HON 1520 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Kouros, Kritios Boy, Oenochoe
13 Jan 2017
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Athens encouraged individual achievements and attracted gifted foreigners (poetry, drama, and art). This independent poleis were linked by a shared language and a common religion. Athens had been an important and cultured polis before the persion wars, but it was after their conclusion that it reached its height (479-431). Greek inspiration comes from egypt, especially technique. Egyptians would draw outlines of the figures they want on three or four faces of a stone block. They would chip away inwards gradually from the front and the sides. The drawings had to be made according to a fixed scheme of proportions so that when the work was finished the front and side views would agree with one another. The similarities in pose and technique are obvious; the differences in style and function are more subtle. Greeks believed that a statue of this kind should not only look like a man but should also be a beautiful object in itself.
