Introduction
The Red Figure and Black Figure pottery styles were prevalent in Ancient Greece staring around 600 BC. Black figure was a style that preceded red-figure pottery in which the artist left the background of the pot the color of the clay and the figures were painted with slip as well as incised into the pot so that after a 3 part firing process the figures would come out black and the pot as red. Red figure pottery followed this style in which the artist painted the background of the pot in slip and detailed the figures in diluted slip, leaving the majority of figure bodies the color of the clay and so the figures were red and the background was black.
Red Figure and Black Figure Pottery, especially kraters, have many depictions of men chasing other men and phallic symbolism which seem to point towards open homosexuality in Greece. These images may be seen as a prevalent taboo and a steer towards male dominance in Greece. These depictions along with gods and humans openly engaging in these homosexual love affairs on a piece of pottery that is displayed as a center piece lend evidence to suggest that Greece was a society of Open Sexuality.
Male Homoeroticism
There has been an establishment of two different approaches to homosexuality in Greece: historical approach and synchronistic approach. The historical approach involves searching for the root to pederasty in ancient civilizations to reconstruct a timeline on the topic, whereas synchronistic, which will be in this paper, concentrates on pederasty in 5th and 4th century Athens in terms of it being a part of the social life of Greece . By using the synchronistic we can narrow the scope of homosexuality in Greece to focus on homosexuality as a part of social li...
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The durability of clay has brought forth an immense abundance of Greek pottery, a craft mastered by Athenian artists. Archeologists have found hundreds of varieties in creation, shape, function, style, and artwork in Archaic vases. The museum has been blessed with one of these priceless artifacts; it is the duty of this establishment to accumulate as much data as possible surrounding the vase. In first identifying technique, dimensions, and condition, as well as describing shape, ornament, and figural scenery, one may then begin to analyze the vase. This serves the general purpose of understanding where the artifact stands in Greek culture and history. Through the examination and research of figural scenes, it is then possible to compare these to other scenes and styles of the same and other painters. Finally, one can then hypothesize where, why, and how this piece was used.
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Shaw, Susan M., and Janet Lee. Women's voices, feminist visions: classic and contemporary readings. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print.
Throughout the history of Ancient Greece thousands of great works of art were produced. Works were created in many different media, ranging from life-size statues to larger than life architectural structures. One type of art that can sometimes be overlooked, though, is pottery. There are many examples of great Greek pottery, but the two that will be used as a sample are Artemis Slaying Actaeon and Woman and Maid. By considering the backgrounds of these works, and comparing them directly we are able get a taste not only of the artistic styles of the time, but also a taste of ancient Greek culture.
This emphasis is notably unique from the portrayal of couples among contemporary societies such as the Greeks and Romans. This depiction of couples reflects the essential role woman clearly held in Etruscan society. “Women in Etruria participated more fully in the public life of than Greek and Roman women. They had their own names, and passed rank on to their children (Bonfante xx-xx).” Etruscan women enjoyed the same equalities as men such as hereditary possession and having their own identity not solely confined to traditional roles of women in surrounding areas. Etruscan women could afford to provide financially for any children born to them, due to the Etruscan cultural setup. The independence that Etruscan women relished did not take away their nurturing nature as many other societies including the Romans believed.
When thinking of ancient Greece, images of revolutionary contrapposto sculpture, ornate lecture halls, and great philosophers in togas are sure to come to mind. As the birthplace of democracy and western philosophy, ancient Greece has had an inordinate influence on the progression of the modern world. However, the ancient Greeks’ treatment of women is seemingly at direct odds with their progressive and idealistic society.
BIBLIOGRAPHY Bell Hooks; Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. c.1984 by bell hooks; South End Press 2) Freud, Sigmund; "Femininity" from Juanita H. Williams, ed. Psychology of Women. NY: W.W. Norton, 1979 3) Hunter College Women's Studies Collective; Women's Realities, Women's Choices NY: Oxford University Press, 1983 4) Smithsonian World; Gender: The Enduring Paradox NYC: UNAPIX Entertainment Inc., 1996 5) Williams, Juanita H.; Psychology of Women NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 1987
To the ancient Greeks, Love and Sex were just as important as to any culture. While their concepts of what is love and sex and there purposes differed from our modern Western concepts of the same topics, they were also similar in many ways. One can study Greek literature and art and find plenty of evidence to support arguments about how the Greeks felt about love, sex, and homosexuality, it is often a one sided description provided to us from our ancient sources. Nearly all we have left to us is the reflections of only half of the Ancient Greeks, but surely there was more to the story. One should attempt to understand as many views of the culture as possible, and one of the most important distinctions in any culture is to determine the differences between the genders. The difficulty in attempting to understand Ancient Greek culture from a female perspective is the lack of evidence provided by a feminine source. Therefore, one must study what the men left to us about femininity and its role in love and sex and do the best we can to at least provide a look into how a male dominated culture viewed and helped shape femininity. Greek women were expected to remain chaste until they were married, their main purpose sexually is to receive a man’s seed to bear children, although some references allude to some women pursuing their own sexual needs.
Shaw, Susan M., and Janet Lee. Women's Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. Print.
Gender and queerness are currently hot-button topics in the West, especially now that many have begun to work towards deconstructing the preconceived notions we have about gender and presentation. In Ancient Greek myths and theatre, the general attitude towards what we’ll hereinafter refer to as queerness, since no such categories had yet been invented in Ancient Greece, was complicated; Plato himself went back and forth on his opinion on the matter. He first argued that “same-sex lovers were far more blessed than ordinary mortals” but in his final work, The Laws, asserts that homosexual relationships are “utterly unholy, odious-to-the-gods and ugliest of ugly things” (Guardian). In a patriarchal society where strapping young men traipsed about, exercising in next to nothing, these conflicting attitudes are unsurprising to a modern critic. It’s also worth noting that, while there are some mentions of women loving women in Ancient Greece, the prevailing version of what we call queer was between men, due to the Greeks’ phallocentric view of sex.
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Greek art is considered as a turning point for the development of all aspects of cultural art history, such as architecture, sculpture, pottery and painting. The ancient Greek civilization was famous for its mythical and aesthetic principle in the art culture. Renowned for the pottery, Greek had developed its unique painting technique called the black-figured. “Achilles and Ajax playing Dice” by Exekias is the most significant black-figure amphora for its iconography and that represents the ideal art principle and history of the ancient Greece.
These three articles give the modern reader a sense of what sexuality was in Ancient Rome. These articles reinforce that sexuality is important in human societies. They show that how you did or did not do sexual activity was very important and under scrutiny like in Western societies today. Though these articles are using limited resources to make conclusions, they do their best to help the reader make sense of sexual Roman society.
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