The Aegean World This period is the time described by the ancient Greek
poet Homer in his epic poem the Iliad. Composed around 750 BC, it was unquestionably the first great work of Greek literature.
The sea dominated geography of the Aegean contrasts sharply with that of the Near East. Crete and the Aegean Islands at the commercial crossroads of the ancient Mediterranean had a major effect on their prosperity. The sea also provided a natural defense against the frequent and disruptive invasions that checker the histories of land bound civilizations such as those of Mesopotamia
Trading partners with the Ancient Egyptians and the Near Eastern cultures.
The Aegean World
Time: 3000BCE-1100BCE
Primarily Farmers and Herders and Seafarers
BRONZE! (used for making weapons and tools) popular from 3000-1000 BCE
Period was named Aegean Bronze Age
Early Bronze Age and Neolithic Cultures
The Aegean consisted of tombs, fortresses, grave sites, ruined architectual complexes
Used local stone to bild and fortify their towns
The Aegean World
Cycladic Islands
The Aegean World Historians, art historians, and archaeologists alike divide the prehistoric Aegean
into three geographical areas, each with a distinctive artistic identity.
Cycladic Islands (so called because the circle around Delos) Cycladic art
Early Middle Late
Crete Minoan art
Early Middle Late
The Greek Mainland Helladic art
Early Middle Late (Mycenaean)
Cycladic Group of islands in southern Aegean sea
Accomplished sailors, fisherman, and traders
No writing system—very prehistoric
Earliest surviving artistic evidence includes metalwork, pottery, and marble sculpture
Bronze, copper, and tin
Cycladic Agriculture, herding, crafts, and trade
White marble was popular on the Cyclades, Naxos and Paros islands, was used by sculptors
Chisels and Scrappers were used in sculpting
Most of the artwork was of women
Votive Figures: Cycladic statues used for worship in the home
Simplified and geometric figurines, reduced to basic geometric shapes.
Cycladic Female Cycladic Idol
2700-2300 BCE
Made of marble
5 ft tall
Objects of worship
Most found lying in graves
Mainly female figures, but some male
Exhibit “divine female power”
Cycladic Seated Harp Player Marble
2800 -2700 BC
11 ½” tall
Fully developed sculpture in the round
Basic geometric essentials
Careful attention to the characteristics of harpist. High back chair, tilted head,
knees and feet apart for stability, arms raised bracing instrument
The Island of Crete (largest of Aegean and Mediterranean islands)
The name Minoan comes from the legend of Minos, a king who ruled from Knossos, the ancient capital of Crete.
Minoans believed in Demeter, Artemis, Athena (THREE GREEK GODS)
Island was economically self sufficient because it produced its own grain, olives, other fruits, cattle and sheep.
Due to lack of “ores” to produce bronze… became a wealthy sea power, trading with mainland Greece, Egypt, and the Near East.
Myceaneans, conquering people from mainland Greece, arrived in Crete
Minoans wrote in an early form of Greek known as Linear B.
Minoan buildings were made of rubble and mud brick faced with cut and finished stone also known as dressed stone.
Columns and interior structures were made of wood.
The Minoans great architectural complexes were known as palaces.
Palaces were generally multistoried, flat-roofed, and featured many columns, designed to maximize light and air.
Interior walls were coated with plaster and painted with murals.
Minoan palaces contain sophisticated plumbing systems with terra cotta pipes that were laid beneath the surface of the ground.
Palace of Knossos Traditional residence of King
Minos Largest known palace on Crete Considered a labyrinth because of
its winding hallways and rooms. Commercial and religious center
Had an advanced shipping and receiving system for receiving imported goods
The palace complexes had a squarish planand a large central courtyard
Because double-ax motifs were used in its architectural decoration, the Knossos palace was referred to as the Labyrinth. The layout of the complex seemed so complicated that the word labyrinth came to mean maze.
Reconstruction of the Palace complex, Knossos
Ruins of the
Palace complex, Knossos
Palace of Knossos
The Old Palace and Second Palace Periods (1900-1450 BCE)
Rhyton: Vessels used for pouring liquids during sacred ceremonies
Gold Leaf: sheets of hammered gold. Used to cover artwork.
Depictions of bulls appear quite often in Minoan art.
Murals could be painted on either buon fresco(still-wet plaster) or fresco a secco(dry one)
The Old Palace and Second Palace Periods (1900-1450 BCE)
Kamares Ware:
During the Middle
Minoan period
Created pottery of
sophisticated shapes
using the newly
introduced potter’s
wheels. The vessels
are named for the
cave on the slope of
Mount Ida where they
were first discovered,
and have been found
in quantity at other
sites. Kamares ware
has a distinctive and
polychromatic style.
Creamy white and
reddish brown
decoration is set
against a rich black
background.
This example shows leaping
fish and perhaps a fish net
surrounded by a host of
curvilinear abstract patterns
including wave and spirals,
evoking the life of the sea and
compliment the form of the vessel.
Pendant of gold
bees: Artists
created gold
jewelry and
pendants. Gold
was brought in
through trade and
commerce. Artists
utilized
sophisticated
design and quality
to create pieces like
the example to the
right. As with most
art work of the
period, focused on
simplified geometric
shapes and
patterns that signify
the insects actual
appearance.
The Old Palace and Second Palace Periods
Snake Goddess
In contrast to Mesopotamia and
Egypt, no temples or
monumental statues of gods,
kings, or monsters have been
found
•faience (glazed earthenware)
statuette from the palace at
Knossos.
•One of several similar figures
are believed to represent mortal
attendants rather than deity.
•Exposed breasts suggest a
fertility image, which is often
seen as divine.
•Holding the snakes and a
leopard sitting on her head
implied power over the animal
world also seems appropriate
for a deity.
Bull’s Head
rhyton:
Rhyton:
basically a fancy
pitcher used
during sacred
ceremonies.
Bull was used
quite often in
Minoan art.
This particular
rhyton creates a
portrait type
detail of the
animal.
Liquid was
poured out from
the mouth.
Frescoes Painters worked on large
scale.
Covered walls of rooms palaces and homes with views of nature, geometric borders, human activity. Tell stories & For decoration
Buon fresco – wet surface
Fresco a secco – dry surface
Elegant drawing, linear contours, bright colors.
Generally used profile of face.
Mainland Greece and the Mycenaean Civilization
Focused on architecture, sculpture, metalwork, and ceramics
Dominated the Aegean after the volcanic eruption at Thera Conquered Crete and took over Palace of Knossos
Palace was built on a hilltop and called megaron
Mainland Greece and the Mycenaean Civilization
Mycenaean power developed on the mainland in the days of the new palaces on Crete.
The destruction of the Cretan palaces left the mainland culture supreme.
Mycenae was but one of several large citadels. The best preserved of these citadels are the fortified palaces at
Mycenae and at Tiryns. Tiryns is marveled for the towering fortifications and some
considered the walls of Tiryns as spectacular as the pyramids of Egypt.
Greeks of the historical age believed mere humans could not have constructed it and instead attributed the construction of the great Mycenaean citadels to the mythical Cyclops, a race of one-eyed giants.
Historians still refer to the huge roughly cut stone blocks forming the massive fortification walls a Cyclopean Masonry.
Mainland Greece and the Mycenaean Civilization
Tiryns is marveled for the towering fortifications and some considered the walls of Tiryns as spectacular as the pyramids of Egypt.
Greeks of the historical age believed mere humans could not have constructed it and instead attributed the construction of the great Mycenaean citadels to the mythical Cyclops, a race of one-eyed giants.
Historians still refer to the huge roughly cut stone blocks forming the massive fortification walls a Cyclopean Masonry.
Mainland Greece and the Mycenaean Civilization
Citadel at Mycenae Home of Homer and the epic poems
the Iliad and the Odyssey. Mycenae was constructed on a hilltop
on the slopes of Euboea Mountain. The walls stretched the entire
perimeter of the citadel except on the Southeastern edge, where a ravine forms a natural barrier. Another example of Cyclopean Masonry.
The triangular rock with the two lions above the main gate represents the ruling family of Mycenae .
The city of Mycenae was the center of a large and powerful Mycenaean Greek civilization
Another great structure found in Mycenae is the Treasury of Atreus
Terra Cotta Incized Sculpture in-the-round Dressed stone Repousse’ Rhytons Gold-leaf Buon fresco Fresco a secco Citadel Cyclonean construction
Chevrons Corbel vault Casemates Megaron