 100 BC.

Another original work is the statue “Hermes with the Infant Dionysus” by Praxiteles. This statue is the only original of this outstanding Greek master because nowadays, only copies of many famous works, which Roman artists made, are saved. The sculpture of Praxiteles is not so dignified and lofty as that of Phidias, but it is full of charm and grace. Scopas continued the tendency to represent dramatic moods. His sculptures had an impassioned expression.

There are a lot of Acropolises in Greece, but the Acropolis of Athens is the most famous among them. It is devoted to the Goddess Athena. The Acropolis sounded coming back the power and the magnificence of the Athenian empire. The sacred and the main temples were constructed in and around Acropolis and Attica during the Golden Age of Athens from 460 BC to 430 BC. The buildings continued for about half a century. Ictinus and Callicrates, architects, and Phidias, a sculptor, were in charge of these buildings.

In the fourth century BC, an immense theatre was built in a small city named Epidaurus. It was used for dramatic performances. The theater was planned by Polykleitos the Younger. In the begging, the theatre had only 34 rows, but in Roman times, they were extended by another 21 rows. It seated up to 15 000 people. It is wondered for its exceptional acoustics.

Nonetheless, Ancient Greek art was expressed in all things which they made. It also concerned pottery. The Greek red-figure volute-krater, approximately 450–440 BC, is related to the Painter of the Woolly Satyrs. It illustrates the death of Actaeon. Artemis drives a chariot drawn by a group of deer, while to the right, a man informs the death of Actaeon to his parents, Autonoe Aristaeus. The principal scenes on the Volute-krater are the fight between Centaurus and the Greeks at the marriage of Perithous. They are represented on the neck of the obverse. On the main body, the battle between Amazons and Athenians is shown.

The Eretria Painter was one of the most famous Greek painters. Being the most original and prolific Classical Athenian red-figure vase artist, he was named after an epineural from Eretria. At that time, the myth of Harmonia had become more popular. Harmonia retained her link with Aphrodite at Athens. This myth was illustrated on painted vases to characterize marital and civic Harmony. Her main role was the personification of a perfect Wedding, an exacting type of Harmony. The wedding preparations of Harmonia set up one of three marriage scenes shown on the epineural of the Eretria Painter.

The heritage of Greek art still exists, and its influence on other cultures is enormous.

📎 References:

1. Esaak, S. (n.d.). Art History 101 – Greek art (an overview). Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/greek-art-an-overview-182924
2. Mark, I.S. (1993). The Sanctuary of Athena Nike in Athens: Architectural stages and chronology. Hesperia supplement, 26. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/i258493.
3. Montabello, P. (1994). The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Guide. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
4. Smith, A. C. (2003). Athenian political art from the fifth and fourth centuries BCE: Images of political personifications.
5. The Parthenon. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.reed.edu/humanities/110Tech/Parthenon.html

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