1st year History of Art Tutorial

1) Discuss the life Pericles (10)

1. After the Persian wars Athens emerges victorious and strong. Its leader was Pericles.
2. Aristocrat from pro democratic family. Annually elected official but in effect came to lead Athens. 443BC
Proposed to make Athens into the greatest city.
3. He was responsible for a great many building projects which include most of the surviving structures on the
Acropolis (including the Parthenon).
4. He also persuaded the city to build the Long Walls that protected the four-mile route to Peiraeus, the
sea port for Athens.
5. Pericles started his political career at an early age. At first, however, he restrained his ambitions because he
was fearful that due to his social standing, he would be considered to be a tyrant or even dangerous for
Greece.
6. He promoted the interests of the demos -- the most numerous classes of middle and low income citizens --
so as to avoid their suspicion and build support.
7. Pericles was educated by
i) the sophist Daman, who taught him politics,
ii) by Zeno the Eleatic who taught him argumentation, and by
iii) Anaxagoras who taught him nobility of purpose and character.
8. Largely due to the teachings of Anaxagoras, Pericles was very careful of the way in which he spoke, and what
he chose to say.
9. Unfortunately, his infatuation with a woman named Aspasia would slightly change the way in which he
initiated conflicts. According to Plutarch, Pericles was persuaded by her to mount an expedition against one of
her enemies.
10. During the war against Sparta a plague spread through Athens and its allies, but not to its enemies, killing
many, including Pericles himself and most of his family.

2) There are three architectural styles in temple building in ancient Greece discuss the elements of the
building. Fill in the diagram of the Greek temple orders. (10)

a) The steps and stylobate, or platform of the temple.

a) The fluted column shaft.
b) The cushion (echinus) and rectangular block (abacus) which together form the capital.
c) The architrave, which performs the function of a beam.
d) The plane or sculptured metope tablets.
e) The projecting and channelled triglyph tablets.
f) The frieze comprising the metope and triglyph tablets.
g) The projecting cornice and
h) The pediment, or sculptured gable, between the sloping roof surfaces
i) The voluted capital of the ionic column (left) and the acanthus-leafed capital of the Corinthian style (right).
j) The molded bases of the two styles
k) The plinth or supporting block of stone used in some Ionic styled temples. Some temples combined features of
different styles.

3) What is the meaning of the word Acropolis? (2)

1. Acropolis –means ‘High City’
2. A fortified citadel built atop the Acropolis hill, so called the "Sacred Rock" of Athens, is the most important site
of the city.
4) Give the name and brief description of each architectural feature listed below
1. Parthenon The temple of Athena, the Virgin ("parthenos" in Greek) Goddess, protector of Athens
2. Old Temple of Athena
a. The old temple was destroyed by the Persians in 480 B.C. together with all the other buildings of
the Archaic period
3. Erechtheion
a. The Erechtheion was built in ca. 420 B.C. in the Ionic order. It was built after the Parthenon,
between 425 and 409, during the war against Sparta. It has a prostasis on the east side, a
monumental propylon on the north, and the famous porch of the Caryatids on the south.
b. Was the last the most complex, and the most richly embellished of the Periclean buildings.
c. The Erechtheum is best known for its caryatid porch. The present caryatids are copies, the originals
having been moved in order to preserve them.
d. Lay-out of the building.
e. The main temple was divided into two sections, dedicated to the worship of the two principal gods
of Attica, Athena and Poseidon Erechteus.
f. The west side of building, with its own monumental entrance, held the altars of Poseidon
Erechteus, Hephaestus and the hero Boutes.

4. Statue of Athena Promachus - Statue of Athena Promachos

a. This gigantic statue (7m high on top of a 2m base) that could be seen from the sea by travellers
doubling Cape Sunium, was one of the first works of the great sculptor Phidias. It was erected
as a tribute to Athena, the goddess who had "fought for (pro-machos in Greek)" Athens, after the
naval victory of Eurymedon over the Persian fleet in 466 B. C. and paid for with the spoils from that
victory. It was one of the most famous statues of antiquity.

5. Propylaea
a. The monumental gateway of the Acropolis was designed by the architect Mnesicles and
constructed in 437-432 B.C. It comprises a central building and two lateral wings.

6. Temple of Athena Nike

a. The Temple of Athena Nike was constructed in ca. 420 B.C. by the architect Callicrates. It is built in
the Ionic order, and it is amphiprostyle with a row of four columns in front of each of its narrow
sides.
b. The relief frieze on the upper section of the walls depicts the conference of gods on the east
side, and scenes from battles on the other three.
c. A marble parapet decorated with the relief representation of Nikae (Victories), protected the
edge of the Bastion on which the temple was erected.

7. Eleusinion - An Athenian temple to Demeter

a. The Eleusinion was the place where all sacred objects associated with the Eleusinian mysteries
were kept between ceremonies. It was located at the base of the Acropolis.

8. Sanctuary of Artemis Braurônia

a. Braurôn was a location, east of Athens, where the cult of Artemis was celebrated around a statue
of the goddess which was said to be the one brought back from Tauris by Orestes and Iphigenia
(see Herodotus, VI, 138).
b. Artemis, though often associated with virginity, was celebrated there as the protector of women
about to give birth. In the time of Peisistratus, her cult was moved to Athens and this sanctuary built
for her.

9. Chalkotheke.
 a. Was a building located on the Acropolis of Athens which housed the treasury of Athens. Named for
the bronze (chalkos) and other metals it contained it was located south-west of the Parthenon and
adjacent to the Brauroneion.

10. Pandroseion
a. Was a sanctuary dedicated to Pandrosus, one of the daughters of Cecrops I, the first king of Athens,
located on the Acropolis of Athens.

11. Arrephorion

12. Altar of Athena

13. Sanctuary of Zeus Polieus

a. This sanctuary was dedicated to Zeus as protector of the polis (the city), hence the name "polieus".
14. Sanctuary of Pandion
a. This sanctuary was dedicated to king Pandion, the father of Erechtheus, or to his great-grandson,
aslo named Pandion, who was the grandson of Erechtheus and the father of Ægeus (himself father of
Theseus).

15. Odeon of Herodes Atticus

a. The Odeon of Herodes Atticus is a stone theatre structure located on the south slope of the Acropolis
of Athens.

16. Stoa of Eumenes[AO1]

a. Between the Odeion of Herodes Atticus and the Theater of Dionysos is the Stoa of Eumenes, built by
King Eumenes II of Pergamon (197-160 B.C.), who not only erected magnificent buildings in his own
city (Great Altar of Pergamon) but also sought to do honor to Athens by the building of this stoa. His
example was followed by his brother and successor Attalos II (160-139 B.C.), who built the Stoa of
Attalos in the Agora, probably using the same architect.

17. Sanctuary of Asclepius

a. In ancient Greece, an asclepieion (or asklepieion) was a healing temple, sacred to the god
Asclepius. Starting around 300 BC, the cult of Asclepius became increasingly popular. Pilgrims
flocked to asclepieia to be healed.
b. They slept overnight and reported their dreams to a priest the following day. He prescribed a cure,
often a visit to the baths or a gymnasium. Since snakes were sacred to Asclepius, they were
often used in healing rituals.
18. Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus
a. The Theatre of Dionysus was a major open air theatre in ancient Greece, built at the foot of the
Athenian Acropolis and forming part of the temenos of "Dionysus Eleuthereus". Dedicated to
Dionysus, the god of plays and wine (among other things), the theatre could seat as many as 17,000
people, making it an ideal location for ancient Athens' biggest theatrical celebration, the Dionysia.
b. It became the prototype for all theatres of ancient Greece.
c. It was the first stone theatre ever built — cut into the southern cliff face of the Acropolis — and the
birthplace of Greek tragedy. The remains of a restored and redesigned Roman version can still be
seen at the site today.

19. Odeum of Pericles

a. A public building in Athens built by Pericles in 445 B. C. and initially dedicated to musical
performances (the name "Odeum" comes from the Greek word "ôdè" meaning "song").
b. It hosted musical contests during the yearly festival of the Panathenæa. It was later used also for
various other purposes, serving as a tribunal, a meeting room for the assembly and more.

20. Temenos of Dionysus Eleuthereus

a. A public building in Athens built by Pericles in 445 B. C. and initially dedicated to musical
performances (the name "Odeum" comes from the Greek word "ôdè" meaning "song").
b. It hosted musical contests during the yearly festival of the Panathenæa. It was later used also for
various other purposes, serving as a tribunal, a meeting room for the assembly and more.

21. Aglaureion
a. This sanctuary, built in a crack of the cliff on the northern side of the Acropolis, was dedicated to
Aglaurus, one of the daughters of Cecrops, the first king of Athens (see Herodotus' Histories, VIII,
53). It is there that the Athenian ephebes used to take the pledge of allegiance to their homeland,
invoking in it Aglaurus, along with Ares and other local and more "universal" divinities.

22. Tripod Road

a. This street leading from the agora to the theater of Dionysus by the eastern side of the Acropolis,
owed its name to the fact that monuments and tripods erected in memory of their victories at the
theatre by wealthy citizens selected as choirmasters (chorègoi) were lining up on its sides. It was one
of the busiest streets of ancient Athens.

23. Panathenaic Way

a. The road leading to the Acropolis through the Agora, that owed its name to the fact that it was the
road followed by the solemn procession (pompè) that constituted the high point of the festival of
the Panathenæa, in which a new dress (peplos) was brought to the goddess in her temple of the
Parthenon .
 b. The Panathenæa, celebrated in honor of Athena each year in the summer (during the month of
hecatombæon, that is rouhgly July, the first month of the Athenian calendar), with a more solemn
festival every four years (the "Great Panathenæa"), was one of the most important festivals of
Athens.
c. This Greek word meaning "walk around" was the name of the walkway circling the foot of the
Acropolis.

5) Tell the story of Daedalus (10)

1. His homeland was Athens. For a short time, his apprentice was his sister's son Perdix. When Daedalus feared
that the boy would surpass him in talent, he murdered the boy by tossing him from the Acropolis of Athens.
He was then tried at the Areopagus and banished from the city.
2. He fled to Crete, where he began to work at the court of King Minos and Queen Pasiphae[AO2], in the
magnificent palace of Knossos. There he constructed a wooden cow for the queen to hide in to satisfy her
amorous longings for a white bull sent by Poseidon and by which she became pregnant with the Minotaur.
3. When the Minotaur was born, Daedalus built the Labyrinth to contain the monstrous half-man, half-
bull.
4. For years Minos demanded a tribute of youths from Athens to feed the creature.
5. Eventually, the hero Theseus came to Crete to attempt to slay the Minotaur.
6. Ariadne, daughter of Minos and Pasiphae, fell in love with Theseus and asked Daedalus to help him.
7. Daedalus gave her a flaxen thread for Theseus to tie to the door of the Labyrinth as he entered, and by
which he could find his way out after killing the monster. Theseus succeeded, and escaped Crete with Ariadne.
Minos, enraged at the loss of his daughter, shut Daedalus and his son Icarus into the Labyrinth.
8. To escape, Daedalus built wings for himself and Icarus. They successfully flew from Crete, but Icarus'
wings melted when he flew too close to the sun, and he drowned in the sea. Daedalus buried his son and
continued to Sicily, where he came to stay at the court of Cocalus.
9. Minos then went in pursuit of Daedalus, hoping to trick the great inventor into revealing himself. At each
city he visited, Minos offered a reward to whomever could thread a spiral seashell. Eventually, Minos came to
Camicus in Sicily and presented the contest at Cocalus' court. Cocalus knew of Daedalus' talents, and gave
the shell to him. The clever Daedalus tied the string to an ant, place the ant at one end of the shell, and
allowed the ant to walk through the spiral chambers until it came out the other end.
10. When Minos saw that someone had solved the puzzle, he demanded that Cocalus surrender Daedalus. Cocalus
promised to do so, but he persuaded Minos to take a bath and stay for some entertainment. Minos agreed,
and was murdered by Cocalus' daughters.
11. The Athenians thought that a figure of such manifest intelligence and ingenuity had to be Athenian, and so they
contrived a geneology whereby Daedalus was the son of Metion, son the Erechtheus, the legendary founder of
Athens.
12. Daedalus served as something like a patron saint of sculptors.

6) What was the Eleusian Mysteries (10)

1. Like modern day Freemasonry, the Eleusinian Mysteries were open to initiates of all walks of life, but there
were prerequisites to the 'greater' mysteries.
2. Details of the earliest rituals conducted at Eleusis have been clouded by the mist of time. And no wonder,
settlement at Eleusis dates back nearly 4000 years. What we do know is that later day rituals appear to have
been based on the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, which was written in the 8th century BC.
3. The 'lesser mysteries' took place in Athens in mid February in a sanctuary called the Agra, near Olympic
Stadium. It is believed that the rituals contained a sexual element or theme.
4. The 'lesser mysteries' served as prerequisites for the 'greater mysteries', which took place around the 22nd of
September (in our modern calendar) and lasted for 9 days; symbolic of Detemer's 9 day wandering in search of
her abducted daughter, Kore.
5. The high priests from Eleusis were escorted by a torchbearer along the 12 mile 'sacred way' to Athens. Upon
arrival in Athens, sacrifices were made to Athena at the Acropolis, to bless the forthcoming ceremony.
6. In preparation for the procession to Eleusis, ceremonies took place in the nearby Agora, including the bathing,
bloodletting, sacrifice and burial of a pig by each initiate. This signaled the start of the symbolic process of
letting go, or the death of one's 'self'.
7. Several days of ceremony ensued before the day of Gathering, or agrymos, when the initiates would assemble
in the Agora at the Eleusinion, a temple dedicated to the mysteries, to prepare for the pilgrimage to Eleusis.
This took place on or around the 27th of September, and from this point onward, the initiates were sworn to
secrecy
8. From the Eleusinion, the procession of initiates, called mystai, were led by priest and priestess through the
Agora to the Kerameikos, Athens ancient cemetery.
9. The theme of death, the shedding of one’s former 'self', intensifies from this point onwards. In addition to the
Dipylon (or double) Gate - the grandest in the world in its day, the Kerameikos boasted the Sacred Gate, which
marked the start of the official procession to Eleusis.
10. From the sacred gate, the mystai process for several miles along the 'avenue of tombs', again focusing the
initiates mind on death.
11. Next, the mystai were led to a particular spot where gephyrismoi, or 'bridge gests' were preformed. This
consisted of what we would call hazing, or mockery. The 'gests' were highly personal, and were intended to
further 'kill' the individuals concept of self.
12. Darkness would have descended by the time the mystai arrived in Eleusis. Here they would begin a two day
period of initiation. The rituals were highly secretive, but are believed to have included ceremonies at the
ancient well of Demeter and the nearby Cave of Hades, which was thought to be the entrance to the
 underworld, as recounted in the Hymn to Demeter. Here initiates are believed to have prayed in the presence
of an omphalos, the navel of the world.
13. The ceremony climaxed at the Telesterion, a specially designed temple for the initiation of mystai. Initially, the
Telesterion was modest and quite intimate in size. Later, it was rebuilt to accommodate 3000 initiates
14. It is believed that prior to entering the great hall the high priest would administer an entheogen to enhance the
initiate's experience of re-birth.
15. Archaeologists believe that part of the secret of the ritual was the re-enactment of the reunion of Kore, or
Persephone as she was known to the mystai, and Demeter. Persephone's return from darkness is believed to
have triggered a hallucinogenic inspired reaction in the initiate, symbolising the rebirth of their new self.
16. Once the mysteries had completed, the mystai returned to the Eleusinion in the Agora in Athens to confer with
the 'council of 500', an act that illustrates how important the mysteries were to Greek society.
17. Historians tell us that the reason the Eleusinian Mysteries were permitted to carry on until late Roman times
was the fear that failure to pay homage to the reunion Demeter and Kore would result in nothing short of the
death of Greece, and the obliteration of mother earth itself.

7) Why are there no examples of Greek painting and sculpture except what we see in the relatively minor
art form of pottery? (10)

1. As for the Archaic period of Greek art, painted pottery and sculpture are almost the only forms of art which
have survived in any quantity.
2. Greek painting is only seen in relatively minor art form of vase painting, The Ancient Greeks made pottery
for everyday use, not for display; the trophies won at games, such as the Panathenaic Amphorae (wine
decanters), are the exception.
3. Most surviving pottery consists of drinking vessels such as amphorae, kraters (bowls for mixing
wine and water), hydria (water jars), libation bowls, jugs and cups.
4. The Greeks, like most European cultures, regarded painting as the highest form of art.
5. The painter Polygnotus of Thasos, who worked in the mid 5th century BC, was regarded by later Greeks in
much the same way that people today regard Leonardo or Michelangelo, and his works were still being admired
600 years after his death.
6. Today none of his works survives, not even as copies. Greek painters worked mainly on wooden panels, and
these perished rapidly after the 4th century AD, when they were no longer actively protected.
7. Today nothing survives of Greek painting, except some examples of painted terra cotta and a few
paintings on the walls of tombs, mostly in Macedonia and Italy. Of the masterpieces of Greek painting we
have only a few copies from Roman times, and most are of inferior quality.
8. Even in the fields of sculpture and architecture, only a fragment of the total output of Greek artists survives.
9. For the Christians of the 4th and 5th centuries, smashing a pagan idol was an act of piety. One of the
sad facts of ancient history is that when marble is burned, lime is produced, and that was also the fate of the
great bulk of Greek marble statuary during the Middle Ages.
10. Likewise, the acute shortage of metal during the Middle Ages led to the majority of Greek bronze
statues being melted down. Those statues which had survived did so primarily because they had been
buried and forgotten, or as in the case of bronzes having been lost at sea.
11. The great majority of Greek buildings have not survived: they were either pillaged in war, looted for
building materials or destroyed in Greece¹s many earthquakes. Only a handful of temples, such as the
Parthenon and the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens, have been spared.