Minos and the Heroes of Homer The Art

Minos and the Heroes of Homer: The Art of the Prehistoric Aegean

The Prehistoric Aegean

Homer The Iliad

Heinrich Schliemann

Mycenae Troy

The prehistoric Aegean is divided into three geographic areas: Cycladic Islands (so called because they circle around Delos) Cycladic Art Early, Middle, Late Crete Minoan Art Early, Middle, Late The Greek Mainland Helladic Art Early, Middle, Late (Mycenaean)

Cycladic Art

Cycladic Figurine of a Woman Syros, Greece 2500 -2300 BC Marble 1’ 6” high

Cycladic Male Lyre Player Keros, Greece 2700 -2500 BC Marble 9” high

Minoan Art (Crete)

The Palace at Knossos, Crete, 1700 -1400 BC

Plan of the Palace at Knossos, Crete, 1700 -1400 BC

Stairwell in the Residential Quarter of the Palace at Knossos, Crete 1700 -1400 BC

Bull-leaping The Palace of Knossos, Crete 1450 -1400 BC, Fresco, @ 2’ 8” high

Bull-leaping (detail)

Griffin Fresco in the “Throne Room” at Knossos

Boxing Fresco at Knossos

Miniature Ships Fresco From Room 5, West House, Akrotiri, Thera (Cycladic Islands) 1650 BC Fresco, @ 1’ 5” high

Miniature Ships Fresco from Room 5, West House, Akrotiri, Thera (Cycladic Islands) 1650 BC Fresco, @ 1’ 5” high

Spring Fresco Akrotiri, Thera (Cycladic Islands) 1650 BC, Fresco, @ 7’ 6” high

Kamares ware

Kamares Ware (Jar) From Phaistos, Crete 1800 -1700 BC @ 1’ 8” high

Minoan Vase in the Kamares Style from Phaestos 1800 BCE

Kamares Ware from the Palace at Phaestos 1800 BCE

Minoan Krater with Plastic Decoration 1800 BCE

Minoan Krater with Applied Floral Decoration 1800 BCE

Minoan Jar in the Marine Style “Octopus Jar” Palaikastro, Crete 1500 BC @ 11” high

Minoan Vase in the Marine Style Crete 1500 BC

Harvester Vase Hagia Triada, Crete 1500 BC Steatite Greatest Diameter @ 5”

Snake Goddess Palace at Knossos 1600 BC Faience @ 1’ 1 1/2” high

Helladic Art

"The Greeks appear apt to regard with greater wonder foreign sights than sights at home. For whereas distinguished historians have described the Egyptian pyramids with the minutest detail, they have not made even the briefest mention of the treasury of Minyas and the walls of Tiryns, though these are no less marvellous. " [Pausanias, Description of Greece 9. 36. 5]

Citadel of Tiryns Greece 1400 -1200 BC

Corbeled passageway in the walls of the citadel at Tiryns

Three methods of spanning a passageway: a. post and lintel b. corbeled arch c. arch

Aerial View of Mycenae, Greece

Mycenae, Greece 1300 -1250 BC

Cyclopian Walls at the Lion’s Gate to Mycenae

Lion Gate Mycenae, Greece, 1300 -1250 BC Limestone, relief panel @ 9’ 6” high

Back of Lion Gate Mycenae, Greece, 1300 -1250 BC Limestone, relief panel @ 9’ 6” high

Treasury of Atreus Mycenae, Greece 1300 -1250 BC

Vault of the Tholos of the Treasury of Atreus Mycenae, Greece 1300 -1250 BC @ 43’ high

Funerary Mask from Grave Circle A Mycenae, Greece 1600 -1500 BC Beaten Gold @ 1’ high

Repousse’ Technique

Warrior Vase Mycenae, Greece 1200 BC @ 1’ 4” high

Mycenaean Pottery 14 th to 13 th Centuries BCE