Chapter 4: AEGEAN ART

CH4 Vocabulary Aegean Crete Peloponnesian Helladic Hellenistic Cyclades (Cycladic) Minoan Sir Arthur Evans Dressed stone Coursed ashlar Rhyton Casemate Buon fresco Fresco secco— Repoussé Terracotta Citadel Capstone Relieving arch Tholos Heinrich Schliemann Agamemnon Megaron Mycenaean great hall

Aegean Map Ithaca!

Aegean Art Cycladic: c. 2800-1550 BCE Minoan: c. 2000-1400 BCE Mycenaean: c. 1500-1100 BCE

Marble Cycladic Figure. 2500 BCE Buried their dead with marble idols. Mother goddess of fertility Recalls the angular, abstract qualities of Paleolithic and Neolithic. Stiff, flat, angular, and wedge-shaped

Minoan Art aspects c. 2000-1400 BCE Island of Crete Playful Rhythmic motion Nature plays major role Color

Palace of Minos. Knossos, Crete. 1500 BCE

COLUMN Great Court Palace of King Minos. COLUMN AND RELIEF Great Court Palace of King Minos, Knossos c. 1550 B.C. One typical column is painted red on the shaft and black on the capital. In other columns the shaft is painted black and the capital red. On the wall behind is the fresco relief of the priest-king. Originally this was part of a pillared hall on the south side of the great court.

Columns – Tapered, Wood

STAIRWELL Palace of King Minos. Wooden columns with base and capital STAIRWELL Palace of King Minos, Knossos c. 1600 BC The ground level of the stairwell which adjoins the royal apartments

Megaron: Central audience hall DOLPHIN FRIEZE IN THE QUEEN'S MEGARON Palace of King Minos. Knossos, Crete. c. 1500 BCE DOLPHIN FRIEZE IN THE QUEEN'S APARTMENT Palace of King Minos, Knossos c. 1500 B.C. The queen's apartment or megaron consisted of a fairly spacious suite of rooms. This is the famous dolphin frieze in the main room. Decorative rosette panels surround the door openings and run across the walls. The importance of both the sea and of animals as decorative images is clearly illustrated here. Megaron: Central audience hall

Queen’s Megaron

BATHROOM IN THE QUEEN'S APARTMENT Palace of King Minos. Palace of King Minos, Knossos c. 1500 B.C. The queen's bathroom and bathtub, adjacent to the room above. There also was a room with a toilet that flushed. Note the elegant symbolic waves as a decorative frieze. Note: stylized water becomes motif that decorates walls

Drains and Channels for Running Water

STORAGE JARS Stored in basement for trade and to meet needs of royalty in palace STORAGE JARS Palace of King Minos, Knossos c. 1500 B.C. Large jars of pithoi, which stored many of the palace's needs, are kept in magazines in the basement of the palace.

-FAIENCE: Type of glazed earthenware SNAKE GODDESS c. 1650 BCE -FAIENCE: Type of glazed earthenware -Compare with Inanna-Ishtar (Lilith figure) FAIENCE SNAKE GODDESS From beneath the shrine in the court Palace of King Minos, Knossos 1600-1580 B.C. The mother goddess, also known as the snake goddess, is the source of all life and the central figure in Minoan religion. Here she is represented in elaborate court dress, exposing her breasts. She holds two snakes which symbolize the mysterious life. On her hat sits a lion.

SNAKE GODDESS c. 1650 BCE FAIENCE

RHYTON BULL 1550-1500 BCE Superbly naturalistic Steatite, rock crystal, and gilt wood. RHYTON BULL From the Little Palace, Knossos 1550-1500 B.C. A rhyton (libation vase) in the shape of a massive bull's head. It is made of steatite, with eyes of rock crystal and horns of gilded wood. The natural quality of the bull is outstanding. What is a Rhyton????

The palace at Knossos (about 1700-1400 bc) on the island of Crete was the home of this mural, known as the Toreador Fresco. Remarkable for its energetic and graceful line quality, the mural depicts the moment in which a young man has just grasped the bull's horns and leaped over its back. The Minoans worked in wet fresco technique, in which the artist had to be able to create the picture in the short time before the plaster dried. BULL-JUMPING FRESCO From the east wing Palace of King Minos. Knossos, Crete. c. 1500 BCE

Landscape. Thera (Akrotiri). 1600-1500 BCE Fresco: Paint on wet plaster Landscape: From Akrotiri, Thera. One of the first pure landscape paintings we know of. Fresco: Paint on plaster

What’s left is buon fresco… why?

“Flotilla” Fresco Akrotiri 1650 BCE

“Flotilla” Fresco Akrotiri 1650 BCE

Modern cretan saffron Cost @ 5000 U.S. dollars per LBS. Young girls gathering Saffron Crocus flowers Akrotiri 1700-1450 BCE

Saffron Picker detail

SNAKE GODDESS c. 1650 BCE FAIENCE Note similarities in dress and open top Symbols of power and wealth = snakes, lion, saffron Ceremonial?

Minoan Vase Thera 1500 BCE. Jumping Dolphin = common motif in Crete This vase, from the island of Thíra (formerly Santoríni) near Crete, was made during the Late Minoan period (circa 1600-1500 bc). The ceramic piece, which may have been used for water, is decorated with a stylized image of a dolphin, an image that was used repeatedly in pottery and frescoes of the Minoan civilization.

Beaked Jug 1800 BCE Crete Natural shell like motif

Octopus Vase 1500 BCE Crete

HARVESTER VASE. 1500 BCE. Crete From Hagia Triada 1550-1500 B.C. Museum of Herakleion, Crete A masterpiece of stone carving, the Harvester Vase shows a priest leading a group of men on their way home from harvesting. The warmth and high spirits captured on the steatite case is uniquely Minoan. The black color of the vase becomes one of the common colors for Greek pottery. HARVESTER VASE. 1500 BCE. Crete

Detail, HARVESTER VASE From Hagia Triada 1550-1500 B.C. Museum of Herakleion, Crete This detail shows the men singing and laughing.

Mycenaean Art Also known as Late Helladic Period Height of culture lasted from 1400 to 1100 BCE Often associated w/ Homerian legend Mycenaean art similar to Minoan More war-like  heavily fortified citadels

Palace of Minos. Knossos, Crete. 1500 BCE

9/16/10 Warm-Up You are a highly trained archeologist, historian/art historian!!! After examining the ruins of these two structures you concluded the following The structure on the right was constructed almost purely for defense and with the intention of frightening enemies The structure on the left was its opposite. An extravagant palace with beautiful landscaping and no apparent need for defense. In 4-5 sentences defend these 2 statements with historical knowledge and evidence from the images. Archeology: scientific study of the human past through the things left behind by humans.

Linear B on Clay tablets

Tiryns Citadel. c. 1400-1200 BCE. Mycenae 20-ft thick walls

LION GATE 1250 BCE Citadel of Mycenae Citadel of Mycenae 13th century B.C. The massive stone blocks at the Lion Gate have been worked to fit nicely. The door jambs smoothly against four blocks on each side and the great lintel which holds then in place. The triangular area above relieves weight from the lintel. Nine and a half feet high, the lion sculpture is made of limestone. It was probably the emblem of the royal house. The path behind the gate swings to the left to go to the palace.

Corbeling: Technique for constructing the relieving triangle

Tomb of Atreus. c. 1300 BCE. Mycenae Beehive Tomb Facade, THOLOS TOMB OF ATREUS Mycenae End of 14th century B.C. The entrance to the tholos tomb of Atreus, the so- called Treasury of Atreus. Symbolically the tholos is associated with the earth mother, goddess of fertility and life. The walls of the dromos or entrance are twenty feet apart and more than 120 feet long. They are made of regular ashlar blocks. Over the door are two lintel blocks, one on the outside, the second on the inside. The inside block weighs about one hundred tons. The height of the entrance to above the relieving triangle is more than thirty-five feet; the doorway is eighteen feet high. Originally the facade was dressed with half columns and relief slabs.

Interior of Tomb of Atreus After about 1600 bc the Mycenaeans, ancient inhabitants of the southeastern Greek mainland, buried their dead in tholos tombs, stone chambers with beehive-shaped domes. From about 1300 to 1250 bc they built this tholos tomb, mistakenly called the Treasury of Atreus by its discoverer. It was constructed with measured stone blocks placed in ascending concentric circles. The vault of this dome reaches a height of about 12 m (40 ft). Interior of Tomb of Atreus

Funerary Mask. c. 1600-1500 BCE Repoussé: method of beating metal into shape

The Vaphio Cups (15th century bc) were found in a tomb at Vaphio, near Sparta. Their origins, which are not certain, are either Minoan or Mycenaean. They are made of two sheets of gold fastened together. One sheet is left smooth for the inside; the other is done in repoussé relief for the outside. The scenes on the cups depict a ritual involving bull catching. The Vaphio Cups, 1500 BCE

Lion's Head Rhyton 1550 BCE Mycenae Lion's head rhyton from Grave Circle A at Mycenae

Mycenaean Minoan Persian