Without a doubt, the greatest influence on subsequent generations was the art of Ancient Greece. His calm and majestic beauty, harmony and clarity served as a model and source for later eras of the history of culture. It took several centuries before the Dorian tribes, which appeared from the north in the 12th century BC, to the sixth century BC. created a highly developed art. Then came three periods in the history of Greek art:

I. archaic, or ancient period, – from about 600 to 480 BC, when the Greeks repelled the invasion of the Persians and, having liberated their land from the threat of conquest, they again had the opportunity to create freely and calmly;
II. classics, or a period of heyday, – from 480 to 323 years BC. – the year of Alexander the Great’s death, which conquered huge areas, very different in their cultures; this diversity of cultures was one of the reasons for the decline of classical Greek art;
III. Hellenism, or the late period; it ended in 30 BC, when the Romans conquered Egypt under Greek influence.

Greek culture has spread far beyond its homeland – Asia Minor and Italy, Sicily and other islands of the Mediterranean, North Africa and other territories where the Greeks founded their settlements. Greek cities were even on the northern coast of the Black Sea.

The greatest achievement of Greek building art were the temples. The oldest ruins of churches belong to the era of archaism, when instead of wood as a building material yellowish limestone and white marble began to be used. It is believed that the prototype for the temple was the ancient dwelling of the Greeks – a rectangular in terms of structure with two columns in front of the entrance. From this simple building, the various types of temples that have become more complex in their planning have grown over time. Usually the church stood on a stepped base. It consisted of a room without windows, where there was a statue of a deity, the building was surrounded by one or two rows of columns. They supported the joists and the gable roof. In a semi-interior room, the statue of God could only be priests, people saw the temple only from the outside. Obviously, therefore, the ancient Greeks paid the main attention to the beauty and harmony of the external appearance of the temple.

The construction of the temple was subject to certain rules. Dimensions, parts ratios and number of columns have been accurately established.

In Greek architecture, three styles dominated: Doric, Ionic, Corinthian. The oldest of them was the Doric style, which already developed in the era of the archaic. He was courageous, simple and powerful. The name he received from the Doric tribes who created him. Today, the remaining parts of the temples are white in color: the colors that covered them were falling off over time. Once their friezes and cornices were painted in red and blue.

Ionic style originated in the Ionian region of Asia Minor. From here he already penetrated the Greek regions. Compared with the Doric style, the columns of the Ionic style are more elegant and slender. Each column has its base – base. The middle part of the capitals resembles a pillow with spirally angled corners. volutes.

In the era of Hellenism, when architecture began to strive for greater splendor, Corinthian capitals were most often used. They are richly decorated with plant motifs, among which the images of acanthus leaves predominate.

It so happened that time spared the oldest Doric temples mainly outside of Greece. Several such churches were preserved on the island of Sicily and in Southern Italy. The most famous of them is the temple of the god of the sea of ​​Poseidon in Paestum, not far from Naples, which looks somewhat heavy and squat. From the early Doric temples in Greece itself, the most important temple of the supreme god Zeus

As a result of the conquests of Alexander the Great in the second half of the 4th century BC. The influence of Greek culture and art spread to vast territories. New cities emerged; The largest centers, however, formed outside of Greece. Such are, for example, Alexandria in Egypt and Pergamon in Asia Minor, where construction activity has reached the greatest extent. In these areas, Ionic style was preferred; an interesting example of it was a huge tombstone to the Asia Minor Mausolus, ranked among the seven wonders of the world. It was a burial chamber on a high rectangular base, surrounded by a colonnade, above it stood a stone stepped pyramid, topped with a sculptural image of a quadriga, which was ruled by Mausol himself. On this structure later, other large solemn funerary constructions began to be called mausoleums.

In the era of Hellenism, the churches were given less attention, and the square was built around the colonnades for walking, outdoor amphitheaters, libraries, various public buildings, palaces and sports facilities. The apartment houses were improved: they became two-and three-storey, with large gardens. Luxury became the goal, in architecture mixed different styles.

Greek sculptors gave the world works that aroused the admiration of many generations. The oldest known sculptures arose in the era of archaism. They are somewhat primitive: their motionless pose, hands tightly pressed to the body, looking ahead are dictated by a narrow long stone block from which the statue was carved. One leg is usually put forward – to maintain balance. Archaeologists have found many such statues depicting naked youths and dressed in loose-fitting outfits of girls. Their faces are often animated by a mysterious “archaic” smile.

In the classical era, the main thing for sculptors was to create statues of gods and heroes and decorate temples with reliefs; to this were added secular images, for example, statues of statesmen or winners at the Olympic Games.

In the beliefs of the Greeks, the gods resemble ordinary people as their appearance and way of life. They were portrayed as people, but strong, well developed physically and with a beautiful face. Often people were depicted naked to show the beauty of a harmoniously developed body.

In the 5th century BC. great sculptors Miron, Phidias and Poliklet, each in their own way, updated the art of sculpture and brought it closer to reality. Young naked athletes Polikleta, for example his “Dorifor”, rely only on one leg, the other freely left. Thus it was possible to unfold the figure and create a sense of movement. But standing marble figures could not have been given more expressive gestures or complex poses: the statue could lose its balance, and the fragile marble could break. These dangers could be avoided if cast bronze figures. The first master of complex bronze castings was Myron – the creator of the famous “Discobol”.

Many artistic achievements are associated with the glorious name of Phidias: he directed works on decorating the Parthenon with friezes and pediment groups. Magnificent is his bronze statue of Athena on the Acropolis and a 12-meter-high statue of Athena, covered in gold and ivory, in the Parthenon, which later disappeared without a trace. A similar fate befell the huge statue of Zeus sitting on the throne made of the same materials, for the temple in Olympia – one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

No matter how fascinating the sculptures created by the Greeks in the heyday, today they may seem a little cold. True, there is no animating them in their time coloring; but even more alien to us are their indifferent and similar faces. Indeed, Greek sculptors of that time did not attempt to express on the faces of the statues any feelings or experiences. Their goal was to show perfect bodily beauty. Therefore, we admire even those sculptures – and there are many of them – that for centuries were badly damaged: some even lost their heads.

If in the 5th century BC. elevated and serious images were created, then in the 4th century BC. artists were inclined to express tenderness and softness. Heat and thrill of life gave a smooth marble surface Praxitel in his sculptures of naked gods and goddesses. He also found the opportunity to diversify the poses of the statues, creating balance with the help of appropriate supports. His Hermes, a young messenger of the gods, rests on the trunk of a tree.

Until now, the sculptures were designed to be viewed from the front. Lysippos made his statues so that they could be viewed from all sides – it was another innovation.

In the era of Hellenism in sculpture, the craving for splendor and exaggeration increases. In some works excessive passions are shown, in others excessive closeness to nature is noticeable. At this time, they began to diligently copy the statues of former times; Thanks to the copies, today we know many monuments – either irretrievably lost, or not yet found. Marble statues that conveyed strong feelings

Types of Ancient Greek Temples

I. A temple with a portico, or “prostitute” (Greek πρόςτνλος), which has a portico in front of the entrance porch with columns standing just opposite their pilasters and columns.
II. The temple “with two porticos”, or “amphiprostyl” (Greek αμφιπρόστνλος), in which to the hr. in antis about two porches is attached along the portico to both
III. The temple is “circular-winged”, or “peripterical” (Greek περίπτερος), consisting of a temple in antis, or prostitution, or amphiprostil, built on a platform and encircled from all sides by a colonnade.
IV. The temple is “double-winged”, or “dipteric” (Greek δίπτερος) – such that the columns surround the central structure not in one but in two rows
V. The temple “spongy-winged” or “pseudo-imperial” (Greek ψευδοπερίπτερος), in which the colonnade enclosing the building is replaced by half-columns protruding from its walls.
VI. The temple is “difficult doubly-circular”, or “pseudo-diptery” (Greek ψευδοδίπτερος), which seemed to be surrounded by two rows of columns, but in which, in fact, their second row was replaced from all or only from the long sides of the building by half-columns embedded in the wall.

The vitality of the principles of ancient Greek architecture is due primarily to its humanism, deep thoughtfulness in its entirety and details, to the utmost clarity of forms and compositions.

The problem of the transition of purely technical constructive problems of architecture to artistic ones was brilliantly solved by the Greeks. The unity of artistic and constructive content was brought to the heights of excellence in various order systems.

The works of Greek architecture are distinguished by a surprisingly harmonious combination with the natural environment. A great contribution was made to the theory and practice of construction, to the formation of the environment of an apartment house, to the system of engineering services of cities. The principles of standardization and modularity in construction, developed by the architecture of subsequent eras, are developed.

The decline of ancient Greek influence in architecture begins in the I century BC. in connection with the active Roman expansion. Architecture takes on the culture of conquerors, romanticizes. The principles of Greek democracy no longer correspond to the imperial needs of Rome. In the 5th century AD Greece turns to Christianity, the formation of the Byzantine Empire begins, with its architectural canons. During the period of the great migration of peoples from IV to VI, the territory of Greece is subjected to periodic assaults of the Goths, Slavs, Persians, Arabs, Normans, who are not very anxious about monuments of architecture. The church schism in 1054 aggravated the cultural gap. Byzantium, and Greece as part of it were influenced by the traditions of the Middle East. In XI – XII centuries, huge damage to the monuments of ancient Greek architecture was caused by the crusades and the beggars of the whole western Europe, following the crusaders. Together with the Crusaders came their sponsors – Florentines and Genoese, and leaving took out the whole dismantled houses, not to mention individual columns. In 1453 the Byzantine Empire fell, and in 1456 the Turks conquered Athens. At the same time, Turks need to pay tribute to the preservation of the values ​​of ancient Greece. Thanks to the Turks, the British in the XIX century began excavations and returned to the European world lost knowledge about the architecture and art of ancient Greece. Now the Turkish government is very concerned about all the remaining architectural monuments of antiquity and earns it very well.

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