Chapter 4 - Ancient Aegean

Question 1

Figurine of a Woman

Answer 1

Syros (cyclades), Greece
2500-2300 BCE
Marble, originally painted
Dominated by triangles
Must have been laid on back - funerary or fertility
Works from era feature breasts and incised lines in pubic area

Question 2

Male Lyre Player

Answer 2

Keros (Cyclades), Greece
2700-2500 BCE
Marble
Found near grave of a woman - playing music for the dead
Features dynamic motion - foot tapping floor, hands playing
Duck bill on lyre - representation of god Apollo (swan)

Question 3

Bull Leaping

Answer 3

Palace at Knossos (Crete), Greece
1450-1400 BCE
Wet fresco
Painting of a man bull-leaping
Bull important to culture: Theseus killed the Minotaur
Men painted with darker pigment than women - helps to differentiate genders with elongated style

Question 4

Landscape with Swallows (Spring Fresco)

Answer 4

Room Delta, Akrotiri, Thera (Crete)
1650 BCE
Wet fresco
Captures spring feeling, rather than realism
First known pure landscape
Preserved by volcanic ash

Question 5

Snake Goddess

Answer 5

Palace of Knossos (Crete)
1600 BCE
Faience - glass-like substance
Wide eyes give trance-like expression
Control over animals (snakes in hands, cat on head) indicate figure is a deity or priest
Style Egyptian or Middle-Eastern, but clothing indicates Minoan

Question 6

Harvester Vase

Answer 6

Hagia Triada (Crete)
1500 BCE
Steatite, originally with gold leafe
Meant to be shaped as ostrich egg
Carved scene with 27 men holding farming tools
Led by older man, yelling/using cowbell
for harvest or planting
Interposition - placement of objects to create depth

Question 7

Warriors Vase (Krater)

Answer 7

Mycenae, Greece
1200 BCE
Ceramic, painted
1 woman watches men march to battle
flat painting, abstract style
Indication of Mycenaen takeover of Minoan culture
Difference in artistic canon