Social and Cultural Roots of Ancient Greek Art
Historical Context: Social and Cultural Foundations of Greek Art
Greek art, which extends mainly between the 8th and 2nd centuries BC, had its moment of glory in the 5th century BC, corresponding to the classical period. The geographical setting in which it developed is the rivers and islands of the Aegean and the Mediterranean regions colonized by the Greeks, from Asia Minor to the Iberian Peninsula. It is an indigenous culture, but one that resulted from various contributions, both from pre-Hellenic civilizations, which is its origin, and from Greek peoples such as the Dorians, Ionians, etc., to which the Eastern civilizations must be added. The result was a new culture with an original, unique personality: the Hellenic.
It is within classical art, which encompasses a large area of Western art, that originated in Greece, and soon spread to the Roman civilization. Classical Greece provided models and forms in its art that would later appear in Rome, which circulated them throughout its empire across the Mediterranean.
In Greece, philosophy, physics, and history began and led to unexpected horizons of mathematics and artistic creation. Therefore, to understand Greek art, it is necessary to understand its social and cultural foundations:
- Geography and Economy: The great development of trade that the Greek world achieved allowed contact with other cultures, like Egypt, which was an interesting contribution from an artistic point of view.
- Religion: Greece, like almost all cultures of antiquity, was polytheistic. Religion in Greece was a feeling that permeated everything. However, the Greek religion was not overbearing or oppressive, so the Greek man lived with a more natural inclination toward the supernatural. It humanized the gods increasingly, even daring to oppose them. Even so, religion became one of the key engines of art: great temples were constructed in which the gods dwelt, these were represented in the form of beautiful human beings, and they starred in poetry and theater, etc.
- Rational Thought: Greek civilization began an irreversible path toward rationality. So it is with art, as it happens to be governed by reason. The beauty that characterizes Greek works is based on a system of measurements and proportions. Greece established a series of laws and assumptions, both in the field of architecture and visual arts, which set a uniform and precise language, whose changes over time would never infringe upon the essential principles that remained unchanged.
- Anthropocentric Conception of the World: The same rationale also explains that man is the main reference throughout the half-measures and ratios. All cultural events in Greece are chaired by a concern for man. It is an anthropocentric culture: the human being is at the center of creation. This will leave a clear influence on art; architecture loses the colossal dimensions found in the Egyptian, to take on more humane measures. Similarly, sculpture shapes the visible aspects of the ideal conception of man.
- Ideal Greek Political System: Democracy. The Greeks strove to establish for Athens a political regime based on equality and the rule of the people. Building on rationality, the Greeks were proud to submit to an order, not a man. Therefore, it is difficult to find large funeral buildings or palaces in Greece. Most of the works were carried out in close relation to the common people. For them, public places would be very important.