Breaking down the material for OCR Classics (Roman Society and Thought, Greek Art & Architecture, and Virgil's World of the Hero), one reblog at a time
The surviving stadium at Olympia is the second, constructed during the expansion of the site during the late 6th/early 5th century BC. Now situated outside of the altis, it is no longer within the sacred area of the sanctuary, but instead sits to the side of it, beyond the echo stoa.Â
It measures 212.M by 28.5 M and, like Greek theatres, it made use of the natural contours of the ground for seating, estimated to hold 45,000 people on the earthen banks each side of it. On the south side there were stone seats for the presidents of the games, and a white stone altar “on which a married woman sits, the priestess of Demeter”. According to Pausanias, virgin girls were able to witness the games, but married women other than the priestess were barred on pain of death. (This account does strike modern historians as bizarre, as women on the whole would have been banned elsewhere due to athletes competing in the nude).
The Hippodrome was a different structure, further south, and significantly larger. This was 780 M  in length and due east of the Temple of Zeus, within the temple’s line of sight. The hippodrome made use of a staggered starting mechanism to ensure fairness during chariot races.
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The Treasuries and Zanes were elements of the sanctuary designed to tell the viewer a story or to demonstrate a moral. The treasuries were built in the late archaic period and overlooked the track athletes would take into the stadium, which the Zanes lined.
image from http://people.eng.unimelb.edu.au/Â
They all are in the Doric Order and have South/North Orientations, with distyle-in-antis porches and were all relatively small. Â The largest treasury was the Treasury of Gela (c.600 BC) which consisted of a simple cella, hexastyle porch and terracotta pediment decorated with colourful geometric patterns.
The treasuries conveyed a message of wealth and power from the Polias that had sponsored their construction and stored wealth there.
Before Olympians entered the stadium through a hidden entrance (image right), they had to pass the Zanes - thirteen didactic images of Zeus were built using the fines taken from athletes found to be cheating. Their inscriptions served as a kind of “negative kleos” (reputation) - they were a permanent stain on the athlete’s name.
The Echo Stoa at Olympia was a long, thin building located between the hippodrome and the main religious area (the altis). It is a late classical structure built in 350 BC, and was approximately 97 M long, and 12 M wide.
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image from http://www.pausanias-footsteps.nl/english/olympia-eng.html
The structure was a compound structure of two orders: Doric and Ionic. It had an external Doric colonnade, with an internal ionic colonnade dividing the interior space into two corridors. It was decorated with paintings along the back wall, and provided a civilised space for people to meet and converse despite the echo which gave the stoa it’s name.
The Echo stoa marked the edge of the sacred Altis, and the boundary of the Olympic stadium.
The Ash Altar of Zeus was one of over 60 altars in and around the Altis of the Sanctuary at Olympia. It served as the main altar, sitting before the two main temples.
As the main altar, it was used to sacrifice to the Gods of the main temples and used as the altar during festivals. The unique thing about the Ash Altar of Zeus is that the ash from burning sacrifices was never swept away, and was instead compacted and mixed with other remains from the sacrifice (blood, bone and animal fat), to raise it up in a cone shape. According to Pausanias’ accounts, by 173 AD, it had reached 125 ft in circumference and 7 m in height.
No sign of the altar remains today, however there is a general consensus among archaeologists, classicists and historians as to where it would have lain.
Pheidias was a renowned sculptor, credited with the creation of the chryselephantine statue of Zeus in his temple at Olympia, and two statues of Athena on the Acropolis - the statue of Athena Parthenous in the Parthenon, and a 9 M tall statue of Athena Promachos.
At Olympia, Pheidias had a large (38 by 18 M) workshop west of the Temple of Zeus, where he constructed his famed chryselephantine cult statue of Zeus, before it was disassembled and transferred into its home as the cult statue of the temple. With a high ceiling and limestone walls, the workshop matched most of the buildings of the sanctuary, and was complete with an east/west orientation to provide an environment that would reflect the statue’s eventual home.
We know that the workshop belongs to Pheidias through literary and physical evidence. Gold pieces, ivory fragments and precious stones were found on site, materials needed for any chryselephantine structure, and a cup inscribed with “I belong to Pheidias” was also found. Whether this was genuine or just  a tourist trinket is unknown.
Image from the GTP (Greek Travel Pages) website
The Chryselephantine Statue of Zeus
The Zeus of Pheidias is a 12 meter high figure of ivory and gold with a wooden core (chryselephantine). Seated to give the illusion of further height, Zeus is crowned with wild olive and his ivory flesh was covered with a golden robe, decorated with animals and lily-flowers. in one hand was a Victory (nike) and in the other, a sceptre, flowering with precious metals and topped with Zeus’ eagle.
The statue was heavily adorned with mythical characters and with a gold finish with ebony, ivory and coloured gems for variation. The ancient chryselephantine technique created an otherworldly effect that was perfect for representing divinity.Â
The statue’s plinth, according to Pausanias, was made of black Eleusian limestone and can still be seen today in the ruins. With a scene of attached gold and gilded figures, depicting the birth of Aphrodite, framed by the rising sun and sinking moon. Ahead of the plinth was a pool of oil to reflect the light of the rising sun onto the statue. The plinth was flanked by a two-tiered colonnade to aide the illusion of the statue’s colossal height.
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The Temple of Zeus at Olympia, constructed between 470-458/7 BC, was an Early Classical temple, built to bring an appropriate sense of style to an important Panhellenic sanctuary. Prior to its construction, the sanctuary was for the most part plain and very archaic, with the Temple of Hera and the Ash Altar of Zeus as the main structures.
 The Temple of Zeus bought an element of prestige to the sanctuary. The biggest ancient temple of its time, approximately 28 M by 64 M, with 10.4 M tall columns and another approximately five metres of entablature above this. Standing twice as tall as the neighbouring Temple of Hera, the Temple of Zeus also looks out onto the Ash Altar, and with its East/West Orientation, also looks over towards the Hippodrome, so that the cult statue within can view the sunrise, Altar and games.
The West pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia is a roughly 3M tall Marble representation of a centauromachy - a clash between the Centaurs and the Lapiths that took place after the Centaurs got drunk and rowdy at the wedding of Deidomeia and Parithous, and began groping the women and young boys. The men, lead by Parithous and his best man Theseus, are brawling with the centaurs, and are the only armed men. This scene is commonly represented in Greek art. In these circumstances it is representing the fight between the Greeks and the uncivilised Persians.
The figures are fully rounded, though frontal for the most part, and would have stood in resplendent polychromy that contrasted with the sky, stark marble and the mediterranean landscape. In the centre of this scene, Apollo stands in the centre, arm outstretched towards the Ash Altar of Zeus, serenely above the conflict, creating a contrast. His gesture to the right shows his support of the Lapiths, as his pose follows the action of Theseus attacking the centaur holding Deidomeia. Overall he is a sign of stability amongst the conflict.
Flanking Apollo on either side are Theseus and Parithous, clubs raised, attacking the centaurs. From the remaining shards, we can see their dynamic poses, mostly accurate anatomy and flowing drapery, which is shown through catenaries, groove lines and hints of transparency.
To the left of Apollo is the bride, Deidomeia is being groped by a centaur, followed by several other figures, crouching or fallen to account for the slope of the pediment, with local river gods crawling up from the corner.Â
Deidomeia’s face does not reflect her current predicament. Her expression is severe, but not overly so, and shows traces of an archaic smile. She leans away from her assailant, pushing back against his outstretched arm, with her elbow jabbing into the Centaur’s face. The Centaur is unperturbed by this and continues to molest the blushing bride, his human body wrapped around her, upsetting her drapery and holding her in place. The transparency across Deidomeia’s breast clearly shows the anatomy beneath, and the drapery flowing down directs the eye down the pediment towards the architrave of the temple.
The Centaur’s body is smaller than it should be, being equine, the horse part should be significantly taller. The anatomy is fairly accurate, however,  with muscles clearly visible and the twist at the statue’s waist being anatomically possible - something archaic sculptors struggled with. The image is a far cry from the archaic depictions of horses.
The right of Apollo depicts a Centaur riding down a Lapith, whilst the Centaur next to it bites a young Lapith boy’s arm. There are more figures reclining, crouching and falling to fit in the pediment, with a river god in the corner, creating symmetry with the other side.
One of the more complex scenes on the right of the pediment shows a young Lapith man being bitten by a centaur in the midst of the fray. The Centaur and young boy have their share of archaic features, such as patterns present in their hair, and the boy’s eyes show a tendency to the archaic style. They are significantly more advanced however. The patterns in the youth’s hair create texture, rather than creating aesthetic effect and his eyes, as previously mention, are rather almond shaped, much like archaic statues, however the statue now has noticeable eyelids which seem quite puffy - a trait of early classical statues.
The Centaur is noticeably older than the boy, as shown by his beard and longer hair. It’s facial expression, compared to the serene disinterest of the youth, is harsh and angry, reflecting the violent action. The muscle structure of the centaur show reflects the movement of the raised arm, with the movement being shown in the torso and across the lower body. Overall this statue is significantly more advanced anatomically than statues only carved 30 years before.
The West pediment shows great unity of scale and theme, with the presence of river gods and Apollo (the son of Zeus) creating a direct link to the pediment in the east. Where the East pediment creates narrative through inaction, providing a still image prior to the action, the West pediment shows the action as it happens. This gives the sculptor a chance to show their skill (techne) to any prospective viewer.
The Temple of Zeus’ East Pediment is decorated with fully in-the-round, early Classical figures of Parian Marble. The pediment shows a scene during the preparation for the chariot race between Oinomaos and Pelops for the hand of Oinomaos’ daughter, Hippodamia. Oinomaos had been challenged by thirteen young suitors, who would win Hippodamia’s hand if they won, and would die if they lost. The difference this time, is that Hippodamia falls in love with Pelops, and Pelops eventually wins, defeating Oinomaos through trickery, luck or sabotage - it depends on the myth. The scene depicted shows Oinomaos and Pelops, standing with their respective brides, either side of Zeus (representing Justice) with their respective chariot teams.
The central three figures on the pediment (above) are, from the right, Oinomaos, Zeus and Pelops. Zeus, as a God, fills the centre of the pediment, ensuring unity of scale, as it stands to reason that he would be larger than mere mortals and is therefore decorous.
Pelops is a more youthful figure, standing nude with an early classical severe expression and accurate anatomy. His back is, however, for the most part unrendered, making the statue frontal despite its rounded nature. Oinomaos is the more senior figure, as denoted by his beard and confident stance. As with Pelops, Oinomaos has accurate anatomy, and has a himation, decorated with groove lines draped over his shoulders. Both figures would have had multimedia attachments such as spears or shields. It should be noted that in some reconstruction, the figures of Pelops and Oinomaos are for the most part interchangeable.
To the left of the current reconstruction, is Team Oinomaos. Oinomaos’ wife, Sterope, stands as a modest figure to his immediate left, her arms crossed in frustration, grief or perhaps thought. Her drapery makes use of groove lines to show naturalism, and there is a hint of a bust on her figure. It should be noted that the fluting on her skirt is designed to run into the lines of the triglyphs below.
Next to Sterope is Oinomaos’ team of horses, spread over several planes and receding from the front. Raised and lowered heads show the viewer that there are multiple horses there, and the rounded planes and careful placement means that they are of anatomically correct proportions, though they are a little shorter than they should be in comparison to the male and female figures. This is however, due to the sloping shape of the pediment and their presence is an attempt to maintain unity of scale.
Crouched in front and behind the horses are young boys, one of which is often identified as the boy responsible for sabotaging Oinomaos’ chariot (in some versions of the myth), whilst a crawling figure in the far corner represents a local river god, reclined to fit in the pediment and maintain the unity of scale. The river god is a spectator to the event.
To Pelops’ right is the blushing bride, Hippodamia, raising her veil with one hand to show her bare face to her potential husband, a sign of willingness to marry. This figure has a clear bust and a catenary follows the flow of the fabric between the breasts. The fluting on Hippodamia’s skirt, like her mother’s runs into the triglyph below.
The horses fill the space further down the pediment, and like those of Oinomaos, they are decorous as this side of the temple faces the Hippodrome, and relates to the Olympic setting. From below, a prospective viewer would see a mass of legs and the finely sculpted horse flesh, with a young boy crouching in front of the horses to fill space.
The one asymmetry of the pediment, is the presence of a prophet on this side. The older man (shown by his facial hair) is reclining away from the scene. His anatomy shows that his is not a warrior of hardened muscles, and his hand raised to his mouth in a show of horror shows him to be a prophet, shocked at the events to come. His expression provokes Pathos in the viewer.
The pediment for the most part, shows clear unity of theme and scale, and is relevant for the temple in many ways:
The religious site is the home of the Olympic Games - games allegedly started by this chariot race.
Zeus stands representing fairness, justice and divine intervention, the central figure on the pediment of his eponymous temple.
The religious site is located with in the Peloponnese, an area that is named for Pelops.
The pediment looks out over the Pelopion, the alleged tomb of Pelops, and the Hippodamion, the tomb of his wife.
The Horses are synonymous with sporting events, decorous for the site of the Olympics.
The scene shows the calm before the storm, and the tension building before the race and Oinomaos’ inevitable death.
The Temple of Zeus at Olympia, constructed between 470-458/7 BC, was an Early Classical temple, built to bring an appropriate sense of style to an important Panhellenic sanctuary. Prior to its construction, the sanctuary was for the most part plain and very archaic, with the Temple of Hera and the Ash Altar of Zeus as the main structures.
 The Temple of Zeus bought an element of prestige to the sanctuary. The biggest ancient temple of its time, approximately 28 M by 64 M, with 10.4 M tall columns and another approximately five metres of entablature above this. Standing twice as tall as the neighbouring Temple of Hera, the Temple of Zeus also looks out onto the Ash Altar, and with its East/West Orientation, also looks over towards the Hippodrome, so that the cult statue within can view the sunrise, Altar and games.
The Temple was made of local shelly limestone - something that is not necessarily aesthetically pleasing, but is covered with marble chips (stucco), in order to create the gleaming appearance of marble and contrast with the mostly plain tundra. High on a platform, and brightly gleaming, the statue contrasts with the mud, wood and terracotta Temple of Hera and serves as the new monumental centre of the sanctuary.
As shown by the ground plan below, the temple has a hexastyle porch and a 13 column flank, made from regularly spaced columns of the Doric Order. This perimeter of 6 by 13Â reflects the formula prevalent in Classical Doric Temples, with the number of flanking columns being equal to twice that of the porch, plus one. This creates an elongated temple of pleasing classical proportions.
The temple’s columns have plain Doric Capitals, leading to a plain architrave and plain metopes and triglyphs above that. The East Pediment showed the race between Oinomaos and Pelops, whilst the West showed Apollo pointing towards the ash altar amongst a raging centauromachy. The tips of the pediments were graced with two bronze tripods on each flank, and a bronze nike at the peak.
The temple’s sheer height results in a proportional increase in the size of the steps of the stereobate. As they have become impractically tall, a ramp has been used to allow access to the temple and its internal porches and cella. The viewer, before entering the cella would have walked through a distyle-in-antis porch, with metopes of the Labours of Herakles above it, six above the front porch, six above the rear.
The interior of the temple, the cella, had a tiered internal colonnade, split into two levels, in order to give the impression of height to the centerpiece. A pool of oil sat directly in front of the entrance, made of black limestone with a Pentellic marble rim, to reflect light from the rising sun onto the central figure, the Zeus of Pheidias, a chryselephantine figure, now known as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and seated on an Eleusinian black limestone plinth. On the plinth was a scene of attached gold figures, representing the birth of Aphrodite from the sea, with a divine assembly greeting her, framed by the rising chariot of the Sun and the lowering Moon.
The Temple was created to rival the central temple of Delphi - The Temple of Apollo. It also had to create a new spiritual centre of the sanctuary. In both roles, the Temple of Zeus is more than successful.
The Temple of Hera at Olympia is a Doric Order Peripteral Temple, from the Archaic Period (c. 580 BC) , dedicated to the Goddess Hera, and possibly at one point her husband, Zeus. The Temple was located to the north of the sanctuary, south of an area known as the Hill of Kronos, and west of the area where classicists place the infamous Ash Altar of Zeus.
The Temple itself is something of an anomaly. Most temples of the age were made from mud-brick and terracotta, and therefore have been lost to time. This Temple however, consisted of local limestone alongside these and therefore has survived in part. Archaeological evidence tells us that the temple was originally made from local limestone, providing the bases of the walls and the columns holding up the entablature (literally just the area above the columns). Mud-Bricks made up the internal walls and superstructure, whilst the architrave (the main beam supported by the columns), frieze and pediment were a combination of wood and terracotta. On each of the points of the pediment would have been an acroterion, however only one remains, a 2.3 m wide disk decorated with geometric patterns, reminiscent of Spartan Style, depicted below.
Within the cella was an internal colonnade, with additional wings (antae) supporting them. These spur walls were both to increase the inner space and to support the mud-bricks of the superstructure, and within them the Hermes and Dionysus of Praxiteles was displayed, as a votive offering to Hera and as an aesthetic addition to the temple. Internally, sources suggest , the temple was something of an art gallery.
The ground plan of the temple reveals two porches with columns between the wings (distyle-in-antis), along with a full external peristyle, marking the temple as peripteral. The colonnade runs sixteen columns in length, and six in width, each spaced approximately 3.5m (again suggestive of a wooden architrave). The overall area of the two-step stylobate is 19 M by 50 M.
The irregular spacing of the columns is down to the fact that columns were not uniform. The design of the columns suggests a metope and triglyph frieze, something that matches the suggested Doric style. Literary evidence suggests that the columns, though initially wooden, were replaced from different sources in different styles over time, all made from limestone. They were funded by different people and poleis, which was indicated by inscriptions described on them by Pausanias, a Roman travel writer, who told us of a single wooden column remaining in his time, meaning that the columns were in the process of being updated. Overall the columns had a 4.2:1 height to width ratio.
The temple most definitely had a cult statue, or possibly two. An over life-size archaic head was found nearby, believed to be Hera. The general consensus is that Hera was seated with Zeus stood behind her, but the cult statue of Zeus was likely transferred to the Temple of Zeus nearby before the completion of Pheidias’ chryselephantine Zeus.
It is bizarre that such an old temple survived quite so long, as many were in the process of being updated into more modern styles or were destroyed in accidents and replaced with a more modern replacement. As an archaic temple that was not replaced, destroyed or built over, the temple of Hera is quite unique.
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The Doric Order was a style from the Western Greek Poleis. Described as “simple and massive”, the Doric Order was known for its plain, undecorated columns, which tended to be stocky (only four to six times as high as they were wide). Each Doric Temple was built on a raised, levelled platform, which was almost always made up of three steps, the top step (the stylobate) and two others, making for a three-step stereobate in total. The three steps were deliberate, as most people would start and end with their right foot, therefore avoiding the bad luck of landing on their left. The total height of the steps was proportionate to the temple - the taller the temple the taller the steps. This was obviously impractical and efforts were made to counter this on temples where it presented a problem.
Doric columns descended directly onto the stylobate, and were not decorated with bases of any kind. They were not truly straight, but bulged towards the bottom, swelling with entasis to make them seem stronger and make the temple look less top heavy from a distance. Doric Temples had other optical refinements - they rarely had any true horizontals, and were instead often bulged in the middle to stop them from appearing to sag; and all the columns lean slightly towards the centre, again to prevent a top-heavy feeling.
Early Doric columns were monolithic - made from a single piece of stone, reflecting the wooden origins of the temples, however later temples relied on a series of column drums placed atop each other to build height, and locked together by metal spikes. Either way, the columns were decorated with fluting, now synonymous with Greek art. Originally conceived to make the tree trunk columns appear more elegant, they became a standard of Greek columns, with Doric columns always having exactly 20 flutes.
On the top of each column was a capital, consisting of a pad shape called the echinus and a rectangular block - the abacus. On Doric columns they were always plain, directly supporting the architrave. Above the plain architrave was a frieze consisting of alternating metopes and triglyphs, plain areas and sets of three grooves to break them apart. Metopes were sometimes decorated with sculpture. Triglyphs were not always equally spaced, as they were designed to go over every column and also on the very corners of the building, meaning that metopes varied in width to accommodate this.
Doric temples, and all Greek temples, were topped with a roof, often thatched or teracotta, capped at each end by triangular pediments which sometimes featured acroteria on each peak.
A-LEVEL BREAKDOWN - The Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia
The Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia is a cult site dedicated to Zeus that has been occupied since the 10th Century BC. Said to have been founded where Zeus threw a thunderbolt, and located in a valley between two rival Greek Poleis, Pisa and Elis, the sanctuary was a contested site, until Elis took control having conquered Pisa during a war.
Olympia is perhaps best known for the eponymous Olympic Games, which first began in the year 776 BC, and were revived in 1886, and have continued quadrennially since, the most recent of which having been in 2016. Olympia served as a fixed site for these games, and the games likely established the site as a Pan-Hellenic Sanctuary.
The sanctuary was continually built on, as shown above, but the buildings that are significant to the course are the archaic and classical structures, shaded purple and orange accordingly. Of these, the most important are the Temples of Zeus (15)  and Hera (4), Pheidias’ Workshop (24), and the Pelopian (5). Other points of interest in the sanctuary are the Ash Altar of Zeus (16), the Hippodrome (10) and the Nike of Paionios, a Classical statue located in front of the Temple of Zeus.
“An ancient Greek sanctuary was a marked out sacred area (temnos) where temples - and a range of other specialised structures - might be found” (Emerson, 2007).
Sanctuaries were focal points of religious worship, both local, such as the Acropolis of Athens, and Pan-hellenic - belonging to all of Greece. The most basic elements of which were the temnos (described above) and the altar, the centre of religious festivals.Â
Religious festivals were not their sole use however. Sanctuaries and the shrines within belonged to the citizen body as a whole, meaning that the sanctuaries would be used as a part of rituals within a citizen’s day-to-day life. Local Sanctuaries were a part of a citizen’s identity as a resident of that city, in the same way that Pan-hellenic sanctuaries were a part of Greek identity on the whole.Â
Typical sanctuaries had a monumental gateway (propylon) marking the entrance point, and the transition onto sacred ground, in order to create a heightened sense of religious significance (numinos). The propylon marked the beginning of the Sacred Way, which traditionally lead to the main altar of the sanctuary. To heighten importance, the adjacent to the altar would be a temple, which would house a cult statue, facing towards the altar. The temple would be the religious and stylistic hub of the sanctuary, and would serve as the home of the god, and a storage facility for precious offerings made to the god.
A sanctuary was a sacred place of unbridled significance in Greek religion. It could be devoted to multiple deities and heroes, many of which were of major importance. Sanctuaries were built in areas where Greeks felt a strong sense of religious significance and were often scenic spots - springs, woods and mountainous areas, making them spectacles to behold, showing the perfect melding of nature and human ingenuity to create a place of unrivalled spiritual significance.Â
Kore 675 (c. 520 BC)Â is one of the most advanced female figures of the archaic period. By this time it was standard for rich decoration and complex drapery - this statue and others like it are the precursors to the complex female figures now synonymous with Classical Greek Art.
This statue is considerably shorter than others of the period, but is not short enough to be considered a statuette. In its current state, Kore 675 comes to 0.55 M, though with its legs attached in its metal sockets as designed, the statue is likely closer to 0.75 M. That said, the legs are lost, likely destroyed in the Athenian Acropolis’ destruction and reconstruction.
In terms of pose, the statue is is similar to the Peplos Kore. It stands with it arm raised, this time the arm on the statue’s right (image left). This arm holds an offering dish, breaking the frontal plane. The other arm (image right), pulls the skirt of the statue’s chiton to one side, in a way that is risque for statues of this time. Both arms would have been fitted with metal threads, Tenons, for both practicality for repairs and to show the sculptor’s techne.
The statue is remarkably frontal, compared to its predecessors. In contrast with the complex drapery of the front, the rear of the statue is virtually unrendered, telling us that the statue was likely located in a corner, against a wall or within a column. There is still a hint of anatomy on the rear, as the hair continues down the back, curving over the shoulders and upper torso, and there is a hint of a curve lower down the statue’s back. The front of the statue is for the most part anatomically correct. There is a clear bust, a far cry from the flat planes of the earlier statues of the period.
Accurate anatomy naturally leads to more realistic drapery. The chiton is heavily fluted, and incredibly naturalistic, increasing the statue’s aesthetic. This is in turn decorated with polychromy, including patterns of blue and red detailing the anatomy. Other coloured areas include the eyes, mouth and hair.
The facial structure of the statue is comparable to earlier statues. The statue still has almond shaped, insectoid eyes and an archaic smile. It, like other late archaic statues, no longer has volute ears, but instead interestingly has earrings. In terms of geometry in the hair, Kore 675 has four or five different patterns across the scalp and beading down the back. The statue’s fringe is undulating, looping up and down, and the statue has the typical beaded hair. Other patterns are hidden under the statue’s hairpiece, a stephane, or are packed close together at the piece’s lip.
Kore 675 is, in my opinion, the epitome of archaic Greek female sculpture, and though not fully in the round, it makes use of complex drapery to enhance its aesthetic image.
The Peplos Kore is small for a korai, under life-size at 1.17m. She is an Archaic statue, and can be dated back to approximately 530BC, and stood on the Acropolis, gleaming in Parian Marble.
Like all archaic korai, she is fully rounded, but her feet are not rendered and she holds a pose similar to the archaic kouroi. Her head is fixed on the horizon, though ever so slightly turned, her almond shaped eyes and slight archaic smile looking dead ahead. Her left leg is slightly forward, beneath her dress and one arm is attached firmly to her side. The other arm, however, breaks the frontal plane, reaching forward towards the user. Her left arm is a clear display of skill, of techne, on the artist’s part, as a metal socket is used to avoid the tensile limitations of marble, and allows her hand to be easily changed, repaired and ultimately lost to time.
The Peplos Kore, as the name suggests, wheres a woollen Peplos, pinned at the shoulders, making the statue a peplophoros (”Peplos wearer”), and, according to some, a linen Chiton as well. She is, however, daring for a female statue of the period, with exposed skin along her forearms being clearly visible.
Her anatomy is more accurate than other archaic sculptures, with a clear bust and some rounding to her planes. There is a slight angle to the fold of her Peplos, and an asymmetry to her body the shows and increase in naturalism compared to her earlier counterparts. This is compounded by her rounded cheeks and her protruding nose, showing the artist’s effort in making her face realistic. There is a richness to her hair, with it draping loosely over her front as well as down her back in the conventional beaded style, and she bares a crown of holes around her upper head, where steaks would have held a wreath in place.
Geometric patterns are visible on her back and around her feet, showing she has typical archaic traits, however she has other unique features, most importantly, the Peplos Kore shows evidence of polychromy - the use of blues, reds, yellows, greens, browns and blacks to create a contrast between her and the stark marble of the buildings on the Acropolis. She was thrown down during Xerxes’ sack of Athens and buried in the subsequent rebuilding, but this saved the statue we see today from the elements and any human attempts to further damage her.
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The Berlin Standing Goddess (c. 570 - 560 BC) is named for the museum in which it now resides. The statue originated in the Attic area, and was found wrapped in lead to protect it from either an invasion (perhaps the Persians?) or from vandalism when the family became unpopular. Either way this protection has resulted in a mostly undamaged statue.
At a height of 1.93 m, the statue is life size. It does not quite stand in a typical archaic pose, as the female statues are not striding nor nude, however it is overall very compact and locked together. All skin and signs of anatomy are concealed behind a heavy Chiton (dress), with a Himation (cloak) along the statue’s back.The presence of clothing does allow for patterns in drapery. The fully rounded nature of the statue means that on all sides of the legs are decorated with fluting down to the feet (which jut unnaturally out at the bottom of the skirt). A shape like a falling chain, a catenary, is looped across the statues back, with the himation held at the front by one of the statue’s arms (conveniently hiding any bust). The statue’s other arm comes across in front of the figure, holding a symbolic pomegranate, partially covering the battlement crenellations formed by the draped himation.Â
Geometric patterns are also apparent in the hair, with inverted chevrons pointing up the statue’s plait for aesthetic value. Battlement patterns make up the statue’s fringe beneath the polos (hat), which is decorated with meanders and lotus buds. The facial features are archaically abstract, with volutes present in the ears, insectoid eyes and an obvious archaic smile.
The years between 575 and 490 BC are collectively known as the Late Archaic Period. These years saw an increasing move towards naturalism and realism by the Greek Sculptors. They began to experiment with pose and proportions, attempting to counter and work around the technical limitations of the marble, and moving towards sculpting a full sized and clearly human figure from the block, that would not fall or break.
These later statues still show little movement but are more realistic. The bodies are more accurately rendered, moving away from volute ears and hair patterns and becoming more human. The unnatural twists of the forearms is lost, and the hands locked to the sides of the legs begin to move away, and there is more asymmetry in the muscle, rib-cage and chest.
There is little differentiation in terms of age throughout this period. There are hints of age and emotion but overall, the statues represent idealistic young men, as they had before.