| The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions which | | | | period that started after the fall of Alexander's empire. |
| have been hidden by the answers. | | | | These divisions are in no way conclusive; they are |
| - James Arthur Baldwin | | | | primarily aimed at creating a genre to which different |
| Art is a representation of the way humans view | | | | art forms can be referred. |
| beauty. Some even believe that people know of | | | | Painting demanded the greatest respect in ancient |
| beauty only because the artist shows it to them. | | | | Greece. Unfortunately, nothing tangible of Greek |
| Greece is the seat of modern human civilization. It is | | | | painting survived in the modern ages. Paintings on the |
| the place where cherished concepts like democracy | | | | walls of tombs found in Italy and Macedonia and |
| came in to being. Greece has influenced human culture | | | | hand-painted pots are all that remain of this great |
| in a way few others have and its legacy lives on in the | | | | Greek art form. A few forms of art that did survive |
| form or great works of writing, architecture and of | | | | are sculptures, coin and gem engravings and of course |
| course art. | | | | Greek architecture. However, even for these, only a |
| Ancient Greek art developed very early and by the | | | | minute fraction has made it to the hands of present |
| time Greece came to interact with other civilizations, | | | | generations. Most statues of marble were burnt or |
| schools of Greek art were very well established. Art in | | | | destroyed when Christians sought to cleanse Greece |
| ancient Greece was usually centered on humanistic | | | | of paganism whereas those made in bronze were lost |
| influences and usually depicted human figures or | | | | when cargo ships sank or melted when the bronze |
| representations of the Greek Gods and Goddesses. | | | | was needed. The architecture of the Greeks would |
| Scholars divide ancient Greek art into three different | | | | inspire the greatest monuments of the world, but much |
| groups whose names are the same as the periods of | | | | of the source of this inspiration is lost forever. Four of |
| history to which they belong. First among them is the | | | | the seven ancient wonders of the world the Statue of |
| Archaic, which ends around 450 B.C.E. with the Persian | | | | Zeus, the Temple of Artemis, the Colossus of Rhodes, |
| invasion. Next in line is the Classical Greek art period, | | | | and Alexandria's Lighthouse were Greek monuments. |
| which lasted until the demise of Alexander the Great in | | | | The earth today, bears little sign of them or their |
| about 323 B.C.E. The last of these is the Hellenistic | | | | greatness. |