Aegean Greece

 Main Periods of Greek History  3500 – 1100 BCE – Helladic Age  1100 – 800 BCE – Doric Dark Ages  800 – 400 BCE – Classical Greece  332 – 30 BCE – Hellenistic Civilization

Aegean Greece  Ancient Aegean History – Chronology  3000 – 2000 BCE – Cycladic Civilization appears and develops on Cycladic Islands  3000 – 1450 BCE – Minoan Civilization appears and develops on Crete – use of Linear A – Minoan writing  1623 BCE – Eruption of volcano on Thera  1600 – 1100 BCE – Mycenaean Civilization appears on Peloponnesian Peninsula (southern part of mainland Greece)  1460 BCE – Mycenaeans invade and conquer Minoan capital of Knossos

Aegean Greece  1400 BCE – mainland Greeks destroy Knossos – and most traces of Minoan culture disappear. Linear B in general use at this time – Mycenaean writing  1250 – 1240 BCE – Trojan war  1100 BCE – Dorian invasion, fall of Mycenaean civilization; Beginning of dark ages  800 BCE – The Iliad and The Odyssey written down as Greeks adopt Phoenician alphabet and dark ages end  Quiz 3 – The Iliad & The Odyssey due this week!

Aegean Greece  Cycladic Civilization  Cycladic Islands are so-named because they ‘cycle’ around the birthplace of Apollo and his twin sister Artemis  No written records, so their artwork is a main source of information about them  Their culture was mainly Neolithic

Aegean Greece  Minoan civilization  The Minoan civilization is named after the legendary king Minos who was the fabled ruler of Crete  Minoans were mainly a maritime culture : dealing with trading and fishing  The center of Minoan culture was the palace some examples are at Knossos, Phaistos and Mallia  Knossos was the center of political life (the capital)

Aegean Greece  Characteristics of Minoan Art:  Dynamic Colors  Swirling Patterns  Organic themes – Marine life the predominant motif  Playful  Decorative Designs

Minoan vs. Egyptian Painting

Aegean Greece  Mycenaean Civilization  Culture is named after the major city Mycenae, although sometimes called Achaeans - especially by Homer in the Iliad and Odyssey  Art was heavily influenced by Minoans, with an additional focus on power by the Mycenaeans  Mycenaeans were warlike and aggressive

Aegean Greece - Corbelling

Aegean Greece  Mycenaean and Archaic Greek Civilizations  Developed on mainland Greece  First true Greek speakers  Archaic Greeks Divide into 3 groups:  Aeolians  Ionians  Dorians

Aegean Greek - Art  Cycladic Female Figure  3 rd Millennium BCE  Cycladic Islands, Greece  Thought to have a connection with fertility and also with death  Appears similar to modern art

Statuette of Seated Harp Player from the Cyclades ca. 2,800-2,700 B.C.E. marble 11 1/2 in. high Possibly related to mythology

Minoan Art  Spring Fresco (Landscape)  1630 – 1500 BCE  Akrotiri, Thera  Natural world is focus, use of color  Landscape with Flowers  Not an attempt at exactitude and realism

Minoan Art  Palace of Knossos  BCE  Knossos, Crete  Palace structure with courtyard – first building with running plumbing  Also had a labyrinth

Palace at Knossos (plumbing) Crete, Greece ca. 1,700-1,300 B.C.E.

Knossos

Minoan Art  Palace of Knossos (Minos)  1700 – 1300 BCE  Knossos, Crete  The Minoans used inverted columns that tapered down rather than up

Minoan Art  Bull Leaping Fresco (Toreador Fresco)  1550 – 1450 BCE  Knossos, Crete  Fresco is a painting technique using wet plaster  Coming of age trial or religious ceremony

Dolphin Fresco from the palace at Knossos, Greece ca. 1,450-1,400 B.C.E. Fresco Located in the Queen’s megaron Marine life was key Minoan theme

Marine style octopus jar from Palaikastro, Greece ca. 1,500 B.C.E. ceramic 11 in. high Marine theme the focus even in pottery

Minoan Art  Kamares Ware  (Three handled pithos)  1800 BCE  Phaistos, Crete  Made of terra cotta  Kamares ware is recognized by its color  Most pottery motifs were related to the sea

Minoan Art  Palace Style 3 Handled Vase  1400 BCE  Knossos, Crete  Made of terra cotta  Design is more linear than circular – plants seem to sprout up the vase  Natural world is a main motif

Snake Goddess from the palace at Knossos, Greece ca. 1,600 B.C.E. faience 13 1/2 in. high Made of ivory – proves trade was going on with Egypt Related to some goddess cult – different types

Flotilla, detail of Miniature Ships Fresco from Room 5, West House Akrotiri, Thera, Greece ca. 1,650 B.C.E. Fresco approximately 17 in. high Island was destroyed by volcanic eruption

Minoan Art

Aegean Greece  Mycenaean Art Characteristics  Heavy use of gold  Large stone buildings and fortifications (Cyclopean Stones)  Painting is same as Minoan, except for themes  Focus on power and aggression

Mycenaean Art  The Lion Gate  1250 BCE  Mycenae, Greece  Example of Cyclopean stones (large stones thought be Greeks to be built by Cyclops)  Lion’s used to portray power, intimidate and protect city  Entrance to city of Mycenae

Mycenaean Art  Treasury of Atreus  1300 – 1250 BCE  Mycenae, Greece  Believed to be the tomb of the Atreus family - King Agamemnon from Homer’s Iliad  Called Bee-hive tombs because of their shape  Use of corbelled roofing

Mycenaean Art

 Mask of Agamemnon  1250 – 1200 BCE  Mycenae, Greece  Made of gold, actual death mask of the deceased  Attributed to Agamemnon but not verified – if true it would be the only artifact of a man involved in Trojan War

Inlaid dagger blade with lion hunt from Grave Circle A, Mycenae, Greece ca. 1,600-1,500 B.C.E. bronze, inlaid with gold, silver and niello 9 in. long Symbols of power prevail and use of precious metals

Mycenaean Art

Early Greece  1000 – 800 BCE – Rise of the Greek city-states  900 – 725 BCE – Geometric Style is used  776 BCE – First Olympic Games (Greeks measured time from this occasion)  750 BCE – Phalanx with Hoplites is used as basic battle formation  750 – 550 BCE – Greeks begin to colonize Mediterranean  725 – 650 BCE – Orientalizing Style is used

Archaic Period  650 – 480 BCE – Archaic Period  621 BCE – Draco establishes Athenian laws  594 BCE – Solon elected Archon begins democratization of Athens “Architect of Democracy”  570 BCE – First silver coins minted in Athens (Attic Silver Drachma)  BCE – Pindar’s life – Ancient Greece’s greatest lyric poet  510 – 508 BCE – Athens created the first democracy  499 – 490 BCE – Persians invade Greece, defeated by Greeks at Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE  482 – 479 BCE – Persians invade Greece a second time; destroy the Acropolis in Athens; Greeks defeat the Persian navy in 480 BCE at Battle of Salamis and defeat the Persian army in 479 BCE at Battle of Plataea

Archaic vs. Egyptian Sculpture

Archaic Art – Classical Orders

Archaic Greece - Art  Dipylon Krater  750 BCE  Athens, Greece  In geometric style – shapes are predominant motif –  Even animals and people are in shapes rather than realistic

Archaic Greek Art  Horse  8 th century BCE  Athens, Greece  Even sculpture of the period was in geometric style  Forms of nature were simplified into shapes

Archaic Greek Art  Levy Oinochoe  650 BCE  Eastern Greece  Orientalizing style breaks from geometric shapes  Eastern motifs like lotuses, rosettes derived form Egypt and Mesopotamia  Figures become more important

Archaic Greece - Art  Achilles and Ajax  BCE  Athens, Greece  Artist: Exekias  Black figured style – showing scene from mythology  Painted with black glaze on red clay

Archaic Greek Art  Death of Sarpedon  515 BCE  Athens, Greece  Artists: Euxitheos and Euphronius  Red figure style – replaced black figure style as is allowed for more emotional scenes to be portrayed

Archaic Greece - Art  Paestum Temples  Hera I and Hera II  560 BCE & 500 BC  Paestum, Italy  Doric Temple style  Best preserved early Greek temples

Archaic Greece - Art  Hera I is in enneastyle – 9 columns on sides  Hera II is in hexastyle – 6 columns on sides

Hera I and Hera II

Archaic Greece - Art  Standing Youth (Kouros)  BCE  Attic, Greece  First nude in ancient art; note again similarities to Egyptian sculpture  Although foot is forward weight is still equally distributed  Known as New York Kouros because of its location today  Kouros means standing male nude

Archaic Greece - Art  Kore from Chios  520 BCE  Chios, Greece  The stiffness is gone, the drapery is refined and even flows about her body; she is wearing a garment called a Chiton; traces of color exist; considered the best Kore  Kore mean standing female

Temple of Aphaia Aegina, Greece ca B.C.E.

Temple of Aphaia Aegina, Greece ca B.C.E.

West pediment of the Temple of Aphaia Aegina, Greece ca B.C.E. marble approximately 5 ft. 8 in. high at center

Dying warrior from the Temple of Aphaia, Aegina, Greece ca B.C.E. marble approximately 5 ft. 2 1/2 in. long

Dying warrior from the Temple of Aphaia, Aegina, Greece ca B.C.E. marble approximately 6 ft. 1 in. long Dramatic change in art in a short 10 year span

Ancient colors

Aegean Art  The End... Next Lecture...  Classical and Hellenistic Greece