The Athenian Museum

The Greeks were innovators in art and culture. The sculptures looked very natural and life-like and they were painted to look realistic and flawless.

They used wood, terra cotta, stone, and bronze for their sculptures. Famous greek sculptures include the mask of Agamemnon and the statues of Venus de Milo and Discobolus. They also produce beautiful clay pottery items.

The Greeks also develop three architectural styles, called orders. The orders are Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.

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The doric style is very sturdy and plain, this was used in the mainland and the colonies in southern Italy and Sicily. Three are the oldest type

The Ionic style is thinner and more elegant. Its top is decorated with a scroll-like design.

The Corinth order was not often used in Greece, but more often in Roman temples. Its top is very elaborate and decorated.

The lyre family of string instruments contains two different types: the lyre and the Kithara. The lyre was the smallest. Most young Athenians learned to play it at school. It looked like a guitar and the base was often made of a tortoise shell. The arms were made of wood or even horns, and attached to the inside of the shell. The strings were made of animal guts and stretched from one end to the another.

The kithara is the larger, wooden version of the lyre. The base is usually made of wood. It is made for professional musicians .

Other greek instruments included the aulos, a recorder-like wind instrument, the tympanon, a drum, and the kymbala, or cymbals.