Minoan culture, Mycenean culture
The Cretan art is also named Minoan art, after the legendary King Minos.
Cretan-Minoan art is the art of Crete from about 2900 - 1600 B.C. (Minoan art) and the Mycenaean art of Crete and the Greek mainland from about 1600 - 1100 B.C., in Crete only to 1200 B.C.
German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann discovered significant remains of this culture in the shaft graves of Mycenae, that had their heyday in the 14th and 13th centuries B.C. A well-preserved testimony is the Lion Gate from the 13th century B.C.
Splendidly decorated vases are the artworks of ceramics that have best survived the turmoil of millennia. Snake Goddess (around 1500 B.C.), a faience figurine, that has been discovered in the Temple Repositories of the Knossos palace are also famous. Bronze vessels of that time were primarily used in household. Daggers, swords and armor were then also made of bronze.
The jewelery of the Cretan-Mycenaean ladies was made of gold, rock crystal, lapis lazuli, ivory, faience and glass.
Geometric culture
The geometric art developed as a continuation of the late Mycenaean art on the Greek mainland towards the end of the late 11th century B.C. Mathematically regulatory will of style entered the geometric art replacing natural Crete-Mycenaean formal language. Another new feature is the use of the ruler and the compass. The jewelry of this time is also based on strict geometric principles.
Archaic culture
The architecture developed from the temples of the 8th and 7th century B.C. Initially, mudbrick and wood were used for building, later the forms were transferred to stone. A monumental style developed in sculpture. Marble, bronze, clay and limestone were used as materials. Gods, heroes, victorious competitors were embodied in typical young nude statues. Gods or sacred figures were portrayed in clothes.
In addition to sculpture there has also developed relief art, which was preferably used for decorating the temple.
The statuettes made of clay and bronze appeared since the 6th century B.C.
Classical culture (5th and 4th century B.C.)
The beginning of the Greek Classical period falls in the stirring times of the great statesman Pericles. Thanks to his democratic politics Athens became the focal point of cultural life and artistic creation in ancient Greece.
The classic architecture refined the shapes and proportions to perfection. The Temple of Zeus at Olympia, the Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens and other major temples arose.
In sculpture, the time of the Severe style began. The rigid forms of the earlier period were blown up, the human body was studied anatomically. Top performances of the Severe style include the Charioteer of Delphi and the Artemision Bronze, that was recovered from the sea by fishermen.
A further increase brought the High Classical sculpture. Sculptors like Myron, Phidias and Polykleitos created sculptures that affect the statuary art to the present day. (discus thrower, Athena-Marsyas group, the heroes of Riace, etc.)
In the 4th century, a romantic conception prevailed. Praxiteles and Lysippos determined the art of the time. Sculptures such as Hermes and the Infant Dionysus, Pouring Satyr and especially the Aphrodite of Cnidus are magnificent examples of the artistic conception of Classical Greece.
Hellenism
With the conquests of Alexander the Great, the Greek art dominated in the Mediterranean and in the Orient. In the temple construction the Ionic and Corinthian style prevailed.
Lysippos initiated the statuary art of the Hellenistic period. The temples like in Pergamon were richly decorated with statues. The Winged Victory of Samothrace was created at the beginning of the 2nd century B.C. and Venus de Milo – towards the end of the century. The Hellenistic sculpture experienced its endpoint and last increase with Laocoön Group. The painting of the period was determined by Apelles. The Hellenistic painters represented such themes as historical events, portraits and genre paintings.
