5 Ws + Descriptions of Places/Artefacts (Test 1) Flashcards
Marine Style Stirrup Jar (Who, where, when)
Who: Minoan jar, Octopus themed
Where: From Palaikastro, Phaisto, Poros (Various sites across the Crete world), currently housed in the Iraklion Museum in Crete
When: LM 1B (1600 - 1470 BCE)
Snake Goddesses or Attendants (Faience Statuettes) (Who, Where, When)
Who: Snake Goddess statue of the Minoan people; a number of these figurines was found by Sir Arthur Evans
Where: Knossos, (Temple Repositories)
When: MM III (1750 - 1650 BCE)
Toreador Fresco (Who, where, when)
Who: Minonan
Where: Knossos - Court of the Stone Spout
When: LM IA (1675 - 1550 BCE)
Acrobat or Bull Leaper (Who, where, when)
Who: Statues; Minoan
Where: Knossos
When: MM III (1750 - 1650 BCE)
Ladies in Blue Fresco (Who, where, when)
Who: Minoan
Where: Knossos
When: MM IIIB/LM IA (1750 - 1550 BCE)
The Grandstand Fresco (Who, where, when)
Who: Minoan
Where: Fresca Atlas, Knossos
When: MM IIIB/LM IA (1700-1550 BCE)
Marine Style Stirrup Jar (What)
- Jar, with open top (rounded sides)
- Decorated with naturalistic themes and patterns (flowers, corals, animals, etc)
- Design takes up entire job, very minimal background
- Octopus appears as though it is floating; representing where it comes from
Marine Style Stirrup Jar (Why)
- Naturalistic themes
- Connection with sea – thalassocracy
- Position on the island
- Freedom in Minoan civilization; the position of the Octopus, the fact that it is free and floating indicates a focus on freedom
- The animal exists without being attacked by humans (no indication of violence)
Snake Goddess/Attendant Figurines (What)
Basic
- Small statuettes (small in scale, perhaps around 30 cm or so, one larger than the other), female presenting, made of faience
Position
- Hands/arms extended, standing, looks as though the figurine can stare directly into eyes
Appearance
- They do not look friendly, almost serious (gaze theory)
Clothing
- Flounced skirt that falls to the ground, exposed breasts, belt around the small waist (corset-type thing), sleeves on the arms, headdresses (taller one has a cylindrical-kind of headdress, shorter one has an animal (cat?) sitting on top of it), snakes crawling around the arms, peering over the shoulder (one of them holds the snakes).
Snake Goddess/Attendant Figurines (Why)
- Restates themes of fertility (island living = need for abundance in life)
- Snake = shedding of skin, revitalizing, renewing, beginning again (fertility)
- Emphasis on the importance of harvest
- The role of women in Minoan society (Athena is associated with snakes; and so people think of this goddess as a precursor to Athena)
- Chance that Minoan people lived in a kind of matriarchal society?
Toreador Fresco (What)
- Fresco with three people (two people on either side (lighter colours), one person (darker), jumping over the bull)
- Background is bare; much is lost to the test of time
- Pattern around the boarder
- A bull (large, head down – charging in what is called ‘the flying gallop’)
- Idea that there is simultaneous action happening (one person catching? One person holding the bull? Another person leaping?)
- Loin cloth, curly hair (both are common to young people/men); athletic build, yet lean & skinny
Toreador Fresco (Why)
- The different colours could be status related rather than gender related, but there are theories of both (perhaps men and women could both participate in the sport)
- Energetic theme; everything suggests movement - leaping, holding, having landed - no figure in the picture has not participated in the sport in some way
- Border itself suggests motion and movement
- Hints towards what was important in Minoan time – entertainment & energetic sport scenes?
- The danger, the community aspect of the sport, etc
Acrobat or Bull Leaper (What)
- Ivory figurine, very small (30 cm)
- Position is similar to the toreador fresco (in motion, curved back, leaping, arms extended and horizontal)
- Face is more detailed & carved out despite the size
Acrobat or Bull Leaper (Why)
- Represents a more indepth position and look at the gymnastic position of the bull leapers in Crete
- Perhaps the sport is not necessarily something for entertainment, but something that is more highly organized
Ladies in Blue Fresco (What)
- Elite status woman
- Elaborate hairstyles (dark hair, long, adorned with circlet-like headpieces), corset, breasts are still exposed; they wear jewelry
- Darker pieces = the reconstruction
- Small in comparison, side profiles; central figure = a woman with white skin, elaborate hairstyle, flounced skirt, corset, exposed breasts (open blouse)
- Hands raised, palms up and facing the sky
Ladies in Blue Fresco (Why)
- The similarities between the Snake Goddess portraits & the Ladies in Blue suggests that a common way of representing women who are of high status is the outfit/headresses
- Indication of status (if you compare these woman to another fresco, ex the processional fresco where a darker skinned woman is depicted you can see the difference between the rich and the poor in their outfits/artistic portrayal)
Bull’s Head Rhyton (Who, where, when)
Who: Minoan (Bull head)
Where: Knossos
When: LM IA (1675 - 1550 BCE)
Bull’s Head Rhyton (What)
- The shape of a bull’s head (including the large horns)
- Has hole at the top and the bottom so that liquids can be poured out of it
- Made of serpentine, limestone, rock crystal
- White band around the nose
- Rhyton = a ritual vessel used for pouring liquids
- Vivid realism
Bull’s Head Rhyton
- The prominence of the bull theme
- Importance of bulls to Minoan people (ritual vessel = religious = important figures)
- The abilities of Minoan craftsmen to create a realistic looking kind of pouring device
Grandstand Fresco (What)
- Three tiered palatial fresco
- Range of men and women (spectators - some look like the women in blue, similar hairstyles, clothing)
- Attending some kind of spectacle
- Witnesses, bystanders, placed within a specific architectural setting
- Horns of consecration
- Much more impressionistic; quick brushstroke to create the idea of dancers and movement, a busy landscape
The Megaron Pylos (Who, where, when)
Who: Mycenean
Where: Mycenae
When:
The Citadel - Mycenae (Who, where, when)
Who: Mycenaeans
Where: Mycenae
When:
The Lion’s Gate (Who, Where, When)
Who: Mycenaen
Where: Mycenae
When:
Grave Circle A - Mycenae
Who: Mycenae
Where: Mycenae
When: Excavated by Schliemann in the 18th century; from Mycenaen (?)
The Treasury of Atreus (Who, where, when)
Who: Mycenae
Where: Mycenae
When:
Warrior Krater
Who: Mycenaean
Where: Found in the Acropolis at Mycenae
When: LH IIIB-C
Bronze Daggers (Who, where, when)
Who: Mycenae
Where: Graves IV & V, Grave Circle A, Mycenae
When: LH I
Bull and Lion Head Rhyta (Who, where, when)
Who: Mycenaen
Where: Grave IV, Grave circle A, Mycenae
When:
Death Masks (Who, where, when)
Who: Mycenaean
Where: Grave V, Grave circle A, Mycenae
When: LH I
Boar Hunt Fresco (Who, where, when)
Who:
Where: Tiryns
When:
Greyhound on leash fresco (Who, where, when)
Who:
Where: Tiryns
When:
Vapheio Cups (Who, where, when)
Who:
Where: Tholos burial, Vapheio (Laconia)
When:
How many entrance points are there at the palace of Knossos?
Four (North, South, East, West)
Most pleasing entrance in Palace?
West
Furnished with altars (sacrifice), visitor would move to the corridor of procession (walls painted with scenes of procession)
Lead to a greater impact at the moment of arrival
Throne Room
Small, intimate, not necessarily built to impress
More a shrine than a royal reception room (perhaps)
Grave Circle A
19 bodies (6 shaft graves; one vaulted I believe)
South of Lion Gate
Not originally a part of the citadel; expanded later to include
Discovered by Schliemann in the 1876
Goods are more precious than B (aka reason for name being A)
(Death masks, decorated daggers, cups, gold jewelry, etc)
Death Masks (What)
- Individualized masks that were placed over the faces of the people they were buried one
- Look flat, although they have definition
- Gold, thin
Death Masks (Why)
- The fact that these masks are individualized suggests an attempt at portraiture & also a high level of respect towards the dead
- The Mycenaean people wished to immortalize the appearance of these people
- Demonstrates the luxury and wealth of these people (these were only some of the grave goods found alongside the people)
Grave Circle B
West of Lion Gate
26 graves (14 shaft, rest cist - 2-5 people in each 24 bodies)
Grave goods were not as rich as Grave Circle A
Stelai
Upright pieces of limestone which were used to mark the graves (gravemarkers essentially)
What was the main shrine signaled by?
Horns of Consecration
Horns of Consecration
Representations of bull’s horns which marked sacred places
Chamber with two images of double axes
Used for ritual purposes
Light well
Open spaces in courts without staircases to them (open to the heavens)
Pier-And-Door Construction
Minoan style construction
Piers alternating with doors in three rows for a great amount of variety in the amount of space used & the distribution of air and light
Shaft Graves
Deeper, pebbled floors, plank ceiling, rubble masonry walls
Rectangular
Cist Graves
Shallow, four stones with one on top
Sir Arthur Evans
Responsible for excavating Knossos
Not such a great archaeologist Mr. I’m Going To Move Stuff Around For Funsies To Make Sets
Heinrich Schliemann
Excavated Mycenae in 19th century
Was German
Found the DM of Agamemnon; was like “omg” but then everyone was like “actually this is too old” and he was like “dang I guess I gotta say I was wrong”
Tell el-Dab’a Connection
Egyptian site in the Nile delta with both:
Minoan goods & also Minoan inspired landscapes that echo the naturalism of Minoan art
Knossos Palace Walls
- Built of stone
- Carefully dressed Ashlar blocks, or large rubble walls which were heavily plastered
- Secured with huge horizontal and vertical wooden Tiebeams
- Gypsum used for some important walls
Minoan V Mycenaean Palace Centers
Minoan
- Large, if you look at the map you can see that the structure is more complexed; built so that it can be expanded upon (suggests flexibility, a society that is willing to adapt and change)
- Open spaces (pier-and-door construction to allow light and air)
- The art in the rooms is very naturalistic, all processions and sports, reflections of what is important to them
Mycenaean
- Large, but less complex; built with rigidity
- Preferred to be warm over the idea of life, and kept themselves boxed in
- Their art is much more warrior-like, geometric and rigid
- Had a megaron (a throne-ish room with a hearth); and a good recreation of it depicts all surfaces covered in geometric patterns
- Suggests an idea of order, rigidity, the true opposite to Minoan people
- Large fortified walls, where Minoan people did not really have them (the hill that Knossos was one was yk)
West House - Minoan
- Comprises rectangular spaces and corridors forming storage and living quarters
Housing complex at Vasilike; House on the Hilltop
Made up of dwellings built cheek by jowl over many years
Living quarters which faced a paved court to the west
Represent the beginning of a traditional, albeit different diffuse architecture of Myrtos
Pottery in Early Minoan Period
Most familiar material of the first phase of Early Minoan culture
Aghios Onouphrios is the best known of its style
Round-bottomed jugs characteristic with dark paint on a light ground; diagonal lines to form lozenges which are repeated around the surface of the pot
Pottery in Late Minoan Period
Vasilike war
Shapes are the long spouted jug and cup
Decoration relies on mottled effect, to imitate the surface of stone vases
Reddish-brown covers the surface
Overarching idea of Minoan Art
- Sense of movement and the freedom of decoration
- These traits have been used to explain the freedom and mobility of society itself
- Zoomorphic themes
When were the great palaces at Knossos and Phaistos built?
Somewhere ~2000 BCE
Mallia and Zakro
- Not sure if the LM palaces were copied from MM predecessors
Zakro may have had a central court
Destroyed around 1700 BC by an earthquake
Knossos and Phaistos v. Mallia and Zakro
Palaces at K & P were re-built and expanded
M & Z, palaces arose on the debris of ruined structures
Second palaces can be seen
