Ancient Aegean Art

Mycenean

Mycenaean is the term applied to the art and culture of Greece from ca. 1600 to 1100 B.C. The name derives from the site of Mycenae in the Peloponnese, where once stood a great Mycenaean fortified palace. Mycenae is celebrated by Homer as the seat of King Agamemnon, who led the Greeks in the Trojan War.

Corbelled vault

A V-shaped stone vault or corridor/passageway.

Cyclopean masonry

A method of stone construction using massive irregular blocks without mortar.

Tholos

A round, corbel vaulted mycenean tomb; any round ancient greek building.

Corbelled arch

Arch in which blocks of stone are placed horizontal and come together as the rows rise. Gradually staggering of stone.

Cycladic

Cycladic civilization is an Early Bronze Age culture of the Cyclades, Greece, in the Aegean Sea, spanning the period from approximately 3200-2000 BC.

Heinrich Schliemann

German archaeologist: excavated ancient cities of Troy and discovered Mycenae (based theory's off of Homer).

Fresco

Painting done on fresh, wet plaster with water-based paints.

Figurine of a woman, Cyclades, Greece; c. 2600-2400 BCE, marble, 24 ¾" high

Period/Style: Cycladic Art Context: The sculptor rendered the human body in a highly schematic manner. Large simple triangles dominate the form: the head, the body itself Function: Representation of the deceased? The Syros statuette and the many other similar Cycladic figurines known today represent dead women or fertility figures or goddesses is still debated. Also easily forged.

Bull-Leaping, Knossos, Crete, wall painting (fresco), c. 1450-1375 BCE, 24 ½" high

Period/Style: Minoan Art Description: Stylistic shapes, Minoan pinched waists, highly animated, profile pose with the full eye view, sweeping lines to form a funnel of energy. Function: Represented a ceremonial scene, which is bull-leaping. There are more Knossos frescos that illustrate ceremonial scenes at Knossos palace. Context: The woman have fair skin and the man has dark skin, a common convention in ancient painting. Compared to the Egyptians, who painted in fresco secco, the Minoans coated the rough fabric of their rubble walls with a fine white lime plaster and used a true(wet) fresco method in which the pigments are mixed with water and become chemically bound to the plaster after it dries.

"Palace" at Knossos, Crete, Greece, ca. 1700-1450 BCE

Period/Style: Minoan Art Description: Thick walls composed of rough, unshaped fieldstones embedded in clay. It had as many as three stories around the central court and even more on the south and east sides where the terrain sloped off sharply. The bulbous, cushion like Minoan capitals resemble those of the later Greek Doric order, but the column shafts- essentially stylized inverted tree trunks-taper from a wide top to a narrower base, the opposite of both Egyptian and later Greek columns. Described as a labyrinth.

Treasury of Atreus, Mycenae, Greece; c.1300-1200 BCE

Period/Style: Mycenaean Description: Great pathway lined with carefully cut and fitted ashlar masonry led to spectacular entrance. Flanking the opening were columns of Egyptian green marble, carved with spirals and zigzags. Tomb itself consisted of large chamber dug into sloping ground and then built up with corbel vault--results in beehive profile for the roof (tholos/beehive tomb).

Lion Gate, Mycenae, Greece; c. 1250 BCE, limestone, relief panel 9'6" high

Period/Style: Mycenaean Description: When city walls were enlarged, this gate was built as a principal entrance into the citadel. There is a relieving triangle-triangle on top through corbel vaulting to take pressure off lintel. Lions stand in heraldic pose with paws on an altar. The lionesses function as guardians. Heraldic composition-symmetric. Earliest example of modern sculpture.

Minoan

The prehistoric art of Crete, named after the legendary King Minos of Knossos. The Minoan civilization flourished in the middle Bronze Age on the Mediterranean island of Crete from ca. 2000 BCE until ca. 1500 BCE and, with their unique art and architecture, the Minoans made a significant contribution to the development of Western European civilization as it is known today.

Arthur Evans

Unearthed ancient Minoan society, helped develop the concept of Minoan civilization. Unearthed the palace of Knossos on the Greek island of Crete.