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Douris
Epiktetos
Euphronios
Alcamenes
Myron
Phidias
The Golden Mean or Rectangle
Coming from Athens, Callicrates is mostly known for working with his colleague (Ictinus) in designing the Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens. Callicrates also undertook the huge task of building defensive walls, uniting Athens with its port Peireus. (This project was named “the Long Walls.”) Excavations at the Acropolis in 1897 also show that Callicrates was responsible for building Nike Apteros (a temple to Greek goddess Athena), which historical sources say remained unfinished. Other temples attributed to Callicrates are the temple of Illisus and the temple of Apollo in Delos.
Callicrates attempted to introduce a new style and form to his works, which was used by many others after his time. His artistic masterpieces amazed those who saw it, and still amazes people today. For all his contributions to Greek architecture, Callicrates is considered one of the most important architects of 5th century BC.
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Works:
Parthenon
Temple of Athena Nike
Ictinus
(477 BC to 438 BC)
Mostly active during the second half of 5th Century BC, Ictinus is most famous for being one of the chief designers of the Parthenon. Though it’s not known where Ictinus was a citizen, he was most likely Athenian, considering the importance of the Athenian building projects he did.
Ictinus was also known to have prepared a design for the Telesterion, which is the great hall of the Mysteries at Eleusis. He was assigned to prepare and provide external expression to create the ideals of Periclean Athens, and thus was most likely among the artists and intellectuals particularly favored by Pericles.
Ictinus also had an intellectual side to his activity, according to Vitruvius. He recorded the existence of a treatise about the Parthenon, written by the architect and an associate named Carpion. This treatise dealt with the curvature of horizontal lines, proportional relationships, and the vertical inclination.
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Works:
Parthenon
Telesterion
The Temple of Epicurean ApolloDouris
(500 BC - 460 BC)
Working as a vase-painter and occasionally as a potter in Athens, Douris’s considered one of the most prolific vase-potters known. Living in 5th century BC, Douris had a very successful career. He is known from almost forty signed vases (two of which he also potted), and the three hundred others that have been attributed to him. Considering scholars estimate the survival rate of Greek vases at about .5%, that would mean Douris decorated near 70,000. Douris is in fact most known decorating red-figure cups, though he also painted other styles with different techniques (like white-ground).
Douris’s scenes are evenly divided between depictions of everyday life and mythology. He also worked with a number of potters, among them Euphronios and Kleophrades; the one Douris worked with the most, though, was Python. Douris had a significant influence among contemporary vase painters, and his work can still be looked at today.
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Works:
Cup with Boy and an Older Man
Lekythos
Vessel with Zeus Chasing the Trojan Prince Ganymede
Especially active during the last two decades of the sixth century and the first decade of the fifth century, Epiktetos was a talented Athenian vase painter. Epiktetos’ specialty was in kylixes, and over a hundred (of that style) have been attributed to him. He is also known for producing fine red-figure plates, a rare item in Athenian potteries.
According to inscriptions found accredited to Epiktetos, Epiktetos collaborated with a number of potters- Andokides, Hischylos, Nikosthenes, Python, and Pamphaios. Epiktetos worked on Pamphaios’ works on at least three occasions. (Pamphaios was a late sixth-century potter, who made cups and larger vases. Many of his vases are decorated in the black-figure technique.) There is also some evidence shows that Epiktetos also did some pottery himself (a plate from the Athenian Acropolis has Epiktetos signature).
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Works:
Red-Figure Eye-Cup
Kylix (wine cup) with Satyr
Red-figured plateTop
Euphronios
(520 BC - 470 BC)
A vase-painter and potter in Athens (from about 520-470 BC), Euphronios led a very productive and successful career. He signed his name on 18 vases, 6 times as a painter and 12 times as a potter.
Scholars today call Euphronios one of the “Pioneers,” because he was one of the first to show the possibilities of drawing with the new red-figure technique. Euphronios also was interested in showing the human body in many different poses, and he foreshortened and overlapped his scenes to give them depth.
Later in his career, Euphronios’s signature appeared alongside of several of the finest vase-painters of his period, among them Makron, Onesimos, and Douris. The details of Euphronios’s later role as a potter are unclear. Some believe that as he got older he switched to the tactile, less visual craft of pottery, while others believe that he was so successful that he owned his own workshop, and did a variety of things within it. Whatever the reason, Euphronios is considered one of the supreme vase painters of all times.
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Works:
Amphora by Euthymides: revellers, "As Never Euphronios"
Athletes
Calyx-Krater: Heracles and Antaios
Raking light on a red-figure krater by Euphronios
Red-Figure Kantharos with Masks
Red-Figure Psykter with Feasting Hetaerae
Sarpedon VaseAlcamenes
(5th Century BC)
Noted for the delicacy and finish of his works, Alcamenes was a Greek sculptor in Lemnos and Athens. Alcamenes is known for quite a few things, like the Hermes head “Propylaeus.” He also made sculptures of Hephaestus and Aphrodite “of the Gardens.” One historian said he was the author of one of the pediments of the temple of Zeus at Olympia, but that’s highly unlikely, it is chronologically and stylistically impossible. His most commonly known work is, however, the sculptural decoration for the Parthenon, which he did under the direction of Pheidias. Alcamenes is still considered today as a progressive and original artist, and his work greatly affected the ancient Greek world.
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Works:
Aphrodite of the Garden
Caryatids
Hephaestus
Hermes PropylaiosTop
Myron
(5th Century BC)
Born at Eleautherar (on the borders of Boetia and Attica), Myron’s a Greek sculptor of the middle 5th century BC. Myron worked mostly with bronze, and he made statues of heroes and gods. His fame, however, comes from his representation of athletes, with which he introduced more distinctness in pose, and also a better rhythm in artwork. Some consider his most famous works to be a cow, Ladas the runner (who fell dead when he won), and Discobolus (a discus thrower). Though there is no known copies of Ladas, and copies of the cow doesn’t show the pose Myron sculpted him in, several versions of the Discobolus exist. (The best one is in the Massimi palace in Rome.) Other works of Myron show a dancing satyr, which was put on coins in Athens.
Some ancient critics say that though Myron succeeded in giving motion and life to his characters, he did not succeed in showing emotions. However, though the bodies are often far greater than the heads, the faces still tell stories on how the characters feel. Myron’s artwork helped revolutionize and improve Greek art, and many other types of art, over the years.
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Works:
Cow
Discobolus
Ladas the runner
Lycinus
TimanthesPhidias (Pheidias)
(Around 490-430 BC)
While little is known about this Athenian sculptor’s personal life, his works and construction projects are well known. As the artistic director of the construction of the Parthenon, Phidias created the building’s most important religious images, and probably designed the most- if not all- of the sculptural decoration. Many believed that Phidias alone had seen the exact images of the Gods, and that favored him when doing the decoration of the Parthenon.
Pericles rise to power in 449 helped Phidias’s career immensely, as Pericles initiated a great building plan, and Phidias was put in charge of the artistic part. Phidias is most known for his three monuments to Athena on the Athenian Acropolis (the Athena Promachos, the Lemnian Athena, and the Athena Parthenos) and enormous Zeus statue, seated in the temple at Olympia. (At 42 feet, the Zeus statue was so enormous that it’s named as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.) Sadly, none of these sculptures survive in the original.
The remaining years of Phidias’s years are still a mystery. Phidias’ enemies accused him of stealing gold from the statue of the Athena Parthenos in 432 BC, but Phidias proved that charge to be false. His enemies then accused him of impiety, because he included portraits of Pericles and himself on the shield of Athena Parthenos, and Phidias was thrown in prison. Many believed Phidias to have died there, until recently. Now many suppose that Phidias was exiled to Elis, where he worked on the Olympian Zeus. (The evidence for this is a workroom- thought to belong to Phidias- that was found in Olympia.)
Phidias’ style is a unique one for the time period. The construction of the human body is completely understood, and the statues are restrained and harmonized. Because of this, Phidias is often thought of having started the idealistic, classical style that can be seen in Greek art in the late 5th and 4th centuries.
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Click here to learn more about Phidias's workshop.
Works:
Apollo
Athena Parthenos
Athena Promachos
Lemnian Athena (Athena Lemnia)
Statue of Zeus
Study Guides and Lesson Plans
Greek art concepts and projects
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