Dr. Schiller: AP History of Art GARDNER 11th: Art through the Ages

Dr. Schiller: AP History of Art GARDNER 11th: Art through the Ages
Chapter 4: Aegean Art: Minos and the Heroes of Homer

Aegean Art: – 1200 BCE

Aegean Art is divided into 3 major periods: 1. Cycladic Period:
Aegean Art is divided into 3 major periods: 1. Cycladic Period: – 2000 BCE 2. Minoan Period: – 1400 BCE Mycenaean Period: BCE

THE ART OF THE PREHISTORIC AEGEAN Between 3000 and 1200 BCE three important civilizations flourished on the islands in the Aegean Sea and on the mainland of Greece:

THE ART OF THE PREHISTORIC AEGEAN. 1
THE ART OF THE PREHISTORIC AEGEAN 1. the Cycladic civilization on the islands of the Cyclades,

2. the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete, and
THE ART OF THE PREHISTORIC AEGEAN 1. the Cycladic civilization on the islands of the Cyclades, 2. the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete, and

2. the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete, and
THE ART OF THE PREHISTORIC AEGEAN 1. the Cycladic civilization on the islands of the Cyclades, 2. the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete, and 3. the Mycenaean civilization on the Greek mainland.

Knossos was said to have lived on the island of Crete
King Minos and Crete: •Legendary figure, King Minos of Knossos was said to have lived on the island of Crete He was said to have exacted from Athens a tribute of youth and maidens to be fed to the Minotaur, a creature half bull and half man housed in a vast labyrinth.

King Minos and Crete: •In 1900, an Englishman, Arthur Evans, began work at Knossos and uncovered a palace that resembled a maze.

Through sometimes controversial methods,
Schliemann, Troy, and Mycenae: •Homer describes in The Iliad the might and splendor of the Greek armies poised before the walls of Troy. Through sometimes controversial methods, German archaeologist, Heinrich Schliemann uncovered many invaluable items as well as some of the very cities Homer named.

island of Thera north of Crete
Thera and Atlantis island of Thera north of Crete

Thera and Atlantis Egyptians found 8 mile wide hole: they thought the island had sunk because they didn’t have idea that so much could be blown into the air and cause the beautiful sunsets

Thera and Atlantis Plato: story from Egypt—Solon met an Egyptian priest who said his secret books contained a factual story about an island that vanished overnight. Called it Atlantis. Very high civilization, they said Said to have built a magnificent city. But legend says they became corrupt and so violent earthquakes and floods and in single night disappeared into the sea More likely: island of Thera. Now it’s just a rim of volcanic rock jutting out of sea.

More on these scripts later…
Aegean archeology today: Less glamorous than the palaces and works of art, but arguably more important for the understanding of Aegean society, are the many documents archeologists have discovered written in scripts dubbed Linear A and Linear B. More on these scripts later…

Aegean geography: The sea-dominated geography of the Aegean contrasts sharply with that of the Near East, as does its temperate climate.

Cycladic Period: – 2000 BCE this art is found on the islands called the Cyclades

Cycladic Period: – 2000 BCE Among the earliest examples of sculpture from the Aegean are those from the Cyclades in the form of schematic idols recalling the contours of violins

Cycladic "Fiddle" amulet, from island of Kimolos, marble, c
Cycladic "Fiddle" amulet, from island of Kimolos, marble, c. 5" h, late 3rd millennium BCE Cycladic "Fiddle" amulet, from island of Amorgos, marble, c. 5" h, late 3rd millennium BCE

Neolithic/Early Cycladic idol, origin: Cycladic Islands, found: Malta, stone, c. 3,000-2,000 BCE

Cycladic Period: – 2000 BCE during this period (~ BCE), the people there buried their dead with impressive marble idols (the Cyclades had lots of white marble), usually: standing nude female figures arms folded across the chest Two figures of women, from the Cyclades, c BCE. Marble, 13” high and 25” high. Stokstad plate 4-3

Cycladic Period: 3000 – 2000 BCE occasionally one finds a male
usually in the form of a figure playing a harp; hence they are referred to as “harpers” Seated harp player, from the Cyclades, c BCE. Marble, 11 1/2” high Stokstad plate 4-4

Cycladic Period, continued:
They females all have a distinctive shape: angular and abstract flat with a wedge-shaped body a strong, columnar neck tiled oval shield of a face a long ridge-like nose

Traces of paint found on some of the Cycladic figurines indicate that at least parts of these sculptures were colored Faces would have had painted eyes and mouth, red and blue necklaces and bracelets, and painted dots on the cheeks We think the other features would have been painted in

Marble Cycladic idol from Amorgos, Greece, c. 2500 BC
Marble Cycladic idol from Amorgos, Greece, c BC. In the National Archaeological Museum, Athens.

there is a wide variation in scale: from tiny to life size (the oldest life-size figure found was male) the best of these figures, whatever the size, have a disciplined refinement about them that is “utterly beyond” (as one art historian puts it) the range of the Paleolithic artists

There is an elegance and sophistication in these figures a feeling for the organic structure of the body in √the delicate curve of the outline √the hints of convexity marking the knees and abdomen these figures also have much more of a lithe and girlish figure than the Paleolithic “venus” figures

What were they used for? Some think that the statues were not specifically for the dead but instead were set up for communal worship, a kind of votive figure Perhaps some little ones were used in the home and then buried with the owner But we don’t really know what they meant!

Cycladic Pottery: Cycladic pottery seems to have been made out of a coarse, poor-quality local clay, or occasionally out of terra-cotta. Unknown Cycladic, Cyclades, BCE Marble and pigment 2 9/16 x 3 5/8 in. Getty Clay zoomorphic vase from Naxos BCE

Minoan Period: – 1400 BCE a. Early Minoan (Pre-Palace Period): – 2000 BCE b. Middle Minoan (Old Palace Period): – 1600 BCE c. Late Minoan (Late Palace Period): – 1400 BCE [Notice how these periods seem to coincide with the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms in Egyptian Art?]

Minoan Period: The naturalistic pictorial style often associated with Aegean Art originated in Minoan Crete The movement and variety of Minoan art, even in its earlier abstract phases, suggest living things, especially related to marine life From Crete, this style spread to the other Aegean islands and the Greek mainland, where it was modified by geometric tendencies (we’ll study this in the next unit). The rhythmic pulse that characterizes Aegean art suggests a deep reverence for the divinities of nature, particularly the ocean (not surprising, since Crete is an island!) Crete was a wealthy sea power and traded with Greece, Egypt, the Near East and maybe further

Minoan Period, continued:
During the Minoan Period there was at least one major disaster. On the island of Thera, more commonly known as Santorini, there was a great volcanic eruption about 1625 BCE Archeologists believe that it was even more destructive than Krakatoa This disaster may have been the basis for Plato’s writings on the lost continent of Atlantis

The organic quality of Minoan style is seen most clearly in the palaces of Crete.
During the third millennium BCE, both on the Aegean Islands and on the Greek mainland, most settlements were small and consisted only of simple buildings By contrast, the beginning of the Middle Minoan period on Crete is marked by the construction of large palaces. The four major palaces known—at Knossos (this is the one I want you to remember), Phaestos, Mallia, and Zakros—followed the same basic plan. Following their destruction, probably in an earthquake around 1700 BCE, the palaces were rebuilt as, multi-functional complexes with many rooms serving a variety of functions, grouped around a large, rectangular courtyard.

Reconstruction of the palace complex, Knossos, Crete, ca. 1700-1450 BCE
Stokstad plate 4-5

Minoan Palaces: Rooms, on several levels, were functionally organized around a large central court These courts must have accommodated crowds of worshipers, who gathered in front of the cult rooms to the west. The palaces also had extensive basement storage areas (perhaps these many little rooms helped feed the myth of King Minos’ minotaur?) Also had artists’ workshops, dining halls, and sumptuous living quarters (including bathrooms) for the noble ruling families. the structures were light and flexible, rather than monumental, and entirely unfortified A very notable architectural element form this period is the distinctive Minoan column, with its doughnut-shaped capital and downward (rather than upward) taper, suggesting movement rather than stability.

Minoan Palaces: The Palace of Knossos is somewhat controversial
In 1900 the British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans discovered a Knossos, Crete, a huge palace complex that he associated with King Minos and the labyrinth

Minoan Palaces: he decided to reconstruct the palace rather than just uncover it, so that people visiting it would get a feel for what it looked like during the Minoan period That is why, for example, those Minoan columns are so whole and colorful

Stokstad plate 4-8 Stairwell in the residential quarter of the palace at Knossos

Linear A and B: Evans also found baked clay tablets with two types of writing, dating from the middle of the 2nd millennium BCE: 1. Linear A 2. Linear B

Linear A and B: Linear A: √haven’t been deciphered yet!

Linear A and B: Linear B:
√Linear B tablets from about 1200 BCE have been found at Pylos and other Mycenaean sites √Michael Ventris (British cryptologist) and John Chadwick (classical scholar) proved that Linear B is an early form of Greek

Linear A and B: The discovery of Linear B on Crete supported the conclusion that the mainland people, the Mycenaeans, gained ascendancy over the Minoans!

Minoan painting is found in two forms:
--the vivid frescoes on the palace walls --the graceful designs that decorate Minoan pottery

vivid frescoes on the palace walls
Minoan Painting: vivid frescoes on the palace walls In Crete the palaces and houses were often decorated with bright murals in the form of frescoes (murals painted on wet plaster applied to a wall)

The Minoans made a major contribution to the art of landscape painting: √of the ancient civilizations we have looked at, only in the Aegean were landscapes generally depicted for their own sake, without human figures Minoan Painting: vivid frescoes on the palace walls “Flotilla” Fresco from Akrotiri, Thera, c B.C.E. Stokstad plate 4-1

Minoan Painting: vivid frescoes on the palace walls √Minoan artists represented the terrain with undulating contours and swirling striations of color to emphasize the life of the earth

Stokstad plate 4-14 Landscape with swallows (Spring Fresco), from Room Delta 2, Akrotiri, Thera (Cyclades), Greece, ca BCE, approx. 7’ 6” high

Minoan Painting: vivid frescoes on the palace walls In Crete the palaces and houses were often decorated with bright murals in the form of frescoes (murals painted on wet plaster applied to a wall) The Minoans made a major contribution to the art of landscape painting: √of the ancient civilizations we have looked at, only in the Aegean were landscapes generally depicted for their own sake, without human figures √Minoan artists represented the terrain with undulating contours and swirling striations of color to emphasize the life of the earth √The scenes were enlivened with animals,. such as monkeys and birds, in sprightly movement amid swaying foliage

Blue Monkeys fresco from Thera

Minoan Painting: The Minoans had a special facility among ancient peoples for capturing motion Figures were depicted in instantaneous moments of action and in a great variety of poses The angularity seen in Egyptian wall paintings is modified by the curving Minoan line that suggests the elasticity of the living and moving being.

This is the least "modernized" of the reconstructed frescos
This is the least "modernized" of the reconstructed frescos. It is small, and was found mostly as you see it. About 95% of this fresco owes its beauty to the hand of a Minoan frescoes working in the second millennia BCE. We see the love for swirls and waves, detailed trimming on fabrics -- and an appreciation for womanly beauty. Knossos fresco circa 1600 B.C.E.

Youths boxing in a Minoan fresco on the Greek island of Santorini

Minoan Painting: Minoan figures were usually slender, which enhanced their look of mobility Stokstad plate 5-13 Young girl gathering saffron crocus flowers, detail of wall painting, Room 3 of House Xese 3, Akrotiri, Thera, Second Palace Period, c BCE

Young fisherman with his catch, detail of a fresco in Room 5, West House, Akrotiri, Thera
(Cyclades), Greece, ca BCE, approx. 4’ 5” high

Minoan Painting: It is primarily in ritual scenes, such as the bull-leaping fresco from the palace at Knossos, that human figures are depicted Stokstad plate 4-13 Toreador fresco (bull leaping), from the palace at Knossos (Crete), Greece, ca BCE, approx. 2’ 8” high

Minoan Painting: Bull-leaping or bull-jumping was, we think, some sort of ritual

Minoan Painting: The Toreador fresco shows either three bull jumpers of two (in the figure on either end is the same figure in two different stages of the “jump”)

Minoan Painting: Notice the same darker skin=male, lighter skin=female distinction in the figures that we saw in Egyptian art. More cultural diffusion? Perhaps

Minoan Painting: Minoan woman or goddess (La Parisienne), from the palace at Knossos, Crete, ca BCE. Fragment of a fresco, Approx. 10” high.

Minoan Painting: Occasionally, frescoes were rendered in a special shorthand method of painting known as the miniature style, whereby crowds of people were depicted in a small area with a few light sketchy strokes Scene from the Harvester Vase Minoan Fresco

Minoan sculpture, with a few exceptions, is largely restricted to:
--statuettes and figurines in various materials --intaglio-cut semiprecious stone seals --stone vessels

Minoan Statuettes and Figurines:
Unique among the artifacts of the Aegean civilization are the bronze figurines associated exclusively with Minoan sites These metal sculptures include male and female worshippers with their arms raised in adoration Stokstad plate 4-9 Snake Goddess or Woman, from the palace of Knossos, Crete, ca BCE. Faience, approx. 1’ 1½” high .

This Goddess with Snakes, with her raised arms, was probably some sort of ritual object snake-charmers brought over from Egypt for the amusement of the palace at Knossos. Notice the many similarities in style to a Babylonian figure of Ishtar, which predates her:

Ishtar Babylonian terra-cotta relief, c BCE Snake Goddess Minoan

As we know, the Minoans traveled by sea to Egypt and the Middle East—this seems to be an example of cultural diffusion The Minoan artists excelled in the carving of ivory figures to which secondary materials were added to enhance their effect

The Bull Leaper, an ivory figurine from the palace of Knossos, Crete
The Bull Leaper, an ivory figurine from the palace of Knossos, Crete. The only complete surviving figure of a larger arrangement of figures. This is the earliest three dimensional representation of the bull leap. It is assumed that thin gold wires were used to suspend the figure over a bull. c BCE, ivory, 12” long

Intaglio-cut semiprecious stone seals
Minoan Seals: Intaglio-cut semiprecious stone seals Intaglio: * incised (negative) image-making * the opposite of cameo * It is used in making engraved seals, where it leaves a raised design on the material being stamped, especially wax.

Minoan Seals: This is the seal itself, made out of red carnelian stone
Minoan/Mycenaean carnelian seal stone BCE shows a cow suckling her calf. In early times, the use of seals was limited to the aristocracy.

Minoan Stone Vessels: The Minoans also excelled in the sculpting of stone vessels, many of which were enhanced with relief decoration Good example: Stokstad plate 4-10 Harvester Vase, from Crete, ca BCE. Steatite, greatest diameter approx. 5”

Minoan Stone Vessels: The Harvester Vase is an egg-shaped rhyton.
Was probably originally covered in gold-leaf rhyton: A hornlike drinking vessel of ancient times, often having a pointed end shaped like an animal or animal's head

Minoan Stone Vessels: Sculpted in relief on the vessel is:
a rowdy procession of 27 men overlapping and jostling one in Mesopotamian or Egyptian Art they would have been marching in orderly single file across the surface

Minoan Stone Vessels: Something else is new to us:
the exuberance of the scene look at the happy faces of the harvesters some of them sing to the beat of a sistrum (a rattle-like percussion instrument) the uneven arrangement of elements reinforces the boisterousness of the scene.

Minoan Stone Vessels: Another rhyton:
This rhyton was filled with the appropriate liquid through a hole in the neck emptied during the ritual through another hole in the nostrils The details of the head are incised the eyes are inlaid with rock-crystal and jasper the muzzle is inlaid with white shell (mother-of-pearl) the horns, now restored, were made of gilded wood. Rhyton in the shape of a bull’s head, from the palace complex at Knossos, Crete, c BCE, steatite with shell, rock crystal, and red jasper, the gilt-wood horns restored, ht 12” Stokstad plate 4-11

Minoan Pottery: With the building of the great Cretan palaces came the development of pottery as a luxury art Employed the same 3-part firing technique later used by Greek potters Minoan artists created splendid vases of numerous shapes and a seemingly endless variety of colorful decorations

Minoan Pottery: One of the well-known types of pottery from this culture is known as “Kamares Ware” named after the cave overlooking the palace complex at Phaistos where it was first discovered Kamares Ware: √delicate √uses color (made from different types of clays) √has energetically stylized, painted decoration

Minoan Pottery: Look at this Kamares War jug
Notice how the jug’s rounded contours are complemented by bold, curving forms derived from plants and animals Stokstad plate 4-6 Kamares Ware jug, from Phaistos, Crete. Old Palace Period, c BCE. Ceramic, ht abut 10 1/2”

Minoan Pottery: Same effect is created on the “Octopus” flask
by using an octopus with many undulating legs Stokstad plate 4-12 Marine Style octopus jar, from Palaikastro, Crete, ca BCE, approx. 11” high

Minoan Pottery: Highly regarded in the ancient world, Minoan pottery was copied throughout the Aegean even exported to Egypt and the Near East In the later periods, the decoration included naturalistic motifs, such as: --floral forms --the well-known Marine style, with: √octopuses √shellfish √ seaweed painted in rich overall designs

Minoan Funerary Rituals:
paintings on a Late Minoan limestone sarcophagus (found on the southern coast of Crete) midway in size and complexity between the decorated clay vessels and the monumental frescoes of Crete and Thera Sarcophagus, from Hagia Triad, Crete, ca.l BCE. Painted limestone, approx. 4’ 6” long.

Minoan Funerary Rituals:
Though techniques are similar to wall frescos, these paintings illustrate the funerary rites in honor of the dead At the right the dead man appears upright in front of his own tomb He watches as 3 men (note dark flesh tone) bring offerings to him at left, two light-skinned women carry vessels and pour a libation to the deceased Meanwhile, a male musician plays a lure—reminiscent of the earlier Cycladic harpers found in tombs

Minoan Fine Metalworking:
the granulated gold “bee pendent” The actual piece is less than two inches wide although the assembly is fairly primitive, the uniformity of the tiny gold balls and the cleanliness of the soldering is superb. Stokstad plate 4-7 Pendant of gold bees, from Crete. Old Palace Period, c BCE Gold, ht <2” wide

the Vapheio cups” Stokstad plate 4-16 Vapheio Cups, found near Sparta, Greece, c BCE, gold, ht 3 ½”.

the Vapheio cups” two gold cups found in a large tomb at Vapheio near Sparta the relief designs on the cups are created by repousse: --the reliefs were hammered from the inside --then handles were attached and --the cups were lined with sheet gold the designs show men trying to capture bulls in various ways we are fairly certain (by now!) that bulls were important somehow in the Minoan religion

Mycenaean Art: (sometimes called Helladic Art)

Mycenaean Palaces: On the Greek mainland, the palaces of the rulers were completely different from those of Crete Mycenae Stokstad plate 4-17 Citadel (top one is a drawing) in Mycenae, Greece. Site occupied BCE; walls built c BCE

Mycenaean Palaces: On the Greek mainland, the palaces of the rulers were completely different from those of Crete Crete

Mycenaean Palaces: The mainland sites (Mycenaean) tended to be fortified with huge walls of cyclopean masonry, constructed of massive, irregular blocks.

By the way, this is a bastion

You don’t find this kind of fortification in Minoan palaces.

Minoan palace of Malia Palace at Mycenae

The reason is that Crete has many natural defenses, whereas
the Greek mainland does not.

Mycenaean Megaron: The megaron was a dominant central hall
The Mycenaeans incorporated it into their palaces The megara (plural of megaron) of the best-known palaces—at Mycenae, Tiryns, and Pylos—were strikingly similar Each was entered from a courtyard through a porch flanked by columns and had a central hearth surrounded by 4 columns.

Stokstad plate 4-25. Reconstruction drawing of the megaron in the palace at Pylos, Greece. c BCE.

Someone’s idea of a modern megaron- type hall

Portion in blue is “ashlar masonry”;
the rest is Cyclopean masonry

Mycenaean Tombs: For royal burials the Mycenaean Greeks first used shaft graves

Mycenaean Tombs: later they adopted the Minoan tholos (small, round building) tomb and developed it into an impressive burial structure.

Mycenaean Tombs: The tombs were covered with earth tumuli (artificial mounds)

Mycenaean Tombs: and were entered through a long passageway called a “dromos” Stokstad plate 4-20. Entrance to the Tholos, the so-called Treasury of Atreus, Mycenae, Greece c BCE.

This “hill” would look like a “tell” before it was excavated

Stokstad plate 4-21 Cutaway view of the Treasury of Atreus, Mycenae, Greece, ca BCE

Mycenaean Tombs: The most developed “beehive tombs” is the so-called Treasury of Atreus at Mycenae: --it got its name because it was originally thought to be a repository of valuables --when it was later discovered to be a tomb, the old name stuck anyway.

Mycenaean Tombs, continued:
In the Treasury of Atreus at Mycenae, the large, circular spaces were: --dramatically vaulted (a masonry roof or ceiling constructed on the arch principle) Stokstad plate 4-22 Corbelled vault, interior of the so-called Treasury of Atreus. Limestone, ht of vault approx. 43’, diameter 47’6”

In the Treasury of Atreus at Mycenae, the large, circular spaces were: --dramatically vaulted (a masonry roof or ceiling constructed on the arch principle) --with thick canopies of stone

In the Treasury of Atreus at Mycenae, the large, circular spaces were: --dramatically vaulted (a masonry roof or ceiling constructed on the arch principle) --with thick canopies of stone --and corbelled up to a capstone corbelled vault: a vault formed by the piling of stone blocks in horizontal courses, cantilevered inward until the two walls meet in a pointed arch capstone: the top stone of a structure or wall.

--and corbelled up to a capstone corbelled vault: a vault formed by the piling of stone blocks in horizontal courses, cantilevered inward until the two walls meet in a pointed arch capstone: the top stone of a structure or wall.

Mycenaean Sculpture: Stone sculpting on a large scale is best represented, in the Aegean art Period, by Mycenaeans, who embellished their architecture with reliefs: --The façade of the so-called Treasury of Atreus at Mycenae is adorned with contrasting red and green marbles in the form of columns and a frieze of spirals.

Mycenaean Sculpture: The stone stelae, or commemorative plaques, recovered above the royal shaft graves at Mycenae, contain both geometric and figural motifs.

Here, the monumental stone relief of the Lion (Lioness) Gate
Mycenae, in which the felines—whose heads were made of different material—heraldically flank a column Stokstad plate 4-17 Lion Gate, Mycenae, Greece, ca BCE. Limestone, relief panel approx. 9’ 6” high.

Mycenaean Sculpture: But there is something about the monumental stone relief of the Lion (Lioness) Gate at Mycenae that is exceptional

Mycenaean Sculpture: But there is something about the monumental stone relief of the Lion (Lioness) Gate at Mycenae that is exceptional --Notice what kind of column is depicted?

Mycenaean Sculpture: But there is something about the monumental stone relief of the Lion (Lioness) Gate at Mycenae that is exceptional --Notice what kind of column is depicted? --Yes, it’s a Minoan column on this Mycenaean gate.

Mycenaean Sculpture: This gate also contains the earliest example we have found of a sculpture that was attached to an architectural work, rather than sculpted into the stone of the architecture itself. The triangular slab containing the heraldic grouping was attached with rods through holes drilled in the gateway.

Mycenaean Sculpture: This triangular slab shape will develop in the next unit into the element known as a “pediment”. It also serves a structural function as a “relieving triangle”. Notice how this triangle supports some of the weight of the corbeled layers so less weight is carried by the lintel

Mycenaean Sculpture: The Mycenaeans excelled as well in the carving of circular ivory containers, statuettes, and decorative plaques. The tiny “Two Women with Child” is an exquisite example. Stokstad plate 4-26 Two Women with a child (goddesses?), found in the palace at Mycenae, Greece. c BCE. Ivory, ht 2 3/4”

Mycenaean Pottery Minoan pottery was imitated on the Greek mainland, where it gradually evolved in both shape and decoration into stricture, more disciplined forms. In the final phase, the Mycenaeans introduced pictorial elements, such as animals and human figures, as decoration The Warrior vase, for example, contains a narrative scene. Stokstad plate 4-28 Warrior Vase, from Mycenae, Greece, ca BCE. Approx. 1’ 4” high. This vase shaped is called a “krater” and was used for mixing wine and water

Mycenaean Sculpture: On the side in the Gardner plate, a woman at the far left bids farewell to a group of helmeted men with lances and large shields, marching off to the right.

Mycenaean Sculpture: But there is none of the exuberance or energy of the Harvester Vase or Vapheio Cups

Mycenaean Sculpture: The only emotion is the woman’s symbolic gesture of an arm raised to her head

Mycenaean Metalwork: The most impressive Mycenaean finds of metalwork were discovered in the shaft graves and tholos tombs of the mainland. They include gold masks and grave goods embossed with geometric designs. Stokstad plate 4-19 “Mask of Agamemnon,” Funerary mask, from Grave Circle A, Mycenae, Greece, Ca BCE. Beaten Gold, approx. 1’ high. [it’s not really the mask of Agamemnon]

Mycenaean Metalwork: The burials also contained luxurious gold and silver vases and ornamented bronze weapons, many by Minoan artists.

Some of the vessels were decorated with elaborate figures and scene hammered in repousse relief

Mycenaean Metalwork: other vessels, as well as daggers of bronze, were inlaid with designs of different colored metals, a technique sometimes referred to as “painting with metal” Stokstad plate 4-27 Inlaid dagger blade with lion hunt, from Grave Circle A, Mycenae, Greece, ca. BCE. Bronze, inlaid with Gold, silver, and niello, approx. 9: long. Niello: a black metallic alloy use to fill Incised designs in decorating metal objects

* Lion Gate triangular relief and
Monumental figural are is very rare in both Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations (other than frescoes) Exceptions: * Lion Gate triangular relief and * this painted plaster head Head of a sphinx(?) , from Mycenae, Greece, ca BCE. Painted plaster, approx. 6½’ high.

It was found just outside the citadel of Mycenae
Is it a woman? goddess? sphinx? The large staring eyes look menacing or terrifying—appropriate for a guardian figure like a sphinx. White flesh tone indicates head is female Hair and eyes are a dark blue-black lips, ears, and headband are red the cheeks and chin are decorated with red circles surrounded by a ring of red dots, like the trace cheek dots found on some Cycladic female figures

Chapter 4 Key Terms: 1. ashlar masonry: Carefully cut and regularly shaped block of stone used in construction, fitted together without mortar 2. bastion: a structure projecting outward from the main enclosure of a fortification, situated in both corners of a straight wall (termed curtain), with the shape of a sharp point, facilitating active defense against assaulting troops. It allows the defenders of the fort to cover adjacent bastions and curtains with defensive fire. 3. capstone: the final, topmost stone in an arch, which joins the sides and completes the structure 4. carnelian: an orange or orange-red semi-precious stone 5. corbelled vault: a vault made by projecting courses of stone 6. Crete: an island in the eastern Mediterranean Sea 7. Cycladic: the pre-Greek art of the Cycladic Islands 8. Cyclopean walls (masonry): a method of stone construction using large irregular blocks without mortar. The huge unhewn and roughly cut blocks of stone were used to construct Bronze Age fortifications such as Tiryns and other Mycenaean sites 9. dromos: the passage leading to a beehive tomb 10. Evans, Arthur: an English archaeologist famous for unearthing the palace at Knossos on Crete 11. faience: earthenware or pottery, especially with highly colored designed. Glazed earthenware. 12. fortified: strengthened, often with walls around it 13. granulated: a technique for decorating gold in which tiny balls of the precious metal are fused to the main surface

Chapter 4 Key Terms: 14. Helladic: The pre-Greek art of the Greek mainland (Hellas). Reference to Mycenaean art 15. intaglio: term used for a technique in which the design is carved out of the surface of an object, such a an engrave seal stone. 16.krater: An ancient Greek wide-mouth bowl for mixing wine and water 17. Linear B: written language found on Mycenaean tablets. Has been translated 18, megaron: the main hall of a Mycenaean palace or grand house, having a columnar porch and a room with a central fireplace surrounded by four columns. 19. Minoan: The pre-Greek art of Crete, named after the legendary king Minos of Knossos 20. Minoan Marine Style: Minoan decorations taken from marine inspiration 21. Mycenaean: The late phase of Helladic Art, named after the site of Mycenae 22. niello: a metal technique in which a black sulfur alloy is rubbed into fine lines engraved into a metal, usually gold or silver). When heated, the alloy becomes fused with the surrounding metal and provides contrasting detail. 23. organic: of, relating to, or derived from living matter 24. relieving triangle: in a corbelled arch, the opening above the lintel that serves to lighten the weight to be carried by the lintel itself Schliemann, Heinrich: 25. rhyton: a vessel in the shape of a figure or an animal, used for drinking or pouring liquids on special occasions. 26. schematic: simplistic or formulaic in character

Chapter 4 Key Terms: 27. Schliemann, Heinrich: Along with Arthur Evans, Schliemann was a pioneer in the study of Aegean civilization in the Bronze Age.Schliemann was an archaeological excavator of Hissarlik, now presumed to be the site of Troy, along with the Mycenaean sites Mycenae and Tiryns. His work lent weight to the idea that Homer's Iliad and Virgil's Aeneid reflect actual historical events. 28. shaft grave: 29. tell: In Near Eastern archaeology, a hill or a mound, usually an ancient site of habitation 30. Thera: ancient name for Santorini 31. tholos: a circular structure, generally in classical style; also, in Aegean architecture, a circular beehive-shaped tomb 32. treasury: place to store treasure and valuables 33. tumulus (singular: tumuli): 34. undulating: wavy 35. wet (or true) fresco: painting on wet lime plaster. The pigments are mixed with water and become chemically bound to the freshly laid lime plaster. 14. Helladic: The pre-Greek art of the Greek mainland (Hellas). Reference to Mycenaean art

Dr. Schiller: AP History of Art GARDNER 11th: Art through the Ages

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Dr. Schiller: AP History of Art GARDNER 11th: Art through the Ages

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