Ancient Greek sculpture

{{Short description|none}} [[File:Cavalcade south frieze Parthenon BM.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Riders from the [[Parthenon Frieze]], around 440 BC, key examples of [[Classical Greek sculpture]]]]  The [[sculpture]] of [[ancient Greece]] is the main surviving type of fine [[ancient Greek art]] as, with the exception of painted [[ancient Greek pottery]], almost no [[ancient Greek painting]] survives. Modern scholarship identifies three major stages in [[monumental sculpture]] in [[bronze]] and stone: [[Archaic Greek sculpture]] (from about 650 to 480 BC), [[Classical Greek sculpture|Classical]] (480–323 BC) and [[Hellenistic sculpture|Hellenistic]] thereafter. At all periods there were great numbers of [[Greek terracotta figurines]] and small sculptures in metal and other materials. [[File:NAMA Jockey Artémision.jpg|thumb|[[Jockey of Artemision]]. Late Hellenistic bronze statue of a mounted jockey, [[National Archaeological Museum, Athens]].]]

The Greeks decided very early on that the human form was the most important subject for artistic endeavour.<ref>Cook, 19</ref> Since they pictured their gods as having human form, there was little distinction between the sacred and the secular in art—the human body was both secular and sacred. A male [[Heroic nudity|nude]] of [[Apollo]] or [[Heracles]] shows only slight differences in treatment from a sculpture of that year's Olympic boxing champion. The statue (originally single, but by the [[Hellenistic period]] often in groups) was the dominant form, although [[relief]]s, often so "high" that they were almost free-standing, were also important.

Bronze was the most prestigious material, but is the least common to survive, as it was always expensive and generally recycled.

==Materials== [[File:MarbleUSGOV.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.9|Natural [[marble]]]] By the [[Classical Greece|Classical period]], roughly the 5th and 4th centuries BC, monumental sculpture was composed almost entirely of [[marble]] or [[bronze]], with cast bronze becoming the favoured medium for major works by the early 5th century BC. Many pieces of sculpture now known only in marble copies made for the Roman market had been originally made in bronze. The territories of ancient Greece, except for [[Sicily]] and southern Italy, contained abundant supplies of fine marble, with [[Pentelic marble|Pentelic]] and [[Parian marble]] the most highly prized. The ores for bronze were also relatively easy to obtain.<ref>Cook, 74–75</ref> Smaller works were in a great variety of materials, many of them precious, but there was also a very large production of [[terracotta]] figurines. [[File:Athena workshop sculptor Staatliche Antikensammlungen 2650.jpg|thumb|[[Athena]] in the workshop of a sculptor working on a marble horse, [[Attica|Attic]] red-figure [[Kylix (drinking cup)|kylix]], 480 BC, [[Staatliche Antikensammlungen]] (Inv. 2650)]]

Both marble and bronze are relatively easy to form and very durable. No doubt there were also traditions of sculpture in wood, as in most ancient cultures, but we know very little of them apart from [[acrolith]]ic sculptures, usually large, in which the head and exposed flesh parts were carved in marble but the clothed parts in wood. Bronze always had a significant scrap value, so that very few original bronzes have survived. But in recent years [[marine archaeology]] or [[trawling]] have added a few spectacular finds, such as the [[Artemision Bronze]] and [[Riace bronzes]], which have significantly extended modern understanding of ancient bronze art. Many copies from the later Roman period are marble versions of works whose originals had been cast in bronze. In the Archaic period ordinary [[limestone]] was used for sculpture, but thereafter (except in areas of the Italian peninsula with no local marble) only for [[architectural sculpture]] and decoration. Plaster or [[stucco]] was sometimes used, only for the hair.<ref>Cook, 74–76</ref>

[[Chryselephantine]] sculptures, used for temple [[cult image]]s and luxury works, used [[gold]] (most often in [[gold leaf|leaf form]]) and [[ivory]] for all of the figure or for faces and hands. Probably some included gems and other materials, but these were much less common, and only fragments have survived.

Many statues were given jewellery, as can be seen from the holes for attaching it, and held weapons or other objects in different materials.<ref>Cook, 75–76</ref> [[File:Arte greca, giovane vittorioso, 300-100 ac. 02.JPG|thumb|upright|''The [[Victorious Youth]]'' ({{Circa|310 BC}}), a remarkably well-preserved bronze statue of a Greek athlete in [[contrapposto]] pose]]

==Painting of sculpture== [[File:NAMABG-Aphaia Trojan Archer 3.JPG|thumb|left|While the pigments originally present on most sculptures from the era have worn away, Greek sculptures were originally painted.<ref name="Brinkmann2008"/><ref name="Gurewitsch2006"/><ref name="Prisco2017"/> This experimental colour restoration shows what a statue of a Trojan archer from the [[Temple of Aphaia]], [[Aegina]] may have originally looked like.<ref name="Gurewitsch2006"/>]]

Ancient Greek sculptures were originally painted in multiple colours;<ref name="Brinkmann2008">{{cite book|last=Brinkmann|first=Vinzenz|author-link=Vinzenz Brinkmann|date=2008|chapter=The Polychromy of Ancient Greek Sculpture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2gQesgryr8oC&q=ancient+Greek+sculptures+were+actually+brightly+painted|title=The Color of Life: Polychromy in Sculpture from Antiquity to the Present|editor1-last=Panzanelli|editor1-first=Roberta|editor2-last=Schmidt|editor2-first=Eike D.|editor3-last=Lapatin|editor3-first=Kenneth|location=Los Angeles, California|publisher=The J. Paul Getty Museum and the Getty Research Institute|isbn=978-0-89-236-918-8|pages=18–39}}</ref><ref name="Gurewitsch2006">{{cite web|last1=Gurewitsch|first1=Matthew|date=July 2008|title=True Colors: Archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann insists his eye-popping reproductions of ancient Greek sculptures are right on target|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/true-colors-17888/|website=Smithsonian.com|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|access-date=15 May 2018}}</ref><ref name="Prisco2017">{{cite news|last1=Prisco|first1=Jacopo|title='Gods in Color' returns antiquities to their original, colorful grandeur|url=https://www.cnn.com/style/article/gods-in-color-ancient-world-polychromy/index.html|access-date=15 May 2018|work=CNN style|agency=Cable News Network|publisher=CNN|date=30 November 2017}}</ref> they appear colourless today only because the original pigments have deteriorated.<ref name="Brinkmann2008"/><ref name="Gurewitsch2006"/> References to painted sculptures are found in classical literature,<ref name="Brinkmann2008"/><ref name="Gurewitsch2006"/> including in [[Euripides]]'s ''[[Helen (play)|Helen]],'' in which the [[Helen of Troy|eponymous character]] laments, "If only I could shed my beauty and assume an uglier aspect / The way you would wipe colour off a statue."<ref name="Gurewitsch2006"/> Some well-preserved statues still bear traces of pigments<ref name="Brinkmann2008"/> and archaeologists can reconstruct what they may have originally looked like.<ref name="Brinkmann2008"/><ref name="Gurewitsch2006"/><ref name="Prisco2017"/>

==Development of Greek sculptures==

===Geometric=== It is commonly thought that the earliest incarnation of Greek sculpture was in the form of wooden or ivory [[Cult image|cult statues]], first described by [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] as [[Xoanon|xoana]].<ref>The term xoanon and the ascriptions are both highly problematic. A.A. Donohue's ''Xoana and the origins of Greek sculpture'', 1988, details how the term had a variety of meanings in the ancient world not necessarily to do with the cult objects</ref> No such statues survive, and the descriptions of them are vague, despite the fact that they were probably objects of [[veneration]] for hundreds of years. The first piece of Greek statuary to be reassembled is probably the Lefkandi Centaur, a [[terracotta]] sculpture found on the island of Euboea, dated {{circa|920 BC}}. The statue was constructed in parts, before being dismembered and buried in two separate graves. The centaur has an intentional mark on its knee, which has led researchers to postulate<ref>[http://www.siu.edu/~dfll/classics/Civ2004/guides/webguides/Dark/Centaur.html] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050227170147/http://www.siu.edu/~dfll/classics/Civ2004/guides/webguides/Dark/Centaur.html|date=February 27, 2005}}</ref> that the statue might portray [[Cheiron]], presumably kneeling wounded from [[Herakles]]' arrow. If so, it would be the earliest known depiction of myth in the history of Greek sculpture.

The forms from the [[Geometric period]] ({{circa|900 to 700 BC}}) were chiefly terracotta [[figurine]]s, [[bronze]]s, and [[ivory|ivories]]. The bronzes are chiefly tripod [[cauldron]]s, and freestanding figures or groups. Such bronzes were made using the lost-wax technique probably introduced from Syria, and are almost entirely votive offerings left at the Hellenistic [[civilization]] [[Panhellenic sanctuary|Panhellenic sanctuaries]] of [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]], [[Delos]], and [[Delphi]], though these were likely manufactured elsewhere, as a number of local styles may be identified by finds from [[Athens]], [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]], and [[Sparta]]. Typical works of the era include the Karditsa warrior (Athens Br. 12831) and the many examples of the [[Equestrian statue|equestrian]] statuette (for example, NY Met. 21.88.24 [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/grge/hod_21.88.24.htm online]). The repertory of this bronze work is not confined to standing men and horses, however, as vase paintings of the time also depict imagery of stags, birds, beetles, hares, griffins and lions.

There are no [[inscriptions]] on early-to-middle geometric sculpture, until the appearance of the [[Mantiklos "Apollo"]] (Boston 03.997) of the early 7th century BC found in Thebes. The figure is that of a standing man with a pseudo-[[Orientalizing Period|daedalic]] form, underneath which lies the [[hexameter]] inscription reading "Mantiklos offered me as a tithe to Apollo of the silver bow; do you, Phoibos [Apollo], give some pleasing favour in return".<ref>Μαντικλος μ' ανεθεκε ϝεκαβολοι αργυροτοχσοι τας {δ}δε|κατας· τυ δε Φοιβε διδοι χαριϝετταν αμοιϝ[αν]," transliterated as "Mantiklos m’ anetheke wekaboloi argyrotokhsoi tas dekatas; tu de Phoibe didoi khariwettan amoiw[an]"</ref> Apart from the novelty of recording its own purpose, this sculpture adapts the formulae of [[oriental]] bronzes, as seen in the shorter more triangular face and slightly advancing left leg. This is sometimes seen as anticipating the greater expressive freedom of the 7th century BC and, as such, the Mantiklos figure is referred to in some quarters as proto-Daedalic.

===Archaic=== {{Further|Kouros}}{{Main|Archaic Greek Sculpture}} [[File:Ac.kleobisandbiton.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Kleobis and Biton]], ''kouroi'' of the Archaic period, {{Circa|580 BC}}. [[Delphi Archaeological Museum]].]] [[File:Testa di uomo barbato da una statua funebre o votiva, da atene o egina, 530-540 ac ca.JPG|thumb|upright|The [[Sabouroff head]], an important example of Late Archaic Greek marble sculpture, and a precursor of true [[portrait]]ure, {{Circa|550}}-525 BCE.<ref name="TAM">{{cite journal |last1=CAHN |first1=HERBERT A. |last2=GERIN |first2=DOMINIQUE |title=Themistocles at Magnesia |journal=The Numismatic Chronicle |volume=148 |date=1988 |pages=20 & Plate 3 |jstor=42668124 }}</ref>]]

Inspired by the monumental stone [[Art of ancient Egypt|sculpture of ancient Egypt]]<ref>The debt of archaic Greek sculpture to Egyptian canons was recognized in Antiquity: see [[Diodorus Siculus]], i.98.5–9.</ref> and [[Mesopotamia]], the Greeks began again to carve in stone. Free-standing figures share the solidity and frontal stance characteristic of Eastern models, but their forms are more dynamic than those of Egyptian sculpture, as for example the [[Lady of Auxerre]] and Torso of Hera (Early Archaic period, {{circa|660–580 BC}}, both in the Louvre, Paris). After about 575 BC, figures such as these, both male and female, began wearing the so-called [[archaic smile]]. This expression, which has no specific appropriateness to the person or situation depicted, may have been a device to give the figures a distinctive human characteristic.

Three types of figures prevailed—the standing nude male youth ([[kouros]], plural kouroi), the standing draped girl ([[Kore (sculpture)|kore]], plural korai), and the seated woman. All emphasize and generalize the essential features of the human figure and show an increasingly accurate comprehension of human anatomy. The youths were either sepulchral or votive statues. Examples are Apollo (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), an early work; the [[Strangford Apollo]] from [[Anafi]] (British Museum), a much later work; and the Anavyssos Kouros ([[National Archaeological Museum of Athens]]). More of the musculature and skeletal structure is visible in this statue than in earlier works. The standing, draped girls have a wide range of expression, as in the sculptures in the [[Acropolis Museum of Athens]]. Their drapery is carved and painted with the delicacy and meticulousness common in the details of sculpture of this period.

The Greeks thus decided very early on that the human form was the most important subject for artistic endeavour. Seeing their gods as having human form, there was no distinction between the sacred and the secular in art—the human body was both secular and sacred. A male nude without any attachments such as a bow or a club, could just as easily be [[Apollo]] or [[Heracles]] as that year's Olympic boxing champion. In the Archaic Period, the most important sculptural form was the kouros (See for example [[Kleobis and Biton|Biton and Kleobis]]). The kore was also common; Greek art did not present female nudity (unless the intention was pornographic) until the 4th century BC, although the development of techniques to represent drapery is obviously important.

As with pottery, the Greeks did not produce sculpture merely for artistic display. Statues were commissioned either by aristocratic individuals or by the state, and used for public memorials, as offerings to temples, [[oracle]]s and sanctuaries (as is frequently shown by inscriptions on the statues), or as markers for graves. Statues in the Archaic period were not all intended to represent specific individuals. They were depictions of an ideal—beauty, piety, honor or sacrifice. These were always depictions of young men, ranging in age from adolescence to early maturity, even when placed on the graves of (presumably) elderly citizens. ''Kouroi'' were all stylistically similar. Graduations in the social stature of the person commissioning the statue were indicated by size rather than artistic innovations.

<gallery class="center" widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="4"> Image:KAMA Kouros Porte Sacrée.jpg|Dipylon Kouros, {{Circa|600 BC}}, Athens, [[Kerameikos]] Museum. Image:ACMA Moschophoros.jpg|The [[Moschophoros]] or calf-bearer, {{Circa|570 BC}}, Athens, [[Acropolis Museum]]. Image:Korai 01.JPG|[[Phrasikleia Kore]], {{Circa|550 BC}}, Athens, [[National Archaeological Museum of Athens]]. Image:ACMA 679 Kore 1.JPG|[[Peplos Kore]], {{Circa|530 BC}}, Athens, [[Acropolis Museum]]. Image:006MAD Frieze.jpg|Frieze of the [[Siphnian Treasury]], [[Delphi]], depicting a [[Gigantomachy]], {{Circa|525 BC}}, [[Delphi Archaeological Museum]]. Image:Euthydikos Kore.JPG|Euthydikos Kore. {{Circa|490 BC}}, Athens, authorized replica, original in [[National Archaeological Museum of Athens]] File:Janiform aryballos Louvre CA987.jpg|An [[Ethiopia]]n's head and female head, with a [[kalos inscription]]. Attic Greek [[janiform]] [[red-figure]] [[aryballos]], {{Circa|520}}–510 BC. </gallery>

===Classical=== {{Further|Classical Greek sculpture|Severe style}} [[File:Reggio calabria museo nazionale bronzi di riace.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Riace bronzes]], examples of proto classic bronze sculpture, [[Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia]], [[Reggio Calabria]]]] [[File:Netuno19b.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Artemision Bronze]], thought to be either [[Poseidon]] or [[Zeus]], c. 460 BC, [[National Archaeological Museum, Athens|National Archaeological Museum]], [[Athens]]. Found by fishermen off the coast of [[Artemisium|Cape Artemisium]] in 1928. The figure is more than 2 m in height.]]

The Classical period saw a revolution of Greek sculpture, sometimes associated by historians with the popular culture surrounding the introduction of [[Athenian democracy|democracy]] and the end of the aristocratic culture associated with the ''kouroi''. The Classical period saw changes in the style and function of sculpture, along with a dramatic increase in the technical skill of Greek sculptors in depicting realistic human forms. Poses also became more naturalistic, notably during the beginning of the period. This is embodied in works such as the ''[[Kritios Boy]]'' (480 BC), sculpted with the earliest known use of ''[[contrapposto]]'' ('counterpose'), and the ''[[Charioteer of Delphi]]'' (474 BC), which demonstrates a transition to more naturalistic sculpture. From about 500 BC, Greek statues began increasingly to depict real people, as opposed to vague interpretations of myth or entirely fictional [[Votive offering|votive statues]], although the style in which they were represented had not yet developed into a realistic form of portraiture. The statues of [[Harmodius and Aristogeiton (sculpture)|Harmodius and Aristogeiton]], set up in Athens mark the overthrow of the aristocratic [[tyrant|tyranny]], and have been said to be the first public monuments to show actual individuals.

The Classical Period also saw an increase in the use of statues and sculptures as [[architectural sculpture|decorations of buildings]]. The characteristic temples of the Classical era, such as the [[Parthenon]] in Athens, and the [[Temple of Zeus, Olympia|Temple of Zeus]] at Olympia, used relief sculpture for decorative [[frieze]]s, and [[pedimental sculpture]] in the round to fill the triangular fields of the [[pediment]]s. The difficult aesthetic and technical challenge stimulated much in the way of sculptural innovation. Most of these works survive only in fragments, for example the [[Elgin Marbles|Parthenon Marbles]], roughly half of which are in the [[British Museum]].

[[Funerary art|Funeral statuary]] evolved during this period from the rigid and impersonal kouros of the Archaic period to the highly personal family groups of the Classical period. These monuments are commonly found in the suburbs of Athens, which in ancient times were cemeteries on the outskirts of the city. Although some of them depict "ideal" types—the mourning mother, the dutiful son—they increasingly depicted real people, typically showing the departed taking his dignified leave from his family. This is a notable increase in the level of emotion relative to the Archaic and Geometrical eras.

Another notable change is the rise of giving artistic credit to sculptors. The entirety of information known about sculpture in the Archaic and Geometrical periods are centred upon the works themselves, and seldom, if ever, on the sculptors. Examples include [[Phidias]], known to have overseen the design and building of the [[Parthenon]], and [[Praxiteles]], whose nude female sculptures were the first to be considered artistically respectable. Praxiteles' [[Aphrodite of Knidos]], which survives in copies, was praised by [[Pliny the Elder]].

[[Lysistratus]] is said to have been the first to use plaster moulds taken from living people to produce [[Lost-wax casting|lost-wax]] portraits, and to have also developed a technique of casting from existing statues. He came from a family of sculptors and his brother, [[Lysippos]] of [[Sicyon]], is supposed to have produced fifteen hundred statues in his career.<ref>Gagarin, 403</ref>

The [[Statue of Zeus at Olympia]] and the [[Statue of Athena Parthenos]] (both [[chryselephantine]] and executed by Phidias or under his direction, and considered to be the greatest of the Classical Sculptures), are lost, although smaller copies (in other materials) and good descriptions of both still exist. Their size and magnificence prompted rivals to seize them in the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] period, and both were removed to [[Constantinople]], where they were later destroyed.

<gallery class="center" widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="4"> Image:009MA Kritios.jpg|''[[Kritios Boy]]''. Marble, {{Circa|480 BC}}. ''Acropolis Museum'', Athens. Image:Diadoumenos-Atenas.jpg|Copy of [[Polykleitos|Polyclitus]]' [[Diadumenos]], [[National Archaeological Museum, Athens]]. Image:Aphrodite Braschi Glyptothek Munich 258.jpg|So-called Venus Braschi by [[Praxiteles]], type of the [[Aphrodite of Cnidus|Knidian Aphrodite]], Munich [[Glyptothek]]. File:Stele Odou Athinas, National Archaeological Museum of Athens, 2006.jpg|Family group on a grave marker from Athens, National Archaeological Museum, Athens Image:NAMA X15118 Marathon Boy 3.JPG|The [[Marathon Youth]], 4th century BC bronze statue, possibly by [[Praxiteles]], [[National Archaeological Museum, Athens]]. Image:0002MAN-Hermes.jpg|[[Atalante Hermes]], possibly by [[Lysippos]], [[National Archaeological Museum, Athens]]. File:3326 - Athens - Stoà of Attalus Museum - Head of Dyonisos - Photo by Giovanni Dall'Orto, Nov 9 2009.jpg|[[Terracotta]] vase in the shape of [[Dionysus]]' head, {{circa|410 BC}}; on display in the [[Ancient Agora Museum]] in [[Athens]], housed in the [[Stoa of Attalus]] File:Atuell en forma d'Afrodita en una petxina, Àtica, necròpolis de Fanagoria, pinínsula de Taman. Primer quart del segle IV aC, ceràmica.JPG|Pottery vessel, [[Aphrodite]] inside a shell; from [[Attica]], [[Classical Greece]], discovered in the [[Phanagoria]] cemetery, [[Taman Peninsula]] ([[Bosporan Kingdom]], [[southern Russia]]), early 4th century BC, [[Hermitage Museum]], [[Saint Petersburg]]. Grave relief of Dexileos, son of Lysanias, of Thorikos (Ca. 390 BC) (4454389225).jpg|Athenian cavalryman Dexileos fighting a naked hoplite in the [[Corinthian War]].<ref name="GH">{{cite book |last1=Hutchinson |first1=Godfrey |title=Sparta: Unfit for Empire |date=2014 |publisher=Frontline Books |isbn=9781848322226 |page=43 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hPm4BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA43 |language=en}}</ref> Dexileos was killed in action near [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]] in the summer of 394 BC, probably in the [[Battle of Nemea]],<ref name="GH"/> or in a proximate engagement.<ref>{{cite web |title=IGII2 6217 Epitaph of Dexileos, cavalryman killed in Corinthian war (394 BC) |url=https://www.atticinscriptions.com/inscription/IGII2/6217 |website=www.atticinscriptions.com |language=en}}</ref> [[Grave Stele of Dexileos]], 394-393 BC. File:Dionysus holding an egg and a cock, terracotta from Tanagra, Greece, c. 350 BC.jpg|Dionysus holding an egg and a cock, terracotta from [[Tanagra]], Greece, c. 350 BC </gallery>

===Hellenistic=== [[Image:Laocoön and his sons group.jpg|thumb|''[[Laocoön and His Sons]]'' (Late Hellenistic), [[Vatican Museum]]]] [[File:Nereus,_Doris,_Okeanos_Pergamonaltar.JPG|thumb|The Hellenistic [[Pergamon Altar]]: l to r [[Nereus]], [[Doris (Oceanid)|Doris]], a [[Giants (Greek mythology)|Giant]], [[Oceanus]]]] {{Main|Hellenistic sculpture|Phidias}}

The transition from the Classical to the Hellenistic period occurred during the 4th century BC. Greek art became increasingly diverse, influenced by the cultures of the peoples drawn into the Greek orbit, by the conquests of [[Alexander the Great]] (336 to 323 BC). In the view of some art historians, this is described as a decline in quality and originality; however, individuals of the time may not have shared this outlook. Many sculptures previously considered classical masterpieces are now known to be of the Hellenistic age. The technical ability of the Hellenistic sculptors are clearly in evidence in such major works as the ''[[Winged Victory of Samothrace]]'', and the [[Pergamon Altar]]. New centres of Greek culture, particularly in sculpture, developed in [[Alexandria]], [[Antioch]], [[Pergamum]], and other cities. By the 2nd century BC, the rising power of [[Ancient Rome|Rome]] had also absorbed much of the Greek tradition—and an increasing proportion of its products as well.

During this period, sculpture again experienced a shift towards increasing naturalism. Common people, women, children, animals, and domestic scenes became acceptable subjects for sculpture, which was commissioned by wealthy families for the adornment of their homes and gardens. Realistic figures of men and women of all ages were produced, and sculptors no longer felt obliged to depict people as ideals of beauty or physical perfection. At the same time, new Hellenistic cities springing up in [[Egypt]], [[Syria]], and [[Anatolia]] required statues depicting the gods and heroes of Greece for their temples and public places. This made sculpture, like pottery, an industry, with the consequent standardisation and (some) lowering of quality. For these reasons, quite a few more Hellenistic statues survive to the present than those of the Classical period.

Alongside the natural shift towards naturalism, there was a shift in expression of the sculptures as well. Sculptures began expressing more power and energy during this time period. An easy way to see the shift in expressions during the Hellenistic period would be to compare it to the sculptures of the Classical period. The classical period had sculptures such as the ''[[Charioteer of Delphi]]'' expressing humility. The sculptures of the Hellenistic period however saw greater expressions of power and energy as demonstrated in the [[Jockey of Artemision]].<ref>Stele, R. Web. 24 November 2013. <http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Sculpture/></ref>

Some of the best known Hellenistic sculptures are the Winged Victory of Samothrace (2nd or 1st century BC), the statue of [[Aphrodite]] from the island of [[Melos]] known as the ''[[Venus de Milo]]'' (mid-2nd century BC), the ''[[Dying Gaul]]'' (about 230 BC), and the monumental group ''[[Laocoön and His Sons]]'' (late 1st century BC). All these statues depict Classical themes, but their treatment is far more sensuous and emotional than the austere taste of the Classical period would have allowed or its technical skills permitted. Hellenistic sculpture was also marked by an increase in scale, which culminated in the [[Colossus of Rhodes]] (late 3rd century), thought to have been roughly the same size as the [[Statue of Liberty]]. The combined effect of earthquakes and looting have destroyed this as well as any other very large works of this period that might have existed.

Discoveries made since the end of the 19th century surrounding the (now submerged) [[ancient Egypt]]ian city of [[Alexandria|Heracleum]] include a 4th-century BC depiction of [[Isis]]. The depiction is unusually sensual for depictions of the Egyptian goddess, as well as being uncharacteristically detailed and feminine, marking a combination of Egyptian and Hellenistic forms around the time of Alexander the Great's conquest of Egypt.

Following the conquests of Alexander the Great, Greek culture spread as far as India, as revealed by the excavations of [[Ai-Khanoum]] in eastern Afghanistan, and the civilization of the [[Greco-Bactrians]] and the [[Indo-Greeks]]. [[Greco-Buddhist art]] represented a syncretism between Greek art and the visual expression of Buddhism. Well south of thwe main areas of this, in [[History of Goa#The Satavahanas (c. 2nd century BCE to 2nd CE)|Goa]], India, [[Buddha]] statues in Greek styles were found. These are attributed to Greek converts to Buddhism, many of whom are known to have settled in Goa during Hellenistic times.<ref name=sattr>{{cite book|title=Gazetteer of the Union Territory Goa, Daman and Diu: district gazetteer, Volume 1|year=1979|publisher=Gazetteer Dept., Govt. of the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu, 1979|location=panajim Goa|pages=(see page 70)}}</ref><ref>(see Pius Melkandathil,''Martitime activities of Goa and the Indian ocean''.)</ref>

<gallery widths="200" heights="200"> File:Seleucid prince Massimo Inv1049.jpg|The ''[[Hellenistic Prince]]'', a bronze statue originally thought to be a [[Seleucid empire|Seleucid]], or [[Attalus II]] of [[Pergamon]], now considered a portrait of a Roman general, made by a Greek artist working in Rome in the 2nd century BC. File:Ac.nike.jpg|The [[Winged Victory of Samothrace]] (Hellenistic), [[The Louvre]], [[Paris]] File:0 Monument funéraire - Adonis mourant - Museu Gregoriano Etrusco.JPG|Sepulchral monument of a dying [[Adonis]], [[polychrome]] [[terracotta]], [[Etruscan art]] from [[Tuscana]], 250-100 BC File:Fragment of a marble relief depicting a Kore, 3rd century BC, from Panticapaeum, Taurica (Crimea) (12853680765).jpg|Fragment of a marble relief depicting a [[Kore (sculpture)|Kore]], 3rd century BC, from [[Panticapaeum]], [[Taurica]] ([[Crimea]]), [[Bosporan Kingdom]] File:Antikensammlung Berlin 487.JPG|Ancient Greek [[terracotta]] head of a young man, found in [[Tarent]], {{Circa|300 BC}}, Antikensammlung Berlin. File:British Museum - GR 1859-2-16-4 (Terracotta D194).jpg|Female head incorporating a vase ([[lekythos]]), {{Circa|325}}-300 BC. File:1415 - Archaeological Museum, Athens - Bronze portrait - Photo by Giovanni Dall'Orto, Nov 11 2009.jpg|[[Bronze sculpture|Bronze portrait]] of an unknown sitter, with inlaid eyes, Hellenistic period, 1st century BC, found in Lake Palestra of the Island of [[Delos]]. File:GandharaDonorFrieze2.JPG|[[Greco-Buddhist art|Greco-Buddhist]] frieze of [[Gandhara]] with devotees, holding [[Plantain (cooking)|plantain]] leaves, in Hellenistic style, inside [[Corinthian column]]s, 1st–2nd century CE. Buner, Swat, [[Pakistan]]. [[Victoria and Albert Museum]]. File:Arte greca, pietra tombale di donna con la sua assistente, 100 ac. circa.JPG|Gravestone of a woman with her child slave attending to her, {{Circa|100 BC}} (early period of [[Roman Greece]]) </gallery>

==Cult images== [[File:Athena Parthenos LeQuire.jpg|thumb|right|Reproduction of the ''[[Athena Parthenos]]'' statue at the original size in the [[Parthenon (Nashville)|Parthenon in Nashville]], Tennessee.]] All [[ancient Greek temple]]s and [[Roman temple]]s normally contained a [[cult image]] in the [[cella]]. Access to the cella varied, but apart from the priests, at the least some of the general worshippers could access the cella some of the time, though sacrifices to the deity were normally made on altars outside in the temple precinct ([[temenos]] in Greek). Some cult images were easy to see, and were what we would call major tourist attractions. The image normally took the form of a statue of the deity, originally less than life-size, then typically roughly life-size, but in some cases many times life-size, in marble or bronze, or in the specially prestigious form of a [[Chryselephantine sculpture|Chryselephantine statue]] using ivory plaques for the visible parts of the body and gold for the clothes, around a wooden framework. The most famous Greek cult images were of this type, including the [[Statue of Zeus at Olympia]], and [[Phidias]]'s [[Athena Parthenos]] in the [[Parthenon]] in Athens, both colossal statues now completely lost. Fragments of two chryselephantine statues from [[Delphi]] have been excavated. Cult images generally held or wore identifying attributes, which is one way of distinguishing them from the many other statues of deities in temples and other locations.

The [[acrolith]] was another composite form, this time a cost-saving one with a wooden body. A [[xoanon]] was a primitive and symbolic image, usually in wood, some perhaps comparable to the Hindu [[lingam]], although the oldest cult image from the Greek world, the [[Minoan art|Minoan]] [[Palaikastro Kouros]], is highly sophisticated. Many xoana were retained and revered for their antiquity in later periods; they were often light enough to be carried in processions. Many of the Greek statues well known from Roman marble copies were originally temple cult images, which in some cases, such as the [[Apollo Barberini]], can be credibly identified. A very few actual originals survive, for example the bronze [[Piraeus Athena]] (2.35 metres high, including a helmet).

In [[Greek mythology|Greek]] and [[Roman mythology]], a "[[Palladium (mythology)|palladium]]" was an image of great antiquity on which the safety of a city was said to depend, especially the wooden one that [[Odysseus]] and [[Diomedes]] stole from the [[citadel]] of [[Troy]] and which was later taken to [[Rome]] by [[Aeneas]]. (The Roman story was related in [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'' and other works.)

==Drapery== ===Female=== <gallery widths="200px" heights="200px"> Image:Diana of Gabies.jpg|{{Interlanguage link multi|Diane of Gabies|fr|3=Diane de Gabies}} dressing with a [[diplax]] Image:Athena Giustiniani Musei Capitolini MC278.jpg|[[Pallas (daughter of Triton)|Pallas]] over a peplos. Image:Woman chiton Musei Capitolini.jpg|[[Chiton (costume)|Chiton]] File:Egastinai frieze Louvre MR825.jpg|Weavers on the [[Parthenon Frieze]] </gallery>

===Male=== <gallery widths="200px" heights="200px"> Image:Hermes Altemps Inv8583.jpg|[[Chlamys]] File:Parthenon-frieze-bb.jpg|[[Parthenon Frieze]] </gallery>

==See also== * [[Meniskos]], a device for protecting statues placed outside

==Notes== {{reflist}}

==References== *[[Robert Manuel Cook|Cook, R.M.]], ''Greek Art'', Penguin, 1986 (reprint of 1972), {{ISBN|0140218661}} *Gagarin, Michael, [[Elaine Fantham]] (contributor), [https://books.google.com/books?id=lNV6-HsUppsC ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome, Volume 1''], Oxford University Press, 2010, {{ISBN|9780195170726}} *Stele, R. Web. 24 November 2013. http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Sculpture/

==Bibliography== *Boardman, John. ''Greek Sculpture: The Archaic Period: A Handbook''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978. *--. ''Greek Sculpture: The Classical Period: A Handbook''. London: Thames and Hudson, 1985. *--. ''Greek Sculpture: The Late Classical Period and Sculpture In Colonies and Overseas''. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1995. *Dafas, K. A., 2019. ''Greek Large-Scale Bronze Statuary: The Late Archaic and Classical Periods'', Institute of Classical Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, Monograph, BICS Supplement 138 (London). *Dillon, Sheila. ''Ancient Greek Portrait Sculpture: Contexts, Subjects, and Styles''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. *Furtwängler, Adolf. ''Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture: A Series of Essays On the History of Art''. London: W. Heinemann, 1895. *Jenkins, Ian. ''Greek Architecture and Its Sculpture''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2006. *Kousser, Rachel Meredith. ''The Afterlives of Greek Sculpture: Interaction, Transformation, and Destruction''. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017. *Marvin, Miranda. ''The Language of the Muses: The Dialogue Between Roman and Greek Sculpture''. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2008. *Mattusch, Carol C. ''Classical Bronzes: The Art and Craft of Greek and Roman Statuary''. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996. *Muskett, G. M. ''Greek Sculpture''. London: Bristol Classical Press, 2012. *Neer, Richard. ''The Emergence of the Classical Style In Greek Sculpture''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010. *Neils, Jenifer. ''The Parthenon Frieze''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. *Palagia, Olga. ''Greek Sculpture: Function, Materials, and Techniques In the Archaic and Classical Periods''. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006. *Palagia, Olga, and J. J. Pollitt. ''Personal Styles In Greek Sculpture''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. *Pollitt, J. J. ''The Ancient View of Greek Art: Criticism, History, and Terminology''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1974. *--. ''Art In the Hellenistic Age''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. *Ridgway, Brunilde Sismondo. ''The Archaic Style In Greek Sculpture''. 2nd ed. Chicago: Ares, 1993. *--. ''Fourth-Century Styles In Greek Sculpture''. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1997. *Smith, R. R. R. ''Hellenistic Royal Portraits''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988. *--. ''Hellenistic Sculpture: A Handbook''. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1991. *Spivey, Nigel Jonathan. ''Understanding Greek Sculpture: Ancient Meanings, Modern Readings''. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1996. *--. ''Greek Sculpture''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. *Stanwick, Paul Edmund. ''Portraits of the Ptolemies: Greek Kings As Egyptian Pharaohs''. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002. *Stewart, Andrew F. ''Greek Sculpture: An Exploration''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990. *--. ''Faces of Power: Alexander's Image and Hellenistic Politics''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993. *von Mach, Edmund. ''Greek Sculpture: Its Spirit and Its Principles''. New York: Parkstone Press International, 2006. *--. ''Greek Sculpture''. New York: Parkstone International, 2012. *Winckelmann, Johann Joachim, and Alex Potts. ''History of the Art of Antiquity''. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2006.

==External links== {{Library resources box |by=no |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Ancient Greek sculpture |viaf= |lccn= |lcheading= |wikititle= }} *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvfzTEA9RVI Classic Greek Sculpture to Late Hellenistic Era], lecture by professor Kenney Mencher, Ohlone College [link not valid {{as of|2023|3|20|lc=y}}] *[https://www.academia.edu/2423886/Aegean_Schools_of_Sculpture_in_Antiquity= Sideris A., Aegean Schools of Sculpture in Antiquity], Cultural Gate of the Aegean Archipelago, Athens 2007 (a detailed per period and per island approach).

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ancient Greek Sculpture}} [[Category:Ancient Greek sculpture| ]]