zeus athena Contents Introduction Getting Started The Gods on Mount Olympus The Trojan Horse Odysseus and the Cyclops The Shepherdess Athens and the Acropolis Vase Painting Drama in Ancient Greece The Birthplace of Democracy Athens vs Sparta The Persian War The Olympics Alexander the Great Life in Ancient Greece Glossary Index 3 4 9 13 16 21 25 29 33 36 41 44 48 52 56 58 60 2
hear apollo Introduction Can you imagine what ancient Greece looked like Today its beautiful buildings are only ruins you’ve probably seen pictures of them But 2,400 years ago these buildings were gleaming marble temples dedicated to the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus We know about the gods through stories called myths In museums we see these gods and goddesses as they appear in sculpture and on decorated vases In ancient Greece myths and stories of heroic deeds were part of everyday life But the ancient Greeks were not only exciting storytellers and fine artists they were also people with ideas Many of their thoughts about mankind politics science and art are still respected and studied today That is why ancient Greece is often called the birthplace of Western civilization Luckily for us archaeologists have uncovered the ruins of palaces temples and walled cities of Greek civilization Now there is evidence that warriors like the legendary Achilles and Odysseus really did live and fight together against the ancient city of Troy Can you imagine ancient Greeks in their long flowing robes Can you see the Greek warriors in their crested helmets Can you imagine them as they wait beneath the walls of Troy They wait there for you to draw them and bring them to life 3
Getting Started This book is a guide to ancient Greek history and ancient Greek art The illustrations were influenced by the art on ancient Greek decorated vases For example we drew the face of the goddess Artemis below in side view because that is how Greek artists usually drew the human face We also imitated the Greek way of drawing robes Ancient Greek vase painters did not use shading or perspective to show depth However we used shading in most of our pictures For over two thousand years artists have studied and copied Greek art Fortunately for us there are many examples of ancient Greek vases and sculpture in
museums The painting on page 28 is a copy of a vase in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City If possible plan a visit to a museum to see the real thing There are also many fine books on ancient Greece that contain more examples of their art What will you need to do the drawings in this book Only pencils paper and a kneaded eraser A pad of tracing paper would also be useful After you’ve done some drawings you may want to paint Any kind of watercolor will do and at least one small brush for details 5
