Art of the Art of the Ancient Ancient AegeanAegean

c. 3000 – 1000 BCEc. 3000 – 1000 BCE

Geographical Context• The ancient Aegean can be divided into three main areas: the Cycladic Islands, Crete, and Helladic (mainland Greece).• All three areas can be subdivided into early, middle, and late periods. • The late period of Helladic art is known as Mycenaean, after Agamemnon’s citadel Mycenae.

Cultural Context• Bronze Age – Ancient Aegeans had developed ability to make bronze, an alloy that was much stronger than pure copper.• Although mostly farmers and herders, Aegeans had access to the Aegean and Mediterranean seas, and were expert seafarers.• Their ability to travel by boat made it possible to trade with Egypt to the south, as well as with the civilizations of the Near East.• Documents found using two writing styles called Linear A and Linear B (the latter of which is considered an early form of Greek).

Cycladic Art

Cycladic Art• All of the figures to the right and on the next slide are from various Cycladic islands, and are made of marble, which was a prevalent stone in the region.• Found in gravesites and settlements, originally painted.• Most are of nude women with folded arms• Figures are dated roughly between 2700 and 2200 BCE (for our purposes, 2500 BCE)• Varied between only a few inches tall to almost lifesize• Highly stylized, simplified forms. Pointed toes indicate they would have been laid on their back, as if dead or asleep. • Apparent emphasis on breasts and pubic triangle may suggest fertility, but unknown. Woman from Syros

18” high

Two Figures of Women from the Cyclades13” and 25” high

Cycladic Art• Some Cycladic figurines were of men, usually musicians or acrobats• Because they also were found in hillside burial sites, they may represent a ritual of music played at a funeral, or they may be playing to the dead.• Simplified, geometric shapes• More of an emphasis on negative spaces than seen in the female figures• Figures may have been worshipped in the home and then buried with their owners, often after having been symbolically broken as part of the funeral ritual.• Expressive pose, head back, into the music

Male Harp PlayerKeros, Cyclades

11” high

Male Harp PlayerKeros, Cyclades

9” high

Minoan Art

Minoan Art• Title “Minoan” comes from mythological King Minos• Minos failed to fulfill a promise he made to Poseidon (Greek sea god), so Poseidon made Minos’ wife fall in love with the Cretan Bull (a bull from the ocean). Their offspring was the Minotaur.• Minos kept the Minotaur in a large maze, or labyrinth• Fed Minotaur 14 male and female tributes from Athens• Theseus, son of Aegeus (king of Athens), volunteered to be a tribute and slay the Minotaur to avenge his brother, who had been killed by it. He successfully slayed the Minotaur and made his way back out of the labyrinth by following a thread given to him by Minos’ daughter, Ariadne.• Upon arriving home, Theseus forgot to raise a white flag upon his ship to show his father that he had lived, and Aegeus flung himself into the sea in despair, which is how the sea got its name.

Minotaur

Labyrinth

Minoan Art - Knossos• Capital of Crete under Minos was Knossos, which was discovered and excavated by Sir Arthur Evans in 1900.• Early buildings made of rubble and mud brick faced with cut and finished (“dressed”) stone. • The complex was three stories tall, and included many rooms arranged around a central court. • Although Knossos was found, the legendary labyrinth was not. It is possible that the confusing shape of the complex itself, which was decorated in many places by the motif of a labrys, is the true inspiration for the labyrinth.

Palace of KnossosCrete

Site occupied 2000-1375 BCE Labrys

Palace Complex, Knossos• Timber (wooden logs) was used for frameworks and to brace buildings against frequent earthquakes. Interior columns were made of wood as well, and tapered (got gradually smaller) from top to bottom (larger end on top to support massive roof beams).• Open-air stairwells and light shafts provided ventilation and light, while underground terra cotta (an inexpensive, low-fire reddish-brown clay) pipes provided drainage.• In about 1700 BCE an earthquake destroyed most of the complex, which was then rebuilt. The era before the earthquake is referred to as the Old Palace Period, and the era after is the New (or Second) Palace Period.• Foodstuffs were kept in large jars in special storage rooms called magazines.• Economic, religious, and administrative center

Palace of KnossosCrete

Site occupied 2000-1375 BCE

terra cotta

Bull Leaping•Murals decorate the walls of the palace at Knossos• Plaster covered the walls• True, or wet fresco method – required rapid brushwork and skill – creating freshness, charm and whimsy• Very different feeling than Egyptian• Bull Leaping may represent an initiation or fertility ritual• Males typically portrayed with dark skin, females light• “Pinched” waist typical of Minoan style• Bull a repeated motif in Minoan art• Curving lines suggest movement and life

Bull LeapingBuon fresco (restored)

From the Palace Complex at Knossos24.5” tall

Minoan Art• The introduction of the potter’s wheel enabled Old Palace period artists to make fine ceramics, known as Kamares Ware (named for a cave on the side of Mt. Ida where they were first discovered). • Old Palace – light or red shapes on dark background, geometric designs, occasional animals• New Palace – “Marine Style” depictions of sea life reflected peak of Minoan sea power, dark shapes on light background, still somewhat stylized• Octopus Flask is an example of an artist’s awareness of the relationship between the decoration and the shape of the vessel.

Kamares Ware JugPhaistos, Crete

Old Palace Period10 5/8“

Octopus FlaskKamares Ware

Palaikastro, CreteNew Palace Period

11““Marine Style”

Minoan Art• Rhytons were vessels made for pouring liquid• Both rhytons shown at left are carved of steatite (a type of soapstone). The Bull’s-head also seashell, rock crystal, red jasper, and gilt wood horns.• These items were found in fragments, suggesting the had been ritualistically broken.• Bull’s-head rhytons were used for pouring ritual fluids – water, wine, or perhaps even blood (in through a hole in the neck, out through the mouth)• Decoration on the Harvester Vase is unusual because of the overlapping and jostling of the figures (instead of neat, orderly procession). They have exuberant expressions, course features, sinewy bodies.• The men appear to march and chant to the beat of a sistrum (rattle) being played by one man. May be a planting or harvest festival, religious procession, dance, warriors, or forced laborers.

Harvester VaseHagia Triada, Crete

2nd Palace PeriodSteatite

4.5” diameter

Bull’s-head RhytonKnossos, Crete

2nd Palace PeriodPrimarily Steatite

12” tall

Woman or Goddess with Snakes• Believed three goddesses controlled various aspects of the natural world (possible predecessors of Athena, Demeter, and Artemis)• Faience – glazing technique using a glass paste that becomes lustrous, smooth and shiny after firing.• Female figurines may be associated with water, regenerative power, and protection of the home. May be deity- power over animals• Dress: open bodice, apron over typical Minoan long tiered skirt, uniquely Minoan costume

Belted, cinched waistRed, blue, and green geometric patterning of

skirtBright colors, fancy edgings

• Figure is frontal, as in Egyptian and Near Eastern• Not clear if goddess or priestess

Woman or Goddess with SnakesKnossos (2nd Palace)

11 5/8”Faience

Leopard on had may represent royalty or

power

Youth from Palaikastro• Figurine made of chryselephantine, a combination of elephant tusk and gold• Found charred and broken in pieces, possibly after the willful destruction of the tomb• The hairstyle of shaved head with a single braid indicates his youth• The youth stood alone in a shrine, which may indicate he was meant to be a god• Inclusion of many anatomical details such as muscles and veins• Ivory would have been imported from Egypt (which may be source of foot-forward pose)

Young god (?) from Palaikastro (Crete)

c. 1500 BCEChryselephantine

18 ½ “

Mycenaean Art (Late Helladic) • Mycenaens (Greek mainlanders) took over and eventually destroyed Knossos• Architecture and art of Mycenaeans more war-themed than Minoans

Treasury of Atreus• Although simpler to construct, post and lintel structures cannot support much weight on top of them.• An improvement upon the post and lintel was the corbeled arch, which is an arch formed by the piling of stone blocks in horizontal courses, cantilevered inward until the blocks meet at a keystone. Corbeling helped dissipate some of the weight above the opening.• A corbeled arch is still not a “true” arch, however, as it does not completely dissipate the weight through compression. A true arch is stronger than a corbeled arch.

Post & Lintel

Corbeled Arch

“True” Arch

Citadel at Mycenae• Lion Gate was gateway into hilltop citadel. Lions were guardian figures of gate (as with Ancient Near East). Heads of lions were made of separate material (maybe wood, bronze, or gold) and attached into holes. Lions stand on either side of a Minoan-style tapered column.• Included a post and lintel doorway with a relieving arch above it, so called because the corbeling “relieved” the weight of the stones off the lintel.• Architecture much more defensive than Minoan palaces

Lion GateLimestone relief

9’ 6” (sculpture itself)

Citadel at Mycenae

Grave Circle A

Treasury of Atreus• Tombs had greater importance for Mycenaeans than Minoans.• Earliest graves were shaft graves, in which wealthy people would be buried with items indicative of their wealth (fancy clothing, jewelry, gold, etc.).• By 1600, elite families began building beehive tombs (also called tholos) covered in massive earthen mounds. Most impressive is the “Treasury of Atreus” (so called because it was mistakenly believed to have been the treasury of King Atreus). • Contains an example of a corbeled relieved arch (above the doorway) as well as a corbeled vault (the interior room), which is the same principle as a corbeled arch but in 360⁰. Ashlar masonry, built up in horizontal courses.• The walkway leading into the tomb is called a dromos.Tholos

“Treasury of Atreus”Mycenae, Greece43’ high interior

Citadel at Tyrins• Hilltop fortress with huge, 20 foot deep stone walls.• Only entrance was up a ramp that forced enemy soldiers to expose their unshielded sides to the citadel, then through narrow, easily defensible hallways.• Example of Cyclopean masonry, so named because the stones were huge and looked like they had been assembled by a cyclopes (mythical one-eyed giant). No mortar used, but some smaller wedge stones help large stones stay in place.• Contained an inner megaron, or reception hall and throne room of the king, containing four large columns around a central hearth.• Called “Tyrins of the Great Walls” by Homer.

megaron

clerestory

“Mask of Agamemnon”• Funerary mask, originally claimed to be of legendary king Agamemnon (leader of Greek forces during Trojan War) by archeologist Heinrich Schliemann in 1876.• Gold repousse• Some believe Schliemann had the handlebar mustache (fashionable in his day) added to make the face look more heroic.• Found in the royal tombs, Grave Circle A, at Mycenae

“Mask of Agamemnon”Funerary mask from the royal tombs, Grave

Circle A at MycenaeGold, 12” tall

Vapheio Cup• Technique of repousse – hammering gold from the backside to create a three-dimensional image• Handles attached with rivets• Image depicts young men hunting bulls in various ways. Olive trees may indicate that the scene is a sacred grove and that these are illustrations of exploits in some long-lost heroic tale rather than commonplace herding scenes.• Although found in mainland Greece, artwork is done in Minoan style, so either by a Minoan or by someone trained in the techniques of the Minoans.• When one artist or civilization copies the style, techniques, or motifs of another, it is called appropriation. Vapheio Cup

Found in a tomb at Vapheio, near Sparta

Gold repousse, 3.5” tall