An ancient Greek art necklace with rams head gold decoration
Ancient art and culture has influenced different cultures all over the world, initially through the travels and conquests of their Great leaders such as Alexander the Great and most of the Roman Empire was modelled on that which was first discovered by the ancient Greeks.
For instance, Greco-Buddhist art was so obviously initiated by the great ancient Greek culture.
There was four periods of ancient greek art; the Geometric, dated from about 1000BC, the Archaic which experts say dated from about the 7th century BC, which brought the style of the black figures which stand prominently on the painted pottery of vase type urns and vases; the period between the Archaic and Classical was known as the time of the onset of the Persian wars.
The Classical and the Hellenistic was said to be separated by the reign of Alexander the Great (330BC for about 13 to 15 years.
Gold earrings from ancient Greece period 300bc circa
The transition is not so clearly divided, as each period and culture throughout ancient Greece and surrounding European Asian cultures and artists, craftsmen, worked at different style and design and copied and influenced each period.
The result is many beautiful art and cultures, that survived, can happily be appreciated very much right up to today, from small coin art beautifully worked on, to pottery, jewelry, paintings, sculptures and the largest, if not the greatest, Architecture.
Greek painters such as Polygnotus of Thasos used wooden panels, but unfortunately the paintings hardly survived, though there are still some few painting examples on terra cotta and on some walls of tombs in Macedonia and Italy.
Ancient Greek Art coin
Polygnotus was greatly regarded by later passionate Greeks, as we today admire Michelangelo or Da Vince.
Throughout the early Christian era, many sculptures and great architecture was deliberately destroyed, as some were of pagan gods and sculptures depicting immorality.
Some have been destroyed by earthquakes or pillaging through wars or looting of spoils. Bronze and other metal sculptures would be melted down and used or lost and buried, of which some are rescued and can be seen today in museums across the world.
ancient Greek Art - Paintings
Marble statues that have been destroyed with fire, have melted down to lime, never to be enjoyed as an item of beauty.
Indeed we are lucky that the few of the beautiful Ancient Greek Temples have survived such as the Parthenon, and Temple of Hephaestus at Athens.
