The Greek Artistic Legacy: Humanity At The Core Of The Cosmos

Hellenism thought of Man as being at the very center of the universe. "Man is the measure of all things of what is and what is not" said Protagoras. The Earth was subject to the will and desire of Mankind, and every effort to control or shape it was to be utilized by Man to bring it under his control and create the world he dreamed of and envisioned, for the benefit of all. Indeed, Greek civilization was unique in it's time as every aspect of being and existing as a human being was questioned and interpreted based on the notion that the world existed for homo sapiens alone to shape as seen fit. The gods of Olympus were super humans, in a sense, for they had human qualities as well as all the human deficiencies of character. They could be benevolent or greedy, showering humanity with compassion or displaying the utmost form of cruelty. The gods could engage in intrigue and conniving that would startle the most devious politician, or take pity on one of their beloved half mortal heroes and save them from a horrible fate. They were gods to be sure, and could perform miracles as any deity might, but their qualities were human and not god like at all. Thus, Greek religion was human centered and Man based. A study of the Greek myths demonstrates the struggle between men and gods- we are subject to their wrath but we don't have to think of them as wonderful and all loving as Rama, Baal Hadad, Elohe or Ahura Mazda was perceived. No, the gods are there for us to invoke when we need them, but by and large they play with the lives of men and cannot be trusted. Here lie the seeds of doubt, agnosticism and atheism, as witnessed in the words of Epicurus, who asks:"are the gods...willing to prevent evil but are not able? Then they are not omnipotent. Are they able but not willing? Then they are malevolent. Both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Neither able nor willing? Why then, call them gods at all?"

As Voltaire pointed out, it seems that a society must have something otherworldly to believe in. If they don't have something, he wrote, they will invent something, a moral compass in the form of some being or beings who watches over the community and sits on a sky throne, just in case humanity cannot come up with answers to those unanswerable questions. Descartes openly acknowledged the debt to ancient Greek thought in that the human being, not god, made the difference for his own fate in and among his own community and society. "I think, therefore I am" closed the door on religious based thought and rekindled the light of ancient Greece once again, the mind and seeking of the stimulated individual. With the rise of these 17th and 18th century Age of Enlightenment philosophers and their interest in exploring the ancient Athenian concept of democracy and the Roman republic, they created an era when the art and architecture based on ancient themes set the cornerstone for our own, modern era, linking us all back in time to that brilliant Hellenic civilization of the Mediterranean 2500 plus years ago, the civilization that depended and governed with the human mind rather than the collected fantasies of human imagination. Indeed, imagination played an important role in Greece, in fact in the arts and literature it flourished. But as later secular society would separate church and state, Greek society separated reality from fiction in practical life, yet also interestingly blended the two, in a manner that was both subject to and dominated by human beings. It was the world of humanity that was the center of the cosmos, the fount of creation through the life of the mind, which gave rise to an artistic imagination unparalleled in the history of the ancient world. 

Art and literature are imagination though, and Greek art reflected the belief that the human being was at the very center of the cosmos. Whether portraying gods, men or women, as well as animals, birds and indeed all manner of real and legendary creatures, ancient Greek sculptors honored the living form as no other society did. Facial features and expressions, musculature, hair and even the inner light that shines through the eyes in living beings was captured by these artists through their genius ability to sculpt or paint. A perfect being was created in every statue or on every wall frieze, a look to which the members of Greek society were expected to endeavor to become; walking, beautiful, living gods and goddesses to inspire the community to reach the ultimate in physical perfection. This statuary of course lacked moving life, as the statue lacked a soul. But it was the society that gazed on these works of art every day that was encouraged through this art to imitate those figures, and live as they would if the statuary did indeed breathe. Thus the society brought their imagination to life, and set the standards of art for future generations while becoming living gods themselves. The stories and the mythologies were recited and sung, and artists competed with one another to beautify the buildings and architecture of Greek cities with living stone. 

Vases and krater, or wine mixing vessels, were decorated with scenes from hundreds of myths and legends, the very stuff of religion if religion indeed existed in Greece. It is from the art of ancient Greece that we can visualize how the Greeks saw their heroes, gods indeed the world of their imagination. While there was the Delphic oracle and other temple rites for those who sought an answer to the mysteries of dreams and natural phenomena, and a cure for diseases and for looking into the future, the basis for the Greek moral and spiritual sense was found in the myths painted on common household wares. The acts of the gods, the wars against Titans, Gorgons and Amazons, or defense against foreign invasions such as the Persians were all given their due on the side of beautifully molded vases and bowls. The Trojan war and the stories of events from the Iliad were especially popular subjects for art. The great painter Exekias was famous for his amphora vase paintings. His portrayal of Achilles and Ajax playing a board game, the two companions in deep concentration as they seek to win the contest, their feet not simply flat upon the ground but raised in anxiety and anticipation of a victory, makes the painting interesting for the viewer to gaze upon. Though lacking the sense of dimension, Exekias imbues his characters with life by utilizing a sense of action. The facial expressions of the two combatants participating in the famous Achilles and Penthesilea duel is especially interesting, as their eyes are locked upon each other, Achilles clearly having the upper hand as he bears down on the Amazon queen, his spear stabbing her in the neck as blood spurts forth from the wound. Though the painting style is flat, the action of the combat is real and alive, portraying the demise of a respected but much feared warrior queen. 

Sculpture could portray anything, but it was always created with the sense of living divinity, every creation a homage to the living form. Greek sculpture, imitated by the Romans and Renaissance Italians, then the French and other later West European artists down to Rodin and Brancusi, set the standard for sculpture across the globe and influenced art traditions in far away countries and cultures. A new style of sculpture arose in northern India after the invasions of Alexander the Great, imbuing the life of the already great Indian sculpture tradition with a sense of actual living beings, evident in a number of Buddhas and busts of kings that were built along the Silk Road in Central Asia. It was the purpose and duty of the artist in ancient Greece to give life to ever present stone and rock, those elements which the mainland and isles of Greece were a feature and characteristic, the same rocky soil which denied them access to good, fertile farm land. It was for this reason, the lack of arable soil and the inability of Greek city states to feed themselves, that far off places such as Sicily and Southern Italy were colonized. The rich volcanic soil of the southern Italian peninsula fed the city states, and in the colonial cities founded by Greek colonists such as Neapolis, Syracuse and Akragas, new styles of Greek art and architecture emerged with distinct features, though unmistakably Hellenic. This art would influence the Etruscans and be copied by the Latin tribes to the north, Roman art being a direct offshoot of the Hellenic tradition, to make beauty manifest in our world.

Every depiction in sculpture is that of a hero though the subject may be a villain, giant, beast or horrible creature. Even in the chaotic depictions of warfare and conflict in such friezes as the Gigantomachy, telling of the war between the gods and the giants, each figure is given life and breath, so that the scene being depicted comes alive for the viewer. After so many centuries, the sculptures and friezes that adorn the sides of buildings and staircases still to this day tell their tale vividly, as if that ancient cosmic struggle continues for all time and we can see it, hear it and know it. This was the genius of those ancient Greek artists, their ability to give life to stone which depicted the acts of Man as no different from the actions of the gods in the heavens, our destiny being a continuous struggle to create order from chaos.

Every character depicted was unique and individual, as varied in features, personality and types as human beings in the reality of the flesh are. An alternate dimension, in a sense another world, was to be found in Greek cities. This was a world of human like figures created by hands skilled in the portrayal of human passion and pathos, a world that reminded each and every member of society that it was they who were the epicenter of the universe, the very core of the cosmos. Thus the otherworldly was here and now, created by mankind for the purpose of mankind. 

With the advent of the Italian Renaissance, so named for the return of and towrads classical ideas in art that reflected the glory of ancient Greece, artists imitated the ancient Roman and Greek styles of art and architecture, breathing life into sculpture and paintings that seemed to come alive. The sense of dimension, somewhat lacking in ancient Greek painting, was the new norm now after artists studied vase and amphora paintings of the ancient masters and learned how they attempted to deal with creating a vision of movement and action. Michelangelo sculpted masterpieces. His David states clearly that the high art of his day was indebted to ancient Greece. Though art portrayed predominantly religious Christian connections and characters, the human form reached an apogee of perfection in art during the Renaissance. David is as perfect as any Greek god or hero could ever be, confident and handsome beyond measure. Perhaps his most passionate work is the Pieta, depicting Mary holding Jesus in her lap, an incident from the Christian passion story. Mary's expression of sadness and disbelief could be any mother's expression in the loss of a son who met his demise long before he should have. Michelangelo captures a mother's love amid pain and loss in this masterpiece, a student of an ancient art form that has never been surpassed.

As a youngster I visited the 1964 New York World's Fair in Flushing Queens with my family. There were pavilions from many countries represented, with art, music, food and items from each nation's culture. The Vatican pavilion had, on display, Michelangelo's Pieta. You entered a large, dark room and stood on a moving sidewalk, which carried you slowly across the room as you gazed upon the masterpiece, illuminated with a solitary blueish light. Perhaps no other sculpture captures the reality of the sadness of being human as the Pieta does. The softness of the carved, polished stone seems to breathe with a realism that is otherworldly, a mystical expression the reality of life through the reality of death. The artists of the Renaissance gave new life to Christian religious art by looking back in time to the genius of the pagan ancient Greeks. The religion that stamped out the old pagan religions of Europe was stimulated and revived by the very genius art traditions of ancient Hellas. 

Indeed, this legacy has been passed on to the artists of future civilizations and cultures, into our own time. Any living thing can be treated as a hero by the artist because it is alive. It is not merely mortal, but is also a god because that very living thing whether human, animal, plant or mythological creature from the inner depths of the human imagination, resides at the very core of the cosmos, and is indeed the epicenter of that vast, spacious realm.