HIGH CLASSICAL PERIOD, 450-430 B.C.

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Athenian history

• Athenians prosper after defeat of Persians in 479 B.C.
  • gradually turn a united league of city-states (Delian League) into an Empire
  • this attracts unfavorable attention from Sparta, leading to Peloponnesian Wars
• First Peloponnesian War, 461-446 B.C.
• Pericles the major statesman leading Athens in this period

The Athenian acropolis

• Athenians embark on building campaign during time of prosperity, not stopped by war
• Parthenon the crowning feature of Periclean Athens
  • Doric plan with additions
    • Ionic columns in back room
    • Ionic frieze along top of side walls, above inner row of end columns
  • constructed 447-432 B.C.; architect Iktinos; sculptor Pheidias (also Olympia Zeus temple)
  • metopes, 447-442
    • mythical battles--gods and giants, lapiths and centaurs etc.
  • frieze, 442-438
    • real-life procession of Athenians bringing robe to Athena; gods on E frieze
  • pediments, 438-432
    • West: battle of Poseidon and Athena for control of Athens
    • East: birth of Athena from Zeus' head (!)
  • gold and ivory statue of Athena--preserved in Roman copies
    
• Propylaia (monumental entrance building)
  • constructed 437-432; architect Mnesikles

Freestanding sculpture

• Doryphoros (spear carrier) by Polykleitos, 450-440
  • Polykleitos established new system of proportions; wrote about sculpture, and made the doryphoros to illustrate his principles
    • body is 7 times the length of the head
    • distance neck-groin, groin-knee, knee-foot are equal
    • balance requires shoulder and ankle lines to be parallel, hip and knee lines parallel in exact opposite direction = chiasmus or contrapposto
    • ideal pose is a walking pose
  • preserved only in Roman copies