5/10/17
History Lesson 35 - Week 7 Essay
1 > Choose a work of art from ancient Greece (it doesn't have to be one covered in the video lesson) and do the following: (1) provide the basic background (what it is, when it dates from), (2) identify which period of Greek art it belongs to, (3) explain what that period is known for, and (4) explain how the work you've chosen illustrates the characteristics of its period.
2 > How does ancient Greek religion resemble or differ from the religion of the Hebrews?
Part 1, I'm going to split the questions into parts (the vase I'm describing is in the picture at the bottom)
(Question 1, though technically it was listed as 3 and 4 but I'm not making this complicated with numbering). I chose a piece of art dated from the Geometric period of Greece. It is a simple vase painting, these were basic and unimportant to the Greeks. But we have a plentiful amount of painted vases so it is what I chose. That doesn't mean they aren't worth studying. As the saying goes one mans trash is another man's treasure. A painted vase isn't trash after all but still, the saying fits. We are lacking in other areas of art from ancient Greece. Their vase paintings are what we have remaining mostly, but the vases are still very pretty. They depict drawings on nicely made ceramics. They also did survive this long. The geometric period took place from approximately 900-850 BC which is in the mid-century. The geometric period has what you think it would, vases covered in shapes. The vases would be like a box with a narrow top. They were used for practical reasons, simply a container that people would keep their things in. You can see distinctly the style comes out in the vases. Funeral vases were used as a funeral marking, like a tombstone (to be morbid). A thick black line would be on the funeral vase and it would be like most of the vases, intricately detailed. It would be geometric at the top and they would have a wake to honor the body. Vase painting was done on black-figure and red-figure vases. The geometric shapes seen on my vase is a tragic theme of swastikas, crooked lines, and circles in a motif around it. Later in the period they ease up the sad theme and the geometric shapes are animals, birds, hunting scenes and more of the like. From the mid 8th century BC the close contact between the East and the Greeks enriched the ceramics with lions, lotus flowers, just new subjects in general. So, since few other aspects of ancient Greek art have survived, such as ancient Greek painting, scholars have to trace the development of ancient Greek art through the vase painting! It's useful for historians. The work I've chosen I think represents the Geometric period because it has a lot of shapes in motifs circling my ceramics/vase and it is very orderly (patterned) and detailed. As most are intricate, even though they are common pottery (to the Greeks) they represent culture even then. That makes you think this is just common pottery not their best work. It still shows skill, so some of their best work must have been very nice. Or even these vases in their prime. Without decay, age, or missing parts (such as the Artemision Bronze). I think the little horse on the top of my vase is a cute added detail with some faded geometric details on the horse as well. (can you see it?) The geometric period art reminds me of tribal print patterns. The little horse is also a handle for the lid of the ceramic pottery. The vase is big, fat, and round with no bumps or obvious flaws so it's in decent condition I'd say from just looking at it. Made smoothly. The vase is practical with holding items it being so wide. You can barely see the line where the vase lid ends and the vase begins. My favorite part is the little horse, even though it's not the most geometric aspect of the piece, but the round shape of the vase is unique. I like that as well. The horse on the lid has social significance because "raising" a horse was an aristocrat pursuit for only the rich. It shines through as a geometric piece and the Greeks did well with their ancient art and really forming an art style with it.
Horse Pyxis (Circular Box) made from terracotta
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