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The have names remained of major standard periods even of Greek though art changing (Timeline inter- 5-1) pretations have led some art historians to question their name to the geometric, or rectilinear, forms with which artists of the time decorated ceramic vessels. The Orien-

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THE The first appearance of a specifi-

This style ﾑ known as Prot0- Seometric because it anticipated the Geometric style ﾑ was characterized by linear motifs, such as spirals, diamonds, and cross-hatching, rather than the styl ﾂ ized plants, birds, and sea creatures characteristic of Minoan vase painting. The Geometric style proper, an extremely complex form of decoration, became wide ﾂ spread after about 900 BCE in all types of art and en ﾂ dured until about 700 BCE.

CERAMIC DECORATION A striking ceramic figure of a half-horse, half-human creature called a centaur dates to the end of the tenth century BCE (fig. 5-4). This figure exemplifies two as-

^use "oilow of body its size was (more formed than like a foot a tall) vase and on because a potter's its whee1. The artist added solid legs, arms, and a tail (now missing) to this body and painted on the bold, abstract designs with slip, a mixture of water and clay. The slip fired to dark brown, standing out against the lighter color of the unslipped portions of the figure. Centaurs, prominent in Greek mythology, had both a good and a bad side and may have symbolized the similar dual na ﾂ ture of humans. This centaur, discovered in a cemetery, had been deliberately broken into two pieces that were buried in adjacent graves. Clearly, the object had spe ﾂ cial significance for the people buried in the graves or their mourners

Terra-cotta, height 14'/j" (36 cm). Archaeological Museum, Eretria, Greece.

5-4. Centaur, from Lefkandi, Euboea. Late 10th century BCE,

F""e 呵 陣 ater), from the Dipylon Cemetery,

Large funerary vases discovered in the ancient cemetery of Athens just outside the Dipylon Gate, once the main western entrance into the city, exemplify the complex decoration typical of the Geometric style prop ﾂ

er (900-700 BCE). For the first time, human beings are depicted as part of a narrative. The pot illustrated here, a grave marker dated about 750 BCE, provides a detailed record of the funerary rituals ﾑ including the relatively new Greek practice of cremation ﾑ for an important man (fig. 5-5). The body of the deceased is placed on its side on a funeral bier, about to be cremated, at the cen- ter of the top register of the vase. Male and female fig ﾂ ures stand on each side of the body, their arms raised

and both hands placed on top of their heads in a ges ﾂ ture interpreted as expressing anguish ﾑ it suggests that the mourners are literally tearing their hair out with grief. In the bottom register, horse-drawn chariots and foot soldiers, who 100k like walking shields with tiny antlike heads and muscular legs, form a procession.

The abstract forms used to represent human figures on this pot ﾑ triangles for torsos; more triangles for the heads in profile; round dots for eyes; long, thin rectan ﾂ gles for arms; tiny waists; and long legs with bulging thigh and calf muscles ﾑ are typical of the Geometric style. Figures are shown in either ful1-frontal or ful1- profile views that emphasize flat patterns and outline shapes. No attempt has been made to create the illu ﾂ

sion of three-dimensional forms occupying real space. The artist has nevertheless communicated a deep sense of human loss by exploiting the rigidity, solemni ﾂ ty, and strong rhythmic accents of the carefully arranged elements.

Egyptian funerary art reflected the belief that the dead, in the afterworld, could continue to engage in activities they enjoyed while alive. Greek funerary art, in contrast, focused on the emotional reactions of the survivors, not the fate of the dead. The scene of human mourning on this pot contains no supernatural beings, nor any identifiable reference to an afterlife that might have provided solace for the bereaved. Ac- cording to the Greeks, the deceased entered a place of

THE By the seventh century BCE,

dense linear decoration of the Geometric style. They now created more open com- positions built around large motifs that included real and imaginary animals, abstract plant forms, and human figures. The source of these motifs can be traced to the arts of the Near East, Asia Minor, and Egypt. Greek painters did not simply copy the work of Eastern artists, however. Instead, they drew on work in a variety of mediums ﾑ including sculpture, metalwork, and textiles-Lo invent an entirely new approach to ^se painting.

The Orientalizing style (c. 700-625

Corinth, Kast and a Egypt port city inspired where the luxury artists. wares The from new the style Near is evident in a Corinthian oipe, or wide-mouthed pitch- er, dating to about 600 BCE, which has silhouetted

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During the Archaic period, from about c. 620 to c. 490/80 BCE, the Greek city- states on the mainland, on the Aegean

PERIOD islands, and in the colonies grew and flourished. Athens, which had lapsed

ehind the other city-states in population and economic development in the seventh century BCE, began moving artistically, commerdally, and politically to the forefront,

The Greek arts developed rapidly during the Archa- ic period. In literature, the poet Sappho on the island of Lesbos was writine poetry that would inspire the ge- ographer Strab0, near the end of the millennium, to write: "Never within human memory has there been a woman to compare with her as a poet." On another is- land, the semilegendary slave Aesop was relating ani- mal fables that became lasting elements in Western culture. Artists shared in the growing prosperity of the city-states by competing for lucrative commissions from city councils and wealthy individuals, who spon ﾂ sored the building of temples, shrines, government

VASE PAINTING Greek potters created only a few vessel forms, but each one combined beauty with a specific utilitarian function

^ (fig. 5-23). The artists who painted the pots, which were often richly decorated, had to accommodate their work to these fixed shapes. During the Archaic period, Athens became the dominant center for pottery manufacture and trade in Greece. Athenian painters adopted the Corinthian black-figure techniques (see "Greek Painted Vases," opposite), which became the principal mode of decoration throughout Greece in the sixth cen ﾂ tury BCE. At first, Athenian painters retained the horizon ﾂ tal banded composition that was characteristic of the Geometric period. An important transitional work, the Frangois Vase, illustrates the style (fig. 5-24). This vase, which dates about 570 BCE, is a volute krater ﾑ a large vessel with scrol1-shaped, or volute, handles ﾑ which was used for mixing the traditional Greek drink of wine and water. The Frangois Vase (discovered by an archae ﾂ ologist named Frangois) is one of the earliest known vessels signed by both the potter who made it (Ergoti-

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0 （ の灯 M This large mbdng bow! was made and decorated by Athenian artists but discovered in an Etruscan tomb. The Etruscans, who lived in central Italy, greatly admired and collected Greek pottery. Not only did they import vases, but they also may have brought in Greek artists to teach their local artists.

Kleitias was a great storyteller: this vesse1, decorat ﾂ

ed with approximately 200 human and animal figures, identified with inscriptions, provides an important picto ﾂ rial and literary record. The main narrative scene, which occupies the shoulder, the third band down from the top, and encircles the whole vase, is the marriage of Peleus, the king of Thessaly, and Thetis, a sea nymph, who were the parents of Achilles. In the segment seen in figure 5-24, Peleus stands in front of his palace, greeting the Olympian gods, who are arriving at the marriage ceremony in a grand procession of chariots. The scenes on the neck of the vessel show, from the top down: the hunt for the dangerous Kalydonian Boar, led by the hero Meleager, and the funeral games in honor of Patroclus, Achilles' close friend who died in the Trojan War. On the body of the krater, below Peleus and Thetis, is a depic ﾂ tion of the ambush of the Trojan prince Troilus by Achilles. The Orientalizing style (see fig. 5-8) is still evi ﾂ

dent in the next band down, decorated with deer, griffins, and plant forms. On the foot of the vesse1, very small warriors battle long-necked cranes, illustrating a story dating back to Homer. There are only four bands of pure geometric design ﾑ two on the foot, one at the base of the body, and another between the shoulder and the neck.