Classical Archaeology | Chapter 01: Foundations of Greek Art
Foundations of Greek Art
Preamble
When discussing Greek arts in all their splendor, beauty, and precision, we must point to the civilization that paved the way for their emergence. The civilization of Greece arose following a civilization that flourished on the island of Crete, where a highly sophisticated and cultured people lived for several centuries until a natural disaster destroyed the palaces at Knossos, Phaistos, and Malia. Thus fell the Minoan civilization of Crete, and after it arose the civilization of Greece, which flourished, reached its peak in the 5th century BC, and continued until the 2nd century BC, ending with the Roman conquest of Greece in 146 BC.
Before examining Greek arts across their various eras from the earliest beginnings to the Hellenistic period, it is worth noting the geographical, geological, religious, social, and historical factors that enriched these arts.
Factors Influencing the Development of Greek Arts
Geographical Aspect: The Greek peninsula is surrounded by sea on three sides. Consequently, its natural ports facilitated trade; Phoenicians carried their trade to these lands, and Greece expanded through colony-building to southern Italy and Sicily. The mountains divided Greece into different spheres of influence, giving rise to competition among these states to showcase their respective civilizations. Greece enjoys a moderate climate, which encouraged the celebration of official festivals and attention to public buildings such as administrative, judicial, theater, and temple structures.
Geological Aspect: The most notable feature of this land is the presence of marble in its soil—specifically in Athens and the islands of Paros and Naxos. Thus, the Greeks utilized marble to carve their statues and construct their temples, a characteristic that became one of the defining features of Greek architecture.
Social Aspect: The Greek peoples were renowned for their devotion to religious rituals, as manifested in their festivals and celebrations. They were passionate about music, various arts, and athletic games, giving rise to global-style sporting events such as the Olympic Games, which began in Olympia in 776 BC and continue to the present day.
Historical Aspect: Greece faced repeated Persian invasions in the 5th century BC. As a result, the Persians were defeated by the Greeks in several land and sea battles, leading the Greeks to glorify these victories. Athens then flourished during the reign of Pericles (444–429 BC), and this prosperity continued during the reign of King Philip of Macedon and his son Alexander the Great. Conquests expanded to include Egypt and Asia Minor, blending Greek civilization with Eastern civilizations, which profoundly impacted all the arts.
Religious Aspect: Greek religion was primarily based on the worship of personified figures or natural phenomena. Each city, region, or province had specific cults and dedicated festivals, alongside hero worship. They believed that every natural force was controlled by a deity: the sun was a god, the moon a goddess, as were celestial phenomena like lightning, thunder, rain, and wind. They represented their deities with human statues and believed their gods possessed human emotions—loving, marrying, reproducing, rejoicing, and suffering—yet remaining immortal. Religion exerted an immense influence on the Greeks, clearly reflected in their temples, because they viewed religion through a deep philosophical lens. Various deities existed, including:
| Deity | Domain / Role |
|---|---|
| Zeus | King of the gods |
| Hera | Goddess of the sky and wife of Zeus |
| Apollo | God of strength, sun, and arts |
| Artemis | Goddess of the hunt and moon |
| Hermes | Messenger of the gods and god of rain/travelers |
| Athena | Goddess of wisdom and lightning |
| Ares | God of war and storms |
| Aphrodite | Goddess of love and beauty |
| Hephaestus | God of fire |
| Poseidon | God of the sea |
| Demeter | Goddess of agriculture and the earth |
| Vesta | Goddess of the hearth |
These interwoven factors played a vital role in Greek civilization generally and in art specifically, as evidenced by the artistic landmarks across all historical periods.
First: Greek Architecture
Architecture derives its modern name from the Latin word Architectura, mentioned by the Roman engineer Vitruvius, which itself originates from the Greek word ΑΡΧΙΤΕΚΤΩΝ (Architekton). Architecture is the most celebrated branch of Greek art; however, it can sometimes be difficult to fully comprehend because most buildings have perished, and structures are best understood in relation to surrounding buildings and their functional uses. Our capacity to envision a specific temple in its prime is limited, as the temple once radiated with ancient life but today stands isolated in nature, devoid of surrounding structures, or as a theater lacking its stage, actors, or audience.
Architecture in the Minoan Civilization in Crete
Early Minoan Period (Pre-Palatial Period, 3000–2000 BC): Information regarding the architecture of this era remains limited, though we know there were spacious houses whose floors and walls were painted red. As for tombs, every small village possessed circular tombs approximately 13 meters in diameter, covered with wooden roofs and inward-sloping walls.
Middle and Late Minoan Period ("Palatial Period", 2000–1400 BC): Toward the end of the Minoan period, the city of Knossos emerged as one of the most prominent Cretan cities, leaving behind distinguished civilization models. The most significant extant archaeological site is the Palace at Knossos, an exemplar of Cretan royal palaces. Similar sites were discovered in Phaistos and Malia, though Knossos was the largest. The palace generally consists of a large central courtyard surrounded on all sides by palace buildings. It contains multi-purpose rooms, including the Royal Quarter in the western section with grand halls, a large chamber known as the Throne Room, religious cult spaces, and lustral basins. Storage rooms containing ceramic storage jars (pithoi) used for preserving oil and grain were also uncovered, representing the economic wing of the palace.
The Palace of Knossos is known to have been a massive structure consisting of three or four stories connected by stone staircases, accommodating the royal retinue and high-ranking state officials. The palace—specifically the royal wing—likely served as the seat of government. Thus, it was equipped with all necessities of ancient Cretan life: the northern portion housed the religious temple with assembly halls for public religious practice, while workshops for manufacturing royal items, including jewelry, pottery, and precious metalwork for the ruling class, were found in the eastern wing. Archaeological finds from Knossos excavations confirm the exceptional skill in manufacturing high-level jewelry, ornaments, and metalwork inlaid with precious stones.
The Palace of Knossos serves as an important architectural model illustrating ancient Greek civilization. Greek and Cretan architectural prowess reached an advanced level, largely due to continuous contact with Eastern civilizations in Egypt and Phoenician cities. Cretans excelled in architecture, creating wall decorations and frescoes that matched their architectural advancements. The art of fresco was intimately linked to the Cretans, who adorned the chambers of the Great Palace at Knossos with pictorial scenes depicting their culture and heritage. In the Athens Museum, some of these panels depict religious celebrations, athletic games, and Cretan symbols such as double axes, stone vessels, and saffron plants. The "Saffron Gatherer" panel is one of the most important pictorial works, executed in two-dimensional profile with flexible bodies and dynamic movement, reflecting the advancement of naturalistic imitation in Minoan art. Wall painting in Crete also addressed religious life, portraying female worshippers or priestesses in religious attire and poses, reflecting the religious devotion of the Cretan people across the Early, Middle, and Late Minoan periods.
Mycenaean Civilization
In the 2nd millennium BC, Indo-European tribes arrived from the north and settled in the Peloponnese at Mycenae, founding the Helladic civilization. In the 16th century BC, Mycenae experienced its golden age; the city was excavated by the German scholar Heinrich Schliemann between 1874 and 1878. The remains of Mycenae represent Early Helladic civilization. Some scholars separate the Minoan civilization from Mycenaean civilization, regarding the Mycenaeans as the true ancestors of the Greeks, while viewing the Minoan phase as an era of synthesis and influence from Eastern cultures. Thus, Mycenaean civilization is considered the true emergence of the Greek identity, with Mycenae becoming a powerful state dominating surrounding regions, including Crete around 1400 BC.
Minoan art and architecture exerted a profound influence on Mycenaean art and architecture. Architecturally, Mycenaean palace layouts resembled those at Knossos, though Mycenaeans retained distinct architectural features suited to their geography and social environment. An important example of Mycenaean palace architecture is the Palace at Pylos (c. 1400–1300 BC), consisting of a Propylon (entrance hall) leading to an open Court, which leads to a roofed Porch, leading to a rectangular Vestibule, which opens into the Throne Room. The Throne Room features four columns surrounding a central hearth for sacred fire during royal rituals.
Mycenaean palaces were smaller in scale than the Palace of Knossos, as evidenced in Mycenae, Tiryns, and Pylos, relying on long central axes suited to the mountainous terrain. Among the architectural remains discovered in Mycenae is funerary architecture, represented by two types of tombs. Shaft Graves: Family tombs featuring deep excavated shafts lined with pottery and stone, where the deceased were buried individually or in groups of up to six individuals. The shaft was covered with a stone slab inscribed with the names of the deceased. In most Mycenaean shaft graves, the deceased were buried with personal belongings, including pottery vessels, jewelry, and swords. Some graves used wooden planks or tree trunks covered with stone slabs as tombstones.
Circular Tombs (Tholos): Representing local Mycenaean architecture, particularly in the execution of circular tomb walls. The most prominent example is the Treasury of Atreus, a structure where valuable gold artifacts were discovered, including a gold mask known as the "Mask of Agamemnon." The tomb's architectural plan begins with a 36-meter-long inclined passageway (dromos) leading to the front facade, constructed of red and green colored marble. The main entrance features two decorated columns surmounted by a triangular pediment framed by two smaller upper columns. These columns represent early precursors of the archaic Doric column, featuring a carved shaft resting on a three-stepped base, topped by an oval capital decorated underneath with botanical motifs. This entrance leads into a circular chamber 15 meters in diameter, covered by a corbelled dome—a Greek technique where stone layers project inward without mortar or internal pillars until meeting at the apex. This demonstrates the localized architectural style of Mycenae, comparable to the triangular pediment entrance at the Palace of Tiryns, utilizing contemporary engineering principles tailored to rock formations and site geography to produce an architectural style reflecting its unique environment and character.
Greek Architectural Style
Greek architecture, like architecture in any era, relied on various building materials. In modern times, steel, concrete, bricks, and glass are used, whereas Roman construction depended on structural volume and column load capacity. Greek architecture was initially uninventive; stones were placed atop one another while observing basic structural proportions, with the primary focus being exterior appearance rather than internal layout design. The Greeks in their early history had not yet mastered building materials, and the Mycenaean era is known primarily through circular Tholos tombs and the Lion Gate.
Early period walls were constructed of stone laid in specific patterns, while foundations consisted of sun-dried bricks rather than burnt bricks. Bricks had to be protected from moisture, with sizes ranging between 60 cm and 40 cm. Required stone was quarried from nearby mountains; Greek limestone was notably easy to shape. Transporting stone was extremely difficult, especially for monumental structures. Marble was scarce and expensive; thus, stone was often coated with a thin layer of stucco plaster. Greece was rich in marble quarries, with types categorized by composition: Hymettus Marble (quarried near Mount Hymettus in Attica, considered inferior due to large crystals and a bluish tint), Pentelicos Marble (from Mount Pentelicos in Attica, pure white with fine-grained particles), and Paros Marble (from the island of Paros, brilliant white, glossy, and translucent when exposed to light). Marble was naturally used in important buildings, especially religious temples. It was cut into square blocks placed side by side and joined using iron or bronze clamps in the Ashlar masonry technique. The use of arches and vaulted domes was extremely rare in Greece, with only a few examples appearing during the Classical period.
Earliest Sources of Stone Architecture
Greek architecture was influenced by Near Eastern impulses in the 8th and 7th centuries BC. Initially developing hesitantly, Greek architecture gradually formed its distinct identity. Near Eastern buildings were constructed of sun-dried mud brick, except for stone foundations and door frames. In comparison with northern Syria, new influences in Greek art are evident in the use of relief sculpture on building facades, most notably the frieze used on upper sections of Assyrian palaces. From Egypt—where buildings were entirely constructed of stone—the Greeks learned the aesthetic value and forms of stone columns, implementing a new concept of columns. On the island of Crete, a small stone relief frieze from the 8th century BC exists. This frieze served as the early precursor to Ionic friezes. Crete also yielded a stone column capital shaped like a palm leaf (Palmette), a form prevalent in Egypt. These examples represent the earliest beginnings of stone architecture in Greece. Egypt deserves credit for introducing stone architecture to Greece, which the Greeks subsequently refined and developed, turning architecture into a major field of advanced achievement.
First Achievements of Greek Stone Architecture
The late 7th century BC was a fertile period for Greek architecture, as Greek craftsmen evaluated and modified the theories and techniques developed by their 8th-century predecessors. Two primary challenges existed: mastering building materials and resolving the conflict between spatial constraints and building scale, and adapting superior materials such as alabaster, marble, and limestone. Consequently, laying sturdy foundations became easier, replacing wood, sun-dried brick, and mud. Stone columns replaced wooden posts.
Orders of Columns: The Doric Order
The column is the fundamental element in Greek architecture. Its form varies according to its components from base to entablature. Mixing column styles was rare, allowing researchers to reconstruct a building's design from surviving column fragments. A primary characteristic of the Doric column is that it lacks a base, standing directly on the floor (Stylobate, the top step of the Crepidoma). The column shaft contains 20 vertical concave flutes (Fluting) separated by sharp edges, with two or three carved rings (annulets) at the top of the shaft.
The Doric capital consists of two parts: a rounded cushion (Echinus) and a square slab (Abacus). Resting atop the capitals is the architrave, above which sits the frieze. The frieze consists of alternating vertical triple-grooved blocks called Triglyphs and flat panels called Metopes, which were painted or carved with bas-reliefs. Between the architrave and frieze is a flat molding called the Taenia, beneath which small projections called Regulae feature six dropped pegs called Guttae. Above each triglyph, a small projecting block called the Geison extends from the cornice, with a small plate called a Mutule attached to its underside, also adorned with six Guttae. Above this rests the sloping roof molding (Sima), typically decorated with animal heads, such as lions, to serve as waterspouts.
Module Key Takeaways
- Foundations of Greek Art: Greek arts and architecture were shaped by geographical, geological, social, historical, and religious factors unique to the Greek peninsula, with marble quarries and a moderate climate playing pivotal roles.
- Minoan and Mycenaean Legacy: The Palace at Knossos and Mycenaean innovations like the Megaron and Tholos tombs established architectural prototypes that directly influenced the development of classical Greek temple design.
- The Doric Order: Defined by its baseless column, fluted shaft, and the alternating triglyph-metope frieze, the Doric order became a foundational and enduring element of Greek stone architecture.