The Aegean Art
The Aegean cultures were discovered in the late 19th century. Until
that time the references to them in the stories of Homer were thought
to be fictional.
Heinrich Schliemann, an amateur archeologist from Germany,
discovered Troy and other Mycenaean cities by tracing references in
Homer's lliad and Odyssey. In 1900 Sir Arthur Evans began
excavations on Crete and found the Palace of Knossos.
CYCLADIC ART 3000-1200 BC.
Dates for cultural periods in the Aegean:
3000 - 1200 BC - Cycladic
3000 - 1500 BC - Minoan (King Minos, the Minotaur, et al) - Crete
1600 - 1200 BC - Mycenaean - Mainland Greece
The Cycladic culture is a late Neolithic culture of the Cycladic Islands
in the eastern Mediterranean
- they had no writing and are known to us by their tombs and their
sculpture
Cycladic Figure
2500 - 2000 BC
marble
Cycladic figures range in size from inches to life size
They are very simplified and abstract in form.
Some were at least partially painted with facial features.
The majority are figures of standing nude women, perhaps
representing fertility figures.
Lyre Player
c. 2700 - 2500 BC
marble, 9" h.
Male figures are far less common
than female figures.
They are typically represented as musicians.
Musicians are always male and have, with few
exceptions,
always been found in burial sites
-Notice how the male figure is made up of open forms
as opposed to the closed form of the female figure.
MINOAN ART 3000-1500 B.C.
(Middle and Late Minoan)
Palace at
Knossos Reconstruction
Drawings
Referred to as the Palace of Minos
Initially excavated by Sir Arthur Evans beginning in 1890. Evans believed he had found
the labyrinth of Minos
- called civilization "Minoan"
The palace is partially restored
It is a large open complex - labyrinthine
100's of rooms
- up to 3 stories tall - with little apparent order
- But, it had a well designed sanitary drainage system making it a very livable home
Around 1700 BC the palace was destroyed - possibly as the result of volcanic action
and/or related earthquakes
- it was rebuilt then again destroyed in 1400 BC
- It has no fortifications - Minoans were a sea power and had little need for the citadels
common in Mesopotamia
The Egyptians knew the Minoans as the "Sea People" (Ramsses II (the Great) gives a
major history of his battles with the Sea People)
The complex was very open and airy
- many skylights with light wells to illuminate the
interior (on the right)
- it was not only a residential palace - also
administrative center
- shipping and trading were foundation of their
economy
"Queens Megaron" (above, left)
The Queen's Megaron nicely shows the light, open nature of the interior rooms of the
palace at Knossos. Also, like the King's Megaron, below, it is decorated with graceful,
natural motifs - here dolphins and fish swimming in the sea. Images such as these make it
easy to imagine that the Minoans lived a life in harmony with nature and the sea that
surrounded them.
Kings Megaron
- Megaron means great room
- Megarons are audience halls
Here in the King's Megaron at
Knossos the walls are painted
with organic forms and subjects
that show a harmonious
relationship with the natural
world.
Sea forms - sea weed in
current....
also, graceful, gryphon-like
animals
FRESCOS (In fresco paintings the paint is applied to wet plaster and becomes part of the
wall as the plaster dries. The mineral pigments are chemically bound in the lime of the
plaster.)
Minoan painting is light and airy like the atmosphere of the palace and the Cretan
countryside and the sea
It is fluid and graceful - dance like
Toreador Fresco
32" high
Ritual bull jumping - held in the courtyard
- may have had religious purpose
Snake Goddess
c. 1600 BC, faience, 13" h
- FAIENCE - brightly glazed earthenware
pottery
- the glaze is made from melted quartz
layered over the terracotta
- Figure may be deity - or a priestess
- She holds snakes (male fertility? ) and a
cat sits on her head
- costume is a typical Minoan flounced
dress with an open bodice
The Snake Goddess was originally
identified by Evans as a "votary". When
found it was missing its head, most of its
hat, the right arm, the lower part of the
snake held in the right hand, and large
segments of the skirt. The partial
reconstruction in the photographs below
was eventually completed with the addition
of the left forearm, a hand holding a purely
conjectural snake, and the head.
-
Beaked Jug
c. 1800 BC, ceramic
MYCENAEAN ART
1600 – 1200 BC
Acropolis of Mycenae c. 1300 BC
Octopus Vase
c. 1, 500 BC, ceramic
Mycenae and Tiryns were two major political and economic centers on the mainland of
Greece, capitals of the warrior kings who raided the eastern Mediterranean and perhaps
led the expedition that lay siege to the city of Troy.
Mycenaean civilization mysteriously disappeared around 1200 BC.
It is also believed that the
Mycenaeans were partially or
wholly responsible for the end of
the Minoan culture with whom
they had many ties. This theory is
supported by a switch on the
island of Crete from the Cretan
Linear A Script to the Mycenaean
Linear B style script and by
changes in ceramics styles and
decoration.
The citadel of Mycenae is an
Acropolis - a citadel on raised
area
- acro "high" - Polis "city"
The Lion Gate - Entry in to the Acropolis of
Mycenae
is popularly considered to be the capital of King
Agamemnon who is said to have led the expedition
that laid siege to the city of Troy according to Homer.
The Lion Gate is an excellent example of post and
lintel construction combined with a corbeled arch the triangular arch shape that the lions stand within.
The Greek mainland is very different from Crete.
Palaces are large citadels made of piled up stones - called Cyclopean Architecture by
later Greeks
- as opposed to the openness of the palace at Knossos
The term cyclopean architectures was created by later Greeks who thought only Cyclops
(one eyed giants) could build such structures.
The nearby citadel of Tiryns is referred to by Homer as "Tiryns of the Great Walls" and is
the mythological birthplace of Hercules.
MYCENAEAN MEGARONS
Megaron at Pylos reconstruction
Megaron Floor Plan
The Megaron is a characteristic form of Mycenaean palace found at many sites, including
Troy.
They are very symmetrical and its basic form is a forerunner of later Greek temple forms.
They are square with a central fire pit framed by four columns.
THOLOS TOMBS
Treasury of Atreus, view of the dromos and
entry
The acropolis compound of Mycenae included
simple shaft graves and more sophisticated
tholos tombs.
Tholos tombs are conical chambers resembling
the classic beehives ("beehive tombs"). The
burial chamber is subterranean.
There are 9 at Mycenae.
This particular one was misnamed the
"treasury" by Schliemann in 1876. He was very
much into the romance of Homer's literature
and his role in excavating the historic sites tied
to the literature.
Atreus was the Homeric father of Agamemnon
and Menelaus the two major kings on the Greek
side in the Trojan War. Menelaus was the
rightful husband of Helen.
Interior View of the Treasury of
Atreus
Cut-away View of a Tholos Tomb
Entry to a tholos tomb was through a long
passage way - the dromos.
The main chamber the tholos is about 43' high.
The stonework of the tholos is very much influenced by Egyptian masonry techniques.
In the earlier shaft graves the face of the deceased was covered with a gold death
mask. These burial practices are similar to Egyptian burial practices and it's thought that
Mycenaean mercenaries may have been employed by the Egyptians in their fight to repel
the Hyskos during the Second Intermediate Period(1750-1550 BC).
While there they would have learned much from the Egyptians and developed a great
taste for gold.
MYCENAEAN GOLD WORK
Gold Mask
c. 1600 - 1500 BCE, gold, 12" h.
This gold death mask was found in
one of the shaft graves by Heinrich
Schliemann who dubbed it the "Mask
of Agamemnon".
While it was probably not the grave of
Agememnon it would have been the
burial of a king or equally important
man.
Vaphio Cup, c. 1500 BCE, gold, 3.5" h.
The style of figures is very much based upon Minoan figures and some scholars suggest
that it may have been made on Crete. The story depicted is of a bull are being trapped
and snared using a cow as bait. This bull is much more aggressive than the playful,
elegant bull of the Toreador Fresco .
Sources: Alan Petersen’s Art History 201 & Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe’s Women in
the Aegean