Monumental sculpture of the Athenian acropolis. Athens Acropolis: a brief description of the complex, history and reviews. Acropolis of Athens: architecture, monuments Athens

Above the majestic city of Athens rises the Acropolis (upper city) - the mecca of all the main temples of the Greeks. It was built in the archaic times, long before the classical period.

But at that time, only the main temple buildings were located on the hill. The Acropolis of Athens was 156 meters long and 170 meters wide. It is assumed that the first Athenian acropolis was built by the first king of Athens - Kekrops.

This version has a place to exist, because the Acropolis was often called Kekropia or Kekrops. From the XV-XIII century BC in the era of the Mycenaean period, the Acropolis served as a fortified fortress. A large construction unfolded from the 7th-6th centuries BC. and continued until the start of the Greco-Persian Warriors.

After the victory of the Greeks in these wars, most of the Acropolis was destroyed. Therefore, in 449 BC. The kings of Athens, Pericles, came to grips with the restoration of the upper city. The work was directed by the architect Phidias, who was the author of the idea that formed the basis of the reconstruction of the Acropolis, which we know.

Acropolis architecture

On the territory of the Acropolis there were three temples of the goddess Athena - the patroness and founder of the city, as well as many of her statues. The main temple of the Acropolis is the Parthenon, which was built by the architect Iktin from painted white marble.

There is one feature in the architecture of the Parthenon - when looking at the columns of the temple, an optical illusion occurs. From below, columns with perfectly even sides appear thinner in the middle. Although in reality it is not.

The columns were created thicker in the middle to appear straight, as thinning evenly towards the top draws the viewer's eye upwards. Beautiful, brightly colored sculptures adorned the Pfarthenon outside. They were created by Phidias, who was considered the best artist of his time.

The bas-reliefs formed a horizontal strip, or frieze, which depicted scenes from the life of Athens and from other Greek legends like the struggle between good and evil. On the site of the legendary competition between Athena and Poseidon stood the Erechtheion temple, named after the mythical king of Athens, Erechtheus, who ruled in the Mycenaean period.

In the courtyard of this temple grew an olive tree - the symbol of Athens. And the statues of Caryatids adorned the side covered gallery. Throughout the Acropolis were statues of the goddess, depicted in various roles.

Statue of Athena Parthenos (Athena the Virgin)

The most magnificent and expensive was the statue of Athena Parthenos (Athena the Virgin), which was located inside the Parthenon. It was about 12 meters high and made of wood and ivory, and the goddess's clothes were made of pure gold. These clothes were removed from the statue when the city was in danger.

There is an opinion that one statue of the Virgin Parthenos cost more than the Parthenon itself. Behind the gates of Perthenon was Art Gallery and a huge bronze statue of Athena Promachos (Athena the Warrior).

Near the walls of the Acropolis was a small temple dedicated to Athena Nike (Athena the Victorious), which was decorated with bas-reliefs with scenes from the Trojan War.

Unfortunately, already in the 5th century AD. the statue of Athena was taken to Constantinople. The Parthenon itself became the church of Our Lady. And in the XV century, after the Turkish conquest, the temple became a mosque. Minarets and an arsenal were attached to it.

Greece. The cradle of antiquity, washed by the Ionian and Aegean seas. In these lands, the heroes of antiquity began their daring journeys, and in the shade of olive trees, the great minds of that era, who gave modern world philosophy, which laid the foundation of the exact sciences and sowed the seeds secret knowledge, which bore fruit in the Middle Ages in the form of alchemy, and later Freemasonry. Beyond high culture and legendary mythology Ancient Greece also famous for its architecture. Five of the seven classic wonders of the world were built by the Greeks. But despite the grandiosity and grandeur, many of the works of ancient Greek sculptors and architects were not on this list. For example, the statue of Aphrodite of Knidos, the temple of the goddess Hera or brilliant creation Phidias - a statue of Athena Parthenos in the Parthenon temple, the ruins of which are now located in the Athenian Acropolis. Many experts agree that the Acropolis itself can be considered one of the wonders of the Ancient World.

Ancient Athens became famous as the cradle of democracy and the birthplace of such great thinkers of antiquity as Socrates, Plato, Euclid. But Athens is also a unique architecture, the pearl of which is the Athenian Acropolis. Here the wisdom of the ancients found its embodiment in stone. The Acropolis is a hill, 156 meters high. Athens itself was built around the Acropolis, on which there was a fortified settlement back in the Mycenaean era, XVI - XIII centuries BC. e. The growth and strengthening of Athens, their political entry into one of the leading roles among the ancient Greek policies - all this contributed to an increase in material well-being and cultural development. During the reign of Pericles, in the middle of the 5th century BC. e., the legendary Parthenon was erected in the Acropolis, which became the pearl of the local architectural ensemble. Pericles personally supervised the construction of the temple on the sacred site.

"Proportions and classical lines" - such was the intention of Pericles. It was here that a new worldview was to be awakened. The Parthenon was destined to become the center of Athens, and Athens - the center of all Greece! The temple was built entirely of Pentelian marble. The masonry was dry, that is, it was carried out without any mortar or cement. The blocks were regular squares, carefully chiseled at the edges and fitted to each other in size. The statues and reliefs were made according to the sketches of Phidias, who is considered one of the greatest sculptors of antiquity. Among his works was the famous statue of Athena Parthenos. But today there is practically nothing left of them in the temple. In 1687, the Venetian army besieged the city, which at that time belonged to the Turks, who guessed to hide all the gunpowder in the Acropolis. A grenade that hit the temple destroyed most creations of Phidias. The destruction of the temple was completed by the British Lord Elgin, who around 1800, against the backdrop of the French approaching Athens, ordered the marble statues to be taken out of the temple to England. And those that did not have time to take out - dropped from a height of 150 meters. Today, the British Museum even has a special room for trophies from the Parthenon.

Returning to the Acropolis, there were other buildings on the hill: many shrines and altars, sacred sites of various deities, where the inhabitants could physically experience the transcendent feeling of the presence of the divine. Among other temples, the Hekatompedon, dedicated to the goddess Athena, is considered the oldest. It was the forerunner of the Parthenon, built on the site of an even older Mycenaean palace. Another monument of the Acropolis is the Erechtheion - a temple dedicated to Athena, Poseidon and the mythical Athenian king Erechtheus. Of the sculptures created by Phidias, two stood out in particular: the 13-meter-high Athena Parthenos, made of gold and ivory, which has survived to this day only in the form of modest copies, and the huge bronze Athena Promachos, whose helmet served as a beacon for passing ships. The theater of Dionysius is also a unique and inimitable place - its stones have witnessed the performances of many historical figures, among whom was the emperor Nero.

Today's Greece is a paradise for tourists. Many ancient monuments, legendary ruins and just glorified places can be found on its map. But the Acropolis of Athens attracts attention exactly as much as all the other historical sights of Greece combined. This is not surprising, because where else can a tourist find such a concentration of historical artifacts in one place? A place where it is fashionable to see with your own eyes ancient sculptures and other relics in the New Acropolis Museum, drink wine on the stones of the Dionysius Theater, feel the presence of pagan deities and simply absorb the spirit of a place that has seen pagan rites, Christian sermons, and Muslim duas. The modern Acropolis, which survived both wars and holidays, today is only ruins, but even these ruins are imbued with the spirit of the times and former grandeur.

The Acropolis of Athens is the main attraction of Athens, a real symbol of Greece, and its main temple Parthenon - " business card» of this country.

The Acropolis of Athens arose as a protective structure about 6-10 thousand years ago. Even then, this rocky spur, located today on the outskirts of Athens, attracted with its impregnability - a rock 70-80 meters high with an almost flat upper platform and steep slopes on three sides already served as a refuge for local population in the event of an attack. But the real fortifications began to be built here around 1250 BC, when the hill was surrounded by powerful walls 5 meters thick, the construction of which was then attributed to the Cyclopes.

But the real heyday came here in the 5th century BC, when the Greeks expelled the troops of the Persian king Xerxes. After themselves, the Persians left only destruction, and the ruler of the Athenian state, Pericles, decided not to restore the ruins, but to rebuild the Acropolis. It was during his reign and under the guidance of the outstanding sculptor Phidias that this religious center the city turned into that pearl, which, albeit with numerous, often irreparable destruction, has survived to this day, and which the whole world now knows.

From 450 BC the most famous buildings of ancient Greek architecture were built here, the main of which were the Parthenon (the temple of the goddess Athena Parthenos), the Propylaea, the solemn entrance to the Acropolis, the temple of Nike Apteros (unlike the generally accepted image, the Athenians made their Nike wingless so that the goddess of victory would not fly away from them ), the temple of the Erechtheion, dedicated to the king from ancient Greek mythology Erechtheus, as well as Nike and Poseidon, and the statue of Athena Promachos, striking in its size (21 meters) and grandeur, with a helmet cast in gold and a spearhead, which served as a kind of guide for ships that saw the light of the great goddess from afar.

The passing centuries did not spare the Athenian Acropolis. In the 6th century, it was taken to Constantinople and there the statue of Athena died during a fire around the 12th century, all the temples were badly damaged, including the Parthenon, which changed its name several times throughout its history, which was both a Catholic church and a mosque, and barely not destroyed by a terrible explosion of gunpowder that occurred on September 26, 1687 during the siege of the city by the troops of the Venetian Republic. Only after Greece gained independence in 1830, the looting and removal of the ruins of the Acropolis to the largest museums in the world was stopped, and since 1898 a large-scale reconstruction of the monument has been carried out. http://omyworld.ru/2091

A state-of-the-art Acropolis Museum has opened in Athens.

The museum exhibits unique finds of ancient times, in particular marble sculptures, which are parts of the frieze of the main Athenian ancient temple of the Parthenon. Some are presented as duplicates, as the largest collection of originals is still in the British Museum in London. At the beginning of the century before last, they were transported to Britain by Lord Elgin, then the British ambassador to Greece.

The Greek side has been trying to regain these exhibits for several decades in a row. Greek President Carolus Papoulias, in his speech at the opening, once again called on Londoners to return the sculptures. But the British Museum considers itself their rightful owner and emphasizes that it is here that the exhibits are available free of charge to visitors from all over the world.

Sculptures from the Athenian Acropolis in the museum.

It looks like the goddesses from the east frieze of the Parthenon looked like this.

You look at the buildings of the architects of antiquity and it becomes sad that despite the fact that they are currently trying to save all the buildings, however, time has already been significantly lost. One can only guess about the former splendor or read in ancient manuscripts. Look around these structures, a huge number of faceless primitive buildings of our time. What will we leave a descendant?

Acropolis II millennium BC. e. The buildings, the ruins of which can now be seen on the Acropolis, were erected in the middle of the 5th century BC. BC e. However, even before the 5th c. the Athenian Acropolis was not a desert rock. Life has been going on here since the end of the 3rd millennium BC. e. The Acropolis was already a refuge for the inhabitants of the surrounding plains during the attack of enemies. Powerful fortress walls up to 10 meters high and 6 meters wide protected the Acropolis, making it an impregnable stronghold. It was possible to penetrate the hill from the west and north. The entrance from the western, less reliable side was fortified especially carefully. On the north side, it was apparently hidden by thickets of bushes and the steps of a narrow staircase carved into the rock led to it. Subsequently, when only the sanctuaries of the gods remained on the Acropolis, the stairs on the northern slope became unnecessary and the northern entrance was laid. Only one main entrance to the Acropolis has been preserved - from the western side.

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8. Doric order: a - stylobate, b - column with a cantle (above), c - entablature, including (from bottom to top) architrave, frieze (consists of triglyphs and metope) and cornice.

In the XVI-XII centuries. BC e. Athens did not stand out from the rest of the cities of Greece. They were inferior to Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos and other powerful Hellenic centers. The advance of Athens began after the fall Cretan state. There is still a poetic legend about the ancient hero Theseus, who brought victory to Athens. The legend tells of the terrible tribute that the Athenians had to send annually to Crete. Seven boys and seven girls became the prey of a terrible monster, half-man, half-bull - the minotaur, who lived in a labyrinth in Crete. Once, the myth tells, the son of the Athenian king Aegeus, the brave and handsome Theseus, fell into the number of young men. With the help of the daughter of the Cretan king Ariadne, who fell in love with him, he defeated the monster and returned to Athens, bringing them freedom and glory.

The ancient Acropolis of Athens may have been similar to the acropolises of Mycenae and Tiryns. The buildings of this time were poorly preserved, since later on the Athenian Acropolis many Structures were erected in different eras.

Excavations have shown that in the II millennium BC. e. meetings of rulers, trials, and religious festivities took place here. In the northern part of the Acropolis, the archaeologists found a site, apparently, for the sacred ceremonies of the Athenians. West royal palace, at the northern gate, a well was discovered that gave good drinking water people who found protection from enemies behind the walls. Data archaeological sites they say that in these years social, religious, cultural life Athenians was focused on the Acropolis.

Orders of Greek temples. By the VI century. BC e. V Greek architecture the main types of temples were already fully developed, the most common of which was the peripter. It was most often a building rectangular in plan, surrounded on all sides by a colonnade and covered with a gable roof. In the Greek temple, in a certain system were brought architectural elements building. There was an order of their location depending on

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depends on the nature of the structure. This order was called an order (ill. 8, 9, 10).

Some temples were built in the Doric order, others - in the Ionic order, others - later, starting from the 4th century. BC e., in Corinthian. Each order was expressive in its own way. The Doric order is the most strict in form; buildings built in it can give the impression of a strict, even sometimes severe. The Ionic order is distinguished by the elegance of forms and proportions, the lightness of the elements. It is noteworthy that the Roman architect Vitruvius saw in the Doric order an expression of masculine strength, the forms of the Ionic reminded him of a refined feminine beauty, complemented by ornaments. The Corinthian order differed from these two orders in its special elegance and luxury.

On the diagrams you can see the image of three orders and the names of their parts, lice parts of the order can be divided into groups: bearing elements - stylobate, columns and carried - entablature, roofing. The ratio of the main parts - the power or weakness of the carriers, the severity or lightness

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the bone of those carried - and gives the building a stern and tense character, or naturally harmonious, or light.

Buildings on the Acropolis in the VI century. BC e. In the VI century. BC e. on the Acropolis stood the temple of Athena, called Hekatomnedon. It was located directly opposite the Propylaea and struck with its beauty the person who entered the Acropolis. This effect was facilitated by the measured gradual ascent of the hillside and the passage through the small gates decorated with columns - the Propylaea.

In the placement of the Propylaea and Hecatompedon on ancient acropolis symmetry dominated, which archaic masters often adhered to. The principle of symmetry was also considered important by sculptors, especially the creators of sculptures on the pediments of temples. Symmetry also underlay the statues that adorned the Acropolis at that time. The image from the front, strictly in front, which seemed especially expressive and beautiful, also appeared in the layout of the building of that time. That is why the architects placed the temple of Hekatompedon right in front of the Propylaea, so that a person who entered the Acropolis would see this main temple of the sacred hill not from the side, but from the front, from the richly decorated facade 2 .

From the buildings of the VI century. BC e. only foundations survived on the Acropolis, and even then not all of them. This is because most of the buildings were

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destroyed during the Greco-Persian wars, and by the fact that on the Acropolis in the 5th century. BC e. new buildings were erected. Archaic temples are better preserved where in subsequent epochs there was no such rapid construction and where, as on the Acropolis, every piece of land was not expensive. That is why the temples of the VI century. can be seen not on the Acropolis, but in other areas of Greece: the temple of Apollo in Corinth, Hera in Olympia, Demeter in Paestum (ill. 11). They, of course, were similar to the temples of the Acropolis in the VI century. BC e.

The architectural forms of archaic temples are heavy and severe. The columns seem to swell under the weight of the roof pressing on them. The severity was softened only by sculptural decorations. Some pedimental compositions of the archaic temples of the Acropolis have been preserved, although, unfortunately, it is not always precisely determined to which temple this or that sculptural group belonged, and their reconstructions are not always indisputable.

Pediment - the struggle of Hercules with the hydra. On the Acropolis, slabs with reliefs were found, which depict the feat of Hercules - the fight against the hydra 3 . The small size of the flat relief makes one think that it belonged to a small temple or treasury. The relief material is soft limestone (so-called poros). Sculptures made from it were brightly painted. The coloring covered the rough surface of the stone.

Unfortunately, only the torso and legs have survived from the figure of Hercules. The hydra was depicted with many heads on writhing serpentine bodies 4 . There is still no clarity in the composition, which will appear later: the main thing is not highlighted, the particulars are not relegated to the background. Struggle saturates both this and other monuments. The mobility of figures is typical for such compositions of archaic art. In them, everything is subordinated to the disclosure of the theme of the victory of a human hero over an evil force.

The pediments of the Hekatompedon. Other sculptures that adorned the temples were found on the Athenian Acropolis. In one of the groups, Hercules is shown fighting Triton, in the other - a fantastic monster with three bodies and three heads - Tritopator. There is reason to believe that they decorated the most ancient temple- Hecatompedon 5 . The statues are made of limestone and brightly painted. The master filled the low side parts of the pediments with flexible snake tails intertwining with each other, thinner and thinner towards the corners.

An ancient sculptor depicted Heracles defeating the sea monster Triton (ill. 12). Triton is shown as a man with fish tail 6 . The hero pins the enemy to the ground 7 . Attention is drawn to the tense, more voluminous than in the previous pediment forms, the beauty of their outlines.

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Three human bodies of Tritopator - a kind ancient Attic deity (ill. 13) - pass at the waist into long tails that fill the lateral low part of the pediment. Tritopator's faces are peaceful and good-natured (ill. 14). In the hands of one is a wavy ribbon depicting water, the other has a tongue of flame, a sign of fire, the third has a bird, a symbol of air, and behind is something like a wing. Tritopator personified the elements of water, fire and air. In this sculptural group there is already more volume, juiciness. The statues are not as flat as in the relief of Hercules with the hydra. The composition is more difficult. Three faces are represented

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from different points of view: the first head is in front, the other two are in the Turn. The tritopator is shown emerging from the corner of the pediment. And although he moves to the side, his faces and torsos turn towards the viewer.

These sculptures were painted, and the paint is quite well preserved. The hair on the head and beard were blue, the eyes were green, the ears, lips and cheeks were red. The bodies are covered in pale pink paint. The snake tails are painted with red and blue stripes.

One of the heads of the Tritopator, kept in the Museum of the Acropolis of Athens, entered the history of art under the conditional name "Bluebeard" (ill. 15).

The bright color attracted ancient artists. The paint brought the images to life. Is she-

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shala a mythological horror scene, introduced an element of the game into it. In Greek art, evil creatures - sphinxes, gorgons, tritons - do not look terrible and omnipotent, the superiority of the human mind over them is always felt. This manifested the humanism of the Greeks - the great conquest of human culture.

Pediment - Athena with a giant. Around 530 BC e. Hecatomnedon was rebuilt. On one of the pediments of the new temple (it is called Hekatompedon II, in contrast to the old one), the battle of the Olympian gods with the giants was depicted (ill. 16). A statue of Athena fighting a giant has been preserved (ill. 17). In all likelihood, it was placed in the center of the pediment, and other figures were located on the sides. Athena the victorious is shown in impetuous movement, the giant is defeated at her feet. The master emphasizes the victory of the goddess, raising her figure above the losing strength of the giant. The triumph of the patroness of the city is already perceived from a distant approach to the temple. The theme of the struggle sounds here without a hint of cruelty, not like in the scene of the fight between Hercules and Triton, where the hero, in the heat of battle, strained all his strength and pressed the monster to the ground. The sculptor does not show Athena tense, he rather demonstrates the superiority of the noble goddess. This scene, presented in monumental forms, is worthy big temple Acropolis worthy of Athens.

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It is noteworthy that at the end of the VI century, BC. e. instead of limestone, marble is often used for sculptures. The Greeks were the first to use this beautiful stone to represent the human figure. Slightly translucent from the surface, it conveyed the tenderness of the skin well and, better than other breeds, met the desire of the Hellenic sculptors to show a person beautiful and perfect.

The meaning of pediment compositions. The plots of the pediment compositions of archaic temples were never accidental. Sculptors did not make them just for decoration. They have always included deep meaning, a kind of metaphorical image of being perceived by the artist. In the view of the Hellenes of the harsh archaic era, the world was in an unceasing fierce struggle. In Greek legends and myths, it took on the character of the victory of light, lofty forces over dark, lowly creatures. The giants fought the titans, the inhabitants of Olympus - the gods - with the giants, courageous people-heroes entered into an unequal battle with terrible monsters - tritons, hydras, gorgons.

In the images of architecture, in sculptures, in drawings on vases, the physical strength of a person was glorified, his victories were shown. In art, the universal idea of the triumph of the perfect both physically and spiritually hero-man found expression.

Potters of the 6th century BC e. liked to emphasize the massiveness of the forms and the wide bodies of the vases, the architects created powerful, swelling in the middle

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and narrow at the top of the columns of temples, the sculptors showed broad shoulders and narrow waists in the statues of young men - winners in competitions. The great spiritual tension of man found expression in archaic monuments. Such an interpretation of artistic forms and narrative depictions of the struggle and victory of light forces over dark ones appear during a period of decisive breaking of the old worldview. In these centuries, a new, Hellenic culture was born, which opposed the dogmas of Eastern civilization with new principles. The significance of the break was enormous for further fate European peoples.

Statues cor. In 1886, fourteen marble statues Athenian girls. Subsequently, several more of the same statues were found. At the time when Athens was ruled by the sons of the tyrant Peisistratus, there were many sculptures on the Acropolis, including statues of girls, or, in Greek, cor (ill. 7). These statues had high pedestals different types- round, square, some in the form of columns with Doric or Ionic capitals 8 . They were made mostly of marble brought from the islands. Aegean Sea. Only a few are made of local Attic Pentellian marble.

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priestesses, the third - noble girls with gifts to the goddess. The statues of the kor convince of the love of the late archaic society of the end of the 6th century. BC e. for ornaments and patterns. Especially beautiful and varied are complex hair styling, carefully curled curls of the hairstyle. Sculptors depict them with great skill.

The proximity of the countries of the East makes itself felt in the details of these monuments of archaic art. Dressy clothes cor. Most of them are wearing chiton shirts. Some kora hold them with the left hand at the hip, and the fabric folds beautifully. A cloak is thrown over the top - a himation. often luxurious, flowing in picturesque folds (ill. 18).

The faces reveal little of the mood of the core. Only the corners of the mouth are slightly raised and the lips are folded into a restrained, still far from living

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feelings of joy smile (ill. 19). Their clothes speak more about the character of the girls. For some, the folds of chitons form complex patterns, cheerfully interrupt each other, for others they calmly flow down, for others they are shown as restrained, rare. The clothes, as it were, correspond to the different characters and moods of the girls - sometimes cheerful and lively, sometimes calm, sometimes strict and concentrated. This shows the ability of ancient sculpture of the archaic period to convey feelings not by facial expressions, but by the plasticity of forms and expressiveness of lines.

Before the discovery of the Acropolis corals, ancient sculpture was presented as white marble, colorless. Koras surprised the world by the fact that they retained paint, while most other Greek statues had lost it. The paint lies in a dense layer on the marble, in some places even covering it. But the statues do not lose from this in their artistic expressiveness. The ultimate generalization is combined in them with concreteness, emphasized coloring of the pupils, scarlet lips, dark hair. The paint, bringing the image closer to reality, with even greater force asserts the character and idea of the work - the glorification of beauty.

Much later, the images of Roman sculptors III-IV centuries. n. uh, individual, concrete - would no longer withstand such a coloring. It would make them too close to reality, naturalistic, and the work would lose the ability to express the general idea. Later monumental sculpture therefore also refuses to be painted. The Greeks, however, in the statues of the cores and in their other works were not afraid of this, the character of generalization was so strong in their plastic forms.

The statues of the girls are beautiful. Contemplating them, a person receives great pleasure. Before him, the feelings of ancient sculptors who managed to convey the serene beauty of youth seem to come to life. During the Greco-Persian wars, these beautiful statues were smashed and lay in a pile of so-called Persian rubbish until they were used as simple stones during the construction of new temples. Possibly archaic statues from the 6th c. BC e. lost for the Greeks of the 5th century. BC e. the charm that their fathers and grandfathers felt. It is also possible that the badly damaged statues have already lost their religious significance. After all, it is known that the Hellenes often treated the statues as living beings: sometimes they dressed them, smeared them with fragrant oils, brought food, once they even tied the legs and hands of some statues, as they were afraid that they might leave.

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books written many decades or centuries ago. The music of the past centuries also excites no less than the works of modern composers. So the archaic monuments of the Athenian Acropolis, pediment compositions and sculptures, imbued with a special charm that will never be repeated later on, stop a person’s gaze, although they are inferior in perfection to the works created on the Acropolis in the middle of the 5th century BC. BC e.

The victory of democracy in the Greek cities. At the end of the VI century. BC e. in Athens, the aristocracy lost many of the advantages it used to enjoy. The social structure was now based on democratic principles. Row Life Forms Greek cities become more progressive; the democratic system promoted the development of sciences and arts.

At the end of the VI century. BC e. The free Greek cities were opposed by the huge Persian power of the Achaemenids, which experienced a constant sharp struggle between various dynasties. The unlimited power of the king, the complex bureaucracy characteristic of the ancient Eastern states with a mass of disenfranchised subjects seemed to the Hellenes a manifestation of barbarism.

Rise of Miletus. Greek cities, located in Asia Minor on the coast of the Aegean Sea, for a long time were under the rule of the Persians. Exorbitantly high taxes, the arbitrariness of the Persian rulers - satraps, their constant interference in the economic affairs of the Greeks placed a heavy burden on the shoulders of the inhabitants of Asia Minor cities. Big City Miletus revolted and overthrew the Persian henchman. The Miletians were supported by other cities of Asia Minor, and the uprising flared up. The Persians suppressed it, but realized that the example of love of freedom to the Greeks of Asia Minor was set by the cities Balkan Peninsula, and decided to destroy the foundations of the democratic system in the cities of mainland Greece.

Beginning of the Greco-Persian Wars. In 492 BC. e. The son-in-law of the Persian king Darius I Mardonius went on a campaign against Greece. However, after the death of three hundred ships during a storm, he ingloriously returned back. The second campaign of the Persians in 490 BC. e. was also unsuccessful. In the historic battle of Marathon, the Greeks utterly defeated the Persian army. A more difficult test fell on the Hellenes in 480 BC. e., when the army of the Persians led new king- Xerxes. The hordes of barbarians moved from the north and stopped at the Thermopylae Gorge. Greek warriors showed an example of courage and stamina. Only with the help of a traitor, the Persian troops managed to win. 300 valiant Spartans, who covered the withdrawal of the main troops, fell along with their leader, King Leonidas. At the place of their death, a monument was erected - a marble statue of a lion with the inscription: “Traveler! Go raise our

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citizens in Lacedaemon, that, keeping their covenants, here we perished with bones! The Persian army, breaking through the gorge of Thermopylae, moved towards Athens and captured them.

Destruction of the monuments of the Acropolis. Athens was destroyed. The Acropolis was especially hard hit. The temples were destroyed and lay in ruins, their treasures were plundered, the sanctuaries were defiled. Numerous sculptures, including statues of kors, were thrown from their pedestals and smashed. Here is what the famous Greek historian Herodotus writes about the capture of the Acropolis by the Persians:

“The Persians settled on that hill opposite the Acropolis, which the Athenians call the Areopagus, and began to besiege the Acropolis in the following way: arrows were wrapped in tow, lit and then fired from bows into the fortification. The besieged Athenians, although they were brought to the last extreme and the fortification collapsed, continued, however, to resist. The proposal of the Peisistratids 9 for surrender was rejected by the Athenians; for the purpose of protection, they used various means, among other things, they threw huge stones at the barbarians every time they approached the gates. As a result of this, Xerxes, not being able to take the Athenians, for a long time did not know what to do.

Finally, after such difficulties, access to the Acropolis was opened to the barbarians: the fact is that, according to the saying of the oracle, all of Attica was destined to fall under the power of the Persians. So, in front of the Acropolis, but behind the gate and the ascent, where there were no guards and where, as it seemed to everyone, no one could ascend, in the same place with a steep yodele descent of the sanctuary of Kekron's daughter Aglavra, several people ascended. When the Athenians saw these barbarians entering the Acropolis, some of them threw themselves from the wall and died, while others fled into the sanctuary; The barbarians who entered the wall rushed first of all to the gates, opened them and killed those who prayed for protection; after killing all of them, the barbarians robbed the temple and set the whole Acropolis on fire.

Greek victory. The Hellenes, despite the capture of Athens by the Persians, with honor came out of the ordeal. In the battle of Salamis, the resistance of the Persian fleet was broken; in the battle of Plataea, the enemy's land army was defeated. Having defeated their enemies, the Greeks showed the superiority of the democratic system over the obsolete social system of the Persians. The Greek cities won a victory, the significance of which was extremely great. Not only the well-being of the Greek state proper depended on the outcome of the Greco-Persian wars. It is difficult to imagine what the Hellenic culture would have been like if the Persians had won. It is unlikely that the Acropolis would then be crowned with the majestic Parthenon. Probably, there would be no genius Phidias, Scopas, Lysippus. And without classical Greek culture, the character of Roman civilization, and at the same time of further European civilization, would have been completely different.

27

The victory of the Greeks over the Persians meant the triumph of the new, progressive principles of democracy and freedom in the political and social order. The victory led to the emergence of new fruitful impulses in Greek art. The system of archaic artistic thinking, which had some common features with the ancient eastern one, turned out to be untenable. It is no coincidence, therefore, that the transition from archaic art to classical art coincides with the favorable outcome of this war for the Greeks.

In the XVI-XII centuries. BC e. Athens did not stand out from the rest of the cities of Greece. They were inferior to Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos and other powerful Hellenic centers. The advance of Athens began after the fall of the Cretan state. There is still a poetic legend about the ancient hero Theseus, who brought victory to Athens. The legend tells of the terrible tribute that the Athenians had to send annually to Crete. Seven boys and seven girls became the prey of a terrible monster, half-man, half-bull - the minotaur, who lived in a labyrinth in Crete. Once, the myth tells, the son of the Athenian king Aegeus, the brave and handsome Theseus, fell into the number of young men. With the help of the daughter of the Cretan king Ariadne, who fell in love with him, he defeated the monster and returned to Athens, bringing them freedom and glory.

The ancient Acropolis of Athens may have been similar to the acropolises of Mycenae and Tiryns. The buildings of this time were poorly preserved, since later many structures were erected on the Athenian Acropolis in different eras.

Excavations have shown that in the II millennium BC. e. meetings of rulers, trials, and religious festivities took place here. In the northern part of the Acropolis, archaeologists have found a site, apparently, for the sacred ceremonies of the Athenians. To the west of the royal palace, at the northern gate, a well was discovered, which gave good drinking water to people who found protection from enemies behind the walls. The data of archaeological excavations indicate that in these years the social, religious, cultural life of the Athenians was concentrated on the Acropolis.

Greek temple orders. By the VI century. BC e. in Greek architecture, the main types of temples were already fully developed, the most common of which was the peripter. It was most often a building rectangular in plan, surrounded on all sides by a colonnade and covered with a gable roof. In the Greek temple, the architectural elements of the building were brought into a certain system. There was an order of their location depending on the nature of the structure. This order was called order(ill. 8, 9, 10).

Some temples were built in the Doric order, others - in the Ionic order, others - later, starting from the 4th century. BC e., in Corinthian. Each order was expressive in its own way. Doric order - the most strict but in forms; buildings built in it can give the impression of a strict, even sometimes severe. The Ionic order is distinguished by the elegance of forms and proportions, the lightness of the elements. It is noteworthy that the Roman architect Vitruvius saw in the Doric order an expression of masculine strength, the forms of the Ionic reminded him of a refined feminine beauty, complemented by ornaments. The Corinthian order differed from these two orders in its special elegance and luxury.

On the diagrams, you can see the image of three orders and the names of their parts. All parts of the order can be divided into groups: bearing elements - stylobate, columns and carried - entablature, roof. The ratio of the main parts - the power or weakness of the bearing, the heaviness or lightness of the carried - and gives the building a harsh and intense character, or naturally harmonious, or light.

Buildings on the Acropolis in the VI century. BC e. In the VI century. BC e. on the Acropolis stood the temple of Athena, called Hekatompedon 1. It was located directly opposite the Propylaea and struck with its beauty the person who entered the Acropolis. This effect was facilitated by the measured gradual ascent of the hillside and the passage through the small gates decorated with columns - the Propylaea.

The placement of the Propylaea and Hekatompedon on the ancient Acropolis was dominated by symmetry, which was often followed by archaic masters. The principle of symmetry was also considered important by sculptors, especially the creators of sculptures on the pediments of temples. Symmetry also underlay the statues that adorned the Acropolis at that time. The image from the front, strictly in front, which seemed especially expressive and beautiful, also appeared in the planning of buildings of that time. That is why the architects placed the temple of Hekatompedon right in front of the Propylaea, so that a person who entered the Acropolis would see this main temple of the sacred hill not from the side, but from the front, from the richly decorated facade 2 .

From the buildings of the VI century. BC e. only foundations survived on the Acropolis, and even then not all of them. This is due to the fact that most of the buildings were destroyed during the Greco-Persian wars, and the fact that on the Acropolis in the 5th century. BC e. new buildings were erected. Archaic temples are better preserved where in subsequent epochs there was no such rapid construction and where, as on the Acropolis, every piece of land was not expensive. That is why the temples of the VI century. can be seen not on the Acropolis, but in other areas of Greece: the temple of Apollo in Corinth, Hera in Olympia, Demetrgues in Paestum (ill. 11). They, of course, were similar to the temples of the Acropolis in the VI century. BC e.

Pediment - the struggle of Hercules with the hydra. On the Acropolis, slabs with reliefs were found, which depict the feat of Hercules - the fight against the hydra 3 . The small size of the flat relief makes one think that it belonged to a small temple or treasury. The relief material is soft limestone (the so-called pig). Sculptures made from it were brightly painted. The coloring covered the rough surface of the stone.

The pediments of the Hekatompedon. Other sculptures that adorned the temples were found on the Athenian Acropolis. In one of the groups, Hercules is shown fighting Triton, in the other - a fantastic monster with three bodies and three heads - Tritopator. There is reason to believe that they decorated the most ancient temple - Hekatomnedon 5 . The statues are made of limestone and brightly painted. The master filled the low side parts of the pediments with flexible snake tails intertwining with each other, thinner and thinner towards the corners.

An ancient sculptor depicted Heracles defeating the sea monster Triton (ill. 12). Triton is shown as a man with a fish tail 6 . The hero pins the enemy to the ground 7 . Attention is drawn to the tense, more voluminous than in the previous pediment forms, the beauty of their outlines.

One of the heads of Tritopator, kept in the Museum of the Acropolis of Athens, entered the history of art under the conditional name "Bluebeard" (ill. 15).

The bright color attracted ancient artists. The paint brought the images to life. She deprived the mythological scene of horror, introduced an element of the game into it. In Greek art, evil creatures - sphinxes, gorgons, tritons - do not look terrible and omnipotent, the superiority of the human mind over them is always felt. This manifested the humanism of the Greeks - the great conquest of human culture.

Pediment - Athena with a giant. Around 530 BC e. The Hekatompedon was rebuilt. On one of the pediments of the new temple (it is called Hekatompedon II, in contrast to the old one), the battle of the Olympian gods with the giants was depicted (ill. 16). A statue of Athena fighting a giant has been preserved (ill. 17). In all likelihood, it was placed in the center of the pediment, and other figures were located on the sides. Athena the victorious is shown in impetuous movement, the giant is defeated at her feet. The master emphasizes the victory of the goddess, raising her figure above the losing strength of the giant. The triumph of the patroness of the city is already perceived from a distant approach to the temple. The theme of the struggle sounds here without a hint of cruelty, not like in the scene of the fight between Hercules and Triton, where the hero, in the heat of battle, strained all his strength and pressed the monster to the ground. The sculptor does not show Athena tense, he rather demonstrates the superiority of the noble goddess. This scene, presented in monumental forms, is worthy of the great temple of the Acropolis, worthy of Athens.

It is noteworthy that at the end of the VI century, BC. e. instead of limestone, marble is often used for sculptures. The faithful Greeks began to use this beautiful stone to depict the human figure. Slightly translucent from the surface, it conveyed the tenderness of the skin well and, better than other breeds, met the desire of the Hellenic sculptors to show a person beautiful and perfect.

The meaning of pediment compositions. The plots of the pediment compositions of archaic temples were never accidental. Sculptors did not make them just for decoration. They always contained a deep meaning, a kind of metaphorical image of the being perceived by the artist. In the view of the Hellenes of the harsh archaic era, the world was in an unceasing fierce struggle. In Greek legends and myths, it took on the character of the victory of light, lofty forces over dark, lowly creatures. The giants fought the titans, the inhabitants of Olympus - the gods - with the giants, courageous people-heroes entered into an unequal battle with terrible monsters - tritons, hydras, gorgons.

Potters of the 6th century BC e. they liked to emphasize the massiveness of forms and wide bodies of vases, architects created powerful, swelling in the middle and narrow at the top columns of temples, sculptors showed broad shoulders and narrow waists in the statues of young men - winners in competitions. The great spiritual tension of man found expression in archaic monuments. Such an interpretation of artistic forms and narrative depictions of the struggle and victory of light forces over dark ones appear during a period of decisive breaking of the old worldview. In these centuries, a new, Hellenic culture was born, which opposed the dogmas of Eastern civilization with new principles. The significance of the turning point was enormous for the further fate of the European peoples.

Statues cor. In 1886, fourteen marble statues of Athenian girls were discovered on the Athenian Acropolis between the Erechtheion and the northern wall of the hill. Subsequently, several more of the same statues were found. At the time when Athens was ruled by the sons of the tyrant Peisistratus, there were many sculptures on the Acropolis, including statues of girls, or, in Greek, cor (ill. 7). These statues had high pedestals of various types - round, square, some in the form of columns with Doric or Ionic capitals 8. They were made mostly of marble brought from the islands of the Aegean Sea. Only a few are made of local Attic Pentellian marble.

Greek sculptors showed the kor in long, festive clothes. The girls do not look alike, although they stand in the same position - strictly frontally, holding straight, maintaining solemnity. It is still not known exactly who these statues represent. Some want to see goddesses in them, others - priestesses, others - noble girls with gifts to the goddess. The statues of the kor convince of the love of the late archaic society of the end of the 6th century. BC e. for ornaments and patterns. Especially beautiful and varied are complex hair styling, carefully curled curls of the hairstyle. Sculptors depict them with great skill.

The proximity of the countries of the East makes itself felt in the details of these monuments of archaic art. Elegant clothes cor. Most of them are wearing chiton shirts. Some kora hold them with the left hand at the hip, and the fabric folds beautifully. A cloak is thrown over the top - a himation, often luxurious, flowing in picturesque folds (ill. 18).

The faces reveal little of the mood of the core. Only the corners of the mouth are slightly raised and the lips are folded into a restrained smile, still far from a living feeling of joy (ill. 19). Their clothes speak more about the character of the girls. For some, the folds of chitons form complex patterns, cheerfully interrupt each other, for others they calmly flow down, for others they are shown as restrained, rare. The clothes, as it were, correspond to the different characters and moods of the girls - sometimes cheerful and lively, sometimes calm, sometimes strict and concentrated. This shows the ability of ancient sculpture of the archaic period to convey feelings not by facial expressions, but by the plasticity of forms and expressiveness of lines.

Much later, the images of Roman sculptors III - IV centuries. n. e. - individual, specific - would no longer withstand such a coloring. It would make them too close to reality, naturalistic, and the work would lose the ability to express the general idea. Later monumental sculpture therefore also refuses to be painted. The Greeks, however, in the statues of the cores and in their other works were not afraid of this, the character of generalization was so strong in their plastic forms.

The statues of the girls are beautiful. Contemplating them, a person receives great pleasure. Before him, the feelings of ancient sculptors who managed to convey the serene beauty of youth seem to come to life. During the Greco-Persian wars, these beautiful statues were smashed and lay in a pile of so-called Persian rubbish until they were used as simple stones during the construction of new temples. Possibly archaic statues from the 6th c. BC e. lost for the Greeks of the 5th century. BC e. the charm that their fathers and grandfathers felt. It is also possible that the badly damaged statues have already lost their religious significance. After all, it is known that the Greeks often treated the statues as living beings: sometimes they dressed them, smeared them with fragrant oils, brought food, once they even tied the legs and arms of some statues, as they were afraid that they might leave.

The archaic buildings and sculptures of the Acropolis are full of great peculiar beauty. They will not be replaced by any stories about the feelings and moods of the people of this time. The works of the Greek archaic do not lose their value, even when placed next to the creations of the masters of the classical era. So, often a person experiences deeply the feelings of the heroes of books written many decades or centuries ago. The music of the past centuries also excites no less than the works of modern composers. So the archaic monuments of the Athenian Acropolis, pediment compositions and sculptures, imbued with a special charm that will never be repeated later on, stop a person’s gaze, although they are inferior in perfection to the works created on the Acropolis in the middle of the 5th century BC. BC e.

The victory of democracy in Greek cities. At the end of the VI century. BC e. in Athens, the aristocracy lost many of the advantages it used to enjoy. The social structure was now based on democratic principles. The forms of life in a number of Greek cities became more progressive; the democratic system promoted the development of sciences and arts.

Rise of Miletus. The Greek cities, located in Asia Minor on the coast of the Aegean Sea, were under the rule of the Persians for a long time. Exorbitantly high taxes, the arbitrariness of the Persian rulers - satraps, their constant interference in the economic affairs of the Greeks placed a heavy burden on the shoulders of the inhabitants of Asia Minor cities. The large city of Miletus revolted and overthrew the Persian protege. The Miletians were supported by other cities of Asia Minor, and the uprising flared up. The Persians suppressed it, but realized that the cities of the Balkan Peninsula set an example of love of freedom for the Greeks of Asia Minor, and decided to destroy the foundations of the democratic system in the cities of mainland Greece.

Beginning of the Greco-Persian Wars. In 492 BC. e. The son-in-law of the Persian king Darius I Mardonius went on a campaign against Greece. However, after the death of three hundred ships during a storm, he ingloriously returned back. The second campaign of the Persians in 490 BC. e. was also unsuccessful. In the historic battle of Marathon, the Greeks utterly defeated the Persian army. A more difficult test fell on the Hellenes in 480 BC. e., when the army of the Persians was headed by a new king - Xerxes. The hordes of barbarians moved from the north and stopped at the Thermopylae Gorge. Greek warriors showed an example of courage and stamina. Only with the help of a traitor, the Persian troops managed to win. 300 valiant Spartans, who covered the withdrawal of the main troops, fell along with their leader, King Leonidas. At the place of their death, a monument was erected - a marble statue of a lion with the inscription: "Traveler! Go and erect to our citizens in Lacedaemon that, observing their covenants, here we died with our bones!" The Persian army, breaking through the gorge of Thermopylae, moved towards Athens and captured them.

Destruction of the monuments of the Acropolis. Athens was destroyed. The Acropolis was especially hard hit. The temples were destroyed and lay in ruins, their treasures were plundered, the sanctuaries were defiled. Numerous sculptures, including statues of kors, were thrown from their pedestals and smashed. Here is what the famous Greek historian Herodotus writes about the capture of the Acropolis by the Persians:

"The Persians settled on that hill opposite the Acropolis, which the Athenians call the Areopagus, and began to besiege the Acropolis in the following way: arrows were wrapped in tow, lit and then fired from bows into the fortification. The besieged Athenians, although they were brought to the last extreme and the fortification collapsed, continued The Athenians rejected the offer of the Peisistratides 9 to surrender, and for the purpose of defense they used various means, among other things, they threw huge stones at the barbarians every time they approached the gate. As a result, Xerxes, not being able to take the Athenians, time did not know what to do.

Finally, after such difficulties, access to the Acropolis was opened to the barbarians: the fact is that, according to the oracle, all of Attica was destined to fall under the rule of the Persians. So, in front of the Acropolis, but behind the gate and the ascent, where there were no guards and where, as it seemed to everyone, no one could ascend, in the same place with a steep descent near the sanctuary of Aglaura's daughter Kekron, When the Athenians they saw these barbarians entering the Acropolis, some of them threw themselves from the wall and perished, while others fled into the sanctuary; The barbarians who entered the wall rushed first of all to the gates, opened them and killed those who prayed for protection; after killing all of them, the barbarians robbed the temple and set the whole Acropolis on fire.

Greek victory. The Hellenes, despite the capture of Athens by the Persians, with honor came out of the ordeal. In the battle of Salamis, the resistance of the Persian fleet was broken; in the battle of Plataea, the enemy's land army was defeated. Having defeated their enemies, the Greeks showed the superiority of the democratic system over the obsolete social system of the Persians. The Greek cities won a victory, the significance of which was extremely great. Not only the well-being of the Greek state proper depended on the outcome of the Greco-Persian wars. It is difficult to imagine what the Hellenic culture would have been like if the Persians had won. It is unlikely that the Acropolis would then be crowned with the majestic Parthenon. Probably, there would be no genius Phidias, Scopas, Lysippus. And without classical Greek culture, the character of Roman civilization, and at the same time of further European civilization, would have been completely different.

The victory of the Greeks over the Persians meant the triumph of the new, progressive principles of democracy and freedom in the political and social order. The victory led to the emergence of new fruitful impulses in Greek art. The system of archaic artistic thinking, which had some common features with the ancient Eastern one, turned out to be untenable. It is no coincidence, therefore, that the transition from the art of the archaic to the art of the classics coincides in time with the favorable outcome of this war for the Greeks.