An Examination of Temple A at Prinias with an Emphasis on Egyptian and

Egyptianizing Features

Crete and Egypt in the Seventh Century BC:

Prinias, Crete

Temple A, Prinias

Luigi Pernier

“Temple A is amonument ofsufficient scopeand preservationto give an idea ofthe relationship

of Cretan art andarchitecture to

that ofcontemporary

centers in Greeceand the EasternMediterranean.”

-Lauren Adams

Sculptural Decoration

Luigi Pernier Immo Beyer L. Vance Watrous

Temple A Reconstructions

“Direct Egyptian influence in Greece in the 8th and 7th centuries isgenerally, and I think wrongly, minimized. Certainly many Egyptianizing

features are derived at second-hand from Phoenician art, but there is muchevidence too if the effect of purely Egyptian work.”

-John Boardman

“So, as there was no help for it, theysent messengers to Crete, to inquirewhether any of the Cretans, or of thestrangers sojourning among them, had

ever traveled as far as Libya: andthese messengers of theirs, in theirwanderings about the island, amongother places, where they fell in with aman, whose name was Corobius, adealer in purple. In answer to theirinquiries, he told them that contrarywinds had once carried him to Libya,

where he had gone ashore on acertain island which was named

Platea…They themselves quitted theisland; and, anxious to reach Egypt,made sail in that direction, but were

carried out of their course by a gale ofwind from the east.”

Herodotus iv 151, 2-3

“They could not fail tohave been impressed

by the scale andgrandeur of the

existing Egyptian stonebuildings. This

encouraged architectselsewhere to use morestable materials thanmudbrick and wood,and was the starting

point for Greekarchitecture in stone.”-John Griffiths Pedly

Naucratis

Egyptian False Door

Tomb at Saqqara5th Dynasty

Mastaba of Tjetu, Giza

Horsemen Frieze

Head of Schist, Berlin Museum 26th Dynasty

Post Dedalic Sculpture

Clenched Fist Motif

SennuwyBoston Museum of Fine Arts12th Dynasty

Mastaba of

Tjetu