Photos of the Historic Classical Period Ancient Greek Sites & Art Antiquities. The great historic Sites of Greece, Magna Grecia & Archaeology Museum Antiquities from the great museum of Europe, Turkey and North Africa. Photos by photographer Paul E Williams
Photos of Classical Period Ancient Greek Archaeology Museum Art & Antiquity
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Photos of Ancient Greek Historic Archaeology Sites
These sites are fundamentally Ancient Greek Architecture even though the Romans would have later occupied them.
Photos of Ancient Greco Roman Historic Archaeology Sites
These Sites were founded by Ancient Greeks then occupied & developed by Romans, Or used Ancient Greek Architecture
Links to Prehistoric & Bronze Age Ancient Greeks
Photos of Ancient Greek Sites & Art Museum Antiquities.
Photos of wonderful Ancient Greek art, statue, as well as Greek architecture & Greek Temples.
The Late Bronze Collapse
One of the earliest Ancient Greek civilisation were the Mycenaeans, whose two great cities of Mycenae and Tiryns feature in Homers writings. in the 12th century BC there was general collapse of the civilisations in the Aegean and Middle East possible due to invasion. This era was known as the The Late Bronze Collapse and out of this Classical Antiquity was born.
Archaic Period
The recovery period from the Late Bronze Age Collapse was known as the Archaic Period. This period lasted from circa 800 BC to the second Persian Wars of Greece in 480 BC. It saw a colonisation by Ancient Greek City States & their colonies of the eastern and central Mediterranean basin.
At the beginning of the Archaic period Ancient Greek art was influenced by Egyptian art styles. This can be seen in the kouros and kore statues, in which the statues stand with one leg in front of the other as in Egyptian statues.
From these early rigid styles by the end of the Archaic Period art had become more naturalistic in style. Pottery of this period was also very stylised using geometric designs.
Ancient Greek Classical Period
The Classical Period lasted from the Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC until the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. It was during the Classical Period that what we know as a “classical” style evolved.
Most famously we see classic Classical Period architecture in the Parthenon of Athens.The great sculptures of Praxiteles were made during this period such as his classic statues of Hermes, Apollo & Venus, copies of which can be found in many archaeology museums.
The Classical Period was dominated by Athens from where Attica pottery was exported all over the Mediterranean.
Hellenistic Period
The Classical Period ended with the death of death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. This gave way to the Hellenistic Period during which Greek culture and power expanded into the Near and Middle East into North Africa. The Hellenistic Period came to an end when the Ancient Greek States were conquered in 146BC by the Romans
The most famous Ancient Greek Statue of the Hellenistic Era is almost certainly the Venus de Milo in the Louvre Museum.
Greco-Roman Culture
The story of Ancient Greek culture did not stop with the Roman invasion and indeed it is still very much alive today. The Romans embraced Greek culture and spread it throughout its Empire. The bed rock of Western Art, Literature & Architecture can be traced back to the Ancient Greeks.