Hellenistic art

Hellenistic art spans from Alexander the Great’s death in 323 BC to the Roman takeover of the Greek world, a process that saw the Greek mainland conquered by 146 BC and ended with the fall of Ptolemaic Egypt in 30 BC after the Battle of Actium. Famous sculptures like *Laocoön and His Sons*, *Dying Gaul*, *Venus de Milo*, and the *Winged Victory of Samothrace* come from this era. It comes after Classical Greek art, and the Greco-Roman art that followed largely continued Hellenistic styles.

The word “Hellenistic” describes how Greek influence spread after Alexander’s death—the “Hellenizing” of the world, with Koine Greek as a shared language. This term is modern. The Hellenistic World covered a vast area around the Aegean Sea, far beyond the city-states of Athens and Sparta, and spanned a long period. Artistically, this means great diversity, grouped under “Hellenistic Art” for convenience.

A key feature of the period was the breakup of Alexander’s empire into smaller dynasties ruled by his generals, the diadochi: the Ptolemies in Egypt, the Seleucids in Mesopotamia, Persia, and Syria, the Attalids in Pergamon, and others. These royal courts sponsored art differently than the old city-states. Alexander’s own circle included three artists: sculptor Lysippus, painter Apelles, and gem engraver Pyrgoteles. After his death, much of the Greek world—especially the wealthy—enjoyed prosperity and extravagance. Royalty became major art patrons. Sculpture, painting, and architecture flourished, but vase-painting lost importance. Metalwork and other luxury arts produced fine pieces, and popular art grew more sophisticated.

Historians have sometimes viewed Hellenistic art as a decline from Classical Greece’s Golden Age. Eighteenth-century terms like Baroque and Rococo have been applied to this complex period. New discoveries, such as the tombs of Vergina, along with renewed interest in historiography, may lead to a better understanding of the era.

**Architecture**

In architecture, the successor dynasties created vast urban plans and large complexes, which had mostly vanished from city-states by the 5th century BC. The Doric Temple was nearly abandoned. City planning became innovative: instead of correcting a site’s flaws, buildings adapted to the natural landscape. Many places for leisure appeared, especially theaters and parks. The monarchies had large spaces to build big cities like Antioch, Pergamon, and Seleucia on the Tigris.

Gigantism was common. The second temple of Apollo at Didyma, near Miletus in Ionia, is an example. Designed by Daphnis of Miletus and Paionios of Ephesus in the late 4th century BC, it was never finished but built on until the 2nd century AD. This sanctuary is among the largest in the Mediterranean: inside a vast court (21.7 by 53.6 meters), the cella is ringed by a double colonnade of 108 Ionic columns, each nearly 20 meters tall, with richly carved bases and capitals.

**Alexandria**

Hellenistic Alexandria developed a distinctive architectural style often called baroque, due to its heavy ornamentation and use of structural elements as decoration. Possibly inspired by traditional Egyptian architecture, Alexandrian architects created new shapes: segmental, broken, hollow, and volute pediments, as well as curved, arched, concave, and broken entablatures. These baroque forms appeared in Alexandria by at least the 2nd century BC. They were later adopted across the Roman Empire and influenced the rock-cut tombs of Petra.

Alexandrian architecture used Corinthian capitals extensively, both inside and out. The earliest known exterior Corinthian capitals in Alexandria are on Ptolemy III’s temple of Sarapis in the Sarapeion (built between 246 and 221 BC), though the propylon of the Sanctuary of the Great Gods on Samothrace, sponsored by Ptolemy II (285–246 BC), already had Corinthian columns on one facade. Corinthian capitals were sometimes paired with Doric entablatures, a rare combination elsewhere in the Hellenistic world. Alexandrian Corinthian capitals varied widely in shape and composition, with historians identifying four distinct types.

Other typical features included acanthus leaf column bases, sometimes placed between the standard Attic base and the column shaft of a Corinthian column, and cornices with distinctive Alexandrian flat grooved or hollow square modillions. Roman Second Style frescoes are thought to have been inspired by Alexandrian architecture.

**Olynthus**

The ancient city of Olynthus is a key architectural and artistic link between the Classical and Hellenistic worlds. Over 100 homes were found at the site, remarkably well preserved, offering insight into the period’s domestic architecture.