Orientalizing Period, 700-600 B.C.

Mantiklos Apollo, from Thebes, ca. 700-680 B.C.

 

This is a small, solid bronze sculpture, approximately 8 inches high.  Originally, the eye sockets were probably inlaid with stone.  There may have been a helmet on the head. It was found in the Greek city-state of Thebes.  We know that it was dedicated to Apollo by a man named Mantiklos because the piece is inscribed:

“Mantiklos dedicated me as a tithe to the far-shooting Lord of the Silver Bow; you [Apollo], might five some pleasing favor in return.”

 Because the Greeks believed that their gods were human in form, it is difficult for us to know whether this figure was meant to be a god or a portrait of Mantiklos or some one else.  If the left hand held a bow, then it seems reasonable to assume that this was a depiction of the god Apollo.

Here we also see an evolving interest in the nude body.  In this case, there is a rudimentary interest in the pectoral muscles of the chest and the abdominal muscles.

This work of art was created during a period when the Greeks began to come into contact with the Mediterranean world at an accelerated pace.  In their art, they begin to borrow motifs from Egypt and the Near East.  Therefore, time span from 700-600 B.C. is referred to as the “Orientalizing” period of ancient Greece.

Corinthian black-figure amphora with animal friezes

 

This is a Corinthian amphora (which was a two-handled storage jar), and it is approximately one foot high.  It is ornamented with several registers of design, and as such, it recalls the Sumerian “Standard of Ur” and the detail from the Lyre sound box from the Royal Cemetery at Ur.  All of the registers are filled with animals -- lions, swan, boars.  However, there are creatures which are clearly derived from the East, specifically, the woman-headed bird (or Siren).  This recalls the Egyptian Sphinx (with the head of a man and body of a lion) and the Assyrian lamassu (with the head of man, body of a bull, and wings). Thus Eastern influence is again referred to as an "Orientalizing" influence.