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