middle helladic to the late helladic i shaft graves 13 страница

There were many kouroi dedicated to Apollo in his sanctuary of Ptoon in Boeotia. One of the latest was dedicated by Pytheas and Aeschrion, around 500 все (Figure 8.11). The figure still has the so-called archaic smile that we have seen on the other statues and the hair is highly stylized, but now is tied up above the neck. The eyes are set further back into the head and the articulation of the

muscles and bones is achieved through more subtle undulations in the surface of the stone. This figure is more rounded and unified as a body.

Late archaic sculptors did create a more naturalistic figure while retaining the kouros formula, that is, the anatomical structure and proportions become more lifelike and there are more details of skeleton and mus­culature on the surface that mimic human figures more closely. Why this development of naturalism took place, however, is less certain. Given that we will see further innovations toward lifelike representation of the human figure in the fifth century, it has been a theorem of classical art history that Greek art strived steadily toward increasing naturalism and that this eventually led to the abandonment of the kouros for­mula after 480 bce in favor of more lifelike figures. This may have less to do with an inherent desire for naturalism over abstraction in art, as the traditional theory implies. Rather, we should consider that statues like these were uncommon and expensive products, usually associated with elite social classes. The statues were meant to impress the viewer and to interact with him or her, whether by the viewer gazing at the figure, reading an inscription aloud, or performing a ritual offering. While they follow a formula, we should note that there is very little in the way of duplication from one statue to the next, except when they are made as a set like Kleobis and Biton. Differences in size, propor­tions, and details would have made a distinct impres­sion on the viewer, who could see each statue as a unique work among many in a cemetery or sanctuary. Each was meant to evoke wonder and contemplation on the part of the viewer, thus the creation of a new work in a new style would be one way to maintain a balance between formula and individuality.

There is a similar pattern of type and variation in the sixth-century kore statues, and a similar difficulty with the terminology. Like the early statue dedicated by Nikandre on Delos (see Figure 6.3, page 134), the kore is a clothed, standing female figure who is young and wears an elaborately woven garment. Early korai used paint and incised lines to articulate the clothing, but in the sixth century the drapery and its folds become more sculptural in their articulation. The kore dedicated by Cheramyes at Samos is an Ionian work, like the kouros of Sambrotidas, with the inscription carved on the statue (Figure 8.12). The sculptor uses precisely carved grooves to show the folds of the cloth­ing, with fine lines along the skirt to indicate the thinner under-layer of the chiton, smooth surfaces with flat and more thickly carved borders for the himation (mantle) worn over the chiton, and finally, widely spaced, deep grooves for the epiblema (shawl) over her top. The lines create a dynamic pattern of movement around the figure while also drawing attention to the curves of the body underneath the drapery. Typical of the regional Ionian style of the kore, the figure is cylindrical in conception, rather than the more rectilinear forms of contemporary statues like Kleobis and Biton.

A second, nearly duplicate kore was later found on Samos along with a common base. A pair of korai would be appropriate dedications for the sanctuary of Hera. Since Cheramyes was a man

(he also dedicated an inscribed kouros at Samos), the figure does not represent him, but it is possible it could symbolize the women of his family. The pose of the figure, with the left arm drawn up and across the chest, suggests that it might be making an offering or performing a ritual. The inscription states that the statue is an agalma, a work that is a pleasing gift to the deity as we saw in Chapter 7. With its over-life-size scale and precisely carved details, it would have served that purpose well and would have commemorated the piety and prominence of Cheramyes and his family.

The kore could also be used as a grave marker, like the kore of Phrasikleia (Figure 8.13). The statue was discovered in 1972 in the cemetery of Merenda in Attica, along with a kouros, where it had been set in a trench in antiquity, presumably due to the destruction of the tomb. The base, found built into a nearby church and known since the eighteenth century, tells us:

Sema [memorial] of Phrasikleia, kore I shall always be called,

having received this name from the gods instead of marriage.

Using the first person, we understand the statue is speaking directly to us as viewers. The word sema means tomb or memorial, but it also means more broadly a “sign," a visual equivalent to Phrasikleia. The inscribed name, read aloud, and the sculpted figure together evoke Phrasikleia in the ears and eyes of the viewer. On the side of the base is inscribed the name of the artist: “Aristion of Paros made me" It is during the sixth century that we begin to see the names of artists written on sculpture and painted pottery, but phrased as if the work itself is telling us who made it.

The statue still preserves some of the red paint of the fabric. Decorative motifs of meanders and rosettes are marked by incised lines and were painted yellow and blue. Phrasikleia’s dress is simpler than Cheramyes’s kore, a chiton belted at the waist. The overfold above the belt has slight undulations that capture the fall of fabric hanging on a body. She pulls her skirt at the thigh, a gesture that would have allowed her to walk in procession, but would have also pulled the hem up and revealed her ankle. Phrasikleia’s hem is not disturbed, but it is an effect found in other korai and would have signi­fied their desirability. She holds a closed lotus bloom in her left hand and wears elaborate jewelry, including a crown made up of lotus blossoms and pearls. Phrasikleia is dressed as a bride, a maiden (kore) who would be presented on her marriage day to become a wife (nymphe). As the inscription tells us, she did not marry, but she is shown in what we can regard as an ideal female form, youthful, poised, and elegant, able to be a bride or serve a goddess. Indeed, Kore is also a name for Persephone, wife of Hades, so the use of the term in the inscription might have additional meaning for Phrasikleia in the underworld.

Late archaic korai become more complicated and intricately carved, such as the kore from the Athenian Acropolis dated around 520-510 все (Figure 8.14). It is one of a large assembly of votive dedications on the Acropolis between 520 and 480, and while most share similar features of costume and style, each is quite different and individual in proportions and details. This kore is wearing a thin chiton that hugs the body in crisp, raised, undulating lines. A heavier mantle hangs from one shoulder and creates a series of large, smooth folds. The edges create another, deeper undulating pattern reinforced by painted decoration. She holds out an apple or pomegranate in one hand, which is carved separately and inserted into a socket at the elbow; she also pulls her garments with her left hand, creating a pinwheel pattern of folds.

With its original paint, the figure was lavishly decorated. Recent study of the pigments still embedded in the marble has led to new reconstructions of the original coloring of Greek sculpture, and we can see the result in another contemporary kore from the Acropolis that is sometimes called the “Chian Kore" (Figure 8.15). Analysis of the original work has shown the use of pale yellow ochre and lead yellow as pigments for the yellow garment, cinnabar for red, and azurite for blue. These pigments have been applied to a replica of the original. The impression is startling at first glimpse, conditioned as we are to think of Greek sculpture as purely marble. Even when the traces of the pigment and even the details of the ornamented patterns of the cloth are visible on the marble statue, the fading and changing color mutes what must have been a rich coloristic effect in Greek sculpture

8.13 Kore of Phrasikleia, c. 550-540 все. Signed by Aristion of Paros. 5 ft 95/16 in (1.76 m). Athens, National Archaeological Museum 4889. Photo: National Archaeological Museum, Athens (Giannis Patrikianos) © Hellenic Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, Culture and Sports/Archaeological Receipts Fund.

originally. This has generated some debate and reassessment, as is considered in the textbox for this chapter, but undoubtedly the paint provided not only rich color, but also an impression of the intricate patterns in textiles, particularly those that would have been worn by women in important public rituals.

Indeed, the kore would have been a kalon agalma, or beautiful object of delight, as many of the votive dedications for such statues testify. Some works, such as a kouros dedicated by Cheramyes in addition to his kore (see Figure 8.12), go further in calling themselves perikalles agalma, a very beautiful object of delight. In addition to coloring and pattern, the polish and reflection of the marble surface of the sculpture, its aglaos or brilliance and radiance, would have been appealing. Youthful figures and the limbs of warriors are often described in poetry as aglaos, and the kouroi and korai that stand in for these humans are meant to be equally brilliant. The shine of marble, mamoros in Greek, must have been one of its attractive qualities that justified its expensiveness as

a material, and indeed the related word marmairein means generally to shine and sparkle. Bronze, gold, and ivory held similar visual appeal.

Like the kouroi, there has been debate about who or what the korai represent. In some cases votive statues commemorate family members even if dedicated by a male, and certainly a funerary kore like Phrasikleia’s is a sign for the deceased woman. Many, if not most dedica­tors of korai are men without reference to their family, so with these votives, the kore might be a goddess, such as Hera or Athena, or an idealized representation of the women who made offerings and performed rituals on behalf of the community. Many of the late korai on the Athenian Acropolis modify the formula by extending one arm out and holding something in the hand, but whether the object is an attribute signifying a goddess or an offer­ing identifying a worshipper is debated. This ambiguity might be part of the reason for the success of the kore, in that it could be both typical and individualized simulta­neously, whether through details or an accompanying inscription.

The kore of Euthydikos, which we saw in Chapter 7, is one of the last of the series dedicated on the Athenian Acropolis (see Figure 7.18, page 175). While it follows the formula found in Figure 8.14, the figure no longer has the archaic smile, and the drapery patterns are more subdued, with graduated folds that mimic the behavior of cloth more closely. The eyes are set further back into the head, and the doughy quality of the body looks ahead to the Severe Style of the early classical period (see Figure 10.1, page 237). This kore, along with the others on the Athenian Acropolis, was destroyed in 480 все in the sacking of Athens; the statues were buried, used as fill in the reconstruc­tion of the sanctuary. When new dedications were made on the Acropolis after that time, the kore was no longer used.

Indeed, after 480 we see that both the kore and kouros figures give way to new types that feature greater animation and reveal more character. As can be seen in the Kritios Boy from just after 480 (see Figure 10.1, page 237), the archaic smile is gone, and the pose of the body is more like that of an actual

person poised at rest but attentive to his surroundings. The nude male continues to be a dominant subject, but there is more variation in poses and actions. We shall explore these aspects of fifth-century sculpture in Chapter 10.

other media

Three-dimensional works in other media, including bronze, were produced during the archaic period but survive more rarely. From literary testimony we know of the visual appeal of statues made of gold and ivory, called chryselephantine, in antiquity, including the Palaikastro kouros from the Late Minoan period (see Figure 2.14, page 37). Indeed, the fifth- century colossal chryselephantine statue of Zeus at his temple in Olympia was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world (see reconstruction in Figure 7.12, page 168). Such statues were highly valued not only for the preciousness of their mate­rials, but also for the radiance and shine that they produced. An important set of such archaic statues, about life-size in scale and dated to the middle of the sixth century, was found at Delphi, buried along with other objects in two pits under the Sacred Way (Figure 8.18, page 200). The ivory is blackened from being burned, so the statues were likely damaged in some unknown incident and then, belonging to the god, buried within the temenos of the sanctuary. The surviving fragments, which would have been attached originally to a wooden core, have been placed in position in the museum at Delphi. The fig­ure here is Apollo, with his head, part of an arm, the arm of a throne, and two feet made of ivory. Gold sheets with relief-work make up his hair and costume, as well as parts of the throne, and he held a gold phiale in his right hand.

One has to imagine such a figure set inside a building. As such, it would have faced the door looking out toward the viewer. The light from the doorway would have reflected off the gold and polished ivory, so that the figure would have stood out, glistening, from its surroundings. Lamps, if present, would have added sources of illumination, and the flickering quality of the flame would have given animation to the light reflecting on the gold and ivory. Given the enclosed environment, the expensive materials, and their visual qualities, we can consider the sense of wonder or awe provoked in the viewer as even greater than that produced by the sculpture decorating the exterior of the buildings or the statues populating the open areas of the sanctuary.

Other precious objects were placed in sanctuary buildings. Bronze shields and helmets were common dedications, and some of the arm bands from the interior of shields have repousse and engraved figural scenes on them, such as a shield band from Olympia contemporary with the chryselephantine statues at Delphi (Figures 8.16 and 8.17). The band is divided into squares like metopes, with narrative scenes. Observing from top to bottom, the viewer notices a number of

mythological scenes: Priam pleading with Achilles for the body of his son Hektor; Herakles and a lion; a heraldic pair of sphinxes; the strife between Amphiaraos and Lykourgos from the Seven against Thebes; Ajax the Lesser attacking Kassandra at the statue of Athena; the suicide of Ajax the Greater; the murder of Agamemnon; and Theseus attacking the Minotaur. Like the metopes at Selinus/ Selinunte, the choice of subject matter is eclectic but focuses upon protective figures like the sphinxes as well as heroes and warriors, examples of excellence and virtue that would be appropriate for a shield and its dedication at a sanctuary.

Unlike the Selinus/Selinunte metopes, a shield band does not have the same epiphanic function as temple sculpture and the compositions do not use frontally facing figures. Somewhat curious is the choice of the suicide of Ajax the Greater, son of Telemon, the second greatest warrior at Troy after Achilles. Ajax had tried to kill the leaders of the Greeks in a fit of anger and madness, after which he killed himself, making this scene less triumphant than the others. The composition, with a horizon­tal warrior lying on an upright sword, is unusual, and so easily identifiable, but this more common narrative version stands in sharp contrast to the same subject on a slightly later pot painter Exekias, as we will see in the next chapter (see Figure 9.5, page 216). Other oddities include the murder of Agamemnon by his wife Klytaimnestra and his cousin Aigisthos; this subject is not very common in archaic art, but is included on a metope in the Temple of Hera at Foce del Sele near Poseidonia/ Paestum and shows the wide range of interest in mythological stories in art. The scene with Herakles and the lion might be the Nemean lion, but since that predator could not be killed by a weapon, the use of a sword is untypical of the narrative formulas that show the hero wrestling the lion. A shield is an expensive and personal type of object to leave as an offering at a sanctuary, and perhaps the mix of typical and unusual narrative scenes reflects not only the growing interest in narrative art in the sixth century, but an individual interest in specific stories.

Bronze mirrors become more common during the archaic period, particularly in the form of the caryatid mirror like that found at Cape Sounion (Figure 8.19, page 201). The female figure serves as a handle and supports the reflective disk above, like the maidens serving as columns on the Erechtheion or the Siphnian Treasury. Today, the mirrors seem dull with their darkened and rough surface, but originally these were polished and gleaming. To support the flat disk of the mirror, the caryatids often wear elaborate, architectural headdresses, and small figures to the sides serve to brace the disk further. The drapery and pose of the female figure recall the Acropolis kore (see Figure 8.14) and she holds a flower like Phrasikleia (see Figure 8.13). We can readily understand the appeal of the figure as an exemplar for its owner as she looked at herself, and the erotes serve to acclaim her beauty. The tugging of the garment pulls the hem of the chiton up to the ankle, a hint of movement, grace, and erotic appeal implied in some lines by the poet Sappho (fr. 57): “And what country girl melts your sense ... wearing rustic clothes ... not knowing how to draw up her long robe to her ankles?” (Stieber 2004, 121). As objects used by women, the mirrors could also serve as votive offerings or grave goods. While most caryatids are clothed, there are examples of nude female figures, such as an earlier sixth-century mirror from Hermione (see Figure 13.10, page 331). We will discuss issues of nudity and gender identity in Chapter 13, but it should be noted here that a female nude could be an ideal form, although not as a monumental sculpture before the fourth century.

Terracotta figures and vessels were more affordable objects than bronzes or stone statues. The terracotta figure of a woman holding a hare that we saw in Chapter 1 was a grave offering found on Rhodes (see Figure 1.4, page 9); she resembles the columnar form and smooth surface of the korai from Samos (see Figure 8.12, page 193), but with much less detail. Some of the more delightful objects from this period include scent bottles from Ionian Greece in the shape of animals, heads, and figural busts (Figure 8.20, page 201). As grave goods, votive offerings, or household items, these objects show how far archaic style and subject matter were used, from the small and mass-produced terracottas to the individual and large monumental marble statues. They also preserve the richness of color in Greek art, even if they do not have the luster of metalwork or marble.

The first major painters whose names and works are recorded in liter­ary sources worked in the sixth century. According to these accounts, painting started out as outline drawing, to which interior lines were added to define parts of the body, and then finally color, applied as flat mono­chrome. As in all periods, panel and wall painting only rarely survive, but several fragments of archaic painted wooden panels were found in a cave above the town of Pitsa near Corinth. The most well known shows a fam­ily in a sacrificial procession to an altar (Figure 8.21, page 202). Without comparanda, dating the panel is difficult, but a date of 540-530 все seems reasonable. The blues and reds of the garments are still vivid, and the yel­low of the sheaves of grain and garlands on the head creates light accents across the panel. The faces are in profile, but the eyes are frontal. The painter here distinguishes the skin of men and women by using a light brown and white respectively, a distinction found in Egyptian and other ancient art as well as contemporary black-figure vase painting, as we shall see next. The names of the figures are written above; the varied size of the figures gives us a sense of a real family, even if these are not true-to-life portraits. Itself a votive offering, the scene eternalizes the piety of the fam­ily. Painted on a small panel of wood, the offering would have been vivid but much more modest than something like a kore statue.

painted pottery

As we saw in Chapter 6, painted pottery from Corinth was made and dis­tributed in large quantities in the seventh century, and Corinth continued to be a major producer and exporter into the sixth century. The range of shapes expanded, but the emphasis upon friezes of animals painted in the black-figure technique, with added red on the buff background, contin­ued. A new subject related to the symposion, komasts, became popular.

These were scenes of drinkers, musicians, and padded dancers cavorting, usually with a krater or dinos and other sympotic material in the picture.

On the skyphos that we saw in Chapter 5, we can see two men on the right dancing, with padding on their bodies and buttocks (see Figure 5.23, page 122). Behind, another man dips a pitcher into the mixing bowl of wine. Other komasts dance boisterously around the right side of the cup.

To the left we see Herakles attacking the hydra; the scene is apparently unrelated, but the left foot of Herakles crosses in front of the dinos, almost as if he is charging out of the sympotic space to deal with the monster. (See also Figure 5.21, page 120.)

Other areas of Greece produced figured pottery for brief periods or in modest quantities during the sixth century. Lakonian pottery, produced in Sparta, developed some black-figure workshops during the sixth century, mostly cups and kraters that were exported both to Italy and to Greek colonies such as Cyrenaica (Libya) and Naukratis (Egypt) (Figure 8.22, page 202). The scenes and ornament are precisely drawn and the black and red slips stand out against the pale fabric of the clay. The subject matter or composition of Lakonian painted pottery is frequently unusual. For example, the cup attributed to the Hunt Painter shows a boar hunt, probably the mythical Calydonian boar that required a group of heroes to kill it. The same scene appears on the top frieze of the Francois Vase discussed below, where we see pairs of heroes four
ranks deep attacking the boar from front and behind. On the Lakonian cup only a detail of the scene appears, with a pair of hunters attacking the rear with spears. The interesting aspect of the picture is that its border serves as a frame, and the way that it cuts off the view of the boar implies that the picture space continues beyond what we can see, as if the frame were a window into this other world. This is an assumption that a Renaissance perspective picture would make, but it is highly unusual for an archaic vase picture to do this, especially before the development of perspectival sys­tems in the later fifth century. Cropping the composi­tion like this does put the hero rather than the boar into focus as the central element, and this device is used on some other Lakonian vases as well.

In Etruria, there were a few workshops of immi­grant Greek artists who produced distinctive pottery, called Caeretan ware, for the local market in the last half of the sixth century. The hydria by the Eagle Painter features animated figures, rich coloring, and very rounded forms with boisterous action (see Figure 11.13, page 282). The figures seem more comi­cal than serious, as we see king Eurystheus hiding in a pithos from the hound of hell, Kerberos, brought to the palace by Herakles in one of his labors. The production of these workshops, primarily hydria, lasted a couple of generations.

None of these areas produced as much figural pot­tery as Athens in the sixth century. Whereas in the sev­enth century Athens had been a minor pottery center, in the sixth century it became a major producer and exporter, dominating the market by the middle of the century. Early Attic production abandoned the black-and-white style of the Orientalizing period (see Figure 6.15, page 144) for the black-figure technique developed in Corinth, and much of its early archaic works favored long figural friezes at a small scale like Corinthian pottery. Because Athenian clay was richer in iron than that of Corinth, the background color of Attic vases is a distinctive red-orange. In the early sixth century Athenian potters and painters also began signing their wares, such as the so-called Francois Vase (Figure 8.23, page 203). It has two inscriptions: Kleitias megraphsen, or “Kleitias painted me" and Ergotimos mepoiesen, or “Ergotimos made me" which is taken to mean that Ergotimos was the potter. There are dozens of other inscriptions on the vase, naming virtually every figure and many of the objects.

The figures are precise and detailed, with much incised patterning of clothing, wings, and equip­ment. The skin of women is painted in added white slip. The figures are thinly proportioned and use very angular gestures. The scenes are virtually an encyclopedia of mythological stories, including on one side narratives related to the family history of Achilles. The reception for the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, Achilles’s parents, runs around the entire vase at the shoulder, with Peleus receiving the wedding guests at the far right near the handle. Because of its prominence, it is thought that the ves­sel may have been made for a wedding, but it was at some point exported to Etruria and ended up in a tomb near Chiusi.

The Francois Vase was produced at a time in the 570 s when Attic pottery began to represent narrative scenes in large numbers. Most of the pottery was exported to other Greek cities in the Aegean, Black Sea, and southern Italy, and especially to the Etruscans in northern Italy, where the

Francois Vase itself was found. We will examine narra­tive in Greek art more fully in the next chapter, but we can consider here just how unusual it is for painted pottery to feature narrative images rather than straight­forward ornament. Indeed, the focus on the human figure and narrative in Attic pottery made it distinctive from contemporary Corinthian pottery and would appear to have made it a popular commodity for pur­chase across the Mediterranean in the sixth century and afterward. As we shall see in Chapter 11, figural pottery would have been an affordable commodity for many, and narrative would have been an appealing dec­oration (see Osborne 2001 and 2007). In some cases,

Attic producers also imitated shapes from their mar­kets, such as the neck amphora signed by Nikosthenes and dated to the third quarter of the sixth century (see Figure 11.8, page 277). This work, with its flared mouth and strap handles, copies earlier Etruscan buc- chero-ware vases like that next to it in the picture.