Endymion

Some said he was the founder of Elis, others said he was a shepherd but all agreed he was a youth of surpassing beauty.

 

  

  

 

Selene was the goddess of the moon who fell in love with the mortal Endymion. Selene cast a spell over her lover to lull him to sleep forever.  Wondrously beautiful he lies on the mountainside, motionless and remote as if in death, but warm and living, immortal, but never conscious.

 

  

And night after night, the Moon visits him and covers him with kisses.

 

  

Endymion the shepherd,

As his flock he guarded,

She, the Moon, Selene,

Saw him, loved him, sought him,

Coming down from heaven

To the glade on Latmus,

Kissed him, lay beside him.

Blessed is his fortune.

Evermore he slumbers,

Tossing not nor turning,

Endymion the shepherd,

  

In another version, it was Hypnos (Sleep) not Selene who was in awe of Endymion's beauty, caused him to sleep with his eyes open, so he can fully admire his face.

 

 

  

  

  

 

 

Ganymede

Ganymede was a Trojan Prince and was the most beautiful among mortals.

Zeus was seized with love when he spied on Ganymede in the meadow, turned into an eagle and carried the prince off. 

  

Zeus appointed him cupbearer of the gods in heaven, as he draws the red nectar from the bowl.

 

   

 

 

Tros' griefs for his son was so great even Zeus was moved by his pain. He sent  Hermes to deliver the gift of a pair of immortal white prancing mares  to Tros in exchange for his son .

 

  

  

  

And through Hemes, Tros knew his boy was now among the gods, immortal and forever young.  Zeus, grateful for Ganymede's love, made a place for him among the stars as Aquarius the Water Bearer.

Immortal beauty

Plato on the subject of beauty: "The man who has been properly nurtured in this area(beauty) will be keenly aware of things which have been neglected, things not beautifully made by art or nature.  He will rightly resent them, he will praise beautiful things, rejoice in them, receive them into his soul, be nurtured by them and  become both good and beautiful in character."

Kritios Boy 480BC            Doryphorus of Polyclitus 440BC
 

THE human figure occupies a central place in Greek art and particularly in Greek sculpture.  The Greeks believed profoundly in the value of man.The gods are thus almost always represented in human form. The human body is a constantly recurring motif in Greek art. Soaring temple columns with their finely-chiselled lines recall the slender bodies of Greek youths.  In paintings and sculptured reliefs the beauty of the human form in repose or in action stands out against a neutral background. Only by representing in a purely human form the men they honoured, the gods they worshipped and the heroes of their legends could the ancient Greeks understand them and communicate with them, almost as equals. 

Taken from The Greek ideal - immortals and man in Greek art - Between the Visible and the Invisible by George Dontas

Sculpture of the Greek Classical Period (480 - 323 B.C.) 

The Classical period of Ancient Greece produced some of the most exquisite sculptures the world has ever seen. The art of the Classical Greek style is characterized by a joyous freedom of movement, freedom of expression, and it celebrates mankind as an independent entity (atomo). During this period, artists begin to expand the formal aesthetic boundaries while they worked in expressing the human figure in a more naturalistic manner. They were able to replace the strict asymmetry of the figure with a free flowing form more true to life, while they approached an ideal aesthetic vision through stone and bronze.

 

Riace Bronze Warriors  450BC

The Hellenistic Period (323 - 31 BC.) 

The Hellenistic period begins in 323 with the death of Alexander the Great and ends with the battle of Actio in 31 BC. While Philip of Macedon conquered and united the Greek city-states, his son Alexander the Great embraced on a campaign that found him the conqueror of a vast empire which included Greece, Persia, the Near East, and Egypt. During this period the city-states begin to give way to a more global culture, and the entire Mediterranean sea and the Middle East flourish in a background of conflict, commerce, and cross-cultural influence, with the Greek ideals and language dominating the scene.

During the Hellenistic period art underwent dramatic transformations and evolved on the road paved previously by the Classical artist. While the Classical Greek concepts were not entirely abandoned, the artist of the Hellenistic era expanded his formal horizons with dramatic posing, sweeping lines, and high contrast of light, shadow and emotions. The conventions and rules of the classical period gave way to the experimentation and a sense of freedom that allowed the artist to explore his subjects from different unique points of view.  -  Greek Landscapes.com 

The Laocoon group - Priest of Troy with his two sons struggling with the serpents sent by Poseidon

  

  

  

  

The Uffizi Wrestlers 3rd Century BC

 
                                           Bronze replica

 

 

The Barberini Faun (a sleeping satyr) 200 B.C.