Greece : People & Culture

Yet, only a slight variety of ancient Greek art has survived - most often in the forms of sculpture and architecture and minor arts, including coin design, pottery and gem engraving.

» The ancient Greeks developed two primary styles, the restrained and solid Doric and the refined and decorated. It should be noted that the Ionic style eventually evolved into the more ornate Corinthian style. The form of ancient Greek temples, a rectangular shape, surrounded by colonnades surmounted by a triangular pediment, built from limestone or marble, remains a popular style to date. While the arch Surviving examples of ancient Greek architecture include the Parthenon and the Erechtheum in Athens , and Roman structures based on the Greek model, such as the Pantheon in Rome .


» Ancient Greece was also renowned for its pottery, which included everything from drinking vessels to urns. Black-figure pottery, in which the decorations appear as black silhouettes over a red background, are highly representative of early Greek craftsmanship. Later forms include red-figure pottery and white-figure pottery. The religion of ancient Greece is well-known in the modern western world via Greek mythology. Tales of the Greek gods and mythological heroes remain popular to this day.

» Greek paganism was never a unified belief system. The Greeks worshipped a large pantheon of deities, with the Olympians predominating, but with many local deities recognised as well. Deities from other cultures were freely adopted by the Greeks, and through syncretism many gods from other lands throughout the Mediterranean were identified with their Greek counterparts (most notably the Roman gods.) The ancient Greeks also developed a number of mystery religions such as the Eleusinian Mysteries. These mystery cults became widely popular in late antiquity, and are perceived by some as precursors to Christianity.

» The tradition of philosophy in Ancient Greece also added to the literary works. Greek learning has had a profound influence on Western and Middle Eastern civilisation. The works of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and other Greek philosophers profoundly influenced Classical thought, the Islamic Golden Age, and the Renaissance.