Greek Art Course

Lesson 1 • Geographic and Cultural Context

Maps the Aegean world and its city-states, colonies, and trade routes that shaped artistic production. Grounds all later stylistic analysis in physical and political geography.

Lesson 2 • Primary Sources and Evidence

Surveys ancient texts, inscriptions, and archaeological records used to interpret Greek art. Students learn to evaluate source reliability and scholarly methodology.

Lesson 3 • Chronological Periods Overview

Introduces the major periods: Geometric, Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic. Provides the temporal scaffold students use throughout the course.

Lesson 1 • Mycenaean Art and Material Culture

Examines shaft graves, citadels, and metalwork of the Mycenaean world. Traces warrior culture's impact on iconographic themes inherited by later Greeks.

Lesson 2 • Cycladic Art and Figurines

Analyzes the abstract marble figurines and vessels of the Cycladic islands. Connects their formal simplicity to broader questions of representation and function.

Lesson 3 • Continuity into the Geometric Period

Traces surviving motifs and craft traditions from Bronze Age cultures into early Iron Age Greece. Establishes the bridge between prehistoric and historical Greek art.

Lesson 1 • Orientalizing Influence and Innovation

Examines how Near Eastern and Egyptian motifs were absorbed and transformed by Greek artists. Shows the selective adaptation that produced distinctly Greek hybrid forms.

Lesson 2 • Archaic Temple Architecture

Introduces the Doric and Ionic orders through early temple construction and their structural logic. Connects architectural form to religious and civic function.

Lesson 3 • Geometric Pottery and Decoration

Studies the systematic abstract ornament and funerary narrative scenes on Geometric vessels. Demonstrates how formal order reflects emerging Greek social values.

Lesson 4 • Archaic Sculpture: Kouros and Kore

Focuses on the standing male and female votive figures as the central sculptural achievement of the Archaic period. Analyzes the Archaic smile, frontality, and stylistic evolution.

Lesson 1 • Early Classical Transition

Covers the Severe Style as the bridge between Archaic rigidity and Classical naturalism. Analyzes key bronzes and marbles that mark this pivotal shift.

Lesson 2 • Female Figures and Drapery

Analyzes the representation of the female body through drapery conventions and the wet-drapery technique. Examines how gender shaped sculptural ideals.

Lesson 3 • High Classical Masters

Studies Pheidias, Myron, and Polykleitos as the defining sculptors of the High Classical period. Evaluates their works through ancient descriptions and surviving copies.

Lesson 4 • Funerary and Votive Relief Sculpture

Examines Attic grave stelae and votive reliefs as evidence of private Classical artistic production. Connects relief conventions to broader sculptural ideals.

Lesson 1 • The Acropolis of Athens

Studies the Periclean building program as the supreme expression of Classical civic architecture. Analyzes the Parthenon, Propylaia, Erechtheion, and Temple of Athena Nike.

Lesson 2 • Civic Buildings and Public Space

Examines the agora, stoa, theater, and bouleuterion as expressions of democratic civic life. Analyzes how architecture shaped social and political behavior.

Lesson 3 • Sanctuary Planning and Sacred Space

Covers the organization of Panhellenic sanctuaries such as Olympia and Delphi as designed landscapes. Connects spatial planning to religious ritual and political display.

Lesson 1 • Fourth-Century Painting Evidence

Reconstructs lost panel and wall paintings through ancient descriptions, mosaics, and vase painting. Evaluates the evidence for illusionistic space and shading.

Lesson 2 • Skopas and Emotional Expression

Studies Skopas's deep-set eyes and open-mouthed pathos as a departure from Classical restraint. Examines his contributions to the Mausoleum at Halikarnassos.

Lesson 3 • Funerary Monuments and Private Patronage

Examines the Mausoleum and elaborate Attic stelae as evidence of growing private and royal patronage. Connects monument scale to political and social ambition.

Lesson 4 • Lysippos and New Proportions

Examines Lysippos's elongated canon and multiple viewpoints as a redefinition of sculptural space. Analyzes his role as court sculptor to Alexander the Great.

Lesson 1 • Hellenistic Architecture and City Planning

Covers the Hippodamian grid, monumental colonnaded streets, and new building types of Hellenistic cities. Analyzes how urban design expressed cosmopolitan royal ambition.

Lesson 2 • Genre Subjects and Everyday Life

Examines the Hellenistic expansion of subject matter to include children, elderly figures, and genre scenes. Analyzes the social meaning of representing non-heroic subjects.

Lesson 3 • Baroque Pathos and Dynamic Sculpture

Studies the Pergamon Altar, Laocoon, and Nike of Samothrace as peaks of Hellenistic dramatic expression. Analyzes diagonal composition, open mouths, and extreme musculature.

Lesson 4 • Hellenistic Courts and Royal Patronage

Examines how Ptolemaic, Seleucid, and Attalid courts funded monumental art programs. Connects royal ideology to specific artistic commissions and styles.

Lesson 1 • Myth and Narrative in Greek Art

Examines how mythological narratives were selected, adapted, and visualized across media. Analyzes the relationship between literary and visual versions of myth.

Lesson 2 • Religion, Ritual, and Votive Practice

Analyzes how religious function shaped the form, scale, and placement of Greek art objects. Connects votive dedications, cult statues, and sanctuary decoration to ritual practice.

Lesson 3 • Collecting, Reception, and Modern Interpretation

Traces the history of Greek art collection from Roman copying to modern museums. Critically evaluates how reception history shapes current interpretations.

Lesson 4 • Gender, Status, and Representation

Applies social history frameworks to analyze how gender, class, and civic status shaped artistic representation. Evaluates whose bodies and stories were depicted and why.