Chapter 4 - Prehistoric Aegean,

Front 1

Aegean periods/cultures

Back 1

Cycladic
Minoans
Mycenaean

Front 2

Minoans were...

Back 2

a maritime culture
women were equals
bulls important animal
where the idea of a labyrinth comes from
started true fresco, fresh spontaneous art

Front 3

True fresco is

Back 3

painting on wet plaster, color lasts longer but must be done quickly

Front 4

fresco secco is

Back 4

painting on dry plaster, like in Egypt

Front 5

Mycenaean important features

Back 5

Military culture
defense focused, with stone architecture and citadels
made vaulting system for holding supplies
beehive tomb

Front 6

Name features of Minoan columns

Back 6

Narrow at bottom and wider at top
pillow capitols

Front 7

Faience

Back 7

fine tin-glazed pottery on a delicate pale buff earthenware body, originally associated with Faenza in northern Italy The invention of a white pottery glaze suitable for painted decoration, by the addition of an oxide of tin to the slip of a lead glaze, was a major advance in the history of pottery

Front 8

Beehive tomb

Back 8

burial structure characterized by its false dome created by the superposition of successively smaller rings of mudbricks or, more often, stones

Front 9

Figurine of a woman,
from Syros (Cyclades),
Greece, ca. 2500–2300 bce.
Marble, 1 6 high. National
Archaeological Museum,
Athens.

Back 9

-Cycladic, Aegean
-Comes from a grave on the island of Syros
-Body rendered in highly schematic manner, using basic shapes
-placed on its back in the grave—lying down, like the deceased

Front 10

Palace at Knossos (Crete), Greece,
ca. 1700–1400 bce.

Back 10

-Minoan , Aegean
-Palace largest on Crete and home of King Minos
-Mazelike plan gave rise to Greek myth of Cretan
labyrinth inhabited by Minotaur, that the Athenian
king Theseus killed
-around the palace proper were mansions and villas of the Minoan elite
-no direct path to the king

Front 11

Marine Style octopus jar, from Palaikastro (Crete), Greece,
ca. 1500 bce. 11 high. Archaeological Museum,Herakleion.

Back 11

-Minoan , Aegean
-Marine Style vases have dark figures on a light ground
-Inspired by the sea and the creatures that inhabit it
-dark-on-light format remained the norm for about a millennium in Greece

Front 12

Snake Goddess, from the palace at Knossos (Crete), Greece,
ca. 1600 bce. Faience, 1 11–2 high. Archaeological Museum,Herakleion

Back 12

-Minoan , Aegean
-figurine may represent a priestess, but it is more likely a goddess
-Snakes in hands and feline on head imply she has power over the animal world
-faience (low-fired opaque glasslike silicate)
-example of how human
beings fashion their gods in their own image

Front 13

Citadel at Tiryns, Greece, ca. 1400–1200 bce.

Back 13

- Mycenaean, Aegean
-huge, roughly cut stone blocks are examples of Cyclopean masonry, named after the mythical one-eyed giants
-In the Iliad, Homer called citadel of Tiryns city “of the great walls"
-walls of Tiryns contain a long corbel-vaulted gallery, no mortar used
-Attackers at Tiryns were compelled to approach the palace within the walls via long ramp that forced the soldiers to expose their unshielded
sides to the Mycenaean defenders above.

Front 14

Lion Gate,Mycenae, Greece, ca. 1300–1250 bce. Limestone, relief panel 9 6 high

Back 14

- Mycenaean, Aegean
-largest sculpture in the prehistoric Aegean is the relief of confronting lions
-fills the relieving triangle of Mycenae’s main gate
-gate consists of two great monoliths and a huge lintel
-outer gateway of the stronghold at Mycenae
-corbeled arch
-scholars have suggested that the “lions”were actually composite beasts in the Eastern tradition, possibly sphinxes

Front 15

Treasury of Atreus, Mycenae, Greece, ca. 1300–1250 bce.

Back 15

- Mycenaean, Aegean
-best-preserved Mycenaean tholos tomb is named for Homer’s King Atreus
-earthen mound covers the burial chamber, which is accessed through a doorway at end of long passageway
-best-preserved of beehive-shaped tombs, these tholos tombs is Mycenae’s so called Treasury of Atreus
-tomb chamber was entered through a doorway
surmounted by a relieving triangle similar to that employed in the roughly contemporary Lion Gate

Front 16

Funerary mask, from Grave Circle A,
Mycenae, Greece,
ca. 1600–1500 bce.
Beaten gold, 1 high.
National Archaeological
Museum, Athens

Back 16

- Mycenaean, Aegean
-beaten gold (repoussé) mask of a bearded man comes from a royal shaft grave. It is one of the first attempts at life-size sculpture in Greece.
-laid their dead to rest on the floors of shaft graves with masks covering their faces, recalling the Egyptian funerary practice

Front 17

Inlaid dagger blade with lion hunt, from Grave Circle A,Mycenae, Greece, ca. 1600–1500 bce. Bronze, inlaid with gold, silver, and niello

Back 17

- Mycenaean, Aegean
-treasures buried with the Mycenaean kings attest to their wealth
-The lion hunters on this bronze dagger are Minoan in style, but the metalworker borrowed the subject from the artistic repertory of the Near East.
-a scene of four hunters attacking a lion that has struck down a fifth hunter, while two other lions flee. The other side shows lions attacking deer

Front 18

Invaders from the North around 1200BCE caused what?

Back 18

A loss of naturalistic style, sometimes called dark ages. Ended the Mycenaean period.
1200-800BCE lost knowledge, no more architecture and fresco