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Art History

Sixth Edition

Chapter 4

Art of the Ancient Aegean

Learning Objectives (1 of 2)

4.a Identify the visual hallmarks of Bronze Age Aegean Cycladic, Minoan, and Mycenaean art for formal, technical, and expressive qualities.

4.b Interpret the meaning of works of Bronze Age Aegean Cycladic, Minoan, and Mycenaean art based on their themes, subjects, and symbols.

4.c Relate Bronze Age Aegean Cycladic, Minoan, and Mycenaean artists and art to their cultural, economic, and political contexts.

Learning Objectives (2 of 2)

4.d Apply the vocabulary and concepts used to discuss Bronze Age Aegean art, artists, and art history.

4.e Interpret ancient Aegean art using appropriate art historical methods, such as observation, comparison, and inductive reasoning.

4.f Select visual and textual evidence in various media to support an argument or an interpretation of ancient Aegean art.

GIRL GATHERING SAFFRON CROCUS FLOWERS Detail of wall painting, Room 3 of House Xeste 3, Akrotiri, Thera, Cyclades. Before 1630 BCE. Thera Foundation, Petros M. Nomikos, Greece. © 2016. White Images/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 04-01]

The Bronze Age in the Aegean (1 of 2)

Before 3000 BCE until about 1100 BCE, several Bronze Age cultures flourished simultaneously across the Aegean.

Archaeologists have studied shipwrecks, homes, grave sites, and the ruins of architectural complexes to learn about these cultures.

The history of the Aegean Bronze Age is still being written.

THE ANCIENT AEGEAN WORLD The three main cultures in the ancient Aegean were the Cycladic, in the Cyclades; the Minoan, on Thera and Crete; and the Helladic, including the Mycenaean, on mainland Greece but also encompassing the regions that had been the center of the two earlier cultures. [Map 04-01]

THE ANCIENT AEGEAN WORLD [Map 04-01]

The Bronze Age in the Aegean (2 of 2)

This early period when the manufacture of bronze tools and weapons became widespread is known as the Aegean Bronze Age.

Dating items is difficult from this era.

Archaeologists usually rely on a relative dating system based largely on pottery.

The Cycladic Islands (1 of 2)

Sleek, abstracted representations of human figures carved from white marble have been unearthed in Cycladic graves.

Originally, their surfaces were painted, but the evidence today is extremely faint.

The asymmetrical painted motifs may have depicted how Cycladic peoples decorated their own bodies.

FIGURE OF A WOMAN WITH A DRAWING SHOWING EVIDENCE OF ORIGINAL PAINTING AND OUTLINING DESIGN SCHEME Cyclades. c. 2600–2400 BCE. Marble, height 24-3/4" (62.8 cm). Figure: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Gift of Christos G. Bastis (68.148). © 2016. Image copyright The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 04-02a]

FIGURE OF A WOMAN WITH A DRAWING SHOWING EVIDENCE OF ORIGINAL PAINTING AND OUTLINING DESIGN SCHEME Cyclades. c. 2600-2400 BCE. Marble, height 24-3/4" (62.8 cm). Drawing: Elizabeth Hendrix. [Fig. 04-02b]

HEAD WITH REMAINS OF PAINTED DECORATION Cyclades. c. 2500–2200 BCE. Marble and red pigment, height 9-11/16" (24.6 cm). National Museum, Copenhagen. (4697) [Fig. 04-03]

The Cycladic Islands (2 of 2)

By the Middle and Later Bronze Age, the art and culture of the Cyclades as a whole was subsumed by Minoan and, later, Mycenaean culture.

The Minoan Civilization on Crete

By the Bronze Age, Crete was economically self-sufficient, producing its own grains, olives and other fruits, cattle, and sheep.

Minoan chronology is divided into two main periods, the "Old Palace" period, from about 1900 to 1700 BCE, and the "New Palace" period, from around 1700 to 1450 BCE.

The Old Palace Period, c. 1900–1700 BCE (1 of 3)

In 1900 CE, Sir Arthur Evans excavated the complex at Knossos.

Architectural Complexes

Minoan society was likely ruled by a confederation of aristocrats, as speculated due to the multiple religious or ritual gathering spaces and residences.

The Old Palace Period, c. 1900–1700 BCE (2 of 3)

Architectural Complexes

The walls of this complex were almost earthquake-proof, and lower walls were faced with dressed stone.

The Old Palace Period, c. 1900–1700 BCE (3 of 3)

Ceramics

Minoans developed elegant new types of ceramics, spurred in part by the introduction of the potter's wheel.

One type is called Kamares ware and its hallmarks were its extreme thinness, its use of color, and its graceful, stylized, painted decoration.

KAMARES WARE JUG From Phaistos, Crete. Old Palace period, c. 2000–1900 BCE. Ceramic, height 10-5/8" (27 cm). Archaeological Museum, Iraklion, Crete. © Craig & Marie Mauzy, Athens. [Fig. 04-04]

The New Palace Period, c. 1700–1450 BCE (1 of 11)

The rebuilding at Knossos and elsewhere, belonged to the period termed "New Palace" and it was considered the high point of Minoan civilization.

The New Palace Period, c. 1700–1450 BCE (2 of 11)

In 1900 CE, Sir Arthur Evans excavated the complex at Knossos.

Courtyards were the most prominent feature, with rooms arranged around them.

Clusters of workshops formed commercial centers.

RECONSTRUCTION DRAWING OF THE "PALACE" COMPLEX, KNOSSOS, CRETE As it would have appeared during the New Palace period. Site occupied since the Neolithic period; the Minoan complex of the Old Palace period (c. 1900–1700 BCE) was rebuilt during New Palace period (c. 1700–1450 BCE) after earthquakes and fires; final destruction c. 1375 BCE. Illustration: Peter Bullor. [Fig. 04-05]

EAST WING STAIRWELL "Palace" complex, Knossos, Crete. New Palace period, c. 1700–1450 BCE. © Roger Wood/Corbis. [Fig. 04-06]

The New Palace Period, c. 1700–1450 BCE (3 of 11)

Because double-axe motifs were used in its architectural decoration, the Knossos "palace" was referred to in later Greek legends as the Labyrinth.

The complex seemed so complicated that the word labyrinth eventually came to mean "maze" and became part of the Minotaur legend.

The New Palace Period, c. 1700–1450 BCE (4 of 11)

Minoan painters covered entire walls of rooms with geometric borders, views of nature, and scenes of human activity.

Murals could be painted on still-wet plaster surface (buon fresco) or a dry one (fresco secco).

The New Palace Period, c. 1700–1450 BCE (5 of 11)

Bull Leaping at Knossos

One of the most famous paintings of Knossos depicts a prominent subject in Minoan art: Bull Leaping.

The dark-skinned leaper, probably male, vaults over a bull in the "flying-gallop" pose toward a light-skinned female on the right.

BULL LEAPING Wall painting with areas of modern reconstruction, from the "palace" complex, Knossos, Crete. Late Minoan period, c. 1450–1375 BCE. Height approx. 24-1/2" (62.3 cm). Archaeological Museum, Iraklion, Crete. © Craig & Marie Mauzy, Athens. [Fig. 04-07]

The New Palace Period, c. 1700–1450 BCE (6 of 11)

Statuette of a Male Figure from Palaikastro

Surviving Minoan sculpture consists mainly of small, finely executed work in wood, ivory, precious metals, stone, and ceramic.

Faience (colorfully glazed fine ceramic) female figurines holding serpents are among the most characteristic images.

The New Palace Period, c. 1700–1450 BCE (7 of 11)

Statuette of a Male Figure from Palaikastro

Among the most impressive works is an unusually large male figure that has been reconstructed from hundreds of fragments.

STATUETTE OF A MALE FIGURE From Palaikastro, Crete. c. 1500–1475 BCE. Ivory, gold, serpentine, rock crystal, and wood, height 19-1/2" (50 cm). Archaeological Museum, Siteia, Crete. British School at Athens by permission of the Management Committee (courtesy of the Department of Classics, University of Columbia USA. Photo © L.H.Sackett). [Fig. 04-08]

The New Palace Period, c. 1700–1450 BCE (8 of 11)

Stone Rhytons

Almost certainly of ritual significance are a series of stone rhytons—vessels used for pouring liquids—that Minoans carved from steatite.

The New Palace Period, c. 1700–1450 BCE (9 of 11)

The Harvester

The Harvester Rhyton was a cone-shaped vessel that may have been covered with gold leaf, sheets of hammered gold.

Rhytons were also made in the form of a bull's head.

TWO VIEWS OF THE HARVESTER RHYTON From Hagia Triada, Crete. New Palace period, c. 1650–1450 BCE. Steatite, greatest diameter 4-1/2" (11.3 cm). Archaeological Museum, Iraklion, Crete. © Craig & Marie Mauzy, Athens. [Fig. 04-09]

BULL'S-HEAD RHYTON From Knossos, Crete. New Palace period, c. 1550–1450 BCE. Serpentine with shell, rock crystal, and red jasper; the gilt-wood horns are restorations, height 12" (30.5 cm). Archaeological Museum, Iraklion, Crete. © akg-images/Nimatallah. [Fig. 04-10]

The New Palace Period, c. 1700–1450 BCE (10 of 11)

Ceramics

Some of the most striking ceramics are characterized as "Marine style," because of the depictions of sea life on their surfaces.

In a stoppered bottle of this type known as the Octopus Flask, the painter created a dynamic arrangement of marine life.

OCTOPUS FLASK From Palaikastro, Crete. New Palace period, c. 1500–1450 BCE. Marine-style ceramic, height 11" (28 cm). Archaeological Museum, Iraklion, Crete. © Craig & Marie Mauzy, Athens. [Fig. 04-11]

The New Palace Period, c. 1700–1450 BCE (11 of 11)

Metalwork

By about 1700 BCE, Aegean metalworkers were producing objects that rivaled those of Near Eastern and Egyptian jewelers, whose techniques they may have learned and adopted.

Technique: Aegean Metalwork

Aegean artists created exquisite luxury goods from imported gold.

Their techniques included lost-wax casting, inlay, filigree, granulation, repoussé, niello, and gilding.

PENDANT OF GOLD BEES From Chryssolakkos, near Mallia, Crete. Old Palace period, c. 1700–1550 BCE. Gold, height approx. 1-13/16" (4.6 cm). Archaeological Museum, Iraklion, Crete. Studio Kontos Photostock. [Fig. 04-12]

The Spread of Minoan Culture (1 of 2)

About 1450 BCE, a conquering people from mainland Greece, known as Mycenaeans, arrived in Crete.

By 1400 BCE, the center of political and cultural power in the Aegean had shifted to mainland Greece.

VAPHEIO CUP One of two cups found near Sparta, Greece. c. 1650–1450 BCE. Gold, height 4-1/2" (11.3 cm). National Archaeological Museum, Athens. © Craig & Marie Mauzy, Athens. [Fig. 04-13]

The Spread of Minoan Culture (2 of 2)

Wall Painting at Akrotiri on Thera

A girl picking crocuses in a fresco in a house at Akrotiri demonstrates the sophisticated decorative sense found in Minoan art, both in color selection and in surface detail.

The room in which this painting appears seems to have been dedicated to young women's coming-of-age ceremonies.

LANDSCAPE ("SPRING FRESCO") Wall painting with areas of modern reconstruction, from Akrotiri, Thera, Cyclades. Before 1630 BCE. National Archaeological Museum, Athens. © akg-images/Nimatallah. [Fig. 04-14]

A CLOSER LOOK: The "Flotilla Fresco" from Akrotiri Detail of the left part of a mural from Room 5 of West House, Akrotiri, Thera. New Palace period, c. 1650 BCE. Height 14-5/16" (44 cm). National Archaeological Museum, Athens. © akg-images/Nimatallah. [Fig. 04-15]

The Mycenaean (Helladic) Culture

The term Helladic is used to designate the Aegean Bronze Age on mainland Greece.

The Helladic period extends from about 3000 to 1000 BCE.

Helladic Architecture (1 of 5)

Mycenaean architecture developed in distinct ways from that of the Minoans.

Mycenaeans built fortified strongholds called citadels to protect the palaces of their rulers.

There was a characteristic architectural unit called a megaron that consisted of a large room, entered through a porch with columns.

Helladic Architecture (2 of 5)

Mycenae

Greek writers called the walled complex of Mycenae the home of Agamemnon.

The walls were rebuilt three times each time stronger than the last and enclosing more space.

These walls were about 25 feet thick and nearly 30 feet high.

Helladic Architecture (3 of 5)

Mycenae

The walls were rebuilt three times each time stronger than the last and enclosing more space.

Their drywall masonry, using largely unworked boulders, is known as cyclopean, because it was believed that only the enormous Cyclops could have moved such massive stones.

CITADEL AT MYCENAE Peloponnese, Greece. Aerial view. Site occupied c. 1600–1200 BCE; walls built c. 1340, 1250, 1200 BCE, creating a progressively larger enclosure. © akg-images/Albatross/Duby Tal. [Fig. 04-16]

Helladic Architecture (4 of 5)

Mycenae

On the gate to the city of Mycenae, there are two guardian beasts believed to be lions.

A metaphor for power, the lions rest their feet on Minoan-style altars.

The meaning of the lions and their composition on the gate is unknown, though there is much speculation.

LION GATE, MYCENAE c. 1250 BCE. Limestone relief, height of sculpture approx. 9'6" (2.9 m). In this historic photograph, Heinrich Schliemann, director of the excavation beginning in 1876, stands to the left of the gate, and his wife and partner in archaeology, Sophia, sits to the right. Deutsches Archaeologisches Institut, Athens (D-DAI-ATH-Mykene63). All rights reserved. [Fig. 04-17]

RECONSTRUCTION DRAWING OF THE CITADEL AT MYCENAE AT ITS MOST DEVELOPED STATE Unlike at Knossos and Akrotiri, where we can understand multistory structures because multiple levels survived and have been excavated, at Mycenae we have, for the most part, only foundations. To a certain extent, we can only speculate about the upper portions of these buildings. © Dorling Kindersley. [Fig. 04-18]

Helladic Architecture (5 of 5)

Pylos

The architectural complex at Pylos was built on a raised site without fortifications, and it was organized around a special area that included an archive, storerooms, workshops, and a megaron.

Clay tablets found in the ruins of the palace include an inventory of its elegant furnishings.

PLAN OF THE MEGARON OF THE PYLOS PALACE c. 1300–1200 BCE. [Fig. 04-19]

RECONSTRUCTION DRAWING OF THE MEGARON (GREAT ROOM) OF THE PYLOS PALACE c. 1300–1200 BCE. Watercolor by Piet de Jong. © akg-images/De Agostini Picture Lib./G. Dagli Orti. [Fig. 04-20]

Recovering the Past: The "Mask of Agamemnon"

One of the most amazing and famous discoveries in the shaft graves in Mycenae was a solid gold mask placed over the face of a body originally believed to be Agamemnon.

"MASK OF AGAMEMNON" Funerary mask, from Shaft Grave V, Grave Circle A, Mycenae, Greece. c. 1600–1550 BCE. Gold, height approx. 12" (35 cm). National Archaeological Museum, Athens. © Craig & Marie Mauzy, Athens. [Fig. 04-21]

Mycenaean Tombs (1 of 3)

Shaft Graves

The earliest burials were in shaft graves, vertical pits 20 to 25 feet deep.

There were 30 pounds of gold objects found in the shaft graves.

Mycenaean Tombs (2 of 3)

Shaft Graves

Also found were bronze dagger blades decorated with inlaid scenes.

In Mycenae, the graves of important people were enclosed in a circle of standing stone slabs.

DAGGER BLADE WITH LION HUNT From Shaft Grave IV, Grave Circle A, Mycenae, Greece. c. 1550–1500 BCE. Bronze inlaid with gold, silver, and niello, length 9-3/8" (23.8 cm). National Archaeological Museum, Athens. © akg-images/Nimatallah. [Fig. 04-22]

Mycenaean Tombs (3 of 3)

Tholos Tombs

By about 1600 BCE, members of the elite class had begun building large above-ground burial places commonly referred to as tholos tombs (or beehive tombs due to their conical shape).

The most impressive of these tombs is the Treasury of Atreus.

It is roofed with a corbeled vault built up in regular courses, or layers, of ashlar (precisely cut blocks of stone).

EXTERIOR VIEW OF THOLOS, THE SO-CALLED TREASURY OF ATREUS Mycenae, Greece. c. 1300–1200 BCE. © Craig & Marie Mauzy, Athens. [Fig. 04-24]

CORBEL VAULT, INTERIOR OF THOLOS, THE SO-CALLED TREASURY OF ATREUS Limestone vault, height approx. 43' (13 m), diameter 47'6" (14.48 m). For over a thousand years after it was constructed, this vast vaulted chamber remained the largest unobstructed interior space built in Europe. It was exceeded in size only by the Roman Pantheon (SEE FIG. 6–48), built 110–128 CE. © Craig & Marie Mauzy, Athens. [Fig. 04-25]

Ceramics

In the final phase of the Helladic Bronze Age, Mycenaean potters created highly refined ceramics.

A large krater, a bowl for mixing water and wine, is an example.

Decorations could be highly stylized, like the scene of marching men on the Warrior Krater.

WARRIOR KRATER From Mycenae, Greece. c. 1300–1100 BCE. Ceramic, height 16" (41 cm). National Archaeological Museum, Athens. © Craig & Marie Mauzy, Athens. [Fig. 04-26]

Think About It (1 of 3)

Choose a picture or sculpture of a human figure from two of the ancient Aegean cultures examined in this chapter. Characterize how the artist represents the human form and how that representation could be related to the cultural significance of the works in their original contexts.

Think About It (2 of 3)

Assess the methods of two archaeologists whose work is discussed in this chapter. How have they recovered, reconstructed, and interpreted the material culture of the Aegean Bronze Age?

What explanations have art historians proposed for the use and cultural significance of the figures of women that have been excavated in the Cyclades?

Think About It (3 of 3)

Compare the plans of the architectural complexes at Knossos and Mycenae. How have the arrangements of the buildings helped archaeologists to think about how these complexes were related to their cultural contexts and ritual or political uses?

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