Western Civilization.p

Greek Culture and Its Hellenistic Diffusion 45

their undecorated state were once brilliantly painted.
Some had precious stones for eyes. The overall impres-
sion must have been unlike the serene appearance that
later generations associated with classicism, and the
more refined modern critics of the eighteenth and nine-
teenth centuries would probably have found the statues
tasteless.

Greek Thought from the Pre-Socratics

to Aristotle

The earliest Greek thought concerned the nature of the

physical universe and was formulated in terms that sug-

gest Egyptian or Mesopotamian influence. According

Illustration 3.2

The Evolution of Greek Sculpture.The figure on the left is
a kore(masc. koros) from the Athenian acropolis, c. 520 B.C.Fig-
ures of this kind were used as tomb markers or votive statues and
are one of the most common forms of early Greek sculpture.
Though more delicately modeled than most, this piece is still for-

mal, two-dimensional, and somewhat abstract. On the right is a

Roman copy of the famous Aphrodite by Praxiteles. Though the

statue reflects a certain classical serenity, the sensuality is, by ear-

lier Greek standards, remarkable. In archaic times, only male fig-

ures were portrayed in the nude.