ARH 101

Aegean Art
 It is astonishing that history should lose all track of a civilization which lasts for six centuries, makes superb
ceramics and metalwork, trades extensively over a wide region, and houses its rulers in palaces elaborately decorated with
superb fresco paintings. Yet this has been the case with the Minoans in Crete, until the excavation of Knossos.
We still know little more about them than is suggested by Minoan art and artefacts. It is typical that the name
they have been given derives from a figure of myth rather than history - Minos, the legendary king of Crete whose pet
creature is the Minotaur, a monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull which feeds on young human flesh.
Three very similar palaces have been excavated in Crete from the Minoan period - at Knossos, Mallia and Phaistos. Built
from around 2000 BC, each is constructed round a large public courtyard; each has provision for the storage of large
quantities of grain; each is believed to be the administrative centre for a large local population. The number at Knossos has
been variably estimated as between 15,000 and 50,000 people.
Administrative records and accounts are kept on clay tablets in a script as yet undeciphered (it is known as
Linear A). Archaeological discoveries reveal that trade is carried on round the entire Mediterranean coast from Sicily in the
west to Egypt in the southeast.
Overseas there are outposts of Minoan culture. It is not known whether they are colonies or more in the
nature of trading partners, influenced by the culture of Crete. Notable among them is the city of Akrotiri, on the island of
Thera. Its houses, apparently those of rich merchants, have survived with their frescoes intact. Several of the houses stand
to a height of three storeys, with their floors still in place.
The reason for their preservation is the eruption of the island's volcano in about 1525 BC. Like Pompeii a
millennium and a half later, Akrotiri is pickled in volcanic ash.
Defensive walls are notably absent in Minoan Crete, as also are paintings of warfare. This seems to have been a peaceful as
well as a prosperous society. But its end is violent. In about 1425 BC all the towns and palaces of Crete, except Knossos
itself, are destroyed by fire.
It is not known whether this is a natural disaster, which gives Greeks from the mainland their chance, or
whether Greek invaders destroy Minoan Crete - keeping only the main palace for their own use. But it is certain that the
next generation of rulers introduce the culture of mainland Mycenae, and they keep their accounts in the Mycenaean script
- Linear B. It seems probable that a Mycenaean invasion ends Minoan civilization.
Cycladic figurine, c.
2500 bce, marble, 30
in., Amorgos, Cyclades
(early bronze age).
arpist, c. 2500 bce, marble
Plan of Palace of Minos, Knossos, Crete 1700-1300 bce
Plan of Palace of
Minos, Knossos,
Crete 1700-1300
bce
Plan of Palace of Minos, Knossos, Crete 1700-
1300 bce
Queens megaron, c. 1400
bce, Knossos palace
“snake Goddess” from palace complex,
Knossos 1650bce. 12”
“Rhyton in the shape of bull’s head,” Knossos
1500 bce. Serpentine, crystlal and shell inlay
Crocus Girl
Mural fragments from
Akrotiri, Thera. 1670-1620
Landscape. Fresco
Akrotiri, Thera. 1670-1620
“The Toreador Fresco” from palace complex, Knossos 1500bce. height 24”
Beaked jug (Kamares style) from Phaistos 1800 bce. 10”
“Octopus Vase from
Palaikastro Crete 1500bce
11”
Harvester Vase from Hagia Triada 1500-
1450 bce. Stone.
Interior, Treasury of Atreus, Mycenae, Greece 1300-1250bce
Rhyton in the shape of a lion’s
head. From a shaft grave at
Mycenae 1550 bce. Gold 8”
Vaphio Cups 1500-1450 Gold 3”
The Lioness Gate Mycenae, Greece 1250bce.
Three Deities from Mycenae. 14-13th century bce. Ivory 3”