Greek ornament is relevant today

Greek ornament today is becoming extremely relevant in the design of clothing, household items, architecture, furniture, jewelry and even tattoos.

This happens because in Greece back in the 9th-8th centuries BC, vessels appeared, decorated with graceful silhouette, girdle, lucid or geometric repeating patterns.

Greek ornament

At first, vases in Greece were decorated with plain, girded products, patterns. Basically, the Greek ornament contained a geometric pattern: zigzags, triangles, combinations of horizontal and vertical segments of straight lines. He gradually became more complicated. And now, between the friezes - the so-called horizontal stripes - figures of animals and people began to settle down. Today, Greek patterns and ornaments are widely used in contemporary design art. Very often the bedspreads are decorated with Greek ornament. Photos of modern dishes decorated in a similar style convey the perfection and beauty of tableware - they look rich and elegant.

The main distinguishing features of the Greek ornament

1. This, of course, is a clear symmetry, the correctness of geometric shapes.
2. Use of plots of mythology.
3. Plots taken from the surrounding nature, but recycled, so to speak, stylized.
4. Widespread use of the meander - round or square - with the inclusion of wicker and pearl; ovoid variations of patterns - ovs.
5. To design friezes, elements such as stylized images of aloe leaves, vines, honeysuckle flowers, laurel leaves, olive trees and water plants are often taken.
6. As animal motifs, the image of a bull head is common.

Origin of ornament details

Everyone knows that in ancient times, when writing did not yet exist, a person through certain signs transmitted his emotions and knowledge. Therefore, each dash in the figure, each dot or circle carried certain information. The circle, for example, was the personification of the Sun, and the square symbolized the Earth. The ancient people represented mountains as a triangle, and development or movement as a spiral. And at first, these elements were used precisely for writing.

Putting various symbols on the bottom of the dishes or on the back of the jewelry, the person thereby created a talisman for the future owner of the little thing or plotted a luck for hunting, love, happiness. But someone noticed that the inscriptions, made up of short, but repeating signs, contain, in addition to the main function, aesthetic value. So the first Greek ornament appeared, which was applied not to a part of an object hidden from human eyes, but to its surface so that each person could delight their eyes with the correctness of lines, graceful patterns, immerse themselves in the harmony and expressiveness of the picture. And plots taken from mythology, to everything else, still contain an element of knowledge. And if someone is lucky enough to consider a real ancient Greek object decorated with an ornament - for example, an ancient Greek amphora - then it is unlikely to remain indifferent: ancient masterpieces of Greek ornamental painting are covered with such aesthetic, elegant, highly artistic patterns.