Geometric art is a phase of Greek art, characterized largely by geometric motifs in

vase painting Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

, that flourished towards the end of the

Greek Dark Ages The Greek Dark Ages ( 1180–800 BC) were earlier regarded as two continuous periods of Greek history: the Postpalatial Bronze Age (c. 1180–1050 BC) and the Prehistoric Iron Age or Early Iron Age (c. 1050–800 BC). The last included all the ...

and a little later, . Its center was in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, and from there the style spread among the trading cities of the Aegean. The so-called Greek Dark Ages were considered to last from and include the phases from the

Protogeometric period The Protogeometric style (or Proto-Geometric) is a style of Ancient Greek pottery led by Athens and produced, in Attica and Central Greece, between roughly 1025 and 900 BCE,Van Damme, Trevor, and Lis Bartłomiej, (29 October 2024)"The origin o ...

to the Middle Geometric I period, which Knodell (2021) calls Prehistoric Iron Age. The vases had various uses or purposes within Greek society, including, but not limited to, funerary vases and

symposium In Ancient Greece, the symposium (, ''sympósion'', from συμπίνειν, ''sympínein'', 'to drink together') was the part of a banquet that took place after the meal, when drinking for pleasure was accompanied by music, dancing, recitals, o ...

vases.

Usage

Funerals

Large funerary vases (often Dipylon

krater A krater or crater (, ; , ) was a large two-handled type of vase in Pottery of ancient Greece, Ancient Greek pottery and metalwork, mostly used for the mixing of wine with water. Form and function At a Greek symposium, kraters were placed in ...

s for men, and belly-handled

amphorae An amphora (; ; English ) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storage rooms and packages, tied together with rope and delivered by land ...

for women) not only depicted funerary scenes, but they also had practical purposes, either holding the ashes or being used as grave markers. These vases often carried funerary imagery to commemorate the dead; the deceased person was depicted robed lying in state ( ''prothesis''), often surrounded by mourning family members, or lying in a bed and carried to the grave with an honorary chariot procession ('' ekphora''). The depiction was accompanied by various heroic scenes and warfare imagery which are thought to be related to similar descriptions of the

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

ic epics and were used to enhance the heroic ambience. To the Greeks, an omission of a proper burial was an insult to proper dignity. The mythological context of a proper burial relates to the Greeks' belief in a continued existence in the

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

that will disallow the dead to maintain peace in the absence of a proper burial ritual.

Symposia

Aside from its funerary use, the Greeks also utilized various vessels during symposia. The Greek symposium was a social gathering that only aristocratic males were allowed to attend. Vessels, such as wine coolers, jugs, various drinking cups, and mixing vessels, were decorated with Greek, geometric scenes. Some of the scenes depicted drinking parties or

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ...

and his followers. The symposia were held in the ''andron'', which was a men's-only room. The only women allowed into this room were called "'' hetaera''", or female sex-workers, who required payment from their regular, male companions.

Periodization

Protogeometric period

The

Protogeometric style The Protogeometric style (or Proto-Geometric) is a style of Ancient Greek pottery led by Athens and produced, in Attica and Central Greece, between roughly 1025 and 900 BCE,Van Damme, Trevor, and Lis Bartłomiej, (29 October 2024)"The origin o ...

(1025–900 BC)Van Damme, Trevor, and Lis Bartłomiej, (29 October 2024)
"The origin of the Protogeometric style in northern Greece and its relevance for the absolute chronology of the Early Iron Age"
in: Antiquity, 2024, Vol. 98, No. 401, pp. 1271-1289, Table 1: "Early Protogeometric in Central Greece and Attica, 1025 cal BC." inherits its decorative forms and motifs from Mycenaean

tradition A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common e ...

and is mostly visible in ceramic production. Technological developments of the era created a new relationship between ornament and structure, causing differing stylistic choices from its Mycenaean influences. The shapes of the vessels have eliminated the fluid nature of the Mycenaean creating a more strict and simple design. There are horizontal, decorative bands that feature geometric shapes, including concentric circles or semicircles. Other characteristics of the early Protogeometric style included

monochrome A monochrome or monochromatic image, object or palette is composed of one color (or values of one color). Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale (typically digital) or black-and-white (typically analog). In physics, mon ...

pottery and wavy lines on the shoulders. Common vase shapes of the period include ''amphorai'' with the handles on both the belly and the neck, '' hydriai'' (water jars), '' oinochoai'' (wine jugs), '' lekythoi'', and '' skyphoi'' (stemless cups). Protegeometric pottery style is thought to have been led by

, while other regions also had their own local variations, most notably

Thessaly Thessaly ( ; ; ancient Aeolic Greek#Thessalian, Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic regions of Greece, geographic and modern administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient Thessaly, a ...

Euboea Euboea ( ; , ), also known by its modern spelling Evia ( ; , ), is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete, and the sixth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by ...

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

etc. The Protogeometric period did not yet feature human figures within its art, but horses were pictured during this time period. The village of

Lefkandi Lefkandi () is a coastal village on the island of Euboea, Greece. Archaeological finds attest to a settlement on the promontory locally known as Xeropolis, while several associated cemeteries have been identified nearby. The settlement site is loc ...

in Euboea is considered one of the most representative sites of the Early Protogeometric style. New shapes, like the ''kalathos'' and

pyxis Pyxis is a small and faint constellation in the southern sky. Abbreviated from Pyxis Nautica, its name is Latin for a mariner's compass (contrasting with Circinus, which represents a draftsman's compasses). Pyxis was introduced by Nicolas-Louis ...

, are thought to have been introduced during the Late Protogeometric period.

Early Geometric period

In the early Geometric period (900–850 BC), the height of the vessels had been increased, while the decoration was limited around the neck down to the middle of the body of the vessel. The remaining surface is covered by a thin layer of clay, which during the firing takes a dark, shiny, metallic color.

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

Natural History Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

, 35th and 36th Books This was the period when the decorative theme of the

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the Channel (geography), channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erosion, erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank (cut bank, cut bank or river cl ...

was added to the pottery design, the most characteristic element of Geometric art. During this period, a broader repertoire of vessel shapes was initiated. Specifically, amphorae were used to hold cremation ashes. The amphorae featured handles on the neck or shoulder for males, while featuring handles on the "belly" of the vase for women.

Middle Geometric period

By the middle Geometric period (850–760 BC), the decorative zones appear multiplied due to the creation of a laced mesh, while the meander dominates and is placed in the most important area, in the metope, which is arranged between the handles. Based on excavations at Sindos, mentioned by Gimatzidis and Weninger (2020), Alagich et al. (2024) consider the possibility that Middle Geometric period began 140 years earlier, lasting (c. 990-870 BC).

Protogeometric to Middle Geometric artifacts

File:Centaur Chiron of Lefkandi, Archaeological museum of Eretria, Greece.jpg, Centar

Chiron In Greek mythology, Chiron ( ; also Cheiron or Kheiron; ) was held to be the superlative centaur amongst his brethren since he was called the "wisest and justest of all the centaurs". Biography Chiron was notable throughout Greek mythology for ...

of Lefkandi, BC, Archaeological Museum of Eretria File:Amfora, Attic workshop, Early Geometric Period, 875 - 850 BC, Prague Kinsky, UKA 60-5, 140721.jpg, Shoulder handled amfora, Attic workshop, BC File:Clay amphora, Middle Geometric II Period, 800-760 BC (27931792873).jpg, Clay amphora, BC, Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens File:Clay skyphos, Middle Geometric II - Late Geometric IA Period, 775-750 BC (28469156951).jpg, Clay skyphos, BC, Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens

Late Geometric period

Late Geometric period lasted from 750 to 700/650 BC. Some potters enriched again the decorative organization of the vases, stabilized the forms of the animals in the areas of the neck and the base of the vase, and introduced the human form between the handles. The late Geometric period was marked by a amphora that was made by the Dipylon painter in around 760–750 BC. The vase was a grave marker to an aristocratic woman in the Dipylon cemetery. This was the first phase of the late Geometric period (760–700 BC), in which the great vessels of Dipylon ware placed on the graves as funeral monumentsWoodford, Susan. (1982) ''The Art of Greece and Rome''. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, p. 40. and represented their height (often at a height of ). The funerary imagery on the vases included the deceased person lying in state ( ''prothesis'') surrounded by mourning figures, or lying in a bed and carried to the grave with an honorary chariot procession (''ekphora''). It was accompanied by heroic scenes and warfare imagery, thought to be related to similar descriptions of the

ic epics.

People and animals are depicted geometrically in a dark glossy color, while the remaining vessel is covered by strict zones of meanders, crooked lines, circles, swastikas, in the same graphical concept. Later, the main tragic theme of the wail declined, the compositions eased, the geometric shapes became more free, and areas with animals, birds, scenes of shipwrecks, hunting scenes, themes from mythology or the Homeric epics led Geometric pottery into more naturalistic expressions.Geometric periods of pottery
at Greek-thesaurus.gr One of the characteristic examples of the late Geometric style is the oldest surviving signed work of a Greek potter, Aristonothos (or Aristonophos) (7th century BC). The vase was found at

Cerveteri Cerveteri () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, in the Italian region of Lazio. Known by the ancient Romans as Caere, and previously by the Etruscans as Caisra or Cisra, and as Agylla (or ) by the Greeks, ...

in Italy and illustrates the blinding of Polyphemus by

Odysseus In Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology, Odysseus ( ; , ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; ), is a legendary Greeks, Greek king of Homeric Ithaca, Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, epic poem, the ''Odyssey''. Od ...

and his companions. From the mid-8th century BC, the closer contact between Greece and the East enriched the

ceramic art Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take varied forms, including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is a visual art. While ...

with new subjects – such as lions, panthers, imaginary beings, rosettes, palmettes, lotus flowers etc. – that led to the

Orientalizing period The Orientalizing period or Orientalizing revolution is an art historical period that began during the later part of the 8th century BC, when art of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Ancient Near East heavily influenced nearby Mediterranean ...

style, in which the pottery style of

Corinth Corinth ( ; , ) is a municipality in Corinthia in Greece. The successor to the ancient Corinth, ancient city of Corinth, it is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Sin ...

distinguished. Based on excavations, and radiocarbon dating, at the site Zagora on the island of Andros, and previous datings at Sindos, Alagich et al. (2024) suggest Late Geometric I Period began around 120 years earlier than the traditional chronology, and lasted (c. 870-730 BC). File:Boeotia - transition MG II - LG I - spouted oinochoe - Athens NAM 12455.jpg, Boetian oinochoe, BC, National Archaeological Museum, Athens File:Kalathos. Geometric period - KAMA.jpg, Kalathos from child burial, BC, Kerameikos Museum, Athens File:Figurine of a horse carrying four amphoras on its back. Geometric period - KAMA.jpg, Horse figure carrying four amphoras from a child burial, BC, Kerameikos Museum, Athens File:Bird figurines. Geometric period - KAMA.jpg, Bird figures from child burial, BC, Kerameikos Museum, Athens File:Pyxis with four horses, Greece, Attica, Geometric Period, 8th century BC, terracotta - Wadsworth Atheneum - Hartford, CT - DSC05138.jpg,

Attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building. It is also known as a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because they fill the space between the ceiling of a building's t ...

with four horse figurines on top, BC, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford File:Bronze horse Greek, 8th century BCE Geometric period.jpg, Bronze horse, 8th century BC

Motifs

Vases in the Geometric style are characterized by several horizontal bands about the circumference covering the entire vase. Between these lines the Geometric artist used a number of other decorative motifs such as the

zigzag A zigzag is a pattern made up of small corners at variable angles, though constant within the zigzag, tracing a path between two parallel lines; it can be described as both jagged and fairly regular. In geometry, this pattern is described as a ...

, the triangle, the meander and the

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...

. Besides abstract elements, painters of this era introduced stylized depictions of humans and animals which marks a significant departure from the earlier

. Many of the surviving objects of this period are funerary objects, a particularly important class of which are the amphorae that acted as grave markers for aristocratic graves, principally the Dipylon Amphora by the Dipylon Master who has been credited with a number of kraters and amphorae from the late Geometric period.

Linear In mathematics, the term ''linear'' is used in two distinct senses for two different properties: * linearity of a '' function'' (or '' mapping''); * linearity of a '' polynomial''. An example of a linear function is the function defined by f(x) ...

designs were the principal motif used in this period. The meander pattern was often placed in bands and used to frame the now larger panels of decoration. The areas most used for decoration by potters on shapes such as the

amphora An amphora (; ; English ) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storage rooms and packages, tied together with rope and delivered by land ...

e and '' lekythoi'' were the neck and belly, which not only offered the greatest liberty for decoration but also emphasized the taller dimensions of the vessels. The first human figures appeared around 770 BC on the handles of vases. The human forms are easily distinguished because they do not overlap with one another, making the painted black forms discernible from one another against the color of the clay body. The males were depicted with triangular

torso The torso or trunk is an anatomical terminology, anatomical term for the central part, or the core (anatomy), core, of the body (biology), body of many animals (including human beings), from which the head, neck, limb (anatomy), limbs, tail an ...

s, ovoid heads with blobs for noses and long cylindrical thighs and calves. Female figures were also abstracted. Their long hair was depicted as a series of lines, as were their breasts, which appeared as strokes under the armpits.

Techniques

Two techniques of this time period include

red-figure pottery Red-figure pottery () is a style of Pottery of ancient Greece, ancient Greek pottery in which the background of the pottery is painted black while the figures and details are left in the natural red or orange color of the clay. It developed in A ...

and black-figure pottery. The black figure pottery started around 700 BC, and it remained the dominant style until its successor, red figure pottery, was invented around 530 BC. The switch from black figure pottery to red figure pottery was made due to the enhanced detail that red figured pottery allowed its artists.

Narrative art

The notion of

narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether non-fictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller ...

during this time period exists between the artist and the audience. The artist communicates with the viewer, but the viewer's interpretation can sometime be an inaccurate interpretation. Furthermore, multiple interpretations of a singular artwork can be created by the viewer. A combination of historical, mythological, and societal context is needed to interpret the stories told within Greek Geometric art. The artwork during the Geometric period can be seen as "supplementary sources and illustrative materials for

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

and Greek literature". The scenes that are depicted within Greek Geometric art contain various interpretations through analysis of the depicted scenes. Art historians must decide if the stylistic choices that were made during this time period were for a specific reason or simply coincidental.

References

Sources

* * *