How marble got its start in ancient times.
Why did greeks use marble.
Marble s popularity began in ancient rome and greece where white and off white marble was used to construct a variety of structures from hand held sculptures to massive pillars.
Ancient greeks are believed to be the culture that first used inscribed marble to mark their graves.
The single most iconic product of prehistoric cycladic culture especially at its peak in the early cycladic ii period 2800 2300 bc were white marble figurines of women possibly fertility goddesses.
The sculpture of ancient greece is the main surviving type of fine ancient greek art as with the exception of painted ancient greek pottery almost no ancient greek painting survives.
The pentelikon marble was used in the construction of the parthenon the erechtheum the propylaea of the acropolis the theseum the temple of olympus zeus and several other temples and monuments of athens and other ancient greek cities.
It was one of the symbols of the power of rome.
Unfortunately this material was always in demand for re use in later periods whereas broken marble is not much use to anyone and so marble sculpture has better survived for posterity.
During ancient greece s archaic period of art 8th century 500 bce artists began to show increasing interests in marble.
The greeks and romans chose marble for their structures due its beauty.
Furthermore i can only talk about why romans as in citizens of the empire including greeks used marble not why other cultures don t to that extent i think the taj mahal is completely covered in marble though and india seems to have a proud and ancient tradition of marble carving and masonry.
The other favoured material in greek sculpture was bronze.
The archaic from about 650 to 480 bc classical 480 323 and hellenistic.
From time immemorial marble has been a ubiquitous material in the greek lands a vibrant glowing stone first exploited in prehistoric sculpture in the late neolithic era 5300 4500 bc but most visibly in the third millennium bc during the aegean early bronze age.
Though rendered with more realism than sculptures from preceding periods marble figures from this time are not yet naturalistic as their expressions remain relatively stoic and their poses convey little movement.
The presence of white marble buildings everywhere within the empire in regions where marble had never even been seen was the demonstration that for rome everything was possible.
Modern scholarship identifies three major stages in monumental sculpture in bronze and stone.
With cast bronze becoming the favored medium for major works by the early 5th century.
Ancient greek monumental sculpture was composed almost entirely of marble or bronze.