Throughout the history of Ancient Greece, we see many social, political, and economic changes. With these changes, the ideal styles of art changed as well. Though all the Periods of Ancient Greece are highly significant, I will be discussing the Bronze Age, more specifically the Minoan Age, the Classical Age, and the Hellenistic Age. Though Greece became more and more Patriarchal as time went on, powerful women such as goddesses were worshiped, idolized, and often portrayed in works of art. These works in turn influenced Renaissance and Roman art in many ways.
Although Patriarchy destroyed much of the evidence pointing us to Creation Goddesses, they failed on completely erasing them. Archeologists have found evidence of these Mediterranean religions with female dominated Goddesses such as the Egyptian Isis, the Babylonian Ishtar, the Sumerian Innana and a more recent discovery, the Minoan Snake Goddess. These ancient matrilineal religions were based around the importance of maternity and fertility, so women were of high importance. Though this interesting form of spirituality diminished, the significance of their colorful artifacts, jewelry, wall paintings, and religious symbols found in Knossos, Crete, did not. Minoan art had dominant features of naturalism and grace. Animals, mostly the bull and the snake are most often seen in their iconographic art, as well as the subject matter being placed in a natural setting. The Snake Goddess was made in 1600 BCE from crushed quartz, with a glazed surface then covered in metal oxides giving her a shiny almost bronze appearance. She contains aspects of the Mother Goddess and signs that she is a life giver. With outstretched arms she holds two lively serpents as a cat sits atop her head. She is wearing classical Minoan attire, with a fitting bodice and flouncing skirt accentuating her life bearing hips, and large exaggerated breasts which meant she was milk bearing. The meaning of the serpents is debated, some say they are a sign of rebirth and resurrection, others say they are symbols of protection based on their later use on Athena’s shield. Her attire is almost modern with a round diagonally checkered apron piece laid over a skirt with an almost hooped appearance, which has seven layers each falling over the next in a square geometric multicolored fashion. Besides her breasts being exposed, this attire is very similar to dress worn by women of high class in more modern times. As the Minoans were successful merchants who eventually were conquered, it would be my hypothesis that some of these ideals were passed along to other artists. The Renaissance provides us with examples of women depicted in natural settings, painted with vibrant colors. This is probably not a direct link to ancient Minoan art, but because these aesthetics were highly original, I would not be surprised if they had some impact.
It is known that after the Bronze Age this matrilineal religion was not seen. Especially after the strict governmental rule placed in the Archaic Period, the Ancient Greeks were a patriarchal society. Female Goddesses were still powerful and worshiped by citizens. We see stories of Gaea, who was the Greek Goddess of Earth, along with Rhea who once ruled the world with her brother Cronus, as well as many other Goddesses. One Goddess, who had a particularly strong influence on citizens of Greece, was Athena. We know this because she is ever present in Greek statues. A beautiful treasury, which was something like a gift, was built in her name and can be found in Delphi. Even more impressive, the Parthenon was dedicated to her as a temple to protect her monumental statue, The Chryselephantine statue of Athena which was made of ivory and gold and stood a hovering 40 feet tall. Viewers could only get a glimpse of Athena walking by the Parthenon. The statue was created in the Classical Era, precisely 438 BCE. The Parthenon was a creation beyond its years, as it is almost too theatrical to be from the Classical Era. Today we can only view much smaller marble copies as the original is no longer with us. The Classical Period is defined by a concern with the natural body, and obtaining accuracy when portraying the human figure. People were also more concerned with the present as opposed to the supernatural. This may be why Athena was so greatly worshipped around this time as she was the patroness of art and craft, which included important skills such as plowing and weaving. She was also the goddess of wisdom, which she used compassionately, and most importantly, the goddess of war and protector of Athens. Athens was also constantly under threat by surrounding enemies, so her protection was highly valued. Besides her immense size, Athena is portrayed with humanlike features in the Chryselephantine statue of Athena. This is not to say we cannot tell she is a Goddess. Athena is dressed elaborately with a thick breastplate containing a Gorgon’s head resting above beautifully layered draping robes atop her pure ivory skin. Her helmet looks like a warrior’s crown, with large spikes surrounding a sphinx at the center and a winged Pegasus on either side. She rests her left hand on her shield and her right holds out a Nike which is a symbol of victory. Her eyes show human features of determination and protection, more clues which point to the statue’s Classical Age. A serpent coils up her shield, another symbol of protection. Though fully covered, we can still see the form of her humanlike body, as we see an almost contraposto stance with her knee coming forward, as well as a gripping hand and lifelike facial and body expressions ever present during the Classical Period. These features would later be sought by artists of the Renaissance during the time of Classical Antiquity.
The next period in Ancient Greece is the Hellenistic Era. Knowledge and accuracy of the human form is still a major quality, but the subject matter becomes looser and almost theatrical with strong human emotion, compositionally interesting and dramatic poses, along with the use of light and shadow playing an important role. The ability to tell a story by portraying what the figure was thinking in the moment was a trait during the Hellenistic Era. People were curious to know the psychological aspect of humans. Though this form of art was less religious, we still see forms of Ancient Greek gods and goddesses. A great example of Hellenistic Art is the statue of Aphrodite (Venus), Eros, and Pan. As Aphrodite was the goddess of love, beauty, and sexuality, you can see how she would be a perfect subject matter for lively and emotional Hellenistic statues. As the hideous mythological horned, hoofed, hairy mountain creature Pan grabs Aphrodite, attempting to pull her hand away from her genitals, a calm, cool Aphrodite looks on with a smirk and a hint of disgust as her arm is retracted ready to swat Pan with her sandal. Her body is depicted very accurately with soft shapely hips and breasts as well as muscles in her arms and abdominals. She looks very much alive with her detailed joints, loose body language, and detailed facial features. Her sexual power is portrayed by the winged nymph Eros who mischievously grabs at Pan’s horns. If you conclude the story with Aphrodite repelling Pan as I do, then you see her as the strong and powerful Goddess that she is, because though hideous, Pan is known to be manipulative and persuasive. The art of depicting a story is also one that is repeated during Classical Antiquity.
Sadly, the pagan religion of the Greek gods and goddesses became less and less common, but thankfully, they are still recognized and studied. After the Hellenistic Era ended, Constantine started the conversion of the country to Orthodox Christianity. Unfortunately this meant the Greek gods and goddesses could no longer be worshiped. An ideal woman under Christian belief is obedient to men, dependent, beautiful to look at, and not sexual until marriage which was most likely arranged, or in other words oppressed (others have the right to disagree with my opinion). The serpent becomes a negative symbol in Genesis, where it convinces Eve to eat the forbidden fruit thus she is blamed for destroying mankind. But Ancient Greek ideals and art were not erased. We see the return of the Gods and Goddesses in paintings from the Renaissance such as The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli. We see bright colors and a natural setting bringing us back to the Minoan Age. There are aspects from the Classical Period with accurate, lifelike human forms as well as beautiful attire. Botticelli also includes qualities of the Hellenistic Period with a highly dramatic stage setting showing action from the emotional characters, telling a story in which only the viewer can complete. But most importantly, we see a beautiful, powerful Goddess as the subject matter of a significant piece of art. No doubt an incredible fresco, I prefer seeing the sharp, humorous Aphrodite as opposed to a soft and quiet Goddess, which is almost an oxymoron.
To conclude my thesis, art from Ancient Greece transformed during each period as the result of social, economic, and political changes. The amount of influence Ancient Greek art had on artists from the Renaissance in undeniable, as we see aspects from each period in these later works. What is also indisputable is how much of a role women played in Ancient Greece, and that the goddesses were just as important as the gods, as the evidence is left for us to view in unforgotten works of art.
