1. 1. Greek Art 1 Mesolithic Period, Neolithic Period, Bronze Age, Cycladic Period, and Minoan Culture Credit to Gardners Art Through The Ages 12th Ed.
2. 2. Mesolithic Period 8300-7000 BCE Middle Stone Age Development of human technology Earliest evidence of burials found in Franchthi Cave in the Argolid, Greece
3. 3. Franchthi Cave in the Argolid, Greece Franchthi Cave in the Argolid, Greece
4. 4. Franchthi Cave in the Argolid, Greece
5. 5. Franchthi Cave in the Argolid, Greece
6. 6. Neolithic Period 7000-3000 BCE Evidence of food producing economy Simple hut construction Seafaring in mainland Greece and the Aegean Greece: Mainland Greece: Islands
7. 7. Bronze Age 3000-1100 BCE Limited farming and herding Great fishers, sculptors Bronze (duh) Legends: Heracles, Oedipus (1600 BCE) Cycladic Period 3200-2000 BCE An early Bronze Age culture of the Cyclades Islands in the Aegean Sea Abundant marble from Aegean Island quarries Especially Naxos and Paros These quarries later supplied the master sculptors of Classical Greece and later Rome
8. 8. Cyclades Islands Mainland Greece Paros Naxos
9. 9. Souvlaki in Paros (Paros)
10. 10. Leaves as big as my face! (Paros)
11. 11. 120 Degree Heat Wave (Paros)
12. 12. Super Steep (Paros)
13. 13. Bagels, aka Pita (Paros)
14. 14. Island View (Paros)
15. 15. Bronze Age 3000-1100 BCE Cycladic Period 3200-2000 BCE Mostly Sculpture Archeologists believe these were primarily funerary offerings meant to be placed on their backs in graves Very abstract Large simple triangles dominate form (the head and the torso) Very broad shoulders Tiny feet (too tiny to support the figurine standing up)
16. 16. Bronze Age 3000-1100 BCE Early Minoan Period (3rd millennium BCE): Both on the Islands and Greek mainland Small settlements Rarely saw costly offerings buried with the dead Middle Minoan Period (2nd millennium BCE): Crete LARGE PALACES! Old Palace Period ended in 1700 BCE (probably from an earthquake) Late Minoan Period New Palace Period Golden Age of Crete When the first great Western civilization emerged (I guess Egypt must be considered Eastern?)
17. 17. Minoan Culture Crete Mainland Greece
18. 18. Middle Minoan Period Pottery vs. Late Minoan Period Pottery: Both show a love of Nature Middle Minoan: 1800-1700 BCE Kamares Ware (found in Kamares cave on Mount Ida from Phaistos (Crete), h. 18 in. Light images on dark background Late Minoan: 1500 BCE Marine Style Octopus Jar from Palaikastro (Crete), h. 11 in. Dark images on light background
19. 19. The Golden Age of Crete (Late Minoan Period) Palaces: Administrative, commercial, and religious centers of Minoan life Courtyards for ceremonies, pageants, and games Storerooms, offices, shrines Principal Palaces: Knossos Phaistos Mallia Kato Zakro Khania
20. 20. Palace at Knossos (Crete) Knossos: the largest palace Legendary home to King Minos Myth of Theseus and the Minotaur Battled and defeated the minotaur, found his way out of the maze helped by Ariadne (King Minoss daughter) Ariadne gave him a thread to mark his path so he could find his way out of the labyrinth The Minotaurs Labyrinth Labrys= double ax, Labyrinth= House of the Double Axes Refers to sacrificial slaughter
21. 21. Palace at Knossos (Crete) Knossos All Minoan palaces were constructed of rough, unshaped fieldstones embedded in clay Knossos: Several stories high Interior staircases built around light and air wells for illumination and ventilation Knossos in particular had a very efficient system for drainage of rainwater Terracotta pipes under the building
22. 22. Palace at Knossos (Reconstruction)
23. 23. Palace at Knossos Aerial View
24. 24. Palace at Knossos Detail
25. 25. Palace at Knossos Plan
26. 26. Palace at Knossos Paintings (Frescoes)-used true wet-fresco method All over the walls in this palace Depict Minoan culture: Bull-leaping Minoan ceremony? Metaphor? Processions Ceremonies Depict nature Birds Animals Flowers Marine Life
27. 27. Minoan Painting Minoan Painting Lines are more curved than other ancient paintings (such as Egypt), perhaps suggesting the elasticity of life and movement Figures are long and elegant Confident stance Pinched waists Highly animated (look like theyre moving) Profile pose with full-view eye (similar to Ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian Art)
28. 28. Bull-Leaping, from the Palace at Knossos (Crete), Greece, ca. 1450-1400 BCE, 28 high Controversy over whether this was a true athletic sport or a metaphor for something else Similar to modern sport in France and Northern Spain: Course Landaise Unlike bull-fighting, in this sport, the bull is not harmed Athletes often compete in groups, as seen here The leaper is usually male, as seen here (dark skin= male, light skin = female, typical in most ancient paintings, including ancient Egypt)
29. 29. Minoan Painting Ruins of Minoan paintings that once decorated a palace in Egypt were discovered in the 1980s Authentic Painted by Minoans evidenced by style and technique Why would Egyptians employ Greek painters? We dont know (could be a result of Thera volcanic eruptionsee next slide) International exchange between several ancient civilizations makes it difficult to study any one of them in isolation
30. 30. Eruption of Volcano in Thera (modern Santorini) 1628 BCE During the zenith (peak) of Aegean civiliation, a volcano erupted in the Cycladic Islands burying a palace in Akrotiri under pumice and ash (kind of like the Pompeii of Greece) Force was so powerful that sea currents carried the pumice and ash not only to nearby Cycladic Islands and Cyprus, but also as far away as Anatolia, Egypt, Syria, and Israel
31. 31. Path of Debris from Thera Volcanic Explosion Explosion in Cylades Islands Sent debris to: Anatolia (Turkey) Cyprus Crete Syria Israel Egypt
32. 32. Akrotiri Palace in the Cyclades Islands Volcanic ash preserved what are believed to be Minoan frescoes in this Cycladic area at the Akrotiri palace Suggesting Minoan culture wasnt limited to Crete Used geological info. to pinpoint the date of the eruption (1628 BCE) The Thera eruption is believed to be the catalyst behind these findings: Analyzed tree rings for evidence of slowed growth Analyzed ice cores in Greenland for peak acidity layers This is huge because it makes these frescoes pre-date those at Knossos, when they were previously thought to have been created afterward
33. 33. Preserved Fresco from Akrotiri (Thera)
34. 34. Preserved Fresco from Akrotiri (Thera) Minoan Style (Knossos example)
35. 35. Minoan Decline Scholars believe that Mycenaeans had already moved onto Crete and established themselves at Knossos at the end of the New Palace Period Mycenaeans ruled Crete for at least 50 years, perhaps longer The importance of the palace at Knossos as a cultural center faded around 1400 BCE, as the focus of the Aegean civilization started to move up toward the Greek mainland The palace at Knossos was finally destroyed around 1200 BCE