Aegean Art Aegean civilization consisted of four cultures that flourished on the islands and shores of the Aegean Sea between 3000 and 1100 B.C. These cultures are called the Cycladic, Minoan, Mycenaean, and Trojan cultures. The Aegean civilization arose after the people of the area discovered how to make bronze. During this period, called the Aegean Bronze Age, the people became highly skilled in architecture, painting, and various crafts. They built richly decorated palaces and used systems of writing. The Aegean civilization collapsed in the 1100's B.C. All their skills and knowledge were lost, and most trade ended. The region made little progress during the next 300 years. Aegean Art Aegean civilization consisted of four cultures that flourished on the islands and shores of the Aegean Sea between 3000 and 1100 B.C. These cultures are called the Cycladic, Minoan, Mycenaean, and Trojan cultures. The Aegean civilization arose after the people of the area discovered how to make bronze. During this period, called the Aegean Bronze Age, the people became highly skilled in architecture, painting, and various crafts. They built richly decorated palaces and used systems of writing. The Aegean civilization collapsed in the 1100's B.C. All their skills and knowledge were lost, and most trade ended. The region made little progress during the next 300 years.

Aegean civilization consisted of four cultures that flourished on the islands and shores of the Aegean Sea between 3000 and 1200 B.C. These cultures are called the Cycladic, Minoan, Mycenaean, and Trojan cultures. The Cycladic culture developed on a group of islands called the Cyclades. The Minoan culture arose on the island of Crete, and the Mycenaean culture flourished on the mainland of Greece. The Trojan culture centered upon the ancient city of Troy in what is now northwestern Turkey. (Heinrich Schliemann, 1870s; James T Bent, British – Knossos)

Kalymnos from air. Photo was taken during a flight from Athens to Rhodes

Female figurines, from Syros, BC. Marble, 46 cm h. National Archaeological Museum, Athens. (The Neolithic period saw the production of large numbers of human figurines, mostly nude female, made of clay, limestone, and occasionally white marble. They vary in height from a few inches to almost life size. Traces of painted have been found on some. They must have been primarily funerary offerings.)

Female Cycladic idol, from Amorgos, BC. Marble, 149 cm h. National Archaeological Museum, Athens.

Male lyre player, from Keros (Cyclades), Greece, ca BC. Marble, approx cm h. National Archeological Museum, Athens. (A few male figurines have been found, but they are greatly outnumbered by representations of women.)

Minoan Civilization (ca BCE) The first major civilization in the region of Greece arose on Crete, an island in the Aegean Sea, about 3000 B.C. It is known as the Minoan culture after King Minos, the legendary ruler of Crete. The Minoans were expert sailors, and they grew wealthy from trade. The remains of luxurious palaces provide evidence of the Minoans' prosperity and building skills. The Minoans had a system of writing. Scholars do not know what language they spoke, except that it was not Greek.

This is the largest of palaces, built against the upper slopes and across the top of a low hill that rises from a fertile plain. Other palace sites include Phaistos, Mallia, kato Zakro, and Khania, uncovered with rich treasures of art and artifacts that document the power and prosperity of Minoan/palace civilization.

Bird ’ s-eye reconstruction drawing of the palace complex, Knossos, Crete. C BC.

Ruins of the Palace at Knossos BC. Crete.

View of palace showing wooden columns and limestone bull ’ s horns near the south entrance, Palace of Minos, Knossos.

Knossos

Knossos, stairwell

"Palace of Minos", Knossos, West wing, underground magazine with storage pithoi, ca B.C.

Storage Magazines

Terracotta drain running under pavement

Knossos excavations showing channels for running water

Knossos Theatrical area on southeast side

Theatral area on southeast side

Mural paintings liberally adorn the palace at Knossos, one of its most striking aspects. Unlike the Egyptians, who painted in fresco secco, the Minoans used a true, or wet, fresco method, which required rapid execution and skill in achieving quick, almost impressionistic effects.

Original bull ’ s head, relief resco. Archaeological Museum, Herakleion, Crete. Note the paler quality of the color of the original before reconstruction.

View of the “ Throne Room, ” Knossos, with a heavily restored fresco depicting griffins.

Artwork at the palace of Knossos

Naval Fresco from Akrotiri, Thera (Santorini), c BC. Fresco, 274 x 94 cm high. National Archaeological Museum, Athens. The exciting culture was covered by an enormous volcanic eruption around 1500 BC. The volcanic island was excavated in the 1960s.The paved winding streets and houses of stone and mud-brick indicate a high standard of living. Homes had basements for storage, workroom space, and upper- story living quarters. Walls, as in Crete, were reinforced with timber and straw for flexibility in the event of earthquakes. Interior baths and toilets were connected by clay pipes to an extensive drainage and sewage system under the streets. Equally remarkable was the attention paid to art. The walls of public buildings as well as private houses were decorated with frescoes, which constitute an important new group of paintings. They represent a wide range of subjects: landscapes, animals, sports, rituals, boats, and battles.

Naval Fresco from Akrotiri, Thera, c BC. Fresco, 274 x 94 cm high. National Archaeological Museum, Athens.

Boxer and Antelope frescoes, from Thera, c BC. Fresco, 274 x 94 cm high. National Archaeological Museum, Athens.

Landscape with swallows (Spring fresco), from Akrotiri, Thera, c BC. Fresco, approx. 7 ’ 6 ” cm h. National Archaeological Museum, Athens. The artist celebrate the rhythms of spring. Never before have we encountered a landscape in which humans are not present at all---nor will we find one again for many centuries.

Snake Goddess from the palace at Knossos, Crete, Greece, ca BC. Approx. 32 cm high. Archeological Museum, Herakleion. (faience 彩釉陶器 )

Faience snake goddess, from the palace at Knossos, Crete, Greece, ca BC.

Kamares Ware jug, from Phaistos, Crete. c BC. Ceramic, 27 cm h. Archeological Museum, Iraklion, Crete.

Octopus Amphora from 15th century BC. National Archeological Museum in Athens, from Mycenaean cemetery at Prosymna, Argos.

Mycenaean Civilization (c BC) The development of Greek civilization began about 2000 B.C., when small farming villages were set up by people who came to Greece from somewhere to the north. By about 1600 B.C., they had built fortified towns, each centered on a palace, in the major valleys. The culture that developed on the mainland is called Mycenaean after the large and powerful town of Mycenae in the Peloponnesus, the southern part of the mainland. The Minoans dominated the Aegean world until about 1450 B.C., when the Mycenaeans took control of the region. The Mycenaeans adopted features of the Minoan culture. For example, they adapted the Minoan writing system to Greek. Mycenae was the legendary home of King Agamemnon Historians believe Mycenae won a war against Troy, in Asia Minor (now Turkey), in the mid-1200's B.C.

View of the citadel, Mycenae (the legendary city of Agamemnon).

Aerial view of Mycenae and its surroundings, late 13th century BC. Mycenae.

Royal Grave Circle A, c B.C.

Reconstruction of Mycenae, c

Reconstruction drawing of the Mycenaean megaron, showing the front porch with two columns and the interior hearth enclosed by four columns.

“ Goddess, ” from the citadel of Mycenae. Fresco, approx BC. National Archaeological Museum, Athens.

The Lion's (Lioness) Gate, Mycenae, c

Two Lions (perhaps sphinxes or griffins) carved in high relief, Limetone, panel approx. 9 ’ 6 ” h.

Corbeled gallery in the walls of the Citadel in East ramparts Tiryns, ca. 13th century B.C. Argolis, Greece

Fa ç ade of the “ Treasury of Atreus, ” Mycenae, c BC. Originally the door was framed by half-columns made of gypsum

Interior of Treasury of Atreus. About 43 feet high, this was the largest vaulted space without interior supports in all antiquity until the Roman Pantheon was built almost 1500 years later---utilizing a concrete construction.

Aerial view of Grave Circle and its surroundings, late 13th century BC. Mycenae.

Minoan and Mycenaean cups from Vaphio, near Sparta, buried with a king c BC. Gold, 8.9 cm high. National Archaeological Museum, Athens. (repoussé technique, 凸纹制作技术 ) There is some controversy over the origin of the two cups. The one on the left seems to be the work of a Minoan artist, which shows a man tying up a bull – possibly for the ritual Minoan bull sport. The man ’ s thin waist and flowing curvilinear outlines further recall the human figures in Minoan painting. The cup on the right is Mycenaean in execution, but its iconography is Minoan.

The so-called “ Mask of Agamemnon ”

Gold burial masks from Mycenae at National Archeological Museum in Athens.

Head of a sphinx?, from Mycenae, Greece, c BC. Painted plaster, approx. 6.5 cm. National Archeological Museum, Athens.