Hellenism is a period in the history of the ancient states of the Mediterranean region, the beginning of which is considered to be the conquests of Alexander the Great, and the end is the fall of Egypt and the complete establishment of the dominance of the states of Ancient Rome

(about 30 AD).

The main feature of Hellenism

The main feature of Hellenism is considered to be the global spread of the Greek language and way of life in the territories conquered by Alexander the Great, as well as the mutual penetration and mutual influence of the two great ancient cultures - Persian and Greek.

The era of Hellenism was characterized by the desire for monumentality. Huge statues are created, a typical example is the Colossus of Rhodes, the figure of the god Helios 32 meters high.

Nike of Samothrace ( 190 BC uh.)

The art of Hellenism is not a single whole. During this period, there were independent art schools in Alexandria, Pergamon, Greece, on the island of Rhodes, in the cities of Syria. The best works of Hellenic sculptors reflect the most exciting problems of the era with great completeness and artistic persuasiveness.

SLEEPING HERMAPHRODITE

Hermaphrodite is the son of Hermes and Aphrodite, a young man of extraordinary beauty, brought up by naiads on Mount Ida in Phrygia.

AGESANDR

Together with his sons, he executed the statue of Laocoön. The statue was found in 1488 at the Baths of Titus on the Esquiline in Rome, now in the Vatican Museum, in Rome.

VENUS de Milo

The famous marble sculpture (c. 130-120 BC) belongs to the Hellenistic period in the art of Ancient Greece.

Gigantomania was a common subject of ancient plastic art.

It was built around 180 BC. e. on the acropolis of Pergamon, the capital of a small Hellenistic state in Asia Minor.

pergamon altar

The synthesis of Eastern and ancient traditions, the use of highly emotional, dramatic in their sounding plots is an undoubted evidence of the influence that the political events that accompanied the decline and death of the Hellenistic states had on the spiritual life of the Greek world.

Hellenism is a period in the history of the ancient states of the Mediterranean region, the beginning of which is considered to be the conquests of Alexander the Great, and the end is the fall of Egypt and the complete establishment of the dominance of the states of Ancient Rome

(about 30 AD).

The main feature of Hellenism

The main feature of Hellenism is considered to be the global spread of the Greek language and way of life in the territories conquered by Alexander the Great, as well as the mutual penetration and mutual influence of the two great ancient cultures - Persian and Greek.

The era of Hellenism was characterized by the desire for monumentality. Huge statues are created, a typical example is the Colossus of Rhodes, the figure of the god Helios 32 meters high.

Nike of Samothrace ( 190 BC uh.)

The art of Hellenism is not a single whole. During this period, there were independent art schools in Alexandria, Pergamon, Greece, on the island of Rhodes, in the cities of Syria. The best works of Hellenic sculptors reflect the most exciting problems of the era with great completeness and artistic persuasiveness.

SLEEPING HERMAPHRODITE

Hermaphrodite is the son of Hermes and Aphrodite, a young man of extraordinary beauty, brought up by naiads on Mount Ida in Phrygia.

AGESANDR

Together with his sons, he executed the statue of Laocoön. The statue was found in 1488 at the Baths of Titus on the Esquiline in Rome, now in the Vatican Museum, in Rome.

VENUS de Milo

The famous marble sculpture (c. 130-120 BC) belongs to the Hellenistic period in the art of ancient Greece.

Gigantomania was a common subject of ancient plastic art.

It was built around 180 BC. e. on the acropolis of Pergamon, the capital of a small Hellenistic state in Asia Minor.

pergamon altar

The synthesis of Eastern and ancient traditions, the use of highly emotional, dramatic in their sounding plots is an undoubted evidence of the influence that the political events that accompanied the decline and death of the Hellenistic states had on the spiritual life of the Greek world.

Conquests of Alexander the Great. Beginning of the Hellenistic period. In 338 B.C. Greece fell under Macedonian rule. Two years later, the creator of the Macedonian state, Philip II, fell at the hands of the conspirators, and his son Alexander the Great became the new ruler of the state. In 344 B.C. Alexander undertook a joint campaign of the Greeks and Macedonians in Asia against the Persians. Within a few years, he conquered Asia Minor, Syria and Palestine, Egypt, Mesopotamia and Persia, thus destroying the Great Persian Kingdom. Under the rule of Alexander, Central Asia also turned out to be, only an attempt to conquer India did not materialize. During his campaign, Alexander, who began to be called the Great, captured almost all the possessions Persian state and considered himself the ruler of the world. However, after his death, strife began between his commanders, the Diadochi, as a result of which the Empire of Alexander the Great disintegrated into three smaller states: Egypt, the Kingdom of the Seleucids and Macedonia.

Conquests of Alexander the Great. Beginning of the Hellenistic period. The campaigns of Alexander the Great and the wars that followed them caused a massive migration of Greeks and Macedonians from Europe to the countries of the Middle East. There they settled in old and founded new cities, some of which became rich and populous. The largest center of the Mediterranean was Alexandria, founded by Alexander the Great in the Nile Delta. The eastern coast of the Mediterranean became Greek. Greek architecture became widespread - temples, theaters and stadiums were erected. Greek has become the main language in almost all the cities of this region. Thus, the campaign of Alexander the Great marked the beginning of a new period, which is usually called the period of Hellenism. It ended in the 1st century BC. when the eastern Mediterranean coast was conquered by the Romans. The period of Hellenism is characterized by the widespread distribution of Greek civilization in the countries of the Middle East. At the same time, there was an increase in the influence of the East on Greek culture.

State and social structure. Traditional form The state structure of the Greeks - the policy - lost its significance during the Hellenistic period. All Hellenistic states were headed by monarchs of Greek-Macedonian origin. Their power was practically unlimited, only in Macedonia they had to reckon with the local aristocracy. In many matters of state administration, they began to proceed from the customs characteristic of the countries of the East. So, for example, the rulers of Egypt left the state supervision over the daily work of the peasants, which had existed there for thousands of years. This allowed them to replenish the state treasury with traditional annual taxes. To a much lesser extent, the changes affected urban life. Hellenistic cities were important centers of crafts and trade, and slavery became even more widespread than in the previous period.

State and social structure. Formally, the old polis structure was preserved in the cities: the council continued to work, officials were elected annually, and the people's assembly met. Their power, however, was limited. Important changes occurred in a military setting. The army now consisted not of citizens, but of mercenaries recruited from outside. More often they lived in special military settlements. Citizenship no longer mattered, either politically or defensively.

Culture of the Hellenistic states. The culture of the Hellenistic states developed largely due to the patronage of monarchs. A particularly great contribution to the development of culture was made by the kings of Egypt from the Ptolemaic dynasty. In Alexandria was founded - Alexandria Museion (Greek museion - the temple of the Muses), one of the main centers of science and culture of antiquity. (3rd century BC) Museion had a library in which almost all the literary heritage of the Greeks was collected. Manuscripts were copied there, research was carried out, and classes in other sciences. Library of Alexandria led by the most famous scientists of the time. Alexandria was by no means the only major center of science and culture: Pergamon was gaining more and more importance in Asia Minor. In Greece, Athens still dominated.

Literature of the Hellenistic period. But unlike the former poets, they were almost not interested in problems public life and morals. Instead, they sang of one of the members royal family or wrote poems about the beautiful love of simple shepherds in the background picturesque nature Greece. Poetry was no longer expected to have a deep content, but a graceful and elegant style. Its goal was not to comprehend the place of man in the world and not to search for solutions to the main problems of life - poetry was supposed to simply bring pleasure. In the Hellenistic era, the theater lost its former significance. This circumstance allowed poetry to stand out. Since its most important center was in Alexandria, it received the name of Alexandrian poetry. The poets of the Hellenistic era were usually very erudite, familiar with Greek literature, and the mythology of the previous period.

Philosophy. At the end of the 4th century BC. in Greece there were several influential philosophical schools. Epicurus and his followers believed that by overcoming the fear of death and enjoying life, a person can achieve peace of mind. More popular than the teachings of Epicurus - Epicureanism, was the teachings of another philosophical school - Stoicism. Founder of Stoicism Zeno. According to his teaching, everything in the world happens in accordance with the just and immutable divine order. Both the followers of Epicurus and the Stoics emphasized that philosophy frees people from fears and worries. The changes that have taken place in society have led to changes in the way of thinking and worldview. This was clearly reflected in Hellenistic philosophy. In the classical period philosophers Special attention devoted to the question of what virtues make a person a good citizen and how the state should cultivate these virtues. Now, however, the attention of philosophy shifted from social problems to personal and spiritual problems. Zeno Epicurus

Development of science. If in the classical period, individual sciences still formed a single whole with philosophy, then the Hellenistic period is characterized by a deepening specialization of individual sciences. For a long time leading in the 3rd century BC. The Library of Alexandria Eratosthenes was equally competent in astronomy, geography, and history. He calculated the approximate circumference of the globe (the length of the meridian), compiled a chronology that covered all early history Greece. So the mathematician Euclid (second half of the 4th century BC) compiled the multi-volume fundamental work "Beginnings", in which he formulated the foundations of elementary geometry. Mathematician, physicist inventor - Archimedes (3rd century BC) formulated, among other things, the law of hydrostatics. Hellenistic astronomers already knew that the earth was spherical.

Development of science. One of the astronomers of that period, Aristarchus (4-2 centuries BC), was the first in history to develop the theory of the heliocentric structure of the universe. Developing astronomy, the Greeks during the Hellenistic period became acquainted with eastern astrology. It was during that period, taking the 12 signs of the zodiac as a basis, that they began to draw up detailed horoscopes.

Change in the field of religion. Religion, like most spheres of life, during the Hellenistic period lost the features characteristic of the time when it served to meet the needs of an individual policy. If in the classical period various religious festivals came to the fore, now mysteries have taken their place. The Greek Pantheon also underwent some changes. Next to the old gods, the Greeks placed many eastern gods. Since they found much in common between them, they often began to identify the gods. The most popular goddess of the Mediterranean during the Hellenistic period was the goddess Isis. Thus, the religion of the Hellenistic period was a kind of fusion of the Greek religion and the religions of the Ancient East.

The campaigns of Alexander marked the beginning of a new Hellenistic era. The previously developing separately Greek and ancient Eastern worlds became a single power, a synthesis of ancient and Middle Eastern civilizations arose. After some 300 years, this period ended with the Roman conquest of the last Hellenistic kingdom, Egypt, in 30 BC.

Hellenism, having united the Greek and eastern beginnings, became an absolutely new cultural phenomenon: antique features dominated somewhere, and eastern ones somewhere. Many Persian and Egyptian cults gained popularity in Greece, merging with the old gods of antiquity. Buddha statues from Gandhara (Northern India) combine Greek influence and Indian traditions.

For the culture of Hellenism, two important points are characteristic: firstly, the widest distribution of Greek culture in all areas of the Hellenistic world, resulting in the best achievements of classical Greece in the field of science, literature and visual arts the peoples and tribes that inhabited the vast territory of the Hellenistic world, from Sicily in the west to Central Asia and India in the east, from the Bosporan kingdom in the Northern Black Sea region to Nubia in equatorial Africa.

Second crucial point- combining elements of Greek culture with local, mainly eastern cultural traditions. Based on the processed Hellenic and ancient local elements, a number of peoples that were part of the Hellenistic states created their own culture, which merged these elements in a kind of new quality.

Actually Hellenistic art is called the art of mainland Greece and the adjacent islands of the Aegean archipelago, Asia Minor (mainly the Kingdom of Pergamon), Rhodes, Syria (the western part of the Seleucid state) and Egypt, that is, those areas and states of the Hellenistic world, in the art of which Greek traditions , reworked in accordance with the new social ideas, received a predominant value.

With undoubted and very significant features of commonality, the art of each of these areas is also marked by features of originality. This originality was determined by the peculiarities of the economic, political and cultural development each of the states, as well as the value of the local artistic tradition. Thus, in Hellenistic Greece, the preservation of the social and artistic traditions of the classical era determined a closer connection between art and classical models than anywhere else. To a much lesser extent, this connection is felt in the artistic monuments of Pergamon and Rhodes - here are signs Hellenistic art as a new stage in the history of art received the most distinct expression. In the art of Hellenistic Egypt, more than in any of these states, the features of syncretism (fusion) of Greek art forms with the local artistic tradition are noticeable.

The process of formation of individual local art schools took place in the presence of the closest cultural ties between them, which was facilitated, for example, by the frequent relocations of artists from one state to another. The similarity of social conditions, combined with artistic connections, was the reason that, for all its complexity and versatility, the culture of the Hellenistic world was marked by features of integrity, since it reflected the specific features of a certain period in the development of ancient society.

In general, the art of Hellenism is divided into two main stages. Time from the end of the 4th c. before the beginning of the 2nd c. BC. is early period Hellenistic art, when it experienced its highest flowering and progressive artistic trends received the deepest expression.

2nd - 1st centuries BC, the time of a new crisis of the slave-owning society and its culture, constitute the late period of Hellenistic art, already marked by features of a clear decline.

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>> Synthesis of Eastern and ancient traditions in Hellenism. Sleeping hermaphrodite. Venus Melos. Gigantism of architectural forms. Expression and naturalism of sculptural decoration. Altar of Zeus in Pergamon

SYNTHESIS OF ORIENTAL AND ANCIENT TRADITIONS IN HELLENISM.
Sleeping hermaphrodite. Venus Melos

GIANTISM OF ARCHITECTURAL FORMS. EXPRESSION AND NATURALISM OF SCULPTURAL DECOR

Altar of 3eus in Pergamon

The final stage in the development of ancient Greek culture is Hellenism (Greek nellenes - to become like the Hellenes). The art of Hellenism was formed on the territory that was part of the vast empire of Alexander the Great, and is a kind of symbiosis of the Greek order and Eastern artistic traditions. cultural centers the Hellenistic world became Alexandria in Egypt, Antioch in Syria, Pergamum in Asia Minor, the island of Rhodes in Greece. The art of Hellenism, not being integral, is united by a common aesthetic ideal - extreme individualism. this is probably why the myth of Narcissus became the key myth of the era.

The beautiful young man Narcissus did not love anyone and did not reciprocate. The goddess of justice Nemesis, to whom prayers were rushed to punish the proud, heeded them. One day, I saw my reflection in a stream. Narcissus fell in love with him and, unable to communicate with the object of love, died of anguish on the shore. In this place grew a flower of the same cold and lifeless beauty - a gentle and strong-smelling narcissus.

Myth in art forms displayed a new aesthetics: proportionality, harmony and calm strong-willed determination of the classics were replaced by decorativeness, emotional tension and pathos.

The love of the East for decorativeness, pomp and ornamentation was reflected primarily in the architecture of Hellenism. During construction public buildings the Corinthian order was used, creating an extremely elegant, but somewhat pretentious and far from harmonious image. The proportions of the Corinthian order repeat the Ionic, but with a higher capital, reminiscent of a bunch of flowers with volutes-stamens, intercepted from below by a girdle*. Corinthian capital originally pursued purely decorative purposes, so the support function in it is completely masked by luxurious leaves, which cannot serve as a support for anything.

An incredibly pompous, magnificent appearance of the building was given by the so-called Great Corinthian order, in which the columns are equal in height to two floors of the building, reaching almost 18 m. The new order looked like a sick fantasy, but a fantasy of grace and taste. It was exacerbated by the decoration of various types of colored marble, since the picturesque play of chiaroscuro on marble of the same color began to seem insufficiently decorative. The same purpose was served by bronze, which was used in abundance to decorate the bases of columns, capitals and details of the frieze. In Alexandria, for example, this is how the Museum was built - the habitat of the Muses 11, which became the largest scientific center in the entire Mediterranean with a huge library, halls where works of art were exhibited and pundits gathered.

Passion for painting architectural form inevitably led to the predominance of "oriental bliss" in sculpture. The search for a “delicate form” led to an ideal fusion in one figure of the forms of a youthful body and the elastic forms of an innocent girl, which resulted in the sculpture of the Hermaphrodite Snishezo (11th century BC). Strict classical beauty was replaced by grace; a simple measured gesture - a voluptuous lazy movement; the image of an athlete-warrior is a hermaphrodite. The naked beauty of a woman became an end in itself, giving rise to an incredible number of sculptures of the goddess.

* According to legend, the Corinthian master Callimachus, passing by the cemetery. I saw a forgotten basket on the tomb, entwined with young shoots of acanthus. Fascinated by the novelty of the look and form, the master made several columns for the Corinthians according to this beauty of Aphrodite (Venus), who is born, bathes, and performs her morning toilet.

In the image of the Venus of Melos (11th century BC), whose torso is unusually, divinely beautiful, features characteristic of the aesthetics of Hellenism are revealed: a small head with elongated proportions, delicate plasticity of the body, flowing draperies of the bedspread. Everything is elegant, soft, balanced.
But along with this interpretation of the image, there was another one. The disharmony of the soul of the Hellenistic man, his desire to bring everything to an affect - fear to horror, strength to rudeness - led to the appearance of such a tragic, with anguish work, as the relief of the altar of Zeus on the acropolis in Pergamum (11 century BC).

The now reconstructed altar is a gigantic platform for sacrifices, raised on a four-stage stereobath. A wide staircase is cut into it in the center, giving the whole structure a U-shape. The upper platform, 26 m wide, is decorated around the perimeter with Ionic columns. The outer side of the platform is also surrounded by a frieze along the perimeter, bending onto the inner planes facing the stairs. A specific historical event is the battle of the Pergamum king Attalus 1 with the Galatian barbarians at the end of the 111th century. BC e. - the creators of the altar captured in an allegorical form how the struggle of the Olympic gods with the giants.

The battle of the Olympian gods with mortal giants, born of the gay earth from the blood of the castrated sky-Uranus and having snake tails instead of legs, could only end successfully if a hero came out on the side of the gods, which happened thanks to the intervention of Hercules.

The frieze is made in the technique of high relief, and the steps to the altar serve as a support for the stone participants in the fierce battle. The depiction of Athena's battle with the winged giant Enkeladus, whom the goddess has already thrown at her feet, is filled with drama and expression. On open wings Nike rushes to her in order to crown the flax of her curls with a victorious wreath. The sacred serpent of the goddess Erichthonius stings the giant's chest, and the giant, with a distorted face of pain and suffering, vainly strains his muscles in a last attempt to rise on his serpentine limbs and take off. From the bowels of the earth, Gaia grows, bare-haired, tragically wringing her hands, grieving for the death of her sons.

For the Pergamon school, as for the whole Greek sculpture Hellenistic era, characteristic image sharp feelings- dying and pain, horror and despair - and spectacular poses. Recall that the harmony and tranquility of the classical reliefs of the Parthenon was achieved by a precise and simple line. In the plasticity of Hellenism, which makes one almost physically feel suffering and death, completely different methods were used. This is the arrangement of the heads of the gods at the top, and the giants below, creating a nervous broken line of the frieze. This is also a complex turn of bodies, conveying either the aggressive onslaught of the gods, or the pretentious fracture of the thrown back heads and torsos of the giants. This is the whimsical drapery of clothes flying as if from gusts of wind. These are sharp contrasts of light and shadow, which increase anxiety. This is the gigantic scale of the figures, overwhelming and depressing the viewer.

Questions and tasks
1. What features are characteristic of Hellenistic art? What is the reason for the appearance of two faces of beauty in the plasticity of Hellenism?
2. What painting techniques did Hellenistic sculptors use to convey drama and expression? To answer, use the illustrations from task number 8 in workbook.

* * *
The beautiful friendly nature and the clear, calm outlook of the Greeks gave rise to the same beautiful and clear art. The scale of the surrounding world determined the adherence of the Hellenes to the proportionality of volumes and forms. This found expression in the pure forms and precise lines of Greek architecture and plastics. Principles classical art realism, rationalism, simplicity and beauty became in the understanding of the ancient Greeks. Any deviation from nature was perceived by them as a disregard for the ideals of art.

It is not surprising that it was the Greek ideal that was perceived by the most diverse peoples, became a model for the cultural development of the entire Mediterranean enclave. The Greek colonies on the Apennine Peninsula contributed to the penetration of architectural techniques into the culture of the Etruscans. Great was the influence of Ancient Greece on the culture of the Etruscans and Ancient Rome, which subjugated it in the llth century. BC e. The artistic culture of Egypt, Syria, the regions of Asia Minor, the Balkan Peninsula, where Greek art became known as a result of the conquests of Alexander the Great, acquired a perfect model, creative development which provided a breakthrough to Hellenism. It is in the Hellenistic version Greek culture became the forerunner of refined Byzantine culture. great era European Renaissance was guided by the Greek model, and the aesthetics of European absolutism in the 15th century. relied on rational and constructive artistic thinking Greeks, who showed the axis in architecture, painting, sculpture and theater French classicism.

Emokhonova L. G., Mirovaya art culture: textbook for grade 10: secondary (complete) general education(basic level) - M .: Publishing Center "Academy", 2008.

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