Greek Art and the Mediterranean Trade Prior to 300 C.E.

Around 1000 BC the populations around the Mediterranean Sea saw the arts develop into complex and unique artwork that distinguished their art from the art of northern Europe and the Bronze Age.  Interestingly, scholars have found the first traces of the colossal architecture and artwork Greece is famous renowned for only after Greece established a trading post at the Nile delta. For several centuries afterward, Greek art bears a striking resemblance to typical Egyptian artwork.  Eventually, "The Greeks rejected the Egyptian-inspired Archaic style and revolutionized the history of art.” (Gardener’s Art through the Ages, 64)

Kouros Dedication

Egyptian influence in Greek art laid the foundation for art associated with the Greek classical age. Above is a replica statue of the Kouros dedication white marble statue found in a ~600 BC temple to Poseidon in Attica, Greece. The resemblance to Egyptian statues is acute in the statue's strong, straight stance. However, over time Greek artists would strive for “harmonious proportions” and this piece illustrates one step toward a more realistic depiction of the human body. The body of Kouros may resemble statues of Egypt, but its head is in proportion with the height of his body, and the hips are more rounded, and his hair flows more freely, which signify an awareness of, or an attempt to emulate, the human body in reality. (Gardner’s Through the Ages, 114; Atlas of World Art, 34-35)


Commissions and patrons who sought to find a visible way to enunciate their wealth supported Greek artists. Greek art became well known and a popular trade commodity outside of Greece as well, and the vase below exemplify the beginnings of traditional Greek art. The figures are black which became a signature characteristic of Greek pottery. 

Kleitias and Ergotimos, Francois Vase

circa 570 BC

Vases such as these were generally produced in Greece and Athens, in particular. That is the case with the vase above.  Archaeologists excavated the vase from a Etruscan tomb in northern Italy, and have found Greek vases around the Greek trading world which indicates that the popularity of Greek art was widespread and accessible for those who wished to acquire the artwork.  Ironically, the Greeks were not the first to develop the black figure technique, but they were the best marketers of their wares.  They obtained the technique from the Corinthians, but were successful at cornering the export market in black figure pottery for themselves by the mid-sixth century BC. (Gardner's Art through the Ages, 120)


The spread of Greek pottery around the Mediterranean world and the development of Greece's famous white marble statues were possible due to the expansion of trade routes of the time. Within Greece, sources for the white marble needed to start carving human forms is often found tens, if not hundreds, of miles from the sites of marble carving. Thus, effective transportation of such large quantities of marble required innovation and technology, as well as safe trade routes, to get the supply to the area of demand.


The travel of artwork - such as the vases - from their site of origin to lands far away illustrates the development of sea trade.  The Greeks needed this exchange to occur, as William Bernstein discusses in A Splendid Exchange, in order to import enough food and materials to sustain their growing populations.  By harnessing the energy of the prevailing currents and winds, sea trade could occur in the ~1000 BC to 300 BC time period among the Phoenicians, Greeks, Syrians, and Egyptians with increasing frequency, although not always peacefully.




Sources/References:
Atlas of World Art, 34-35
A Splendid Exchange, chapter 2
Art Fundamentals, 231
Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, 64, 114, 120