Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Greek
<p>Ancient Greek art spans a period between about 900 and 30 BCE and is divided into four periods: Geometric, Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic. Throughout that period, artists worked with a wide variety of materials including bronze and stone for sculpture; terracotta for vases and figurines; various pigments for painting; and gold, silver, and bronze for coinage.&nbsp;</p><p>In the Geometric period, not only were geometric patterns dominant but so too were abstract figures, especially <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/237363/statuette-of-a-horse" target="_blank">horses</a>, military, and funerary scenes. A lack of inscriptions can make the interpretation of this iconography difficult.&nbsp;</p><p>Beginning in the 7th century BCE, the Archaic period ushered in an increasingly naturalistic style, especially in depictions of the human form. Influences from Egypt and the Near East can be seen in the appearance of motifs such as the palmette and lotus, along with composite creatures like <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/129906/pair-of-protomes-depicting-the-forepart-of-a-griffin" target="_blank">griffins</a> (bird/lion), <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/40879/pyxis-container-for-personal-objects" target="_blank">sphinxes</a> (human/winged lion), and <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/333/statuette-of-a-siren" target="_blank">sirens</a> (bird/woman). Terracotta vases, especially those made in the second half of the sixth century BCE, depict aspects of <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/616/pyxis-container-for-personal-objects" target="_blank">daily life</a>, <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/87666/lekythos-oil-jar" target="_blank">funerary rites</a>, <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/84551/bell-krater-mixing-bowl" target="_blank">warfare</a>, and <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/52198/belly-amphora-storage-jar" target="_blank">mythology</a>. Experimentation with new techniques, such as <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/158/pelike-storage-jar" target="_blank">black-figure </a>and <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/65202/hydria-water-jar" target="_blank">red-figure</a> decoration, allowed for a wider range of figures and scenes to be depicted in greater detail.&nbsp;</p><p>The Classical period, often defined by the Greek defeat of the Persians in 479 BCE, ushered in what is now known as the Golden Age of Greece. The city of Athens dominated the flourishing artistic scene, and the building of the Parthenon (the temple erected between 447 and 432 BCE on the Acropolis in Athens, Greece) paved the way for unprecedented achievements in architecture and sculpture.&nbsp;</p><p>The final transition to the Hellenistic period, which lasted from about 323 through 30 BCE, occurred following the death of Alexander the Great, who famously spread Greek culture into the lands of his far-reaching conquest. Gods and heroes, who were previously depicted in two-dimensional scenes on vases or reliefs, were given new life as <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/217295/statue-of-young-dionysos" target="_blank">full-figured works of sculpture</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>Ancient texts and inscriptions provide names of some of the most famous sculptors from Ancient Greece, including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/56166/relief-of-a-falling-warrior" target="_blank">Pheidias</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/40593/statue-of-meleager" target="_blank">Skopas</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/61600/statue-of-the-aphrodite-of-knidos" target="_blank">Praxiteles</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/52764/statuette-of-hercules" target="_blank">Lysippos</a>, and vase painters like Exekias and Euphronios. However, as the names of many ancient Greek artists are unknown to us today, modern scholars sometimes give names to artists whose style they can recognize, like the <a href="https://nocache.www.artic.edu/artists/44842/chicago-painter" target="_blank">Chicago Painter</a>. Because most Greek statues of the Classical and Hellenistic periods have not survived, <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/56166/relief-of-a-falling-warrior" target="_blank">Roman versions</a> produced between the 2nd century BCE and the 4th century CE provide the most compelling visual evidence we have about the appearance of the originals.</p>
Greek; Thessaly Greek Attributed to the Demagora Master
Greek; Halai Aixonides, Athens Attributed to the Hippocamp Group
Greek; Canosa, Apulia, Italy Greek, minted in Athens Greek, minted in Amphipolis, Macedonia Greek; Athens Greek, minted in Antigonus Greek, Miletus Greek; Smyrna, Ionia (now Izmir, Turkey) Greek, minted in Mantineia Greek, minted in Tarentum, Calabria, Italy Greek; minted in Paphos, Cyprus Greek, minted in Elis Greek; Kingdom of Pontus (now northern Turkey) Greek, Ptolemaic Greek, minted in Erythrae, Ionia Greek; Campania, Italy Greek, Hellenistic Greek; minted in Sikyon, Peloponnesus Greek, minted in Corinth Greek; minted in Thebes, Boeotia Greek, minted in Ephesos Greek; probably minted in Antioch (near modern Antakya, Turkey) Attributed to a painter of the Leagros group
Greek; Athens Greek, minted in Syracuse, Sicily Greek, minted in Metapontum, Italy Greek; minted in Pergamon, Mysia, Asia Minor (now Turkey) Greek; Elis Sasanian; Persian (now Iran) Attributed to the Diosphos Painter
Greek; Athens Greek; minted in Taras (now Taranto), Italy Greek; Apulia, Italy Manner of the Niobid Painter
Greek; Athens Greek; Messina, Sicily Greek, minted in Sicyonia Greek, minted in Cilicia Greek; Corinth Greek, minted in Dyme Greek; minted in Ephesus, Asia Minor (modern Turkey) Attributed to the Painter of London E 489
Greek; Athens Greek; Macedonia Hellenistic or early Roman; eastern Mediterranean Greek, minted in Neapolis (now Naples), Italy Greek; minted in Sidon, ancient Phoenicia Attributed to the Perrone-Phrixos Group
Greek; Tarentum (now Taranto), Apulia, Italy Greek; Crotone, Italy Greek; probably Samos Eastern Mediterranean Greek; minted in Thasos, Thrace Greek, minted in Parium, Mysia Greek; Klazomenai, Ionia (now Turkey) Greek; minted in Pergamon, Asia Minor (now Turkey) Greek; minted in Maroneia, Thrace Greek; probably minted in Alexandria, Egypt Attributed to the Florence Painter
Greek; Athens Etruscan Attributed to a Member of the Earlier Mannerist Group
Greek; Athens Greek; minted in Aegina, Greece Greek; probably Campania, Italy Greek; Caulonia, Italy Attributed to the Canessa Class
Greek; Athens Attributed to the Dotted Stripe Painter
Greek; Campania, Italy Greek, minted in Megalopolis Greek, minted in Alexandria, Egypt Greek; Thessalonika, Macedonia Greek; Arados, Phoenicia (now Syria) Greek; Antigoneia (once Mantineia) Cycladic; probably from the island of Keros Greek, minted in Akragas (now Agrigento), Sicily Greek; Boeotia Greek; Lesbos, Aeolis Greek, minted in Perinthos, Thrace (now Turkey) Greek; minted in Pella, ancient Macedonia Greek, minted in Thasos, Thrace Greek, minted in Kroton/Bruttium, Italy Probably by the Heligoland Painter
Greek; Campania, Italy Attributed to the Manner of the Haimon Painter
Greek; Athens Greek; minted in Neapolis, ancient Macedon, Greece Greek, minted in Amphipolis Greek, Ptolemaic; minted in Cyprus Attributed to the Workshop of Nikosthenes
Greek; Athens Greek; minted in Messana, Sicily, Italy Etrusco-Corinthian; Etruria, Italy Attributed to The Painter of Naples 3136
Greek; Athens Greek, minted in Phocis Greek; minted in Syracuse, Sicily, Italy Greek; minted in Apamea (near modern Hama, Syria) Greek; possibly Myrina, Lemnos Greek; minted in Corinth Phoenician, minted in Tyre, Syria Greek, minted in Terina, Bruttium, Italy Greek; minted in Cyrene, North Africa Greek; Cyrenaicia, North Africa Greek; Thasos Greek, Ptolemaic; minted in Egypt Greek; Thrace Greek, minted in Smyrna, Ionia Greek, minted in Hephaistia, Lemnos Greek; Cydonia, Crete Greek; minted in Knossos, Crete Greek; minted in Bruttium, Italy Greek, minted in Maroneia, Thrace Greek; Lycia, Asia Minor Greek; minted in Pella, ancient Macedon, Greece Greek, minted in Tyre Greek; probably from Southern Italy Greek, minted in Gela, Sicily Greek, minted in Damascus, Syria Greek; Agrigentum (now Agrigento), Sicily, Italy Attributed to the London Class (Class G)
Greek; Athens Greek; Rhegium, Italy Greek, minted in Taras (now Taranto), Italy Greek, minted in Lycoa Faliscan; Latium, Italy Greek, minted in Tyre, Phoenicia Greek; Kyzikos, Mysia (now Turkey) Close to the style of the Antimenes Painter
Greek; Athens Greek; Apulia, Italy 
probably made in Canosa, said to have been found in Tarento, Italy Greek; minted in Amphipolis, Macedonia Attributed to the Mattinata Painter
Greek; Apulia, Italy Greek, minted in Syria Attributed to the Workshop of the "Bird-frieze Painter"
Greek; Corinth Greek, minted in Neapolis (now Naples), Campania, Italy Greek; possibly Apulia or Campania, Italy Greek, Ptolemaic; Egypt Greek; Illyria Greek; Thebes, Boeotia Greek, minted in Selinunte, Sicily Greek; minted in Metapontum, Italy Greek; minted in Myrina, Aeolis, Asia Minor (now Turkey) Greek, minted in Syracuse, Sicily, Italy Attributed to the Painter of Leningrad 955
Greek; Tarentum (now Taranto), Apulia, Italy Attributed to the CHC Group
Greek; Athens Greek; Syria Attributed to the Baltimore Painter
Greek; Apulia, Italy Greek; minted in Paros, Cyclades Greek, minted in Cyme, Acolis Hellenistic Greek; minted in Sikyon Attributed to the Painter of Copenhagen 4223
Greek; Apulia, Italy Attributed to the Cavalcade Painter
Greek; Corinth Greek; Tarsus, Cilicia Attributed to the White Saccos Group
Greek; Apulia, Italy Attributed to the Sabouroff Painter
Greek; Athens Greek, possibly minted in Chios, Ionia Italian
Chiurazzi and De Angelis Foundry, Naples, Italy Attributed to the Varrese Painter
Greek; Apulia, Italy Greek; ancient Macedon, Greece Greek, minted in Skepsis, Troad Greek, minted in Ionia Attributed to the Reed Painter
Greek; Athens Greek; minted in Teos, Ionia Attributed to the Painter of London E 55 (Manner of Douris)
Greek; Athens Greek; possibly Campania, Italy Greek, minted in Lesbos, probably Mytilene Greek, minted in Messene