How The Sculpture Of Ancient Greece Is Conveyed The Human Form

Ancient Greece is well known by historians as an era of great artistic expression. It was a civilization that redefined how Europe and other parts of the world saw architecture, painting, and culture. However, an area that Greece showed an expansive knowledge in was the area of Sculpture. Countless sculptures of many various materials made to show the human form in all of its glory show that the Greeks were very dedicated to realistic form and the natural beauty of the human body. While Greece wasn’t necessarily the first to do this, nor were they anywhere near the last, they left a considerable impact.
Greek artists worked with a manner of representation that conveyed the human form though many various means, such as vitality, strength, reservation,

Philip’s time as ruler was later carried on by his son, Alexander the Great. During his reign, Alexander showed a great interest in cultivating the arts, which hadn’t been done by any ruler before him. Among his long line of artisans was Lysippos, a sculptor who was a very prominent figure during the fourth century B.C. While most of his works were simply portraits of Alexander himself, these would later inspire a multitude of Hellenistic sculptures. When Alexander died in 323 B.C., his successors divided up the massive empire into smaller kingdoms that transformed the politics and culture of the world during the Hellenistic period.
Many ancient Greek artists thought of art as a method of creating control from chaos, and in a style like The Odyssey, exploring the strange and unknown and making it familiar and human. Through their temples, sculpture, and pottery, the Greeks incorporated a fundamental principle of their culture: arete. In Greek culture, arete meant excellence and reaching full potential. Ancient Greek art emphasized human beings and their important accomplishments and form. Even though many works of Greek art were tributes to the many gods and goddesses, those same deities were formed in the image of

As time progressed, however, Greek sculptors began experimenting with more natural poses and limb positions. These included outward-thrusted hips, bent arms and knees, and heads turned to the side. Many times, these statues were also used to depict athletes, such as Myron’s Discus Thrower. Other sculptures depicted various different human actions, and an example of this is the sculpture of Artemis known as "Diana of Versailles." The piece depicts Artemis trying to reach an arrow while a deer is shown leaping next to her. A similar piece created in the second century B.C. is the Venus De Milo. While the sculptor is widely believed to be unknown, many historians believe that the original sculptor was Praxiteles. The sculpture was likely made in an effort to display the Greek standard of female beauty.
While the city of Nashville, Tennessee is probably the last place many people think of when imagining ancient Greece, it is here where a full-scale detailed replica of the Parthenon. Known as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus survived many disasters until it was eventually destroyed around 400