How did the ancient Greeks define art?

The earliest art by Greeks is generally excluded from ancient Greek art, and instead known as Aegean art; this includes Cycladic art and the art of the Minoan and Mycenaean cultures from the Greek Bronze Age. The art of ancient Greece is usually divided stylistically into four periods: the Geometric, Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic. read more

With its rectangular stone platform, front and back porches (the pronaos and the opisthodomos) and rows of columns, the Parthenon was a commanding example of Greek temple architecture. Typically, the people of ancient Greece did not worship inside their temples as we do today. read more

The ancient Greeks viewed art very differently than how we would view it today. They created art to memorialize a hero, a god or goddess, or to celebrate a community. read more