The archaic period in the history of Greece is usually called the VIII - VI centuries. BC e. According to some researchers, this is the time of the most intensive development of ancient society. Indeed, over the course of three centuries, many important discoveries were made that determined the nature of the technical basis of ancient society, those socio-economic and political phenomena developed that gave ancient society a certain specificity in comparison with other slave-owning societies: classical slavery; system of money circulation and market; the main form of political organization is the policy; the concept of the sovereignty of the people and the democratic form of government. At the same time, the main ethical norms and principles of morality, aesthetic ideals were developed, which had an impact on the ancient world throughout its history until the emergence of Christianity. Finally, during this period, the main phenomena of ancient culture were born: philosophy and science, the main genres of literature, theater, order architecture, sports.
In order to more clearly imagine the dynamics of the development of society in the archaic period, let us give such a comparison. Around 800 BC e. Greeks lived in a limited area of the south of the Balkan Peninsula, the islands of the Aegean Sea and the western coast of Asia Minor. Around 500 BC e. they already occupy the shores of the Mediterranean from Spain to the Levant and from Africa to the Crimea. Around 800 BC e. Greece is essentially a village world, a world of self-supporting small communities, by 500 BC. e. Greece already has a mass of small towns with local markets, monetary relations imperiously invade the economy, trade relations cover the entire Mediterranean, objects of exchange are not only luxury goods, but also everyday goods. Around 800 BC e. Greek society is a simple, primitive social structure dominated by the peasantry, not much different from the aristocracy, and with an insignificant number of slaves. Around 500 BC e. Greece has already gone through an era of great social change, the classical slave is becoming one of the main elements of the social structure, along with the peasantry there are other socio-professional groups; various forms of political organization are known: monarchy, tyranny, oligarchy, aristocratic and democratic republics. In 800 BC. e. in Greece there are still practically no temples, theaters, stadiums. In 500 BC. e. Greece is a country with many beautiful public buildings, the ruins of which still delight us. Lyric poetry, tragedy, comedy, natural philosophy arise and develop.
The rapid rise prepared by the previous development, the spread of iron tools had manifold consequences for society. The increase in labor productivity in agriculture and handicrafts led to an increase in surplus product. An increasing number of people were released from the agricultural sector, which ensured the rapid growth of the craft. The separation of the agricultural and handicraft sectors of the economy led to a regular exchange between them, the emergence of a market and a universal equivalent - minted coins. A new type of wealth - money - begins to compete with the old - landed property, disintegrating traditional relationships.
As a result, there is a rapid decomposition of primitive communal relations and the emergence of new forms of socio-economic and political organization of society. This process proceeds in different ways in different parts of Hellas, but everywhere it entails the brewing of social conflicts between the emerging aristocracy and the ordinary population, primarily communal peasants, and then other strata.
The formation of the Greek aristocracy by modern researchers usually refers to the VIII century. BC e. The aristocracy of that time is a limited group of people, which is characterized by a special lifestyle and system of values that are mandatory for its members. She occupied a dominant position in the sphere of public life, especially in the administration of justice, played a leading role in the war, since only noble warriors had heavy weapons, and therefore the battles were essentially duels of aristocrats. The aristocracy sought to completely put under its control the ordinary members of society, turn them into an exploited mass. According to modern researchers, the attack of the aristocracy on ordinary fellow citizens began in the VIII century BC. e. Little is known about the details of this process, but its main results can be judged from the example of Athens, where the growing influence of the aristocracy led to the creation of a clearly defined estate structure, to a gradual reduction in the stratum of the free peasantry and an increase in the number of dependents.
Closely connected with this situation is such a phenomenon of great historical significance as the “great Greek colonization”. From the middle of the VIII century BC. e. Greeks were forced to leave their homeland and move to other countries.
Over three centuries, they created many colonies on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Colonization developed in three main directions: western (Sicily, Southern Italy, Southern France and further the eastern coast of Spain), northern (Thracian coast of the Aegean Sea, the region of the straits leading from the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea, and its coast) and southeast (the coast of North Africa and the Levant).
Modern researchers believe that its main incentive was the lack of land. Greece suffered from both absolute agrarian overpopulation (an increase in population due to a general economic recovery) and relative (lack of land among the poorest peasants due to the concentration of land ownership in the hands of the nobility) Among the reasons for colonization they also refer to the political struggle, which usually reflected the main social contradiction of the era - the struggle for land, as a result of which the defeated in the civil war were often forced to leave their homeland and move overseas. There were also trade motives, the desire of the Greeks to control trade routes.
The pioneers of Greek colonization were the cities of Chalkis and Eretria located on the island of Euboea - in the 8th century BC. e., apparently the most advanced cities of Greece, the most important centers of metallurgical production. Later, Corinth, Megara, Asia Minor cities, especially Miletus, joined the colonization.
Colonization had a huge impact on the development of ancient Greek society, especially in the economic sphere. the local population, neighboring with them, began to receive Greek handicrafts, especially artistic ones, as well as some types of agricultural products (the best varieties of wines, olive oil, etc.). In return, the colonies supplied Greece with grain and other foodstuffs, as well as raw materials (wood, metal, etc.). As a result, the Greek craft received an impetus for further development, and agriculture began to acquire a commercial character. Thus, colonization muffled social conflicts in Greece , bringing the mass of the landless population beyond its borders and at the same time contributing to a change in the social and economic structure of Greek society.
The attack of the aristocracy on the rights of the demos reached its climax in the 7th century BC. e., causing reciprocal resistance In Greek society, a special social stratum of people appears who, most often through crafts and trade, have accumulated significant wealth, led an aristocratic lifestyle, but did not have the hereditary privileges of the nobility bitterly remarks the poet Theognidus of Megara. This new layer greedily rushed to control, thereby becoming an ally of the Peasants in the struggle against the nobility. The first successes in this struggle were most often associated with the establishment of written laws that limited the arbitrariness of the aristocracy.
Resistance to the growing domination of the nobility was facilitated by at least three circumstances. Around 675 - 600 years. BC e. due to technological progress, a kind of revolution in military affairs takes place Heavy armor becomes available to ordinary citizens, and the aristocracy loses its advantage in the military sphere Due to the scarcity of the country's natural resources, the Greek aristocracy could not be compared with the aristocracy of the East Due to the peculiarities of the historical development in Greece, the Iron Age did not there were such economic institutions (similar to the temple farms of the East), relying on which it would be possible to exploit the peasantry. Even the peasants who were dependent on the aristocrats were not economically connected with the farms of the latter. All this predetermined the fragility of the domination of the nobility in society. Finally, the force that prevented the strengthening of the positions of aristocrats was their ethics. It had an “agonal” (competitive) character: each aristocrat, in accordance with the ethical standards inherent in this layer, strove to be the first everywhere - on the battlefield, in sports, in politics. This system of values was created by the nobility earlier and transferred to a new historical period, when, in order to ensure dominance, it needed the rallying of all forces. However, the aristocracy could not achieve this.
Aggravation of social conflicts in the 7th - 6th centuries. BC e. led to the birth in many Greek cities of tyranny, that is, the sole power of the ruler.
At that time, the concept of "tyranny" did not yet have the negative connotation inherent in it today. The tyrants pursued an active foreign policy, created powerful armed forces, decorated and improved their cities. However, the early tyranny as a regime could not last long. The historical doom of tyranny was explained by its internal inconsistency. The overthrow of the rule of the nobility and the struggle against it were impossible without the support of the masses. The peasantry, which benefited from this policy, initially supported the tyrants, but as the threat posed by the aristocracy weakened, they gradually came to realize the uselessness of the tyrannical regime.
Tyranny was not a stage characteristic of the life of all policies. It was most typical for those cities that had become large trade and craft centers back in the archaic era. The process of the formation of the classical polis, due to the relative abundance of sources, is best known to us from the example of Athens.
The history of Athens in the archaic era is the history of the formation of a democratic polis. The monopoly on political power in the period under review belonged here to the nobility - Eupatrides, who gradually turned ordinary citizens into a dependent mass. This process already in the 7th century led to outbreaks of social conflicts.
Fundamental changes occur at the beginning of the VI century. BC e, and they are connected with the reforms of Solon. The most important of these was the so-called sisachfia (“shaking off the burden”). As a result of this reform, the peasants, who, due to debts, had essentially become shareholders of their own land, restored their status as owners. At the same time, it was forbidden to enslave the Athenians for debts. Of great importance were the reforms that undermined the political dominance of the nobility. From now on, the scope of political rights depended not on the nobility, but on the size of the property (all citizens of the policy were divided into four property categories). In accordance with this division, the military organization of Athens was also rebuilt. A new governing body was created - the council (bule), the importance of the people's assembly increased.
Solon's reforms, despite their radical nature, by no means solved all the problems. The aggravation of the social struggle in Athens led in 560 BC. e. to the establishment of the tyranny of Peisistratus and his sons, which lasted here intermittently until 510 BC. e. Peisistrat pursued an active foreign policy, strengthening the position of Athens on the sea trade routes. Crafts flourished in the city, trade developed, and large-scale construction was carried out. Athens turned into one of the largest economic centers of Hellas. Under the successors of Pisistratus, this regime fell, which again caused an aggravation of social contradictions. Soon after 509 BC. e. under the leadership of Cleisthenes, a new series of reforms is being carried out that finally approved the democratic system. The most important of them is the reform of the electoral law: henceforth, all citizens, regardless of their property status, had equal political rights. The system of territorial division was changed, destroying the influence of aristocrats in the field.
Sparta gives a different development option. Having captured Lakonika and enslaved the local population, the Doryans already in the 9th century. BC e. created a state in Sparta. Born very early as a result of the conquest, it retained many primitive features in its structure. In the future, the Spartans, during the course of two wars, sought to conquer Messenia, a region in the west of the Peloponnese. The internal social conflict between the nobility and ordinary citizenship, which was already brewing earlier, broke out in Sparta during the Second Messenian War. In its main features, it resembled the conflicts that existed around the same time in other parts of Greece. A long struggle between ordinary Spartans and the aristocracy led to the reorganization of Spartan society. A system is being created, which at a later time was called Likurgov, after the name of the legislator who allegedly established it. Of course, tradition simplifies the picture, because this system was not created immediately, but took shape gradually. Having overcome the internal crisis, Sparta was able to conquer Messenia and turned into the most powerful state of the Peloponnese and, perhaps, all of Greece.
All land in Laconica and Messenia was divided into equal plots - cleres, which each Spartiate received in temporary possession, after his death the land was returned to the state. Other measures also served the desire for complete equality of the Spartans: a harsh system of education aimed at forming an ideal warrior, the strictest regulation of all aspects of the life of citizens - the Spartans lived as if they were in a military camp, the prohibition to engage in agriculture, craft and trade, use gold and silver; limiting contact with the outside world. The political system was also reformed. Along with the kings, who performed the functions of military leaders, judges and priests, the council of elders (gerousia) and the people's assembly (apella), a new governing body appeared - a college of five ephors (guards). The ephorate was the highest control body, dazzling so that no one deviates a single step from the principles of the Spartan system, which became the object of pride of the Spartans, who believed that they had achieved the ideal of equality.
In historiography, there is traditionally a view of Sparta as a militarized, militaristic state, and some authoritative experts even call it a "police" state. There is some merit in this definition. The basis on which the “community of equals” was based, i.e. the collective of equal and full-fledged, completely unemployed productive labor of the Spartans, was the exploited mass of the enslaved population of Laconica and Messenia - the helots. Scientists have been arguing for many years about how to determine the position of this segment of the population. Many tend to regard helots as government slaves. Helots owned plots of land, tools, had economic independence, but they were obliged to transfer a certain share of the crop to their masters - the Spartans, ensuring their existence. According to modern researchers, this share was approximately 1/6-1/7 of the crop. Deprived of all political rights, the helots belonged entirely to the state, which disposed not only of their property, but also of their lives. The slightest protest from the helots was severely punished.
In the Spartan policy, there was another social group - the perieks ("living around"), the descendants of the Dorians who were not part of the citizens of Sparta. They lived in communities, had internal self-government under the supervision of Spartan officials, were engaged in agriculture, crafts and trade. Perieki were obliged to put up military contingents. Similar social conditions and close to the Spartan system are known in Crete, in Argos, Thessaly and other areas.
Like all other spheres of life, Greek culture in the archaic era experienced rapid changes. In these centuries, the development of ethnic identity took place, the Greeks gradually began to realize themselves as a single people, different from other peoples, whom they began to call barbarians. Ethnic self-consciousness found its manifestation in some social institutions. According to Greek tradition, starting from 776 BC. e. The Olympic Games began to be arranged, to which only Greeks were allowed.
In the era of the archaic, the main features of the ethics of ancient Greek society take shape. Its distinctive feature was the combination of the emerging sense of collectivism and the agonistic (competitive) beginning. policy was impossible. The military organization of the policy (phalanx formation) also contributed to the development of this morality. The highest valor of a citizen was to protect his policy: “It’s sweet to lose life, among the valiant fallen warriors, to a brave husband in battle, glad of his homeland” - these words of the Spartan poet Tirteus were perfectly expressed mentality of the new era, characterizing the system of values that prevailed at that time. However, the new morality retained the principles of morality of Homer's time with its leading principle of competitiveness. The nature of the political reforms in the policies determined the preservation of this morality, since it was not the aristocracy who was deprived of their rights, but ordinary citizenship was raised in terms of the scope of political rights to the level of the aristocracy. Because of this, the traditional ethics of the aristocracy spread among the masses, although in a modified form: the most important principle is who will serve the policy better.
Religion also experienced a certain transformation. The formation of a single Greek world with all local features led to the creation of a common pantheon for all Greeks. Evidence of this is Hesiod's poem "Theogony". The cosmogonic ideas of the Greeks did not fundamentally differ from the ideas of many other peoples.
The Greek worldview is characterized not only by polytheism, but also by the idea of the universal animation of nature. Every natural phenomenon, every river, mountain, grove had its own deity. From the point of view of the Greek, there was no insurmountable line between the world of people and the world of gods, heroes acted as an intermediate link between them. Heroes such as Hercules, for their exploits, joined the world of the gods. The gods of the Greeks themselves were anthropomorphic, they experienced human passions and could suffer like people.
The archaic era is the time of the formation of architecture. The primacy of public, primarily sacred, architecture is indisputable. The dwellings of that time are simple and primitive, all the forces of society are turned to monumental structures, primarily temples. Among them, the temples of the gods - the patrons of the community - excelled. The emerging sense of unity of the civil collective found its expression in the creation of such temples, which were considered the dwelling place of the gods. Early temples repeated the structure of the megaron of the 2nd millennium BC. e. A temple of a new type was born in Sparta, the ancient city of Hellas. A characteristic feature of Greek architecture is the use of orders, i.e. a special construction system that emphasizes the architectonics of the building, gives expressiveness to the load-bearing and carried structural elements, revealing their function. The order building usually has a stepped base; a number of load-bearing vertical supports - columns that supported the carried parts - an entablature, which reflected the design of the beam ceiling and roof, were placed on it. Initially, temples were built on acropolises - fortified hills, ancient centers of settlements. Later, in connection with the general democratization of society, changes occur in the location of the temples. They are now erected in the lower city, most often on the agora - the main square, the former center of public and business life of the policy. The temple as an institution contributed to the development of various art forms. The custom of bringing gifts to the temple was established early, part of the booty captured from enemies, weapons, offerings on the occasion of getting rid of danger, etc. were donated to it. A significant part of these gifts were works of art. An important role was played by temples that gained all-Greek popularity, primarily the temple of Apollo at Delphi. The rivalry, first of noble families, and then of policies, contributed to the fact that the best works of art were concentrated here, and the territory of the sanctuary became something like a museum.
In the archaic era, monumental sculpture appeared - an art form previously unknown to Greece. The earliest sculptures were roughly carved in wood, often inlaid with ivory and covered with sheets of bronze. Improvements in the technique of stone processing not only affected architecture, but also led to the emergence of stone sculpture, and in the technique of metal processing - to the casting of bronze sculpture. In the VII - VI centuries. BC e. sculpture is dominated by two types: a naked male figure and a draped female figure. The birth of the statuary type of the naked figure of a man is associated with the main trends in the development of society. The statue depicts a beautiful and valiant citizen, a winner in sports competitions, who glorified his native city. According to the same type, tomb statues and images of deities began to be made. The appearance of the relief is mainly associated with the custom of erecting tombstones. Subsequently, reliefs in the form of complex multi-figure compositions became an indispensable part of the temple's entablature. Statues and reliefs were usually painted.
Greek monumental painting is much less well known than vase painting. On the example of the latter, the main trends in the development of art are best traced: the emergence of realistic principles, the interaction of local art and influences that came from the East. In the 7th - early 6th centuries. BC e. dominated by Corinthian and Rhodes vases with colorful paintings of the so-called carpet style. They usually depicted floral ornaments and various animals and fantastic creatures arranged in a row. In the VI century. BC e. vase painting is dominated by the black-figure style: figures painted over with black lacquer stand out sharply against the reddish background of clay. Paintings on black-figure vases often consisted of multi-figured compositions based on mythological subjects: various episodes from the life of the Olympian gods, the exploits of Hercules and the Trojan War were popular. Less often there were scenes related to the daily life of people: the battle of hoplites, competitions of athletes, scenes of a feast, a round dance of girls, etc.
Since individual images were executed in the form of black silhouettes against a background of clay, they give the impression of being flat. Vases made in different cities have only their characteristic features. The black-figure style reached its peak in Athens. Attic black-figure vases were distinguished by the elegance of forms, high technique of manufacture, and variety of subjects. Some vase painters signed their paintings, and thanks to this we know, for example, the name of Clytius, who painted a magnificent vessel for wine (krater): the painting consists of several belts, on which multi-figured compositions are presented. Another magnificent example of painting is the kylix of Exekia. The vase painter occupied the entire round surface of the wine bowl with one scene: the god Dionysus reclining on a ship sailing under a white sail, vines twisting near the mast, heavy clusters hanging down. Seven dolphins dive around, into which, according to myth, Dionysus turned the Tyrrhenian pirates.
The greatest achievement of the Greek culture of the archaic era was the creation of alphabetic writing. By transforming the Phoenician syllabic system, the Greeks created a simple way to capture information. In order to learn how to write and count, years of hard work were no longer needed, there was a “democratization” of the education system, which made it possible to gradually make almost all free inhabitants of Greece literate. Thus, knowledge was “secularized”, which became one of the reasons for the absence of a priestly class in Greece and contributed to an increase in the spiritual potential of society as a whole.
A phenomenon of exceptional importance for European culture, the emergence of philosophy, is associated with the era of the archaic. Philosophy is a fundamentally new approach to the knowledge of the world, sharply different from that which prevailed in the Near East and in Greece of an earlier period. The transition from religious-mythological ideas about the world to its philosophical understanding meant a qualitative leap in the intellectual development of mankind. Statement and formulation of problems, reliance on the human mind as a means of knowledge, orientation towards the search for the causes of everything that happens in the world itself, and not outside it - this is what significantly distinguishes the philosophical approach to the world from the religious and mythological views. In modern scientific literature, there are two main views on the emergence of philosophy. According to one, the birth of philosophy is a derivative of the development of science, the quantitative accumulation of positive knowledge resulted in a qualitative leap. According to another explanation, early Greek philosophy practically did not differ in anything, except for the way of expression, from the stage-by-stage earlier mythological system of knowledge of the world. However, in recent years, a view has been expressed that seems to be the most correct: philosophy was born from the social experience of a citizen of an early policy. The polis and the relations of citizens in it - this is the model by analogy with which the Greek philosophers saw the world. This conclusion is confirmed by the fact that the emergence of philosophy in its earliest form - natural philosophy (i.e., philosophy, addressed primarily to the knowledge of the most general laws of the world) - occurs in the most advanced policies of Asia Minor. It is with them that the activities of the first philosophers - Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes - are connected. The natural-philosophical teachings about the primary elements made it possible to build a general picture of the world and explain it without resorting to the help of the gods. The philosophy that was born was spontaneously materialistic, the main thing in the work of its first representatives was the search for the material fundamental principles of everything that exists.
The founder of Ionian natural philosophy, Thales, considered such a fundamental principle to be water, which is in constant motion. Its transformations created and create all things, which in turn turn back into water. Thales represented the earth as a flat disk floating on the surface of primary water. Thales was also considered the founder of mathematics, astronomy and a number of other specific sciences. Comparing records of consecutive solar eclipses, he predicted an eclipse of the sun in 597 (or 585) BC. e. and explained it by the fact that the moon obscured the sun. According to Anaximander, the fundamental principle of everything is apeiron, indefinite, eternal and boundless matter, which is in constant motion. Anaximander gave the first formulation of the law of conservation of energy and created the first geometric model of the universe.
The materialism and dialectics of the Ionian natural philosophers were opposed by the Pythagoreans, followers of the teachings of Pythagoras, who created a religious and mystical community in southern Italy. The Pythagoreans considered mathematics to be the basis of the foundations, believing that not quality, but quantity, not substance, but form determine the essence of everything. Gradually, they began to identify things with numbers, depriving them of their material content. The abstract number turned into an absolute was conceived by them as the basis of the non-material essence of the world.
At the beginning of the archaic era, the dominant genre of literature was the epic, inherited from the previous era. The fixation of Homer's poems, carried out in Athens under Peisistratus, marked the end of the "epic" period. The epic, as a reflection of the experience of the whole society in the new conditions, had to give way to other types of literature. In this era, filled with violent social conflicts, lyrical genres are developing that reflect the experiences of the individual. Civicism distinguishes the poetry of Tyrtaeus, who inspired the Spartans in their struggle for the possession of Messenia. In his elegies, Tyrtaeus praised military prowess and expounded the norms of warrior behavior. And in later times they were sung during campaigns, they were also popular outside Sparta as a hymn to polis patriotism. The work of Theognis, an aristocratic poet who realized the death of the aristocratic system and suffered from it, is permeated with hatred for the lower classes and a thirst for revenge:
Firmly trample on the empty-hearted people, mercilessly
I’ll sharpen with a sharp stick, press down with a heavy yoke!
A life full of adversity and suffering was lived by one of the first lyric poets - Archilochus. The son of an aristocrat and a slave, Archilochus, driven by need, went from his native Paros together with the colonists to Thasos, fought with the Thracians, served as a mercenary, visited “beautiful and happy” Italy, but found happiness nowhere:
I have my bread mixed in a sharp spear.
And in the spear - From under Ismar wine. I drink, leaning on a spear.
The work of another great lyricist, Alcaeus, reflected the turbulent political life of that time. Along with political motives, his poems also contain drinking ones, they sound the joy of life and the sadness of love, reflections on the inevitability of death and calls to friends to rejoice in life:
The rains are raging. Great cold
Carries from the sky. The rivers are all chained ..
Let's drive away the winter. blazing bright
Let's spread the fire. Generously sweet to me
Pour some wine. Then under the cheek
Give me a soft pillow.
“Sappho is violet-haired, pure, with a gentle smile!” - the poet addresses his great contemporary Sappho.
At the center of Sappho's work was a woman suffering from love and tormented by the pangs of jealousy, or a mother who tenderly loves her children. Sad motifs predominate in Sappho's poetry, which gives it a peculiar charm:
God equal seems to me fortunately
The person who is so close
Before you sits, your sounding gentle
listens to the voice
And a lovely laugh. At the same time I have
The heart would immediately stop beating.
Anacreon called his work the poetry of beauty, love and fun. He did not think about politics, wars, civil strife:
Sweet to me is not the one who, feasting, at a full cup of speech
He leads only about lawsuits and about a regrettable war,
Dear me, who, Muses and Cyprites, combining good gifts,
The rule sets itself to be more cheerful at the feast.
The poems of Anacreon, marked by an indisputable talent and enchanting in their form, had a huge impact on European, including Russian, poetry.
By the end of the archaic era, the birth of artistic prose, represented by the works of logographers, who collected local legends, genealogies of noble families, and stories about the founding of policies, dates back to the end of the archaic era. At the same time, theatrical art arose, the roots of which lie in the folk rites of agricultural cults.
Archaic period: 7th - 6th centuries BC.
The period of great shifts in the economy is the emergence of money. The social system - a Greek slave-owning society and a state - a slave-owning republic are being formed (there is not a sole ruler in power, as in the East, but an aristocratic elite). Where the demos won (farmers, artisans, merchants), a democratic republic was established.The country is divided into regions or city-states - policies. But there is no struggle due to trade relations and military clashes with other peoples, slaves of foreigners. Between the policies there is a consciousness of the unity of the Greek world.
Sanctuaries are of general Greek importance, especially the temple of Zeus at Olympia, where from 776 BC. the Olympic Games are held.
Architecture
In the 7th century cities are growing rapidly and construction is expanding. Monumental buildings made of limestone appeared. Basically, these are temples, which were not only religious, but also public buildings.In the 7th century various types of buildings are being developed:
The simplest is the temple in ante (takes roots in the Mycenaean megaron). Columns between the ends of the side walls - ants.
Prostyle - 4 columns on the facade, located in front of the ants.
Amphiprostyle - columns on the front and rear facades.
Peripter - columns around the perimeter of the temple. Most often, there are 6 columns on the facade (hexastyle peripter). The most common type of temple.
Dipter - two rows of columns surround the temple.
The temple room (cella) is divided into 3 parts:
- anterior - pronaos - serves as a vestibule;
- central - naos, the most extensive;
- opisthodome - for storing doors, with an entrance from the rear facade.
Elements of the order system:
- basement, three-stage (stylobate);
- column (base, trunk, capital);
- entablature (consists of architrave (beam), frieze and cornice) - overlapping part of the structure.
- a triangular pediment formed by two roof slopes.
There were 2 main orders - Doric (simplicity and masculinity of forms) and Ionic (lightness, harmony, grace, relatively large decorative effect).
In the Doric order, the columns had no bases.
The greatest flowering of the classics of the 5th - 4th centuries. would not have been possible without the great achievements of the archaic period.
Many temples were built throughout Greece, especially in the 6th century. Everywhere they are moving to the construction of temples of stone.
Temples were decorated with sculpture (pediment, frieze, metopes).
The most difficult task is the placement of a multi-figure composition in the triangular field of the pediment.
Unusually wide main facade. The shape of the columns is peculiar - the upper diameter is much narrower than the lower one, bulky capitals have a large offset.
An odd number of columns, the main room, divided by a row of columns into two parts (the nave) are typical archaic features.
Of the monuments of the Ionic order, not a single one has come down to us in such a state that it can be viewed as a whole.
Transition from archaic to classic (late 6th - early 5th century)
Temple of Hera (II) at Paestum. The columns are still heavy, but the shape is already closer to the classical one.
art
Fine art (7th - 6th centuries) of the archaic laid the foundation for the future flourishing of classical art, which played such a significant role in the development of world artistic culture.During this period, all kinds of art are rapidly developing.
The search for a form that expresses the ideal of a beautiful, strong, healthy in body and spirit of a citizen of the policy. Creative efforts are aimed at mastering the correct construction of the figure, plastic anatomy, and the transmission of movement. The last one is the most difficult. The full illusion of movement will be only in the middle. 5th c.
The lawsuit had a great influence - in Egypt and Mesopotamia. For example, from the more perfect Assyrian, they borrowed composition, interpretation of clothes and hairstyles.
The appearance of a naked athletic figure - kouros (male) and bark (female). Depicted both people and gods.
Kouros of Tenea. so-called. Apollo of Tenea. Marble. 560 BC The athletic structure is emphasized by broad shoulders, powerful legs. Softer and more voluminous than previously transferred muscles. But the hairstyle is interpreted decoratively, strongly bulging eyes, a conditional smile.
Even more voluminous and realistic.
Works on the draped figure and attempts to convey movement:
Female statue (goddess with a hare). 560 BC Supposedly a cult statue of Hera. While static, the lower part is in the form of a round pillar. The folds of the tunic are strictly parallel, although the arms and chest are already plastically modeled.
A group of female statues of the 2nd floor is distinguished by a special skill. 6th c.
Peplos bark from the Acropolis of Athens. Marble, coloring. 540 BC
A bark from the Acropolis. Detail. Attempts to coordinate the folds of clothes with the movement of the body. Marble. Superbly crafted. Beautifully painted. Graceful poses - the image of girls of an aristocratic circle.
Temple sculpture (metopes, pediments, friezes).
Mostly mythological stories.
Metopes from the temple in Paestum speak of the search for new compositional structures.
Athena and Perseus killing the Gorgon. Metope from Mt. in Selinunte. 2nd floor 6th c. BC. square arrangement.
The most difficult task is the layout in the field of the pediment.
The pediment of the Temple of Artemis from the island of Corfu. Gorgon. Detail. Fragment. 6th c. BC e. A bold attempt to convey flight is a conditional pose of kneeling running. Quite flat, slightly modeled relief.
Painting
Expansion of the subject, more realistic drawing, different angles of figures, movement, polychrome - these are the achievements of the archaic time (7th - 6th centuries).The silhouette is replaced with an outline drawing, which allows you to convey details.
In the 6th c. dominated by black-figure technique.
famous Crater François. The vase painter Kliy, the potter Ergotim. OK. 570 (named after the archaeologist). 5 belts, mythological scenes, captions about what is happening. The accuracy of the drawing, the variety of movements. The most significant masters are Amasis and Exekius. One of the best works of Exekias: 
Writing.
One of the most important factors of Greek culture VIII-VI centuries. considered to be a new writing system. The alphabetic script, partly borrowed from the Phoenicians, was more convenient than the ancient Mycenaean syllabary: it consisted of only 24 characters, each of which had a firmly established phonetic meaning. If in the Mycenaean society, as in other similar societies of the Bronze Age, the art of writing was available only to a few initiates who were part of a closed caste of professional scribes, now it is becoming the common property of all citizens of the policy, since each of them could master the skills of writing and reading . Unlike the syllabary, which was used mainly for keeping accounts and, perhaps, to some extent for compiling religious texts, the new writing system was a truly universal means of communication that could be used with equal success in business correspondence, and for recording lyrical poems or philosophical aphorisms. All this led to the rapid growth of literacy among the population of the Greek policies, as evidenced by the numerous inscriptions on stone, metal, and ceramics, the number of which is increasing as we approach the end of the archaic period. The oldest of them, for example, the now widely known epigram on the so-called Nestor Cup from Fr. Pitecussa, dates back to the third quarter of the 8th century, which makes it possible to attribute the borrowing of Phoenician alphabet characters by the Greeks either to the first half of the same 8th century, or even to the end of the preceding 9th century.
Practically at the same time (the second half of the 8th century) such outstanding samples of the monumental heroic epic as the Iliad and the Odyssey, from which the history of Greek literature begins, were created and, most likely, at the same time.
Poetry.
Greek poetry of the post-Homeric period (7th-6th centuries) is distinguished by its extraordinary thematic richness and variety of forms and genres. Of the later forms of the epic, two of its main variants are known: the heroic epic, represented by the so-called Cycle poems, and the didactic epic, represented by two poems by Hesiod: Works and Days and Theogony.
Lyric poetry is becoming widespread and soon becomes the leading literary trend of the era, which in turn is divided into several main genres: elegy, iambic, monodic, i.e. intended for solo performance, and choral lyrics, or melik.
The most important distinguishing feature of the Greek poetry of the archaic period in all its main types and genres should be recognized as its pronounced humanistic coloring. The close attention of the poet to a specific human personality, to its inner world, individual mental characteristics is quite clearly felt already in Homer's poems. "Homer discovered a new world - Man himself. This is what makes his "Iliad" and "Odyssey" ktema eis aei, a work forever, an eternal value ".
The grandiose concentration of heroic tales in the Iliad and the Odyssey became the basis for further epic creativity. During the 7th and first half of the 6th centuries. a number of poems arose, composed in the style of the Homeric epic and designed to merge with the Iliad and the Odyssey and, together, form a single coherent chronicle of mythological tradition, the so-called epic "kikl" (cycle, circle). The ancient tradition attributed many of these poems to "Homer" and thus emphasized their plot and stylistic connection with the Homeric epic.
Greek poetry of the post-Homerian period is characterized by a sharp transfer of the center of gravity of the poetic narrative to the personality of the poet himself. This trend is already clearly felt in the work of Hesiod, especially in his poem Works and Days.
An unusually complex, rich and colorful world of human feelings, thoughts and experiences is revealed to us in the works of the generation of Greek poets following Hesiod, who worked in various genres of lyrics. Feelings of love and hatred, sadness and joy, deep despair and cheerful confidence in the future, expressed with the utmost, hitherto unheard-of frankness and frankness, make up the main content of the poetic fragments that have come down to us from these poets, unfortunately not so numerous and in the majority very short (often only two or three lines).
In the most frank, one might say, deliberately emphasized form, the individualistic trends of the era were embodied in the work of such a remarkable lyric poet as Archilochus. No matter how one understands his poems, one thing is clear: the individual, who has thrown off the close bonds of ancient tribal morality, here clearly opposes himself to the collective as a self-sufficient free person, not subject to anyone's opinions and any laws.
Moods of this kind should have been perceived as socially dangerous and provoke protest both among the zealots of the old aristocratic order and among the champions of the new polis ideology, who called on fellow citizens for moderation, prudence, effective love for the fatherland and obedience to laws.
If Tirtaeus makes the main emphasis in his poems on the feeling of self-sacrifice, the readiness of a warrior and a citizen to die for the fatherland (a call that sounds very relevant in such a state as Sparta, which in the 7th-6th centuries waged almost continuous wars with its neighbors), then another an outstanding master of the elegiac genre and at the same time a renowned statesman - Solon puts in the first place among all civil virtues a sense of proportion, or the ability to observe the "golden mean" in everything. In his understanding, only moderation and prudence are able to keep citizens from greed and satiety with wealth, prevent the internecine strife generated by them and establish "good law" (eunomia) in the state.
While some Greek poets sought to comprehend in their poems the complex inner world of man and find the best option for his relationship with the civil collective of the policy, others no less persistently tried to penetrate into the structure of the universe surrounding man and solve the riddle of its origin. One of these poets-thinkers was Hesiod, known to us, who in his poem "Theogony", or "The Origin of the Gods", tried to present the existing world order in its, so to speak, historical development from the gloomy and faceless primordial Chaos to the bright and harmonious world headed by Zeus the Olympian gods.
Religion and philosophy.
In the era of the Great Colonization, the traditional Greek religion did not meet the spiritual needs of contemporaries also because it was difficult to find an answer to the question of what awaits a person in his future life and whether it exists at all. Representatives of two closely related religious and philosophical teachings, the Orphics and the Pythagoreans, tried to solve this painful question in their own way. Both those and others evaluated the earthly life of a person as a continuous chain of suffering sent down to people by the gods for their sins. At the same time, both the Orphics and the Pythagoreans believed in the immortality of the soul, which, having gone through a long series of reincarnations, inhabiting the bodies of other people and even animals, is able to cleanse itself of all earthly filth and achieve eternal bliss. The idea that the body is just a temporary "dungeon" or even "grave" of the immortal soul, which had a huge impact on many later adherents of philosophical idealism and mysticism, from Plato to the founders of the Christian faith, first arose precisely in the bosom of the Orphic- Pythagorean doctrine. Unlike the Orphics, who were closer to the broad masses of the people and based their teachings only on a somewhat rethought and updated myth about the dying and resurrecting deity of wildlife Dionysus Zagreus, the Pythagoreans were a closed aristocratic sect hostile to democracy. Their mystical teachings were of a much more refined nature, laying claim to sublime intellectuality. It is no coincidence that Pythagoras himself (the author of the famous theorem that still bears his name), and his closest students and followers were passionate about mathematical calculations, while paying generous tribute to the mystical interpretation of numbers and their combinations.
Both the Orphics and the Pythagoreans tried to correct and purify the traditional beliefs of the Greeks, replacing them with a more refined, spiritually filled form of religion. A completely different view of the world, in many ways already approaching spontaneous materialism, at the same time (6th century BC) was developed and defended by representatives of the so-called Ionian natural philosophy: Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes. All three were natives of Miletus, the largest and most economically developed of the Greek cities of Asia Minor.
What happened in Ionia in the 7th and 6th centuries BC that contributed to the emergence of such outstanding personalities? The population of mixed blood (Carian, Greek and Phoenician branches) was drawn into a long and difficult class struggle. What blood from these three branches flows in their veins? To what extent? We don't know. But this blood is extremely active. This blood is highly political. This is the blood of inventors. (Public blood: Thales is said to have proposed to this restless and disunited population of Ionia to form a state of a new type, a federal state governed by a federal council. The proposal is very reasonable and at the same time very new in the Greek world. He was not listened to.)
This class struggle, which bled the Ionian cities, such as that which took place in Attica in the time of Solon, is, and for a long time, the driving force of all inventions in this land of creation.
For the first time in the history of mankind, the Milesian thinkers tried to present the entire universe around them as a harmoniously arranged, self-developing and self-regulating system. This cosmos, as the Ionian philosophers were inclined to believe, was not created by any of the gods and by any of the people, and in principle should exist forever. The laws governing it are quite accessible to human understanding. There is nothing mystical, incomprehensible in them. Thus, a big step was taken on the path from the religious-mythological perception of the existing world order to its comprehension by means of the human mind. The first philosophers inevitably had to face the question of what should be considered the fundamental principle, the root cause of all existing things. Thales (the oldest of the Milesian natural philosophers) and Anaximenes believed that the primary substance from which everything arises and into which everything eventually turns into must be one of the four basic elements.
At the same time, Thales preferred water, and Anaximenes preferred air. However, Anaximander, by far the most profound of the most ancient Greek philosophers, advanced further than all others along the path of abstract-theoretical understanding of natural phenomena. He announced the so-called "apeiron" as the root cause and basis of all that exists - an eternal and infinite substance, qualitatively not reducible to any of the four elements and at the same time being in continuous motion, during which opposite principles stand out from apeiron: warm and cold, dry and damp, etc. Entering into interaction, these pairs of opposites give rise to all phenomena of nature available to observation, both living and dead. The picture of the world drawn by Anaximander was completely new and unusual for the era in which it arose. It contained a number of pronounced elements of a materialistic and dialectical nature, including the idea of a comprehensive, constantly changing form of primary substance, quite close to modern ideas about matter, the idea of the struggle of opposites and their transition into each other as the main source of all the diversity of the world. processes.
Greek natural philosophers well understood that the most reliable basis of all knowledge is experience, empirical research and observation. In essence, they were not only the first philosophers, but also the first scientists, the founders of Greek and all European science. The eldest of them, Thales, was already called by the ancients "the first mathematician", "the first astronomer", "the first physicist".
Architecture and sculpture.
In the VII-VI centuries. Greek architects for the first time after a long break began to build monumental temple buildings from stone, limestone or marble. In the VI century. a single common Greek type of temple was developed in the form of a rectangular, elongated building, surrounded on all sides by a colonnade, sometimes single (peripter), sometimes double (dipter). At the same time, the main structural and artistic features of the two main architectural orders were determined:
Doric, which was especially widespread in the Peloponnese and in the cities of Magna Graecia (Southern Italy and Sicily), and Ionic, which was especially popular in the Greek part of Asia Minor and in some regions of European Greece. The temple of Apollo in Corinth, the temples of Posidonia (Paestum) in southern Italy, and the temples of Selinut in Sicily can be considered typical examples of the Doric order, with such characteristic features as severe power and heavy massiveness. More graceful, slender, and at the same time, distinguished by a certain pretentiousness of decorative decoration, the buildings of the Ionic order were represented in the same period by the temples of Hera on about. Samos, Artemis in Ephesus (a famous architectural monument, considered one of the "seven wonders of the world"), Apollo in Didyma near Miletus.
The principle of harmonious balance of the whole and its parts, clearly expressed in the very construction of the Greek temple, has found wide application in another leading branch of Greek art - monumental sculpture, and in both cases we can confidently speak of the social conditioning of this important aesthetic idea. If a temple with a colonnade resembling rows of hoplites in a phalanx was perceived as a model and, at the same time, a symbol of a closely knit civil collective, then the image of a free individual, who is an integral part of this collective, was embodied in stone sculptures, both single and united in plastic groups. Their first, still extremely imperfect in artistic terms, samples appear approximately in the middle of the 7th century. BC. A single sculpture of the end of the archaic period is represented by two main types: an image of a naked young man - a kuros and a figure dressed in a long, tight-fitting tunic of a girl - a kora.
Gradually improving in the transfer of the proportions of the human body, achieving more and more vital
similarities, Greek sculptors of the 6th century. have learned to overcome the static inherent in their statues.
With all the lifelikeness of the best examples of Greek archaic sculpture, almost all of them are subject to a certain aesthetic standard, depicting a beautiful, ideally built young man or adult man, completely devoid of any individual physical or mental characteristics.
Vase painting.
The most widespread and accessible type of archaic Greek art was, of course, vase painting. In their work, aimed at the widest consumer, master vase painters depended much less than sculptors or architects on the canons consecrated by religion or the state. Therefore, their art was much more dynamic, diverse and quickly responded to all sorts of artistic discoveries and experiments. Probably, this explains the extraordinary thematic diversity characteristic of the Greek vase painting of the 7th-6th centuries. It was in vase painting, earlier than in any other branch of Greek art, with the possible exception of coroplasty and bone carving, that mythological scenes began to alternate with episodes of a genre character. At the same time, not limited to plots borrowed from the life of the aristocratic elite (scenes of feasts, chariot races, athletic exercises and competitions, etc.), Greek vase painters (especially during the heyday of the so-called black-figure style in Corinth, Attica and some other areas) they do not neglect the life of the social lower classes, depicting scenes of field work, craft workshops, folk festivals in honor of Dionysus, and even the hard work of slaves in the mines. In scenes of this kind, the humanistic and democratic features of Greek art, which had been instilled in it by the surrounding social environment since the archaic era, were especially clearly manifested.
The history of mankind is divided into many periods. It is believed that this method allows you to better understand the past. The most ancient periods in which mankind existed are called archaic. What this concept means and where it is used can be found in the article.
Translation and general meaning
The word comes from and is translated into Russian as "ancient" or "ancient". What is the meaning of the word "archaic"? There are two in dictionaries.
The first means an early stage in the historical formation of a phenomenon. The second meaning is described in more detail, since this is the name of the period in That is, archaic is the period that preceded the classics.
Archaic period of ancient Greece
The period was introduced by historians in the eighteenth century. It dates back to 750-480 BC. Such time frames were not taken in vain. In 750 BC, there was a peak of a sharp increase in the Greek population and an improvement in its material well-being. The archaic period ended in 480 BC, when Xerxes invaded Hellas.
Archaic - this concept of It arose as a result of the study of Greek art, namely decorative and plastic.
Later, the concept spread to the entire history of art and public life in Hellas. In the archaic period there was a significant development of philosophy, political theory, poetry, theater, as well as the rise of democracy and the revival of writing.
Scholar Anthony Snodgrass criticizes the term "archaic" for the history of ancient Greece. For him, archaism is primitiveness, therefore it is unacceptable to apply such a concept in relation to Hellas of that time. He considers this period the most fruitful in world history. What is this historical phenomenon in general terms?
archaic culture
This period in its historical development precedes the civilized world. It is the earliest form of human collectivity with a corresponding culture and ideas about faith.
The archaic is a certain constant value that guarantees the constant and stable reproduction of a socio-cultural object. Time in this culture is an endless chain of returning to the origins. Thanks to this, the world never changes and remains at the stage of its appearance.
What is archaic for the spiritual world of man? It represents the absolute immutability of life. Its mechanisms protect a person from new models of behavior in the world. Sociocultural mechanisms prevent the emergence of new desires.
The existing myth of a constant return to the origins gave a person of this period the opportunity to overcome the transience of his being. The world in this culture was distinguished by its orderliness. He remained the same as at the time of his creation from chaos.
The principles of the archaic form the basis of the ethnic cultures of human history. The archaic was finally introduced into the sphere of art in the period of the New Age.
(1821-1832)Archaic period in Greek history(650-480 BC) - a term adopted among historians since the 18th century. It arose in the course of the study of Greek art and originally referred to the stage in the development of Greek art, mainly decorative and plastic, intermediate between the period of geometric art and the art of classical Greece. Later, the term "archaic period" was extended not only to the history of art, but also to the social life of Greece, since during this period, which followed the "dark ages", there was a significant development of political theory, the rise of democracy, philosophy, theater, poetry, the revival written language (appearance of the Greek alphabet to replace Linear B, forgotten during the "dark ages").
More recently, Anthony Snodgrass has criticized the term "archaic" because he sees it not as a "preparation" for the classical era, but as an independent episode of Greek history with its own developed culture. Michael Grant also criticized the term "archaic", since "archaic" implies a certain primitiveness, which in relation to archaic Greece is absolutely inapplicable - it was, in his opinion, one of the most fruitful periods in world history.
According to Snodgrass, the beginning of the archaic period should be considered a sharp increase in population and material well-being, which peaked in 750 BC. e., and the "intellectual revolution" of Greek culture. The end of the archaic period is considered to be the invasion of Xerxes in 480 BC. e. Nevertheless, individual cultural events associated with the archaic period could go both beyond the upper and lower conditional boundaries of the period. For example, red-figure vase painting, characteristic of the Classical period of Greece, originated in the Archaic period.
periodization
- archaic period- 7th c. BC e.- beg. 5. c. BC e.
- Early archaic- early 7th c. BC e. - 570s BC e.
- mature archaic- 570s BC e. - 525s BC e.
- late archaic- 525s BC e. - 490s BC e.
Society
Cities
Art
During the archaic period, the earliest forms of ancient Greek art - sculptures and vase paintings - developed, which become more realistic in the later classical period.
Ceramics
In a vase painting in the middle and 3rd quarter of the 6th c. BC e. The black-figure style reached its peak and around 530 BC. e. - red-figure style.
Associated with the Late Archaic period are styles of vase painting such as black-figure pottery, which originated in Corinth in the 7th century BC. BC e., and later red-figure pottery, which was created by the vase painter Andocides around 530 BC. e.
Elements gradually appear in ceramics that are uncharacteristic of the archaic style and borrowed from Ancient Egypt - such as the “left foot forward” pose, “archaic smile”, a stereotyped stylized image of hair - the so-called “helmet hair”.
Architecture
Archaic - the time of the addition of monumental pictorial and architectural forms. In the era of the Archaic, Doric and Ionic architectural orders developed.
According to the most common periodization of the history of Greek fine arts and architecture of the 5th century BC. It is customary to divide into two large periods: the art of the early classics, or strict style, and the art of high, or developed, classics. The border between them runs approximately in the middle of the century, however, the boundaries in art are generally rather arbitrary, and the transition from one quality to another occurs gradually and in different areas of art at different speeds. This observation is true not only for the boundary between early and high classics, but also between archaic and early classical art.
Art of the Early Classics.
In the era of the early classics, the cities of Asia Minor lose their leading place in the development of art, which they previously occupied. The most important centers of activity for artists, sculptors, and architects are the Northern Peloponnese, Athens, and the Greek West. The art of this period is illuminated by the ideas of the liberation struggle against the Persians and the triumph of the policy. The heroic character and increased attention to the human citizen, who created a world where he is free and where his dignity is respected, distinguishes the art of the early classics. Art is liberated from those rigid limits that fettered it in the archaic era, this is the time of searching for something new and, because of this, the time of intensive development of various schools and trends, the creation of heterogeneous works. The two types of figures that previously dominated sculpture - kuros and kore - are being replaced by a much greater variety of types; sculptures tend to convey the complex movement of the human body. In architecture, the classical type of the peripteral temple and its sculptural decoration are being formed. Landmarks in the development of early classical architecture and sculpture were such buildings as the treasury of the Athenians in Delphi, the temple of Athena Aphaia on about. Aegina, the so-called temple of E at Selinunte and the temple of Zeus at Olympia. From the sculptures and reliefs that adorned these structures, one can clearly see how their composition and style changed in different periods - during the transition from archaic to strict style and then to high classics, which is exactly characteristic of each of the periods. Archaic art created perfect in its completeness, but conditional works of art. The task of the classics was to depict a person in motion. The master of the pores of the early classics took the first step towards great realism, towards the depiction of personality, and it is natural that this process began with the solution of an easier task - the transfer of the movement of the human body. The following, more difficult task fell to the share of high classics - to convey the movements of the soul. The affirmation of the dignity and greatness of a human citizen becomes the main task of Greek sculpture of the classical era. In statues cast in bronze or carved in marble, the masters strive to convey a generalized image of a human hero in all the perfection of his physical and moral beauty. This ideal was of great ethical and socio-educational significance. Art had a direct impact on the feelings and minds of contemporaries, educating in them the idea of what a person should be like.
Second quarter of the 5th c. - years of activity of the most prominent of the artists of the early classics - Polygnot. Judging by the testimonies of ancient authors, Polygnotus, in an effort to show people in space, placed the background figures above the front ones, partially hiding them on uneven ground. This technique is also attested in vase painting. However, for the vase painting of this time, the most characteristic is no longer following painting in the field of stylistics, but independent development. In search of visual means, vase painters not only followed monumental art, but, as representatives of the most democratic form of art, they overtook it in some ways, depicting scenes from real life. In the same decades, the black-figure style declined and the red-figure style flourished, when the natural color of clay was preserved for the figures, while the space between them was filled with black lacquer.
The art of the high classics, prepared by the creative searches of the artists of the previous generation, has one important feature - Athens becomes the most significant center of its development, and the influence of the Athenian ideology increasingly determines the development of the art of all Hellas.
High Classical Art
The art of high classics is a clear continuation of what arose earlier, but there is one area where a fundamentally new one is being born at this time - urbanism. Although the accumulation of experience and some empirically found principles of urban planning was the result of the creation of new cities during the period of the Great Colonization, it was during the time of the high classics that the theoretical generalization of this experience, the creation of an integral concept and its implementation in practice. The birth of urban planning as a theoretical and practical discipline that combines artistic and utilitarian goals is associated with the name of Hippodames of Miletus. Two main features characterize his scheme: the regularity of the city plan, in which the streets intersect at right angles, creating a system of rectangular quarters, and zoning, i.e., a clear allocation of city districts with different functional purposes.
The temple was still the leading type of building. Temples of the Doric order are being actively built in the Greek West: several temples in Agrigentum, among which stands out the so-called temple of Concordia (in fact, Hera Argeia), considered the best of the Dorian temples in Italy. However, the scale of construction of public buildings in Athens far exceeds what we see in other parts of Greece. The conscious and purposeful policy of the Athenian democracy, headed by Pericles, to turn Athens not only into the most powerful, but also the most cultured and beautiful city of Hellas, to make the native city the center of all the best that is in the world, found practical implementation in a broad construction program.
The architecture of the high classics is characterized by a striking proportion, combined with a festive monumentality. Continuing the traditions of the previous time, the architects at the same time did not slavishly follow the canons, they boldly looked for new means to enhance the expressiveness of the structures they created, most fully reflecting the ideas embedded in them. During the construction of the Parthenon, in particular, Iktin and Kallikrates boldly went for the combination of features of the Doric and Ionic orders in one building: from the outside, the Parthenon represents a typical Doric peripter, but it is decorated with a continuous sculptural frieze characteristic of the Ionian order. The combination of Dorica and Ionic is also used in the Propylaea. The Erechtheion is extremely original - the only temple in Greek architecture with an absolutely asymmetrical plan. The solution of one of its porticos is also original, where the columns are replaced by six figures of caryatid girls. In sculpture, the art of high classics is associated primarily with the work of Myron, Phidias and Polykleitos. Miron completed the search for the masters of the previous time, who sought to convey the movement of a person in sculpture. In the most famous of his creations, the Discobolus, for the first time in Greek art, the problem of conveying an instant transition from one movement to another was solved, and the static character coming from the archaic was finally overcome. Having completely solved the problem of conveying movement, Miron, however, could not master the art of expressing lofty feelings. This task fell to Phidias, the largest of the Greek sculptors. Phidias became famous for his sculptures of deities, especially Zeus and Athena. Little is known of his early works. In the 60s, Phidias creates a colossal statue of Athena Promachos, which towered in the center of the Acropolis.
The most important place in the work of Phidias was the creation of sculptures and reliefs for the Parthenon. The synthesis of architecture and sculpture, so characteristic of Greek art, finds its ideal embodiment here. Phidias belonged to the general idea of the sculptural decoration of the Parthenon and the leadership of its implementation, he also made some of the sculptures and reliefs. The artistic ideal of triumphant democracy finds its final embodiment in the majestic works of Phidias, the undisputed pinnacle of high classic art.
But, according to the Greeks themselves, Phidias' greatest creation was the statue of Olympian Zeus. Zeus is represented seated on a throne, in his right hand he held the figure of the goddess of victory Nike, in his left - a symbol of power - a scepter. In this statue, also for the first time in Greek art, Phidias created the image of a merciful god. The statue of Zeus was considered by the ancients to be one of the wonders of the world.
The ideal citizen of the policy is the main theme of the work of another sculptor of this time - Polykleitos from Argos. He performed mainly statues of winning athletes in sports. The most famous is his statue of Doryphoros (a young man with a spear), which the Greeks considered an exemplary work. Doryphorus Polikleitos is the embodiment of a physically and spiritually perfect person.
At the end of the 5th century new features begin to appear in sculpture, which were developed in the next century. In the reliefs of the balustrade of the temple of Nike Apteros (Wingless) on the Acropolis of Athens, dynamism is especially striking. We see the same features in the sculptural image of Nike, made by Paeonius. The desire to convey dynamic compositions did not exhaust the search for sculptors of the end of the century. In the art of these decades, a large place is occupied by reliefs on tombstones. Usually they were created according to a single type: the deceased in the circle of relatives. The main feature of this circle of reliefs (the most famous is the tombstone of Hegeso, daughter of Proxenus) is the depiction of the natural feelings of ordinary people. Thus, the same tasks are solved in sculpture as in literature (the tragedy of Euripides).
Unfortunately, we know almost nothing about the great Greek artists (Apollodorus, Zeuxis, Parrhasius), except for a description of some of their paintings and information about their skill. It can be assumed that the evolution of painting basically went in the same direction as sculpture. According to ancient authors, Apollodorus of Athens discovered at the end of the 5th century. the effect of chiaroscuro, i.e. laid the foundation for painting in the modern sense of the word. Parrasius strove to convey spiritual movements by means of painting. In a vase painting of the second half of the 5th c. more and more place is occupied by domestic scenes.
In the minds of subsequent generations, the 5th century BC associated with the greatest victories won by the Greeks at Marathon and Salamis, it was perceived as the time of the heroic deeds of the ancestors who defended the independence of Hellas, saved her freedom. It was a time when a single goal - to serve the motherland inspired the fighters, when the highest valor was to die for the fatherland, and the highest good was considered the good of the native policy.
Sculpture
In the archaic era, the main types of monumental sculpture were formed - statues of a naked young athlete (kouros) and a draped girl (kora).
Sculptures are made from limestone and marble, terracotta, bronze, wood and rare metals. These sculptures - both free-standing and in the form of reliefs - were used to decorate temples and as tombstones. The sculptures depict both scenes from mythology and everyday life. Life-size statues suddenly appear around 650 BC. e.
Examples of archaic Greek art
Story
Conflicts
- arcadian wars
- Athenian Republican Wars
- First Messenian War (c. 750-730 BC)
- First Holy War (595-585 BC)
- Lelantin War (late 8th century BC)
- Destruction of Epidaurus by Periandros (c. 600 BC)
- Second Messenian War (640-620 BC)
- Spartan expedition against Polycrates of Samos (529 BC)
- Tirean War (mid-6th century BC)
See also:
- Wars of the Ancient World
Important figures of the archaic period
statesmen
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epic poets
Philosophers
Lyric poets
Logographs
fabulists
see also
Notes
Literature
- The Cambridge History of the Ancient World. T. 3. Part 3: Expansion of the Greek world. VIII-VI centuries BC. e. Ed. J. Boardman and N.-J.-L. Hammond. Per. from English, preparation of the text, foreword and notes by A. V. Zaikov. M.: Ladomir, 2007. 653 p. ISBN 978-5-86218-467-9
- Richter Gisela M.A. A Handbook of Greek Art: Third Edition Newly Revised. - Phaidon Publishers Inc.
- Snodgrass Anthony Archaic Greece: The Age of Experiment. - London Melbourne Toronto: J M Dent & Sons Ltd. - ISBN 0460043882
- George Grote, J. M. Mitchell, Max Cary, Paul Cartledge, A History of Greece: From the Time of Solon to 403 B.C., Routledge, 2001. ISBN 0-415-22369-5
Links
- Archaic period: society, economy, politics, culture - The Foundation of the Hellenic World
- The Archaic Period of Greek Art Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia
- Ancient Greece: The Archaic Period - by Richard Hookero
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