Polygnotus was a Greek painter in the middle of the 5th century BC, son of Aglaophon. He was a native of Thasos, but was adopted by the Athenians, and admitted to their citizenship. (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) The 5th century BC started on January 1, 500 BC and ended on December 31, 401 BC. // The Parthenon of Athens seen from the hill of the Pnyx to the west. ... Coordinates 40°43′ N 24°46′ E Country Greece Periphery East Macedonia and Thrace Prefecture Kavala Population 13,765 source (2001) Area 380. ...

He painted for them in the time of Cimon a picture of the taking of Ilium on the walls of the Stoa Poecile, and another of the marriage of the daughters of Leucippus in the Anaceum. In the hall at the entrance to the Acropolis other works of his were preserved. The most important, however, of his paintings were his frescoes in a building erected at Delphi by the people of Cnidus. The subjects of these were the visit to Hades by Odysseus, and the taking of Ilium. This article or section should include material fromKimon Cimon (died 450 BC?) was a major figure of the 470s BC and 460s BC in Athens, and the son of Miltiades. ... Troy or Ilion, see Troy (disambiguation) and Ilion (disambiguation). ... This article is about the philosopher. ... The Acropolis of Athens, seen from the hill of the Pnyx to the west. ... The amphitheatre, seen from above. ... Knidos or Cnidus (modern-day Tekir in Turkey) is an ancient Greek city in Asia Minor, once part of the country of Caria. ... Hades, Greek god of the underworld, enthroned, with his bird-headed staff, on a red-figure Apulian vase made in the 4th century BC. For other uses, see Hades (disambiguation). ... Head of Odysseus from a Greek 2nd century BC marble group representing Odysseus blinding Polyphemus, found at the villa of Tiberius at Sperlonga Odysseus (Greek Odusseus), pronounced ō-díss-ee-uhs, is the main hero in Homers epic poem, the Odyssey and plays a key role in Homers... The term Illion, Ilium has several meanings, including in legends, in anatomy, and in the arts: Ilion or Ilium is an alternative name for the legendary city of Troy. ...

Fortunately the traveller Pausanias has left us a careful description of these paintings, figure by figure (Paus. X. 25-31). The foundations of the building have been recovered in the course of the French excavations at Delphi. From this evidence, some archaeologists have tried to reconstruct the paintings, excepting of course the colours of them. The figures were detached and seldom overlapping, ranged in two or three rows one above another; and the farther were not smaller nor dimmer than the nearer. It will hence appear that paintings at this time were executed on almost precisely the same plan as contemporary sculptural reliefs. Pausanias (Greek: ) was a Greek traveller and geographer of the 2nd century A.D., who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. ...

We learn also that Polygnotus employed but few colours, and those simple. Technically his art was primitive. His excellence lay in the beauty of his drawing of individual figures; but especially in the "ethical" and ideal character of his art. The contemporary, and perhaps the teacher, of Pheidias, he had the same grand manner. Simplicity, which was almost childlike, sentiment at once noble and gentle, extreme grace and charm of execution, marked his works, in contrast to the more animated, complicated and technically superior paintings of a later age. Phidias, (or Pheidias), son of Charmides, (circa 490 BC - circa 430 BC) was an ancient Greek sculptor, universally regarded as the greatest of Greek sculptors. ...

Should not to be confused with one of the three ancient vase painters called Polygnotos. Polygnotos (active approx. ...

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.