Greek Grave Steles

A detailed Summary of Greek Grave Steles

The portals to immortality-Greek Grave Steles

To us who live in modern times the 'melancholic look' that we find in the sculpture of cemeteries throughout the world is something we take for granted. Although its authenticity has been lost to us, this so-called look can be traced back to 5th century Greek funerary sculpture. For us it is only natural to associate such a look with death. However, as the above verse elaborates, the Greeks viewed death somewhat differently from the way we do. To them death freed their souls and brought true happiness: then why does their grave sculpture look so pensive and thoughtful? It is because unlike today where the dead are only represented figuratively in a sobbing angel or mournful cherub, the Greeks depicted their dead as they were in life - life which was full of uncertainties and burdens but also with simple pleasures that made it all worth while. The Greeks successfully combined these two juxtaposed experiences, and harmonized its contradictions to portray in steles the individual, whose simplicities and complications was a reflection of the bitter-sweetness of life. No where is this combination more successful than in the Greek grave stele of the 5th century before Christ. The

Finally as we come to the end of the 5th century there continues to be a preference for the lone figure steles, although steles with two or more figures do exist as well. Steles that belonged to women most often depicted them with maids, and scented oil vases. They were also depicted admiring their jewelry or gazing at mirrors, as in the example (fig. 5). However, this sort of depiction was not to exaggerate their vanity but to simply state that their outer beauty reflected the inner. The artist "endeavors to create ideal beauty and goodness that were identical not only figuratively but actually. " As a result the artist went beyond the formal and technical means of creating harmonious and balanced images to impart to their works of art something of this "greatness of spirit. " There is nothing that is affected theatrical or superficial about this girl. She simply stares at the mirror in the same contemplative mood as Euperous. The back of her hair is veiled and she is adorned with earrings. She wears a peplos with an additional shawl wrapped around her shoulders. The shawl has then been flipped casually over her arm, and it has fallen back towards her elbow when the mirror was raised up. It is a pity that this stele should be so damaged. However, the pleasure of a ruined antiquity is imagining it original splendor. With the other examples one sees the tremendous strides that the artist has made by desiring to reach higher planes technically and physiologically through his sculpture. And these two planes met during the fifth century before Christ and made an impact on people, for many centuries to come. Therefore, at the end of this golden period when art was almost at a climax one could anticipate the achieved advancements of this stele even though the stele itself is quite ruinous. Likewise, one cannot help but be reminded, just as the girl in the stele might be thinking, that even such idealistic achievements must come to an end. This young girl with her broken arm damaged hair who in the prime of her life was the embodiment of the Greek ideal gives this stele a poignancy of an unfinished epitaph.

During the Archaic period although vases were the popular method for marking graves, steles with human figure relief begin to appear during this period. These steles later predominate during the classical period. The Archaic grave steles usually "consisted of a rectangular slab surmounted first by capitals and then back to back volute scrolls with a sphinx atop. " An example of an archaic stele is the stele of a warrior runner made in Athens around 500-450 B.C. The runner according to Lawrence is "Hoplitodrome the winner of a race in armor. " The young man wears a warrior helmet and looks down at his feet, which are twisted in an impossible running position. He has stylized hair and his cap looks too big for him. He has an Archaic smile although it is not quite evident in the photograph. The warrior looks in the opposite of where his legs seem to heading. Since this position represents a running as well as flying position, it could be possible that he is flying towards Hades and is taking a last look at the earth he knew. There is a desire on the artists' part to produce a reaction through this sculpture. However, conventions such as the Archaic smile and the lack of knowledge in certain technical aspects keeps the sculpture from being successful realistically, and therefore less impressive emotionally and physiologically to the viewer. Also keep in mind that unlike the photograph the stele in its restored state would be taller than the relief itself, and the sphinx at the very top (a sculpture in the round) would have taken the focal point away from the warrior. The bright colors used during this time to paint the surface would have given the stele a glaring effect. It is appropriate that this stele made almost at the end of this period should be a warrior. For the coming years would produce a

Some common words found in the essay are:
Grave Steles, ALXENOR NAXOS, Athens Whatever, Demetrious Poliorketes, Lawrence Hoplitodrome, According Barron, Athlete Athens, According Bordman, Grave Stele, Greeks Mortal, classical period, grave stele, 5th century, fifth century, century bc, greek sculpture, golden age, archaic period, museum athens photo, fourth century, athens photo, national museum athens, john greek sculpture, sculpture sculptors greeks, 5th century bc,

Approximate Word count = 3648
Approximate Pages = 15 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Arts