The antique period, which is characterized by the rise and flowering of Hellas (as the ancient Greeks called their country), is the most interesting for most art critics. And not in vain! 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 excavations, 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 figurines 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, the 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 in the example of the works of Homer, which reflect precisely this crucial era. The Trojan War dates back 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 era. 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. It was during this period that the culture of Ancient Greece was born.
Classic period ... Everything that fascinates us today with the culture of Ancient Greece, was created 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 self-expression was the Athens architectural ensemble, which still amazes viewers 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 Greek and Eastern traditions as a result of the conquests of Alexander the Great. On the other hand, Rome conquers Greece, but the latter conquers it with its culture. The Parthenon architecture 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 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 permanently entered the life of a modern person.
Vase painting. Works of this type of art are the most numerous and researched to date. The first monuments of this civilization are black-glazed ceramics - very beautiful and stylish dishes, 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 patterns, 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 acquires 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 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 - in all this the worldview of the Hellenes was reflected. Such views have outlived their time. The artistic culture of 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.
Architecture Ancient Greece developed in three stages. Period from about 600 to 480 BC e. marked by the reflection of the invasion of the Persians. After the liberation of their land, the Greeks began to create freely again. This period was called "archaic". The architecture of Ancient Greece experienced its heyday from 480 to 323 BC. e. During this period, Alexander the Great conquered vast territories, significantly different in their cultures. This has had a devastating impact on classical Greek art. The late period - Hellenism - ended in 30 BC. e. The Romans at that time conquered ancient Egypt, which was under the influence of Greece. The ruins of temples belong to the archaic period. These ancient buildings were one of the greatest achievements of architecture. During this period, wood was replaced by white marble and limestone. Presumably, the dwelling place of the Greeks was the prototype of the ancient temples. It looked like a rectangular structure with two columns installed in front of the entrance. This rather simple structure laid the foundation for more complex structures in terms of planning. As a rule, the temple was erected on a stepped base. There were no windows in the building; inside it was a statue of a deity. The building was surrounded by columns in two or one rows. They served as a support for a gable roof and beams in the ceiling. Only priests were allowed to visit the interior. The rest of the people saw the temple outside. The construction of the temple was subject to certain laws, precisely established proportions, dimensions, and the number of columns were applied. The architecture of Ancient Greece was characterized by three directions: Corinthian, Ionic, Doric. The latter was formed back in the archaic era. Thus, the Doric style was the most ancient. It was distinguished by a combination of power and simplicity. The name of the style comes from the Doric peoples who created it. The Ionian style was formed in Asia Minor, in its Ionian region. From there, Ancient Greece took over. The architecture of this style was distinguished by the harmony and elegance of the columns. The middle part in the capital looked like a pillow with the corners twisted into a spiral. During the Hellenistic period, the architecture of Ancient Greece was distinguished by the desire for splendor, a certain majesty. At that time, Corinthian capitals (crowning parts of columns) were most often used. Floral motifs prevail in their decoration, mainly with the image of acanthus leaves. In the 5th century BC e. ancient Greek architecture was at its peak. The famous statesman Pericles had a great influence on the formation of art during this classical period. His reign was marked by the beginning of large-scale construction in Athens - the largest artistic and cultural center of ancient Greece. The main work was carried out in the Acropolis - on an ancient hill. The Greeks were able to bring to perfection the unity of the constructive and artistic content of the buildings in their architecture. It should be noted that in the 5th century BC. e. both architecture and sculpture of Ancient Greece flourished. The greatest historical monuments were created during this period. However, the early works of Greek sculptors have survived to this day. In the 7-6 centuries BC. e. the statues are characterized by amazing symmetry - one part of the body mirrors the other. The sculptures were in shackled positions - outstretched arms pressed against the muscular body. Despite the absence of any sign of movement (head turning or tilting), the lips of the statues were parted in a slight smile. The sculptural art of later periods is distinguished by a wide variety of forms. In the 1st century BC e as a result of the active expansion of the Roman Empire, ancient Greek architecture takes on more features of the conquerors, losing its own.
In ancient times, on the high hill of the Acropolis, the city of Cecropia was erected, which later received a new name - Athens. It is better to admire the Acropolis in Athens at sunrise or sunset, it is at this time that the ruins of the former great city come to life, and seem to be rebuilt.
History of the Athenian Acropolis
Let's turn a little to the history of the city. King Kekrop is considered the founder of Athens. This great man is credited with the founding of 12 Greek cities, the introduction of a ban on human sacrifice, and, most importantly, the introduction of the cult of Zeus the Thunderer. The arrival of the greatness of the goddess Athena occurs during the reign of another king - Erechtonius, it was during his reign that the city was renamed Athens.
Around the 2nd millennium BC, the territory of the Acropolis fully contained Athens. It was surrounded by powerful walls. On the western sloping side, a particularly strong fortification of Enneapilon "Ninethratie" was erected. Outside the walls was the palace of the Athenian kings. It was in it that the sanctuary of Athena was later located, and as the city grew, the Acropolis became a religious center dedicated to the patroness of the city. The architecture of the Athenian Acropolis.
The construction of the Athenian Acropolis ensemble began after the great victories of the Greeks over the Persians. In 449, Pericles' plan was approved to decorate this area. The Acropolis of Athens was to become a great symbol of a great victory. Neither funds nor materials were spared. Pericles could get whatever he wanted for this business.
Tons of material were transported to the main hill of the Greek capital. It was considered pride for everyone to work at this facility. Several excellent architects were involved at once, but Phidias played the main role.
Propylaea of \u200b\u200bthe Athenian Acropolis
The Propylaea buildings were created by the architect Mnesicles, which are the entrance to the Acropolis, decorated with porticoes and colonnades. Such a structure introduced a visitor to a sacred place into a completely new world, not similar to everyday reality. At the other end of the Propylaea was a statue of the patroness of the city of Athena Promachos, personally performed by Phidias. Speaking of Phidias, one can say that it was from his hands that the famous statue of Zeus in Olympia came out, which became one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The helmet and spear of the warrior Athena were seen even by sailors sailing past Attica.
Parthenon - the first temple
The main temple of the Athenian Acropolis is the Parthenon. It used to house another statue of Athena Parthenos, also made by Phidias. The statue was made using the chrysoelephantine technique, like Zeus Olympian. But this miracle did not reach us, so we can only believe the rumors and images. The columns of the Parthenon made of marble have lost their original whiteness for many centuries. Now its brownish columns stand out beautifully against the evening sky. The Parthenon was the temple of Athena Poliada the City Guard. Due to the position of the building, this name was usually shortened to the Great Temple or even just the Temple.
The construction of the Parthenon was carried out in 447-428 BC under the leadership of architects Iktin and his assistant Callicrates, of course, not without the participation of Phidias. The temple was to become the embodiment of democracy. Large calculations were made for its construction, which is why the building was completed in just 9 years. Other finishing lasted until 432.
Erechtheion - the second temple
The second temple of the Acropolis is the old Erechtheion, also dedicated to Athena. There was a functional difference between the Erechtheion and the Pantheon. The Pantheon was intended for public needs, the Erechtheion, in fact, was the temple of the priests. According to legend, the temple was built in the place of the dispute between Poseidon and Athena for the right to rule in Athens. The elders of the city were to resolve the dispute; at their request, power was given to that of the gods, whose gift would be most useful for the city. Poseidon made a stream of salt water from the Acropolis hill, while Athena grew an olive tree. The daughter of Zeus was declared the winner, and the olive tree was the symbol of the city.
According to legend, the temple was built in the place of the dispute between Poseidon and Athena for the right to rule in Athens. The elders of the city were supposed to resolve the dispute; at their request, power was given to that of the gods, whose gift would be most useful for the city. Poseidon made a stream of salt water from the Acropolis hill, while Athena grew an olive tree. The daughter of Zeus was declared the winner, and the olive tree was the symbol of the city.
In one of the premises of the temple, there was a trace of the impact of Poseidon's trident on the rock. Near this place is the entrance to the cave, where according to another legend lived the snake Athena, who is the personification of the glorious king-hero Erechtonius.
In the same complex there is the grave of Erechtonius himself, and in the western part of the temple there is a well with salt water, as if appearing at the will of the same Poseidon.
Temple of Athena Nike
Athena in the Acropolis found its embodiment in yet another form - Athena Nike. The first temple dedicated to the goddess of victory was destroyed during the wars with the Persians, so after the conclusion of the armistice, it was decided to restore the sanctuary. The temple was built by Callicrates in 427-424 BC.
With the arrival of the Turks, the temple was dismantled for the construction of fortifications. The restoration of the temple was carried out in the 1830s, after the restoration of Greece in the status of an independent state. Another reconstruction was carried out in 1935-1940, and since that time the temple appears in all its glory before the visitors of the complex.
The Acropolis is a magnificent complex of beautiful buildings with a rich and interesting history. This is a piece of Greece, without which it is difficult to put together a holistic image of its former greatness.
Plan of the Athenian Acropolis.
The architecture of Ancient Rome. Architectural symbols of Roman grandeur. Roman Forum, the center of business and social life of the "eternal city". The Pantheon is "the temple of all the gods." The Colosseum is a majestic spectacular building of Ancient Rome.
The composition of a typical Roman urban ensemble - the form bears the traces of the influence of the compositions of the Greek agora and folk dwelling.
The predominant type of developed residential building was atrium-peristyle. Usually it was located on an elongated section, fenced off from the streets by blank outer walls. The front of the house was occupied by an atrium - a closed room, on the sides of which there were living rooms and utility rooms. In the center of the atrium there was a pool, above which an open part was left in the roof for lighting and water drainage into the pool. Behind the atrium, through the tablinum, was a peristyle with a garden inside. The whole composition developed in depth along the axis with a consistent disclosure of the main spaces.
AT roman forums the same idea of \u200b\u200ba closed axial composition - an order peristyle, but enlarged to the size of a city square, was reflected. In the initial period, the forums usually served as markets and along their perimeter, shops, and sometimes other public buildings, were adjacent to the galleries. Over time, they turned into ceremonial squares for public meetings, ceremonies, cult performances, etc.
The temple, located in the middle of the narrow side of the rectangular square on its main axis, became the ideological and compositional center. Rising on the podium, he dominated the composition. In plan, the temple had the shape of a rectangle, to which a portico was attached. Such a composition of the temple was traditional in Rome and went back to the oldest types of temples of the Etruscan-Archaic period. In the composition of the forum, the frontal construction of the temple emphasized its deep-axial structure, and the rich portico (composite, Corinthian, less often Ionic order) accentuated the entrance to the temple. Since the republican period, several forums have been successively erected in Rome. Later, the emperors interpreted the forum as a monument to their own glory.
By its magnificence, luxury, size and complexity of the composition, it stands out forum of Emperor Trajan (architect Apollodorus of Damascus, 112-117). In addition to the main square and the temple, a five-span elongated hall was erected on it - a basilica with an area of \u200b\u200b55x159 m and two symmetrical library buildings, between which a memorial was erected on a small square. trajan's Column 38 m high. Its marble trunk is covered with a spiral ribbon of a bas-relief with 2500 figures depicting episodes of Trajan's victorious campaigns. The Triumphal Arch serves as the main entrance, the statue of the emperor is installed in the center of the square, the temple is in its depths. Colonnades and porticoes made of marble, which were of various and sometimes huge sizes, were the main motive of the ensemble.
The triumphal arches built in conjunction with the forums and on the main roads are one of the most common types of memorial structures in Rome. Examples are arch of titus (70s), arch of Constantine (IV century), where the monumental massif is dressed in a rich decorative garment with a loose order.
Arch of Constantine, placed near the Colosseum, surpasses others not only in its size (21.5 m in height, 25 m in width), but also in the abundance of decorations. Some details (for example, round and rectangular reliefs, figures, etc.) are taken from architectural monuments of an earlier time, which was widespread in the architecture of late Rome. The plastic richness and large size of the structure are designed to convincingly express the ideas of the power of the emperor, who rules both in Rome itself and in the vast imperial colonies.
Arched and vaulted forms were originally widespread in utilitarian structures - bridges and aqueducts. City water pipes - aqueducts - occupied a special place in the improvement of cities, the growth of which required more and more water. The water supplied from the hilly surroundings to the city reservoirs flowed through stone, plastered with hydraulic solution, channels (trays), which were supported by arched structures in low-lying places and at the intersections of rivers or ravines. The majestic arcades of bridges and aqueducts already in the republican period determined the type of structures. Typical for these types of structures; aqueduct of Marcius in Rome, 144 BC and etc.
some of them have risen to the level of the best examples of Roman architecture, not only in technical, but also in architectural and artistic terms. These should include trajan's bridge in Alcantra in Spain (98-106 AD) and the aqueduct in Nimes in France (II century AD), crossing the river. Gard, et al.
Length Garda aqueduct bridge 275 m. It consists of three tiers of arched abutments with a total height of 49 m. The span of the largest arch is an enormous size for that time - 24.5 m. The abutments and arches are dry-stacked from precisely hewn stones. The arcade is distinguished by simplicity of forms and harmony of relationships, clarity of tectonics, large scale, expressive texture. The monumental and refined beauty of the composition is achieved exclusively with the help of constructive forms.
Palace construction proceeded on a huge scale in Rome. Especially stood out imperial palace on the palatine, consisting of the palace itself for ceremonial receptions and the emperor's home. The ceremonial rooms were located around a vast peristyle courtyard. The main room - the throne room - was striking in its size. The hall was covered with a cylindrical vault with a span of 29.3 m, which rose above the floor level by 43-44 m. The main premises of the residential part were also grouped around peristyles on the terraces of the hills, using the techniques of building villas. The construction of villas also became widespread in Rome. In addition to large palace complexes, they implemented with the greatest breadth the principles of garden and park architecture, which developed intensively from the 1st century BC. ( villa Adriana in Tibure, first floor. II century, etc.).
The most grandiose public buildings in Rome, carried out during the imperial period, are associated with the development of arched-vaulted concrete structures.
Roman theaters were based on Greek traditions, but unlike Greek theaters, the seats of which were located on the natural slopes of the mountains, they were free-standing buildings with a complex substructure that supported the seats for spectators, with radial walls, pillars and staircases and passages within the main semicircular volume ( theater of Marcellus in Rome, II century. BC, accommodating about 13 thousand spectators, and others).
Colosseum (Coloseum) (75-80 AD) - the largest amphitheater in Rome, intended for gladiator fights and other competitions. Elliptical in plan (dimensions in the main axes are about 156x188 m) and grandiose in height (48.5 m), it could accommodate up to 50 thousand spectators. In the plan, the structure is dissected by transverse and circular passages. A system of main distribution galleries was arranged between the three outer rows of pillars. A system of stairs connected the galleries with exits evenly spaced in the funnel of the amphitheater and external entrances to the building, arranged along the entire perimeter.
The constructive basis is made up of 80 radially directed walls and pillars carrying the ceiling vaults. The outer wall is made of travertine squares; in the upper part, it consists of two layers: an inner one of concrete and an outer one of travertine. Marble and knock were widely used for facing and other decorative work.
With a great understanding of the properties and work of the material, architects combined various types of stone and concrete compositions. In the elements experiencing the greatest stresses (in pillars, longitudinal arches, etc.), the most durable material is used - travertine; the radial tuff walls are faced with bricks and are partially unloaded with brick arches; the slanted concrete vault has a light pumice stone as an aggregate to lighten the weight. Brick arches of various designs penetrate the concrete thickness both in the vaults and in the radial walls. The "frame" structure of the Colosseum was functionally expedient, provided illumination of internal galleries, walkways and stairs, and was economical in terms of material costs.
The Colosseum also provides the first known example in history of a bold solution of tent structures in the form of periodically arranged cover. On the wall of the fourth tier, there are brackets that served as supports for the rods, to which a giant silk awning was attached with the help of ropes, protecting the audience from the scorching rays of the sun.
The appearance of the Colosseum is monumental due to the huge size and the unity of the plastic design of the wall in the form of a multi-tiered arcade order. The order system gives the composition a scale and, at the same time, a special character of the relationship between the plastic and the wall. At the same time, the facades are somewhat dry, the proportions are heavy. The use of the order arcade introduced a tectonic duality into the composition: the multi-tiered order system, complete in itself, serves here exclusively for decorative and plastic purposes, creating only an illusory impression of the order frame of the building, visually facilitating its mass.
Roman baths - complex complexes of numerous premises and courtyards intended for ablution and various activities related to recreation and entertainment (premises and open areas for sports exercises, meeting rooms, rooms for games and conversations, etc.). The basis of the composition was the halls for ablution with a gradual transition from a cold room (frigidarium) to a warm one (tepidarium) and then to the room with the highest temperature (caldarium), containing a pool of hot water in the center. The halls located along the main axis reached enormous sizes, since the large baths were designed for the wide masses of the plebs.
All halls and rooms were heated with warm air supplied through special channels, which were arranged under the floor and in the walls of buildings.
In Rome, 11 large imperial baths and about 800 small private baths were built. Most famous baths of Caracalla (206-216) and baths of Diocletian (306). The main building of the thermal baths sometimes reached enormous sizes (thermal baths of Caracalla-216x120 m). Surrounded by gardens, areas for recreation and entertainment, it, together with the latter, occupied a significant area (the baths of Caracalla - 363x535 m).
The technical basis for the appearance of such grandiose structures was the accumulated experience in the creation of bold constructive forms - vaults and domes made of concrete. In terms, these forms spatially interact with each other, forming a complex structure. Having reduced the “inert” mass of structures to a minimum, the architects distributed efforts economically and expediently. By giving the structures a different shape, they made the most of the possibilities of mutual suppression of horizontal forces by the vaults themselves. So, the ceiling of the central hall usually consisted of three adjacent cross vaults with a span of up to 25 m, resting on transverse abutments, between which cylindrical vaults were thrown.
Large and small halls, joining into enfilades, created a complex interior, striking with brilliance and luxury of decoration, an abundance of light and air. Decoratively interpreted order elements and divisions were of great importance in the interior. With the help of the order and plastic design of the surfaces of the vaults, the visual effect of the lightness of the structure was created, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe spaciousness of the interior was emphasized. ( Baths of Caracalla in Rome, 206-216 Reconstruction of the interior)
One of the central halls of the thermal baths was often made round in shape with a domed covering. Its dimensions reached great values: the diameter of the caldarium of the Caracalla baths was 34 m. The development of dome structures in the baths contributed to the emergence of a rotunda-type composition in which the dome shape became dominant.
Pantheon in Rome (about 125) - the most perfect example of a grandiose temple-rotunda, in which the diameter of the dome reached 43.2 m.In the Pantheon, the constructive and artistic tasks of creating the largest in Rome (unsurpassed until the 20th century) large-span domed space are brilliantly solved.
The spherical vault is made with horizontal layers of concrete and rows of fired bricks, representing a monolithic mass without a frame. To lighten the weight, the dome gradually decreases in thickness towards the top, and a light aggregate - pumice crushed stone - is introduced into the concrete composition. The dome rests on a 6 m thick wall. The foundation is concrete with travertine filler. As the wall rises, travertine is replaced by lighter tuff, and in the upper part - by brick rubble. The filling of the lower zone of the dome is also brick rubble. Thus, in the construction of the Pantheon, a system of lightening the weight of concrete aggregate was consistently carried out.
The system of unloading brick arches in the thickness of the concrete evenly distributes the forces of the dome on the abutments and relieves the wall above the niches, reducing the load on the columns. A multi-tiered system of arches with a clearly defined subordination of the main and secondary parts made it possible to rationally distribute efforts in the structure, freeing it from inert mass. She contributed to the preservation of the building despite the earthquakes.
The artistic structure of the building is determined by its structural form: a powerful domed volume outside, a single and integral space inside. The centric volume of the rotunda from the outside is interpreted as an axial frontal composition. Before the majestic eight-column portico of the Corinthian order (the height of the columns is 14 m), there used to be a rectangular courtyard with a solemn entrance and a triumphal arch in the form of a forum. The developed space under the portico with four rows of intermediate columns prepares the visitor for the perception of the vast interior space.
The dome, at the top of which there is a circular light opening with a diameter of 9 m, dominates the interior. Five rows of caissons decreasing upward create the impression of a domed "frame", visually lightening the array. At the same time, they give the dome plasticity and a scale commensurate with the articulations of the interior. The order of the lower tier, accentuating deep niches, effectively alternates with massive pillars faced with marble.
The attic strip, intermediate between the order and the dome, with a small scale division, contrastingly emphasizes the shapes of the dome and the main order. The expressive tectonics of the composition are combined with the effect of diffused lighting pouring down from above and subtle color nuances created by the marble of the cladding. The rich festively majestic interior contrasts with the exterior of the Pantheon, where simplicity of monumental volume dominates.
An important place in the construction was occupied by covered halls - basilicas, which served for various kinds of meetings and sessions of the tribunal. These are rectangular buildings, elongated in plan, separated inside by rows of supports into elongated spaces - naves. The middle nave was made wider and higher than the side ones, it was illuminated through the openings in the upper part of the walls.
Three-aisled Basilica of Constantine (312) - one of the largest basilicas in Rome. The middle nave, 23.5 m wide, 80 m long and 35 m high, was covered with three cross vaults. The side aisles were covered with transversely directed cylindrical vaults, supported by powerful arched foundations, which also supported the vaults of the middle nave. The spacing of the cross vaults was repaid with the same supports, which were partially brought out above the side naves. In the longitudinal walls of the middle nave, above the vaults of the side parts, arched lighting openings were arranged. As in other major structures in Rome (thermae, the Pantheon, etc.), the main focus in the Basilica of Constantine is given to the creation of large internal spaces. The richly designed interior, which was similar in composition and decoration to the interiors of the thermal baths, was contrasted with the simple and laconic appearance of the building.
In the IV century. With the adoption of Christianity by Rome on the basis of the basilica, new types of religious buildings began to develop - basilica churches. The Christian basilica was especially widespread in the religious construction of the Western Middle Ages.
High Classical Art (450 - 410 BC)
Second half of the 5th century BC. was a time of especially significant flowering of the arts. This period is called high classics.
The leading role in the flowering of the art of high classics belonged to Athens - the most politically, economically and culturally developed polis.
The art of Athens of this time served as a model for the art of other cities, especially those that were in the orbit of the political influence of Athens. Many local and visiting artists worked in Athens - architects, painters, sculptors, draftsmen of red-figure vases.
Architecture of the third quarter of the 5th century BC. acted as evidence of the victory of reasonable human will over nature. Not only in cities, but also in the wilderness or on the deserted shores of the sea, clear and rigorous architectural structures dominated the surrounding space, introducing an orderly harmonious structure into it. So, on the steep Cape Sunius, 40 km from Athens, on the most eastern point of Attica, which is far out into the sea, about 430 a temple of the god of the seas, Poseidon, was built, as if the first city of Hellas was proudly asserting its sea power.
Advanced architectural thought was expressed not only in the construction of individual buildings, outstanding for their artistic qualities, but also in the field of urban planning. For the first time in the era of Pericles, the correct (regular) planning of cities was widely carried out according to a single thoughtful plan. This was, for example, the planned military and commercial harbor of Athens - Piraeus.
Unlike most of the more ancient Greek cities, in Piraeus, cobbled streets of equal width ran strictly parallel to each other; transverse, shorter and narrower streets crossed them at right angles. The city planning works were (not earlier than 446 BC) carried out by the architect Hippodamus of Miletus, a native of Asia Minor Greece. The restoration of the cities of Ionia, destroyed during the war by the Persians, set before the architecture the task of building according to a single plan. This is where the first experiments in the history of architecture of general planning arose, on which Hippodamus relied in his activities. Basically, the layout was reduced, as it was in Piraeus, to a general breakdown of quarters, and when planning streets, the nature of the terrain, as well as the direction of the winds, was taken into account. The locations of the main public buildings were also determined in advance. The residential buildings of Piraeus were low buildings that faced the street with blank walls, and inside they had a courtyard with a portico on its northern side in front of the entrance to the living quarters. These dwelling houses were relatively uniform: in the 5th century polis inhabited by free citizens. BC. there was not that striking inequality that was characteristic of the later cities of the Hellenistic and Roman times.
In Athens and under Pericles, an old, irregular layout has been preserved. But the city was adorned with numerous new structures: covered porticos (stands), which provided shade and protection from the rain, gymnasiums - schools where rich young men studied philosophy and literature, palestra - rooms for teaching boys gymnastics, etc. The walls of these public institutions were often covered monumental painting. So, for example, the walls of the Poikile stand, that is, the "Motley" stand, were decorated with frescoes by the famous painter of the middle of the 5th century. BC. Polygnotus dedicated to the themes of the Trojan War and other mythical and historical episodes. All these buildings were built by the decision of the people to meet their needs. The citizens of Athens made extensive use of their public architecture.
But the most important building of the Pericles era was the new ensemble of the Athenian Acropolis, which dominated the city and its environs. The Acropolis was destroyed during the Persian invasion; the remains of old buildings and broken statues were now used to level the surface of the Acropolis hill. During the third quarter of the 5th century. BC. new buildings were erected - the Parthenon, Propylaea, the Temple of the Wingless Victory. The Erechtheion building completing the ensemble was built later, during the Peloponnesian Wars.
Thus, the main sanctuaries of the Athenians were located on the hill of the Acropolis, and above all the Parthenon - the temple of Athena the Virgin, the goddess of wisdom and patroness of Athens. The treasury of Athens was also located there; in the building of Propylaea, which served as the entrance to the Acropolis, there was a library and an art gallery (pinakothek). On the slope of the Acropolis, people gathered for dramatic performances associated with the cult of the god of earthly fertility Dionysus. Steep and steep, with a flat top, the Acropolis hill formed a kind of natural pedestal for the buildings crowning it.
A sense of the connection between architecture and the landscape, with the surrounding nature, is a characteristic feature of Greek art. It received its consistent development during the heyday of the classics. Greek architects were excellent at choosing places for their buildings. Temples were built on rocky headlands, on the tops of hills, at the convergence point of two mountain ridges, on terraces of mountain slopes.
The temple arose where it was as if a place had been prepared for it by nature itself, and at the same time its calm, strict forms, harmonious proportions, light marble columns, bright colors opposed it to nature, asserting the superiority of a structure rationally created by man over the surrounding world. Skillfully positioning individual buildings of the architectural ensemble in the area, Greek architects were able to find such an arrangement that combined them into an organically natural and at the same time deeply thought out unity, free from strict symmetry. The latter was dictated by the entire warehouse of artistic consciousness of the classical era.
This principle was revealed with particular clarity in the layout of the Acropolis ensemble.
The planning and construction of the Acropolis under Pericles was carried out according to a single well-thought-out plan and in a relatively short time under the general guidance of the great sculptor of Greece, Phidias. With the exception of the Erechtheion, completed in 406 BC, all the main structures of the Acropolis were erected between 449 and 421. BC. The newly built Acropolis was supposed not only to embody the idea of \u200b\u200bthe power and greatness of the Athenian maritime power and to establish the advanced ideas of the Greek slave-owning democracy at the highest stage of its development, but also to express - for the first time in the history of Greece - the idea of \u200b\u200bpan-Hellenic unity. The entire structure of the Acropolis ensemble of the times of Pericles is permeated with noble beauty, calmly solemn grandeur, a clear sense of proportion and harmony. In it one can see a clear realization of the words of Pericles, full of pride in the culture of the "heart of Hellas - Athens": "We love wisdom without effeminacy and beauty without whimsicality."
The full meaning of the layout of the Acropolis can be understood only taking into account the movement of solemn processions on the days of public festivities.
On the feast of the Great Panathenaeus, the day when, on behalf of the entire city-state, Athenian girls presented the peplos woven by them to the goddess Athena, the procession entered the Acropolis from the west. The road led up to the solemn entrance to the Acropolis - Propylaea, built by the architect Mnesicles in 437-432. BC. ... The Doric colonnade of the Propylaea facing the city was framed by two unequal, but mutually balanced wings of the building. One of them - the left - was larger, but the smaller one was adjoined by the ledge of the rock of the Acropolis - Pyrgos, crowned with a small temple of Niki Apteros, that is, Wingless Victory (“wingless” - so that it never leaves Athens).
This small, crystal clear temple was built by the architect Callicrates between 449 and 421. BC. Located below the other buildings of the Acropolis and as if separated from the general massif of the hill, it was the first to meet the procession at the entrance to the Acropolis. The temple stood out clearly against the sky; the four slender Ionic columns on each of the two short sides of the amphiprostyle temple lent a clear, serene grace to the building.
In the planning of the Propylaea, as well as the temple of Niki Apteros, the unevenness of the Acropolis hill was skillfully used. The second, facing the Acropolis and also the Doric portico of the Propylaea was located higher than the outer one, so that, passing through the Propylaea, the procession rose higher and higher until it reached a wide area. The interior of the Propylaea passage was decorated with Ionic columns. Thus, during the construction of the Acropolis, the combination of both orders was consistently carried out all the time.
The principle of free planning and balance is generally characteristic of Greek art, including the architectural ensembles of the classical period.
On the Acropolis Square, between the Propylaea, the Parthenon and the Erechtheion, there was a colossal (7 m high) bronze statue of Athena Promachos ("Warrior"), created by Phidias before the construction of the new Acropolis ensemble in the middle of the 5th century. BC.
The Parthenon was not located directly opposite the entrance to the Acropolis, as the archaic temple of Hecatompedon once stood, but to the side, so that it was visible from the Propylaea from the corner. This made it possible to simultaneously encompass the western facade and the long (northern) side of the peripter. The festive procession moved along the northern colonnade of the Parthenon to its main, eastern facade. The large building of the Parthenon was balanced by the graceful and relatively small building of the Erechtheion standing on the other side of the square, which set off the monumental austerity of the Parthenon with its free asymmetry.
The Parthenon was created by Ictinus and Callicrates, who began construction in 447 BC. and those who finished it in 438. The sculptural work on the Parthenon - Phidias and his assistants - continued until 432.The Parthenon has 8 columns on the short sides and 17 along the long ones: the overall dimensions of the building are 31 X 70 m, the height of the columns is 10.5 m.
The Parthenon became the most perfect creation of Greek classical architecture and one of the highest achievements in the history of architecture in general. This monumental, majestic building rises above the Acropolis, just as the Acropolis itself rises above the city and its surroundings. Although Athens had quite large funds, it was not at all gigantic dimensions, but the harmonious perfection of proportions, the excellent proportionality of the parts, the correctly found scales of the building in relation to the Acropolis hill and in relation to man, determined the impression of the monumentality and high significance of the Parthenon. Heroization and exaltation, and not belittling of a person, formed the basis of the figurative influence of the Parthenon. Commensurate with a person, easily grasped at first glance, the structure fully corresponded to the aesthetic ideals of the classics.
The Parthenon is built of squares of Pentelian marble, folded dry.
The columns of the Parthenon are placed more often than in the early Doric temples, the entablature is lightened. Therefore, the columns seem to easily support the ceiling. The curvatures imperceptible to the eye, that is, a very weak convex curvature of the horizontal lines of the stylobate and entablature, as well as the imperceptible inclination of the columns inward and towards the center of the building, exclude any element of geometric dryness, giving the architectural appearance of the building an amazing vitality and organicity. These slight deviations from geometric accuracy were the result of thoughtful calculation. The central part of the facade, crowned with a pediment, visually presses on the columns and the stylobate with greater force than the sides of the facade; a perfectly straight horizontal line of the base of the temple would seem slightly curved to the viewer. To compensate for this optical effect, the surface of the stylobate and other horizontal lines of the temple were made by the architects of the classical time not quite exactly horizontally, but curved upward. The sensation of a barely perceptible curvature of the stylobate of the Parthenon enhances the impression of elastic tension that permeates its entire appearance. Other optical corrections introduced by the architect into the clear and orderly structure of the peripter serve the same purpose.
The nobility of the material from which the Parthenon was built made it possible to apply the usual coloring in Greek architecture only to emphasize the structural details of the building and to form a colored background against which the sculptures of the pediments and metopes stood out. Thus, red was used for the contours of the entablature and the background of the metopes and pediments, and blue for triglyphs and other verticals in the entablature; the festive solemnity of the building was emphasized by narrow stripes of restrained gilding.
Mainly executed in the Doric order, the Parthenon included individual elements of the Ionic order. This was in line with the general desire of the classics and, in particular, of the creators of the Acropolis ensemble, to unite the Doric and Ionic traditions. Such is the Ionic nature of the Zophorus, that is, the frieze that runs along the top of the outer wall of the naos behind the Doric colonnade of the periptera, or the four columns of the Ionic order that adorned the inside of the Parthenon itself - the hall behind the naos.
The Parthenon was adorned with sculpture of exceptional perfection. These statues and reliefs, some of which have come down to us, were made under the direction and probably with the direct participation of Phidias, the greatest among the great masters of the high classics. Phidias also owned a 12-meter statue of Athena, which stood in the naos. In addition to the works performed for the Acropolis, which Phidias began as a mature master, he created a number of monumental statues of cult purpose, such as the giant statue of a seated Zeus that stood in the temple of Zeus in Olympia, amazing his contemporaries with an expression of humanity. Unfortunately, none of the famous statues of Phidias have come down to us. Only a few few reliable Roman copies have survived, or rather, variants dating back to the Phidian statues of Athena and to his other works ("The Amazon", "Apollo").
For the Acropolis, Phidias created three statues of Athena. The earliest of them, created, apparently, even under Kimon in the second quarter of the 5th century. BC. and ordered with funds from the marathon loot, was the aforementioned Athena Promachos, who stood in the Acropolis square. The second was the smaller Athena Lemnia (that is, Lemnos). The third, Athena Parthenos (that is, Athena the Virgin), was created in the 40s of the 5th century. BC, since in 438 it was already placed in the temple.
As far as can be judged from the replicas and descriptions, the cult statues of Phidias embodied the image of a completely real human perfection. The greatness of the gods of Phidias was revealed in their high humanity, not divinity.
Thus, Athena Promachos ("Warrior"), depicted in full armor, calmly and imperiously looked around the city stretched out at her feet and vigilantly guarded it from impending dangers. The connection with the surrounding life, the concreteness of the plot motive were, obviously, characteristic of this statue. The beautiful Roman copy of the head of Athena Lemnia, kept in the Museum of Bologna, gives an idea of \u200b\u200bthe enormous life content that the images of the high classics could be saturated with, although some scholars expressed doubt whether this is really a copy from the statue of Phidias. The combination of sublime beauty with a well-defined facial expression gives the image a special vitality, conveying attention, energy and self-confidence full of tense alertness.
The torso of Athena Lemnia, which has come down to us in a Roman marble copy (Dresden), gives an idea of \u200b\u200bthe perfection with which Phidias created a calmly and solemnly standing monumental statue. A clear and simple silhouette is beautiful, easy to read at a great distance; internal tension and restrained energy of movement are expressively conveyed. This statue is an example of the perfect solution of those tasks that the early classics posed, seeking to create an image that combines monumental grandeur with concrete vitality.
The Athena Parthenos was somewhat different from the earlier Athens Phidias. The iconic nature of the statue standing in the temple demanded a greater solemnity of the image. Hence - the inclusion in the image of Athena of symbolic details: a snake at the feet of Athena, the figure of Victory on her outstretched right hand, a magnificent helmet crowning her head, etc. The same is the definition of the sublime dispassion of the image, if you believe the rather distant replicas of Roman times.
The round shield of Athena depicted the battle between the Greeks and the Amazons, full of turbulence and an immediate sense of life. Among the characters, Phidias placed a depiction of Pericles and his self-portrait marked with a portrait resemblance, which was a manifestation of new searches, not characteristic of the realism of the early and high classics and foreshadowing the approach of the next stage in the development of classical art. For this impudent undertaking Phidias was accused of atheism. “He was especially accused of depicting a battle with the Amazons on his shield, engraving his own image in the form of a bald old man who raised a stone with both hands, as well as a beautiful portrait of Pericles fighting an Amazon. He very skillfully placed his hand raising the spear in front of Pericles' face, as if he wanted to hide the resemblance, but it is still visible from both sides ”(Plutarch, biography of Pericles).
One of the notable features of the statues of Athena Parthenos and Olympian Zeus was the chryso-elephantine technique of execution, which, however, existed before Phidias. The wooden base of the statues was covered with thin sheets of Gold (hair and clothing) and ivory plates (face, hands, feet).
An idea of \u200b\u200bthe impression that the chrysoelephantine technique could produce can be given by a small figured lecythian work of the late 5th century. BC, found in the Northern Black Sea region on the Taman Peninsula, the so-called "Taman Sphinx", one of the pearls of the antique collection of the State Hermitage in Leningrad. This vase is a fine example of classical Greek figural ceramics, remarkable for its subtle sense of joyful colorfulness, a combination of grace with monumental clarity of the image. Gold braids, diadem and necklace, white, lightly tinted pink face and chest are clearly inspired by the examples of chrysoelephantine technique.
If we imagine that the shining gold statue of Athena was in a relatively dark room compared to the brightly lit Acropolis area, that the gilding stripes on the outer parts of the Parthenon, as it were, prepared the viewer for the expected spectacle, that inside the naos was painted red and blue and a number of details was highlighted in gilding, then we have to admit that the golden glow of the statue of Athena was in harmony with the general character of the colorful range of architectural decoration of the building.
The most complete idea of \u200b\u200bthe work of Phidias and of the sculpture of the heyday of the classics in general can be given by the sculptural groups and reliefs that adorned the Parthenon preserved in the originals, albeit heavily damaged. Significant destruction of the sculptures of the Parthenon was not caused by time. Transformed into a Christian temple, then into a mosque, the Parthenon stood intact until the end of the 17th century. In 1687, during the Venetian fleet bombing of Athens, a bomb hit the Parthenon, which the Turks turned into a powder store. The explosion caused significant damage. What the bomb did not do, in the early 19th century. the sculptures were completed by the English envoy to Turkey, Lord Elgin. Taking advantage of the permission to take out several plates with inscriptions, he stole almost all the sculptures and at night, fearing popular outrage, took them to London. When the statues were removed from the already damaged western pediment, it collapsed and shattered.).
These sculptures, as already mentioned above, were created by a group of the best sculptors led by Phidias. It is very likely that Phidias was directly involved in the execution of the sculptures themselves. It can be argued that, in any case, the compositional solution, the interpretation of the plots and, possibly, the sketches of the figures belong to Phidias. To this day, the sculptural ensemble of the Parthenon is an unsurpassed artistic monument.
All 92 metopes of the temple were decorated with marble high reliefs. On the metopes of the western facade, the battle of the Greeks with the Amazons was depicted, on the main, eastern facade, the battle of the gods with giants, on the northern side of the temple - the fall of Troy, on the southern, better preserved, - the struggle of the Lapiths with the centaurs. These themes had a deep meaning for the ancient Hellenes. The battle of the gods and giants asserted, in the form of the struggle of cosmic forces, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe victory of the human principle over the primordial elemental forces of nature, personified by monstrous giants, a product of earth and sky. Close in meaning to the first theme and the theme of the struggle of the Greeks-Lapiths with the centaurs. Trojan plots had more immediate historical significance. The historical myth about the struggle of the Greeks with the Trojans, personifying the Asia Minor East, was associated in the Hellenes' minds with the recently won victory over the Persians.
A large multi-figured group, placed in the tympanum of the eastern pediment, was dedicated to the myth of the miraculous birth of the goddess of wisdom Athena from the head of Zeus. The western group depicted the dispute between Athena and Poseidon for the possession of Attic land. According to the myth, the dispute was resolved by comparing the miracles that Poseidon and Athena were supposed to produce. Poseidon, hitting the rock with a trident, expelled salty healing water from it. Athena, however, created the olive tree - this is the basis of agricultural prosperity in Attica. The gods recognized the wonderful gift of Athena as more useful to people, and the dominion over Attica was transferred to Athena. Thus, the western pediment, which was the first to meet the solemn festive procession heading to the Parthenon, reminded the Athenians of why Athena became the patroness of the country, and the main, eastern pediment, at which the procession ended, was dedicated to the theme of the miraculous birth of the goddess - the patroness of Athens and the solemn the image of Olympus.
Along the wall of the naos, behind the columns, as already mentioned, walked a zophorion depicting the festive procession of the Athenian people in the days of the Great Panathenes, which directly connected the well-thought-out ensemble of Parthenon sculptures with real life by its very theme.
The sculptures of the Parthenon give a clear idea of \u200b\u200bthe huge path that was traversed by Greek art in some 40-50 years, separating the time of the creation of the Acropolis complex from the sculptures of the Aegina temple.
The surviving metopes, dedicated mainly to the struggle between the Lapiths and the centaurs, are two-figure compositions that consistently unveil the vicissitudes of this struggle before the viewer. The variety of movements and the inexhaustible wealth of motives of the struggle in each new pair of fighters are striking. Either the centaur, raising a heavy cup over his head, attacks the fallen and Shielded lapith, then the lapith and the centaur intertwined in a fierce battle, clutching each other's throats, then, spreading his arms wide, the centaur-winner pranks over the lifeless body of the fallen Greek, then a slender young man, grabbing the centaur by the hair with his left hand, stops his impetuous run, and with his right brings up the sword for a fatal blow.
These methods were clearly executed by different craftsmen. In some of them there is still that sharp angularity of movement and an emphasized transfer of individual details, which was, for example, in the western pediment of the temple of Zeus at Olympia, dedicated to the same plot. In others, moreover, the best, one can see all the skill of the high classics in the natural and free reproduction of any real action and that deep sense of proportion, which invariably preserves the harmonious beauty of the image of a perfect person. The movements of the lapiths and centaurs in these metopes are naturally free, they are conditioned only by the nature of the struggle they are waging - they do not have any echoes of too obvious and strict submission to the architectural form, which was still in the metopes of the temple of Zeus at Olympia. So in the excellent relief of the Parthenon, where a half-turned back lapith, grabbing the centaur's hair with an imperious hand, stops his impetuous run and bends his body, just like bending a tight bow, the composition is subordinated to the logic of the movement of figures and the scene as a whole and at the same time naturally corresponds to the limits space allotted by architecture.
This principle of a seemingly involuntary, freely emerging harmony of architecture with sculpture, fully fulfilling its figurative tasks and not destroying the architectural whole, is one of the most important features of monumental sculpture of the high classics.
The compositions of both pediments are based on the same principle. When considering any of the figures of the pediments separately, it is difficult to assume that they are included in the composition, strictly defined by the architectural structure. Thus, the posture of the reclining young man Kefalus from the eastern pediment is completely determined by the very motive of the figure's movement, and at the same time it easily and clearly "fits" into the acute corner of the pediment in which this statue was located. Even on the western pediment of the Temple of Zeus in Olympia, the movements of the figures, for all their realistic truthfulness, were generally strictly deployed along the plane of the pediment. In such statues of the Parthenon as Cephalus (according to another interpretation - Theseus), complete freedom and naturalness of movement is achieved.
The composition of the eastern pediment and, above all, the central part that has not survived can be judged by the relief on the so-called Madrid track, where, however, the principle of the triangular arrangement of figures is violated. Phidias refused to emphasize the axis of symmetry of the composition with an upright central figure. The direct connection that the composition of the pediment received with the rhythm of the colonnade with this solution was replaced by a much more complex relationship. Free in their movements, full of life, the figures created a group naturally located within the triangle of the pediment and forming a clearly completed and self-contained artistic whole. In the center of the pediment were depicted a half-naked Zeus sitting on a throne, and to his right, Athena, half-turned towards him and rapidly moving to the right edge of the pediment, wearing a long tunic and arms. Between him and at the apex of the triangle was Nike (Victory) floating in the air, crowning Athena. Behind Zeus, to the left, was depicted Prometheus (or Hephaestus), reeling back with an ax in his hand; to the right of Athena is the seated figure of Demeter, who was present here, probably in her role as obstetrician. Thus, the balance of the composition was achieved here by a complex cross-matching of calmly seated and rapidly moving figures. Further, on both sides of the central group, were the other gods of Olympus. Of all these figures, only the severely damaged extreme left - Iris, the messenger of the gods, has survived. She is full of stormy movement: the folds of her long clothes flutter in the wind, the play of light and shadow further enhances the dynamics of this statue. To the left, in the very corner of the pediment, was placed Helios - the sun god, rising from the waters of the Ocean on a quadriga; on the right - the goddess of the night Nyx (or Selena) with her horse, descending from top to bottom, just like Helios cut off by the bottom line of the froton. These figures, denoting the shift for and night, thereby showed that the birth of Athena is significant for the entire universe from the east to the far west.
The reclining figure of a young man - Theseus or, perhaps, the awakening Mullet, a mythical hunter who rises from dawn to hunt - meets Helios. Next to him were two seated female figures, usually considered Orami. Following the passing night (judging by the sketch of the pediment made in the 17th century) one of the three beautiful girls, daughters of the night - the goddesses of fate Moir, looked. These three female figures, dressed in long robes, forming a group at the right end of the pediment and having come down to us, although without heads, but in a relatively more intact state, belong, like the figure of Kephis from the western pediment, to the greatest treasures of Greek art.
Of the surviving statues of the heavily destroyed western pediment, the most perfect are Kephis, whose smooth, fluid lines of the body, indeed, seem to personify the Attica River, the group of Kekrop, the legendary founder of the Athenian state, with his young daughter Pandrosa and the figure of Iris.
The beauty and majesty of the pediment sculptures of the Parthenon were achieved by the selection of those subtly felt natural movements that, with their free expediency, most fully convey the plastic beauty and ethical perfection of man.
The frieze (zophorion) of the Parthenon gives a clear idea of \u200b\u200bthe features of the construction of the classical relief. All plans, into which the relief is divided, run parallel to each other, forming, as it were, a series of layers closed between two planes. The preservation of the wall plane is facilitated by a single movement of numerous figures directed strictly parallel to the wall plane. A clear change of plans and a clear rhythmic structure of the frieze give rise to the impression of an extraordinary integrity of the image.
The creators of Zofor faced a difficult compositional task. It was necessary to encircle the walls for about two hundred meters with a relief depicting one event - a popular procession - avoiding monotony and variegation, and convey on the plane of the wall with a low relief all the richness and diversity of the ceremonial procession and its solemn harmony. The Zofor masters coped with their task brilliantly. Not a single motive of movement on the frieze is ever exactly repeated, and although the frieze is filled with many different figures of people walking, riding on horses or chariots, carrying baskets of gifts or leading sacrificial animals, the entire frieze as a whole is characterized by rhythmic and plastic unity.
The frieze begins with scenes of youth riders preparing for the march. The calm movements of young men tying straps on sandals or cleaning horses are set off from time to time by the sudden movement of a rearing horse or some swift gesture of a young man. Further, the motive of movement develops more and more rapidly. The fees are over, the procession itself begins. The movement either speeds up, then slows down, the figures come closer, almost merging with each other, then the space between them expands. The undulating rhythm of movement permeates the entire frieze. Particularly remarkable is the line of galloping horsemen, in which the movement, powerful in its unity, is made up of an endless variety of similar, but not repetitive movements of individual figures, different in their appearance. No less beautiful is the strict procession of Athenian girls, whose long clothes form dimensional folds, reminiscent of the flutes of the columns of the Parthenon. The rhythm of the girls' movement is especially emphasized by the male figures turned towards them (the stewards of the festival). Above the entrance, on the eastern facade, there are gods looking at the procession. People and gods are portrayed as equally beautiful. The spirit of citizenship made it possible for the Athenians to proudly affirm the aesthetic equality of the image of man with the images of the deities of Olympus.
The direction represented in the art of sculpture of the second half of the 5th century. BC. Phidias and the entire Attic school, headed by him, occupied a leading place in the art of high classics. It most fully and consistently expressed the advanced artistic ideas of the era.
Phidias and the Attic school created art that synthesized all that progressive that carried the works of the Ionic, Doric and Attic masters of the early classics up to and including Myron and Paeonius.
However, it does not follow from this that artistic life was concentrated by the beginning of the second half of the century only in Athens. Thus, information about the works of the masters of Asia Minor Greece has been preserved, the art of the Greek cities of Sicily and southern Italy continued to flourish. The sculpture of the Peloponnese was of the greatest importance, in particular the old center of the development of Dorian sculpture - Argos.
It was from Argos that a contemporary of Phidias Polycletus, one of the great masters of the Greek classics, who worked in the middle and in the third quarter of the 5th century, came out. BC.
The art of Polycletus is associated with the traditions of the Argos-Sikion school with its primary interest in depicting a calmly standing figure. The transfer of complex movement and active action or the creation of group compositions were not part of Polyclet's circle of interests. In contrast to Phidias, Polycletus was to a certain extent associated with the more conservative circles of the slave-owning polis, which were much stronger in Argos than in Athens. The images of the statues of Polycletus echo the old ideal of the hoplite (heavily armed warrior), stern and courageous. In his statue "Dorifor" ("Spearman"), made around the middle of the 5th century. BC, Polycletus created the image of a young warrior who embodied the ideal of a valiant citizen.
This bronze statue, like all the works of Polycletus, in the original has not reached us; it is known only from marble Roman copies. The statue depicts a robustly built young man with strongly developed and sharply emphasized muscles, carrying a spear on his left shoulder. The entire weight of his body rests on his right leg, while the left is set back, touching the ground only with his fingers. The balance of the figure is achieved by the fact that the raised right hip corresponds to the lowered right shoulder and, conversely, to the lowered left hip - the raised left shoulder. Such a system for constructing a human figure (the so-called "chiasm") gives the statue a measured, rhythmic structure.
The serenity of Dorifor's figure is combined with internal tension, which gives him a seemingly outwardly dispassionate image of great heroic strength. The precisely calculated and thoughtful architectonics of the construction of the human figure is expressed here in the juxtaposition of the elastic vertical lines of the legs and hips and the heavy horizontal lines of the shoulders and muscles of the chest and abdomen; this creates an equilibrium imbued with opposing forces, similar to the equilibrium that gives the ratio of the column to the entablature in the Doric order. This system of artistic media, developed by Polycletus, was an important step forward in the realistic depiction of the human body in sculpture. The patterns he found in the sculptural image of a person really corresponded to the spirit of heroic masculinity, which was characteristic of the image of a person in the classical period of Greece.
In an effort to theoretically substantiate the generalized typical image of a perfect man born of real life, Polycletus came to the composition of the Canon. That is how he named his theoretical treatise and the statue made according to the rules of theory; they developed a system of ideal proportions and laws of symmetry, according to which the image of a person should be built. This normative tendency was fraught with the danger of abstract schemes. It can be assumed that the Roman copies reinforced those features of abstraction that were characteristic of the works of Polycleitus. Among the authentic Greek bronze figurines of the 5th century that have survived to this day. BC. some are undoubtedly closer in spirit to the art of Polycletus. Such is the statuette of a naked young man kept in the Louvre. The somewhat heavy proportions, as well as the motive of the restrained movement, resemble the works of Polycleitus. The Greek original makes it possible to evaluate the peculiarities of the artistic language of Polycletus, lost in the arrangement of the Roman copyists. The Louvre young athlete, with all the analytical precision and precision of construction, is distinguished by the naturalness of the gesture, the vitality of the image.
Towards the end of his life, Polycletus departed from strict adherence to his "Canon", becoming close to the masters of Attica. His "Diadumen" - a young man crowning himself with a victorious band - a statue created around 420 BC, clearly differs from "Dorifor" in more graceful and slender proportions, light movement and greater spirituality of the image.
A Roman copy of the "Wounded Amazon" by Polycletus and a Roman statue of "Amazon Mattea" dating back to the original Phidias have survived to this day. To a certain extent, they provide an opportunity to visually compare the features of the Fidian and Polycletian contributions to the art of the classics.
The Phidian Amazon is depicted at the moment when she, looking back at the approaching enemy, leans on a spear, ready to jump on her horse. Her excellent proportions better convey the structure of the girl's strong body than the almost masculine proportions of the Amazon Polycletus, built according to the "Canon". The desire for active action, the relaxed and expressive beauty of movement are characteristic of the art of Phidias, an artist more multifaceted than Polycletus, who more fully combines the perfect beauty of the image with its concrete vitality into a single whole.
Polycletus portrayed a wounded Amazon. Her strong body weakened, she leaned her left hand on the support, her right hand was thrown over her head. But Polycletus was limited to this only; in the face of the statue there is no expression of pain and suffering, there is no realistic gesture that conveys the movement of a person suffering from a wound. These elements of abstraction make it possible to convey only the most general state of a person. But the ideal of man's courageous restraint, the dissolution of his experiences in the general spirit of self-control - these characteristic features of Polycletus's art carried high notions of the dignity of a perfect person - a hero.
If Polycletus was able to give along with the high and beautiful art of Phidias and his companions in decorating the Acropolis his important and significant version of the art of high classics, then the fate of his creative heritage was different. At the end of the 5th century. BC, during the years of the Peloponnesian wars, the successors of Polycletus came into direct struggle with the realistic tradition of the Phidian school. Such Peloponnesian sculptors of the late 5th century. BC, like Callimachus, they were looking for only an abstract normative perfection, far from any living sense of reality.
But even in the Attic school, among the students and followers of Phidias, realistic searches are received in the last quarter of the 5th century. BC. some new features.
Among the direct disciples of Phidias, who remained completely loyal to the teacher, Kresilai, the author of the heroized portrait of Pericles, stands out. This portrait deeply and strongly expresses the calm greatness of the spirit and the restrained dignity of a wise statesman. Beautiful human images full of life can be seen in other works of Kresilai (for example, the head of a statue of an ephebus, the winner of a competition).
On the other hand, in the same circle of Phidias, works began to appear that seek to strengthen the dramatic action, sharpening the themes of struggle, so widely represented in the reliefs of the Parthenon. Reliefs of this kind, saturated with violent contrasts and intense dynamics, with a rough sharpness of realistic details, were made by sculptors invited by Iktin to decorate the temple of Apollo in Bassi (in Figalia) that he built. This frieze depicting the battle of the Greeks with centaurs and Amazons, contrary to usual rules, was in a semi-dark naos and was executed in high relief with a vigorous use of contrasts of light and shadow. For the first time, elements of a more subjective and emotionally sharpened perception than was customary were introduced into these reliefs (although "far from first-class in quality). The transfer of violent and crudely expressive movements of the combatants, given in different rakkurs, reinforced this impression.
Among the masters of the Phidian school by the end of the 5th century. BC. there was also a tendency to express lyrical feelings, a desire to convey grace and grace of movements with particular gentleness. At the same time, the image of a person remained typically generalized, without losing its realistic truthfulness, although it often lost the heroic strength and monumental rigor so characteristic of works created several decades earlier.
The most important master of this trend in Attica was Phidias' student Alkamen. He was the successor of Phidias, but his art is characterized by features of refined lyricism and a more intimate interpretation of the image. Alkamen also owned some statues of a purely Phidian character (for example, the colossal statue of Dionysus). However, new quests were most clearly manifested in his works of a different order, as, for example, in the famous statue of Aphrodite, which stood in the garden on the banks of the Ilissa River - "Aphrodite in the Gardens." It has come down to us in copies and replicas of Roman times.
Aphrodite was depicted by Alkamen standing calmly, slightly bowing her head and throwing the veil off her face with an elegant movement of her hand; in her other hand she held an apple, possibly a gift from Paris, who recognized Aphrodite as the fairest of the goddesses. With great skill, Alkamen passed down the folds of Aphrodite's thin long robe that clothe her slender forms. The perfect beauty of a person was colored here by an admiring and tender feeling.
To an even greater extent, such searches for a lyrical image found their realization in those created around 409 BC. marble reliefs of the balustrade of the Temple of Niki Apteros on the Acropolis. These reliefs depicted girls making sacrifices. The remarkable relief "Nike Untie the Sandal" is one of the masterpieces of high classics sculpture. The lyricism of this work is born from the perfection of proportions, and from the deep shimmering light and shade, and from the gentle softness of movement, emphasized by the flowing lines of the folds of clothing, an unusually graceful, lively and natural movement. A very large role in the addition of this lyrical trend in the high classics was played by numerous reliefs on gravestone steles, excellent examples of which were created at the end of the 5th century. BC. Such is, for example, "The Tombstone of Gegeso", which carries in its purely everyday life truth a high poetic feeling. Among the many surviving grave reliefs of the late 5th - early 4th centuries. the stele of Mnesarete and a tombstone in the form of a lekith from the Leningrad Hermitage are also distinguished. The ancient Greeks were very wise and calm about death: in the tombstones of the classical period, one cannot find either the fear of death, or any mystical moods. They depict living people, their theme is farewell, imbued with thoughtful reflection. The gravestone steles of the classical period, with their light elegiac mood, were designed to comfort, support a person in his suffering.
Changes in artistic consciousness that have emerged in the last decades of the 5th century. BC, found their expression in architecture.
Already Iktin boldly expanded the creative quest for the architectural thought of the classics. In the temple of Apollo in Bassa, he for the first time introduced into the building, along with the Doric and Ionic elements, the third order - the Corinthian one, although only one column inside the temple carried such a capital. In Telesterion, which was built by Ictinus at Eleusis, he created a structure of an unusual plan, with a vast columned hall.
Equally new was the whimsically asymmetrical construction of the Erechtheion building on the Acropolis of Athens, made by an unknown architect in 421-406. BC.
The location of the building in the general ensemble of the Acropolis and its dimensions were completely determined by the nature of the architecture of the heyday of the classics and the idea of \u200b\u200bPericles. But the artistic development of this temple, dedicated to Athena and Poseidon, brought new features to the architecture of the classical time: a pictorial interpretation of the architectural whole - an interest in juxtaposing contrasting architectural and sculptural forms, a plurality of points of view that reveal new, diverse and complex impressions. The Erechtheion was built on the uneven northern slope of the Acropolis, and its layout thoughtfully included the use of these irregularities in the soil: the temple consists of two rooms at different levels, it has porticoes of different shapes on three sides - including the famous portico of cor (caryatids) on the south wall - and four columns with spaces closed by gratings (later replaced by masonry) on the fourth wall. The feeling of festive lightness and graceful harmony is caused by the use of a more elegant Ionic order in the external design and perfectly used contrasts of light porticoes and smooth walls.
In the Erechtheion there was no exterior painting; it was replaced by a combination of white marble with a purple frieze ribbon and gilding of individual details. This unity of color solution largely served to unite various, albeit equally elegant, architectural forms.
The daring innovation of the unknown author of the Erechtheion developed a living creative tradition of high classics. However, in this building, beautiful and proportional, but far from the strict and clear harmony of the Parthenon, paths were already laid to the art of the late classics - art that was more directly human and excited, but less heroic than the high classics of the 5th century. BC.
In the era of high classics, vase painting developed in close cooperation with monumental painting and sculpture.
Relying on the realistic conquests of the first third of the century, the vase painters of the high classics, however, tried to moderate the sharpness in the transfer of details of nature or motives of movement, which was encountered earlier. Great clarity and harmony of the composition, dignified freedom of movement and, most importantly, great spiritual expressiveness became characteristic features of vase painting of this time. At the same time, vase painting has somewhat departed from the specific genre of subjects that was observed in the first third of the century. More heroic images on mythological themes appeared in it, retaining all the humanity of the early classics, but clearly looking for the monumental significance of the image.
Vase painters of the middle of the 5th century. BC. began to attract the image of not only the action, but also the state of mind of the heroes - the mastery of gesture, the integrity of the composition deepened, albeit at the expense of some loss of that spontaneity and freshness that distinguished the creations of Duris or Brig. As in the sculpture of the high classics, the images of vase painting of this time conveyed the most general states of the human spirit, even without attention to the specific and individual feelings of a person, to their contradictions and conflicts, to the change and struggle of moods. All of this was not yet in the scope of attention of artists. But at the cost of some generalization of feelings, it was achieved that the human images created by vase painters of the middle of the 5th century. BC, have such a typicality and such a clear purity of their mental structure.
Monumental rigor and clarity are characteristic of the painting of the famous "Crater of Orvieto" - a vase kept in the Louvre with a scene of the death of the Niobids on one side and the image of Hercules, Athena and the Argonauts on the other. The figures are freely and naturally located on the surface of the vase, although in order to preserve the integrity of this surface, the artist avoids perspective diminutions, figures that are meaningfully placed in the background. Mastery of rakkurs, vivid, natural poses of the figures are subordinated to a strict, calm rhythm that combines the image with the equally harmonious shape of the vase. In Crater of Orvieto, the red-figure vase painting reaches one of its peaks.
Examples of vase painting of high classics are such drawings made in the second half of the century, such as "Satyr swinging a girl on a swing during a spring holiday", as "Polynices stretching a necklace to Erifile" (the so-called "Vase from Lecce") and many others.
Around the middle of the century, lecythians with paintings on a white background became widespread, serving for cult purposes (associated with the burial of the dead). In them, the drawing often reached a particular relaxed lightness (sometimes turning into negligence); it was applied with black varnish, outlining the main lines of the figure, and after firing it was painted (which is why sometimes, due to worn paint, figures look naked). An example of a masterful drawing on a white background is the image of a girl bringing gifts to the deceased, on the Attic lecythe of the Boston Museum.
By the end of the 5th century. BC. vase painting began to decline. Already Mussels and his imitators began to overload the drawings on the vases with decorative details; in this elegant patterned ornamentation, the figures of people depicted in intricate rakkursny constructions have lost their primary meaning - they have become impersonal and identical, getting lost in the middle of fluttering draperies. The free labor crisis at the end of the 5th century especially disastrously reflected on the creativity of masters-ceramists and draftsmen. Vase painting began to lose its artistic quality, gradually turning into a mechanical and faceless craft.
The painting of the classical period that has not come down to us, as far as can be judged by the statements of ancient authors, had, like sculpture, a monumental character and was inextricably linked with architecture. It was performed, apparently, most often in fresco; the possibility is not excluded that in the 5th century. BC, at least in the second half of it, glue paints were used, as well as wax (the so-called encaustic). Glue paints could be applied both directly on a specially prepared wall and on primed boards, which were fixed directly on the walls intended for painting.
Painting in the 5th century BC. was strictly generalized monumental in nature and was created for a specific place in the architectural ensemble. No reliable information about the existence of easel works has survived. Just as monumental sculpture was supplemented by small sculptures of terracotta or bronze, closely related to artistic craft and applied art, so monumental painting, bypassing its own easel forms, was supplemented by vase painting, inextricably linked with the art of ceramics. Monumental painting occupied an important place in the artistic life of that time. The best works enjoyed great fame. The greatest masters of painting were widely known and surrounded by public honor along with outstanding sculptors, poets, playwrights of their time.
Painting of the 5th century BC. in its aesthetic principles, it was very close to sculpture, being in close relationship with it. Essentially, the visual tasks of painting were mainly reduced to the illusory reproduction of the volume of the human body. The task of depicting the environment surrounding a person, his interaction with it in painting of the 5th century. was not installed. The actual pictorial means of image - chiaroscuro, color, the transmission of the atmosphere, the spatial environment - were just emerging, and then mainly at the end of the 5th century. BC. But the main goal at the end of the century was the desire to find artistic means that convey plastic volume.
Only later, already in the late classical period, in connection with a general change in the nature of artistic ideas, these achievements began to be used consciously to depict a person in the natural and everyday environment, for a richer pictorial and emotional characterization of him.
Thus, the 5th century. BC. - This is the time of adding up the prerequisites for revealing the pictorial possibilities of painting. At the same time, the realistic depiction of a person or a group of people in various actions, the operation of correct anatomical proportions, the truthful transmission of the corporeality and volumetricness of human forms, the emergence of a consistently realistic understanding of the plot meant a large progressive step in the history of painting compared to earlier conventional or purely decorative compositions.
The largest master of the second quarter and middle of the 5th century. BC) a contemporary of Myron was Polygnot, a native of the island of Thasos, who received the honorary title of an Athenian citizen for his work performed for Athens.
The range of themes of Polygnotus was close to the themes addressed by the masters of pediment compositions and reliefs. These were epic themes (from the Iliad, the poems of the Theban cycle) and mythological (the battle of the Greeks with the Amazons, the battle with the centaurs, etc.) An important feature of Polygnotus's writing was the use of historical themes. So, in the Pinakothek in Athens, the painting of which was directed by Polygnotus, among other frescoes, the image of the "Battle of Marathon" was made.
In all likelihood, however, these pictures on historical themes were of the same generalized heroic character as the compositions praising the high exploits of mythical heroes. Just as the "Persians" of Aeschylus, dedicated to the naval victory of the Hellenes over the hordes of Xerxes, were built on the same artistic principles as his "Oresteia" or "Seven Against Thebes", so these historical compositions of Polygnotus were solved, apparently, in the same way , as the mythological paintings, and were included with them in the same general ensemble.
One of the most famous works of Polygnotus was the painting "Leskhi (meetinghouse) of the Cnidians" in Delphi, the description of which was preserved for us by Pausanias, where Polygnotus depicted "The Death of Troy" and "Odyssey in Hades".
It is known that Polygnot used only four colors (white, yellow, red and black); apparently, his palette did not differ too sharply from that used by the masters of vase painting. According to the descriptions, the color of Polygnotus was in the nature of coloring and he almost did not use color modeling of the figure. But his drawing was of high perfection. He correctly conveyed the body anatomically in any rakkurs and movements. The ancients admired the fact that Polygnot achieved perfection in the image of the face, that he first began to convey the state of mind, in particular, with the help of an open mouth, trying to give the face features of emotional expressiveness. Similar experiments in sculpture were carried out by the masters of the Western Olympic pediment just in the heyday of Polygnotus.
The descriptions of Polygnotus's paintings give reason to believe that the master did not set himself the task of giving a complete image of the environment in which the action takes place. Ancient authors mention individual objects of nature and setting that are plotted related to the actions of the heroes, for example, the pebbles of the sea coast, but they are not depicted in the whole picture, but only to determine the location of the hero. “The seashore extends to the horse, and pebbles are visible on it, then there is no sea in the picture,” says Pausanias, describing the painting of Polygnotus “The Death of Troy”. Apparently, Polygnot and other painters of the 5th century. BC. they did not yet fully realize all the possibilities of painting and did not feel the fundamental difference between the image of a pebble of the sea coast on the relief (as in the scene of the birth of Aphrodite on the "Throne of Ludo-Vizi") and the task of depicting the sea coast in the painting. The ancient authors have no information about the solution of problems of perspective or chiaroscuro by Polygnotus. The composition, apparently, was of a more or less frieze-like character.
Polygnotus' contemporaries highly appreciated his painting for the same qualities that they appreciated in sculpture: the greatness of the spirit, the high moral strength (ethos) of the heroes, the truthfulness in the depiction of a beautiful person.
Polygnot did a lot for a realistic, clear and concrete image of a person in painting. The subsequent development of Greek art, the incessant growth of interest in the inner world of man, in the direct sensory perception of his image, the emergence of greater interest in everyday life and the environment gradually expanded the range of pictorial tasks facing painting.
In the second half and at the end of the 5th century. BC. a number of painters appeared, closely associated with general trends in the development of the Attic sculptural school of the late 5th century. BC. The most famous master of this time was Apollodorus of Athens. His painting, which interpreted traditional subjects in a more intimate and genre manner than his predecessors, is characterized by greater freedom of color and an interest in modeling body shapes through chiaroscuro. Pliny says of Apollodorus that "he was the first to begin to transmit shadows." The indications of ancient authors are of great importance, giving grounds to assume that Apollodorus and other painters of the late 5th century. BC. (Zeuxis, Parrasius) began to develop not only the problem of depicting the human body in motion, but also perspective, both linear and aerial. The constant goal of these painters was to create realistic, beautiful and living human images.
Starting with Apollodorus, Greek painting ceased to be a reproduction of sculpturally interpreted figures on the plane of a wall, but became painting in the proper sense of the word. Apollodorus was one of the first painters to switch to painting pictures that are not organically connected with an architectural structure. In this respect, he not only further developed the high traditions of the 5th century classics. BC, but also outlined new paths of realistic art, leading to the late classics.
As a rule, statues at that time were carved out of limestone or stone, after that they were covered with paint and decorated with beautiful precious stones, elements of gold, bronze or silver. If the figurines are small, then they were made of terracotta, wood or bronze.
Ancient greek sculpture
The sculpture of Ancient Greece in the first centuries of its existence experienced a rather serious influence of the art of Egypt. Almost all works of ancient Greek sculpture were half-naked men with lowered hands. After some time, Greek sculptures began to experiment a little with clothes, postures, and they began to give individual features to their faces.
In the classical period, sculpture reached its heights. The masters learned not only to give the statues natural poses, but even to depict the emotions that a person supposedly experiences. It could be thoughtfulness, detachment, joy or severity, as well as fun.
During this period, it became fashionable to depict mythical heroes and gods, as well as real people who held important positions - statesmen, military leaders, scientists, athletes, or simply rich people who wanted to perpetuate themselves for centuries.
Much attention at that time was paid to the naked body, since the concept of good and evil that existed at that time and in that area was interpreted as a reflection of the spiritual perfection of a person.
The development of sculpture, as a rule, was determined by the needs, as well as the aesthetic demands of the society that existed at that time. It is enough to look at the statues of that time and you can understand how colorful and vibrant art was at that time.
The great sculptor Myron created a statue that had a huge impact on the development of the visual arts. This is the famous statue of the Discus thrower - the discus thrower. The person is captured at the moment when his hand is thrown back a little, there is a heavy disk in it, which he is ready to throw into the distance.
The sculptor was able to capture the athlete at the very climax, which heralds the next one, when the projectile is soared high into the air and the athlete straightens up. In this sculpture, Miron mastered the movement.
Was popular at other times master - Polycletus, which the balanced the human figure in a slow step and at rest... The sculptor strives to find the perfectly correct proportions on which the human body can be built when creating sculpture. In the end, an image was created that became a certain norm and, moreover, an example to follow.
In the process of creating his works, Polyclet mathematically calculated the parameters of all parts of the body, as well as their relationship to each other. Human height was taken as a unit, where the head was one-seventh, the hands and face were one-tenth, and the feet were one-sixth.
Polycletus embodied his ideal athlete in the statue of a young youth with a spear. The image very harmoniously combines ideal physical beauty, as well as spirituality. The sculptor very vividly expressed in this composition the ideal of that era - a healthy, versatile and whole personality.
The 12-meter statue of Athena was created by Phidias. In addition, he created a colossal statue of the god Zeus for the temple in Olympia.
The art of the master Skopas breathes impulse and passion, struggle and anxiety, as well as profound events. The best piece of art by this sculptor is the statue of the Maenad. At the same time, Praxitel was working, who in his creations sang the joy of life, as well as the very sensual beauty of the human body.
Lissip created approximately 1,500 bronze statues, among which are simply colossal images of the gods. In addition, there are groups that reflect all the exploits of Hercules. Along with the mythological images in the sculptures of the master, the events of that time were also displayed, which then went down in history.
The chapter “The flourishing of Attic architecture” of the subsection “Architecture of Ancient Greece of the heyday (480-400 BC)” of the “Architecture of Ancient Greece” section from the book “General history of architecture. Volume II. Architecture of the Ancient World (Greece and Rome) ”edited by V.F. Marcuson.
Second half of the 5th century BC. was the time of the greatest development of Attic culture and art. After the successful outcome of the Greco-Persian wars, Attica experienced an era that, according to Marx, marked "the highest internal prosperity of Greece." This is the heyday of the slave-owning democracy, headed by Pericles. The large means at the disposal of the Athenian state allowed it to maintain a strong navy, which contributed to the further expansion of Athens.
It was during this period in Attica that an attempt was made to create a unified Pan-Hellenic architectural style, creatively combining the achievements of Doric and Ionic architecture. The peripter receives a unique development in the Parthenon full of deep ideological and artistic significance. New and bold asymmetrical compositions of buildings are being created (Propylaea, Erechtheion). The use of orders achieves considerable freedom: the order colonnade not only surrounds the temples and serves as a means of highlighting them in the surrounding space; it also serves to separate separate parts of space, or, on the contrary, to open one space into another. Being the most important means of artistic characterization of a public building, orders vary considerably in their proportions. The combination of the Doric and Ionic orders in one building allows a wide variety of impressions to be achieved. Appeared at the end of the 5th century. BC e. the Corinthian order is used in combination with the Doric and Ionic (temple in Bassa). The combination of various orders in one structure later, in the 4th century. BC e., generally becomes a characteristic feature of Hellenic architecture.
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| 39. Athens. Acropolis. General plan and sections: 1 - gate, II century. BC e .; 2 - Pyrgos and the temple of Niki Apteros; 3 - Propylaea; 4 - Pinakothek (northern wing of the Propylaea); 5 - statue of Athena Promachos; 6 - the sanctuary of Artemis Bravronia; 7 - Chalcotek; 8 - Pelasgian wall; 9 - Parthenon; 10 - pre-Pericles Parthenon; 11 - temple of Roma and Augustus; 12 - modern museum building; 13 - modern belvedere; 14 - the sanctuary of Zeus; 15 - the altar of Athena; 16 - Temple of Athena Polyada (Hecatompedon); 17 - Erechtheion; 18 - Pandroseion's yard; 19 - Dionysus Theater; 20 - old temple of Dionysus; 21 - new temple of Dionysus; 22 - Pericles' odeillon; 23 - a monument to Thrasil; 24 - two memorial columns; 25 - the sanctuary of Asclepius; 26 - standing Eumenes; 27 - odeion of Herod Atticus |
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Ensemble of the Acropolis of Athens... Athens in the second half of the 5th century BC e. were the political and cultural center of Greece and achieved a special splendor. This is the time of the activity of the tragic poets Sophocles and Euripides, the author of comedies Aristophanes, the famous sculptor Phidias and the brilliant galaxy of architects Callicrates, Iktin and Mnesicles. The highest architectural achievement of this era was the ensemble of the Acropolis of Athens. The dominant position of Athens in the maritime union of the Greek poleis led to the fact that the union treasury was already in 454 BC. e. moved from Delos to Athens. This put into the hands of Pericles the means necessary for the implementation of the architectural plan, grandiose at that time.
Pericles' project, which aroused many objections both among the allies of Athens and within themselves, was based on far-reaching calculations: the exaltation of Athens in the eyes of their citizens and the entire Greek world and the solution of important internal economic problems. Plutarch tells us: “The slanderers shouted at popular assemblies that he disgraced the people, that he was shedding their good name by transferring (about 454 BC) the allied Greek treasury from Delos to Athens ... Whoever does not see - they said, - that Greece is, obviously, under the rule of a tyrant - in front of her eyes, for the money that she is obliged to contribute to the conduct of the war, we, as a vain woman, are gilding and decorating our city. It shines with gems, statues and temples worth a thousand talents.
Pericles explained to the people that the Athenians were not obliged to give the allies an account of the use of their money, since wars were waged to protect them; that they do not give cavalry, not a fleet or infantry, but only money, and that if those who received them use them for their intended purpose, they do not belong to those who gave them, but to those who received them. “The city,” he continued, “is sufficiently supplied with the necessities of war; therefore, the surplus in monetary funds should be used for buildings, which, after their completion, will bring immortal glory to citizens, and during the production of work will strengthen their well-being. It will be impossible to do without all kinds of workers, a lot will be needed: all crafts will be revived; no one will sit idly by; almost the entire city will serve on a salary, and thus take care of its own amenities and food. " Young and healthy people received a salary from the state during the war, but Pericles wanted artisans who were not obliged to serve in the army to have their share of the income, but they received them not for free, but by working. That is why he offered the people a plan for large buildings, architectural work that required artists and a long time from the performers so that the sedentary population could have a field of activity and use state revenues on an equal basis with sailors or serving in garrisons and infantry. The state had wood, stone, honey, ivory, gold, ebony, and cypress; he had artisans to handle it all: carpenters, potters, coppersmiths, masons, dyers, goldsmiths and ivory carvers, painters, embroiderers, embossers, then commission agents and suppliers, merchants, sailors, helmsmen for shipping by sea, and for overland transport - carts, team-keepers, cabbies, rope-craftsmen, weavers, saddlers, workers, road-craftsmen and miners. Each of the crafts had its own workers from the common people, like a commander in command of his detachment; they served as a tool and means for the production of work. Thus, these occupations were distributed, so to speak, among all ages and professions, increasing the well-being of everyone. "
The rock of the Acropolis of Athens rises in the middle of the valley, which is surrounded by hills on three sides, and on the fourth, southern side, adjoins the sea. It is a lilac-gray limestone massif with steep, winding slopes making access possible only from the western side. The summit is, as it were, cut off and forms an area stretched from west to east (Fig. 38-40). Its length is 300 m and the maximum width is about 130 m. The elevation of the highest point of the Acropolis above sea level is 156.2 m, and above the adjacent basin and the city stretching at its foot, the Acropolis rises 70-80 m.It is, as it were, a fortified place by nature itself , located 6 km from a convenient bay - Piraeus, from a very early time was chosen for settlement. Remains of the fortress wall of the cyclopean masonry have been preserved, the construction of which the Athenians attributed to their legendary predecessors - the Pelasgians. In the most ancient era, the Acropolis, as mentioned above, was a fortress, in which the surrounding inhabitants took refuge in danger; public buildings and temples built here in the Archaic era were destroyed by the Persians in 480-479. BC.
After the expulsion of the Persians, the Athenians set about rebuilding the walls of the Acropolis using the stones of the destroyed buildings. At the beginning, the northern wall was built, and the drums of the temple columns went to the construction of which among other fragments. Kimon rebuilt the entire southern wall, giving it the correct outlines of two segments converging at an obtuse angle. The complex of architectural structures of the Acropolis was to take a dominant position over the city and the valley, while retaining in its new appearance the features of an ancient fortress.
Later, under Pericles, almost all the most important monuments of the ensemble were erected: the Parthenon - the main temple of Athena the Virgin, the patroness of the city, set at the southern edge of the rock, at its highest point (built in 447-438 BC, finished with finishing until 432 BC), the Propylaea - the front gate on the western, gentle slope of the Acropolis (437-432 BC) and the grandiose statue of Athena the Warrior (Promachos), the work of the genius Phidias, towering on a high pedestal facing the entrance and dominating the entire western part of the ensemble. The extensively conceived reconstruction was carried out with great energy and speed under the direction of Phidias himself. But after Pericles, only the Small Temple of Nika Apteros was built, placed slightly ahead of the Propylae on a high rock (Pyrgos), expanded and fortified with substructures (designed around 449 BC, but built around 421 BC) , and the Erechtheion is a temple dedicated to Athena and Poseidon and located almost parallel to the Parthenon on the north side. Its construction was started in 421, but was delayed by the Peloponnesian War until 407-406. BC e. Thus, it took about forty years to build all the buildings. “Little by little,” writes Plutarch, “majestic buildings began to rise, inimitable in beauty and grace. All artisans tried in front of each other to bring their craft to< высшей степени совершенства. В особенности заслуживает внимания быстрота окончания построек. Все работы, из которых каждую могли, казалось, кончить лишь несколько поколений в продолжение нескольких столетий, были кончены в кратковременное блестящее управление государством одного человека. Легкость и быстрота произведения не дают еще ему прочности или художественного совершенства. Лишняя трата времени вознаграждается точностью произведения. Вот почему создания Перикла заслуживают величайшего удивления: они окончены в короткое время, но для долгого времени. По совершенству каждое из них уже тогда казалось древним; но по своей свежести они кажутся исполненными и оконченными только в настоящее время. Таким образом, их вечная новизна спасла их от прикосновения времени, как будто творец дал своим произведениям вечную юность и вдохнул в них нестареющую душу» (Плутарх. Перикл, 13.).
There is no reason to doubt that the composition of the Acropolis was based on a single plan, in which, however, during its implementation, some changes could be made.
The Acropolis ensemble (Fig. 41) was supposed to perpetuate the victory of the Greek states over the Persians, their heroic liberation struggle against foreign invaders. The theme of struggle, victory and military power is one of the leading in the Acropolis. She is depicted in the image of Athena Promachos, standing guard and crowning the entire composition of the ensemble, in the image of Athena Lemnia with a helmet and a spear in her hands and, finally, in the statue of the Wingless Victory, named so, according to Pausanias, because the wooden statue of the goddess in the temple was depicted without wings so that she could not leave the Athenians. The same motive sounds in the scenes of the battles of the Greeks with the centaurs and Amazons, which on the metopes of the Parthenon and on the shield of Athena the Virgin symbolize the struggle with the Persians.
The second ideological line, embedded in the architectural images of the Acropolis, is directly related to the politics of Pericles. Its monuments were supposed to embody the idea of \u200b\u200bthe hegemony of Athens as a pioneering social, political and cultural center of all Greece and as a powerful capital of the union of Greek poleis. This ensemble was also supposed to perpetuate the victory of the most progressive trends in the social development of the polis, which in the middle of the 5th century. BC. the Athenian slave-owning democracy won over the most inert elements of the ruling class - the aristocracy.
The largest Greek architects and artists of that time participated in the creation of the Acropolis: Iktin, Kallikrates, Mnesicles, Callimachus and many others. The sculptor Phidias, a close friend of Pericles, directed the creation of the entire ensemble and created the most important of its sculptures.
The compositional design of the ensemble is inextricably linked with the Panathenaean celebrations and the procession to the Acropolis, which were the most important rite of the polis cult of Athena, the patroness of the city. On the last day of the Great Panathenaeus, celebrated once every four years, a solemn procession, led by the most noble and valiant citizens of the city, offered Athena a sacred veil - peplos. The procession began its journey from Keramika (the outskirts of the city), passed through the agora and moved further through the city in such a way that all the way to the Acropolis, the procession participants saw a rock towering over the city and the valley, and on it - the Parthenon, which, due to its size, clarity of silhouette and location dominated all natural and architectural surroundings. The Acropolis, with its marble structures shining against the blue southern sky, opened up to the participants in the procession in various aspects.
Indeed, passing the market square and the hill of the Areopagus, the solemn procession bypassed the Acropolis from the east and then moved along its southern wall and further to the west past the Odeillon built under Pericles and the Theater of Dionysus, adjacent to the southeastern corner of the hill (at that time it was very simple construction).
The first construction of the Acropolis, which opened before the procession, was a small amphiprostyle temple of the Wingless Victory (Niki Apteros), which seems miniature and airy light compared to the powerful protrusion of the fortress wall - Pyrgos, on which it is placed (Fig. 42, 43). At first, it was turned towards the viewer with its lateral southern facade, and when the participants in the procession, having reached the western slope, turned to the facade of the Propylaea, Nika's temple loomed in the open sky, facing the spectators in the north-western corner. From below, from this point of view, it seemed to be a continuation of the shortened southern wing of the Propylaea. The ascent to the Acropolis went in a zigzag: first towards the northern edge of Pyrgos, and then turned towards the central passage of the Propylaea.
The solemn Doric colonnade of the Propylaeus rose at the top of a steep rise between two arrays of side wings, turned towards the viewer by their blank walls and opening narrow colonnades towards the passage. After passing through the Propylaea, the procession ended up on the upper surface of the Acropolis rock, which rose rather steeply in the direction of the Parthenon, located at the very top. From the eastern facade of the Propylaea, the "Sacred Road" began, stretching along the longitudinal axis of the entire hill. A little to the left of it, thirty meters from the Propylaea, stood a colossal statue of Athena Promachos (Fig. 44). She dominated not only the front half of the Acropolis, but also over the valley stretching ahead.
To the right of the "Sacred Road" were the sanctuaries of Artemis Bravronia and Athena Ergana, the patroness of crafts and arts, and a long hall - a chalcotek, whose portico, adjacent to the southern wall of the Acropolis, faced north.
The Parthenon seen in perspective from the northwest corner was raised high on a raised platform (Fig. 45). Nine narrow steps carved into the rock separated it from the Ergana sanctuary. Here it is appropriate to note the main feature of these steps - curvatures, which, as will be shown below, are also characteristic of all horizontal parts of the Parthenon. The steps in the rock, carved several meters in front of the western facade of the temple, are not located along its main axis, but are shifted to the left. And also to the left of the axis of the temple the tops of their curvatures are shifted.
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| 45. Athens. Acropolis. Schemes of the actual and perceived position of the curvatures of the steps and the western facade of the Parthenon (according to Choisy): a - the upper point of the stylobate; b - the top point of the steps carved into the rock; c - the position of the viewer at the entrance to the sanctuary of Athena Ergana |
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| 46. \u200b\u200bAthens. Acropolis. Location of buildings in the VI century. BC e. (left) and in the V century. BC. (on right). Schemes of Choisy: a - the place of the imprint of Poseidon's trident and the tree of Athena (according to legend): b - an old temple dedicated to Athena and Poseidon (the so-called temple of Athena Poliades, or Hecatompedon); c - the new temple of Athena and Poseidon (Erechtheion); d - old Parthenon (temple of Athena Parthenos); d - new Parthenon; e - old Propylaea; g - new Propylaea; h - statue of Athena Promachos |
This asymmetry, visible to the viewer standing along the axis of the western façade of the Parthenon, is not accidental, the curvatures of the steps seem to be symmetrical relative to the façade for anyone who looks out onto the Acropolis from under the eastern portico of the Propylaea. And it is from here that the viewer for the first time completely covers the Parthenon with his gaze. It was on this point of view that the architect was guided, striving to achieve the impression of perfect harmony and make his work as alive as the creation of nature (steps are not shown in Fig. 46, on the right).
Further, the "Sacred Road" ran along the northern facade of the Parthenon. Passing the colonnade, the viewer could see behind it, on the wall of the temple, a sculptural frieze depicting the very procession of the Great Panathenaeos in which he participated.
On the left, behind the statue of Athena Promachos, almost at the northernmost edge of the Acropolis and opposite the long colonnade of the Parthenon, the Erechtheion temple, small in size, but distinguished by its extraordinary asymmetric composition, loomed. Semi-hidden at first behind a low wall and a clump of Pandroseion trees, it opened somewhat further in all its complexity and opulence, with half-columns of the western facade and a portico of caryatids against the smooth southern wall. The contrast between this building and the Parthenon is one of the most striking features of the ensemble.
The festive procession ended at the altar of Athena, in front of the eastern facade of the Parthenon, where a solemn transfer to the priest of the newly woven and richly embroidered bedspread (peplos), which was presented to the priest, was presented to the priest, on which scenes of the struggle of the gods with giants were presented. Thus, through the successive change of a number of architectural effects, this ensemble, which constituted their pride and glory, was revealed near the Athenians.
The architectural techniques that achieved the unity and integrity of the impression in the Acropolis ensemble, inherent to a certain extent and other complexes of the classical time, significantly differ from the techniques of ensemble solutions of previous periods. The opinion was expressed that the Acropolis of the 5th century, like other ensembles of Greece, arose without a definite plan and that each architect, starting his construction, again solved the problem of unity in the construction of the sanctuary, being connected only by the location of previously erected buildings. However, one cannot agree with this. The presence of a single plan is evidenced by quite reliable ancient sources, such as the above extract from Plutarch, as well as the impression of artistic unity that the ensemble produces on everyone who visits it.
A comparative analysis of the location of buildings on the Acropolis in the archaic and classical periods was convincingly carried out as early as the 19th century. Choisy. On the plans he matched (Fig. 46), the left shows the Acropolis in the form in which the Pisistratis left it and as it remained until the burning of Athens by the Persians in 480 g. The right image corresponds to the relative position of buildings after the restoration of the Acropolis in the 5th century. BC.; the dotted line shows the path of the Panathenaean procession from the Propylaea.
The difference in the principles of setting buildings begins with Propyl. In the 6th century they were turned at an angle to the main direction of the approach and consisted of one simple volume, set across the saddle, along which a winding path went up; It is possible that such an arrangement of the Propylae was also associated with their function as a fortress gate, the approach to which was usually laid along a winding, broken line. The two main temples - Athena Polyada and Poseidon, built first as antes, and then surrounded by a peripteral colonnade, and the temple of Athena Parthenos (unfinished) were placed in parallel on the very crest of the rock. Their western facades were almost in line. The composition, as in other archaic ensembles (for example, in the acropolis of Selinunte), was based on the comparison of similar, typical architectural images.
In the classical era, the approach to the Acropolis was straightened and focused directly on the main portico of the Propylaea, which now had to not block the road to the fortress, but solemnly lead the public shrine, the object of worship and pride of the citizens of the polis.
The individual parts of the Acropolis ensemble are artfully interconnected. This was achieved by comparing free-standing buildings of different sizes and shapes, balancing each other not by the size and symmetry of their location, but by finely calculated free balance and features of their architecture. The Parthenon and the Erechtheion are conceived in this juxtaposition. With the similarity of forms and symmetrical arrangement of the small and placed below the Parthenon, the Erechtheion would be completely suppressed by it. But with an asymmetric composition, contrasting with the whimsical originality of its appearance, the Parthenon, together with the statue of Athena Promachos, was able to create a balance between the northern and southern halves of the ensemble. The deeply thought-out use of relief for artistic purposes was also of great importance in the formation of the composition. This technique in the classical era generally becomes a common architectural tool.
Thus, the unevenness of the rock on which the Propylaea and the Erechtheion were erected became a means of forming an artistic image. The significance of the Parthenon is emphasized by its location close to the edge of the platform, which, as it were, serves as its foundation. The whole ensemble as a whole turned the irregularities and meanders of natural rocks into an artistic regularity. It is striking that all the architects who built on the Acropolis in the 5th century deliberately avoided parallelism in the arrangement of structures and took into account the different points of view that opened up on the buildings. This not only allowed them to avoid the monotony of the ensemble, but also served as the source of an exceptionally picturesque play of light and shadow. Indeed, despite the apparent freedom of arrangement of parts, the composition of the Acropolis is based on a strict system and is precisely calculated. Some of Choisy's observations are indicative. He points out, for example, that the miniature, in comparison with other elements of the ensemble, the portico of the caryatids, which would have looked too shallow at the moment when the huge statue of Athena was in front of the viewer, was located so that the high pedestal of the statue completely covered it. The artist wanted to show it when the statue and the western façade of the Parthenon were left behind.
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Propylaea - no less important building in the composition of the ensemble than its main temple, the Parthenon - were erected by the architect Mnesicles. Like all buildings on the Acropolis, they are entirely (including the roof tiles) constructed of white Pentelian marble and are distinguished by the unusual thoroughness of the construction work and the subtlety of the details (Fig. 47).
The Propylaea is the richest and most developed example of monumental entrances that have been built in the sanctuaries of Greece for a long time. Such entrances were through porticos in antae, facing inward and outward of the sanctuary and embedded in the temenos fence. But this traditional scheme was substantially revised in the Propylaea of \u200b\u200bthe Acropolis in accordance with their location and role in the ensemble, and also complicated: the central part was accompanied by wings. Instead of one entrance, five openings were made in the Propylaea, the middle of which, designed for riding and leading the sacrificial animals, was much larger than the rest (Fig. 48-51). The external and internal facades of the central part were majestic six-column Doric porticoes of the prostrate type, with the middle intercolumnies made wider than the rest. The western portico, facing the main approach to the Acropolis, is much deeper, more complex in composition and somewhat higher than the eastern portico: with the same proportions of entablatures, the heights of the columns are 8.81 and 8.57 m, respectively. The western portico is supported by a substructure and stands on the upper the site of the four-step staircase. The eastern portico is set at the level of the western edge of the Acropolis site. The difference in floor level between the porticoes is 1.43 m, therefore, inside the Propylaea, in the side passages, there are five rather steep steps (0.32-0.27 m). There were also entablatures, ceilings, pediments and the roof of both porticos at different levels, which can be clearly seen in the section. JB nature, due to the steepness of the ascent to the Propylaea, this difference should not have been perceived at all. Behind the shining in the sun whiteness of the western portico, from which now only the trunks of the columns have survived, the ceiling in deep shadow should have seemed to go far up. The outer contours of the roof generally disappeared when approaching the Propylaea. However, from the hills surrounding the Acropolis - from the Areopagus or from the Muses Hill - the roof of the Propylaea, covered with marble tiles, could be clearly seen.
In the middle passage, instead of steps, there is a ramp, on either side of which there are two rows of Ionic columns. This is one of the most striking examples of combining two orders in one building. The very idea of \u200b\u200bthe Acropolis as a common Greek sanctuary prompted the combination of various orders, it also reflected the desire to create a pan-Hellenic style, typical in general for Athenian art of the time of Pericles.
The wings of the Propylaea, which are slightly extended forward with respect to the western entrance portico, are asymmetrical. Both face the main axis with small three-column Doric porticoes, the modest size of which emphasizes the grandeur of the main entrance. However, their volumes are completely different. The northern wing is crowned with a pediment, a very restrained and heavy chimney in antae (in this room there was an art gallery - a pinakothek). The southern wing was not completed; behind the front row of columns ending with a column, devoid of a pediment, it has only a short closing wall.
This composition, clearly left unfinished, entailed many assumptions and reconstructions.
Reconstruction of Bohn and Dörpfeld suggests that the original design of Mnesicles included two more large halls with nine-column porticoes, which were to be located on the sides of the eastern portico, as well as an additional room behind the south wing with an open colonnade of four columns instead of the western wall. However, the latter assumption is not well founded. The propylaea were built taking into account the temple of Nike, which stood on Pyrgos, and this should have prompted Mnesicles to reduce the size of the southern wing of the building. Balance instead of the symmetry of the facade was apparently envisioned by the architect, regardless of the need to change the project. Indeed, the architect achieved a remarkable visual balance of the sides, which was analyzed in detail by Choisy. The high-raised temple of Nike was probably associated with a large statue on the left, the pedestal of which was used for the sculpture of Agrippa in the Roman era.
The main Doric porticoes of the Propylaea are among the finest works of the Greek classics (Fig. 54). They are characterized by restrained, not in the least exaggerated monumentality; at the same time, the impression of lightness and a kind of striking elevation caused by their architecture does not leave the viewer.
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Indeed, the proportions of the porticoes are light. In the eastern portico, completely restored in 1910-1918, the ratio of the height of the entablature to the height of the column is 1: 3.12, close to that in the Parthenon. The ratio of the parts of the entablature - architrave, frieze and cornice, which is 10: 10.9: 3.05, also testifies to the lightness of the cornice (Fig. 52).
The height of the columns of the eastern portico is different - from 8.53 to 8.57 m, which is 5.48 of the lower diameter. The central columns are slightly higher, since the stylobate in both porticoes is horizontal, and the entablature has a curvature, the rise of which reaches 4 cm in the center. The height of the columns of the western portico is somewhat higher. It reaches 8.81 m, including 0.702 m of the capital height. The lower diameter of the columns is 1.558 m, the upper one is 1.216 m9, which gives a thinning of 0.045 m per 1 running meter. m trunk. Entasis is somewhat stronger than in the Parthenon.
The order of the lateral wings of the Propylaea is much smaller. The height of the columns is 5.85 m, the diameter is 1.06 m. Its proportions are heavier than that of the order of the main porticos: the entablature is higher in relation to the columns, the columns themselves are thicker, the capitals are relatively larger. The large-scale structure of the lateral wings determined by these proportions is subtly calculated to emphasize the significance of the main portico.
In contrast to the restrained external appearance of the Propylaeans, their internal architecture was of a festive, elegant character. The six slender Ionic columns supporting the magnificent marble ceiling are the first example of the use of the Ionic order in the interior of a Doric building available to us (Fig. 53). The height of these columns is 10.25 m; the diameter of the trunk at the base is 1.035 m, the upper one is 0.881 m. Thus, the proportions are about 10 D, which makes it possible to attribute them to the lightest in Ionic of this time. The bases, an early example of the Attic type, are slightly tapered and consist of two large shafts separated by a fillet and shelves.
The capitals are striking in their maturity of forms and are unmatched in the perfection of their lines in all Hellenic architecture. The volute spirals, outlined by a double roller, end with a convex eye, which lies somewhat below the upper line of the echinus. Elastic, taut cushion, laterally tied by a triple belt with flutes, facing the aisle.
The architraves above the Ionic columns are divided into three fascia. In the middle part of the span, they were reinforced with iron beams, the existence of which is indicated by grooves in the upper surface of the architrave with traces of rust. The architrave has low cross beams.
The ceiling, as in other structures of the Acropolis, was made of marble. The slabs were lightened by painted caissons: gold stars were painted in the depths of the spotlights against a blue background.
It should be specially noted that the ceiling of the Propylaea and the ceiling of the Parthenon pteron, completed ten years earlier, are, apparently, the first stone floors in ancient Greek architecture. There is no evidence for the existence of earlier examples. This fact in itself is very significant, since throughout the entire 6th and 1st half of the 5th century. BC. the pteron colonnade was not connected to the walls of the cella by any stone elements. On the one hand, this testifies to the imperfection of archaic construction techniques and, possibly, the fear of architects to block the spans with stone, which in the end porticos of the temples were at least one and a half times larger than the spans of the outer colonnade (wooden floor beams and rafters were, by the way, good elements connections between individual parts of the building in high seismic conditions in many areas of the Mediterranean). On the other hand, the absence of a connection in stone between the outer colonnade and the cell at the entire first stage of the existence of orders once again confirms the pictorial, frankly conditional nature of both the Doric and Ionic friezes.
Propylaea also have some remarkable design features. Thus, the frieze above the central intercolumnium of the eastern portico, which, due to the large span, contained two triglyphs (instead of the usual one), was originally designed to reduce the load on the architrave (Fig. 54). The blocks that make up the frieze were located above the column, so that their ends worked as cantilevers and the load from the block was transmitted directly to the support itself (the structure of the frieze of the Temple of Athena in Poseidonia is similar, see above). The triglyphs were cut into the face of the blocks and closed the seams between them. The architrave of the middle span, which reached 5.43 m in length, was reinforced with iron strips. The Pinakothek had two windows - these are the first windows known to science in monumental Greek buildings.
The architecture of the Propylaea is characterized by some deviations, which were then repeated also in the Parthenon - the curvatures of the entablature (the stylobate did not have them), the slopes of the supports, etc. Thus, the antae of the central passage, thickened in comparison with the walls, are inclined forward by 66 mm, the frontal part of the geison - by 14 mm. The columns of the front porticos, which have significant entasis, are inclined inward by 76.4 mm, while the corner columns are inclined diagonally. The entablature is tilted inward. Thus, in the Propylaea, as in the Parthenon, there are almost no straight lines and vertical planes.Mnesicles' approach to his architectural creation, as to a work of sculpture, apparently differed little from Phidias's approach to sculpture.
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| 56. Athens. Temple of Niki Apteros. Facade, plan, general view | |
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Temple of Niki Apteros (Wingless Victory) was built by Callicrates in honor of the goddess of Victory (Fig. 55, 56). This is a small Ionic four-column amphiprostyle measuring 5.4X8.14 m along the stylobate, set, as already mentioned, on a high ledge - Pyrgos. The area around the temple was surrounded by a marble parapet, decorated with fine sculptural reliefs. Here, in front of the temple, was the altar of Nika.
The project of the Nika temple and the altar in front of it was completed by Callicrates after the completion of work on the construction of Pyrgos. After the Democrats came to power, when a new plan for the development of the Acropolis was being worked out, this project and model of the temple were (in 449 BC) approved by the national assembly. Construction began at the same time, but the implementation of the temple dates back to a later period, possibly after the start of the Peloponnesian War (by 421 it was completed).
The massive walls of Pyrgos, made of limestone slabs, have long served the Athenians as a place for hanging trophies. Thus, Pyrgos and the Temple of the Wingless Victory played an important role in creating a common ideological and artistic image of the Acropolis ensemble as a monument to the victory of the Greeks over the Persians.
The cella of the temple has neither pronaos nor opisthodom. The ends of its longitudinal walls are processed in the form of antes. On the east side, there were two narrow stone pillars, placed between the antae, to which were attached metal gratings that closed the entrance to the shallow cella.
The height of the monolithic columns of the temple is 4.04 m. Ionian capitals are similar in type to those of the Propylaea (Fig. 57). They have a wide, rather strongly curved pillow. The volute spirals are outlined by a thin roller and end with a peephole with a hole. The low echinus is covered with cut oats. In the temple are the first corner Ionic capitals that have come down to us.
The Temple of Nike gives us a classic example of a three-part version of the Ionic entablature: an architrave dissected into three fascia, a continuous sculptural frieze and a cornice without teeth. On the bas-reliefs of the frieze (Fig. 58, 59), on its three sides, there was a battle between the Greeks and the Persian cavalry; on the east side are the Olympic gods watching the battle.
If the Doric structures of the Acropolis contain elements of Ionic architecture, then in the Ionic temple of Niki Apteros, features characteristic of Doric architecture can be noted, for example, the picturesque rather than carved decor of the sima, the three-sided profiling of the capitals of the ants, the heavier proportions of the order. This increased the height of the architrave relative to the span it covered and the overall height of the entablature as a whole, which is 2/9 of the order's height. The proportions of the columns, whose height is equal to 7.85 in diameter, are also heavy for the Ionic order. These features, as well as the absence of curvatures, which gave the appearance of the temple a touch of exquisite dryness, bring its architecture closer to the monuments of the 1st half of the 5th century. BC, for example, with a temple on the river. Ilise than with other buildings on the Acropolis during the heyday of the Athenian slave-owning democracy.
The heavier proportions of the order, most likely, were carefully thought out by the architect and had the purpose of creating a certain scale: in this way, an impression of austerity and significance was achieved, which could be lacking with lighter proportions of a small temple, compared with the monumental Doric architecture of the Propylaea.
The history of the Niki temple is interesting. It stood until the end of the 18th century, when the Turks, fortifying the Acropolis, dismantled it and used stones to build an embankment for a battery. After the liberation of Greece, parts of the building and reliefs (Fig. 60) were removed from the ground, and in 1835-1836. the temple was rebuilt and received its present appearance. In the winter of 1935/36, when the masonry of Pyrgos and the temple began to threaten to fall, the temple and its pedestal had to be dismantled once again, after which all the stones were folded again, and the Nika temple was again restored in the most careful way.
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Parthenon - one of the most perfect and deservedly glorified works of world architecture (Fig. 61, 62). It was erected on the site of a large temple, the construction of which the Athenians began at the turn of the 5th century. BC. after the overthrow of tyranny. The highest part of the cliff was chosen and the size of the construction site was increased to the south, where a retaining wall was erected along a steep cliff, as well as a powerful foundation and a stereobath of the temple. They began to install the drums of the columns, but with the invasion of Xerxes in 480 BC. e. all the work begun, as well as other structures, were destroyed (Fig. 39, 63). The new temple of Athena was begun in 447 BC, and during the celebration of Panathena in 438 BC. the consecration of the temple took place. The sculptural work continued until 432 BC.
The architects of the Parthenon, Ictinus and Callicrates, faced an unusual, complex and majestic task: to create not only the main temple of the polis, dedicated to its divine patroness Athena, but also the main structure of the entire ensemble of the Acropolis, which, according to Pericles, was to become a pan-Hellenic sanctuary. If the ensemble of the Acropolis as a whole perpetuated the heroic liberation struggle of the Greek states, then the Parthenon, dominating the new pan-Hellenic sanctuary, was supposed to clearly express the leading role of Athens both in the struggle and in the post-war life of the Greek states. In connection with the most important state role of the Parthenon, it was decided to make it the place of keeping the treasury of Athens and the Naval Union headed by them, as well as treaties with other policies.
In order to solve the ideological and architectural-artistic tasks that faced them, the builders of the Parthenon creatively reworked the composition of the Doric peripter, deviating in many respects from the established type, in particular, resorting to the free combination of Doric and Ionic architectural traditions.
The Parthenon is the largest Doric temple in the Greek metropolis (stylobate size 30.86X69.51 m), and its outer colonnade - 8x17 - exceeded the number of colonies usual for the Doric peripters. Both ends of the cella ended with six-column prostyle porticoes (Fig. 64, 67).
In accordance with the purpose of the Parthenon, his plan included not only an extensive cella for the cult statue, but also an independent, west-facing room that served as a treasury and was called the Parthenon, ie. "Room for girls". According to the assumption of Acad. Zhebeleva, it was here that select Athenian girls wove a veil for the goddess.
The main room of the Parthenon was significantly different from other temples with three naves: its longitudinal two-tier colonnades were connected along the back wall of the cella by a third, transverse colonnade, forming a U-shaped bypass around the cult statue. This organically completed the interior space and enhanced the significance of the central nave with the sculpture located in it. This technique, first used by Iktin and emphasizing the importance of cela as the culmination point of the entire composition, was an important step in the development of monumental interior architecture, interest in which steadily increased over time.
The two-tiered inner colonnade was supposed to play an important role in the scale characterization of the Parthenon's interior (Fig. 64,67,86). She not only emphasized the extraordinary dimensions of the central space of the cella (its width exceeded 19 m, the span between the colonnades was about 10 m), but against its background the grandiose statue of Athena Parthenos (Virgin), made by Phidias himself and reaching a height of 12 m, should have seemed even more. There was no information about the overlap of the central part of the cella. It is possible that it had a large light hole and that the cella was open to the sky. On the other hand, one can imagine what exceptional light and shadow effects could be obtained when illuminating the iconic statue, made of gold and ivory, only through the entrance opening. The wealth of possible reflexes was supposed to further enhance the impression she made.
The ceiling of the western room of the cella of the temple was supported by four columns, which, judging by their slenderness, were probably Ionic. Ionian features also appeared in the external architecture of the temple: behind the majestic external Doric colonnade of the Parthenon, on top of the walls of the cella and above its Doric porticoes, there was a continuous sculptural frieze, under which, however, Doric shelves with drops were preserved on the east and west facades (Fig. 67) ...
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| 67. Athens. Parthenon. Fragments of longitudinal and transverse (along the portico) sections, longitudinal section (reconstruction), acroteria | |
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The Order of the Parthenon differs significantly from the order of the Doric temples that preceded it (Figs. 68-74). The columns, equal in height to the columns of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, i.e. 10.43 m with a diameter of 1.905 m (1.948 in the corner columns), have much lighter proportions: their height is 5.48 lower diameters, whereas in Olympia it is the ratio is 4.6: 1. The thinning of the columns was not strong, the top diameter of the trunk was 1.481 m for the middle ones and 1.52 m for the corner columns. Entasis is small - the maximum deviation from a straight line is 17 mm. Spans on the sides (4.291 m) are practically the same as on the front facades (4.296 m). The extreme corner span was narrowed to 3.681 m (3.689 m on the sides). However, the narrowing was not a single one, which led to the thinnest, but completely consistent deviations from the regularity of the frieze, since the width of the metopes ranges from 1.317 m to 1.238 m, decreasing from the center of the facade to the corners.
The proportions of the order as a whole, as well as of the columns, are greatly facilitated. With a total height of 3.29 m, the entablature is 0.316 of the height of the column, while in the temple of Zeus at Olympia this ratio is 0.417, and in the II temple of Hera in Poseidonia - 0.42. The architrave is equal in height to the triglyph frieze, and the ratio of both these parts to the cornice is 10: 10: 4.46.
The capital of the Parthenon, which can be called an example of the Doric capital of the classical era, was of great importance for the characteristics of the order. Echin is distinguished by a close to straight, but extremely elastic outline. The removal is small - only 0.18 of the column top diameter. The height of the abacus and the echina is the same (0.345 m). There are also remarkable innovations in these capitals. Their abacas support the architrave only with their middle, slightly protruding part, which indicates a clear distinction between the architect of the practical and artistic (figurative) functions of the capital. Another innovation that testifies to the free circulation of architects with the order system - the above-mentioned Doric shelves with drops, located on the wall of the cella under the Panathenian frieze - speaks of the fusion of Doric and Ionic architectural elements in the Parthenon architecture brought to the smallest detail.
Due to the clarity of the tectonic concept and the simplicity of the general volume of the Parthenon, its role in the ensemble and its ideological significance were revealed from afar. When, at the end of the Panathenaean celebrations, the participants in the procession finally found themselves in close proximity to the monumental structure that dominated the ensemble of the Acropolis, over the city spread out at its foot and all the natural surroundings, the Parthenon appeared before them in all its greatness and wealth. Here is a deep understanding of the task and masterful use of the artistic and expressive possibilities hidden in the order by the architects, first of all, the extreme thoughtfulness of the wonderfully found proportions of the order with the perfection of its execution.
Considering the actual size of the building and all the aspects in which it was consistently revealed to the viewer, the architects were able to give the temple such a “scale”, thanks to which its heroic majesty did not overwhelm the viewer even close, but, on the contrary, gave him patriotic pathos, proud self-awareness and confidence in their forces, which were characteristic of the Athenians, contemporaries of Pericles. This feature of the Parthenon architecture, acutely felt by everyone who saw it in nature, can only be guessed by a thoughtful examination of those photographs in which the figure of a standing person is visible directly at the colonnade. Man is perceived by us as more than one would expect when considering the architecture of the temple; in other words, the scale characteristic of the Parthenon is such that its actual size exceeds expected, but does not overwhelm.
Close up, the other side of the artistic image of the Parthenon was revealed - its solemn festivity created by the richness of colors of its architecture, strong contrasts and complex play of chiaroscuro, remarkable plastic properties of noble Pentelian marble. This stone, still mined near Athens, on the Pentelikon Upland, has good mechanical properties and lends itself to fine processing. It has a rather coarse grain, and in some places includes thin layers of mica.
Immediately after being mined, the marble is almost completely white, but over time it takes on a warm hue. Due to the presence of iron, it is covered with a golden patina of extraordinary beauty. In the Parthenon, this patina lay mainly on the sides of the stones facing east and west, while the southern side almost retained its original shade. Over the past millennia, microscopic gray moss has appeared on the northern side (with which scientists are now waging a serious struggle, since its destructive effect on the stone has been established).
These transitions of shades give the colonnade of the temple an extraordinary warmth characteristic of a living body, and not a death stone.
Of great importance for the architecture of the temple is the perfection of its execution and especially with exceptional care implemented systems and "refinements" or minor deviations from the geometric correctness of the lines. These deviations, which were found separately in various archaic temples, and more consistently in temples of the 2nd quarter of the 5th century. BC e., were first used simultaneously in the Parthenon. To a large extent, the possibility of such a wide introduction of "refinements" is explained by the use of marble as the only building material for all the most important structures of the Acropolis. Of all the types of stone used by the Hellenic civilization, it was marble that allowed such a high precision and subtlety of detailing, sharper corners and surface polishing.
These deviations include, first, curvatures of all horizontal lines, starting with the steps of the stereobath and ending with parts of the entablature (Fig. 75, 76). It is noteworthy that with a slight curvature of all horizontal lines, the verticality of the masonry seams is fully maintained, so that, for example, the blocks of the stereobath steps have the shape of irregular quadrangles along the facade, changing, moreover, from the corners to the middle of the sides of the structure. All other "deviations" were carried out with surprising accuracy: the inclination of the axes of the columns and entablature to the walls of the temple, and of the gayson outward, thickening of the corner columns, reduction of angular intercolumnia, inclination to the outside of the pediment tympans, etc. Inclination to the outside of the vertical surfaces the crowning parts of the temple - in particular the geison, antefixes and acroterias, as well as the abacus of the outer columns (a detail first found in the Parthenon, but then also observed in the Temple of Concordia in Akragant and in Segesta) - may have been performed to better reflect light in the direction of the viewer, in other cases, for example, in anta capitals, its purpose was to emphasize the contrast of a detail and a larger element - the surface of the anta itself, inclined in the opposite direction.
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| 73. Athens. Parthenon. Details: 1 - Sima's water cannon; 2 - the angle of the entablature; 3 - corner of the triglyph-metope frieze and the ceiling of the portico with the remains of the painting; 4 - capital | |
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| 74. Athens. Parthenon. Northwest corner of the entablature (according to Colignon): 1 - view from the north side; 2 - view from the western side; 3 - plan of the entablature at the frieze level and bottom view of the gison | |
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| 77. Athens. Parthenon. Corner of the western pediment, metope of the south side - centaur and lapith | |
It is noteworthy that the curvature of the architrave in the Parthenon was made in the form of a broken line so that the lower and upper surfaces of each block were not curved, but straight. On the other hand, it took an exceptionally accurate quilting of vertical seams at the junction of adjacent blocks, as well as an undercut of abacus, the upper surface of which turned out to be like a gable.
The indicated deviations, no doubt, cannot be explained only by the struggle with optical distortions and illusions, as it was originally assumed. Some of them are so subtle that they are almost invisible to the eye, while others are undoubtedly perceived by the viewer, giving the Parthenon's forms an amazing plasticity and vitality.
The sculptures of the Parthenon, made by the best masters of Greece according to the concept and with the direct participation of the great Phidias, played an important role in deepening and revealing the rich artistic and ideological content of the temple (Fig. 77). Groups of complex composition, made in a round sculpture, well projected against the background of the tympanum wall, were installed on the horizontal cornice of both gables. These figures were of the largest scale and were designed to be perceived from distant points of view: they, no doubt, were quite clearly distinguishable already along the entire route of the Panathenaic procession along the southern side of the Acropolis. The next place belonged to metopes made in a large relief (corresponding to the strong plasticity of the architectural forms of the temple), with figures of a somewhat smaller scale, which, however, should have been well perceived from the very exit from the Propylaea to the Acropolis. When approaching the western facade of the Parthenon and moving along its northern colonnade, the third sculptural element in the external architecture of the temple also came into play - the famous frieze (Fig. 78), stretching along the top of the walls of the cella along its entire perimeter, reaching 160 m. in relatively low relief. With a height of 1 m, its exceptionally thin relief, in some places depicting four figures projecting one on top of the other, did not exceed 6 cm in the upper part of the sculptural slabs and reached only 4 cm in their lower part. Such a difference in relief, obviously, was deeply thought out and took into account the specific conditions of perception of the frieze - from a strong perspective.
All external sculptures remained in place, and the Parthenon itself, despite a number of alterations, remained intact until 1687, when, during the Venetian-Turkish War, a direct hit from a Venetian bomb destroyed its entire middle part. The current state of the temple is the fruit of careful restorations. His sculptures, which are now stored in many museums in Europe (mainly in the British Museum in London, where they were taken by Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to Turkey), have survived in part and in varying degrees of preservation. The frieze is best preserved.
The ideological subtext of the theme developed in the sculptures of the Parthenon is closely related to recent events (the fierce struggle and victory of the Greeks over the Persians) and the desire to embody in a visual and convincing form the idea of \u200b\u200bthe hegemony of Athens, consecrated and supported by their most divine patroness.
The group of the western pediment, from whose figures only fragments remained (Fig. 79), depicted the dispute between Athena and Poseidon over the dominion over Attica. Since the goddess - the patroness of crafts - was especially revered by the Athenian demos, and Poseidon in ancient times was considered the patron saint of the clan nobility, this group undoubtedly reminded the ancient spectators of the recent fierce intra-class struggle. Thus, in the sculptures of the Parthenon, the second side of the general ideological plan of the Acropolis ensemble was emphasized: by erecting it, the Athenian slave-owning democracy sought to perpetuate not only the triumph of the Greeks over the barbarians, but also its victory over the reactionary forces within the polis. The sculptural group of the eastern pediment, from which individual figures reached (Fig. 80, 83), depicted the myth of the birth of Athena from the head of Zeus. Thus, as it were, emphasized the special place of Athens in the Hellenic world.
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| 81-82. Athens. Parthenon. Fragment of the Panathenaic frieze on the eastern side of the cella | |
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The composition of the pediment groups is known only from the sketches made 13 years before their destruction. Nevertheless, there is no doubt about the serious changes that have occurred in the development of this type of sculptural compositions, as well as individual sculptures, since the execution of the pediments of the Temple of Zeus in Olympia. The composition is now based not on the strict correspondence of the figures of the left and right sides, but on the cross-opposition of mutually balanced figures. Thus, for example, a naked male figure on the left is invariably answered by a clothed female figure on the right side of the pediment, and vice versa. Three exceptionally finely executed, feminine figures of the Moir (goddesses of fate) correspond to the nude reclining hunter Kefal and the seated female deities - Oram. A bold innovation is the filling of the corners of the eastern pediment; the place of ordinary lying figures is taken by the heads of horses, on the left - Helios (sun), rising from the Ocean in his chariot, on the right - Nyx (night), descending into the Ocean with her horses. These images are significant. Using the ideas of Greek mythology about the Universe, about the Earth, surrounded by a wide river Ocean, they symbolically reveal the greatness and significance for the entire Hellenic world of the event depicted in the pediment sculpture - the birth from the head of Zeus of a new deity, the mighty Athena. Phidias tried to convey the authenticity of this incredible miracle, showing what a stunning impression it made on the gods present. This is evidenced by the full movement, draped in flowing clothes, the figure of Iris.
It is characteristic that the pediment sculptures are technically completely finished not only from the face and sides, but also from the rear. This is the result of a new technique of gradual and repeated processing of the entire surface of the statue at once, replacing the archaic technique of processing a block from its four facades. It was only with this more flexible technique that it became possible to perform in marble dynamic, complex compositions typical of the classical era.
On the metopes of the frieze of the outer colonnade, the events of Greek mythology were depicted: on the eastern facade - gigantomachy; on the south (the best preserved metopes) - the struggle of the Lapiths against the centaurs; on the west - the battle of the Greeks with the Amazons; on the north - the capture of Troy. Sculpture metopes are far from being equal in technique. A large number of sculptors worked on them, under the general guidance of Phidias. The very nature of the individual images is also different, in which the transition from archaic stiffness of movements is clearly visible (for example, a centaur holding a young man by the hair) to the dynamics of bodies striking in its vitality (a centaur rearing over a defeated enemy). For all that, the sculpture of metopes is characterized by a vivid depiction of emotions.
The most important element of the sculpture, which directly determined the appearance of the Parthenon, is the grandiosely conceived Panathenaic frieze, which includes hundreds of figures of gods, people, horses and sacrificial animals. Its theme is an expression of the Athenians' gratitude to their divine protector. On the west side, the formation of the Panathenaean procession is shown: young men saddling horses. The action unfolds in a measured rhythm along the longitudinal sides of the temple: here are men carrying branches of olives (the tree of Athena), musicians, horsemen performing in rows of fours, women and girls in clothes falling in folds, slowly moving towards the eastern side of the Parthenon, where seated on graceful seats the gods and the priest of Athena, with the help of a boy, unfolds the precious peplos (Fig. 81, 82, 84).
Passing by this solemnly unfolding composition of the frieze, depicting the successive stages of the Panathenaean procession, the spectators - participants in the actual procession - became more aware of their connection with the temple and its enormous social significance.
The last sculptural image, which was the center of the entire compositional and ideological concept of the Parthenon, is the cult statue of Athena, made of gold and ivory by Phidias, and which was one of his masterpieces (44 talents were spent on its production, i.e. 1140 kg of gold). Numerous descriptions of ancient authors, images on coins and several later sculptural copies, of which the marble statuette from Barvakion in Athens (its height is 1 m), seems to be the closest to the original. Athena stands in a calm, solemn pose (Fig. 85). The head is covered with a high helmet, the body is dressed in a chiton, the folds of which were supposed to correspond to the flutes on the columns of a huge cella surrounding the statue of Phidias (the entire middle part of the cella was destroyed by an explosion, and now the walls of the second room of the temple - the Parthenon itself) are opening to the viewer. The left hand rests on a large round shield covered with reliefs, behind which hides a snake that, according to legend, lived in the temple of Athena Polias. The right arm, slightly extended forward and supported by a small column, carries a small figure of Nicky. The bell-shaped column capital, probably painted in the statuette and plastically developed in the original, can clearly be seen as an early form of Corinthian capital, later used for the first time as a truly architectural form by Ictinus in the temple of Apollo in Bassa. The image of Athena was supposed to reflect the restrained power and majesty, characteristic, according to Hellenic ideas, of the Olympic goddess.
So in the sculptural images of the Parthenon, as well as in its architecture, the combination of monumental peace with vitality and noble grandeur with simplicity, which distinguishes the ancient Greek art of the time of its highest flowering, was fully embodied.
Using the means of architecture and sculpture, the creators of the Parthenon brilliantly solved the tasks before them, reflecting in it those features of Athens that, in the opinion of Pericles and his associates, gave their policy the right to a leading role in the entire Hellenic world: the most perfect state structure for its time Athens, their political wisdom and economic power, the advanced character of their ideals and undeniable primacy in all areas of Greek culture, which turned Athens at that time into the foremost center and school of Hellas. And the brighter the Parthenon reflected the brilliant image of Pericles' Athens, the power of their worldview, ethical and aesthetic ideals, the better it fulfilled its role in the Pan-Hellenic ensemble of the Acropolis.
The significance of the ideological content and the perfection of the artistic form make the Parthenon the pinnacle of all ancient Greek architecture.
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| 89. Athens. Erechtheion. Sections (transverse and longitudinal) | |
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Erechtheion - the last construction of the Acropolis, completing its entire ensemble (Fig. 87). This marble temple of the Ionic order is located in the northern part of the hill, near the site of ancient Hecatompedon, which was subsequently burned down. The Erechtheion was dedicated to Athena and Poseidon. The site set aside for the temple was associated with a number of relics related to the cult.
At the end of the 1st century. BC e. the interior of the Erechtheion was damaged by fire. During the Byzantine period, the Erechtheion was converted into a church. In the 12th century, during the reign of the Crusaders, it was attached to the palace built on the Acropolis and, finally, during the era of Turkish rule, it served as the premises of the local ruler's harem. At the beginning of the XIX century. the temple was destroyed during the hostilities. Excavation and study of it began in 1837; the first attempts at restoration date back to the forties of the 19th century. Large restoration work was carried out in 1902-1907. under the leadership of N. Balaios; in particular, many of the missing stones were found and the most important parts of the temple were restored. Now the appearance of the Erechtheion can be considered largely clarified.
In the arrangement of the internal parts of the temple, in view of many later reconstructions, much still remains unclear.
The features of the Erechtheion are its asymmetric plan, which has no analogies in the Hellenic temple architecture, as well as a very complex spatial composition of its premises and three porticos located at different levels (Fig. 88, 89).
The main core of the building is a rectangular building with a stylobate size of 11.63X23.50 m. The roof is gable, covered with marble tiles, on the east and west sides there are pediments. From the east, the cella ends with a six-column Ionic portico across the entire width of the building, like temples of the forgiving type. The western end of the structure was decided in an unusual way (Fig. 90). There were two peculiarly located porticoes, which ended not the end, but the longitudinal sides of the cella and were oriented to the north and south (the northern portico and the portico of Cor).
On the western side of the temple there was a high base, above which four columns in antae rose. The gaps between the columns were covered with bars. The grilles were installed in the 5th century. BC e., as can be seen from the report of the construction commission. In Roman times, the gratings were replaced by masonry with window openings, as a result of which the columns became half-columns.
The height of the columns and antes of the western façade is 5.61 m. The height of the base on which they stand is 4.8 m. The profiled base runs 1.30 m higher than the similar base of the southern portico. The western colonnade had to be raised so high, perhaps, so that it would be fully visible from the trees and the fence of the Pandrosa garden, located in front of it. It also made it possible to place in the plinth a door from Pandroseion to the temple; it is located asymmetrically, closer to the southern corner.
It is believed that during the construction at the southwestern corner of the Erechtheion, an ancient grave was discovered under the foundations of Hecatompedon. It was recognized as the grave of Cecrops and, in order to keep it intact, the foundation of the Erechtheion was moved to the west, and a large marble beam, 1.5 m wide and 4.83 m long, was laid over the grave.
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90. Athens. Erechtheion. View from the west. West facade |
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The southern wall stands on a three-step base and is made up of carefully fitted polished squares (Fig. 91). Orphostats (quadras of the lower row of masonry) are placed on a profiled base, which serves as a continuation of the base of the anta of the eastern portico. A wide ribbon of ornamental cut, passing from the neck of this ant to the southern wall, stretches along its top. The motif of this ornament, composed of palmettes and lilies, is called anfemia and, in less developed forms, is also found on archaic capitals found at Navcratis and Samos. In the Erechtheion, its more complicated drawing acquires a special grace and completeness. The individual elements are more dissected; the wriggling antennae connecting palmettes and lilies are strongly developed. Anfemius is used in the Erechtheion with extreme generosity - it is found on antae, under the capitals of the columns, in the upper part of the door frame.
On all the walls of the Erechtheion, with the exception of the western one, under the three-part entablature stretches a wide strip of the same ornament - anfemia, crowned with a belt of ovaries and lesbian kimaty. This decorative belt formed an exquisite and elegant frame of the magnificent surface of the wall, enhancing its independent artistic value.
The frieze of the Erechtheion deserves special attention: it was made of dark (violet-black) Eleusinian marble-like limestone, against the background of which the separately carved from light (white) marble and then attached sculptures stood out. Above, there was a cornice topped with oaks. This frieze, along with the entire entablature, passed to the eastern portico and other facades of the building.
A small portico adjoins the western end of the southern wall - the famous portico of Cor, in which the columns are replaced by six marble figures of caryatid girls (or cor) slightly higher than human height - 2.1 m (Fig. 92, 93).
A high plinth with a profiled base, on which the caryatids stand, rests on a three-tiered base. Made up of large slabs and crowned with a rod with a large cut, it served as a massive base for the figures of girls carrying the entablature of the portico. An intermediate link between sculpture and architecture is the capitals over the heads of the caryatids, consisting of an echinus cut with large ovami and a narrow abacus.
In an effort to visually lighten the entablature in order to avoid the impression of the tension of the caryatids, the architect with great tact applied the original form of the Ionic entablature, reducing it to two parts: an architrave and a cornice with teeth. The frieze is missing. On the upper fascia of the architrave, small, slightly protruding circles are visible, on which, perhaps, it was supposed to cut rosettes.
In the northeastern corner of the portico of the caryatids there is a narrow passage and behind it a ladder connecting the portico with the cella. When the viewer approaches Erechteionuso from the Propylaea side and the temple opens in front of him from the south-west corner, the small, but rich in chiaroscuro portico of Cor stands out clearly against the shiny surface of the southern wall, greatly reduced from this point of view. The portico revives the composition in a new way when viewed from the platform in front of the Parthenon (i.e. from the east).
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| 93. Athens. Erechtheion. Caryatid portico: fragment, profiles | |
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| 94. Athens. Erechtheion. East facade, east corner of the south wall, south column of the east portico | |
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| 95. Athens. Erechtheion. East portico: view towards the Parthenon, profiles: 1 - anta capital; 2 - anta base; 3 - column base | |
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Walking around the temple and reaching the site in front of the eastern facade, the viewer sees a shallow six-column portico of very light proportions (Fig. 94-96). The height of its columns is 9.52 D (6.58 m) with an intercolumnium of 2.05 D. In the back wall there was a door decorated with a rich casing and two (partially preserved) windows.
Coming out to the northeastern corner of the building, the viewer found himself on the top step of the staircase that descended to the northern courtyard, or rather the site at the northern edge of the Acropolis. The two lower steps turned onto the base of the northern wall and stretched along its base, up to the steps of the northern portico. The north portico served as the entrance to Poseidon's cella. Here, by the wall, was the altar of Zeus, and through the hole in the floor, the visitor could see the trace of the trident on the rock, with which, according to legend, the god Poseidon hit the rock of the Acropolis. A cassette was removed above this spot in the ceiling so that the sacred sign was in the open air.
The northern portico has a size of 12.035x7.45 m along the lower step (in width and depth). There are six columns along its perimeter (Fig. 97-99). They are heavier than the columns of the eastern portico (their height is 7.63 m, i.e. 9.2 D) and are spread wider (intercolumn 2.32-2.27 m, or 2.8 D).
The columnar trunks have a slight entasis and a slight thinning (the difference between the lower and upper diameters is 0.1 m), 24 flutes have oval grooves. The columns of the portico correspond to the antae, only slightly protruding from the wall. The corner columns slope slightly inward diagonally. The marble ceiling is cassette.
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| 98. Athens. Erechtheion. View from the northeast corner. North facade. Portal of the north portico, detail | |
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The decor of the northern portico repeats the motives of the ornamentation of other parts of the temple, standing out for the elegant bases. In the bases of its columns, the upper shaft is covered with carved braids, which the columns of the eastern portico do not have. In the capitals, volute spirals gracefully outlined by a double roll with a slight deflection in the middle end with a convex eye, once decorated with a golden rosette. The balustrades of the capitals are fluted, with a string of beads running along the edges of each of the seven shallow flutes. The narrow abacus is covered with ova and tongues, the echinus is decorated with carvings (oves) and underlined with astragalus beads from below, it is separated from the pillow in turn by a braid. Below is a wide ribbon of anfemia.
The total height of the capitals of the northern portico is 0.613 m, of which 0.279 m are anfemias and echinus, and 0.334 m are cushion and abacus.
Of all the three types of capitals in the Erechtheion, the capital of the northern portico has the richest interpretation.
The entablature of the north portico is slightly below the entablature of the cella. On top of a light architrave (0.72 m), divided into three fasciae and crowned with Ionic kimatius and astragalus, there was a dark strip of frieze, similar to the frieze of the eastern portico and cella. Topped with a belt of ovaries, the cornice had a slight extension (0.31 m). Sima was adorned with water cannons in the form of lion's heads, and the roof tiles overlapping with antefixes (with palmette and volutes).
The door to the pronaos is especially richly decorated in the northern portico. Its narrowing upward opening (4.88 m high, 2.42 m wide at the bottom and 2.34 m on top) is framed by a casing with rosettes and a sandrik on consoles, decorated with anfemia. The framing of the doorway is well preserved and is the best example of the classic period casing (only the sandrik was restored in Roman times).
In contrast to the portico of the Caryatids, the northern portico is significantly shifted to the west, extending beyond the northern wall, so that its axis coincides with the axis of the narrow pronaos. The northern wall ends in the west with an ant, which has two obverse sides and resembles the same antae of the western facade of the northern wing of the Propylaea.
Such is the complex and varied structure of the external appearance of the Erechtheion.
The interior of the Erechtheion was divided into two parts by a blank transverse wall.
The eastern, somewhat smaller, was the sanctuary of Athena: there stood an ancient, carved out of wood, especially revered statue of the goddess. An unquenchable fire burned in front of her in a golden lamp made by the famous master Callimachus. This room was a "inaccessible sanctuary of the goddess", where only priests could enter, so the doors were always closed and two windows had to be arranged for lighting.
The western part of the temple was actually the temple of Poseidon. It was divided into several rooms: a wall that did not reach the ceiling separated a pronaos stretched from north to south, and, probably, the wall of the same height separated two rooms adjoining it from the east. According to Pausanias, there were three altars in the temple: Poseidon and Erechtheus, the hero of Booth, Hephaestus; on the walls were pictures from the life of the Butad family. Under the floor of the cella there was a crypt in which the sacred serpent Erichthonius lived; under the floor of the pronaos there was a well of salt water ("Sea of \u200b\u200bErechte"), which, according to legend, appeared from Poseidon's trident hitting a rock.
The western part of the building lay 3.206 m below the floor of the eastern part (raised above the level of the site adjacent to the southeastern corner by about 1 m). The difference in levels made the composition of the Erechtheion no less unusual than the asymmetry of the plan.
At a lower level there are also two courtyards adjacent to the Erechtheion. One lies between the north wall of the temple, the wall of the Acropolis and a wide staircase at the northeastern corner of the Erechtheion. Another, surrounded by a fence, adjoined the western wall of the temple: this was the sanctuary of Pandrosa, daughter of the legendary king Cecrops. The sacred olive tree of Athena grew in it.
This location of the temple, as well as its dismemberment, were probably dictated by the desire to create a structure that contrasts with the monumental simple, stately Parthenon in all its complex architectural composition, but does not compete with it. This was the new principle of freely and picturesquely arranged ensembles of the 5th century. The place of relics, located in the depression of the rock behind Hecatompedon, was now within the boundaries of the temple.
The Ionian order in the Erechtheion is distinguished by its lightness, grace and variety of forms, its three variants are close to each other. Each of the facades, which received their own individual appearance, is at the same time skillfully connected with the whole. This is served by a common entablature with a kind of common frieze around the entire building, a common profiled base, stretched along the bottom of all the walls of the temple, base steps, spliced \u200b\u200bwith the steps of the northeastern staircase.
The same purpose is served by the similarity of individual parts (for example, plans and placement of supports of the northern and southern porticos, plinths of the portico of the cortex and the western colonnade, etc.), as well as the system of relationships that connects the forms of porticos and the division of walls. Thus, the squares of the southern wall are strictly coordinated with the height of the portico basement, which is equal to the height of the orthostat and one row of masonry; the height of the cortex is equal to five rows of masonry, the height of the entablature is the height of two rows, the distance between the antefixes is half the length of the square, etc. All these techniques create the impression of harmonious unity, despite the variety of individual elements.
There was less coloring in the Erechtheion. It was largely replaced by the polychromy of various materials (stone of different colors). The report of the construction commission mentions encaustic coloring of only parts of the internal ornament (for example, the lesbian heel of the architrave), but often it is about gilding. Pentelian marble, white with a warm yellowish tinge, a dark ribbon of a frieze of Eleusinian limestone with prominent figures on it, and gilding of the ornamented parts - such, perhaps, was the color scheme of the outer parts of the Erechtheion.
Less than twenty years passed from the construction of the Parthenon to the beginning of the construction of the Erechtheion, and yet these two monuments differ sharply from one another in terms of their ideological content. The sublime heroism of the previous decades fades into the background, not monumental and heroic themes begin to prevail in the images of art and literature, but profound psychological motives, on the one hand, and the desire for refined grace of form, on the other. The author of the Erechtheion no longer adheres to the traditional forms of Greek religious architecture and, having received the task of combining a number of ancient relics under one roof, uses the techniques of bold innovation: many features of the structure in the plan resemble not the established type of Greek temple, but the front gate of the Acropolis - Propylaea. At the same time, the architect unites in a free asymmetric composition Ionic porticos with por-; teak caryatids (cor), in which the classical column is replaced by a sculptural statue. This is another feature that violates the strictness of the composition in the temples of the middle of the 5th century. BC.
In addition to the kinship of the plans of the Erechtheion and the Propylaea, the commonality of a number of architectural techniques in these two structures is indicated by: the form of antes with two obverse sides - in the northern portico of the Erechtheion and at the corners of the eastern facade of the Propylaea; the use of window openings for lighting (east portico and pinakothek); the use of solid masonry as an artistic element of architecture (the southern wall of the Erechtheion and the right wing of the Propylaea); the use of the Eleusinian stone in the polychrome of the building; the solution of the composition at different levels and, finally, the balance of the parts by means of free artistic combination instead of simple symmetry - the general principle of the entire ensemble of the Acropolis.
Several monuments located both in Athens and outside it are also important for understanding Attic architecture of the heyday.
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| 100. Athens. Agora in the 5th century BC: 1 - southern standing; 2 - foul; 3 - old booleuter; 4 - new booleuter; 5 - Hephaisteion; 6 - standing Zeus; 7 - altar of the Twelve Gods | |
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| 101. Athens. The Temple of Hephaestus, or Hephaisteion (formerly known as Theseion), between 440-430 AD BC e.: 1 - facade; 2 - cross section in front of the pronaos; 3 - order of the outer colonnade; 4 - entablature of the pronaos portico; 5 - plan | |
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Hephaisteion (Temple of Hephaestus) near the agora of the market square (Fig. 100) in Athens (earlier erroneously called Theseion) - the best-preserved monument of the Pericles era. The temple is made entirely of Pentelian marble in the Doric order and has 13.72X31.77 m along the stylobate, the number of columns is 6 X 13 (Fig. 101-105). Cella has pronaos, naos and opisthodes; it was found that a little later, an internal colonnade was built into the cella, now destroyed.
Hephaisteion was built shortly after the completion of the Parthenon (probably between 440 and 430 BC) and is largely an imitation of it. However, it is very far from the power of the artistic image and from the compositional perfection of the Parthenon. The mechanical repetition of the compositional scheme of the Parthenon and a number of its details could not, of course, give the same artistic effect. So, for example, the proportions of the external order of the Parthenon, almost exactly repeated in Hephaisteion in relation to the order of a different (smaller) size, determined a completely different large-scale nature of the structure, and the U-shaped internal colonnade in plan only pressed the cella of Hephaisteion and turned out to be so close to the walls of the room that lost tectonic persuasiveness (Fig. 101).
A peculiar compositional feature of Hephaisteion was a technique that highlighted both end parts of the pteron space. The anta porticoes of the pronaos and the opistodom were completed with an entablature, consisting of an architrave and a sculptural frieze, continued until the intersection with the entablature of the outer colonnade. This kind of method of highlighting the end porticos of the outer colonnade becomes, apparently, specific to the Attic architecture of the late 5th century. BC, as it is repeated in the temple of Nemesis at Ramnunt and at the temple of Poseidon at Cape Sunius.
In Hephaisteion, the technique of highlighting the eastern portico facing the agora was further strengthened by sculptural metopes, which were installed not only on the eastern facade, but in the adjacent two extreme spans of the lateral facades (four metopes on each side).
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| 107. Eleusis. Telesterion Iktin: cuts, plan (the realized parts are filled with black), view of the ruins | |
Telesterion at Eleusis ("Hall of Initiation")built by Iktinus, the architect of the Parthenon, probably in the 3rd quarter of the century (435-430 BC), occupies a special place among the Greek religious buildings.
This is an indoor meeting room intended for the ancient mysterious Eleusinian mysteries associated with the cult of the goddess of agriculture, Demeter (Fig. 106). The nature of these ceremonies required a closed room, and the meager remains of such a room, found in the same place, date back to the end of the 7th century. BC.
The rectangular hall of the ancient Telesterion, divided by two rows of internal supports, was oriented to the north-east. On the opposite side, a narrow aditon adjoined it - the holy of holies of the structure. This room - the so-called anactoron (palace) of the goddess - remained intact during all subsequent reconstructions, made up to Roman time.
After Eleusis became the deme of Attica, an expansion of the sanctuary was required, which was undertaken by the Pisistratis towards the end of the 6th century. BC e. This second Telesterion, which was apparently the earliest covered room of the Greeks, intended for large gatherings, had already received many of the distinctive features of the "future grandiose construction: the square hall, enclosed by blank walls, was surrounded on three sides by stepped rows of seats; which had three doors, a nine-column portico adjoined; the roof was supported by five rows of columns (possibly Ionic). Anaktoron adjoined the western corner of the building, which, apparently, was richly decorated; painted parts of the antefixes, pediment sima with a deer head and pieces of marble shingles.
The building was burned down by the Persians and around 465 BC. under Kimon, they began to rebuild it. The dimensions of the hall have been significantly increased, as well as the number of internal supports. But the reconstruction was never completed.
Telesterion Iktin in the plan was an almost regular square, on the west side adjacent to the rock, in which a terrace was carved at the level of half the height of the building. On three other sides, Telesterion may have been surrounded by a colonnade. At both ends of the terrace, in the rock, two stairs were carved, connecting it to the level of the stylobate in a single wide bypass around the entire building (it is now suggested that Iktin designed the portico on only one side, leaving the side stairs open).
Inside Telesterion, along the perimeter of its walls, there were eight rows of narrow steps, partly carved into the rock during the reign of Cimon. On them stood the spectators of the mystery performance, which took place, apparently, in the center of the building. Rejecting the frequent grid of numerous columns provided for by the Kimon scheme (49 columns were supposed: seven rows of seven columns in each), Iktin boldly reduced their number to 20, arranging them in four rows, with five columns in each. This spacious spacing of internal supports undoubtedly indicates that the purlins and other floor elements were made of wood. The two-tiered colonnades carried a roof and galleries overlooking the seats for spectators; these galleries could probably be accessed through the above-mentioned terrace on the west side of Telesterion (Fig. 107).
According to a convincing, but still based only on guesswork, reconstruction, the roof of Telesterion was pyramidal with a light hole in the middle. The central part of the hall, located under this opening, in which the most important part of the mysteries took place, could be closed from the audience by curtains, as is known, used in the cellas of some temples (for example, in Olympia). Thus, Iktin gave a completely new solution to the interior of a large building and the ceiling above it.
After the death of Pericles, the building of Telesterion probably passed into new hands. The Iktin project was abandoned, and the new builders returned to the "Kimon" scheme. Pteron remained unfulfilled, the roof received a more conventional gable shape (with a ridge located along the east-west axis), and 42 columns (six rows of seven) were installed inside the room, slightly widened towards the rock. Yet the skylight designed by Iktin was apparently made (Fig. 106 below).
In the middle of the IV century. BC. the construction of a Doric 12-column portico on the east side began, the construction of which was continued at the end of the same century by Philo. This portico, although it was not completely finished (the flutes of the columns were never completed), existed in Roman times. In Telesterion, perhaps for the first time in Greek architecture, complex issues related to the large indoor assembly hall were raised and resolved, and the Eleusinian temple undoubtedly played a very important role in the development of this architectural type.
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| 110. Bass. Temple of Apollo. Facade. Plans (schematic and general), detail of the outer colonnade | ||
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| 112. Bass. Temple of Apollo. Details of the Doric order: 1 - capital anta; 2 - cornice over the Anta portico of the pronaos; 3 - the capital of the pteron column; 4 - bummer crowning the metope; 5 - stage of pronaos | ||
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| 115. Bass. Temple of Apollo. Corinthian column. Cella reconstruction in axonometry according to Choisy with changes according to V. Marcuson. Fragments of the frieze | ||
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| 116. Bass. Temple of Apollo. Ionic order, fragment of frieze | ||
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Temple of Apollo Epicurius in Bassa, near Figalia (Arcadia) - one of the most remarkable buildings of the last third of the 5th century. BC. (fig. 108-111). Located in a desert and wilderness, high in the mountains (ISO m above sea level), from where a wide view of the surrounding valleys opened up to the Gulf of Messene, the temple, after many centuries of oblivion, was reopened only in the second half of the 18th century. and was first examined in detail in 1810. The Greek traveler Pausanias, who still saw the temple intact and admired it, reports that it was built in gratitude for the deliverance from the plague in 430 BC. Iktin, the architect of the famous Athenian Parthenon. This circumstance, as well as a number of remarkable features of the architecture of the temple, attracted a lot of attention of later researchers.
Except for a few details, the temple is made of fine bluish-gray marbled limestone and is a rather elongated Doric peripter (6X15 columns) measuring 14.63 X 38.29 m along the stylobate (Fig. 110). In appearance, the temple (with the exception of its length) differs little from the established type of the Doric peripter of the middle of the 5th century. BC e., but the absence of curvatures, entasis at the trunks of the columns, their strict verticality (including corner columns), as well as the ants of the pronaos and opisthodom, the characteristic processing of the masonry seams (in the steps of the stylobate) emphasized the elements of regularity. This austere, almost dry architecture embodied an image full of inner composure and energetic strength. This nature of architecture was determined primarily by the proportions of the order, the features of which are clarified when comparing it with the Order of the Parthenon. Despite their great similarity, the differences are still very significant: the columns of the Figali temple are squat; the entablature and capitals are larger in relation to the height of the column than in the Parthenon; the dry outline of the echina rises steeper to the higher abacus (Fig. 110, 112). The proportions of the order determine the large-scale expressiveness of this essentially small structure and lead to the fact that it is not visually suppressed by the harsh mountain nature surrounding it.
Only when approaching the temple, the viewer discovered its subtle details: the tall sims crowning the pediments were made of marble and decorated, in contrast to the traditional Doric painting, with beautiful ornamental cutting. Thanks to the sparse use of decor, carved sims acquired special significance and enriched the entire strict appearance of the temple (* It is possible that there were sculptures in the rather deep pediments of the temple), in the exquisite simplicity of which the conscious restraint of the architect was reflected. The role of decoration was also played by the wonderful coffered ceilings of the pronaos and the marble roof of the temple made of marble. But besides this, in the external architecture of the temple there were no indications of a completely unusual solution to its Ionic interior, which opened up to the viewer through a very wide (compared to the whole) opening of the main entrance and presented an unexpected contrast with the strict Doric of the facades.
The cella of the temple, strongly receding at the ends from the outer colonnade (another row of columns could have been located here), being located with its longitudinal axis in the north-south direction, consisted (not counting the deep pronaos and opisthodom) of two unequal interconnecting rooms. This unusual composition and orientation of the temple is possibly related to the fact that Iktin included in his construction the cella of an older small temple located here. At the same time, the new cella was attached at right angles to the old temple on its northern side; its southern longitudinal wall became the rear wall of the new cella, and the northern side wall separating the two cellas was demolished. Therefore, the new cella turned out to be elongated in the direction from south to north, where the main entrance to the temple was located. The entrance to the old temple on the east side has also been preserved.
The architectural composition of the main part of the cella is completely unusual: it was framed on both sides by five short walls protruding from the side walls of the cella, forming on the sides a row of small niches, similar to those that were in the temple of Hera in Olympia (Fig. 114). The last, fifth, pair of walls was turned at an angle of 45 ° to the walls of the cella.
The ends of these transverse walls are processed in the form of ionic semi-columns (Fig. 116). On the walls lay an entablature with a sculptural frieze that ran around the entire cella in a continuous ribbon. He depicted the struggle of the centaurs with the Lapiths and the Greeks with the Amazons. This frieze, full of expression and pathos of struggle, was apparently the most important cult element of the cella, and the statue of Apollo was probably placed in the adython, which was separated from the cella by the only free-standing inner column with a Corinthian capital. In contrast to the frieze of the Parthenon, carved on the bearing wall in low relief, the figali frieze, located inside the temple, is carried out in a strong relief with rich chiaroscuro. The stylistic signs of his sculpture gave rise to a later dating of the temple (the end of the 5th century BC). But the frieze, carved on removable marble boards, could be installed after the completion of the construction of the temple itself.
There is also another opinion about the time of the construction of the temple. Dinsmoor, who regards its forms as immature, attributes all construction to the time before the construction of the Parthenon. An analysis of the composition of the temple shows, however, that the next step, compared to the Parthenon, was made in the architectural development of the inner space of the cella, and the details and profiles of the order testify to the exceptional maturity of the architect, who purposefully changed the generally accepted breakdowns, in accordance with the specific functions of one or another element. The best researcher of the Greek breakaways - L. Shu refers them, as well as the entire temple to about 420 BC, strongly disagreeing with Dinsmoor.
The architect perfectly revealed the significance of the frieze and made it an essential element of the temple interior, tearing the frieze away from the walls of the cella and carrying it forward to the center of the room. When solving the pillars on which the entablature with the frieze rested, the architect did not want to mechanically reproduce the usual forms of the Ionic order, which had developed in connection with free-standing pillars, but tried to show that the half-columns are only the processing of the ends of the transverse walls. The bases and capitals made of marble (preserved only in separate fragments) emphasized the tectonicity of the walls and the conventional character of the semi-columns. The bases are strongly broadened from top to bottom and separated from the floor by a slot. The volutes of the Ionic capitals are given a steep, unusually plastic bend that does not touch the abacus, thereby emphasizing that not the columns, but the walls are load-bearing. Thus, following the specific processing of antes in Greek temples, the interpretation of the Ionic half-columns of the temple in Bassa is an extremely important step in this conditional application of order forms to characterize the wall.
The cult statue was most likely installed in the adython, facing the eastern door and looking at it through the main northern entrance was seen from an unusual point of view (Fig. 113).
The only free-standing column that separated the aditon and organically closed the main part of the cella, as it were, indicated the inaccessibility of the aditon. Its special significance in the spatial composition of the interior was emphasized by the Corinthian capital, the earliest example we know: perhaps the entire column was marble. Its base expanded very little downward, which emphasized the constructive significance of this separately standing support. The Corinthian capital, known only from the drawings of Kokkerel and Hallerstein (the capital was broken immediately after the excavations), is a further development of the capital of the Massali treasury in Delphi in the 6th century. BC. (fig. 115). Its inner spirals were large, the abacus was heavy: only one row of leaves went downward.
Given the place and role of the Corinthian column in the composition of the cella, it is necessary to reject the reconstruction of the interior proposed by the archaeologist Dinsmoor. Relying on a new interpretation of some fragments, he argued that the temple had not one, but three Corinthian capitals: one at a free-standing column and two at the semi-columns of diagonal walls on its sides. But a Greek architect would hardly have made the same capitals on such pillars that are so different in their constructive essence and tectonic interpretation (compare, for example, their bases). Dinsmoor's reconstruction does not fit either with the architectural and compositional solution of the cella, or with the nature of the artistic thinking of the Greeks. Rather, it can be assumed that on the diagonal transverse walls on the sides of the column, the side volutes of the Ionic capitals did not break off in the middle, but had a second curl (in the old cella reconstructions, such curls were mistakenly indicated on all semicolumns), representing a special type of three-sided Ionic capital, differing in shape and from the Corinthian capital of a free-standing column and from the capitals of the rest of the Ionic semi-columns.
The issue of overlapping the cella has not been clarified. If the fragments found during the excavations turned out to be enough for the reconstruction of the marble ceilings of the pteron, then the ceiling of the cella usually depicted in the drawing is an entire guess of Kokkerel. In the ceiling of the pteron, which was not inferior in luxury to the ceiling of the Acropolis Propylaea, Iktin used technical innovations - in the northern and southern porticos, the earliest of the extant U-shaped (channel) section beams, made in marble and possibly reinforced with iron, were installed.
As for the ceiling of the cella, its device is associated with the problem of its lighting, which is necessary for viewing the frieze. The fragments of the marble "tiles" found on the roof suggested that at least some of them had holes that allowed light to penetrate into the cella.
It is easy to see that in the temple of Apollo in Bassa, while maintaining the external appearance of the traditional peripteral temple and despite the traditional for the Peloponnese elongated proportions of the plan and niches along the walls of the cella, the temple had a completely new interior. The extraordinary plan of the temple, as well as all its other features, are understandable only in their mutual connection as elements of a holistic composition. At the heart of this composition and all its constituent elements is a vivid contrast to the traditional restrained appearance of a newly-resolved rich interior, in which the dominant importance of the frieze and the inaccessibility of aditon in the depths of the cella are emphasized.
Comparison of the three structures of Iktin that have come down to us (Parthenon, Telesterion and the temple in Bassa) allows us to outline some of the individual features of this master, in whose work the main tendencies of Greek architecture found their expression at the time of its highest flowering. Iktin's tendency leaves no doubt; to the search for new paths in art, starting with general solutions for the entire composition and plan and ending with individual architectural elements (Corinthian column, three-sided Ionic capitals, etc.); his interest in the interior (reflected in all three of the master's buildings known to us); his technical innovation (Telesterion skylight, U-beam in Bassa); the innovative use of a wide variety of artistic and expressive means and the combination of elements of different orders in one structure (in the Parthenon and in the temple in Bassa); the desire to organically include sculpture in the composition (the frieze of the Figali temple, which is the next step in this direction in comparison with the frieze of the Parthenon), as well as the consistent development of a number of compositional techniques related to the interior (the use of a centrally located column for the organic completion of the interior - cf. Parthenon). Vitruvius, listing the works he used, names Iktin among other authors of architectural treatises. The artist's interest in the theory of his art, witnessed in this way, is an essential touch that complements the characterization of Iktin as an outstanding representative of the advanced Athenian architecture of the 3rd quarter of the 5th century. BC, in the remarkable monuments of which new tendencies were found the earliest and most vivid expression, which determined the further development of the entire Hellenic architecture.
Despite the clashes between various Greek communities and their associations, the growth of private slave ownership and the strengthening of trade ties between different parts of the Greek world destroyed the internal structure of the classical Greek city-state and broke external economic barriers between individual Greek city-states, contributing to a closer fusion of various currents of Greek culture into the mainstream. These tendencies are reflected in the architecture of the Temple of Apollo in Bassa, in which not only traditional techniques are boldly violated, but also combined into a single whole compositional techniques and artistic forms, which previously constituted specific features of the architecture of various regions of Greece - Attica and Peloponnese.
Local traditions influenced the interior of the temple, the transverse walls of which resemble such important and ancient religious buildings of the Peloponnese as the Temple of Artemis Orphia in Sparta and Heraion in Olympia *
* The stability of this tradition can be traced in the monuments of the later era - the temples in Tegea and Lusa.
The features of the Figali temple, allowing it to be brought closer to the Athenian monuments of the time of Pericles, were noted above. This is an increased interest in the interior space and the complication of the composition of the interior, the desire for an organic combination of various order systems in one structure, for the development of new architectural forms and for the new use of old ones, and a number of other features, which reflected the search for such architectural and artistic means that allowed to express a new ideological and artistic content in the typical forms of the Doric peripter sanctified by tradition and cult. Such aspirations are characteristic of the temple in Bassa and the Erechtheion, as well as for contemporary tragedies of Euripides.
Folos at the sanctuary of Athena Pronaia in Delphi, built around 400 BC, is the first of three circular structures in the Peloponnese (Fig. 117, 118). The round cella of the folos was surrounded by twenty Doric columns. The interior reflected the influence of Iktin - on the profiled plinth made of dark Eleusinian stone, there should have been 10 Corinthian columns (without one, missed because of the wide doorway). Their axes were opposite the middle of every second external intercolumnium. The shape of the Corinthian capital (next in time to the capital in Bassa) with its clearly delineated bell and two crowns of low acanthus leaves is clearly reminiscent of Iktin's. However, the corner volutes here began with two large spirals.
Delphic foles were distinguished by their elegance and richness of decoration. Its Doric columns - three of which were restored in 1938, slender (R \u003d 6.3 D) \\ along the edge of the roof, behind the sima, there were a number of additional carved decorations, there was a sculpture in the metopes. The curvature of the surface of the triglyphs, corresponding to the radius of the circle of the entablature, testifies to the high skill of the builder and sculptor.
The architect of folos - Theodore of Phocaea - wrote, according to the testimony of Vitruvius (VII, 12), a treatise about his work.
Temple of Nemesis in Ramnunt was built around 430 BC. e. next to a small temple destroyed by the Persians in the antes of the end of the 6th century. BC e. (Temple of Themis). The Temple of Nemesis was a marble Doric peripter with six on the front sides, and only twelve on the longitudinal ones. Its dimensions along the stylobate are about 10.1X21.3 m. The cella had a two-column antae pronaos and the same opisthode; the entablature above the antae had a continuous frieze that reached the entablature of the pteron, which testified to the widespread distribution of ionisms in the Attic Doric of this era. Eight damaged columns are still standing; their flutes were left unfinished.
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| 120. Cape Suny. Sanctuary and Temple of Poseidon. Reconstruction of the general view from the side and front sides of the temple | |
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| 121. Cape Suny. Temple of Poseidon. Facade, plan, section, entablature over the ant and pteron | |
Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sunii built, perhaps, a little later than the temple in Ramnunt. Its ruins rise picturesquely on the top of a 60-meter cliff, which marked the sailors' exit to the Aegean Sea and, since the time of Homer, dedicated to the god of the sea. The excellent location of the temple perfectly characterizes the ability of Greek architects to connect the creations of architecture with nature, to whose deified forces they were dedicated (Fig. 119).
It was a Doric peripter with the canonical number of columns (6X13), made (with the exception of the frieze) from local marble and, apparently, repeating the basic forms of the earlier temple, in the place of which it was erected (Fig. 120, 121). The length of the temple along the stylobate is 31.15 m, width 13.48 m. The columns are very slender, they have a height of 6.1 m and a diameter of about 1 m. The number of flutes is 16 instead of the usual 20. In the temple of Poseidon, a continuous Ionic frieze is again used, crossing the pteron at the eastern end of the cella. It is possible that a frieze was also present at the western end of the cella, as in the temple of Nemesis at Ramnunt. A block of architrave still lies in its place, thrown from the northeastern anta to the third column of the northern facade (Fig. 122, 123). The frieze was made of Parian marble, as in Hephaisteion, but, in contrast, it was covered with a bas-relief on all four inner sides of the part of the pteron located in front of the pronaos.
The Temple at Cape Sunius is one of the most attractive and poetic works of Greek architecture of the heyday.
Boleuterium in Athens - a public building built on the agora by the end of the 5th century. BC e. (it is conventionally called New, in contrast to the Old that replaced it, built at the end of the 6th century BC), anticipates the famous Boleuterium in Miletus (see Fig. 100). It is a rectangular hall with semicircular semicircles that rise in the form of an amphitheater. The roof of the building was supported by internal supports. On one side there was a portico, in which the state laws carved on stone slabs were established.
In addition to the Old and New Athenian booleutheries, the development of the corresponding types of public structures was played by the Odeilion of Pericles (about 440-435 BC), which has not come down to us, which is attributed to Iktinus, and the above-mentioned Telesterion.
In connection with the development of Greek drama (tragedy and comedy) in the 5th century. BC e. the architecture of the Greek stone theater was also formed. However, its main elements acquire an established, well-developed character already in the 4th century. BC, and therefore this type of structure is considered in the next chapter.
Members of the "Name of God" group
Group research topic
"Name of the Gods"
Problem question (research question)
What gods were the Greek temples dedicated to?
Research objectives
1. Find out what gods are the ancient Greek temples?
2. Explain why the Parthenon is considered the most perfect temple of the Doric order?
3. List what features characteristic of the classics did the architectural ensemble of the Athenian Acropolis have?
Results of the study
1. The ancient Greek religion, like the Egyptian and many other religions of the world, had a local character of development. Those. in various localities of Greece, their deities were worshiped, often associated with local relief features or personifying them, on which the life of believers depended: this is how the local river Erimanth was worshiped in Psofida, to which the temple was dedicated; in Orchomenos, the sacred stones that had once fallen from the sky; on Mount Anhesme, Zeus Anhesmius was revered, Zeus Lafistius was the personification of Mount Lafistia. Each locality or city had its own patron patron. This cult was of a state character. Moreover, this cult was very strict: in general, one could be skeptical about the gods, the Greek religion did not know universally binding dogmas, but it was impossible to evade the duties of rituals in honor of the patron god, it was impossible to show disrespect to him. For violation of this law, severe punishment was threatened.
From the multitude of local gods, over time, some images merged into a single common Greek deity, for example, Zeus Lafistius, Zeus Croqueatus, the cult of Zeus in Crete and Thessaly, grew into the cult of Zeus - as a riding god, "the father of gods and people." The very name Zeus means a shining sky and goes back to the common Indo-European root (Dyaus among the Indians, Tiu among the Germans). The name of Zeus had about 50 epithets indicating its function: underground, i.e. provides fertility, rain-bearing, all-parent, ruler of destinies, etc.
The image of Hera, the main goddess, wife of Zeus, grew out of the image of the cow goddess, patroness of Mycenae. Poseidon was the ancient sea deity of Pelaponess. The cult of Poseidon, having absorbed a number of local cults, became the god of the sea and the patron saint of horses. Athena is an ancient deity - the patroness of cities and city fortifications. Her other name - Pallas - is also an epithet meaning "Shaker of the spear". According to classical mythology, Athena acts as a warrior goddess, she was portrayed in full armor. The goddess Artemis is one of the deities most revered by the Greeks. It is generally believed that the cult of Artemis originated in Asia Minor, where she was considered the patroness of fertility. In classical mythology, Artemis appears as a virgin goddess-hunter, usually with her companion - a deer. An extremely complex and obscure figure is Apollo, who had a very prominent place in Greek mythology and religion. In Pelaponesus, Apollo was considered a shepherd deity. Apollo Ismenius was revered near Thebes: this epithet is the name of the local river, which was once deified by the inhabitants. Apollo later became one of the most popular gods in Greece. He is considered the embodiment of the national spirit. The main functions of Apollo: divination of the future, patronage of sciences and arts, healing, cleansing from all filth, the deity of light, a correct, ordered world order. God-healer Axlepius was formed on purely Greek soil. The god of the shepherds, Pan, was of Arcadian origin. The Asia Minor goddess of fertility Aphrodite turned among the Greeks into the goddess of beauty, love, the idealized embodiment of femininity. Ares, borrowed from the Francians, became the raging gods of war. Further: Demeter is the goddess of fertility, Hephaestus is the personification of earthly fire and blacksmith's craft, Hestia is also the personification of fire, only home, the deity of the family hearth, Hermes is the patron saint of roads and travelers, the god of trade. Some of the Greek gods are more or less abstract images - the personification of certain abstract concepts: Plutos is the direct personification of wealth, Nemesis is the goddess of retribution, Themis is the goddess of justice, Moira is the goddess of fate, Nike is the goddess of victory, and these are far from all Greek deities.
Cosmogonic themes in popular beliefs did not occupy a prominent place. The idea of \u200b\u200ba creator god was absent in this religion. According to Hesiod, Earth, Darkness, Night were born from Chaos, and then Light, Ether, Day, Sky, Sea and other great forces of nature. The older generation of gods was born from Heaven and Earth, and from them already Zeus and other Olympic gods.
There was no central cult in Greece, but on the basis of a cultural community, some cult centers gained wide, general Greek significance. The sanctuaries of Apollo at Delphi, Zeus at Olympia, Demeter at Epidaurus and others were widely known and revered throughout Greece. On the whole, the religion of Greece was fragmented, although more or less stable.
2. The temple is a peripter of the Doric order of 46 columns (8 along the main facade and 17 along the side). Parthenon is a sample of the Doric order! Perfectly measured proportions Doric order, which appeared at the beginning of the 6th century. BC, can be considered the main one in the development of Greek architecture. A strict and solemnly monumental Doric order, which appeared at the beginning of the 6th century. BC e., consists of the following parts:
three-stage base - stereobath;
bearing column. The column shaft was vertically divided by flutes (vertical grooves) with sharp edges. The column ends with a capital consisting of an echina (flattened pillow) and an abacus (a four-sided slab.)
the part to be carried is an entablature, including an architrave (a horizontal beam lying on the columns), a frieze with alternating triglyphs (a slab with vertical grooves) and metopes (a slab made of stone or ceramics decorated with relief or painting) and a cornice.
3. In contrast to the archaic, with its predilection for rigid symmetry, the picturesque panorama of the classics set an exalted and solemn mood. To the left of the central axis of the Propylaea, on the flat plateau of the hill, stood the seventeen-meter colossus of Athena Promachos (Warriors) of gilded bronze. To the right, architects Ictinus and Callicrates erected the Parfenon (447–438 BC) as a symbol of the victory of Greek democracy over the Eastern despotism, dedicating it to Athena Parthenos (Virgin). At the same time, the temple symbolized the triumph of the organizing, luminous beginnings of religion over its chthonic, unbridled origins. This was evidenced by the relief on the Doric metopes and the Ionic frieze, which followed the colonnade along the top of the cella. The eastern pediment was decorated with sculptural compositions on the theme of the birth of Athena 6; western - her dispute with Poseidon7 for power over Attica *. The roof was crowned with stylized lotus petals at the corners. The snow-white massif of the temple made of Pentellic marble, which has the property of acquiring a golden patina of extraordinary beauty over time, looms against the background of the blue sky. Transparent air, bright sunlight wash the outer colonnades in a radiant stream, pour into the open space of the cella, dissolving the marble volumes in themselves.
Output
The peoples of Ancient Greece made many discoveries, created many magnificent works of art, architecture, literature, interesting to us so far, attracting, alluring, teaching, giving the best examples of art and morality.
