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Of course, the history of ancient Greek art is inseparable from the city of Athens, where our modern principles of democracy emerged around 400 B.C.E. And which has become the penultimate symbol of Greek culture, especially related to the Parthenon atop the Acropolis which still stands today as the quintessential icon of ancient Greek architecture. It was here in Athens that some of the finest products of Greek civilization were created by Athenians, such as Phidias, one of the greatest sculptors of all time and responsible for the creation and overall design of the Parthenon.
Also, modern-day Western society and the nation of Greece owe much to the writers who created the great Greek tragic plays, such as Aeschylus and Sophocles whose plays were "presented to eager citizens with personal obligations to the gods" (de la Croix, 2003, p. 125). In addition, we must remember to include Homer, the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, both of which "contain the behavioral codes of the ancient Greeks that reflected the values established in Greek society before the rise of political systems based on citizenship" like those found in modern-day Greece and throughout the world (Martin, 2004, p. 223). Without a doubt, Homer's Odyssey which relates the tale of Odysseus and his decades long voyage home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, stands as the prime example of Western literature and has clearly influenced almost every other literary genre in the West.
The constants of Greek culture, being man, the natural world and reason, allowed the ancient Greeks to appreciate and understand...
126). And through their artistic endeavors, the ancient Greeks "discovered and confronted the problems related to change," namely, that men fade away but mankind remains, a very timeless idea which enabled the Greeks to recognize the changes that produce growth and development in any given culture or society (de la Croix, 2003, p. 127).
Not surprisingly, the ancient Greek word tekhni which has been translated to refer to the creation of art and serves as the basis for the word "technology," is more accurately associated with skill and craftsmanship ("Ancient Greek Art," 2008, Internet). Thus, the ancient Greek artists were indeed true and gifted craftsmen who handed down their artistic ideals and styles to later Greek and Western cultures which then adopted them as their own. In essence, without the genius of ancient Greek artisans and craftsmen, the physicality of our modern world would be very different if not totally unrecognizable.
References
Ancient Greek Art." (2008). Internet. Retrieved May 30, 2008 at http://www.crystalinks.com/greekart.html.
De la Croix, Horst and Richard G. Tansey. (2003). Art Through the Ages. 10th ed.
New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, Inc.
Martin, Thomas R. (2004). Ancient Greece: From Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times.
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/35.11.3 Thompson, James. "What Athenian men said about women." Women in the ancient world. Revised July 2010. November 15, 2010. http://www.womenintheancientworld.com/whatathenianmensaid.htm Figure 1: Michael Lahanas Figure 2: From the Metropolitan Museum of Art Figure 3: From the Metropolitan Museum of Art Figure 5: Discus thrower Figure 5: From the Metropolitan Museum of Art Figure 6: Metropolitan Museum of Art James Thompson, "What Athenian men said about women," Women in the ancient world, Revised July 2010, accessed November 15, 2010
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