Geometric Period, ca. 750 B.C.

 

Things began to change in the 8th century B.C.  Economic conditions improved, and the population began to increase.  The Greeks began to trade again, and the written record was reestablished.  For instance, in the year 776 B.C., we know who won the games at Olympia that year. 

Greece was not, however, a unified culture.  It was comprised of different city-states — Delphi, Marathon, Athens, Sparta, Corinth.  Athens emerged as the cultural center of Greece.  Also in the early 700's B.C., the Greeks began to colonize other areas — Italy, Sicily, Spain, and North Africa.

At this time, a new social structure was adopted — democracy.  It was not the form of government that we know today because it allowed slavery and secluded women.  Still, an ideal emerged which has been profoundly important in the evolution of Western Civilization.

The Greeks borrow their alphabet from the Phoenicians.  Through the Greeks, written language was reinvented to write poetry (rather than just for record keeping).

As we discussed in the context of the Mycenaeans, Homer lived in the 8th century B.C.; The Iliad was written in 750 B.C. and The Odyssey in 725 B.C.  This is yet another example the emergence of a new Greek culture.  The tradition of Homer’s poetry goes back to the era of the Mycenaean War against Troy.  However, it is Homer, “the blind poet who can see everything,” who conceives of the idea of the epic poem in written form.

Both the Iliad and Odyssey are set in the Bronze Age during the Trojan Wars.  That is, they record events that had happened 500 years earlier.  Homer’s work was used for education and to create a representation of the ideal world.  It also helped to create the idea of a united culture — individual Greek city-states with a common history.

 Geometric Krater from Dipylon Cemetary, Athens, Greece, ca 740 B.C. 

This piece came from a cemetery in the western part of Athens known as the Dipylon Cemetery.  At that site were many large vessels made from fired clay and used as grave markers.

This was a sophisticated product, and it was not cheap.  It was a major work produced in Athens.  The rich had these made to mark their graves. This example is a little over 3 feet tall.  These were not utilitarian pieces;  the lower part was buried in the earth and was open.  This may have been been designed to allow rain water to pass through — or to receive ceremonial libations (pouring wine or oil on the ground as sacrifice to the gods).

These piece were made in sections on a potter's wheel; the sections were slipped together and then fired in one piece.  This particular form is a “krater” — which was used for mixing water and wine (forms of Greek pottery will be discussed a little later).

Note that the entire vase is covered with decoration.  Prominent at the top (along the neck) is the Greek Key motif or “meander.” Other geometric motifs appear in bands which circle the body and the foot of the krater.  Because of his ornamentation, this period of Greek history is called the Geometric Period.

The body of the krater is decorated with two registers of figural decoration.  The paneled area between the handles is the important scene — the Prosthesis or  the laying out of the dead. The patterned decoration above the deceased could be death shroud.   In this case, we know that the deceased is male because the penis is rendered.  On either side, are mourning women, and we know that they are women because of the nipples which appear under their arms.  Their gesture indicates that they are tearing their hair in grief.  Their bodies are frontal; their heads are in profile.  The figures are flat; their torsos are  triangular.  Basically, this is a very abstract rendering of the human figure.  Likewise, there is no sense of space. These figures do not follow each other round and round and they are not all exactly the same.  They face each other and communicate.  This is an important facet of Western Art. 

The second register is a battle scene — chariot, horses, warriors with their shields.  This indicates the heroism of the deceased.  Note how the artist conceived the horses.  The intent was to show three horses pulling the chariot.  It is s an odd composite creature, but still rational —  note the three heads with two front legs and two hind legs per head.  It is meant to suggest overlapping, but appears very flat. 

Also note the clarity of parts, the rationality of the organization, and (like Homer) the scant relationship to the natural world.

Hero and Centaur, 4 ˝ inches high 

During the Geometric period, we do find a lot of small, solid-cast bronzes.  This is an early version of a centaur (that is, a man with an attached hind quarters of a horse).  Although we have seen composite creatures before (like the Egyptian sphinx or the Sumerian man-headed lions), this particular creature was invented by the Greeks.   The centaur stands in front of another man — they appear to be struggling.  This bronze was found at the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, and so it was assumed to represent Zeus, but it may be Herakles. 

In the mythology of Herakles, the centaur Nessos carried Herakles’ bride across a river, then tries to rape her.  Nessos then told Herakles’s wife that she should take her garment and wash it in the centaur’s blood.  According to Nessos, she could then use the robe to make Herakles fall in love with her again should he ever be unfaithful.  But, in fact, this robe was poisoned by the blood, and the robe actually kills Herakles.  Herakles, however, comes back as an immortal god.