1.
Classical Athens
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Athenian democracy was established in 508 BC under Cleisthenes following the tyranny of Isagoras. This system remained remarkably stable, and with a few brief interruptions remained in place for 180 years, the peak of Athenian hegemony was achieved in the 440s to 430s BC, known as the Age of Pericles. The radical politician of aristocratic background, Cleisthenes, then took charge, the reforms of Cleisthenes replaced the traditional four Ionic tribes with ten new ones, named after legendary heroes of Greece and having no class basis, which acted as electorates. Each tribe was in divided into three trittyes, while each trittys had one or more demes —depending on their population—which became the basis of local government. The tribes each selected fifty members by lot for the Boule, the public opinion of voters could be influenced by the political satires written by the comic poets and performed in the city theaters. Most offices were filled by lot, although the ten strategoi were elected, prior to the rise of Athens, Sparta, a city-state with a militaristic culture, considered itself the leader of the Greeks, and enforced a hegemony. In 499 BC Athens sent troops to aid the Ionian Greeks of Asia Minor and this provoked two Persian invasions of Greece, both of which were repelled under the leadership of the soldier-statesmen Miltiades and Themistocles. In 490 the Athenians, led by Miltiades, prevented the first invasion of the Persians, guided by king Darius I, in 480 the Persians returned under a new ruler, Xerxes I. Simultaneously the Athenians led a naval battle off Artemisium. However, this action was not enough to discourage the Persian advance which soon marched through Boeotia, setting up Thebes as their base of operations. This forced the Athenians to evacuate Athens, which was taken by the Persians, subsequently the Athenians and their allies, led by Themistocles, defeated the Persian navy at sea in the Battle of Salamis. It is interesting to note that Xerxes had built himself a throne on the coast in order to see the Greeks defeated, spartas hegemony was passing to Athens, and it was Athens that took the war to Asia Minor. These victories enabled it to bring most of the Aegean and many parts of Greece together in the Delian League. He fostered arts and literature and gave to Athens a splendor which would never return throughout its history and he executed a large number of public works projects and improved the life of the citizens. Hence, he gave his name to the Athenian Golden Age, silver mined in Laurium in southeastern Attica contributed greatly to the prosperity of this Golden Age of Athens. During the time of the ascendancy of Ephialtes as leader of the democratic faction, the conflict marked the end of Athenian command of the sea. The war between Athens and the city-state Sparta ended with an Athenian defeat after Sparta started its own navy, Athenian democracy was briefly overthrown by the coup of 411, brought about because of its poor handling of the war, but it was quickly restored. The war ended with the defeat of Athens in 404
2.
Caryatid
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A caryatid is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term karyatides literally means maidens of Karyai, an ancient town of Peloponnese, the best-known and most-copied examples are those of the six figures of the Caryatid Porch of the Erechtheion on the Acropolis at Athens. One of those original six figures, removed by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century, is now in the British Museum in London, the Acropolis Museum holds the other five figures, which are replaced onsite by replicas. The five originals that are in Athens are now being exhibited in the new Acropolis Museum, the pedestal for the Caryatid removed to London remains empty. From 2011 to 2015, they were cleaned by a specially constructed laser beam, each Caryatid was cleaned in place, with a television circuit relaying the spectacle live to museum visitors. Their bulky, intricately arranged hairstyles serve the purpose of providing static support to their necks. The Romans also copied the Erechtheion caryatids, installing copies in the Forum of Augustus and the Pantheon in Rome, another Roman example, found on the Via Appia, is the Townley Caryatid. Early interior examples are the figures of Hercules and Iole carved on the jambs of a fireplace in the Sala della Jole of the Doges Palace, Venice. In the following century Jacopo Sansovino, both sculptor and architect, carved a pair of female figures supporting the shelf of a marble chimneypiece at Villa Garzoni, near Padua. No architect mentioned the device until 1615, when Palladios pupil Vincenzo Scamozzi included a chapter devoted to chimneypieces in his Idea della archittura universale. In the early 17th century, interior examples appear in Jacobean interiors in England, many caryatids lined up on the facade of the 1893 Palace of the Arts housing the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. In the arts of design, the draped figure supporting an acanthus-grown basket capital taking the form of a candlestick or a table-support is a familiar cliché of neoclassical decorative arts, the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota has caryatids as a motif on its eastern facade. Auguste Rodins 1881 sculpture Fallen Caryatid Carrying her Stone shows a fallen caryatid, robert Heinlein described this piece in Stranger in a Strange Land, Now here we have another emotional symbol. For almost three years or longer, architects have designed buildings with columns shaped as female figures. After all those centuries it took Rodin to see that this was too heavy for a girl. Here is this poor little caryatid who has tried — and failed and she didnt give up, Ben, shes still trying to lift that stone after it has crushed her. The origins of the term are unclear and it is first recorded in the Latin form caryatides by the Roman architect Vitruvius. However, Vitruvius explanation is doubtful, well before the Persian Wars, female figures were used as supports in Greece
3.
Erechtheion
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The Erechtheion or Erechtheum is an ancient Greek temple on the north side of the Acropolis of Athens in Greece which was dedicated to both Athena and Poseidon. The temple as seen today was built between 421 and 406 BCE and its architect may have been Mnesicles, and it derived its name from a shrine dedicated to the legendary Greek hero Erichthonius. The sculptor and mason of the structure was Phidias, who was employed by Pericles to build both the Erechtheum and the Parthenon, some have suggested that it may have been built in honor of the legendary king Erechtheus, who is said to have been buried nearby. Erechtheus was mentioned in Homers Iliad as a king and ruler of Athens during the Archaic Period, and Erechtheus. It is believed to have been a replacement for the Peisistratid temple of Athena Polias destroyed by the Persians in 480 BC, the need to preserve multiple adjacent sacred precincts likely explains the complex design. The main structure consists of up to four compartments, the largest being the east cella, the entire temple is on a slope, so the west and north sides are about 3 m lower than the south and east sides. It was built entirely of marble from Mount Pentelikon, with friezes of black limestone from Eleusis which bore sculptures executed in relief in white marble. It had elaborately carved doorways and windows, and its columns were decorated, they were painted, gilded and highlighted with gilt bronze. The building is known for early examples of egg-and-dart, and guilloche ornamental moldings, the Theory of Mouldings, p22, J. H. Janson 1926, has detailed drawings of some of the decorations. On the north side, there is another large porch with six Ionic columns, and on the south, the famous Porch of the Maidens, with six draped female figures as supporting columns. An olive tree remains on the Western side of the Erechtheus, though it was planted there in modern times by Sophia of Prussia, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, in honour of the Athenians. In front of the statue, a golden lamp called asbestos lychnia made by the sculptor Callimachus burned continuously with its asbestos wick and was refuelled once a year. The eastern part of the building was dedicated to Athena Polias, while the western part served the cult of Poseidon-Erechtheus and held the altars of Hephaistus and Voutos, according to the myth, Athenas sacred snake lived there. The snake was fed honey-cakes by Canephorae, the priestesses of Athena Polias, by custom the women of the ancient family of Eteoboutadae, the snakes occasional refusal to eat the cakes was thought a disastrous omen. The Erechtheion underwent extensive repairs and reformation for the first time during the 1st century B. C. after its burning by the Roman general Sulla. The intact Erechtheum was extensively described by the Roman geographer Pausanias, the building was altered decisively during the early Byzantine period, when it was transformed into a church dedicated to the Theometor. With this alteration many architectural features of the ancient construction were lost and it became a palace under Frankish rule and the residence of the Turkish commanders harem in the Ottoman period. Athenian legend had it that at night the remaining five Caryatids could be heard wailing for their lost sister, Elgin attempted to remove a second Caryatid, when technical difficulties arose, he tried to have it sawn to pieces
4.
Ancient Greece
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Ancient Greece was a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th-9th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and this was followed by the period of Classical Greece, an era that began with the Greco-Persian Wars, lasting from the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Due to the conquests by Alexander the Great of Macedonia, Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central Asia to the end of the Mediterranean Sea. Classical Greek culture, especially philosophy, had a influence on ancient Rome. For this reason Classical Greece is generally considered to be the culture which provided the foundation of modern Western culture and is considered the cradle of Western civilization. Classical Antiquity in the Mediterranean region is considered to have begun in the 8th century BC. Classical Antiquity in Greece is preceded by the Greek Dark Ages and this period is succeeded, around the 8th century BC, by the Orientalizing Period during which a strong influence of Syro-Hittite, Jewish, Assyrian, Phoenician and Egyptian cultures becomes apparent. The end of the Dark Ages is also dated to 776 BC. The Archaic period gives way to the Classical period around 500 BC, Ancient Periods Astronomical year numbering Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details The history of Greece during Classical Antiquity may be subdivided into five major periods. The earliest of these is the Archaic period, in which artists made larger free-standing sculptures in stiff, the Archaic period is often taken to end with the overthrow of the last tyrant of Athens and the start of Athenian Democracy in 508 BC. It was followed by the Classical period, characterized by a style which was considered by observers to be exemplary, i. e. classical, as shown in the Parthenon. This period saw the Greco-Persian Wars and the Rise of Macedon, following the Classical period was the Hellenistic period, during which Greek culture and power expanded into the Near and Middle East. This period begins with the death of Alexander and ends with the Roman conquest, Herodotus is widely known as the father of history, his Histories are eponymous of the entire field. Herodotus was succeeded by authors such as Thucydides, Xenophon, Demosthenes, Plato, most of these authors were either Athenian or pro-Athenian, which is why far more is known about the history and politics of Athens than those of many other cities. Their scope is limited by a focus on political, military and diplomatic history, ignoring economic. In the 8th century BC, Greece began to emerge from the Dark Ages which followed the fall of the Mycenaean civilization, literacy had been lost and Mycenaean script forgotten, but the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, modifying it to create the Greek alphabet. The Lelantine War is the earliest documented war of the ancient Greek period and it was fought between the important poleis of Chalcis and Eretria over the fertile Lelantine plain of Euboea. Both cities seem to have suffered a decline as result of the long war, a mercantile class arose in the first half of the 7th century BC, shown by the introduction of coinage in about 680 BC
5.
Athena
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Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is the goddess of wisdom, craft, and war in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Minerva is the Roman goddess identified with Athena, Athena is known for her calm temperament, as she moves slowly to anger. She is noted to have fought for just reasons. Athena is portrayed as a companion of heroes and is the patron goddess of heroic endeavour. She is the patroness of Athens. The Athenians founded the Parthenon on the Acropolis of her city, Athens. Veneration of Athena was so persistent that archaic myths about her were recast to adapt to cultural changes, in her role as a protector of the city, many people throughout the Greek world worshipped Athena as Athena Polias. While the city of Athens and the goddess Athena essentially bear the same name, Athena is associated with Athens, a plural name, because it was the place where she presided over her sisterhood, the Athenai, in earliest times. Mycenae was the city where the Goddess was called Mykene, at Thebes she was called Thebe, and the city again a plural, Thebae. Similarly, at Athens she was called Athena, and the city Athenae, Athena had a special relationship with Athens, as is shown by the etymological connection of the names of the goddess and the city. According to mythical lore, she competed with Poseidon and she won by creating the olive tree, the Athenians would accept her gift and name the city after her. In history, the citizens of Athens built a statue of Athena as a temple to the goddess, which had piercing eyes, a helmet on her head, attired with an aegis or cuirass, and an extremely long spear. It also had a shield with the head of the Gorgon on it. A large snake accompanied her and she held Nike, the goddess of victory, therefore, Mylonas believes that Athena was a Mycenaean creation. On the other hand, Nilsson claims that she was the goddess of the palace who protected the king, a-ta-no-dju-wa-ja is also found in Linear A Minoan, the final part being regarded as the Linear A Minoan equivalent of the Linear B Mycenaean di-u-ja or di-wi-ja. Divine Athena also was a weaver and the deity of crafts, whether her name is attested in Eteocretan or not will have to wait for decipherment of Linear A. Perhaps, however, the name Theonoe may mean she who knows divine things better than others. Thus for Plato her name was to be derived from Greek Ἀθεονόα, Plato also noted that the citizens of Sais in Egypt worshipped a goddess whose Egyptian name was Neith, and which was identified with Athena. Neith was the war goddess and huntress deity of the Egyptians since the ancient Pre-Dynastic period, in addition, ancient Greek myths reported that Athena had visited many mythological places such as Libyas Triton River in North Africa and the Phlegraean plain
6.
Areopagus
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The Areopagus is a prominent rock outcropping located northwest of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. Its English name is the form of the Greek name Areios Pagos. In classical times, it functioned as the court for trying deliberate homicide, Ares was supposed to have been tried here by the gods for the murder of Poseidons son Halirrhothius. The origin of its name is not clear, in Ancient Greek, πάγος pagos means big piece of rock. Later, the Romans referred to the hill as Mars Hill, after Mars. Near the Areopagus was also constructed the basilica of Dionysius Areopagites, in pre-classical times, the Areopagus was the council of elders of the city, similar to the Roman Senate. Like the Senate, its membership was restricted to those who had high public office. In 594 BC, the Areopagus agreed to hand over its functions to Solon for reform and he instituted democratic reforms, reconstituted its membership and returned control to the organization. In 462 BC, Ephialtes put through reforms which deprived the Areopagus of almost all its functions except that of a tribunal in favour of Heliaia. In The Eumenides of Aeschylus, the Areopagus is the site of the trial of Orestes for killing his mother and her lover, phryne, the hetaera from 4th century BC Greece and famed for her beauty, appeared before the Areopagus accused of profaning the Eleusinian mysteries. One story has her letting her cloak drop, so impressing the judges with her almost divine form that she was summarily acquitted, in an unusual development, the Areopagus acquired a new function in the 4th century BC, investigating corruption, although conviction powers remained with the Ecclesia. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth, the term Areopagus also refers to the judicial body of aristocratic origin that subsequently formed the higher court of modern Greece. Areopagus sermon Areopagus of Eastern Continental Greece, a regional Greek administration during the Greek Revolution of 1821, the Constitutional Antiquities of Sparta and Athens by Gustav Gilbert Pantologia by John Mason Good, Olinthus Gregory, Newton Bosworth. P.565 The London Encyclopaedia, Volume 2, P.647 Acts 17, 16-34 – A Biblical account of St. Paul discussing with the Areopagus the nature of the Christian God. Also referred to is the story concerning the altar to The Unknown God
7.
Temple of Athena Nike
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The Temple of Athena Nike is a temple on the Acropolis of Athens. It was named after the Greek goddess, Athena Nike, built around 420BC, the temple is the earliest fully Ionic temple on the Acropolis. It was a prominent position on a bastion at the south west corner of the Acropolis to the right of the entrance. In contrast to the Acropolis proper, a walled sanctuary entered through the Propylaea, the Victory Sanctuary was open, entered from the Propylaeas southwest wing and from a narrow stair on the north. The sheer walls of its bastion were protected on the north, west, Nike means victory in Greek, and Athena was worshipped in this form, as goddess of victory in war and wisdom. The citizens worshipped the goddess in hope of an outcome in the long Peloponnesian War fought on land and sea against the Spartans. In the sixth century BCE a cult of Athena Nike was established, after the temple was demolished by the Persians in 480 BCE a new temple was built over the remains. The new temple construction was underway in 449 BCE and was finished around 420 BCE, the temple sat untouched until it was demolished in 1686 by the Turks who used the stones to build defences. In 1834 the temple was reconstructed after the independence of Greece, in 1998 the temple was dismantled so that the crumbling concrete floor could be replaced and its frieze was removed and placed in the new Acropolis Museum that opened in 2009. The Temple of Athena Nike is often closed to visitors as work continues, the new museum exhibit consists of fragments of the site before the Persians were thought to have destroyed it in 480 BCE. The Temple of Athena Nike was finished around 420 BC, during the Peace of Nicias and it is a tetrastyle Ionic structure with a colonnaded portico at both front and rear facades, designed by the architect Kallikrates. The columns along the east and west fronts were monolithic columns, the temple ran 27 feet long by 18 and a half feet wide and 23 feet tall. The total height from the stylobate to the acme of the pediment while the temple remained intact was a modest 23 feet. The ratio of height to diameter of the columns is 7,1, constructed from white Pentelic marble, it was built in stages as war-starved funding allowed. The famous frieze of Athena adjusting her sandal is an example of Wet drapery, Wet drapery involves showing the form of the body but also concealing the body with the drapery of the clothing. Some friezes are from the Persian and Peloponnesian wars, the friezes contained a cavalry scene from the battle of Marathon and a Greek victory over the Persians at the battle of Plataea. The battles represent Greek and Athenian dominance through military power and historical events, a statue of Nike stood in the cella, or otherwise referred to as a naos. Nike was originally the winged victory goddess, the friezes of the buildings entablature were decorated on all sides with relief sculpture in the idealized classical style of the 5th century BC
8.
Peplos
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A peplos is a body-length garment established as typical attire for women in ancient Greece by 500 BC. It was a long, tubular cloth with the top folded down about halfway, so that what was the top of the tube was now draped below the waist. The garment was gathered about the waist and the folded top edge pinned over the shoulders. The folded-down top of the tube provided the appearance of a piece of clothing. The peplos was draped and open on one side of the body and it should not be confused with the Ionic chiton, which was a piece of fabric folded over and sewn together along the longer side to form a tube. The Classical garment is represented in Greek vase painting from the 5th century BC, spartan women continued to wear the peplos much later in history than other Greek cultures, causing other Greeks to call them phainomērídes the thigh-showers. They had to weave a theme of Athenas defeat of Enkelados, the peplos of the statue was changed each year during the Plynteria. The peplos played a role in the Athenian festival of the Great Panathenaea, nine months before the festival, at the arts and crafts festival titled Chalkeia, a special peplos would begin to be woven by young women. This peplos was placed on the statue of Athena during the festival procession, the peplos had myths and stories woven into its material and usually consisted of purple and saffron yellow cloth. Chiton Clothing in ancient Greece Clothing in the ancient world Peplos Greek Dress Peplum dresses
9.
Dionysus
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Dionysus is the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness, fertility, theatre and religious ecstasy in ancient Greek religion and myth. Wine played an important role in Greek culture, and the cult of Dionysus was the religious focus for its unrestrained consumption. He may have been worshipped as early as c, 1500–1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks, traces of Dionysian-type cult have also been found in ancient Minoan Crete. His origins are uncertain, and his cults took many forms, some are described by ancient sources as Thracian, in some cults, he arrives from the east, as an Asiatic foreigner, in others, from Ethiopia in the South. He is a god of epiphany, the god that comes and his festivals were the driving force behind the development of Greek theatre. The earliest cult images of Dionysus show a male, bearded and robed. He holds a staff, tipped with a pine-cone and known as a thyrsus. Later images show him as a beardless, sensuous, naked or half-naked androgynous youth, in its fully developed form, his central cult imagery shows his triumphant, disorderly arrival or return, as if from some place beyond the borders of the known and civilized. His procession is made up of female followers and bearded satyrs with erect penises, some are armed with the thyrsus. The god himself is drawn in a chariot, usually by exotic beasts such as lions or tigers and this procession is presumed to be the cult model for the followers of his Dionysian Mysteries. He is also known as Bacchus, the adopted by the Romans. His thyrsus, sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey, is both a beneficent wand and a used to destroy those who oppose his cult and the freedoms he represents. As Eleutherios, his wine, music and ecstatic dance free his followers from self-conscious fear and care and those who partake of his mysteries are possessed and empowered by the god himself. The cult of Dionysus is also a cult of the souls, his maenads feed the dead through blood-offerings and he is sometimes categorised as a dying-and-rising god. Some scholars believe that Dionysus is a syncretism of a local Greek nature deity, Dionysus had a strange birth that evokes the difficulty in fitting him into the Olympian pantheon. His mother was a woman, Semele, the daughter of king Cadmus of Thebes, and his father was Zeus. Zeus wife, Hera, discovered the affair while Semele was pregnant, appearing as an old crone, Hera befriended Semele, who confided in her that Zeus was the actual father of the baby in her womb. Hera pretended not to believe her, and planted seeds of doubt in Semeles mind, curious, Semele demanded of Zeus that he reveal himself in all his glory as proof of his godhood
10.
Tragedy
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Tragedy is a form of drama based on human suffering that invokes an accompanying catharsis or pleasure in audiences. In the wake of Aristotles Poetics, tragedy has been used to make genre distinctions, in the modern era, tragedy has also been defined against drama, melodrama, the tragicomic, and epic theatre. Drama, in the sense, cuts across the traditional division between comedy and tragedy in an anti- or a-generic deterritorialisation from the mid-19th century onwards. Both Bertolt Brecht and Augusto Boal define their epic theatre projects against models of tragedy, taxidou, however, reads epic theatre as an incorporation of tragic functions and its treatments of mourning and speculation. The word tragedy appears to have used to describe different phenomena at different times. It derives from Classical Greek τραγῳδία, contracted from trag-aoidiā = goat song, scholars suspect this may be traced to a time when a goat was either the prize in a competition of choral dancing or was that around which a chorus danced prior to the animals ritual sacrifice. In another view on the etymology, Athenaeus of Naucratis says that the form of the word was trygodia from trygos and ode. There is some dissent to the origins of tragedy, mostly based on the differences between the shapes of their choruses and styles of dancing. A common descent from pre-Hellenic fertility and burial rites has been suggested, friedrich Nietzsche discussed the origins of Greek tragedy in his early book The Birth of Tragedy. Here, he suggests the name originates in the use of a chorus of goat-like satyrs in the original dithyrambs from which the genre developed. Scott Scullion writes, There is abundant evidence for tragoidia understood as song for the prize goat, and as prize was established the billy goat, the clearest is Eustathius 1769.45, They called those competing tragedians, clearly because of the song over the billy goat. Athenian tragedy—the oldest surviving form of tragedy—is a type of dance-drama that formed an important part of the culture of the city-state. Having emerged sometime during the 6th century BCE, it flowered during the 5th century BCE, no tragedies from the 6th century and only 32 of the more than a thousand that were performed in the 5th century have survived. We have complete texts extant by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, Athenian tragedies were performed in late March/early April at an annual state religious festival in honor of Dionysus. The presentations took the form of a contest between three playwrights, who presented their works on three successive days, each playwright offered a tetralogy consisting of three tragedies and a concluding comic piece called a satyr play. The four plays sometimes featured linked stories, only one complete trilogy of tragedies has survived, the Oresteia of Aeschylus. The Greek theatre was in the air, on the side of a hill. Performances were apparently open to all citizens, including women, the theatre of Dionysus at Athens probably held around 12,000 people
