Why have so few Greek sculptures survived intact?
Because during the Dark Ages (c.400-800) scavengers dismantled many stone sculptures and melted down nearly all bronzes for scrap. As a result, our knowledge of Greek sculpture is limited to Roman copies of the orginal designs, or a few remaining fragments. Even so, those temples which have survived, like the Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens, still have numerous examples of relief-sculpture and some statues. Luckily some outstanding masterpieces have survived, notably “Laocoon” (42-20 BCE), carved by Hagesandrus, Polydorus and Athenodorus. For more, see: Greek Sculpture. Q. What are the main styles of Greek pottery? Ceramic earthenware is the principal surviving source of information about Greek pictorial art. The four major styles were: geometric, black-figure, red-figure and white ground. Ironically, Greek ceramic art was never as widely respected as fine art. Monumental painting had the highest status, followed by architecture, sculpture and metalwork. For a full outline, see: G
