Beginning in the eighth and increasing in the seventh century BC, the previous rarity of human figured art yields to a proliferation of human and animal figures on a large scale, and in a range of media, from terracotta through wood and ivory to carved stone. The inspiration is clearly emulation of Levantine art, primarily from the Syro-Phoenician coastlands (especially for female statues, see Color Plate 12.1b), but Egyptian influence is equally recognizable (for male statues, see Figure 10.1 left) (See Text Box).
The Emulation of Levantine Art
During the Archaic era the stylized formality of these oriental sources (from our Western cultural bias, appearing rigid), was replaced by increasing naturalism and individualism (see Figure 10.1 right). There arises a new tradition of large-scale freestanding carved stone art which continues into the earliest Classical era. The idealized standing nude young males (kouroi), and richly-clothed young women (korai) are found at sanctuaries and cemeteries throughout the Mainland and South Aegean islands, although other poses are represented (seated figures, horsemen). Debate continues on what they represent: divinities, dedicatees, or memorialized dead. Few have inscriptions and context is ambiguous, since temple or cemetery locations do not pinpoint any one of these possible interpretations. Current views suggest that a fixed reading of these statues is erroneous: they represent an idealized young person, an appropriate image for a god or goddess, or of a praiseworthy deceased person, or of a devout dedicator of such an artwork (Fullerton 2000). Because the Greeks conceived of their divinities as beautiful humans, and perfect humans to be physically godlike, such ambivalence served its purpose.
For the most part the commissioning of such prestigious sculptures (often life-size, some more than 3 meters tall), was the privilege of rich aristocrats, but sometimes a commoner might muster the considerable cost (one late sixth-century kore found on the Athenian Acropolis was dedicated by
The Complete Archaeology of Greece: From Hunter-Gatherers to the 20th Century AD, First Edition. John Bintliff. © 2012 John Bintliff. Published 2012 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Figure 10.1 The development of male kouros statues from Early to Late Archaic times.
Colossal marble kouros from Cape Sounion (left). © De Agostini/SuperStock. Funerary kouros of Kroisos, Paros marble, ca. 525 BC, from Anavyssos (right). © The Art Archive/National Archaeological Museum Athens/Gianni Dagli Orti.
A potter). Generally, however, these imposing and once brightly-painted statues reminded local communities of the pronounced status differences characterizing the Archaic era.
The striking contrast between clothed maiden and naked youth is a gender distinction typical for Greek art until late Classical times. Significantly, the sculptural styles being emulated tend either to have clothed males and females or partially unclothed females (Egypt), or unclothed females and clothed males (the Levant). Bonnet and Pirenne-Delforge (2004) argue persuasively that the naked female in Near Eastern iconography does not indicate female emancipation in terms of political, economic or social status, but neither is she a mere sex object for male titillation. A more complex association is being affirmed, that of the fundamental life-giving power of female sexuality and reproduction, also directly related to the fertility of crops and animals: the life-force. As a distinct power, either as a mortal woman or as a goddess, the naked female can also appear as a suitable companion to warrior gods and heroes.
Interestingly, in some of the oldest, seventh-century examples of Greek appropriation of Levantine sculptural art, especially in the Cretan “Daedalic” style, female representations occur with this symbolism, including the attention being drawn by the figure to her breasts or womb. The association here with representations of heroized armed males is interpreted as channeling the life-force of woman into the making of citizen-soldiers. Yet as this Greek version of the style evolves, quite rapidly the naked female is accompanied, and then replaced, by clothed females. The male hero, at first clothed or naked, will become typically naked. These shifts in emphasis appear to demarcate the progressive marginalization of women in the polis-society of the Archaic to Classical South Aegean, neutralizing their potential power, whilst elevating masculine “heroic beauty.” The polis as a “male club” is emerging symbolically.
World History
