mediterranian Flashcards
Sarcophagus, from Hagia Triada (Crete)
plaster covered limestone
Minoan sarcophagus
illustrate the funerary rites in honor of the dead
different colored people
men are tan women are pale
image all the way around
cyclade
Most Cycladic statuettes depict nude women
The sculptor rendered the female body schematically as a series of triangles
buried with dead
fertility in next life
wouldve been painted
The meaning of all Cycladic figurines is elusive, but this seated musician may be playing for the deceased in the afterlife. The statuette displays simple geometric shapes and flat planes.
Restored view of the palace (looking northwest), Knossos (Crete)
Labrinth like
stone columns
early forms of ac and plumbing
home of Minos
largest Cretan palace
The Knossos palace was complex in elevation as well as plan. It had at least three stories on all sides of the court. Minoan columns taper from top to bottom, the opposite of Egyptian and Greek columns.
Minoan woman or goddess (La Parisienne), from the palace, Knossos
pigment on wet plaster
Frescoes decorated the Knossos palace walls. This fragment depicts a woman or a goddess—perhaps a statue—with a large frontal eye in her profile head, as in Mesopotamian and Egyptian art.
Bull-leaping, from the palace, Knossos
fresco
man on bull with woman off to side
men proved manhood by jumping over a bull
restored
Landscape with swallows (Spring Fresco), south and west walls of room Delta 2, Akrotiri, Thera
Aegean muralists painted in wet fresco, which required rapid execution. In this wraparound landscape, the painter used vivid colors and undulating lines to capture the essence of nature.
Crocus gatherers, detail of the east wall of room 3 of building Xeste 3, Akrotiri, Thera
In a room at Akrotiri probably used for puberty rites, young girls pick crocus flowers in a rocky landscape recalling the Spring Fresco (Fig. 4-9), and present them to a seated goddess (not shown).
Kamares Ware jar, from Phaistos
Kamares Ware vases have creamy white and reddish-brown decoration on a black background. This jar combines a fish (and a net?) with curvilinear abstract patterns, including spirals and waves.
Marine-style octopus flask, from Palaikastro
Marine Style vases have dark figures on a light ground. On this octopus flask, the tentacles of the sea creature reach out over the curving surface of the vessel to fill the shape perfectly
Snake Goddess, from the palace, Knossos
This figurine may represent a priestess, but it is more likely a bare-breasted goddess. The snakes in her hands and the feline on her head imply that she has power over the animal world.
one arm and the dog ontop was probably added later
Young god(?), Palaikastro
copied egyptian stand
gold
not meant to last forever
Harvesters Vase, from Hagia Triada
The relief sculptor of the singing harvesters on this small stone vase was one of the first artists in history to represent the underlying muscular and skeletal structure of the human body.
gold leaf
non canon
coming back from harvest
Plan of the palace and southern part of the citadel, Tiryns
one enterance
the wall made it hard for right handed people to fight
Aerial view of the citadel (looking east)
its huge, roughly cut stone blocks are examples of Cyclopean masonry, named after the mythical one-eyed giants.
Corbel-vaulted gallery in the circuit wall of the citadel
piled the large, irregular blocks in horizontal courses and then cantilevered them inward until the two walls met in a pointed arch
vault held in lace by weight of blocks
corbeled-arch construction (John Burge)
builders construct a corbeled arch by piling stone blocks in horizontal courses and then cantilevering them inward until the walls meet in a pointed arch. The stones are held in place by their own weight
lion Gate (looking east), Mycenae
The gate itself consists of two great monoliths and a huge lintel.
corbeled arch ontop of post and lintel archway
represents a temple
missing heads (lion or sphynx)
Exterior of the Treasury of Atreus
The best-preserved Mycenaean tholos tomb is named after Homer’s King Atreus. An earthen mound covers the burial chamber, reached through a doorway at the end of a long passageway.
Interior of the Treasury of Atreus
tomb for king
thought treasure of Atreus was buried here
for long time was considered largest manmade space
Funerary mask, from Grave Circle A
gold death mask
trying to mimic egyptian
made of thin gold
hammered the shape of each mask from a single sheet of metal and pushed the features out from behind
is one of the first attempts at life-size sculpture in Greece
Inlaid dagger blade with lion hunt, from Grave Circle A
The burial goods in Grave Circle A included costly weapons. The lion hunters on this bronze dagger are Minoan in style, but the metalworker borrowed the subject from Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Female head, from Mycenae, Greece
This painted white plaster head of a woman with staring eyes may be a fragment of a very early life-size statue of a goddess in Greece, but some scholars think that it is the head of a sphinx.
Warrior Vase (krater), from Mycenae
mix water and wine
woman bidding farewell to a column of heavily armed Mycenaean warriors
colored clay
