Study Questions: Biers, Chapter 8: “THE FIFTH CENTURY”
Part I Questions 1-30: Due: Wednesday, March 17, 2021.
Part II Questions 31-60: Due: Monday, March 22, 2021.
ILLUSTRATION: Attic marble relief of a victorious boy athlete,
found in the sanctuary of Athena at Sounion. 470-460 BCE. Archaic style at this time developing into the High Classical. It was probably a votive offering. Characterized by simplicity and sober gravity (the Severe Style). “The creation of Greeks who have won self-confidence and ethnic pride by their victories over the Persians, yet are profoundly conscious of the responsibilities of freedom and human weakness in the face of divine power. ” This boy is autostephanoumenos “self-crowning,”putting the wreath of victory on his own head. In his short hair, which is bound with a ribbon, are holes by which the now-lost metal wreath was fastened. “The gentle features of his face and the whole attitude of his body express the deep, modest, and thoughtful satisfaction that he feels in recognizing not only human value, but also divine power.” There was blue background color, as evidenced by traces on he left side of the relief. [p. 182 THE HUMAN FIGURE IN EARLY GREEK ART. GREEK MINISTRY OF CULTURE.1987]
East Pediment Detail: Birth of Athena
EXTRA CREDIT. SECRETS OF THE PARTHENON. WATCH THE 54-MINUTE VIDEO; WRITE A 2-PAGE REACTION WITH THOUGHTFUL THOUGHTS. DUE ON OR BEFORE MARCH 29, 2021. https://vimeo.com/23914660
1. Why does Biers put quotation marks around “allies” on page 194?
2. What was Perikles’ position in Athens of the fifth century? What did he have to do with art? How would you write his name in Greek letters? (also see page 22.)
3. Why did Sparta oppose the Athenian Empire?
4. What was (Who were) “The Thirty”, and what did they do?
5. The first part of fifth century art is called ‘transitional’ and ‘experimental’. Why?
6. What characterizes the ‘Severe Style’? (195)
7. What characterizes the “high classical” style? (196)
8. Who was Phidias? What did he do? (see pages 22, 196, 197, 222, 234-235)
9. How does Greek art change in the last quarter of the 5th century? (196)
10. What does Biers mean by the “canonical number of columns” when referring to the temple of Zeus at Olympia? That is, what is the classical proportion he speaks of? What does ‘canonical’ mean, and what does he mean by the ‘Doric canon’?
11. What kind of stone was used for the Zeus Temple at Olympia, and how was it ‘dressed up’? What was the subject of its metopes?
12. Why was the Temple of Hephaistos at Athens so well preserved? How was it meant to be viewed?
13. What Ionic feature was used “to enliven the severity of the Doric order” in the Hephaisteion? (198) Where is it in diagram 8.4?
14. What is the subject of the frieze in the pronaos and opisthodomos of the temple of Hephaistos at Athens? (198)
15. What do the metopes of the Hephaisteion depict? (198)
16. How might the construction of the Parthenon on the Acropolis have influenced the interior plan of the Temple of Hephaistos at Athens? (198)
17. What “hampered” the architects who were planning post-Persian monuments on the Athenian acropolis? (200)
18. What had previously stood on the site of the Parthenon? (201)
19. What was the statue of Athena Parthenos made of? How big was it? (203) (9 or 11 meters, ca. 40 ft. tall)
20. Name two of the “refinements” which the Parthenon contains.
21. What uses did the Parthenon have?
22. Why was the Erechtheion‘s plan so complex? (204)
23. In the Bronze Age, what stood in the vicinity of the Erechtheion? (204)
24. What was in the Erechtheion? (204)
25. What was the Propylaia used for? (205)
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26. What kinds of columns did the Erechtheion contain?, and where were they located? (see page 204, and fig. 8.11, 8.12) (206)
27. What was the central ramp through the Propylaia used for, and how do we know? (206)
28. Why was the south room of the Propylaia truncated? (206)
29. What two kinds of columns adorn the Propylaia? Where was each located?
30. What two kinds of stone were used in the construction of the Propylaia? What was the effect of using different stones? (207)
31. What does a Corinthian column capital look like? Where was it first used? (207-8)
32. What are two things that are unusual about the temple of Apollo at Bassai? (208-9)
33. How was the Stoa of Zeus different from other earlier stoas? (210-11)
34. What is a ‘three-metope system‘, and where was it to be found? (210)
35. What is Hippodamos of Miletos credited with doing? (211)
36. What did Greek houses of the fifth century look like? (211-214)
37. What are some drawbacks in relying on Roman copies to get an understanding of an original piece of classical Greek art? What examples might we mention? (215)
38. How did the discovery of the “charioteer of Motya” (fig. 8.25) remind archaeologists “of the depth of their ignorance”? (218)
39. What is the significance of the bronzes found near Riace, Italy? Fig. 8.34 (222, 225)
40. What part of the fifth century do the sculptures of the pediments of the temple of Zeus at Olympia represent? What are their subjects? (218-219)
41. Why does Biers say that the old seer from the east pediment of the temple of Zeus at Olympia is an “extraordinary” attempt at realism? fig. 8.29 (219)
42. What significance is there in the contrast between the humans and the centaurs in the west pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia? (219)
43. How does figure 8.31 show “the contrast between… the real and the ideal“? (219, 222)
44. What work of Polykleitos was ‘highly praised in antiquity, and has exercised great influence ever since’? Why does the word contrapposto accurately describe the pose? [contrapposto comic, with vulgar fake heiroglyph]
45. What is the ‘canon of Polykleitos“? What work is supposed to illustrate it? What does Diadoumenos mean?
46. What were the subjects of the Parthenon’s metopes? Why were these themes chosen? What two examples does Biers show?
47. What is the subject of the Parthenon frieze?
48. What might be the folded cloth handled by two people in fig. 8.44?
49. What does “chryselephantine” mean? What two statues in this chapter are made with this technique?
50. What are the subjects of the Parthenon’s pedimental sculptures? Why were these chosen?
51. What characterizes the ‘wet drapery style‘? Cite an example. (236)
52. How is a pebble mosaic made? What were early subjects in the style? (236-237)
RED-FIGURE VASE PRODUCTION. MEIDIAS PAINTER VASE. BRITISH MUSEUM.
53. What does it mean to make pottery by ‘working the surface‘? When else was this practiced? (237-238)
54. How does the quality of red-figure vase painting of the fifth century compare to that of the late 6th century? What does Biers suggest might account for this? (238)
55. What does Biers mean by saying that late in the century “vase painting had entered a florid stage”? What characterizes this stage? (240-241)
56. What was a white ground lekythos used for? Why did it have this name? What kinds of painted decorations they have? What is the plural of “lekythos”? (241-242)
57. Why did the people of Mende ship their wine in amphoras that were not shaped like other amphoras of the period? (242)
58. What kinds of terra cotta figurines did Attica produce in the fifth-century? What kinds did the Corinthians produce? Where can we see pictures of these in our textbook? (242-244)
59. What describes the ‘standard’ Greek coin of the fifth-century? (242-243)
60. What change to their coinage did the Athenians make after 480? Why did they make the change? What figure in our textbook shows this change? (243)
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