The Greeks were different from the other people of Europe and Asia because of how they thought about humans. They regarded humankind as the highest creation of nature. They believed that humans are the closest thing to perfection and had the power of reason and knowledge. They used this idea of human perfection and it was reflected in their art. Plato brought the idea of the ideal form and these Greek artists strived to achieve the creation of the ideal individual or the "supreme work of nature."
Greek civilization had three periods which were the Archaic period, the Classical period, and the Hellenistic period. Each period has distinct features of art that were different and showed progress. In the era of the Archaic period, the Greeks had influences from Egyptian art and the near East. Sculptures were similar to the Egyptians by the stance. The left leg was forward and that way the weight was evenly distributed to both feet. The thing different from the Egyptians was that Greek figures were free-standing and it honors an individual, not a ruler.
In the Classical period, one hundred years later, Greek art started to emphasize on simplicity, order, and restrained emotions. They moved beyond the rigid poses of the Egyptians and started to use relaxed poses and the sculptures became more and more realistic and showed more movement than Egyptian's rigid-ness. Instead of distributing the weight evenly, all the weight was put on one foot and the body was put in a more realistic position. The Parthenon and the Warrior are examples of art in the Classical
Greek period. The Warrior is an example of "athletic ideal", where it portrays the balance of between the ideal male figure and an image of a man in the prime of life. The Greek used a new form called "contrapposto" which meant counter-posed and often looked like an S like curve.
In the Hellenistic period, Greek art became more dynamic and less ideal. It became more dynamic, wher...