athletes and warriors, mentally as philosophers,
law-makers, poets, artists, morally as heroes whose lives and actions
emulated those of the gods, and were almost perfect for this world.

ART MOTIVES: Neither the monarchy nor the priesthood commanded the
services of the artist in Greece, as in Assyria and Egypt. There was
no monarch in an oriental sense, and the chosen leaders of the Greeks
never, until the late days, arrogated art to themselves. It was
something for all the people.

In religion there was a pantheon of gods established and worshipped
from the earliest ages, but these gods were more like epitomes of
Greek ideals than spiritual beings. They were the personified virtues
of the Greeks, exemplars of perfect living; and in worshipping them
the Greek was really worshipping order, conduct, repose, dignity,
perfect life. The gods and heroes, as types of moral and physical
qualities, were continually represented in an allegorical or legendary
manner. Athene represented noble warfare, Zeus was majestic dignity
and power, Aphrodite love, Phoebus song, Nike triumph, and all the
lesser gods, nymphs, and fauns stood for beauties of nature or of
life. The great bulk of Greek architecture, sculpture, and painting
was put forth to honor these gods or heroes, and by so doing the
artist repeated the national ideals and honored himself. The first
motive of Greek art, then, was to praise Hellas and the Hellenic view
of life. In part it was a religious motive, but with little of that
spiritual significance and belief which ruled in Egypt, and later on
in Italy.

[Illustration: FIG. 11.--ATTIC GRAVE PAINTING. (FROM BAUMEISTER.)]

A second and ever-present motive in Greek painting was decoration.
This appears in the tomb pottery of the earliest ages, and was carried
on down to the latest times. Vase painting, wall painting, tablet and
sculpture painting were all done with a decorative motive in view.
Even the easel or panel pictures had some decorative effect about
them, though they were primarily intended to convey ideas other than
those of form and color.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The gods and heroes, their lives and adventures,
formed the early subjects of Greek painting. Certain themes taken
from the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" were as frequently shown as,
afterward, the Annunciations in Italian painting. The traditional
subjects, the Centaurs and Lapiths, the Amazon war, Theseus and
Ariadne, Perseus and Andromeda, were fr