(1458-1832)
(after 1821)
Archaic period in the history of Greece(650-480 BC) is a term accepted among historians since the 18th century. It arose in the course of the study of Greek art and originally belonged to the stage of development of Greek art, mainly decorative and plastic, intermediate between the period of geometric art and the art of classical Greece. Later, the term "archaic period" was extended not only to the history of art, but also to the social life of Greece, since during this period, which followed the "dark ages", there was a significant development of political theory, the rise of democracy, philosophy, theater, poetry, revival written language (the appearance of the Greek alphabet instead of Linear B, forgotten during the "dark ages").
More recently, Anthony Snodgrass criticized the term "archaic" because he sees it not as a "preparation" for the classical era, but as an independent episode of Greek history with its own developed culture. Michael Grant also criticized the term "archaic", because "archaic" implies a certain primitiveness, which in relation to archaic Greece is absolutely inapplicable - this was, in his opinion, one of the most fruitful periods in world history.
According to Snodgrass, the beginning of the archaic period should be considered a sharp increase in population and material well-being, which peaked in 750 BC. e., and the "intellectual revolution" of Greek culture. The end of the archaic period is considered the invasion of Xerxes in 480 BC. NS. Nevertheless, individual cultural events associated with the archaic period could go beyond both the upper and lower conditional boundaries of the period. For example, the red-figure vase painting characteristic of the classical period of Greece originated in the archaic period.
Periodization
- Archaic period- 7th century BC BC - early. 5.c. BC NS.
- Early archaic- early. 7 c. BC NS. - 570s BC NS.
- Mature archaic- 570s. BC NS. - 525s. BC NS.
- Late archaic- 525s. BC NS. - 490s. BC NS.
Society
Cities
Art
During the Archaic period, the earliest forms of ancient Greek art developed - sculpture and vase painting, which in the later classical period became more realistic.
Ceramics
In the vase painting in the middle and 3rd quarter of the 6th century. BC NS. the black-figure style reached its peak and around 530 BC. NS. - red-figure style.
The late Archaic period is associated with such vase painting styles as black-figure ceramics, which arose in Corinth in the 7th century. BC e., and later red-figure pottery, which was created by the vase painter Andocides around 530 BC. NS.
In ceramics, elements are gradually emerging that are not typical for the archaic style and are borrowed from Ancient Egypt - such as the "left foot forward" pose, "archaic smile", a stereotyped stylized image of hair - the so-called "helmet-hair".
Architecture
Archaic - the time of addition of monumental figurative and architectural forms. In the Archaic era, Doric and Ionic architectural orders were formed.
According to the most common periodization of the history of Greek art and architecture of the 5th century. it is customary to divide into two large periods: the art of the early classics, or austere style, and the art of the high, or developed, classics. The border between them runs approximately in the middle of the century, but the borders in art are generally quite arbitrary, and the transition from one quality to another occurs gradually and in different areas of art at different speeds. This observation is true not only for the boundary between early and high classics, but also between archaic and early classical art.
Art of the Early Classics.
In the era of the early classics, the poleis of Asia Minor are losing the leading place in the development of art, which they previously occupied. The most important centers of activity for artists, sculptors, architects are the Northern Peloponnese, Athens and the Greek West. The art of this time is illuminated by the ideas of the liberation struggle against the Persians and the triumph of the polis. The heroic character and increased attention to the man-citizen who created the world, where he is free and where his dignity is respected, distinguishes the art of the early classics. Art is freed from those rigid frameworks that fettered it in the era of the archaic, this is the time of searching for the new and, therefore, the time of intensive development of various schools and trends, the creation of diverse works. The two types of figures previously dominant in sculpture — the kouros and the bark — are being replaced by a much greater variety of types; sculptures strive to convey the complex movement of the human body. In architecture, the classical type of peripteral temple and its sculptural decoration are formed. Such structures as the treasury of the Athenians in Delphi, the temple of Athena Aphaia on about. Aegina, the so-called Temple of E at Selinunte and the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. From the sculptures and reliefs that adorned these structures, one can clearly trace how their composition and style changed in different periods - during the transition from the archaic to the strict style and then to the high classics, which is characteristic of each of the periods. Archaic art created works of art, perfect in their completeness, but conditional. The task of the classics was to depict a person in motion. The master of the time of the early classics took the first step towards greater realism, towards the depiction of personality, and it is natural that this process began with the solution of an easier task - the transmission of the movement of the human body. The next, more difficult task fell to the lot of the high classics - to convey the movements of the soul. The assertion of the dignity and grandeur of a human citizen becomes the main task of Greek sculpture of the classical era. In statues, cast from bronze or carved from marble, masters strive to convey a generalized image of a human hero in all the perfection of his physical and moral beauty. This ideal was of great ethical and social and educational significance. Art had a direct impact on the feelings and minds of contemporaries, instilling in them an idea of what a person should be.
Second quarter of the 5th century - years of activity of the most outstanding of the early classics - Polygnotus. Judging by the testimony of ancient authors, Polygnot, trying to show people in space, placed the background figures above the foreground ones, partially hiding them on the unevenness of the soil. This technique is also attested in vase painting. However, for vase painting of this time, the most characteristic is not the following of painting in the field of stylistics, but independent development. In search of pictorial means, vase painters not only followed monumental art, but, as representatives of the most democratic form of art, in some ways overtook it, depicting scenes from real life. In the same decades, there was a decline in the black-figure style and the flourishing of the red-figure style, when the natural color of clay was retained for the figures, while the space between them was filled with black varnish.
The art of high classics, prepared by the creative quest of artists of the previous generation, has one important feature- Athens becomes the most significant center of its development, and the influence of Athenian ideology increasingly determines the development of the art of all Hellas.
High Classical Art
The art of high classics is a clear continuation of what appeared earlier, but there is one area where fundamentally new things are being born at this time - urbanism. Although the accumulation of experience and some empirically found principles of urban planning was the result of the creation of new cities during the period Great colonization, it is at the time of the high classics that the theoretical generalization of this experience, the creation of an integral concept and its implementation in practice, falls. The birth of urban planning as a theoretical and practical discipline, combining artistic and utilitarian goals, is associated with the name of Hippodamus of Miletus. Two main features characterize its scheme: the regularity of the city plan, in which the streets intersect at right angles, creating a system of rectangular blocks, and zoning, that is, a clear separation of the city's districts that are different in terms of their functional purpose.
The leading type of building was still the temple. Temples of the Doric order are actively being built in the Greek West: several temples in the Agrigent, among which the so-called Temple of Concordia (in fact - Hera Argeia), which is considered the best of the Dorian temples in Italy, stands out. However, the scale of construction of public buildings in Athens far surpasses anything that we see in other parts of Greece. The conscious and purposeful policy of Athenian democracy, led by Pericles, - to turn Athens into not only the most powerful, but also the most cultured and beautiful city of Hellas, to make the hometown the focus of all the best in the world - found practical embodiment in a broad construction program.
The architecture of the high classics is characterized by striking proportionality, combined with festive monumentality. Continuing the traditions of the previous time, the architects, at the same time, did not follow slavishly the canons, they boldly looked for new means that enhance the expressiveness of the structures they created, most fully reflecting the ideas embedded in them. During the construction of the Parthenon, in particular, Ictinus and Callicrates boldly decided to combine the features of the Doric and Ionic order in one building: from the outside, the Parthenon represents a typical Doric peripter, but it is decorated with a continuous sculptural frieze characteristic of the Ionian order. The combination of Doric and Ionic is also used in the Propylaea. The Erechtheion is extremely peculiar - the only temple in Greek architecture with an absolutely asymmetrical plan. The solution of one of its porticoes is also original, where the columns are replaced by six figures of caryatid girls. In sculpture, the art of high classics is associated primarily with the work of Miron, Phidias and Polycletus. Myron completed the searches of the masters of the previous time, who sought to convey the movement of a person in sculpture. In the most famous of his creations, Discobolus, for the first time in Greek art, the task of transferring an instant transition from one movement to another is solved, and the static that comes from the archaic is finally overcome. Having completely solved the problem of transferring movement, Myron, however, could not master the art of expressing lofty feelings. This task fell to Phidias, the largest of the Greek sculptors. Phidias became famous for his sculptural representations of deities, especially Zeus and Athena. His early works are still little known. In the 1960s, Phidias created the colossal statue of Athena Promachos, which dominated the center of the Acropolis.
The most important place in the work of Phidias was occupied by the creation of sculptures and reliefs for the Parthenon. The synthesis of architecture and sculpture, so characteristic of Greek art, finds its ideal embodiment here. Phidias possessed the general idea of the sculptural design of the Parthenon and guided its implementation, he also made some of the sculptures and reliefs. The artistic ideal of triumphant democracy finds its complete embodiment in the majestic works of Phidias - the undisputed pinnacle of high classics.
But, according to the Greeks themselves, the greatest creation of Phidias was the statue of Olympian Zeus. Zeus is represented sitting on a throne, in his right hand he held the figure of the goddess of victory Nike, in his left - a symbol of power - a scepter. In this statue, for the first time for Greek art, Phidias created the image of a merciful god. The ancients considered the statue of Zeus to be one of the wonders of the world.
The ideal citizen of the polis is the main theme of the work of another sculptor of this time - Polycletus from Argos. He performed mainly statues of winning athletes in sports. The most famous is his statue of Dorifor (a youth with a spear), which the Greeks considered an exemplary work. Dorifor Polycletus is the embodiment of a physically and spiritually perfect person.
At the end of the 5th century. in sculpture, new features began to appear, which were developed in the next century. In the reliefs of the balustrade of the Temple of Niki Apteros (Wingless) on the Acropolis of Athens, dynamism is especially striking. We see the same features in the sculptural image of Nike by Paeonius. The desire to convey dynamic compositions did not exhaust the searches of the sculptors of the end of the century. Reliefs on tombstones occupy an important place in the art of these decades. Usually they were created according to the same type: the deceased in the circle of loved ones. The main feature of this circle of reliefs (the most famous is the tombstone of Gegeso, daughter of Proxenus) - the image of the natural feelings of ordinary people. Thus, in sculpture, the same tasks are solved as in literature (the tragedy of Euripides).
Unfortunately, we know almost nothing about the great Greek artists (Apollodorus, Zeuxis, Parrasius), except for a description of some of their paintings and information about their skill. It can be assumed that the evolution of painting basically went in the same direction as sculpture. According to the reports of ancient authors, Apollodorus of Athens discovered at the end of the 5th century. the effect of chiaroscuro, that is, it marked the beginning of painting in the modern sense of the word. Parrasy strove to convey emotional movements by means of painting. In the vase painting of the second half of the 5th century. an increasing place is occupied by everyday scenes.
In the minds of subsequent generations, the 5th century BC. was associated with the greatest victories won by the Greeks at Marathon and Salamis, it was perceived as the time of the heroic deeds of the ancestors who defended the independence of Hellas, who saved her freedom. This was the time when the common goal - to serve the motherland inspired the fighters, when the highest valor was to die for the fatherland, and the good of the native polis was considered the highest good.
Sculpture
In the archaic era, the main types of monumental sculpture were formed - statues of a naked young athlete (kouros) and a draped girl (bark).
The sculptures are made from limestone and marble, terracotta, bronze, wood and rare metals. These sculptures, both freestanding and reliefs, were used to decorate temples and as tombstones. The sculptures depict both stories from mythology and everyday life. Life-size statues suddenly appear around 650 BC. NS.
Examples of archaic Greek art
History
Conflicts
- Arcadian Wars
- Athenian Republican Wars
- First Messenian War (c. 750-730 BC)
- First Holy War (595-585 BC)
- Lelantine War (late 8th century BC)
- The destruction of Epidaurus by Periander (c. 600 BC)
- Second Messenian War (640-620 BC)
- Spartan expedition against Polycrates of Samos (529 BC)
- Tirean War (mid-6th century BC)
See also:
- Ancient World Wars
Important figures of the archaic period
Statesmen
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Epic poets
Philosophers
Lyric poets
Logographers
Fabulists
see also
Notes (edit)
Literature
- The Cambridge History of the Ancient World. T. 3. Part 3: Expansion of the Greek world. VIII-VI centuries BC NS. Ed. J. Boardman and N.-J.-L. Hammond. Per. from English, preparation of the text, foreword and notes by A. V. Zaikov. M .: Ladomir, 2007.653 p. ISBN 978-5-86218-467-9
- Richter Gisela M.A. A Handbook of Greek Art: Third Edition Newly Revised. - Phaidon Publishers Inc ..
- Snodgrass anthony Archaic Greece: The Age of Experiment. - London Melbourne Toronto: J M Dent & Sons Ltd. - ISBN 0460043882
- George Grote, J. M. Mitchell, Max Cary, Paul Cartledge, A History of Greece: From the Time of Solon to 403 B.C., Routledge, 2001. ISBN 0-415-22369-5
Links
- Archaic period: society, economy, politics, culture - The Foundation of the Hellenic World
- The Archaic Period of Greek Art - Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia
- Ancient Greece: The Archaic Period - by Richard Hookero
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This is the time of profound social changes in the life of Hellas, when the rapid progress of material culture begins. Iron weapons are being used, roads are being built, bridges are being erected, and water pipes are being built. Metallurgy and casting techniques are being improved, the production of goods for sale is increasing, general Greek markets appear, and coins are minted.
At this time, one of the main lines of the internal life of Greece was the struggle of the demos (people) - farmers, artisans, merchants - against the clan aristocracy. At this time, power was sometimes concentrated in the hands of individual rulers - tyrants, but usually it lost its support in the masses and gave way to republican rule.
Served by slaves, free citizens enjoyed the blessings of life in small states. These states were formed around cities, which became their cultural and economic centers. Hence the specific name of the Greek state - polis, which means "city-state". Each policy included urban settlement and the arable land surrounding it.
In the formation of the Greek slave-owning society, the colonization by the Greeks of the Mediterranean coast, as well as the shores of the Black and Marmara Seas, played an important role. Colonies became independent polises.
In the VIII-VI centuries. BC NS. the alphabetic writing, which arose on the basis of the Phoenician, is widely spread.
The Greeks create their own mathematics, astronomy and medicine, philosophy is born, "the science of all sciences." The first historical and geographical works appear.
A distinctive feature of the ancient Greeks was agon, that is, an adversarial beginning. Noble aristocrats in Homer's poems compete in strength, dexterity and perseverance, victory brings glory and honor, and not material benefits. Gradually, the idea of victory in the competition as the highest value that glorifies the winner and brings him honor and respect in society is being established in society. The formation of ideas about agon gave rise to various games that were of an aristocratic nature (slaves, semi-free and foreigners could not participate in the games). The oldest and most important games were played for the first time in 776. BC NS. in honor of Olympia Zeus and since then repeated every four years (the venue was Olympia in the Peloponnese). They lasted five days and during this time the sacred peace was proclaimed throughout Greece. The winner's reward was only an olive branch. The athlete, who won the games three times ("olympionic"), received the right to install his statue in the sacred grove of the temple of Olympian Zeus. Athletes competed in running, fist wrestling, chariot races. Later, the Pythian Games in Delphi (in honor of Apollo) were added to the Olympic Games - the award was a laurel wreath, Isthmian (in honor of the god Poseidon) on the Isthmus of Corinth, where the award was a wreath of pine branches, and, finally, the Nemean Games (in honor of Zeus) ... Participants in all the games were nude, so women were forbidden to attend the games on pain of death. (in Sparta both boys and girls were naked). The beautiful naked body of an athlete has become one of the most common motives of ancient Greek art.
The games program presented:
running a short distance in one stage (192.27 m), from 724 BC NS. added distance running in 2 stages (384.54 m).
In 720 BC. NS. a long distance was introduced - a circle with a length of stages (stadium) had to be run 24 times (4614 m).
From 708 BC NS. - pentathlon (pentathlon): jumping, running, discus throwing, javelin (dart) throwing, wrestling;
from 688 BC NS. - fist fight;
from 680 BC NS. - competitions in chariots drawn by four horses;
In 632 BC. NS. admitted young people to competitions in running, wrestling, fist fighting. Subsequently - races of warriors in full armor on chariots with a pair of horses, horse races on foals.
Writing and literature.
Through the mediation of the Phoenicians in the VIII-VI centuries. BC NS. the Greeks adopted the Semitic alphabet, refining it by adding several signs to denote vowels. The alphabetic writing was more convenient than the ancient syllabic writing of the Mycenaean era: it consisted of only 24 characters. The Greek alphabet had a number of variations. The most common of them was the Ionian, adopted, in particular, in Attica (Athens).
During the archaic period, a new trend was formed in Greek literature. The age of heroes is gone with Homer; now the attention of poets was attracted not by the heroic deeds of past centuries, but by today's life, feelings and experiences of an individual. This genre is called lyrics.
The emergence and development of lyric poetry is associated with the name of Archilochus from the island of Palos (VII century BC). He conveyed in his poems and outbursts of passion, and offended pride, and a desire for revenge, and a willingness to endure the vicissitudes of fate. Instead of the hexameter, Archilochus introduced new dimensions into the literature - iambic and trore. Another Ionian, Anacreon from the island of Theos (VI century BC), remained in the memory of mankind as a singer of friendly feasts and love. It was Anacreon's lyrics that created the image of the cheerful, joyfully feasting Greeks.
Archaic lyrics found their best representatives on the island of Lesvos at the turn of the 7th-6th centuries. BC NS. This is the poet Alkey and the poetess Sappho, known as the author of love poems and epithals (wedding songs). Ancient Sparta became the center for the development of choral lyrics, the most common form of which was dithyramb, a song in honor of the god Dionysus.
Throughout the Greek world, the fame of the poet Pindara (6th-5th centuries BC), who glorified virtue - arete - the innate property of an aristocrat, meaning valor, physical perfection, nobility and dignity, spread throughout the Greek world.
Architecture.
In the archaic era, the basic and forms of Greek art have already emerged, which will then develop in the classical period. All achievements Greek architecture of that time, both constructive and decorative, are associated with the construction of temples. In the VII century. BC NS. a system of orders arose, that is, a special ratio of the bearing and the bearing parts of the building in the girder-structure structure. The artistic features of the two main architectural orders, Doric and Ionic, were determined.
Doric order, distributed mainly in southern Greece, distinguished by the ponderousness and massiveness of the columns, simple and austere capital, striving for monumentality, masculinity, perfection of proportions. In the Ionic order, on the contrary, lightness, grace, whimsical lines were valued, the capital of the temple had a complex shape, similar to the horns of a ram (the so-called volutes). A little later, in the 5th century. BC NS. in Greece, the Corinthian order appears - magnificent, spectacular, with a complex capital, similar to a flower basket.
Typical examples of Doric buildings from the Archaic era were the temples of Apollo at Corinth and Poseidon at Paestum. We know more about the Ionic temples of this era from ancient literature: a significant part of them were destroyed. Thus, the entire Greek world was famous for the sanctuary of Artemis in the city of Ephesus (Asia Minor), one of the seven wonders of the world, the temple of Hera on the island of Samos, Apollo in Didyma (Asia Minor).
A feature of archaic temples was rich polychrome painting. The masterpieces of ancient architecture shone with all the colors of colors: red, blue, gold, green against the background of the shining sun and the radiant sky.
Sculpture.
The sculpture of the archaic period was notable for imperfection, creating, as a rule, a generalized image. These are the so-called kuros ("youths"), also called the archaic Apollo. Several dozen such statues have survived to our time. The most famous marble figure of Apollo of the Shadows. A typical for that time "archaic smile" plays on his lips, his eyes are wide open, his hands are lowered and clenched into fists. The principle of image frontality is fully observed. Archaic female statues are represented by the barks ("girls") in long flowing clothes. The heads of the girls are decorated with curls, the statues themselves are full of grace and grace. By the end of the VI century. BC NS. Greek sculptors gradually learned to overcome the static nature originally characteristic of their statues.
Ceramics.
A rich picture of the everyday life of the inhabitants of Hellas is drawn by the art of vase painting of the 7th-6th centuries. BC e., vividly testifying to the love of the Greeks for color and paint. The shapes of the vessels are as different as their functions. Along with craters for mixing wine, pithos and amphoras for storing olive oil, wine, grain, small bottles for incense, plates, large dishes were also made. Magnificent Panathenaic amphoras were handed over to the winner at the games, slender lekiths were placed on the graves.
Art style of vase painting of the 7th century BC NS. often called orientalizing, that is, close to the eastern. In the next, VI century. BC NS. Greek vase painting begins to free itself from oriental influences, and colorful, whimsical, pictorial decor, reminiscent of drawings on oriental carpets or fabrics, gives way to scenes taken from life. The new black-figure style reached its greatest development in Chalcis and Athens. For example, the vases painted by the talented Athenian master Exekias on mythological subjects are widely known: “Achilles and Ajax playing dice” adorn the magnificent amphora of Exekias.
Approximately in the middle of the VI century. BC NS. the technique of red-figure painting was discovered. Instead of black figures on a light background, they began to depict light figures on a dark background - this gave scope for a more thorough elaboration of details. Among the famous masters of red-figure painting, it is worth mentioning Euthymis and Euphonius. In addition to scenes from mythology and the Homeric epic, vases of the red-figure style depict the everyday activities and entertainment of the ancient Hellenes. We see young men practicing in the palestra, flutists and dancers, a craftsman's workshop, a school, a merry feast.
Buildings and sculptures, poems and thoughts of great philosophers - all these are components of the "Greek miracle", as scientists call it today.
If you are interested in culture Ancient Greece, you can briefly familiarize yourself with it in this article. So, what has fascinated even the most inexperienced person in art for four thousand years? Let's take a closer look.
General information
The antique period, which is characterized by the rise and prosperity of Hellas (as the ancient Greeks called their country), is the most interesting for most art critics. And for good reason! Indeed, at this time, the emergence and formation of the principles and forms of almost all genres of modern creativity took place.
In total, scientists divide the history of the development of this country into five periods. Let's take a look at the typology and talk about the rise of certain arts.
Aegean era
This period is most vividly represented by two monuments - the Mycenaean and Knossos palaces. The latter is better known today as the Labyrinth from the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. After archaeological site scientists have confirmed the veracity of this legend. Only the first floor has survived, but it has more than three hundred rooms!
In addition to palaces, the Cretan-Mycenaean period is known for the masks of Achaean leaders and small Cretan sculptures. The statuettes found in the secret places of the palace are striking in their filigree. Women with snakes look very realistic and graceful.
Thus, the culture of Ancient Greece, a summary of which is presented in the article, originated from the symbiosis of the ancient island civilization of Crete and the arrived Achaean and Dorian tribes who settled on the Balkan Peninsula.
Homer period
This era is significantly different in material terms from the previous one. From the 11th to the 9th century BC, many important events took place.
First of all, the previous civilization perished. Scientists suggest that due to a volcanic eruption. Further, from statehood there was a return to the communal structure. In fact, the formation of society took place anew.
An important point is that against the background of material decline, spiritual culture was completely preserved and continued to develop. We can see this on the example of the works of Homer, which reflect precisely this crucial era.
Refers to the end of the Minoan period, and the writer himself lived at the beginning of the archaic era. That is, the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" are the only evidence of this period, because apart from them and archaeological finds, nothing is known about it today.
Archaic culture
At this time, there is a rapid growth and formation of policy states. A coin begins to be minted, the formation of the alphabet and the formation of writing take place.
In the archaic era, the Olympic Games appeared, the cult of a healthy and athletic body was formed.
Classic period
Everything that fascinates us today (there is a summary in the article) was happening in this era.
Philosophy and science, painting and sculpture, oratory and poetry - all these genres are experiencing a rise and a unique development. The apogee of creative expression was Athens architectural ensemble, which still amazes the audience with its harmony and grace of forms.
Hellenism
The last period in the development of Greek culture is interesting precisely because of its ambiguity.
On the one hand, there is a unification of the Greek and oriental traditions due to the conquests of Alexander the Great. On the other hand, Rome conquers Greece, but the latter conquers it with its culture.
Architecture
The Parthenon is probably one of the most famous monuments of the ancient world. And Doric or Ionian elements, such as columns, are inherent in some of the later architectural styles.
Basically, we can trace the development of this art form in the temples. After all, it was in this type of buildings that the most efforts, means and skills were invested. Even palaces were less prized than sacrifices to the gods.
The beauty of ancient Greek temples lies in the fact that they were not formidable temples of mysterious and cruel celestials. In terms of internal structure, they resembled ordinary houses, only they were more elegantly equipped and furnished richer. How else if the gods themselves were portrayed as similar to people, with the same problems, quarrels and joys?
Subsequently, three orders of columns formed the basis of most styles of European architecture. It was with their help that the culture of Ancient Greece briefly, but very succinctly and lastingly entered the life of a modern person.
Vase painting
The works of this type of art are the most numerous and researched to date. At school, children learn information about what the culture of Ancient Greece was (briefly). Grade 5, for example, is the period of acquaintance only with myths and legends.
And the first monuments of this civilization that students see are black-glazed ceramics - very beautiful and stylish tableware, examples of which served as souvenirs, jewelry and collectibles in all subsequent eras.
The painting of the vessels went through several stages of development. In the beginning, these were simple geometric ornaments, known since the time of the Minoan culture. Further, spirals, meanders and other details are added to them.
In the process of formation, vase painting takes on the features of painting. Plots from mythology and everyday life of the ancient Greeks, human figures, images of animals and everyday scenes appear on the vessels.
It is noteworthy that the artists managed not only to convey movement in their paintings, but also to give personal features to the characters. Thanks to their attributes, individual gods and heroes are easily recognized.
Mythology
The peoples of the ancient world perceived the surrounding reality a little differently than we are used to understanding it. Deities were the main force that was responsible for what happens in a person's life.
The school is often asked to do on the topic "Culture of Ancient Greece" short message, briefly, interestingly and in detail to describe the legacy of this amazing civilization. In this case, it is better to start the story with mythology.
The ancient Greek pantheon included many gods, demigods and heroes, but the main ones were twelve Olympians. The names of some of them were already known during the Cretan-Mycenaean civilization. They are mentioned on clay tablets with linear writing. It is noteworthy that at this stage they had female and male counterparts of the same character. For example, there was Zeus-on and Zeus-she.
Today we know about the gods of Ancient Greece thanks to the monuments of fine art and literature that have remained for centuries. Sculptures, frescoes, figurines, plays and stories - all this reflected the worldview of the Hellenes.
Such views have outlived their time. Ancient Greece, in short, had a primary influence on the formation of many European schools of various types of arts. Renaissance artists revived and developed ideas of style, harmony and form, known as far back as classical Greece.
Literature
Many centuries separate our society from the society of ancient Greece, besides, in fact, only crumbs of what was written have come down to us. The Iliad and Odyssey are probably the most popular works for which the culture of Ancient Greece is known. A summary (about Odyssey and his adventures) can be read in any anthology, and the exploits of this wise man are still impressive to society.
Without his advice, there would have been no victory for the Achaeans in the Trojan War. In principle, both poems form the image of the ruler in an ideal light. Critics perceive him as a collective character, containing many positive features.
Homer's work dates back to the eighth century BC. Later authors, such as Euripides, brought a completely new stream into their works. If before them the main thing was the relationship of heroes and gods, as well as the tricks of the celestials and their interference in the lives of ordinary people, now everything is changing. The tragedies of the new generation reflect the inner world of a person.
The culture of Ancient Greece, in short, in the classical period tries to penetrate deeper and answer most of the eternal questions. This "study" involved such areas as literature, philosophy, fine arts. Orators and poets, thinkers and artists - all tried to realize the versatility of the world and pass on the received wisdom to descendants.
Art
The classification of art is based on the elements of vase painting. The Greek (Achaean-Minoan) period is preceded by the Cretan-Mycenaean, when a developed civilization existed on the islands, and not on the Balkan Peninsula.
The actual culture of Ancient Greece, short description which we present in the article, formed at the end of the second millennium BC. The most ancient monuments were temples (for example, the Temple of Apollo on the island of Fera) and painting of vessels. The latter are characterized by an ornament in the form of the simplest geometric shapes. The main features of this era were the ruler and compasses.
In the archaic period, which began around the seventh century BC, art became more developed and daring. Corinthian black-glazed ceramics appeared, the poses of people depicted on vessels and bas-reliefs were borrowed from Egypt. The so-called archaic smile appears on the sculptures, which become more and more natural.
In the classical era, there is a "lightening" of architecture. Doric style is replaced by Ionic and Corinthian. Instead of limestone, marble began to be used, and buildings and sculptures became more airy. This civilizational phenomenon ends with Hellenism, the heyday of the empire of Alexander the Great.
Today, many institutions study the culture of Ancient Greece - briefly for children, more fully for adolescents and deeply for researchers. But even with all the desire, we do not fully cover the material left to us by the representatives of this sunny people.
Philosophy
Even the origin of this term is Greek. The Hellenes were distinguished by a strong love for wisdom. It is not for nothing that in the entire ancient world they were considered the most highly educated people.
Today we do not remember any of the scientists of Mesopotamia or Egypt, we know only a few Roman researchers, but the names of Greek thinkers are on everyone's lips. Democritus and Protagoras, and Pythagoras, Socrates and Plato, Epicurus and Heraclitus - they all made a huge contribution to world culture, enriched civilization with the results of their experiments so much that we still use their achievements.
The Pythagoreans, for example, absolutized the role of numbers in our world. They believed that with their help one could not only describe everything, but even predict the future. Sophists mainly paid attention to the inner world of a person. Good was defined by them as that which is pleasant, and evil - as a thing or event that causes suffering.
Democritus and Epicurus developed the doctrine of atomism, that is, that the world consists of scanty elementary particles, the existence of which was proved only after the invention of the microscope.
Socrates turned the attention of thinkers from cosmology to the study of man, and Plato idealized the world of ideas, considering it the only real one.
Thus, we see that the features of the culture of Ancient Greece, in short, were reflected through the prism of a philosophical worldview on modern life person.
Theatre
Those who have visited Greece have long remembered the amazing feeling that a person experiences while in the amphitheater. Its magical acoustics, which even today seems like a miracle, has won hearts for thousands of years. This building, in which there are more than a dozen rows, the stage is located under open air, and the viewer sitting in the farthest place is able to hear how a coin falls on the stage. Isn't it a miracle of engineering?
Thus, we see that the culture of Ancient Greece, briefly described above, formed the foundations of modern art, philosophy, science and social institutions. If it were not for the ancient Greeks, it is not known what the modern way of life would have been.
ARCHAIKA - (from the Greek archaios - ancient) - the art of the early, beginnings new stage in the development of a particular historical type, direction, style, school. More often this term is used in relation to the Egyptian art of the beginning of the Old Kingdom (3200-2800 BC), the art of Mesopotamia, or early period development of ancient art (in a broad sense: including Cretan-Mycenaean, or Aegean, art 3000-1100 BC .; see also the Argos school).
The archaic period precedes the classics - the most complete disclosure of the possibilities of a certain historical type of art, its flowering. Therefore, it is reasonable to use the term "archaic" to denote the emergence of various types of art in different historical epochs. Archaic art is a pre-modern stage in the development of artistic thinking, characterized by the lack of formalization of artistic ideas, a chaos of vaguely perceived possibilities. It was archaic in antiquity, early Christian art is archaic and, in part, Romanesque. The archaic period experienced the art of Byzantium and ancient Russian art, archaic features are characteristic of early Gothic and the art of the Quattrocento - early Italian Renaissance
In archaic culture (this is a period of about 50-10 thousand years BC), a person learns to draw, count, creates the first explanations of the world and himself. In the same period, the first social forms of organization of people (tribal and clan unions) appeared.
If we bear in mind the cultural consciousness of a person, then the main thing for an archaic person was the conviction that all people, animals, plants have a soul. The concept of the soul in primitive societies (and they are still at a stage of development corresponding to archaic culture) is approximately the following. The soul is a subtle, immaterial human image, by its nature something like steam, air or shadow. Some tribes, notes the classic of cultural studies E. Taylor, "endow everything that exists with a soul, even rice has its Soul among the Dayaks." In accordance with archaic ideas, the Soul is a light, mobile, indestructible, undying creature (the most important thing in a person, animal, plant) that lives in its own dwelling (body), but can also change its home, moving from one place to another.
For us today, it is natural to separate the living and the inanimate, man and nature. For an archaic person, everything that changed, moved, on which he depended, which gave him food or other benefits of life, was alive. The earth was alive (at times it shook from earthquakes), it also gave water and food. The sky was alive, it was changing, sending rain, angry with thunder and lightning. The water was alive, it flowed, ran, died (evaporated), at times, during floods, it became terrible. In short, for an archaic man, all nature (planets, sun, moon, stars, water and earth, fire and air, forests and lakes) was alive. But if so, all natural elements were endowed with a soul. These souls were called either souls proper, or "spirits" and "demons". The strongest and most powerful, on which the life of an archaic man depended significantly, gradually began to stand out and were called gods.
We specially cited these views to show that fragments of archaic culture have flown even in our time. But in general, the archaic culture did not disappear without a trace. It overflowed into the myths of the peoples of the world, into folklore, into the deepest "archetypes" of the human psyche. It had an archaic culture and a direct impact on the subsequent culture - the ancient kingdoms and states of the Middle East, Egypt, India, China.
23) Evolutionary school
Evolutionism (evolutionary school)- a trend in anthropology and ethnography, whose adherents assumed the existence of a universal law of social development, consisting in the evolution of culture from lower forms to higher forms, from savagery to civilization, etc. The main idea of evolutionists was the conviction of the complete identity of historical paths different nations... Evolutionists viewed history as the sum of independent evolutions of individual elements of culture and social structure.
The birth of evolutionism
Evolutionism is the first ethnographic theory that began to form in the middle of the 19th century. The founder of evolutionism is considered Edward Taylor, who first expressed his evolutionist ideas in the book "Research in the field of ancient history mankind "(1865). Therefore, it is he who is considered by many researchers to be the founder of evolutionism. Among the followers of this school were L. Morgan and J. Fraser.
Basic principles of evolutionism
1. The classical evolutionist theory insisted on the existence of a universal law of the development of human cultures.
2. The human race is one, therefore all people have approximately the same mental abilities and in similar situations will make approximately similar decisions, which in turn determines the uniformity of culture at similar stages of development;
3. In human society, continuous development takes place, that is, a straight-line process of transition from simple to more and more complex. Thus social development goes according to the laws of evolution;
4. The development of any cultural element is predetermined from the outset, since its later forms are formed and originated in earlier ones. At the same time, the development of any culture is multi-stage, and the stages and stages of development are the same for all cultures in the world;
5. Cultural differences between peoples are caused by their different stages of development, and all peoples and all cultures are interconnected in one continuous and progressively developing evolutionary series.
6. Primitive society, from the point of view of evolutionists, had social, cultural and economic models... And modern non-literate peoples were viewed as a relic of ancient times. It was assumed that the study of their culture leads to the reconstruction of the culture of primitive society as a whole.
Criticism of evolutionism
With the further development of science and, accordingly, the accumulation of new factual data, late XIX century, the weaknesses of evolutionism, which came into conflict with the facts of real life, began to appear more and more. The collected new ethnographic material often did not confirm evolutionist positions.
1. The hypothesis of a single logic of the historical process did not correspond to the philosophical attitudes of positivists and supporters of other trends. So, for example, many historians, relying on concrete facts, took a position called "idiographic" ("ideographic"). From this point of view, historical events are limited and random. Some critics of evolutionism drew attention to the abstract nature of the concept of the universal law of the development of human cultures and argued that there were only separate processes (migration, urbanization, etc.). Those who recognized the existence of historical models, limited them to an era, people or country, etc., refused to recognize the existence of global historical laws.
2. Critics drew attention to the evolutionists' neglect of the facts of numerous crises, complete collapses of states and civilizations.
3. Proponents of cultural relativism pointed to the uniqueness of each ethnic group and, therefore, the impossibility of ranking them on a single scale of differentiation, maturity, or progressiveness. From this perspective, many non-Western societies that may seem backward to Europeans are not, they are simply different from Western ones.
4. Diffusionists pointed out that evolutionists ignored the fact of the influence of direct intervention (colonization, conquest, migration, demonstrative effects, etc.) on the processes of social change, since as a result of the above processes, the stages of development of society are often skipped or accelerated.
24) Functional School of Anthropology of Culture
Anthropological school- developed in Great Britain in the 1860s. (E. Taylor, A. Lang, J. Fraser, in Russia - N.F.Sumtsov, A.I. Kirpichnikov, A.N. Veselovsky), explained the similarity of material and spiritual culture, including the folklore of peoples who are not among themselves in ethnic kinship or economic, political and cultural ties, the common human nature of people, the similarity of their psyche and thinking at the same levels historical development, correspondence of spiritual culture and art to the level of material culture; proved that, having arisen, similar plots became eternal companions (remnants) of culture.
This theory was also called the theory of spontaneous generation of plots, as it argued that each nation independently creates its own culture and enriches the culture of mankind. A.Sh. retained some of the views of the mythological school: she assigned a large role in the primitive worldview of beliefs and magic, believing that myths lie at the heart of many folklore works. But she considered myths a secondary phenomenon, to-rum preceded by animism - the animation of the forces of nature by man.
This school was more progressive than the mythological and migration schools. She went beyond the study of the culture of related and related peoples, made important generalizations of the peculiarities of the culture of the peoples of the world. Representatives of A.Sh. came to the conclusion that all peoples go through general stages of cultural development and that its subsequent periods retain the remnants of the previous ones. But she could not give an explanation for the similarity of the plots, since she divorced the creativity of peoples from their socio-economic development and concrete history.
25) Verbalization and symbolization
In general terms, a symbol is something that is related to something else or is a representative of this other, as opposed to a sign that indicates the presence of something. In this sense of the word, emblems, badges are symbols, since they receive their meaning due to their correlation with something else, with their referent.
Symbolization is usually regarded (although not by Freud himself - see Freud, 1900, 1917, 1940) as one of the primary processes governing unconscious thinking, as exemplified by dreams and symptom formation. Probably, this conclusion arose on the basis that the processes involved in the formation of the symbol are displacement and condensation. Freud also seems to disagree with the idea that words are not "true" symbols, since in his last work (1940) he wrote: “Dreams use linguistic symbols indefinitely, the meaning of which is largely unknown to the dreamer. Our experience, however, allows us to establish their meaning. They probably originate from the early phases of speech development. " In his work “Introduction to Psychoanalysis. Lectures "(Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis, I960), he also characterized symbolism as" an ancient, but out of use way of expression. " The theoretical assumptions underlying both statements are presented in the article ontogeny and phylogeny. However, Jones' theory is a "classical" analytic theory of symbolism (see classical theory). Rycroft attempted to reconcile analytic and non-analytic approaches to the symbolism of primary and secondary processes in 1956. For the distinction between symbols representing instinctual processes and the symbols that replace them, see Segal (1957).
Psychoanalytic theory states that the object or action that is symbolized is always biologically and instinctive; at the same time, the substitution or displacement is always represented by that which is beyond the boundaries of the corporeal, i.e., for example, knives, airplanes and guns can be considered as phallic symbols, but the penis can never be a symbol of a knife. Opposite, centripetal shifts are "regressions." The exception is the functional symbolism of Zilbepe, observed in tired or half-asleep people when they try to think about abstract things, and instead visual images come to their minds.
Ethnic development
Ethnos- it is a historically established in a certain territory a stable set of people, possessing common features and stable features of culture and mental make-up, as well as the consciousness of their unity and difference from other similar formations.
Ethnic formation
The condition for the formation of an ethnos is a common territory and a common language. The territory is a natural base for interaction and unification of people. Territorial proximity was the first prerequisite for the consolidation of people in a community. The presence of its own territory is a prerequisite for the formation of an ethnos, however, a formed ethnos can, under certain conditions, exist without its own territory (for example, the Jews before the re-creation of Israel in 1947, or the Gypsies).
Others important condition is the commonality or proximity of language as a means of communication that facilitates the emergence of stable social ties, however, for some ethnic groups, common language is not a condition, but the result of their emergence.
The characteristic features of an ethnos of material and spiritual culture, everyday life, customs, morals and mental properties are formed under the influence of various socio-economic factors and the characteristics of the natural environment to which people adapt and which they use in their activities.
A sign of completeness in the formation of an ethnos is the emergence of ethnic identity. Ethnic self-awareness is a sense of belonging to a particular ethnic group, which is based on the idea of the common origin and historical destinies of the people belonging to the ethnic group, and the idea of the difference between one's ethnic group and others. Ethnic identity is one of the forms of social identification of individuals. The external expression of ethnic self-awareness is an ethnonym - an ethnic self-name.
Ethnic development stages
The formed ethnos acts as a social organism self-reproducing itself on the basis of the transfer of historical experience and culture to new generations. In the process of development of an ethnos, each ethnos goes through several historical stages and the corresponding types of ethnic community. Historically developing ethnos goes through the stages of tribe, nationality and nation.
Initially, the basis for the union was the marriage relationship between the clans - phratries. In the future, as the development of the common territory and the development of production forces, a community of economic and political interests arises, which leads to the formation of a tribal organization.
The highest stage in the development of the tribal organization, which precedes the emergence of the state, is the union of tribes. It arises by uniting several tribes to achieve a specific goal, be it war, the construction of an irrigation system or migration, and is a transitional state of an ethnic group from tribe to nationality.
Nationality is a type of ethnos formed on the basis of the consolidation of tribes, caused by the strengthening of socio-economic and political ties between them, and a characteristic commonality of culture, language and way of life. The main indicators of the formation of a nation is the emergence of the state and common religion... The development of social ties within the state, the transition from natural to commodity economy and the establishment of capitalist economic relations, predetermines the emergence on the basis of nationality of a more perfect form of ethnos - a nation.
Traditionally, the following definition of a nation is used in Russian sociology: "A nation is a historical, established, stable community of people, which arose on the basis of a common language, territory, mental make-up, life, manifested in a community of culture".
This definition has serious drawbacks, in particular - the blurring of the boundaries of the concept of a nation, therefore, a different definition is increasingly used, according to which "A nation is the highest form of life of a developed ethnos, characterized by a developed self-consciousness, a single unified literary language spreading through the education systems, literature and the media, the development of professional culture and art, as well as the social class structure inherent in an industrial society formed within the framework of a national state ".
Myths of primitive culture
A stable symbolic picture of the world takes shape already in the Mesolithic era in the form of a mythological picture of the world. The Mesolithic man gradually passes to agriculture, masters vegetable world, discovers a different, in comparison with hunters, natural environment. The plant is associated with the elements, it is rooted in the ground, and its crown stretches to the sky. It is the plant that gives man the image of the "world tree". The world is inhabited by supernatural beings, spirits that live in trees, stones, streams, rocks, animating the universe to ensure human interaction with it.
Myth Explorer M. Eliade in the work "Aspects of myth" defines the myth (Greek. mythos- "legend") as an archaic form of thinking of a primitive man, which is produced in the presentation of sacred history, tells about an event that occurred in memorable times of "the beginning of all beginnings." The myth tells how reality, thanks to the exploits of supernatural beings, achieved its embodiment and fulfillment, whether it be an all-embracing reality, space or just a fragment of it: an island, flora, human behavior. This is always a story about a "creation", the myth tells how something happened, and in the myth we stand at the origins of the existence of this "something". The characters in the myth are supernatural beings. The myth reveals their creative activity or reveals the sacredness of their actions. In general, the myth describes the various manifestations of the sacred in this world.
The primitive myth was a kind of preliterate mentality that was embodied in the sign systems of oral communication. The story of the primitive storyteller carried a hypnotic effect, the reproduction of the material was accompanied by improvisation in combination with singing, pantomime or dance. All this contributed to the provision of complicity in the story and identification with the characters of its plot. An important function of myth as a sacred story is in the existential affirmation of a person. To "know" a myth means to come closer to understanding the essence of everything, to the mystery of origin. A religious person, repeating the mythological model, is not afraid of anything, since he repeats the actions of the deity. The myth is actualized in a ritual through which a person is introduced to the sacred. A person feels the need to immerse himself in a sacred, timeless time - "the time is it." For example, the myth of the origin of food plants from the excrement or sweat of a deity or a mythical ancestor gave rise to the idea that by eating plants, a person becomes part of the sacred.
A person seeks to actualize the existence of the "sacred", to recreate the heavenly archetype in his living space through the introduction of his settlement, temple, dwelling to the symbolism of the sacred. He transfers his ideas about the divine world to the profane world, “cosmizes” it, repeats it in rituals. By re-creating the world, homo religious organizes chaos and sanctifies his living space.
The main features of the myth:
Syncretism. Ancient myths contain, in an undeveloped form, the beginnings of art, religion, and pre-scientific ideas about nature and society.
Real life ideas were intertwined in the myth with the fantastic. In myth, everything is real and possible, everything is real.
Operationality. The myth answers the question “how did this (sea, earth, sky, plant, man) arise; "How" gods or cultural heroes did it;
Binary. ( top-bottom, male-female, right-left, light-dark),
The culture of archaic Greece. The Greeks simplified the Phoenician syllabic writing and created a new, easier-to-use alphabet.
Alphabetic writing led to the democratization of education; to the VI century. BC NS. the spread of literacy among free Greeks became widespread. In the VIII century. BC NS. The epic poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey" of the great Homer were created and, possibly, for the first time were recorded, which laid the foundation not only for ancient Greek, but also for the entire European literature. In 776 BC. NS. for the first time, the Olympic Games were held, embodying the competitive beginnings of Greek culture.
By the end of the archaic era, the sense of the unity of the Greek world had grown stronger. This was reflected in the transformation of Greek paganism, which made the transition from local cults to the design of a single Greek pantheon. Mythology has acquired a more harmonious, systematized character. At the same time, due to the disunity of the polis and the absence of an independent priesthood in Greece, each polis associated itself with its divine patron from among the Olympian gods. For example, in Athens, the goddess of wisdom Athena was especially revered; at Olympia - Zeus, the king of the gods; in Delphi - the patron god of the muses of Apollo. In the mind of the Greeks, the gods were not omnipotent. Ananke reigned over the world of gods and people - fate, fate, inevitability, no one could get away from her. Greek tragedies were permeated with the spirit of Ananke; at the end of the VI century. BC NS. in Greece, the theater became widespread. At the end of the archaic era, the foundations of classical Greek architecture were laid, and monumental architecture developed. In the center of the cities, temples are erected to the patron gods. The temple became the main type of public building.
In the VI century. BC NS. Ancient Greek architects created a strictly thought-out system of relationships between the bearing and the bearing parts of the structure, between the columns and the ceiling resting on them. This system is called "order". The first Greek order originated in Sparta. It was called Doric. Then the Ionic order appeared, which spread to the Asia Minor coast. The latest type of order was the Corinthian.
VII-VI centuries. BC NS. - the time of the appearance of monumental sculpture, in which two types of images dominate - the naked figure of a young man (kouros) and the draped figure of a girl (bark).
In the VI century. BC NS. in ancient Greece, a grandiose intellectual breakthrough was carried out - the birth of philosophy took place. The very word "philosophy" is ancient Greek, it means "love for wisdom." The first Greek philosophers made a successful attempt to overcome the religious consciousness that animate the cosmos, to move away from the predominantly emotional and aesthetic perception, the connection with cult practice.
The emergence of philosophy was due to a number of reasons, among which the most important are the accumulation of positive knowledge, the formed recognition of reason as the basis of cognition as opposed to sensory perception, the discovery of logical methods of searching for truth.
The emergence of philosophy was also facilitated by the accumulation of the social experience of the citizen, which gave rise to the universality of consciousness in understanding the laws, the possibility of establishing objective causes and effects. This is confirmed by the fact that philosophy originated in the most developed city-states of Ionia. Philosophers from Miletus became the founders of ancient Greek natural philosophy - a speculative interpretation of the world, nature in their very general form... They were looking for an answer to the question of what is the fundamental principle of all that exists, from which everything is born and into which everything returns.
Thales believed that water is the fundamental principle, Anaximander saw it in the infinite primeval matter (apeiron), and Anaximenes - in the element of air. Anaximander discovered the law of conservation of energy. opposed the teachings of Pythagoras, also a native of Ionia. In southern Italy, he founded a closed religious and philosophical brotherhood. Pythagoras created a mystical ritualized teaching, he spoke about the kinship of all living beings, about the transmigration of souls, he attached special importance to number as the beginning of the world. The emergence of philosophy, the development of rational thinking led to the emergence of the initial forms of science as a special sphere of cognition and human activity, the main task of which is the purposeful study of nature, the world and man, the discovery of the laws of phenomena, the systematization of knowledge about reality, their theoretical generalization.
