Aegean Art Notes
Objectives:
The Aegean lies between the Greek mainland and Asia Minor and touches the
Mediterranean with Egypt to the south. This "in-between" status is both geographic and
historic. What happens to art in the Aegean period is interesting because of its
transitional role. Aegean art transitions from a time dominated by the ancient art of
Egypt and Mesopotamia to a world that is dominated by the emergence and flowering of
culture in Greece. Pay close attention to the human figure in Aegean art. Note how it
both resembles and differs from depictions of the great civilizations of the Nile and the
Tigris-Euphrates valley. Goals for this chapter include:
Learn the geographic layout of the area in and around the Greek mainland.
Understand the unique features of each of the three great civilizations of pre-Greek
Aegean times: Cycladic, Minoan, and Mycenaean.
Grasp the similarities among these same civilizations.
Learn new architectural concepts such as vaulting and corbeling.
Gain an appreciation of how differences in the handling of the human figure can be
indicative of the values and concerns of any civilization.
"Colored M & M’s." -This phrase is used to reference the chronological order of the
three cultures examined under the art historical period of the Aegean: Cycladic, Minoan,
and Mycenaean
The 3 cultures locations
•Cycladic-group of island people
•Minoan- people of the large island of Crete
•Mycenaean- people of the mainland of Greece
Cycladic Islands in the Bronze Age 3000-1600BCE
•Left no written word- art is source of information
•Agriculture, herding, trade, and crafts
•Hillside burial chambers
•Terra cotta- an orange-brown low fired clay
•Marble being used as sculpting material
Title: Two figures of women
Medium: Marble
Size: heights 13" (33 cm) and 25" (63.4 cm)
Date: c. 2500–2200 BCE
Marble – durable, Ranging in size from a few inches to 5 feet tall, Often found lying on
graves Stylized? Why simplified forms? Tools? Why female?
Meant to lie on back Painted faces and hair originally
Title: Seated Harp Player
Medium: Marble
Size: height 11 •••" (29.2 cm)
Date: c. 2700–2500 BCE
Sculpture in the round- carved on all sides, meant to be viewed from all angles, The
harpist is still stylized but now has, more details.
Why is his head back? Or feet apart?
Chair?
These stylized marble statutes could have been used for many reasons.
-votive figures
-broken ceremonially in burial rituals
-decorations
Crete and Minoan Civilizations
•Island of Crete- the Minoan culture flourished from 1900-1375 BCE
•Minoan comes from King Minos
•Crete largest Island 150 miles long, 36 miles wide
•Crops and herding, wealthy seas power because of safe ports
Reconstruction of the palace complex, Knossos, Crete
Dressed stone- face a wall with finished, cut stone
1700 Earthquake!
Old Palace period 1900-1700 BCE
Large central courtyard
Reconstruction of the palace complex, Knossos, Crete
The second palace period
1700-1450 BCE
1700-earthquake forced people to rebuild the palace. Because of the double axe motif
being used throughout the palace it became known as the Labyrinth or “house of the
double axes”. Due to the Maze like structure of palace, Labyrinth came to mean “maze”.
The Columns were originally tree trunks with the tapered or small ends at the bottom.
The top was known as a cushion top.
Title: Kamares Ware Jug
Medium: Ceramic
Size: height 10 •••" (27 cm)
Date: c. 2000–1900 BCE
Inside the palace, workshops attributed to the mass production of ceramics and
metalwork.
Extraordinary methods from creating pottery and metalwork were developed.
Kamares ware was known for:
-Extremely thin walls
-color
-graceful and stylized paint decoration
Other Characteristics: Globular Body and Beaked pouring spout, Stylized or nonrealistic looking, representations of plant life
Jewelry Vocab
Lost-wax casting- a wax form is cover with clay or plaster then melted away
to create a hollow form, then molten metal fills the form, when cooled the
clay is broken away and the metal form remains
Inlay- pieces of one material are decoratively put into another material
Filigree- delicate, lacelike ornamental work
Repoussé- hammering metal from the back to create a protruding image
Granulation-technique for decorating gold in which tiny balls of precious
metal are fused to the main surface
Niello- black sulfer alloy rubbed into fine lines of metal detail for contrast
Gilding- the application of gold-leaf or gold pigment to the surface of another
medium
Title: Pendant of Gold Bees
Medium: Gold
Size: height approx. 1 13⁄16" (4.6 cm)
Date: Old Palace Period, c. 1700–1550 BCE
Early Aegean metalwork used techniques borrowed from the ancient near east
Balance? What’s going on?
Quick Write (practice for potential essay questions):
Look at the image of the Woman or Goddess with Snakes. Now, based on your
observations write a paragraph that supports the view that the figure is a deity rather
than a human.
Title: Harvester Vase
Medium: Steatite
Size: diameter 4 •••" (11.3 cm)
Date: New Palace Period, c. 1650–1450 BCE
Rhyton- a container from which fluids were intended to be drunk, or else poured in
some ceremony
Steatite- greenish brown soap stone. May have been covered in gold leaf. 27 men
(Rowdy)
What can we say about their placement on the vase?
What are they doing?
Title: Bull’s-Head Rhyton
Medium: Steatite with shell rock crystal and red jasper the gilt-wood horns restored
Size: height 12" (30.5 cm)
Date: c.1550–1450 BCE
•steatite rhyton in the shape of a bull's head from the Little Palace of Knossos.
•The horns were gilded, the eyes made of rock crystal and the muzzle of mother of pearl
• It was a libation vessel used in sacred rituals. It was filled with the appropriate liquid
through the hole in the neck and emptied during the ritual through another hole in the
nostrils.
•The art of stone carving, which had suffered a decline in the Old Palace Period, was
revived and perfected in New Palace times.
Title: Octopus Flask
Medium: Marine style ceramic
Size: height 11" (28 cm)
Date: c. 1500–1450 BCE
•No priesthood or rigid artistic styles
•Minoan art reflected a freedom and willingness to assimilate other artistic traditionsfrom
throughout the region.
•Common motifs are creatures of the sea. Marine Style.
•a bold painting of an octopus glides around and covers the surface of this flask.
•Note how successfully the artist has drawn the suckers on the tentacles, and how the
coiling circles of the ends of the tentacles are repeated in the shapes of the handles
flanking the spout.
•The Minoan artist did not constrain the design within banded areas, but rather let the
images freely flow around the vessel.
Title: Woman Or Goddess with Snakes
Medium: Faience
Size: height 11•••" (29.5 cm)
Date: New Palace period, c. 1700–1550 BCE
Females holding snake were found all the way back to date 6000BCE, Thought to have
been associated with:
-Water
-Regenerative Power
-Protection of the home
Found in a store Room in Knossos, she is a strong presence. A cat or leopard sits on
her head to suggest royalty or protection. Due to her complex detailing and both realistic
and stylized elements, scholars disagree on if she is a representation of goddess or
human.
Frescoes
Frescos-large scale wall paintings. Minoans used two techniques
Buon Fresco- painted while the plaster is still wet
Fresco Secco-painted on dry plaster
Dolphin Fresco
http://arthistoryblogger.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-frescoes-of-akrotiri.html
As the Minoan civilization was centered on the Aegean islands there is a wealth of
marine life imagery shown in their art, such as the fish in the Young Fisherman Fresco
and the swimming dolphins shown below in the Flotilla Fresco. Vases were painted
with octopi and on the main island of Crete there were fish and dolphins painted in the
Palace of Knossos.
Title: Landscape (Spring Fresco)
Medium: Wall painting with areas of
modern reconstruction
Size: n/a
Date: Before 1630 BCE
http://arthistoryblogger.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-frescoes-of-akrotiri.html
The Springtime fresco is the earliest work which is entirely a landscape painting that has
been found in the ancient world. This fresco covered at least three walls in the room it
was found in. As we can see the imagery is stylized and abstracted rather than being a
more naturalistic representation of hills and flowers. The landscape is painted as
colorful, bright and expressive with a playful inclusion of swooping birds. It is not known
what the room that this decorated was used for or why they chose to fill the walls with
landscape painting.
Minoan painting can be differentiated from the arts found in other bronze age
civilizations such as Egyptian and Mesopotamian due to the subject matter. Most
Minoan fresco subjects were scenes from daily life rather than paintings created to
honor Pharaohs or gods. Also the Minoans used the true wet fresco technique of
painting with pigment into plaster made with limestone to seal the painting to the wall,
rather than the dry fresco technique used in Egypt.
However there were also some similarities, the two frescoes below show how the
Minoans also used the same "twisted perspective" seen in figurative art through the
centuries in ancient civilizations. We can find examples of this in Mesopotamian relief
carving as well as Egyptian fresco. Twisted perspective refers to the fact that the feet
and legs are shown in profile, but the torso is shown frontally. The head is also in
profile, while the eye is shown frontally.
Title: Bull Leaping
Medium: Wall painting with areas of modern reconstruction
Size: Height approx. 24 •••" (62.3 cm)
Date: Late Minoan period, c. 1550–1450 BCE
Late Minoan 1450-1375 BCE
Restored Fresco Ritual act. Not true to life
Bull-leaping (also taurokathapsia, from Greek ταυροκαθάψια[1]) is a motif of Middle Bronze
Age figurative art, notably of Minoan Crete, but also found in Hittite Anatolia, the Levant,
Bactria and the Indus Valley.[2] It is often interpreted as a depiction of a ritual performed
in connection with bull worship. This ritual consists of an acrobatic leap over a bull;
when the leaper grasps the bull's horns, the bull will violently jerk his neck upwards
giving the leaper the momentum necessary to perform somersaults and other acrobatic
tricks or stunts.
Bull-leaping is thought to have been a key ritual in the religion of the Minoan civilization
in Bronze Age Crete. As in the case of other Mediterranean civilizations, the bull was
the subject of veneration and worship. Representation of the Bull at the palace of
Knossos is a widespread symbol in the art and decoration of this archaeological site.[4]
The assumption, widely debated by scholars, is that the iconography represents a ritual
sport and/or performance in which human athletes literally vaulted over bulls as part of a
ceremonial rite.
Title: Young Girl Gathering Saffron
Crocus Flowers
Medium: Detail of wall painting
Size: n/a
Date: 1630 BCE
•Island of Akrotiri, explosion of the volcano on the island of Santorini, which preserved
the paintings under a layer of ash.
•Saffron had many uses back then, including dye or paint, spice, and medicine.
•This piece of art is important because it taught people a lot about their life back then.
•For example, it shows what a young girl would wear in those times, what she looked
like, what they did. Her head is shaved, showing that she in unmarried.
•The painting is also very naturalistic, depicting the plant itself at least 4 times and the
girl is literally in the act of gathering the saffron.
Apparently Minoans shaved their head but for some long locks, the shaved head is
shown as blue and the long locks as black. Another similarity to Egyptian art is how men
were depicted as having darker tan skin and women were shown having pale skin.
Title: “Flotilla” fresco
Date: New Palace Period, c. 1650 BCE
http://arthistoryblogger.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-frescoes-of-akrotiri.html
The enormous fresco known as The Flotilla Fresco from room 5 of the West House
gives the modern viewer a more detailed look at daily life in this culture. This fresco
wrapped around three sides of a room, it is approximately 39 feet (12 m) long and yet
only 17 inches high (43 cm) in a frieze like style.
Ships are shown sailing from one island to the next while people wait for them in the
towns, deer are chased in the hills and dolphins swim in the sea. Is this too a
panoramic scene of daily life? Or instead the retelling of a historic even or mythic story?
Mycenean Art
Mycenaean Greece (c. 1600 BC – c. 1100 BC) was a cultural period of Bronze Age
Greece taking its name from the archaeological site of Mycenae in northeastern Argolis,
in the Peloponnese of southern Greece. Athens, Pylos, Thebes, and Tiryns are also
important Mycenaean sites. The last phase of the Bronze Age in Ancient Greece, it is
the historical setting of much ancient Greek literature and myth, including the epics of
Homer.[1]
Title: Vapheio Cups
Medium: Gold
Size: height 3 •••" (3.9 cm)
Date: c. 1650–1450 BCE
What technique?
What objects do you see?
Mainland Greece & Mycenaean
•Helladic period- 3000-1000BCE and the Aegean Bronze Age on the Mainland
ofGreece
•1500BCE Mycenaean Cultures in late Helladic
Southern Utah University
September 2001
Two gold cups were found in a tholos at Vapheio, the region near Sparta in what is
today southern Greece. The tholos is believed to be that of a king. These cups are
believed by many to be of differing origins, one Minoan and one Mycenaean. However,
the cultures are so similar, and the artifacts so alike, that one can be inclined to believe
that there is no true difference.
The gold cup on the left in the text is arguably Minoan. This cup depicts a man tying a
bull. This appears to be in preparation for sport. The Minoans believed the bull to be
sacred, and it seems that bulls were used in many rituals. In addition to the man and the
bull, the cup shows trees, earth and clouds. These are all depicted rather
naturalistically. They are not quite as big as they would be in nature, and this only adds
to the centrality of the bull. The lines are curving and contoured, reminiscent of the
Toreador Fresco, which also depicts a bull ritual as its main focus.
On the right, however, is a Mycenaean cup. The portrayed images appear to be
Minoan. The images on this cup are obviously contoured, almost the same as the
Minoan cup. However, the author argues that the execution in Mycenaean. Rather than
expressing the natural setting of the bull (the landscape forms surrounding it) as the
Minoan cup, the Mycenaean cup focuses more on the struggle of the captive bull.
Indeed, as one looks at the cup on the left, the bull is the largest feature.
Despite some slight differences, it is arguable that there really isn't too much that is
different about these two cups. The one on the right is cruder, but the iconography is the
same as Minoan. It would appear that the Minoans had a large amount of influence on
the art of the area of ancient Greece. Discoveries at Thera bear striking resemblance to
Minoan art as well. While lacking in naturalistic detail (as Egyptian art does as well) the
contours of the figures are very similar. Perhaps the Mycenaeans borrowed from the
Minoan and Theran traditions. The "Goddess" fresco certainly seems to support this
theory.
In conclusion, while the two cups have slightly differing styles, it seems like too much is
being made of differing styles. It seems that essentially Minoan and Mycenaean art is
the same. The two cups were created the same way: by hammering from the inside and
the smoothing the edges. In addition, both have the same iconography. The lack of
landscape forms on the one cup hardly seems justification enough to call them two
different art forms from two different civilizations.
Bibliography
Laurie Schneider Adams, A History of Western Art (New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill,
2001).
Title: Citadel at Mycenae (Aerial View)
Date: Site occupied c. 1600–1200 BCE; walls built C. 1340, 1250, 1200 BCE
Title: Reconstruction of Citadel
At Mycenae Citadel- a fortress or defended city, place high to command a location
Ring walls- surrounding walls
Title: Lion Gate, Mycenae
Date: c. 1250 BCE
Post and lintel- an architectural system of construction with 2 or more vertical elements
(posts) supporting a horizontal element
Relieving arch- an arch put on top a post and lintel structure to transfer weight from the
center to the sides
Guardian Figures. 9.5 ft tall
Who else used guardian figures?
The gate led up onto the “Great Ramp” to the kings palace.
Any other famous post and lintel examples? Stone Henge
Title: Lion Gate, Mycenae
Medium: Limestone relief
Size: height of sculpture approx. 9' 6" (2.9 m)
Date: c. 1250 BCE
Now missing heads were made of wood, bronze, gold, or stone and connected with
rope through holes
Title: “Mask of Agamemnon”
Medium: Gold
Size: height approx.
12"(35 cm)
Date: c. 1600–1550 BCE
Is it a fake?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUC2TX87pYg&feature=related
Agamemnon- Greek King of Mycenae, who led the attack to retrieve Helen back from
Troy. Scholars believe this is not the face of Agamemnon but 300 years before his time.
Title: Entrance to the Tholos, the so-called Treasury of Atreus
Bee-hive tombs- tombs with a conical shape, corbel vaulted, cover with earth
Cyclopean construction-a construction using heavy blocks, named after the Cyclops
Title: Corbeled Vault, Interior of Tholos
Medium: Limestone vault
Size: height approx. 43' (13 m), diameter 47'6" (14.48 m)
corbel vaulted- each piece of stone protrudes farther then the last. Courses- rows or
layers Ashlars- squared stones
Cutaway Drawing of Tholos
Chevrons- inverted V designs
Running Spirals- decorative motif of a
continuous spiraling line
Reconstruction Drawing of The Megaron In The Palace At Pylos
Greece. C. 1300–1200 BCE
Built on a raised site with fortifications Megaron- great room Columns? Throne Room
and Audience Hall Lost in civic upheavals
Title: Two Women with A Child
Medium: Ivory
Size: height 2•••" (7.5 cm)
Date: c. 1400–1200 BCE
Sculpture in the round. Interlocking people. Only about 3 inch tall. Tiny details
Generational? Mood?
Artefact Analysis
Ivory Triad (McManus 2002)
Identification and description
The ivory triad is carved out of ivory and depicts two women and a child (Schofield2007:
p.135). One of the women has her arm laid around the other woman who in turn has her
arm around the child (Wace 1949: p. 83). The women wear Minoan ceremonial dresses
(Rehak & Younger 1998: p. 240) and share a shawl like piece of clothing (Castleden
2005: p.144). The figurine is excellently carved on all sides (à jour technique). It also
has a small hole in its base (Wace 1949: p. 83), which suggests that it could have been
original mounted on top of a sceptre or staff (Dickinson 1994: p. 173).The group is
around 8 cm high (Castleden 2005: p.144) and in very good condition,with only the
head of one of the women missing (Wace 1949: pp. 83-84). The statue is dated by
different scholars to the Late Helladic IIIA/IIIB periods (Olsen 1998: pp. 386-387, Rehak
& Younger 1998: p. 240). The triad is normally identified as two goddesses and a divine
child (Schofield 2007: p.135)
Title: Dagger Blade with Lion Hunt
Medium: Bronze inlaid with gold, silver, and niello
Size: length 9•••" (23.8 cm)
Date: c. 1550–1500 BCE
Found in grave shaft. One of 3 Jewelry techniques? Inlaid technique.
Title: Warrior Vase
Medium: Ceramic
Size: height 16"(41 cm)
Date: c. 1300–1100 BCE
Superior structure, decoration highly stylized
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Mycenaean Warrior Vase, found by Heinrich Schliemann on the acropolis of
Mycenae, is one of the prominent treasures of the National Archaeological Museum,
Athens.[1] The Warrior Vase, dated to the 12th century BCE, is probably the bestknown piece of Late Helladic pottery.[2] It is a krater, a mixing bowl used for mixing
water and wine, for the ancient Greeks never drank wine unwatered.
The broad frieze of armed soldiers on the vase, which is incomplete, suggested the
name that Schliemann gave it. The warriors are clad in short chitons, breastplates,
helmets and greaves; they are armed with spears and carry shields. The bull's head
handles for long encouraged scholars to date the piece later, in the early seventh
century BCE.
Differing from the characteristic flora-and-fauna decoration of the Minoans, whose
safety was insured by their island location, the war motifs of this vase reflect the more
militaristic aspects of Mycenaean life. Although not realistically drawn, the decoration of
the Warrior Vase provides a document of ancient defensive arms and armor.
Stylistically, these figures also suggest the influence of Egyptian and Minoan formal
canons.
The End and the Beginning
•1200BCE Mycenaean Rule over
•1100-900 BCE know as the “Dark age of the
Aegean”
•Final a New Greek Civilization emerges