OCR A2 CLassical Civilisations Notes: Art and Architecture in the Greek World
Clear and concise revision notes that are easily accessible. In depth analysis of each frieze which will be of great benefit for the exam. These notes helped me to obtain an A* in my final exam.
Theme Siphnian Treasury Parthenon
- Limited in variation - Repeats certain scenes without
- Gigantomachy on North frieze, East imitating them to ensure variation
conveys Trojan war, West depicts the - Panathenaic procession
judgement of Paris and the south is - Depiction of human and divine
thought to be the rape of Helen or - Continuous theme allows the viewer
Antiope to become a part of the story
- Enemy and victors hold different - Event that is part of the viewers life,
shields, something that is mirrored on engages them on a personal level as
Narrative both friezes shows limited narrative they intimately celebrate the birth of
- Use of 4 stories from Greek Athena
mythology gives it artistic prevalence - Boardman’s theory is that the 192
- East and West present the theme of men portrayed on the friezes are the
decision making, involving the viewer 192 men that died at Marathon
in the judgement - Passage through time
- Although they are not metopes the - Continuous story with clear finality
story is only told in snapshots and
therefore can be seen as fragmented
- Repetition of style of hair, drapery, - West frieze - spirited horse has
shields and stature of figures intricate and realistic detailing of veins
- Depiction of both human and divine - on its belly
two elements that depict Greek - Drapery on North frieze is responsive
society to the speed of the procession
- North and East Friezes show the - Subtle variations of hair and drapery
same repetition of style of shields - Slightly different strands of hair to
- On the North frieze the gods/ identify the goddesses
goddesses attack in a line with a - Contrast of short chitons worn by men
consecutive row of three overlapping and longer ones worn by the women
convex shields - The way the drapery falls in a way that
- This is contrasted by the row of reveals the body beneath
concave shields held by the giants - Clear depiction of older and younger
- Differentiation of convex and concave men - some are clean shaven with
shields show the two opposing sides short hair and some with shaggy hair
- This technique is used on the East and beards
frieze - the Trojan shields are - Artemis and Aphrodite wear head
Realism concave and the Greek shields are scarves
convex - On East frieze ordinary women are
- Giants and the gods are fighting in depicted for the first time
pairs or triads, interwoven from left - Men are trying to tame their rearing
and right horses - strain in muscles
- Clear limitations of the anatomy of - To keep the top in line the heads of
figures the horses are at the same height as
- The gods are no bigger than the the riders, diminishing the scale of the
giants horses
- North frieze animals are highly - South depicts the beginning of the
stylised sacrifice of the heifer - heifer raises its
- Bodies of the giants turn improbably head in process. The expanse of its
- Dionysus strides towards his foe in a body makes it all the more
natural stance with the weight of his overwhelming
front foot on his toes - Carefully articulated wrinkles on the
heifer’s neck and between its legs
- Rendering of musculature gives the
frieze three-dimensionality
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