Editing Ancient Greek architecture (section)

=== Art ===
{{multiple image
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| image1            = Boxers Staatliche Antikensammlungen 1541.jpg
| width1            = 168
| caption1          = Black figure ''Amphora'', Atalante painter (500–490 BC), shows proportion and style that are hallmarks of ancient Greek art
| image2            = 009MA Kritios.jpg
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| caption2          = ''The Kritios Boy'', (c. 480 BC), typifies the tradition of free-standing figures
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The art of the Hellenic era is generally subdivided into four periods: the Protogeometric (1100–900 BC), the Geometric (900–700 BC), the Archaic (700–500 BC) and the Classical (500–323 BC)<ref>{{harvnb|Fletcher|1996}}; {{harvnb|Gardner|Kleiner|Mamiya|2004}}.</ref> with sculpture being further divided into Severe Classical, High Classical and Late Classical.<ref name=BDFH>{{harvnb|Boardman|Dorig|Fuchs|Hirmer|1967}}.</ref> The first signs of the particular artistic character that defines ancient Greek architecture are to be seen in the pottery of the Dorian Greeks from the 10th century BC. Already at this period it is created with a sense of proportion, symmetry and balance not apparent in similar pottery from Crete and Mycenae. The decoration is precisely geometric, and ordered neatly into zones on defined areas of each vessel. These qualities were to manifest themselves not only through a millennium of Greek pottery making, but also in the architecture that was to emerge in the 6th century.<ref name=Strong>{{harvnb|Strong|1965|p=35}}.</ref> The major development that occurred was in the growing use of the human figure as the major decorative motif, and the increasing surety with which humanity, its mythology, activities and passions were depicted.<ref name="BDFH" />

The development in the depiction of the human form in pottery was accompanied by a similar development in sculpture. The tiny stylised bronzes of the Geometric period gave way to life-sized highly formalised monolithic representation in the Archaic period. The Classical period was marked by a rapid development towards idealised but increasingly lifelike depictions of gods in human form.<ref>{{harvnb|Strong|1965|pp=33–102}}.</ref> This development had a direct effect on the sculptural decoration of temples, as many of the greatest extant works of ancient Greek sculpture once adorned temples,<ref>{{harvnb|Strong|1965|pp=39–40, 62–66}}.</ref> and many of the largest recorded statues of the age, such as the lost [[chryselephantine]] statues of Zeus at the Temple of Zeus at Olympia and Athena at the Parthenon, Athens, both over 40 feet high, were once housed in them.<ref>{{harvnb|Fletcher|1996|pp=119–121}}.</ref>