Minos and the Heroes of Homer:

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Gardners Art Through the Ages, 12e

• Chapter 4
• Minos and the Heroes of Homer
• The Art of the Prehistoric Aegean

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The Prehistoric Aegean
Cyclades Knossos Thera Phaistos
Hagia Triada Tiryns Mycenae
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Goals

• Identify the geographic area known as the Aegean.
  
• Discuss the visual aspects and possible context
  of the Cycladic sculptures.
• Discuss Minoan society and architecture.
• Understand visual aspects of Minoan art.
• Relate significant aspects of archeological
  excavations at Mycenae.
• Understand the link between culture and
  architecture of Mycenae
• Discuss the relationship between Minoan and
  Mycenaean art and culture

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Important Names

• Arthur Evans British archaeologist who uncovered
  the palace at Knossos, Crete, in 1900. He named
  the people who built it the Minoans, after the
  mythological king Minos.
• Homer Composed the Iliad c. 750 BCE, one of the
  finest epic poems ever created. It describes the
  Trojan wars.
• Heinrich Schliemann German businessman-turned-arc
  haeologist who uncovered Troy (Hissarlik, Turkey)
  between 1870-1890. He discovered that the site
  held a number of fortified cities built on top of
  the remains of each other.

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The Greece of Homer

• Originally thought the world described in Homers
  epic poem the Iliad was mythological.
• But in the late 1800s. Heinrich Schliemann
  proved that belief wrong with the discovery of
  Troy and a fire that dated to the time of
  Homers epic.
• Next to be moved from fiction to history was King
  Minos of Knossos, Crete more recent Minoan
  remains found on Thera now Santorini

Example of Linear A
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The Early Cycladic Figures

• Made of the abundant local marble, found on Naxos
  Paros.
• Most were statues of nude women with their arms
  folded, like many Stone Age examples.
• Traces of paint are found on several.
• Believed to be funerary offerings.
• Male figures include the lyre player from Keros.
  2700-2500 BCE ?

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Cycladic Art 2700-2500 BCE

• Stylistic characteristics of the Bronze Age
  statuettes from the Cyclades
• a. strikingly abstract
• b. human body rendered in highly schematized
  manner
• c. originally painted in bright colors

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Cycladic Art

• Resemblances with 20th cen. works
• Wilhelm Lehmbruck ?
• ? Henry Moore

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Minoan Culture and Art
Aerial view and plan of the palace at Knossos
1700-1400 BCE
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Figure 4-4 Plan of the palace at Knossos
(Crete), Greece, ca. 17001400 BCE.
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Minoan Culture and Art

• Middle Minoan palaces destroyed around 1700
  BCEearthquake?
• Knossos is a Late Minoan palace.
• Famed for the Minotaur's labyrinth Theseus
  battled the bull-man with help from Ariadne
• Labrys double-ax found everywhere in Knossos
  as a sign of sacrifice.
• Palace made of rough fieldstones covered in clay.

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Minoan Culture and Art

• Architectural characteristics of the Palace at
  Knossos
• a. Grouped around large rectangular court.
• b. Two long corridors separate rooms of different
  functions.
• c.
  Well-constructed with thick
  walls of rough, unshaped
  fieldstones
  embedded in clay.
• d.
  Terracotta pipes provided
  drains and light wells in
  staircases provided
  air and
  light.

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Minoan Culture and Art

• The problem with Arthur Evans
• We owe a lot to him, BUT
• His reconstruction strays far from the original,
  even when there were appropriate fragments.
• Approached the reconstruction as a Victorian
  gentleman note the hairstyles!

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Minoan Culture and Art Palace Frescos

• The Bull Leaping Fresco at Knossos.
• Fair/Dark skin convention for female/male
  representation.
• Elongation and pinched waists- show more movement
  than previous paintings.

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Minoan Culture and Art Thera Cyclades

• Akrotiri Miniature Ships Fresco. survived
  because buried by a volcano thus not
  mis-restored
• 17 high/at the top of 3 sides of a room.
• Provides information about sea-faring practices.
• Figures represented according to their role.
• Reminds us of Homers Iliad. ca.
  1650 BCE

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Minoan Culture and Art Thera Cyclades

• Akrotiri Spring Fresco Nature is the sole
  subject
• Intended to express joy.
• 1st known example of a pure landscape painting.
• Lacks humans and narrative element.
• Frescos are now wet or true frescos. Painted
  into wet plaster. Long lasting.

ca. 1650 BCE
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Minoan Culture and Art Pottery Crete

• Sea Life on Pottery Kamares ware -- Phaistos
• Used potters wheels new creamy white reddish
  brown. 1 8 hight
• Inspired octopus vase from Palaikastro ca. 1500
  BCE 11 high

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Hagia Triada southern coast of Crete

• Overview of the site.
• Hagia Triada was just to the west of Phaistos

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Hagia Triada

• Late Minoan sarcophagus 1450-1400 BCE
• Illustrate Minoan funerary rites.
• Reminiscent of the early Cycladic lyre player.
• Also Hu-nefer's Last Judgment. Egypt ca.
  1290-1280 BCE

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The Development of Minoan Pottery

• The Harvester Vase finest surviving example of
  Minoan relief sculpture. ca. 1500 BCE
• Only have the upper half and neck of the vase
• Mostly profile/frontal with the exception of the
  man beating time.
• Obvious study of human anatomy.

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The Development of Minoan Sculpture

• Goddess or Priestess? Snake Goddess Knossos
  1600 BCE
• No large temples found in Minoan Crete.
• Made of faience glazed earthenware
• Bare breasts suggest fertility function leopard
  on head suggests power over nature. So evidence
  is ambiguous.

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The Development of Minoan Sculpture

• Sculpture in gold and ivory probably
  imported from Egypt.
• Another serpent woman
• Young god from Palaikastro1500-1475 BCE

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Decline of Minoan Civilization

• Mycenaeans may have moved into Knossos, Crete at
  end of the new palace period around 1400 BCE
• Knossos destroyed around 1200 BCE
• Focus moved to the mainland Distinctive
  Mycenaean culture existed by 1300 BCE
• Giant citadels were builtMycenae was only one.
• Best preserved are Tiryns Mycenae, started
  around 1400 BCE Homer knew of Tiryns
• The heavy walls contrasted with the open Cretan
  palaces.

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Plan of the palace and southern part of the
citadel, Tiryns, Greece, ca. 14001200 BCE.
Mycenaean Art Architecture
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Mycenean Art and Architecture

• Architectural innovations included the corbelled
  arch.
• Composed of lintels, no mortar is used
• Compare with barrel vault at Ctesiphon, p.51.

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Mycenean Art and Architecture

• Kinds of arches

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Mycenaean Culture and Art Mycenae

• View of the citadel remains in the
  surrounding landscape
• 1300-1250 BCE

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Mycenaean Culture and Art
King Agamemnon House of Atreus ca. 1300-1259
BCE A few generations before the Trojan War.
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Mycenean Art and Architecture

• The Lion Gate forced attackers into a narrow
  channel.
• Formed of 2 monoliths and a lintel with the
  triangular relief of lions and columns with a
  corbelled arch above
• This kind of guardianship goes back to Egypt
  Assyria.

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Mycenean Art and Architecture

• Treasury of Atreus
• A beehive or tholos tomb. 1300-1250 BCE
• Misnamed.

Made of a series of stone corbelled courses,
ending in a lofty dome, 43 ft high.
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Mycenean Art and Architecture

• Treasury of Atreus

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Gold Mask from Mycenae

• Funerary mask from Grave Circle A 1600-1500
  BCE
• A beaten gold mask.
• An attempt to render the human face at life
  size.
• Different ages and features were found on other
  masks.
• NOT Agamemnon

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Inlaid dagger blade with lion hunt -- from Grave
Circle A made of bronzeca. 1600-1500 BCE
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Female Head from Mycenae ca. 1300-1250.

• Flesh tone indicates a female.
• Facial paint or tattoo
• 6 ½ inches high
• May be from goddess cult.

The watchful eye of Argos?
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Last, but not least!

• Warriors Vase Mycenae ca. 1200 BCE
• Form is a krater, a bowl for mixing wine and
  water.
• No indication of settings and a return to
  the repetitive forms of earlier eras.
• Harbinger of a more abstracted style to come.

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Discussion Questions

• What do you think are possible functions for the
  Cycladic sculptures?
• Compare the Egyptian Old Kingdom and New Kingdom
  Armana period styles of wall painting with
  Minoan wall paintings.
• What was the focus of Minoan art? Did they
  emphasize the afterlife?
• Why do you think the Minoan civilization
  declined? Give reasons for your ideas.