#ancient aegean art

[crosseyedcricketart]

Ancient Aegean - Art History Notes

Original post link / Original post date: October 2 2023

Timeline:  3000-2000 BCE – [Aegean] – Early Cycladic Art  2000-1700 BCE – [Aegean] – Old Palace Period (Crete)  1700-1400 BCE – [Aegean] – New Palace Period (Crete)  1400-1200 BCE – [Aegean] – Mycenaean occupation of Crete 900-600 BCE – [Greece] – Geometric & Orientalizing  600-480 BCE – [Greece] – Archaic  480-400 BCE – [Greece] – Early & High Classical  400-323 BCE – [Greece] – Late Classical  323-30 BCE – [Greece] – Hellenistic 

Vocabulary:  Cycladic – of the islands of the Aegean Sea, including Syros, Paros, Delos, Naxos, Keros, Melos, and Thera. This excludes Crete.  Minoan – art of the island of Crete.  Helladic – of the mainland of Greek. 

Early Cycladic Art – 2600-2300 BCE

Cycladic Art is titled as such for the Cyclades in the Aegean Sea, which includes Syros, Paros, Delos, Naxos, Keros, Melos, and Thera, among other islands. They are named the Cyclades as the other islands seem to circle around Delos. This excludes Crete. Marble was found in the Aegean islands, which gave way to the beginnings of marble statues in Ancient Greece. The Cycladic art that we still have now consists of marble statuettes, which have a distinctive abstract style to them. Two of these art pieces are the Syros Woman and Keros Musician, both of which follow a similar style of great abstraction of the human form. 

Minoan Art – Crete – 1700-1500 BCE

In this period, Cretan art is referred to as Minoan Art. There are two periods of Minoan art: Old Palace and New Palace. The “Palace” in question were large structures, of multiple rooms, on the island of Crete. These were most likely centers for religion, administration, and commercial works as opposed to residents for royalty- though, we are not sure. In cases like this, we have more evidence for one idea than another, so the one with more evidence is used more. The Old Palace period ended abruptly at 1700 BCE, most likely from an earthquake, which lead into the New Palace period as reconstruction immediately began. The largest palace complexes were at Knossos, Phaistos, Malia, Kato Zakro, and Khania. These were where Minoan life took place. The largest of these palaces was at Knossos, where it was named to be the home of King Minos, labeling this palace as the home of the labyrinth of the Minotaur. It should be noted that this was given to the palace as a story as opposed to this myth happening. The English word labyrinth, however, comes from this type of floor plan used in this palace, with the intricate planning and scores of rooms. This layout, a “double ax” labrys, is reoccurring in Minoan architecture and art, representing a sacrificial slaughter. Many Greek myths were taken down generations orally and many of these stories pointed to the glory days of the times evermore ancient to the ancient Greeks; this myth is probably connected to the Minoans and their palaces while remaining a myth.  These palaces were constructed very well, made of sturdy stones embedded in clay, while sporting multiple stories. As true with most Mediterranean areas surrounded by water, Crete is mountainous and rocky, so these palaces accommodated building on top of this with multiple stories that made up for the depth of the slope. Meaning, there were parts of these palaces that were four-to-five stories tall. These palaces hosted drain systems for rain water, ventilation areas to fresh air, columns to hold the weight of the structure, and light wells to bring in natural light. Their columns were notably different than Greek or Egyptian columns of the time as they tapered from top to bottom, wide to narrower. The top was wide while the base was narrower. 

Frescos were used to decorate these palaces, featuring nature paintings and aspects of Minoan life. These were achieved differently than Egyptian frescos, which was fresco secco, as the Minoan frescos were the first true buon fresco. To achieve this, they covered the rougher walls in white, fine lime plaster and painted onto the plaster as it was still wet. This means that the painting became a part of the wall, but the painters had a shorter amount of time to achieve the paintings. These paintings do not follow a strict canon, as the Egyptians did, but instead featured a very lively depiction of Minoan life with a freshness in the artworks. 

Cycladic Art – 1600 BCE

Other frescos have been discovered, notably on the island of Thera, in Akrotiri, in the Cyclades. These were preserved by a volcanic eruption, with the area being buried in volcanic ash and pumice, similarly to how Pompeii was preserved. These frescos, as opposed to a palace/complex, decorated the walls of shrines and houses, making their number greater. These give us a better insight to how they once could have looked and their full compositions. 

Minoan Art – 1800-1500 BCE

Minoan art also featured pottery which depicted nature, particularly the sea and its creatures. These pottery pieces were the first breaths of the style that the Greeks would adopt, morphing into red-figure and black-figure pottery. The Minoans did not have life-size statues or depictions of people or pieces of mythos, having a few smaller pieces remaining. We do not know of any mythos before the Ancient Greeks. A notable art piece is the Harvesters Vase, featuring relief sculptures, while being one of the first evidences of this area of the Mediterranean having an interest in the human body and further anatomy. It’s not well known when the full decline happened of the Minoan society, but we do know that the palaces were destroyed around 1200 BCE, with the Mycenaeans occupying the area before then. The cultural significance of these palaces faded around 1400 BCE. 

Mycenaeans – 1600-1200 BCE

The Mycenaeans came to the Greek mainland at about 2000 BCE, being known as warriors who might have brought their wealth from the spoils of their victories. After Cretan palaces were destroyed, the Mycenaeans were left being the surviving Greek civilization. Mycenaean is the label placed on these people, but their fortifications were found at Mycenae, Tiryns, Orchomenos, Pylos, and other areas of Greece. These people became the silent subject of Greek mythos, as their fortifications were explained by later Greeks as being made by giants. The elite in this society were buried in bee-hive shaped tombs. The burial chamber, known as a tholos, consisted of a serious of stone, corbeled courses, laid on a circular base to form a dome. They created masks and daggers for their burials. They also produced one of the only life-size sculptures of this time on the Greek mainland. They had a distinctive illustration style on their pottery, separated from the Minoans. 

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This was a way to force me to write down notes about the greater ancient Greek world. So hopefully this was a nice little overview of the world before the Greeks. 

I hope you enjoyed this little overview; make sure to make time for yourself today and drink some water- 

Happy travels – Annie, the crosseyed cricket.

[kurj]

minoan miku!! (in a mikuified minoan outfit)

___

more of my minoan art: click

[multicolorlou]

redid this ancient minoan piece for my art history class: the girl here has short hair which signifies youth, but shes picking crocuses which were renowned for their relief of menstrual cramps- its a coming of age piece!

[marandsviet]

Dutch Miku

[green-and-grey-kenaz]

Late Bronze Age Aegean inspired Athena

(Methodology below)

Ok, so I've taken a bit of Classical inspiration as well. I read somewhere that her Peplos was saffron and purple so I took that colour scheme and was reminded of the artwork from Pylos. This lead me to being inspired by the Battle Frieze (Pylos) for the Gigantomachy detailing in her skirt. The colour scheme for the skirt is thus tans and purples for her skirt. Minoan artwork has shown more evidence for depictions of skirts with scenes and scenery on them so that aspect is perhaps more Minoan inspired.

The bodice and the apron both are inspired from the Necklace Swinger in the Saffron Gatherers wall art from Xeste 3 (Akrotiri). I've put crocus flowers as an embroidery detailing on the bodice as it is saffron dyed. The apron takes the design from the necklace swinger as it always makes me think of the night sky (due to colours) and I figured that would make an appropriate overgarment for the story of the gods vs the giants.

The aegis is blue and gold. I chose blue because Zeus has also been associated with the aegis and I wanted to add a connection to him (blue, sky god). Blue (glass) and gold was also a popular Aegean colour decision, which can also be seen in the glass diadem (wave/bracket bead) she wears, connected to a boar tusked helmet. A blue cloak with gold tassels is also somewhat inspired by the sword wielding figure in the fresco from Mycenae's cult centre although with less tassels. I've added two glass necklaces inspired by Mycenaean glass beads. She also has glass beads in her hair, something that is seen in several female figures in Minoan and Mycenaean art.

The snake is both a tie in to the Aegean Snake Goddess but also Athena's ties with snakes (Erichthonius and Medusa both have snake and Athena links, so this may be where the Classical stuff ties in, I'm less certain on the Classics stuff).

She stands in front of an olive tree on an acropolis (meant to be the acropolis of Athens but no way to identify that so could be any).

[whimsimarion]

Young girl gathering saffron and goddess or woman of authority flanked by blue monkey on left and griffin to right, based a fresco, circa 1600 BCE, Xeste 3, Room 3, North Wall, Akrotiri archaeological site, Santorini, Greece.

Some archeologists claim that the woman (on the left) whom the girl on the right gathers saffron for is actually a religious deity (hense the monkey and the griffin) and that the girl has an epiphany, marking her transmission from a young virgin to a full adult.

References (and uncensored version) used below:

[not-ester]

Num 7: A week I said, huh? 5 more to go!

(I'll be dedicating a whole page to Mykonos 🌝)

[lionofchaeronea]

A chariot with charioteer and rider, followed by two walking figures. Fragment of a Mycenaean krater (mixing-bowl) by an unknown artist; ca. 1400-1350 BCE (Late Helladic IIIa1). Found in Tomb 67 at Enkomi, Cyprus; now in the British Museum. Photo credit: Zde/Wikimedia Commons.

[voluptuarian]

[scorpion-flower]

I've come to dislike how non Greeks (most likely native English speakers because I've seen this happening mostly by them, but of course they're not the only ones) who have taken like 1 or 2 years of Greek or Ancient Greek at university, carry themselves as they've now become very educated on the language and the culture as well, and they're treated as such by everyone!

Like, I believe Tom Hiddleston claims to speak Ancient Greek, or maybe others have claimed that for him but, my dude, the Erasmian pronunciation is wrong.

And just last night, I finished Stephen Fry's book called Mythos and in the end, there is a guide on how to pronounce the names which can be limited to "Just do it the way it's easier for you, Greeks do it their way, Brits and Americans do it their way, there is no correct answer." No. I've been taking English lessons since I was 3, but still mispronounce and mispell a lot of stuff. You don't see me coming and making comments on the correct way to speak English, so maybe don't comment on the correct way to speak Greek, since you're not a native speaker.

And last but not least, dishonorable mention to the author Monica Gutierrez, who in one of her books, through a character that, if I'm not mistaken, is an archaeologist, says that the Parthenon Marbles that were stolen from us and are currently in the British museum don't have to return to Greece, because 'they belong to the whole world'. They belong to the whole world, but they were made here, and I, a Greek person, have to buy a ticket to England in order to see them, because a British smuggler got the permission to take them away, by the people who had us enslaved for 4 centuries. And to this day, the British keep on using stupid excuses because they don't want to give them back!

And yet, those are the people whose voices and work will get picked over the work of actual native people. For example, there is a Greek youtuber that is an archaeologist and makes videos about mythology (sometimes he does videos on Scandinavian and Egyptian mythologies too, I hope those are accurate) and ancient art and he has just released a book. I highly doubt his book will get picked by publishers, to get translated in other languages and be released outside of Greece, even though I encourage you to check him out.

I don't claim that this happens only to Greek people/language/culture, but it's the only one I can comment on ☺

[platosfire]

🐟✨ fish statement earrings ✨🐟

these little guys are inspired by the minoan dolphin fresco!

they're made from marbled red and turquoise acrylic with shiny gold mirror bellies and i love them dearly 💛

[kurj]

she loves her octopus jar!!

i had to draw her again lol - here's my first drawing of her (click) and more of my minoan art (click)

[kwojciechowicz]

Hello everyone! I just got back from the island of Samos, Greece, and remembered that I have this painting of Artemis with Arrows still available for sale. 😊💙🌀🌀🇬🇷

[auressea]

I've read through some of Dr. Jones' documentation and summary of her book- and .. this is lovely work! However; on the whole, it feels like a 'wide artistic interpretation' based on an artistic interpretation of the primary source. These reproduction fabrics seem far too heavy and dense.

The more I study and learn about ancient textiles the more convinced I am that ancient people had many resources and techniques that are NOW LOST to us. I believe their woven fabrics were more sheer, more fine, and more durable than we can create with modern looms and modern materials.

Recreation is fun! and Experimental Archaeology is a necessary approach to understanding! check this out:

Reconstruction of the clothes of women from the Minoan era in Crete (reconstructions made by Dr. Bernice Jones).

The clothes of Minoan women were surprising with their style and variety of patterns. Greek women of later times wore clothes with completely different stylistic solutions. The exposed breasts were a characteristic feature of the dress of Minoan and Mycenaean women. They attached great importance to their attire, wear and used jewelry. They wore a wide and long skirt with a decorative belt tightening the waist and a tight-fitting bra with a metal frame revealing the breasts. They put on coats or capes on cooler days. Hair, intricately combed, was decorated with brown or gold ribbons, beads or headbands. Others wore appropriate headgear. They wore unusual hats. Some were wide, while others were tall, almost completely covering their hair, decorated with feathers or ribbons.

It can be seen at the Hellenistic Museum in Melbourne, Australia. The reconstructions are based on frescoes.

Photos: Tahney Fosdike.

[marandsviet]

Scottish Highland Miku

[whimsimarion]

Saffron gathering.

I wanted to try something different, but I don't know how much I succeeded. Might redo it in the far future.

References used: