Architecture and Fashion



Architecture

The Ancient Greeks lived, worked, and worshipped their gods in architectural spaces. Religion was at the center of Ancient Greek life, so naturally temples were the largest and most beautiful buildings. In order to make the temples look beautiful, ancient Greeks invented the three Classical orders that we still see today, over 2,500 years later. The classical orders are three different types of columns. They each have an individual history and look.

THE DORIC ORDER

The Doric order is the first and boldest of all the orders. It was developed in the western Greek colonies of Sicily and Southern Italy. The Doric style is sturdy and the top of the column is plain. It was often described as resembling a male because it has the proportions, strength, and beauty of a muscular man’s body. Because these columns have sturdy proportions, they were used to create powerful monuments to the gods.

The Parthenon, located in Athens, is a Greek temple dedicated to the Goddess, Athena. It is designed using the Doric order.

THE IONIC ORDER

The Ionic order was developed later than the Doric. The Ionic column is also more slender than the Doric, and the details are more elaborate. The spiral scrolls located at the top of the columns are considered feminine. An architect described them as “curly ringlets.” The vertical carvings in the column were considered to be like the folds in a woman’s robe. These feminine designs communicate a sense of grace and stability, which reflects the Ionian people’s interest in philosophy and luxury.

This is Temple of Apollo at Didyma. Notice the scroll design at the top of the two standing columns.

THE CORINTHIAN ORDER

The Corinthian order is named after the city of Corinth. It is elaborately decorated and resembles the look of a young woman. The Corinthian is the tallest, most slender, and elaborate of the three orders. It conveys a sense of wealth and luxury.

This is the Temple of Zeus in Athens. These remaining columns show the elaborate leaf design of the Corinthian order.

These buildings are located in America! Which Greek order appears in each picture?

Fashion

Contrary to popular belief, the Greeks did NOT wear togas. The Greek people wore floor-length robes called chitons, and often wore cloaks called himations. Sometimes the men wore knee-length chitons. The Doric chitons were made of one long piece of fabric fastened at the shoulder with pins and brooches, as were the himations. The Ionic Chitons were sewn at the sleeves. Sculptures of the gods and goddesses always depict them in this classic Grecian dress.

The Olympics

The Greeks were fascinated with superstar athletes, just as many of us are today. Greek citizens loved sports and competitions, and champions achieved status and fame. Our word athletics even comes from the Greek word athloi, which implies struggle, sacrifice, and competition. Physical training was essential of a young man’s education because it prepared them for warfare. Athletic training and competition were also important opportunities for men to develop and display their masculine excellence.

The Olympics as we know them today began in Ancient Greece. Greek mythology tells us that it was Hercules, the strongest of all men, who challenged his four brothers to a race before the Gods in the fields of Olympia and so began the Olympic Games. Greeks even began marking their calendars in four-year periods called Olympiads.

In ancient Greece, the Olympic Games became one of the world's most enduring and hallowed institutions. They were celebrated continuously for almost 1,200 years. The athletes who won were labeled as heroes for life, and often elevated to the status of royalty in their hometowns. Statues were erected in their honor.

A wreath of olive branches was the crowning prize for the winning athlete. The olive tree—sacred to Athena, goddess of wisdom and warfare—was also the source of olive oil, another highly valued and useful prize.

The ancient pentathlon included footraces, jumping, javelin throwing, wrestling, and diskos throwing. The diskos (discus) throw may have begun as a test of a soldier’s ability to throw stones in battle. The ancient diskus could have been made from many materials, including bronze, iron, stone, and lead. They vary in weight and size, possibly for different ages and classes of competition.

Warfare

War was a natural part of life in ancient Greece. City-states often battled each other and then stood side-by-side to defend their lands from foreign invasion. Most Greek men served as soldiers at some time in their lives. In Athens, young men trained as soldiers between the ages of 18 and 20. In Sparta, where men’s lives were dedicated to learning the arts of war, training began for boys at the age of 7. However, only wealthy families could afford the expensive armor and weapons necessary to serve in the ranks of the hoplites, the elite soldiers who fought in ancient Greece.

Over 2,800 years ago, the poet Homer wrote The Illiad, a story of heroes and tragedy in the final months of the Trojan War between Greece and the city of Troy. Homer describes the mighty Achilles’ armor. Some of his armor includes:

Greek warriors and their leaders would pray to the gods for support and guidance in their war efforts. Ares is the god of War. He is the figure behind all violence, and he is a very fierce and angry god.

Athena, on the other hand, is the goddess of Wisdom. Many prayed to her for guidance in their battle strategies because she is so smart and wise.

Government and Language

Between the years 429 and 495 BCE, the Greek leader, Perikles, wrote, “Let me say that our system of government does not copy the institutions of our neighbors. It is more the case of our being a model to others than of our imitating anyone else. Our institution is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people.”

Athens, Greece, was one of the first places in the world to have a democratic government. This means that they took the power from the few tyrants and wealthy landowners and distributed the power to all of the citizens. The people now had the freedom to address fellow citizens and vote in the public assemblies. However, women still could not be involved in government.

How do you banish a tyrant with small pieces of pottery?

What did the ancient Greeks do if they thought an individual was gaining too much political power? They got rid of the potential tyrant through a practice called ostracism. First, the assembly voted on whether or not they wanted to hold an ostracism. Then, two months later another vote was taken: Each citizen wrote the name of the person he wanted to ostracize onto a small piece of broken pottery, called an ostrakon (see below). If at least 6000 votes were cast, the man with the most votes was banished from Athens for ten years—he could keep his property and his good name, but if he returned to Athens before the end of the ten years, the penalty was death.

(Today, ostracism means that a person has been excluded from a group.)

Besides ostracism, what other words do we use today that come from Ancient Greece?

|Word |Modern Meaning |Ancient Greece Connection |

|Typhoon |Hurricane |The monster, Typhon |

|Nemesis |Arch Enemy |Nemesis, the God of Vengeance |

|Eureka! |A word we shout when we have made a discovery |Word meaning, “I have found it!” |

|Echo |A reflected sound |The nymph Echo, who disappeared, leaving only her voice |

|Chaos |A state of confusion |The being of darkness who existed in the beginning of the universe |

|Apocalypse |Prophecy of the end of the world |“apocalypsis” meaning revelation |

|Apology |Expression of regret |“apologia” meaning speech in self-defense |

Geography: Land of the Living and the Dead

Across water—ocean and river—and beyond the western horizon lay the ancient Greek’s land of the dead. The river Acheron is an actual river that winds its way to the sea through a mountainous region of northwestern Greece. In the 2800-year-old tale of the Odyssey, it is on the Acheron in the Underworld where the hero Odysseus meets the souls of the dead.

To Odysseus, being a ruler in the land of the dead doesn’t seem like such a bad gig. But the dead Achilles sees things differently; he misses the world he left behind and would readily accept a life of toil to return among the living.

What is the picture to the right? A bathtub? A boat? A Coffin? This is actually one of the world’s earliest bathtubs, almost 3,500 years old. It also would have served its owner as a coffin. The ancient Greeks believed that the souls of the dead must travel across water—sometimes the sea and sometimes a river—to reach the afterlife. So this tub and coffin was also a symbolic boat that could carry the deceased across the waters to the underworld.

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Men’s Chitons

Himation

Chiton Pins

Ionic

Chiton

a corselet that covered his chest

greaves linked with silver fastenings that covered his legs

a shield

a spear

a helmet topped with horse hair and gold

Greece

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