Priest-King Analysis

Maria Shaw’s argues in her article that the Priest-King depicted in the fresco described has just won a tournament and has been labeled as the “athlete of the year”. So goes on far enough to say that he could even have been the “missing Minoan ruler”, and finishes with the idea that these sports (such as bull-leaping, boxing, and acrobats) were the precursor to later Greek Olympic games. The three broad forms of evidence she references are the fragments and restorations, the architectural and archaeological contexts, and information on who the Priest-King was (or rather could be). When discussing the restorations she focuses on certain people as major influences on her take of the restoration, the baseline being Evans, as he was the first …show more content…
Commonly white paint was used to depict women, and red was used for men. Scholars disagree as which color the Priest-King is, and so Shaw created explanations for both scenarios. If the body was red, it would be likely that lilies were white, which would actually be a more accurate representation of the flowers that were found on Crete. If the body were white, that could signify an exceptional male figure. This has been seen before in Minoan art. Shaw also questions the use of the crown which is normally only seen on sphinxes or priestesses. Due to the Tell ab-Dab’a painting (an example of a head ornament for tumblers) she begins to hypothesize the idea that headpieces are linked with athletic activity. The size, though, of the Priest-King, along with the white color, emphasizes his importance in the fresco which may alert someone to the fact that he may be an elite figure. Sports may have become ritualized, and so the best at sports would have won certain prestige and in turn this fresco may depict the Priest-King as the “athlete of the year”. This supposed importance that was placed on sports, could then be seen as the precursor to the Olympic