Minoan Crete

1
Minoan Crete

• CLA 210
• Ross Scaife

2
Cretan Bull

• Bull leaping fresco from Knossos
• Minoans abroad the case of Avaris in the Nile
  delta (18th dynasty LM I)
• Ivory acrobat
• Horns of Consecration
• Bulls Head rhyton
• (and remember the Minotaur story)

3
Bull leaping fresco from Knossos
4
Avaris (Tell el-Dab'a) in the Nile Delta royal
citadel here excavated by an Austrian scholar
named Manfred Bietak
5
Fragmentary painting of a bull-leaper, found in a
royal citadel at Avaris in recent excavations and
dated to the 18th dynasty (c. 1530 BCE).
6
Reconstruction of the painting at Avaris
7
North propylaia at Knossos
8
Ivory bull leaper or acrobat, and seal impression
9
Horns of consecration
10
Reconstruction of west façade at Knossos (nb
horns)
11
Bulls head rhyton, made of steatite
12
Women and religion

• Rhyton from Mochlos (EM III)
• Dancing Girl (LM I)
• Gold seal rings (LM I)
• Snake goddesses from the Temple Repositories at
  Knossos made of faience and other materials (LM
  I)

13
Rhyton from Mochlos (EM III)
14
(No Transcript)
15
Minoan tombs at Mochlos see http//www.uncg.edu/
7Ejssoles/Mochlos/cemetery.html
16
Fragmentary fresco of a Dancing Girl
17
Gold seal ring from Isopata
18
Gold seal ring with a religious scene
19
Faience Snake Goddess from Temple Repositories at
Knossos (29.5 cm tall)
20
Snake Goddess from the Temple Repositories,
Knossos (details of dress) Faience work is an
Egyptian technique, requires high heat
21
A gold and ivory snake goddess,Boston Museum of
Fine Arts.The snake goddess is usually thought
to be a household divinity.
22
(No Transcript)
23
Peak sanctuaries

• Petsofa and Iuktas are the main sites
• Remote, but associated with the palaces by
  inscriptions and pottery (Kamares Ware)
• Many figurines

24
(No Transcript)
25
Sanctuary rhyton from Zakro (LMIB)
26
Figurines from Petsopha
27
Next

• Crete and Thera
• Crete and Mycenae