Mi Casa es Greek Casa! Antient Greece

You know, this time machine is getting a little boring. Maybe we should put in some elevator music or something? Oh look! We're here!

 I present to you my humble abode: my ancient roots, Greece!
Well, okay, I'm half Greek, so? This is still the home of my ancestors! And you can see the resemblance, can't you? No? Well, you can see it in my amazing artistic prowess right? ...Okay, okay, let's just move on...

This is the town of Attica, we're here to see a sculpture the professor was asking about.

(Image from this site.)

Here is the Statue of a (Kouros) Youth. As you can see, it is a sculpture in the round and it is standing in almost the same pose those Egyptian sculptures were. They got better at statues later in Greece, this one was just the earliest marble statue of a human they had done. This guy, although he might not look like much compared to our body builders today, was the ideal athlete of the time. He had such a perfect and athletic body, that he represented the Greek god Apollo. The professor told me there was something special about his smile- that it was Archaic or something. I think it's just creepy.

Let us move on to Krit (Crete) and a better artistic feat: the Kritios Boy.

(Image from here.)

This guy's looking much better than the last. He's actually got some muscles! Unfortunately he's also missing most of his limbs... However, the reason this statue looks so much better is because he is standing in Contrapposto. No, he's not standing in pasta, he's doing a certain pose! As you can see, one hip is slightly raised while the opposite knee is bent, giving him a relaxed and natural pose, unlike our stiff Youth.

Both the Statue of a Youth and the Kritios Boy were done during the Archaic era of Greece. Why don't we go back into the time machine and move on to the next period: the Classical period.

(Image from here.)

This is a frize, which is a sculpture from the east pediment (the triangular area on the top of the facade) of the Parthenon. It is the Three Goddesses (Hestia, Dione, and Aphrodite). These three lovely headless ladies are commemorating the birth of Athena. Although it may not look very lively in our time, when it was first made it was painted in very vibrant colors. Look, there's the artist doing a sculpture now! Hm, interesting, all his models are wearing wet clothes so he can get better definition on the folds and body anatomy, what a good idea! ...Oh, now he's yelling at us to leave. I guess he doesn't like to have an audience. Oh well, back into the time machine again! 

And now for the Helenistic period! This is the time where the East meets the West, quite literately, that's what it means.

 

(Image from here.)

This statue is The Dying Gaul. A Gaul is a Celtic man. I wonder how my other ancestors from Ireland ended up in ancient Greece? Well, sadly in current times this statue does not exist, we only have a Roman copy of it. Roman copies are actually how we know in my time what Greece sculptures looked like, since so many have been destroyed partially or completely.  

Come on, we need to go now. There's one last thing from this time period I want to show you. 

(Image from here.)

 

(Image from here.)

This is by far my favorite Greek marble sculpture, The Nike of Samothrace (also known as The Winged Victory). This is a sculpture of an angel landing on the bow of a ship to proclaim victory. The most interesting thing about this sculpture, according to my professor, is not the sculpture itself but the negative space, as you can see from the side-view image. In my time this sculpture is in the Louvre museum in France, a long way from home.

Here is an interesting artistic rendition of it. Sorta looks like a John Lennon version, I think.

(Image from here.)

Now we're off to Milos! Here is the Venus de Milo (in Roman), or the Aphrodite de Milo (in Greek).

(Image from here.)

This is a sculpture of the most beautiful woman in all of Greece, the Greek goddess Aphrodite (also the Roman goddess Venus). This is 6 feet and 8 inches in height, what a tall glass of water! This statue embodied the ideal woman in Greek society. Gee, wish I looked like that. 

Oh shoot! I think I left my sunglasses at the Parthanon! We have to go back!

Well, since we didn't before, why don't we get a good look at the Acropolis. 

(Image from here.) 

Athens is such a pretty city, don't you think? The Acropolis is the highest point in the city, and such a busy place too! They have many buildings up here from temples to the place where the city would come to vote, the Parthenon.

(Image from here.)

This building employed all the best artists around all of Greece to build. It took eight years, and no one even had blueprints for it! What a collaboration! This building is made up over over 70,000 unique pieces. This is in a Doric style of architecture, as you can see from the 33-foot-tall columns.

(The three orders of architecture in ancient Greece. There's the Doric style I was talking about.)
(Image from here.)

 It was made during the Classical period. It celebrates Athena Parthenos, a goddess, and even has a 40-foot-tall gold statue of her inside.

Oh look, my sunglasses, yay! Well... While we're here, let's see some more art! This is The Porch of Maidens.

 

(Images 1, 2, and 3.)

These are caryatids, which are female figures used in place of columns to support architecture. I feel bad for these ladies, their backs' must feel awful! They are on the erectheum, a Greek temple on the Acropolis.

I brought back this painted postcard for the professor, isn't it nice? They were selling these right outside the Acropolis!

(Image from here.)

 Just a few more things I wanted to write about for the professor and we'll be on our way again. One is the famous poetry of ancient Greece.

 

 (Left image from here, right image from here.)

These are amphoras, which are jugs that carry liquid and have two handles. They are generally either black with red-orange painting on them or red-orange with black painting on them. Don't touch them please! This poetry store is expensive!

 

And here is our last piece of artwork to find: a Greek Key

(Image from here.) 

 

 (Image from here.)

These easily distinguishable images are still used in artwork relating to Greece in my time. The top is the original Greek key while the bottom image is a bit of a variation. 

It was fun visiting my home and all, but this is so long ago I really don't know anyone and I'm ready to travel through the time-space-continuum again. See you next time, Greece!

 

(Image from here.)