1. Art History Survey I
T,R, 12-1:20PM
Professor Paige Prater

2.  Cyclades
 Crete
 Mainland (Mycenaen/Helladic)

3.  „Cycladica‟ craze, post WWII (forgeries, lost context)
 DATES:
◦ Relative
 Pottery
◦ Thera explosion (Cycladic island)
1650-1625BCE, based on:
 Greenland‟s ice cores
 CA tree rings
 Irish tree rings

4.  Sea-faring, agriculture, herding, crafts, and
trade (Egypt and Near East)
 Lots of white marble available! (Naxos & Paros)
 Low quality clay (since 6000 BCE)
 Gravetop sculptures (lying on top)
◦ Obsidian scrapers and chisels
◦ Emery polishing stones

5. • Inches-5‟ tall
• Funerary offerings - theory
• Painted face, jewelry, dots
• Likely reclining

6.  Seated Harp Player, 2700-2500 BCE, marble,
11.5”

7.  Largest of the Aegean islands: 155x36 mi
 Economically self-sufficient BUT NO ORES
 Trade with Egypt, Near East, Greece, & Anatolia
 Sir Arthur Evans named it after legend of King
Minos who ruled from Knossos, the capital
(discovered in 1900CE).
 http://youtu.be/x3dak2YQdPM
◦ OLD PALACE PERIOD: 1900-1700 BCE
◦ NEW PALACE PERIOD: 1700-1450 BCE

8.  Not sure if there was a king
 Rubble/mud bricks finished with dressed
stone
 Timber bracing
 Plaster walls and flooring
 Multi-storied, flat-roofed, MANY COLUMNS
 Workshops and centralized food
storage/management
◦ Single storeroom: ceramic containers to hold
20,000 gallons of olive oil!

10.  Central courtyard
 Theatre/performance area
 Complicated layout = labyrinth = maze
 Courtyards, apartments, administrative
suites, baths
 Efficient system of terracotta pipes
 3 stories around central court

11. Columns tapered toward bottom
(upside down tree trunks)

13.  Thin walls
 Use of color
 Stylized, painted
decoration
Phaistos, Crete, 2000-
1900 BCE.
Octopus
Flask, Palaikastr
o, Crete. New
Palace
Period, 1500-
1450BCE.

14.  Imported gold
 Lost-wax casting
 Inlay
 Filigree
 Repousse
 Niello – powdered nigellum (alloy of
lead, silver, copper, and sulfur) rubbed into
engraved lines, fused via heat http://youtu.be/8hUBqZduE0c
 Gilding – affixing gold-leaf
Pendant of Gold Bees.
Chryssolakos, near
Mallia, Crete, Old Palace
Period, 1700-1550 BCE.

15. Vapheio Cup. Found near Sparta, Greece, 1650-1450
BCE.

16.  Woman or Goddess with
Snakes
 From Knossos, New
Palace Period, 1700-
1550 BCE
 Minoan fashion: wide
belt, flounced
skirt, apron

17. • Wall-painting detail
from Room 3 of House
Xeste 3, Akrotiri, Thera.
• Cyclades BEFORE
1630BCE
• Similar fashion to
goddess sculpture…!

18. • Thera, Cycla
des
island, Mino
an
• 1st
(Abstract)
landscape
• Undulating
landscape
• Colors
appear
fanciful
(arbitrary)
• Stylized
lines define
form
• Lilies, swallo
ws, expressi
on of
movement

19. RHYTON: pours liquid
STEATITE: soapstone

20.  3000 BCE Early Bronze Age in the Cyclades
 2200 BCE First Palaces at Knossos, Crete
 2000 BCE First pictographic script, Crete
 1900 BCE Old Palace Period
 1650-25BCE Destruction of Thera;
earthquake/volcanic eruption!
 1600 BCE Mycnaeans rise to power
 1450 BCE Destruction of minoan palaces;
Knossos occupied by Mycenaeans
 1400 BCE Knossos burned/not rebuilt
 1300 BCE Mycenaean walls on acropolis in
Athens
 1100 BCE End of Mycenaean dominance

21.  CITADELS: megalith
strongholds to protect
ruler‟s palace
 MEGARON: axial plan
 Tholos/Beehive/Vaulted
tombs (round, stone)
“Mask of Agamemnon”
Funerary mask from royal
tombs, Grave Circle
A, Mycenae, Greece,
1600-1550 BCE.
Dagger Blade with Lion Hunt, 1550-1500
BCE – Mycenae, Greece.

22.  German
 Troy (Turkey) & Mycenae, Greece
 19th Century
 Businessman
 Lawsuit with Ottoman Govt
 Tomb of Agamemnon
 Controversy of Mask
 4 excavations

26.  Aegean dates/authenticity – how do we
know?
 Reconstruction – when is it authorized?
 Significance of animals, such as lions – where
else/what context?
 Role of women – gender in ancient cultures?
 Architectural differences/similarities between
societies – structural/utilitarian?