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Ancient Mediterranean + Europe
Course: Ancient Mediterranean + Europe > Unit 6
Lesson 5: Classical- Polykleitos, Doryphoros (Spear Bearer)
- Polykleitos, Doryphoros (Spear-Bearer)
- Polykleitos, Doryphoros
- Myron, Discobolus (Discus Thrower), Roman copy of an ancient Greek bronze
- The Athenian Agora and the experiment in democracy
- Parthenon (Acropolis)
- The Parthenon
- Destruction, Memory, and Monuments: The Many Lives of the Parthenon
- Phidias, Parthenon sculptures (pediments, metopes and frieze)
- Who owns the Parthenon sculptures?
- Egyptian blue on the Parthenon sculptures
- "Plaque of the Ergastines" fragment from the frieze on the east side of the Parthenon
- Parthenon
- The Erechtheion
- Caryatid and column from the Erechtheion
- Temple of Athena Nike on the Athenian Acropolis
- Victory (Nike) Adjusting Her Sandal, Temple of Athena Nike (Acropolis)
- Victory (Nike) Adjusting her Sandal
- Grave Stele of Hegeso
- Grave Stele of Hegeso
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Grave Stele of Hegeso
Grave stele of Hegeso showcases resurgence of funerary sculpture in Athens. Hegeso, seated, examines jewelry from a box presented by her servant. The sculpture highlights domestic life, intricate drapery, and a solemn mood, resembling carving styles seen on the Parthenon Frieze. Speakers: Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Want to join the conversation?
- Would the grave stele have been painted, in the same manner as the metopes from the Parthenon, or left blank?(12 votes)
- Yes, in fact there are traces of blue color that are visible on the background. Most likely the gem was colored too.
http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/4/eh430.jsp?obj_id=5422(11 votes)
- AtDr. Harris mentions that Hegeso is inspecting a necklace from a box of jewelry that her servant has brought to her. Who has sent this box to her and how does this relate to her death? Could it be a memorable moment in her life, or maybe her family that commissioned this stele wanted to depict her receiving their presents from beyond death? 1:26(8 votes)
- Well afterno clear explanation was made so far, however, we do know that it was a she named Hegeso daughter of Proxenos. There is a strong possibility that is was Kallimachos that did the artistry, be we can't be certain. 1:26(5 votes)
- If there were these "steles" today, would it be used for death (gravestone) or for decoration?(3 votes)
- There are, as Beth and Steven mention! We tend to call them tombstones/gravestones. Not all are ornate, but the ones that are can be very elaborate!(2 votes)
- What kind of language was the inscription? and Do they know how to speak it or just read it?(1 vote)
- It's written in Greek. The same alphabet is still used in Greece today, so the inscriptions are legible to anyone who can read there.(4 votes)
- What is Athens mostly known for?(2 votes)
- Besides Athenians, the city is known for many things. Read about them here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Athens#Origins_and_early_histor(1 vote)
- Is anyone else having a hard time trying to get the video to play ?(2 votes)
- did anyone else see the stele in the background () that looks almost the same except way the women is sitting on the chair ? 3:05(2 votes)
- Behind the statue they were discussing towards the end, there was another very similar stele. So my question is: We mass produce hundreds of tombstones for graves in modern times, but because the Greeks didn't have modern machinery, did they carve similar relief steles for graves multiple times to save the time and energy of imagining another one?(2 votes)
- Why would they put two goddess names together to form a word, Athens Nike ?(1 vote)
- Nike was the goddess of victory, Athena the goddess of the city. Athena Nike is the goddess Athena, victorious over her (and the city's) foes.(2 votes)
- Is this the only grave stele found from Ancient Greece? And if so, why was this preserved so well? Was she really important?(1 vote)
- From the author:There are many. And some are in very good condition.(2 votes)
Video transcript
(piano music) Man: At the end of the fifth century BC, the end of the very
brief period that we call the high classical moment, there was a resurgence of
funerary sculpture in Athens. Woman: In fact, we're standing in a room in the National Archaeological
Museum in Athens that's filled with grave markers, most of them in the form of what our historians called stele
or upright slabs decorated with relief sculptures. Man: Not so different
from what we in the modern world would recognize as a grave stone. Woman: Exactly. Interestingly, there was a disappearance of this type of monument during that high classical moment and
then we see it reappear. Man: What we do have in the high classical moment is most of the great sculptors working on the sculptural program of the Parthenon and the other
buildings of the Acropolis. But we see private sculpture
begin to re-emerge. That is, sculpture that is not
part of a program of the state. Woman: Exactly. Before
the classical period in the archaic period, there were kore and kouros, the male and female
figures that were set up by the elite Greek families
as funerary markers, but during the period
of democracy in Athens, the state was primary
and not wealthy families. Man: You see this resurgence especially in the cemeteries just outside
of the city gates of Athens. Woman: That's where this
particular sculpture was found, which is called
the grave stele of Hegeso. Hegeso is the woman who is shown seated opening a box of jewelry presented to her by her servant and examining a necklace, which is no longer there, but which was once represented in paint. Man: There is such a precise rendering of the chair that she sits on. Woman: Don't forget
women's fear was the home. Women were not allowed
to be citizens of Athens. Hegeso is shown in a domestic setting. We see plasters on either
side and a pediment above, on which we see an inscription, that says, "Hegeso, daughter of Proxenos." Women in ancient Greece
led very circumcribed lives that were defined by their relationships with men. First their fathers and
then their husbands. Man: But I think that what I find most compelling is it's quiet reverence. This is so much in
keeping with the tradition of the high classical that we
see in Parthenon sculpture. Woman: So this is a style that resembles very closely the kind
of carving that we see on the figures on the Parthenon Frieze. Drapery that very closely follows the form of the body that creates elaborate folds and swirls that have a visual interest in their own right. The drapery that bunches
up between her two arms and around her belly
and between her breasts are beautiful passages of sculpting. Man: Her foot is resting on a foot rest so that there is no part of her
is actually touching the ground. We see beautiful
representation of her foot foreshortened and wearing a sandal. Look at the very delicate veil that falls to the right of the shoulder or the way in which the drapes around her legs fall on the far side of the chair. And yet the drape by her waist falls on this side of the chair. So although we have
this very shallow space, we have the full width of the body. Therefore all of this
really vivid carving. This is a quiet image that is absolutely appropriate to the solemn
mood of a grave stele. (piano music)