Art and Aesthetics in Ancient Greece and Rome

I. Ancient Art and Architecture Resources for Greece (+ some on Rome)

A. Greek

  1. The Acropolis Museum Lots on the Acropolis (contains pictures, diagrams, etc)

  2. All about the Acropolis.

  3. National Archeological Museum of Athens web-site. Collection of Greek art is impressive.

  4. Floor Plan, British Museum Take a virtual tour of Greek artifacts in the British Museum!

  5. The Trojan War in Greek Art Be sure to look at The famous statue of Laocoon and his son being devoured by snakes (Laocoon tried to warn the Trojans not to let the Greeks' horse into Troy, but the gods attacked and punished him for this.)
    Or, another image is Fallen war hero Sarpedon (son of Zeus); note you can click on this image from a vase-painting to enlarge it and see details.

  6. The Parthenon Site all about the Parthenon (includes pictures, diagrams, etc.) Very good site.

  7. Propylaia Good reconstruction of the Propylaia on the Acropolis (just to get an idea of how things might have looked)

  8. The Parthenon friezes! Great site. Pictures with explanations of subject matter.

  9. Index of Museums This index gives you access to all the museums in Greece! It’s not a great site because it's too large, but it might be a good place to start research.

  10. Good pages on ancient Athens, with pictures and explanation of sites and monuments. Gorgeous photos!

  11. "Images of Orality and Literacy in Greek Iconography of the Fifth, Fourth and Third Centuries BCE" Specialized subject matter, but interesting.

    B. Roman:

  12. Roman Painting
    Be sure to check out the House of Venus; it's beautiful. Did Botticelli know about this?

  13. Pompeiian art Their misfortune is our good luck. J. Paul Getty definitely knew about this.

  14. Roman Art and Architecture Good site; well laid out pictures with good descriptions of sites and monuments. Provides some cultural/historical context.

  15. Colosseum Fairly good site on the Roman Colosseum. Geocities site, so has annoying pop-up ads. Good for those who enjoyed Gladiator!

  16. Ancient Images Picture index with hundreds of images of ancient (historical) people (mostly Romans). Some images on coins, statues, paitings. Good site overall, but very slow loading. A few images are not ancient, but still offer something worthwhile.

  17. Rome: A Virtual Tour Take a virtual tour of ancient Rome! Great site to explore.

  18. Ancient Rome: Places Imense picture index with aprox. 150 images of ancient Roman structures.

    C. Both Greek and Roman:

  19. Greek and Roman art at the Metropolitan Museum, New York Well-designed site, easy to do searches; plus, you can buy a sculpture reproduction in the Museum Store!

  20. Greek and Roman art at the Vatican Museum Can you figure out why this is called the "Profane" museum?

    D. Other Ancient Art

  21. Egyptian art collection at the Louvre (for a different perspective)

  22. The Seven Wonders of the ancient world Very well done, easy to explore. Be sure to look at the statue of Zeus at Olympia; these statues are (part of) what is missing when you visit ancient Greek ruins today.

  23. Mythological Characters Picture index with hundreds of images of mythological characters, very interesting. Some are not ancient works, but the sheer size of the index is worthwhile!
II. Philosophy/Aesthetics Pages

  1. Perseus encyclopedia entry for Aristotle A lot of information here; includes hyperlinks to texts and other resources.

  2. Perseus encyclopedia entry for Plato A lot of info; includes hyperlinks to texts and other resources.

  3. Platonic art-work made by other College students! Mostly images from the Republic, very interesting stuff.

  4. Scholarly article titled "Realism, Art and Republic X":

  5. Plato’s Republic outlined by topic. Part V, "The Quarrel between Philosophy and Poetry" is extremely relevant      

  6. Some simple notes to start with on Aristotle’s Poetics

  7. Page with an outline of Aristotle’s Poetics by topic. Also includes a section on vocabulary (catharsis, mimesis, etc.)

  8. Lecture notes accompanying Aristotle’s Poetics. Very thorough outline with great links to the actual text.

  9. Small Essay on the impact of Aristotle on modern drama
III. Drama and Tragedy

  1. Nice view from above of Theater of Dionysos, Athens For more beautiful images, to to the Images of Athens website and scroll down.

  2. Theater at Epidaurus Great site from Greek Ministry of Culture. This is the best-preserved of the ancient sites, and they still do performances there at summer festivals. It has incredibly good acoustics. Be sure to view the photo from the seats --it's as if you are really there!

  3. Perseus'encyclopedia entry for Sophocles. Good introduction to Sophocles, with hyperlinks to his works.

  4. Perseus encyclopedia entry for Aeschylus

  5. Perseus encyclopedia entry for Euripides

  6. Ancient Theater TodayThis site from Berkley is on ancient drama as it is performed today, very interesting and very thorough.

  7. "Introduction to Ancient Theatre"

  8. "Greek Stagecraft" This site has a lot of useful information. Contains pictures, floorplans, diagrams, etc.

  9. "Roman Stagecraft" Similar to the one just above.

IV. Historical/Cultural Background

  1. Perseus' Overview of Greek History, by Thomas Martin
    Sections to look at would include: #7- Introduction to the 5th century #9- Athenian Empire in the Golden Age 9.4- Periclean Building Program #10- Athenian Religious & Cultural Life in the Golden Age 10.2.1-The Nature of Tragedy 10.2.2-The Performance of Tragedy 10.2.3-The Spectacle of Tragedy 10.2.4-The Tragedians 10.2.5-Tragedy and the Polis #15- New Direction in Philosophy and Education

  2. There are too many sites in the WWW about the historical and cultural background of Greece. For more, try using your own favorite search engine. Remember to check on the academic/scholarly credentials of the author of the site. Sites from educators, museums, and other cultural institutions are usually more credible than amateur sites.  

V. Ancient Texts On-Line

  1. Perseus ancient text index (by author) The translations are old, but still useful. Note: This site is a large index. Use it to find links to specific works (e.g., Poetics, Republic, etc.)

  VI. Large Search Tools and Resources

  1. Perseus By now you have probably noticed that this is THE leading research tool for anyone interested in Greco-Roman classics.

  2. A source for Electronic Resources for Classicists There is more here than you could ever know (or want to know?). It is well-organized, but still pretty overwhelming. You might be surprised by the section called "software development".

  3. Argos A starter list of resources on the ancient and medieval worlds. There are some links here that take you to sites with information about other ancient cultures, like China.

  4. Library of Congress Classics Resources List   This is what it says. There are many topics you can learn more about by following out links that lead off from this page, or ones linked to it (be sure to look at the tiny font in the upper left-hand corner, for more links): Art/Architecture: Philosophy/Aesthetics: Ancient Drama: Historical/Cultural Bkgrd: Texts: Search/Resources:
This resource list was created by Dr. Cynthia Freeland, with the assistance of Steve Shardonofsky, and partially funded by a grant from the University of Houston.
Last modified February 6, 2001