0:00:12 > 0:00:15In August 1972, a holiday-maker from Rome
0:00:15 > 0:00:19was snorkelling off the southern coast of Italy.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22At a depth of about seven metres,
0:00:22 > 0:00:27he saw what he believed was a human hand sticking out of the seabed.
0:00:29 > 0:00:33When he touched it, he realised it was the hand of a statue.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39There was another buried nearby.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43When the statues were hauled up to dry land,
0:00:43 > 0:00:48it was plain that he'd discovered something amazing -
0:00:48 > 0:00:53two perfect, life-sized Ancient Greek bronze warriors.
0:00:57 > 0:01:02These two magnificent bronze warriors are unmistakably Greek.
0:01:04 > 0:01:09Naked, athletic, sensuous male bodies,
0:01:09 > 0:01:13with an aura of heroism and grandeur.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18Staggering workmanship, total mastery of technique.
0:01:19 > 0:01:24And they were made nearly 500 years before Christ,
0:01:24 > 0:01:28when our ancestors in Britain were still living in wooden huts.
0:01:30 > 0:01:35Yet what is even more astonishing is that just one generation earlier
0:01:35 > 0:01:39sculptures like these simply weren't possible.
0:01:39 > 0:01:44Greek artists weren't capable of producing such top-quality,
0:01:44 > 0:01:47closely observed works of art.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51And then, suddenly, they were.
0:01:51 > 0:01:56So how did the Ancient Greeks get so good so fast?
0:02:00 > 0:02:02In the 5th century BC,
0:02:02 > 0:02:05something extraordinary occurred in Greece
0:02:05 > 0:02:08that would change the course of Western culture.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12This was the golden age of Classical art.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17A time of dazzling advances in technique,
0:02:17 > 0:02:19from casting in bronze...
0:02:21 > 0:02:22..to carving in marble.
0:02:25 > 0:02:26From painting to pottery.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32At its heart was a passion for the human figure
0:02:32 > 0:02:35and a new sense of what art could do.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43We're still feeling the effects of what happened here
0:02:43 > 0:02:452,500 years later.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52The art of Classical Greece coming, it seems, out of nowhere
0:02:52 > 0:02:57is more dazzling, more realistic and more beautiful than ever before.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01It's been called the Greek Revolution.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04But how and why did that revolution happen?
0:03:04 > 0:03:07The answer is more surprising, much stranger
0:03:07 > 0:03:09and more exciting than we imagine.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32These are the remains
0:03:32 > 0:03:35of some of the finest temples in the Ancient Greek world.
0:03:35 > 0:03:40But they're not in Greece, they're in Sicily, at Agrigento,
0:03:40 > 0:03:42in the so-called Valley of the Temples.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52Once, they formed part of one of the most powerful cities
0:03:52 > 0:03:53in the Greek world.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57A world that extended further and further beyond the shores of Greece.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05The Greek philosopher Plato
0:04:05 > 0:04:08once compared the independent communities of Greeks
0:04:08 > 0:04:12scattered along the shores of the Mediterranean
0:04:12 > 0:04:14to "frogs around a pond".
0:04:15 > 0:04:16By the 5th century BC,
0:04:16 > 0:04:21Greece was not so much a country in the modern sense
0:04:21 > 0:04:25as an extensive network of hundreds of rival colonies
0:04:25 > 0:04:27and powerful city-states,
0:04:27 > 0:04:30all of them trading, bickering,
0:04:30 > 0:04:36but also sharing vital customs, attitudes and religious beliefs
0:04:36 > 0:04:37as well as language.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47The Greeks at Agrigento were proud of their city.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50They built no fewer than seven monumental temples,
0:04:50 > 0:04:53dedicated to different gods, overlooking the sea.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01Around the sides of temples like these,
0:05:01 > 0:05:05Greek craftsmen carved scenes from the lives of the gods.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12But in the 5th century BC they began to do things very differently.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28A visit to the archaeological museum in Palermo
0:05:28 > 0:05:31gives you a sense of how radical that change was.
0:05:36 > 0:05:38Here's the old way of doing things.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44This relief from a temple nearby shows Zeus, the king of the gods,
0:05:44 > 0:05:48in the shape of a bull, carrying off the beautiful Europa
0:05:48 > 0:05:50with whom he has fallen in love.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55It was carved in the 6th century BC, around the year 550.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01Like a lot of Greek art at this time,
0:06:01 > 0:06:06the scene is presented in a strong yet simple fashion.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08The figures occupy the same plane
0:06:08 > 0:06:11as the surface of the original block of stone
0:06:11 > 0:06:14and almost everything is presented in profile.
0:06:14 > 0:06:19Except for the bull's head, which is turned impossibly to the front.
0:06:24 > 0:06:30To modern eyes, art like this can look naive, even primitive.
0:06:30 > 0:06:32The shapes are blocky and crude
0:06:32 > 0:06:36and though poor old Europa's being dragged away by force,
0:06:36 > 0:06:39there's precious little emotion on her face.
0:06:41 > 0:06:46Then just 100 years later and the stone leaps into life.
0:06:54 > 0:06:59In this temple relief, something really remarkable is happening.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06It depicts a moment from a very grisly myth,
0:07:06 > 0:07:09when the hunter Aktaion is torn apart by his own hounds
0:07:09 > 0:07:12after offending the goddess Artemis.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22Aktaion is bowing his head, succumbing to this brutal fate,
0:07:22 > 0:07:26as one animal already crunches its jaws into his side.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29And on the right, semi-throttled by Aktaion,
0:07:29 > 0:07:33while still clawing at his shoulder and his flank,
0:07:33 > 0:07:36is this bravura piece of carving,
0:07:36 > 0:07:40a frenzied, sharp-fanged hound,
0:07:40 > 0:07:43imagined at the maximum moment of bloodlust,
0:07:43 > 0:07:47one aerodynamic ear flattened by the speed of his attack.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57What we're witnessing
0:07:57 > 0:08:01is a sharp contrast with the art of 100 years before -
0:08:01 > 0:08:07movement, psychological tension, expression, and a sense of drama.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21Just what caused this shift
0:08:21 > 0:08:25is a question that has challenged art historians for centuries.
0:08:30 > 0:08:35One motivating factor was undoubtedly competition,
0:08:35 > 0:08:38the fierce desire of the Greeks in places like Sicily
0:08:38 > 0:08:43to outshine rival city-states in the wider Greek world
0:08:43 > 0:08:47in art, in building, at athletic competitions.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53One activity brought out this competitive streak like no other.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03This little silver coin gives us a clue.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07It dates from around 470BC and it's from this part of the world -
0:09:07 > 0:09:10the western colonial frontier of Ancient Greece.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14It shows a charioteer competing in one of the games.
0:09:14 > 0:09:19He's wearing an ankle-length robe and he's driving these horses.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23We know they must be thoroughbred racing horses because they have
0:09:23 > 0:09:27beautifully elegant, thin legs and these manicured manes.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32Four-horse chariot racing was the most prestigious and expensive sport
0:09:32 > 0:09:34of the Ancient Greek athletic games.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37It's been called the Formula 1 of its day.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39And Sicilian rulers were obsessed with it.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43They loved to compete but, even more, they loved to win
0:09:43 > 0:09:47and they recorded their victories on coins like these.
0:09:47 > 0:09:52It was a simple but ostentatious way of signalling their elite status,
0:09:52 > 0:09:54showing off that they were more Greek
0:09:54 > 0:09:57than the Greeks back home in the old world.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12The tiny island of Motya lies off Sicily's western coast.
0:10:17 > 0:10:22In 1979, archaeologists made a discovery here that laid bare
0:10:22 > 0:10:25that spirit of creative competition.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30They found a work that, in the 5th century BC,
0:10:30 > 0:10:33dramatically raised the bar of artistic ambition.
0:10:51 > 0:10:56Only one word begins to do justice to the effect of this sculpture -
0:10:56 > 0:10:57swagger.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03We are looking at an aristocrat and an athlete,
0:11:03 > 0:11:07probably a victorious charioteer.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10He's fully aware of his vigour,
0:11:10 > 0:11:13his physical power and sexual charisma.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17He's revelling in his recent triumph.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21As a figure, he's dripping with attitude and brazen self-display,
0:11:21 > 0:11:23like a strutting peacock.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30And, like a peacock, he is something of a dandy.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32Because, artistically,
0:11:32 > 0:11:36the secret weapon of this statue is what he's wearing -
0:11:36 > 0:11:41this high-belted, diaphanous robe,
0:11:41 > 0:11:44shrink-wrapping his still-sweaty muscles
0:11:44 > 0:11:48and revealing every last contour and swelling,
0:11:48 > 0:11:51leaving very little indeed to the imagination.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56All those swooping, darting, sinuous folds and crinkles,
0:11:56 > 0:11:58which have been carved
0:11:58 > 0:12:05with such a breathtaking new naturalism and subtlety
0:12:05 > 0:12:08so that they cascade down his body with the ease of water,
0:12:08 > 0:12:13they all caress and, therefore, emphasise his form,
0:12:13 > 0:12:16like underlining the most important passages in a book.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29This is no god but a wealthy, successful individual,
0:12:29 > 0:12:33one with the money to pay an artist for something very special.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42Victory statues like this
0:12:42 > 0:12:46would spur Greek sculptors to push their skills to the limit
0:12:49 > 0:12:52In terms of art history,
0:12:52 > 0:12:56the Motya charioteer seems to have come out of nowhere -
0:12:56 > 0:13:00this glorious apparition, a messenger
0:13:00 > 0:13:04announcing the sudden victory of the revolution with a flourish.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15Once announced, there could be no going back.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19Greek art would be fired into striving
0:13:19 > 0:13:21for greater and greater realism...
0:13:23 > 0:13:26..and a new sense of dramatic possibility.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33There are many possible causes for the Greek Revolution,
0:13:33 > 0:13:37but one of the strongest candidates has to be technique.
0:13:37 > 0:13:42The question is - did Greek artists begin to create lifelike images
0:13:42 > 0:13:44simply because they wanted to?
0:13:44 > 0:13:48Or did new techniques encourage artistic experimentation?
0:13:55 > 0:13:59What's certain is that in the competitive atmosphere of the time,
0:13:59 > 0:14:04new ways of creating art were developing at astonishing speed.
0:14:05 > 0:14:12Take a remarkable technique that was perfected sometime around 500BC.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15A way of casting life-size statues in bronze
0:14:15 > 0:14:17known as the lost wax technique.
0:14:19 > 0:14:26- Hello. Alastair.- Vassilis. - Vassillis, hi.- Petros.- Petros.
0:14:26 > 0:14:27Great to meet you both.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29'Vassilis and Petros have agreed to show me
0:14:29 > 0:14:32'how to make a bronze statue the Ancient Greek way.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37'First, the statue is modelled in clay
0:14:37 > 0:14:40'and encased in plaster to make a mould.'
0:14:41 > 0:14:45Part of the mould comes off quite easily. Very easily.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51'Inside the mould is the imprint of the statue.'
0:14:51 > 0:14:55You've made your model with clay, you've got all of your moulds,
0:14:55 > 0:14:57what's the next part of the process?
0:14:57 > 0:14:59TRANSLATION:
0:15:17 > 0:15:22'This plaster cast will be used to make a hollow wax statue.
0:15:31 > 0:15:33'The wax is poured out,
0:15:33 > 0:15:37'leaving a film of wax clinging to the inside of the mould.
0:15:40 > 0:15:41'When the model has set,
0:15:41 > 0:15:45'the mould comes off to release the hollow wax model inside.'
0:15:47 > 0:15:52So...now we have one wax warrior,
0:15:52 > 0:15:54and he's hollow.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00Amazing. It's really very ingenious indeed.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23'The hollow wax figure will be filled
0:16:23 > 0:16:27'with sand and plaster to make a solid core inside.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33'A second mould, in plaster, is made to encase the model.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37'When it's fired in a kiln, the wax melts away,
0:16:37 > 0:16:42'leaving a thin, statue-shaped cavity between the two moulds
0:16:42 > 0:16:46'and into that cavity goes the molten bronze.
0:16:46 > 0:16:48'It is then left to cool.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52'After a couple of hours, the mould is chipped away
0:16:52 > 0:16:54'and the sculpture revealed.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59'Finally, it can be cleaned and polished,
0:16:59 > 0:17:03'the end of a long and sometimes uncertain process.'
0:17:04 > 0:17:07The whole process, this bit, is unbelievably dramatic!
0:17:08 > 0:17:11Do you still find it very exciting to watch it?
0:17:33 > 0:17:38Though the process looks complicated, the technique is a gift to artists.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43Bronze is a much more fluid and forgiving medium than marble,
0:17:43 > 0:17:48and better suited for achieving tiny, refined details on the surface,
0:17:48 > 0:17:52so it allowed sculptors to experiment and innovate like never before.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04Some time in the 5th century BC, the Ancient Greeks
0:18:04 > 0:18:08took bronze casting to a dazzling new level of artistry.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13For proof, let's look again at those enigmatic figures
0:18:13 > 0:18:16found on the seabed some 40-odd years ago.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27If the Motya charioteer is a tease,
0:18:27 > 0:18:31then these warriors are a revelation.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37The best works of art have a palpable charisma.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39Sometimes it's hard to explain why,
0:18:39 > 0:18:41but you know it when you see it
0:18:41 > 0:18:43and these two have got that X-factor.
0:18:45 > 0:18:49The details of both sculptures are extraordinary.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53Veins snaking across muscles,
0:18:53 > 0:18:55intricate locks of curling hair...
0:18:57 > 0:19:00..copper nipples,
0:19:00 > 0:19:02copper lips with silver teeth...
0:19:03 > 0:19:07..and those inlaid eyes with delicate foil lashes.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11And crucially, they're not identikit warriors,
0:19:11 > 0:19:15spewed from some workshop assembly line.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19Instead, each figure has a distinct identity.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25This one, he is vigorous, alert, tense, toned,
0:19:25 > 0:19:29the height of manliness with his shoulders back, his teeth bared.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31He is practically growling.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38His companion has a much more droopy quality.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46Look at the sloping shoulders,
0:19:46 > 0:19:49the slightly soft musculature...
0:19:53 > 0:19:56..a much more languid, sinuous pose,
0:19:56 > 0:20:00and just a hint of a depressive expression.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07Inside the contours of this guy, there's something new,
0:20:07 > 0:20:10a quivering sense of psychology -
0:20:10 > 0:20:13hesitant, a touch melancholic perhaps.
0:20:16 > 0:20:18Looking at these two figures,
0:20:18 > 0:20:20it seems self-evident that
0:20:20 > 0:20:23unprecedented accomplishments in bronze casting
0:20:23 > 0:20:27must have been a driving force behind the Greek Revolution,
0:20:27 > 0:20:30or at least an intimate part of it.
0:20:30 > 0:20:35The subtlety, the fluidity and the speed of bronze
0:20:35 > 0:20:38allowed Greek artists to experiment.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41And the forms they created were radically dynamic.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57The Greek Revolution wasn't confined to the sculptor's studio.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01It would become part of daily Greek life...
0:21:06 > 0:21:12..and find expression in a much lowlier, more everyday art form.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20In fact, it may even have started here, with pots.
0:21:29 > 0:21:35Pots, like all of these vases, drinking cups and storage jars,
0:21:35 > 0:21:39they weren't high-status objects in antiquity, unlike sculptures.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42A simply decorated pot might have cost
0:21:42 > 0:21:47the equivalent of two or three days' wages in the 6th century.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51But the funny thing is that the highly competitive artists
0:21:51 > 0:21:53who made and decorated these pots
0:21:53 > 0:21:57may have been in the vanguard of the Greek Revolution,
0:21:57 > 0:22:00blazing a trail for the sculptors who followed.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07Since the 7th century BC,
0:22:07 > 0:22:11there had been a standard way of decorating pots.
0:22:11 > 0:22:16The scene was painted on in clay that, when fired, turned black,
0:22:16 > 0:22:19then details were cut into it with a sharp instrument.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22This was known as black-figure.
0:22:22 > 0:22:27It's a style that's bold, linear, graphic.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32But then, as with bronze, new developments in technique
0:22:32 > 0:22:34offered exciting possibilities.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41Around 530BC,
0:22:41 > 0:22:45one Athenian vase painter decided to try something different,
0:22:45 > 0:22:48to become experimental.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50This is one of his pots.
0:22:50 > 0:22:55On one side, there's a scene in a straightforward black-figure style,
0:22:55 > 0:23:00showing Ajax and Achilles silhouetted in black against a red background
0:23:00 > 0:23:01as they are playing dice.
0:23:02 > 0:23:04But if you turn the pot around...
0:23:05 > 0:23:10..then there's another scene on the other side of it,
0:23:10 > 0:23:13this time a different moment from mythology
0:23:13 > 0:23:16showing Herakles battling a lion.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21But the technique is entirely new.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25The artist here has created the figures using the red,
0:23:25 > 0:23:27and the background has become black.
0:23:29 > 0:23:34We don't know what inspired this artist to try out this new technique.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38It's possible that he just wanted to stand out from his rivals.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42But a bilingual pot, as this is known,
0:23:42 > 0:23:43would have been a way
0:23:43 > 0:23:47of demonstrating that technique for customers.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50And the new technique would liberate vase-painting
0:23:50 > 0:23:52to new levels of sophistication.
0:24:01 > 0:24:02With red-figure vases,
0:24:02 > 0:24:05the details of the image are painted on,
0:24:05 > 0:24:07not scratched on with a metal point.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12Watching one being made, before it's fired,
0:24:12 > 0:24:16you can see how delicate and expressive the artist can be.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20This technique gives her a new, painterly freedom,
0:24:20 > 0:24:23particularly when describing the human figure.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26She's embellished the figures with a fine brush.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29Now she's filling in the background,
0:24:29 > 0:24:33that watered-down clay will turn black when fired in a kiln.
0:24:37 > 0:24:38She adds details.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41This man's curly ringlets...
0:24:41 > 0:24:45or slender curving strokes to suggest the muscles on this warrior's leg.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54Here it is once it's been fired.
0:24:55 > 0:24:59It shows Greek warriors slaughtering the citizens of Troy.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02That's blood on their bodies.
0:25:03 > 0:25:08But look, too, at the way that this sleeve falls on this man's arm,
0:25:08 > 0:25:11it's transparent, almost like gauze.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14And compared to the flat blocks of black-figure painting,
0:25:14 > 0:25:18the effect is much more realistic, almost three dimensional.
0:25:28 > 0:25:30This new freedom of technique
0:25:30 > 0:25:34allowed artists to expand their subjects.
0:25:34 > 0:25:39And it's exactly about this time that artists begin to experiment.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42Not just the old heroic stories from mythology,
0:25:42 > 0:25:44but now scenes of everyday life.
0:25:45 > 0:25:50Even scenes of drunken debauchery, in honour of the wine god Dionysus...
0:25:51 > 0:25:55..a gathering otherwise known as a symposium.
0:26:02 > 0:26:07Now if a symposium to you suggests earnest philosophers debating
0:26:07 > 0:26:10the point of existence, forget it.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13A symposium was a male drinking session.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19Nothing brought out the darker side of the Greek imagination
0:26:19 > 0:26:21like the symposium.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23By day, Apollo guided the Greeks,
0:26:23 > 0:26:26presiding over everything that was orderly and rational.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30But by night, it was the turn of Dionysus and the irrational.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35With booze came the promise of sex.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39And to help get the party going,
0:26:39 > 0:26:45Greek artists developed a racy new art form - the symposium pot.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52Symposium pots were a real gift to artists
0:26:52 > 0:26:56because they offered endless creative possibilities
0:26:56 > 0:27:01for all sorts of ambiguity, role playing, puns, double meaning.
0:27:01 > 0:27:03Mischief essentially.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08But there was a catch - you had to drink to the bottom of the bowl
0:27:08 > 0:27:10to discover what was painted there.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14And, of course, I've now obscured entirely
0:27:14 > 0:27:17the painting that's at the bottom of the pot but I'll give it a go.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28It does encourage quite big gulps, it's a very wide bowl.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32There is am important point here.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35Too often, we look at art in a detached way
0:27:35 > 0:27:39and it's important to remember that ancient artworks,
0:27:39 > 0:27:43objects like these, were made for purpose, they had a function.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46So to really understand them, arguably,
0:27:46 > 0:27:49you have to try and use them, like this.
0:27:58 > 0:28:00Maybe that's part of the point of these works of art.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02They are meant to be a surprise.
0:28:02 > 0:28:04You come into the room, lie down on your couch,
0:28:04 > 0:28:07you're handed one of these bowls, it's full of liquid
0:28:07 > 0:28:10and you get down to the bottom and, by the time you have,
0:28:10 > 0:28:13it's like looking into a mirror, you see a reflection and what
0:28:13 > 0:28:18you're looking at is your Dionysiac self writ large, kind of literally.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31Here the picture is,
0:28:31 > 0:28:33the painting at the bottom,
0:28:33 > 0:28:37a satyr with a large erection,
0:28:37 > 0:28:40a horse's tail to one side,
0:28:40 > 0:28:45and he has amorous desires clearly, he's chasing a woman,
0:28:45 > 0:28:48a maenad I guess, a follower of Dionysus
0:28:48 > 0:28:52because she's wearing a panther skin and not much else.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55She's got this rather large stick...
0:28:55 > 0:28:59looks like a kind of mop, I think it's known as a thyrsus,
0:28:59 > 0:29:02which she's using to tickle the satyr.
0:29:03 > 0:29:07And, although she's resisting, it's still a bit of a come-on.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10Clearly the whole mood evoked by this
0:29:10 > 0:29:15is that there's going to be a happy ending to the evening.
0:29:25 > 0:29:27The Greek Revolution -
0:29:27 > 0:29:31a bold shift of style towards a more lifelike kind of art -
0:29:31 > 0:29:35spanned the full range of human experience.
0:29:35 > 0:29:38From the foibles of sexual desire
0:29:38 > 0:29:41to the highest aspirations of the spirit.
0:29:42 > 0:29:47And they found common ground in the Greek obsession with the human body.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54The Greeks put man at the very centre of the universe.
0:29:54 > 0:29:56You can see it in their visual arts
0:29:56 > 0:30:00where their gods and goddesses resemble splendid men and women.
0:30:04 > 0:30:07In idealising the human body, the Greeks felt
0:30:07 > 0:30:11that they could come close to achieving artistic perfection.
0:30:17 > 0:30:20One sculptor certainly thought so.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23His name was Polykleitos.
0:30:23 > 0:30:27Working in the middle of the 5th century BC,
0:30:27 > 0:30:30he would have a profound effect on Greek art
0:30:30 > 0:30:32and, indeed, on all later Western art.
0:30:36 > 0:30:41You can't have a discussion about the ideal male Greek nude
0:30:41 > 0:30:43without considering this fellow -
0:30:43 > 0:30:47the Doryphoros, or spear-bearer, of Polykleitos.
0:30:51 > 0:30:54He must be one of the most carefully
0:30:54 > 0:30:58and subtly conceived sculptures ever created.
0:31:03 > 0:31:07He looks like a virile youth with a large head.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10But he is more than just a straightforward illusion
0:31:10 > 0:31:12of flesh and blood.
0:31:12 > 0:31:17He is also an essay in order and proportion,
0:31:17 > 0:31:19a meticulously composed scheme,
0:31:19 > 0:31:24a blueprint, if you like, for how the nude youth should look
0:31:24 > 0:31:28in order to be as pleasing as possible for the Greek eye.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33The pose is crucial.
0:31:33 > 0:31:36It's known as contrapposto, a figure at rest,
0:31:36 > 0:31:39with the weight shifted onto one leg,
0:31:39 > 0:31:41so that one hip rises up assertively
0:31:41 > 0:31:45while the other one dips under gravity.
0:31:45 > 0:31:46All of the elements of the body
0:31:46 > 0:31:51are arranged in this complex system of balance and tension.
0:31:52 > 0:31:55The arm above the slack leg is tense,
0:31:55 > 0:31:59while the one above the weight-bearing leg is relaxed,
0:31:59 > 0:32:02creating a sort of compositional X.
0:32:03 > 0:32:08The anatomy is very symmetrical, architectural,
0:32:08 > 0:32:11rigid, even, like a breastplate, rather than true to life.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16The penis is modest and restrained.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19And the gaze is calm and detached,
0:32:19 > 0:32:22as though we've left behind the real world
0:32:22 > 0:32:25and entered some lofty realm of art.
0:32:31 > 0:32:35But the most influential innovation of all was this.
0:32:38 > 0:32:39It's a lifted heel.
0:32:39 > 0:32:44Something that implies spontaneity, in-the-moment relaxation,
0:32:44 > 0:32:49which was absent from, say, the flat-footed Riace bronzes.
0:32:50 > 0:32:54This heel was Polykleitos's masterstroke.
0:32:58 > 0:33:03For some tastes, the Doryphoros is that little bit too contrived,
0:33:03 > 0:33:05just a touch self-conscious,
0:33:05 > 0:33:09but Polykleitos did manage to codify and distil
0:33:09 > 0:33:15a large number of complex elements into a single, elegant composition,
0:33:15 > 0:33:17like a beautiful piece of algebra.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27Polykleitos believed he'd discovered the exact proportions of the body
0:33:27 > 0:33:30that expressed artistic perfection.
0:33:33 > 0:33:35"Perfection," he said,
0:33:35 > 0:33:38"comes about little by little through many numbers."
0:33:40 > 0:33:43He even wrote down his calculations in a treatise
0:33:43 > 0:33:45that unfortunately hasn't survived.
0:33:48 > 0:33:52It's a really significant moment in the history of art -
0:33:52 > 0:33:57an artist reflecting on what he does and then theorising about it.
0:33:57 > 0:34:01It's as if Polykleitos was interested in art,
0:34:01 > 0:34:04the pursuit of perfection, for its own sake.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07Thanks to him, it was now legitimate
0:34:07 > 0:34:10to consider people making images in the ancient world
0:34:10 > 0:34:13not as craftsmen, but as artists.
0:34:17 > 0:34:22Polykleitos became known as the man who defined Classical art,
0:34:22 > 0:34:27an art based on ideals of restraint, proportion and harmony.
0:34:29 > 0:34:34This fascination with the idealised male body was a powerful factor
0:34:34 > 0:34:36in the Greek Revolution.
0:34:37 > 0:34:41It led to a kind of heightened naturalism never seen before.
0:34:44 > 0:34:47The Classical style had arrived
0:34:47 > 0:34:50and would become the bedrock of Western art.
0:34:59 > 0:35:04If Polykleitos was the man who codified the art of Classical Greece,
0:35:04 > 0:35:08then the place where it found its highest expression
0:35:08 > 0:35:10was the city-state of Athens.
0:35:12 > 0:35:14In the 5th century BC,
0:35:14 > 0:35:19Athens dominated Greek art and philosophy, drama and politics.
0:35:21 > 0:35:25The Athenians pioneered a new and unique system of government -
0:35:25 > 0:35:27democracy.
0:35:27 > 0:35:30They were extremely, even fanatically, proud of it,
0:35:30 > 0:35:34though the only people allowed to vote were free men.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38They were even prouder of their military power.
0:35:38 > 0:35:43They had just driven out their mortal enemies, the Persians.
0:35:43 > 0:35:49In 480BC, the Persians had trashed the sacred heart of the city -
0:35:49 > 0:35:51the Acropolis.
0:35:51 > 0:35:56The site lay untouched for years, an Athenian Ground Zero.
0:35:56 > 0:36:00And when they rebuilt it, it was with reborn ambition.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22Everything about the extensive building project
0:36:22 > 0:36:24on the Acropolis was grandiose.
0:36:24 > 0:36:26It was a showpiece, really,
0:36:26 > 0:36:30that expressed the wealth and power of the Athenian empire.
0:36:31 > 0:36:36Elaborate artworks adorned the temple-cum-treasury of the Parthenon.
0:36:36 > 0:36:38At either end, in the pediments,
0:36:38 > 0:36:41there were grand sculptures portraying the gods.
0:36:41 > 0:36:44And, wrapped around the exterior of the building,
0:36:44 > 0:36:48there were dramatic sculpted panels showing mythological scenes.
0:36:55 > 0:36:58Even in antiquity, the Parthenon was recognised
0:36:58 > 0:37:02as perhaps the most perfect Greek temple ever built, bringing together
0:37:02 > 0:37:07all the Classical ideals of order, symmetry and geometrical proportion.
0:37:14 > 0:37:17But running around the building's inner block was something new -
0:37:17 > 0:37:21an elaborate frieze that was 160 metres long.
0:37:27 > 0:37:31Some of the Parthenon's sculptures are just breathtaking.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37Was there ever a horse's head with as much nervous energy as this one?
0:37:39 > 0:37:42Look at this goddess, probably Aphrodite,
0:37:42 > 0:37:47her clothes cling to her in sensuous folds that beguile the eye.
0:37:53 > 0:37:55But there's a mystery to much of what is here.
0:38:01 > 0:38:05The really surprising thing about the Parthenon sculptures
0:38:05 > 0:38:08is that no-one knows what they represent.
0:38:09 > 0:38:14There are lots of theories, some more outlandish than others.
0:38:14 > 0:38:20But this is arguably the most famous work of Ancient Greek art
0:38:20 > 0:38:22and it still leaves us perplexed.
0:38:24 > 0:38:26Take the frieze.
0:38:26 > 0:38:31We can see that it dramatises a great procession,
0:38:31 > 0:38:34mingling citizens and also gods,
0:38:34 > 0:38:37yet its precise significance is still elusive.
0:38:42 > 0:38:44But in a broad sense,
0:38:44 > 0:38:48the overriding message of the frieze is pretty clear.
0:38:48 > 0:38:53The giveaway is the manner in which the figures have been sculpted.
0:38:53 > 0:38:55Look at the faces of these skilled horsemen
0:38:55 > 0:38:59who once thundered along the northern side of the temple.
0:38:59 > 0:39:01They are all so similar -
0:39:01 > 0:39:06strangely blank, uniformly beautiful, and idealised.
0:39:07 > 0:39:12They're certainly not portraits of individuals.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16But, cumulatively, they offer a vision of a well-drilled community
0:39:16 > 0:39:20with a really powerful sense of its own identity.
0:39:23 > 0:39:29So this is art as a glorious statement of political togetherness.
0:39:29 > 0:39:35The Classical style has become the servant of Athenian self-confidence.
0:39:40 > 0:39:45In this sense, a social revolution had stimulated an artistic one.
0:39:49 > 0:39:54These identikit citizens seem to be riding towards a glorious future.
0:40:11 > 0:40:14Democratic Athens lavished money
0:40:14 > 0:40:17on huge public projects like the Parthenon.
0:40:18 > 0:40:23But there's another side to Greek art, less well known, perhaps,
0:40:23 > 0:40:25but, to me, equally beautiful.
0:40:25 > 0:40:27One that has nothing to do
0:40:27 > 0:40:30with the triumphalist carvings up there on the Acropolis.
0:40:33 > 0:40:37This is the site of the Kerameikos cemetery.
0:40:37 > 0:40:41It's where 5th-century Athenians buried their dead.
0:40:41 > 0:40:45And when democratic Athens was at its self-promoting height,
0:40:45 > 0:40:49it banned grave monuments that were considered too ostentatious,
0:40:49 > 0:40:53so no big statues, no great sarcophagi.
0:40:54 > 0:40:57Ordinary people were now buried here, not just the elite,
0:40:57 > 0:41:00and space was confined.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03Some Athenians developed a much more modest, more intimate way
0:41:03 > 0:41:05of remembering their loved ones.
0:41:17 > 0:41:19One artist in particular pioneered
0:41:19 > 0:41:23a new, restrained and melancholy sort of art.
0:41:34 > 0:41:38If you think all Greek pots look the same, then look again
0:41:38 > 0:41:41because works of art like this
0:41:41 > 0:41:43with their exquisite draughtsmanship
0:41:43 > 0:41:46and colour against a white background
0:41:46 > 0:41:47are unusual.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52One of the masters of the genre was the man who painted this
0:41:52 > 0:41:56and he specialised in simple, serene scenes.
0:41:56 > 0:41:59Intimate, domestic moments like this one
0:41:59 > 0:42:02where we see a wife and her husband taking his leave.
0:42:03 > 0:42:07Look at the subtle use of colour to evoke that delicacy,
0:42:07 > 0:42:12the transparency of the top worn by the woman.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15And that woman, she's beautiful.
0:42:15 > 0:42:19She's almost imperious, empowered,
0:42:19 > 0:42:25because her expression looks yearning, perhaps even reproachful,
0:42:25 > 0:42:30but she emits poise with that relaxed arm slung over the back of her chair.
0:42:34 > 0:42:38There's no question this woman is the equal of her partner.
0:42:38 > 0:42:42And as he holds out his helmet, just look down at the bottom
0:42:42 > 0:42:47where, sweetly, they are playing this game of footsie.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50Crucially, her foot is on top of his.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55What a telling, powerful, psychological detail.
0:42:55 > 0:42:58It's so sad. She doesn't want to let him go.
0:43:00 > 0:43:02It's a really tender note,
0:43:02 > 0:43:04everything that the big, public monuments
0:43:04 > 0:43:06of Classical Athens were not,
0:43:06 > 0:43:11as this couple prepare for departure, for war, and beyond.
0:43:22 > 0:43:26For centuries, art historians argued that the Greek Revolution
0:43:26 > 0:43:30grew directly out of the triumph of Athenian democracy.
0:43:32 > 0:43:36But surely it's much more complex than that.
0:43:36 > 0:43:40The truth is it was more a question of everything coming together
0:43:40 > 0:43:43at the same extraordinary moment.
0:43:43 > 0:43:48Political power of course but, also, new techniques in making art,
0:43:48 > 0:43:52a novel, sensuous awareness of the human body,
0:43:52 > 0:43:56terrific competitiveness between artists and craftsmen,
0:43:56 > 0:44:01and an exhilarating sense of unique Greek identity.
0:44:05 > 0:44:09The great age of Athens would last for a century and a half.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14But Greek city-states were frequently at war.
0:44:16 > 0:44:20Athenian might would eventually fall to a hostile power.
0:44:36 > 0:44:40From Greece's mountainous northern region known as Macedonia
0:44:40 > 0:44:43came a dynasty of warrior kings.
0:44:43 > 0:44:45By the middle of the 4th century BC,
0:44:45 > 0:44:49Athens and most of Greece had been brought under their sway.
0:44:53 > 0:44:59Here in 1977, archaeologists made an extraordinary discovery.
0:45:01 > 0:45:05Deep in a hillside near the small town of Vergina,
0:45:05 > 0:45:08they unearthed the royal burial site of Macedon,
0:45:08 > 0:45:14including the tomb of Philip II, father of Alexander the Great.
0:45:18 > 0:45:22The tomb, and what was found inside it, told a powerful story
0:45:22 > 0:45:25about a new ideology of royal power.
0:45:40 > 0:45:46Dominating the facade of Philip's tomb is this extraordinary survival -
0:45:46 > 0:45:49a rare original painting from Ancient Greece.
0:45:49 > 0:45:53Of course, now, it's withered over time,
0:45:53 > 0:45:59but you still get a strong sense of its subtlety and complexity.
0:45:59 > 0:46:03We see a group of young men, some of them on horseback,
0:46:03 > 0:46:06out hunting wild beasts in a forested landscape.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09The first time, as far as we know,
0:46:09 > 0:46:12that landscape appeared with such prominence in Greek art,
0:46:12 > 0:46:15almost as a subject in its own right.
0:46:16 > 0:46:19The landscape gives us a sense of depth.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22These are figures occupying a believable space,
0:46:22 > 0:46:25the effect being enhanced by clever details
0:46:25 > 0:46:28like the horse rearing up on its hind legs
0:46:28 > 0:46:31and its neck veers off towards the distance,
0:46:31 > 0:46:33momentarily drawing us that way.
0:46:35 > 0:46:39The shafts of the men's spears, they structure the composition as well,
0:46:39 > 0:46:44pointing us towards the quarry of the men, what they're hunting -
0:46:44 > 0:46:47a lion, a deer, a boar and a bear.
0:46:49 > 0:46:52This is a painting that's glamorous and elegant,
0:46:52 > 0:46:56recording a favourite pastime of the Macedonian elite
0:46:56 > 0:46:59and it might even feature Alexander himself -
0:46:59 > 0:47:02the youth on horseback in the middle, wearing a wreath,
0:47:02 > 0:47:04charging in for the kill.
0:47:06 > 0:47:10But the striking thing about this is that you can still see
0:47:10 > 0:47:13the skill with which it's been constructed.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16The tree trunks act like punctuation marks,
0:47:16 > 0:47:19giving the whole thing poise and structure
0:47:19 > 0:47:23so that there is a sense of the frenzy, the excitement of the hunt,
0:47:23 > 0:47:26but we're never lost amid the fog of the action.
0:47:29 > 0:47:31Today, the condition of the painting
0:47:31 > 0:47:34has a distinctly foggy quality itself.
0:47:35 > 0:47:38Above all, it's rather sad.
0:47:38 > 0:47:40A tantalising work of art,
0:47:40 > 0:47:45a glimpse of the many riches of Greek painting which have been lost.
0:47:51 > 0:47:54Inside the complex of royal tombs
0:47:54 > 0:47:57excavators found a series of dazzling treasures.
0:47:59 > 0:48:03In an antechamber, they discovered this gold casket
0:48:03 > 0:48:07containing the remains of a woman, Philip's queen.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12Nearby lay the gold crown of Philip himself,
0:48:12 > 0:48:18made to resemble an oak wreath, with a dramatic mesh of leaves and acorns.
0:48:20 > 0:48:24It looks light as gossamer, but weighs more than a kilogram.
0:48:27 > 0:48:31But the treasure that thrills me most is this.
0:48:44 > 0:48:48This diadem that's just so delicate.
0:48:48 > 0:48:53This carefully composed flurry of tendrils and spirals,
0:48:53 > 0:48:55leaves and petals and flowers.
0:49:00 > 0:49:04The workmanship is detailed, but it's just exquisitely done.
0:49:07 > 0:49:10The whole thing feels like it's been spun out of light.
0:49:21 > 0:49:24This is a new kind of Greek art,
0:49:24 > 0:49:26different from anything we have seen.
0:49:26 > 0:49:29It isn't the religious art of the temple,
0:49:29 > 0:49:32or the humanist art that celebrated the naked body.
0:49:34 > 0:49:38But art that glorifies an all-conquering hero.
0:49:45 > 0:49:49This set of ivory figures was found inside Philip's tomb.
0:49:57 > 0:50:03Just look at that face - he's wily, wrinkled, supremely self-assured,
0:50:03 > 0:50:06a nugget of concentrated charisma.
0:50:08 > 0:50:11It is probably a portrait of Philip himself.
0:50:13 > 0:50:17And if it is, it represents a sea change in Greek art
0:50:17 > 0:50:21because the restrained, almost blank facial expressions
0:50:21 > 0:50:24of earlier Classical art have disappeared,
0:50:24 > 0:50:28replaced with something approaching an actual likeness.
0:50:28 > 0:50:30The triumph of the individual
0:50:30 > 0:50:33over the old communal identity of the city-state.
0:50:44 > 0:50:49That sense of individualism touched the artists themselves.
0:50:49 > 0:50:54With self-glorifying rulers came a new generation of celebrity artists,
0:50:54 > 0:50:57men who cultivated their image, broke the rules
0:50:57 > 0:50:59and occasionally liked to shock.
0:51:04 > 0:51:08The most celebrated artist of all was called Praxiteles.
0:51:08 > 0:51:12And, amazingly, he was listed among the 300 richest men in Athens.
0:51:12 > 0:51:16He didn't make art to order, pandering to clients.
0:51:16 > 0:51:18Instead, people came to him
0:51:18 > 0:51:20and clamoured to buy whatever he decided to make.
0:51:29 > 0:51:31Praxiteles relished scandal.
0:51:31 > 0:51:34His girlfriend was a famous courtesan.
0:51:34 > 0:51:38And there's an irreverent wit to everything he does.
0:51:47 > 0:51:51His sculpture took the Classical style in a direction all his own.
0:51:59 > 0:52:03No-one would exploit the sensual appeal of marble like Praxiteles.
0:52:24 > 0:52:28Praxiteles's vision of male beauty wasn't macho
0:52:28 > 0:52:31but softer, more androgynous.
0:52:33 > 0:52:37Rather than magnificent athletes, he wanted to portray the gods
0:52:37 > 0:52:40and in a way that had never been seen before.
0:52:40 > 0:52:44He certainly didn't inject much shock and awe
0:52:44 > 0:52:47into his depictions of divinity.
0:52:47 > 0:52:51Here, we see Apollo, almost boyish,
0:52:51 > 0:52:54an indolent adolescent,
0:52:54 > 0:52:55idling away his time
0:52:55 > 0:52:59by languidly threatening a passing lizard with an arrow.
0:53:01 > 0:53:06If the gods were the film stars of the ancient world,
0:53:06 > 0:53:13this is a young heart-throb caught off duty in a moment of informality.
0:53:14 > 0:53:19And there's real boldness in that new spirit of irreverence
0:53:19 > 0:53:23because we're left with something very charming, teasing,
0:53:23 > 0:53:25even ironic
0:53:25 > 0:53:27and, in the 4th century BC,
0:53:27 > 0:53:30that must have felt very sophisticated and modern.
0:53:40 > 0:53:44It was here, among the scattered ruins of Olympia,
0:53:44 > 0:53:47that another statue believed to be by Praxiteles
0:53:47 > 0:53:49was excavated in the 19th century.
0:53:51 > 0:53:53Like the Apollo with the lizard,
0:53:53 > 0:53:59it shows a Greek god engaged in an ordinary, rather mundane activity.
0:54:01 > 0:54:04Hermes playing with the infant Dionysus.
0:54:07 > 0:54:09In his missing right hand,
0:54:09 > 0:54:13Hermes probably once dangled a bunch of grapes.
0:54:13 > 0:54:17After all, Dionysus would grow up to be the god of wine.
0:54:26 > 0:54:29It's a lovely, witty and ironical conceit
0:54:29 > 0:54:34in which innocence is perversely being tempted
0:54:34 > 0:54:36by the pleasures of experience.
0:54:36 > 0:54:39What's so appealing about Praxiteles
0:54:39 > 0:54:43is that he was such a deft and nimble artist.
0:54:43 > 0:54:46He enjoyed teasing, toying with conventions
0:54:46 > 0:54:50in order to foreground his own light-footed genius,
0:54:50 > 0:54:55rather than just shackling it in simple service to Greek religion.
0:54:55 > 0:55:00This is as much about the artist as it is about the gods.
0:55:04 > 0:55:06This gleaming sculpture
0:55:06 > 0:55:09gets to the heart of what Praxiteles was all about.
0:55:20 > 0:55:24Gone are the awe-inspiring, rugged Olympian gods
0:55:24 > 0:55:27imagined by earlier Classical artists.
0:55:27 > 0:55:29In their place is a new vision,
0:55:29 > 0:55:35something sleeker, more sinuous and graceful, even effeminate,
0:55:35 > 0:55:40something that champions the smooth polish of shining Parian marble
0:55:40 > 0:55:42over the effects of bronze,
0:55:42 > 0:55:44though without losing some of the subtlety
0:55:44 > 0:55:47that bronze had added to Greek art.
0:55:47 > 0:55:49There is a softness here,
0:55:49 > 0:55:53a blurriness to the transitions of the muscles across Hermes's torso,
0:55:53 > 0:55:55as well as his face.
0:55:55 > 0:56:00And that old Polykleitan idea of the contrapposto pose,
0:56:00 > 0:56:06here it's been distorted, exaggerated to an off-balance extreme,
0:56:06 > 0:56:11because Hermes is thrusting out one hip in this exaggerated,
0:56:11 > 0:56:13almost camp fashion.
0:56:15 > 0:56:20We've come a long, long way from the virile ideal of the Riace bronzes.
0:56:27 > 0:56:29Is it ever possible to explain
0:56:29 > 0:56:35exactly why a culture suddenly becomes capable of such excellence?
0:56:35 > 0:56:38It's been called the Greek Miracle.
0:56:39 > 0:56:42Perhaps it was just a perfect storm
0:56:42 > 0:56:45of ambitious artists and demanding clients...
0:56:48 > 0:56:50..of technical innovation
0:56:50 > 0:56:53and fast-growing skills...
0:56:55 > 0:56:57..of dynamic social change...
0:56:58 > 0:57:01..and the freedom to experiment.
0:57:04 > 0:57:08To us, the artistic achievement of Classical Greece
0:57:08 > 0:57:10seems almost overwhelming.
0:57:11 > 0:57:13And yet the strange thing is,
0:57:13 > 0:57:15the Greeks didn't necessarily think
0:57:15 > 0:57:18that art would be their greatest legacy.
0:57:21 > 0:57:25The Athenian leader Pericles supposedly said
0:57:25 > 0:57:28that Athens would be remembered for ruling more Greeks
0:57:28 > 0:57:31than any other Greek state.
0:57:31 > 0:57:33He was wrong.
0:57:33 > 0:57:34As well as its empire,
0:57:34 > 0:57:38it was the art of Athens and the wider world of Ancient Greece
0:57:38 > 0:57:41that secured its immortality.
0:57:41 > 0:57:46The irony is that Greek artists were just so good, so successful
0:57:46 > 0:57:50and achieved so many breakthroughs, that their revolutionary creations
0:57:50 > 0:57:54became the benchmark not only for the Greeks,
0:57:54 > 0:57:57but also for the entire tradition of Western art.
0:58:00 > 0:58:01Next time.
0:58:01 > 0:58:05The astonishing afterlife of Greek art.
0:58:05 > 0:58:07How, for 2,000 years,
0:58:07 > 0:58:11a handful of masterpieces held the world in thrall.