Ancient Greece
Geometric
Orientalizing
Archaic Period
New York Kouros, c. 600 BCE
Anavysos Kouros, c. 530 BCE
Peplos Kore, c. 530 BC
Exekias, Achilles and Ajax, c. 540-530 BCE
Euphronios, Herakles Wrestling Antaios, c. 510 BCE
Classical Period
Kritios Boy, c. 480 BCE
Polykleitos, Doryphoros (Spear Bearer), c. 450-440 BCE
Iktinos and Kallikrates, Parthenon, 447-438 BCE
Praxiteles, Aphrodite of Knidos, c. 350-340 BCE
Lysippos, Apoxyomenos (Scraper), c. 330 BCE
Hellenistic Period
Nike of Samothrace, c. 190 BCE
Alexander of Antioch-on-the-Meander, Venus de Milo, c. 150-125 BCE
1. Why is it often difficult to determine whether early Greek figural sculptures represent humans or gods? (ex: Mantiklos Apollo, Lady of Auxerre)
2. Define the following:
A. Kouros
B. Kore
C. Contrapposto
D. Caryatid
E. Pediment
3. What is the ‘Archaic Smile’ and what is a likely explanation for its consistent use?
4. Draw a diagram of a standard Greek temple. Include and label the following elements:
A. Cella/Naos
B. Stylobate
C. Peristyle
D. Pronaos
E. Opisthodomos
5. Describe the features of the columns of the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian Orders.
6. In the pediment sculpture of the Temple of Artemis at Corfu, how did the sculptor represent Medusa flying?
7. What was the Gigantomachy and what was the Centauromachy? What did they both represent symbolically?
8. What advantages did the red-figure painting technique have over the older black-figure technique?
9. What is remarkable about the representation of the figures in Euthymides’s Three Revelers Amphora?
10. What sculpture embodies the Classical ideal of human beauty and perfection? Who was the sculptor and briefly describe his treatise entitled The Canon.
11. Why was the rebuilding of the Athenian Acropolis necessary? How was it financed and under whose political leadership did the rebuilding take place?
12. What aspect of the Aphrodite of Knidos by Praxiteles was unprecedented and shocking at the time? Why?
13. Who was Alexander the Great and why is he so important in the study of Greek art?
14. What is a possible explanation for the humanistic depiction of the ‘barbarian’ Gauls at the Altar of Zeus at Pergamon