Ancient Greek and Roman Architecture and Sculpture
The Parthenon
The Parthenon is a religious temple dedicated to the goddess Athena. It is made of white marble. This lintel building was a temple dedicated to Athena, later a mosque, a Christian church, and then a powder magazine for the Turks. It is rectangular and rises above three steps. It is an octastyle, amphiprostyle, and peripteral temple. It has a pronaos and an opisthodomos. The technique is lintel, with Doric columns without bases, capitals with fluting, and the temple is simply polychromed. Built during the maximum splendor of Athens, it is a prime example of Greek architecture from the second half of the 5th century BC. Ictinus and Callicrates were its architects.
Erechtheion
The Erechtheion is a Greek religious temple dedicated to Athena and Poseidon. It is divided into several parts:
- The cella, preceded by a portico of six columns dedicated to Athena.
- The Erechtheion, composed of three precincts.
- A portico of six columns, four in front and two at the rear.
- The portico of the Caryatids.
- On the west facade, a wall adjacent to four columns in the lower part.
It features Ionic-style columns and an arched entablature. The shafts were replaced by Caryatids. It was built during the splendor of Athens and served as a sanctuary. It is a classic example of Greek Ionic architecture from the second half of the 5th century BC. Mnesicles was its architect.
Epidaurus Theater
The Epidaurus Theater is a non-religious structure made of white marble and stone. It is architraved. Plays were staged here in honor of Dionysus. The plant is semicircular with Ionic columns and pilasters. In the center was an altar in honor of Dionysus, and the stairs had 13 levels inside and 23 outside. It represents the splendor of Athens and is in the Greek Ionic style. The author was Polyclitus the Younger in the 4th century BC.
Kouros (Kouroi)
Kouroi are sculptures in the round, representing the winners of sports competitions. Made of marble, they are not real portraits, but their facial features are almost geometric. They appear naked and belong to Archaic Greek sculpture. Among the authors are Polyclitus and Phidias in the 7th century BC.
Kore (Korai)
Korai are sculptures in the round representing women dressed in marble. They have an archaic smile, vary in size, and were multicolored. They belong to the Archaic period and were performed by various schools in the 7th century BC.
Discobolus
The Discobolus is a sculpture in the round, depicting a naked athlete at the moment of launching the discus. The original was bronze, and copies were made in marble using the molten and carving techniques. It does not fully achieve realism, with a somewhat geometrical anatomy. It marks the beginning of the Athens of Pericles and is a Greek sculpture of classical antiquity from the first half of the 5th century BC. The original is in the Museum of the Baths in Rome, and its author is Myron.
Charioteer of Delphi
The Charioteer of Delphi is a non-religious sculpture in the round. It uses the molten glass technique for the eyes. It represents the victorious chariot driver with elegance and beauty, although the hair has archaic rigidity. It dates from the time prior to the Athens of Pericles and belongs to the Greek sculpture of the early Severe style of the 5th century BC. Its author is Pythagoras of Samos, and it is located in the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi.
Doryphoros
The Doryphoros is a sculpture in the round, depicting a young man holding a spear. It is completely naked, made of bronze, with carved marble copies. It measures 2.12 meters in height and represents a youth in harmonious movement. It is a memorial that belongs to the Classical period of Greek culture. It was created in the second half of the 5th century BC by Polyclitus.
Gods of the Panathenaic Games
This is a bas-relief scene depicting Athenian maidens. It is part of the marble frieze of the outer cella of Athena in the Parthenon. The ideal of beauty and the treatment of the folds is perfect. The scene opens at the apex of the western walls, where the assembly of the Olympian gods is included. The technique of wet cloths was used. It belongs to Greek classicism of the 5th century BC, and its author is Phidias.
Hermes
Hermes is a sculpture in the round with a religious and mythological theme. The original is made of bronze, with copies in marble. It is naked and belongs to Greek post-classicism. The author is Praxiteles from the 4th century BC.
Apoxyomenos
The Apoxyomenos is a sculpture in the round, depicting an athlete in a heroic situation. It is made of bronze, with marble copies. It represents an athlete dusting off oil from his body with a scraper after finishing the competition. It is 2.05 meters tall, with a small head, a flexible body, and an outstretched arm. His face does not reflect passion. It belongs to the post-classical period of the second half of the 4th century BC. Its author is Lysippus, and it is located in the Vatican Museum.
Laocoön
Laocoön has a religious and mythological theme. It is a portrait of Laocoön struggling with his two children against a snake sent by Apollo. It is a sculpture in the round, made of bronze, with a 1st-century marble copy. It represents one of the most dramatic moments in Greek mythology: the punishment sent by Poseidon. It belongs to the Classical Hellenistic period, and its author is Agesander of Rhodes from the 3rd century BC.
Pantheon
The Pantheon is a Roman religious temple dedicated to the gods of Olympus. It is made of lightweight materials and has a bronze door, rich marble, and concrete walls and vaults. The cylindrical wall is covered with marble slabs, and the exterior vault has bronze plaques. It is a temple of enormous dimensions, covered with an octastyle pronaos and a half-orange cupola made of lightweight materials and carefully decorated on the interior. The interior lighting is resolved by a large central skylight. Outside, the front of the body has two outgoing rectangular niches that frame the front door. A portico precedes it with a front of eight monolithic columns with plain shafts and Corinthian capitals. The plant comprises a cylindrical body covered with a dome and 6-meter-thick walls that become thinner towards the top, with relieving arches embedded in concrete. Inside is a large circular room that combines building and decorative elements, like the great hemispherical vault or dome decorated with moldings and a large central oculus. The vault rests on twin pillars decorated with pilasters, between which are interspersed double Corinthian columns, a media cornice, a frieze, and an architrave. Niches contain statues of the gods. It dates from the 1st century AD in the Roman era, and it was rebuilt by Agrippa and Hadrian.
Cartagena Theater
The Cartagena Theater is a public building made of marble and limestone. Its structure follows an architectural model:
- Scenic front: A double colonnade of columns with pink marble shafts and white marble capitals.
- Orchestra: A semicircle facing the stage.
- Cavea: Where the spectators were located.
- Proscenium: The space in front of the stage and the portico behind the scenes.
It accommodates 6,000 spectators and has three altars dedicated to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. It dates from the Roman era, during the time of Augustus, in the late Roman period of the 1st century BC.