Greek life was dominated by religion
and so it is not surprising that the temples of Ancient Greece were the most
important building.
The Greek believed in gods who lived
on Mount Olympus and represented the different forces or nature and different
human activities and passions. Gods decided everything in the Greek lives.
The temple was the house of the
gods, and priest and priestesses had to serve them. And worshippers had to give them humane gitfs,
such as food, worthy objects, housing, and so on.
The image of god, placed at back of
the naos and looking towards the outside,witnessed the sacrifical ceremonies
and processions that took place outside the temple.
The temples were made of white marble and stone.
Greek temples were not very big. To
support the roofs, columns were used. Temples
were rectangular.
Columns
In Ancient Greece three types of columns can
be found; Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. All three types of columns have
three separate parts to their structure (base, shaft, and capital) with the
exception of Doric which has no base. The base is all one piece as well as the
capital. The base is at the bottom of the column, is on the floor. On the other
hand, the capital is on the top of the column. And the shaft is between the
base and the capital.
The Doric
order is the oldest and the most simple. The column stands directly on the
ground and the capital is very simple.
The Ionic order has more graceful column supported on a base. The capital
is more complex and is decorated with carved scrolls, leaves and darts.
The Corinthian order is the last order to appear and it is basically an
evolution of Ionic order . The capital is decorated with acanthus leaves and
the scroll are smaller and more stylised.
On the roof of the temple there were the fronton, the
cornice, the frieze and the architrave, as you can see in the picture.
On the top of the temple there was
the fronton which is a triangular area, decorated with reliefs. Below the
fronton there was the cornice, the frieze and the arquitrave.
The most important part of the temple was the naos o cella, where the statue of god
was kept. The cella was behind the pronaos.
Some temples had another room behind
the naos called the opisthodomos.
1. Decide True o False:
a. Greek people were very religious.
b. Worshippers had to give them gifts, such as human sacrifices.
c. The sacrificial ceremonies and
processions that took place at the back of
the temple.
d. Greek temples were not very big.
e. The fronton is a rectangular area which is
decorated with reliefs.
f.. There are three types of
columns: Doric, Ionic, and
Corinthian.
g. The
three types of columns have three separate parts to their structure:base,
shaft, and capital.
h. The Doric
order is the oldest.
j. The
corinthian capital is decorated with acanthus leaves and the scroll are
bigger than Ionic columns.
i. The most important part of the
temple was the naos o cella.
2. Now correct the mistakes of the exercise nº 1.
3. Complete the blanks.
In ancient
Greece three types of columns can be found; ____________,____________,______________.
The __________ is at the bottom of the column, is on the floor. On the
other hand, the__________ is on the top of the column. And the__________ is
between the base and the capital. The __________has more graceful
column supported on a base. The capital is more complex and is decorated
with_______________-, leaves and darts. On the roof of the temple there were the ____________, the
________, the ___________ and the ____________. Some temples had another room
behind the naos called the___________.
4. Find the correct word.
a. ____________: is between the base and the capital.
b._____________:
had to serve God in the
temples.
c._____________:was the most
important part of the temple, where the statue of god was kept.
d.__________: were the most
important building in Greece.
e. ____________:is the last order to appear and it is basically an
evolution of Ionic order
5. Complete these pictures with the main parts of each order.
SCULPTURE
Not very much Greek sculpture has survived for
us to see. Some Greek sculpture is known from Roman copies which have survived. The sculpture was made of marble,
limestone and bronze.
Greek sculptors were interested in showing the
beauty and grace of the human body, especially the bodies of young, athletic men.The
sculptors also became more interested in the three-dimensionality of sculpture:
people being able to see it from all different sides, and not just from the
front.
The beauty was based on ideas of
scale and mathematical proportions in order to create the perfectly
proportioned figure,
referred to as "The Polykleitan
Canon of Proportion".
Greek sculpture is divided into several periods, the most important are:
- Archaic period
- Classical period
-Hellenistic period
Archaic Greek
Sculpture( from VIII to early V BC)
The Greeks learned
how to make big stone statues from the Egyptians. Archaic statues of
men are called "kouros"which means "boy" and the ones of girls
are called "kore" which means "girl". The kores usually represented priestess.
Greeks always made
their statues nude as the kouros. This is because the Greeks thought that men's
bodies were sacred and that the gods liked to see them.
But their statues of women wore clothes. The sculptures appeared very rigid and
unnatural. The figures were schematically.
Classical Greek Sculpture
Greek sculptors began to experiment with honoring the gods by showing the beauty and grace of the human body, especially the bodies of young, athletic men (women's bodies were still not shown without their clothes).
The sculptors also became more interested in the three-dimensionality of
sculpture. Greek sculptors focused their
energies on naturalizing effects on the human figure. Greek sculptors made the
human body very idealistic and very beauty.
"The Polykleitan Canon
of Proportion". Canon means rule. Polykleitos wrote the first Sculpture treatise where he establish his
ideal beauty canon.. The body must be/ measure the head seven times. We can see that in the Doryphoros, the best sculpture of him.
We can forget to mention other sculptures as Myron and Phidias who lived in
the V BC. Myron carved the Discoboluss, where you can see a young athele who is
going to throw a disk.
Dodiforos Discobolos
Phidias was responsible for the
sculptures on the Parthenon
and he carved beautiful
sculptures from Athena, who was the
goddess of intelligence. The Parthenon was the
temple of Athena.
Hellenistic Greek
Sculpture ( From III to 50 BC)
It was in a new style. There is more emotion,
especially sad feelings like grief. There is more interest in women. And there is more movements in the sculptures.
Aphrodite
was the Greek goddess of love.
The Lacoon group shows the
Trojan priest Laocoon and his sons Antiphantes and Thymbraeus being
strangled by sea serpents. You can see the sorrow and pain on his face. 
1. True o
false.
a.
Greek sculptors were
interested in showing the beauty and grace of the human body.
b. The sculpture was made of marble, limestone
and bronze.
c. Greeks
always made their statues nude as the kore.
d. The sculptures
appear very rigid and unnatural in the archaid period.
e. The sculptors also became more
interested in the three-dimensionality of sculpture in the archaid period.
f. Greek sculptors made the human body very
idealistic and very beauty in the classical period.
g. Myron
was responsible for the
sculptures on the Parthenon
h. Athena was the
goddess of love.
i. Hellenistic sculptures also show an admiration
of female beauty.
2. Now correct the mistakes of the exercise nº 1.
3. Complete the blanks.
The beauty wa based on ideas of
_______ and ____________. Greek sculpture is divided into
severals periods, the most important
are:___________________,____________________,__________________. The Greeks learned how to make big stone
statues from the ______________. Polykleitos wrote the first
Sculpture ______________. The Parthenon was the temple of _______.
In hellenistic period,
there is more
emotion, especially sad feelings like _________.
4. Find the correct
word.
a.______________: These sculptures usually
represent priestess.
c.____________:It means rule.
d.____________: It is the same as pain and grief.
e.__________She was
the Greek goddess of love.
5. Now complete with
the period and the sculptors in each picture
a.
a.
b.
c.
