Ancient Greek Art

This programme covers all periods of Greek Art and architecture of antiquity, beginning with the joyous Minoan Civilisation of Crete through the warlike culture of Mycenae in the Peloponnese, the Archaic Period of Altica when Egyptian influence was absorbed, to the high Classical Greek Art of the Atenean Age of Pericles, and finally to the Hellenistic Period when Alexander the Great conveyed ancient Greek Art  to the Near East. 

The great sculptors, Phidias, Polykleitos, Praxiteles, Scopas and Lysippus are discussed together with their masterpieces of famous Greek Art, such as "Doryphores", "Discobolus", "Hermes" and the "Apollo Belvedere". The works of the great architects, ictinus, Callicrates, Mnesicles and others are examined, such as the Parthenon, the Propylaea and the the Erechtheum. The styles of each period of famous Greek Art are described, such as Geometric period Greek Art, the Orientalising style in pottery, the Archaic, Classical Greek Art and Hellenistic styles in sculpture, and the three orders of Classical Greek architecture. Furthermore, the black-figure and red-figure techniques of Greek pottery art are explained. 

The historical background is touched upon in order to bring the present subject within the context of the Aegean world of antiquity, and the seminal legacy of Greek civilisation is clarified, both in regard to Greek influence upon Roman civilisation (described in Programme No. 2 of this course) and upon later periods of European civilisation