Dark Ages to Geometric Period
• Dark Ages (Architectural Term) =
Protogeometric Period ( Pottery Term)
1100 - 900 BCE
• Geometric Period (Architecture, Sculpture,
and Pottery) 900 - 700 BCE
End of the Mycenaean World
• Literary tradition from Homer and other ancient
epics. Destruction of Troy at the hands of a
contingency of Mycenaean warriors.
• Destruction of Troy. Which Troy is the Troy of the
Trojan war? Troy VI? Troy VIIA?
• Destruction of the mainland palaces (Mycenae,
Tiryns, Athens, Gla, Pylos, Thebes, Orchomenos)
are all under different circumstances.
Theories for Destruction
• The Dorian Invasions (Return of the
Herakleidae or Internal Revolt?)
• The Raids of the Sea Peoples
• Intercity Warfare
• Drought, Famine, Earthquakes, and Other
Natural Disasters.
Dark Age Sites
•
•
•
•
•
Karphi, Crete*
Kavousi, Crete
Lefkandi, Euboea*
Nichoria, Messenia
Oval House, Smyrna*
Karphi
• Middle Bronze
Age to Geometric
• Unwalled
settlement
• 150 adjoining
rooms
• Great House
Lefkandi - The Heroon
• Heroon - 10th
century
• Cemetery - 9th
century
• Apsidal (50 m
by 10 m)
• Burial of man,
woman, horses
Lefkandi - The Plan
The Centaur
•
•
•
•
Eretria Museum
Terracotta
10th c BCE
Found in Heroon,
split in two
pieces, one in
each grave.
Isis and Horus
Necklace
• Found in tombs near
Heroon at Lefkandi.
• 11th/10th century.
• Faience, Egyptian in
origin.
• Isis and Horus
statuettes common in
Egyptian world.
Protogeometric Pottery
• Shapes derived from
Mycenaean oeuvre:
krater, oinochoe, cups,
amphorae.
• Faster wheel.
• Compass drawn pendent
semicircles or
concentric circles.
• Kerameikos cemetery in
Athens.
Geometric Cult Sites
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Dreros on Crete*
Eretria - Apollo Daphnephoros*
Sparta - Temple of Artemis Orthria
Heraion at Samos*
The Argive Heraion*
Temple of Hera at Perachora*
Thermon*
Dreros
• Temple of
Apollo.
• Earliest known
temple - 750
BCE.
• City
fortification.
Cult Statues
• From shelf in
temple.
• Sphyrelaton
method: sheet
hammered bronze
over wood core.
• Apollo, Leto,
Artemis.
Eretria
Apollo Daphnephoros
• Four phases of
the temple.
• Apsidal hut.
• Second
structure with
apsidal walls.
• Hekatompedon
(100 footer).
• Geometric
Daphnephorion
• All geometric
structures
leveled at the
end of the 8th
c. BCE.
• Early Archaic
hekatompedon
(670 - 655
BCE)
Harbor at Samos
Samos from theAir
Heraion at Samos
Geometric Heraion at Samos
• Local Carian deity
originally.
• Hera and Zeus married
here beside a sacred
bush.
• Hekatompedon - 8th c
BCE.
Hera Limenaia at Perachora
• Corinthiad
• Again, a port.
• Apsidal
structure.
• Geometric
bronze finds.
• 9th/8th c BCE.
Perachora - Geometric Plan
Thermon
• Geometric period, the
site became religious.
• 3 temples.
• Megaron A and B.
Thermon - Temples
• Archaic temple built over Megaron B.
Thermon: Megaron B
Geometric Pottery
• Early - increased geometric patterns.
Meanders become more and more
prominent.
• Use as tomb markers in Athens.
• Very fine clay and fast wheel.
• Athens at forefront of Geometric pottery
production.
Agora “Rich Lady” Burial
• Belly amphora
- female.
• Granary symbol of
status or
wealth?
• Cremation.
• 9th c BCE.
Agora Male
Burial
• Cremation
• Neck amphora
• Sword around
amphora
• Horse pyxis - symbol
of wealth?
Horse Pyxis
Athens 804
• Pictorial
Narrative.
• Prothesis
and
Ekphora.
• Tomb
Marker
from the
Dipylon
gate
cemetery.
• 750 BCE
• 1.55 m
high.
Other narratives
• Fox hunt?
• Boeotia.
• Boston Museum of
Fine Arts.
• 750 BCE
Sculpture
•
•
•
•
•
Boston MFA
Under 8 inches.
Bronze
Solid Cast
9th c BCE.