Classical Greek Architecture

The classical period of Ancient Greece revolved around a culture that was deeply rooted in philosophy and the arts. The Greeks search for their place in the universe and in nature around them influenced everything in their lives especially their love of the arts. Beauty, among other characteristics concepts was an essential part of Ancient Greek philosophy, first explored by Plato and Socrates. They theorized objects or nature as being inherently beautiful: that beauty was found within objects. Attempts to define the characteristics of beauty focused on simplicity and symmetry. These avenues of thought had a heritage in the philosophical theory of idealism. “Idealism was a theory that maintained nature as the ultimate reality of beauty based on mind and or ideas. There needed to be a balance of what was ideal and what was natural, what was real. Idealism and therefore beauty referred to a thought that represents things of a perfect form, as in the fields of ethics, morality, aesthesis and value.”
Sculpture during the Classical period of Ancient Greece, masterfully detailed these philosophies of beauty. One of the founders of the Classical Greek style was named Polykleitos of Argos. An essential element of his and the Classical Greek style was the use of a relaxed pose with the shifting balance of weight known today as ‘Contrapposto’. This style yielding naturalness to his creations. Polykleitos aim was to produce the perfect human figure using a mathematical equation to sculpt the body parts. It is believed that he used a basic unit ratio to measure the rest of the body parts. He set down his theory on the human form in a treatise known as “The Canon” and created a larger than life size sculpture he named “Doryphoros” and is now called “The Spear Bearer.” The Spear Bearer was created out of bronze, a popular medium at the time because of the ability to show more movement in bronze than in marble, which was the traditional medium. The Spear Bearer was one of the...