Ancient Aegean Cultures Aegean Art: Cycladic, Minoan Mycenean

1. Ancient Aegean CulturesAegean Art: Cycladic, Minoan Mycenean

3. Cycladic Cultures3000-1000 bce • Stepping stones across the Aegean, the Cycladic islands were early settlement sites for migrants who developed a significant culture centuries before the emergence of the civilizations of Crete and Mycenae. • Cycladites developed shipping and traded with mainland Greece, the coastal areas of Asia Minor and with the western Mediterranean, from the Neolithic period. • The development of olive production helped in self-sufficiency. • They buried their dead in box -shaped tombs of a trapezoidal shape, in circular ones, and in chambers carved on the rock. The dead were buried uncremated, in contracted positions. Bodies were accompanied by objects used in daily life: vases, marble figures, jewelry, daggers, and blades. • Cycladic History

4. CycladicTombs Top: Cist grave of the Gotta-Pelos culture.Middle: Two-storeyed grave of the Keros-Syros culture.Bottom: Corbelled grave of the Keros-Syros culture, of the type found on Syros

5. Types of Cycladic Figurines

6. Abstraction Cycladic Influence on Modern Art Constantin Brancusi Amedeo Modigliani

7. Minoan Crete

8. NEOLITHIC PERIOD (6000- 2600 B.C.) • Archeological excavations in Crete indicated that the island had been inhabited since 6000 BC . • Neolithic ruins were found in Phaestos, Knossos and Sitia, where the first settlements were formed by farmers and stock-breeders. • People lived in slate houses and caves such as the caves of Ilithia, Stravouitis, Ellinospileo, Trapeza Lasithiou, etc. • Excavations brought to light pottery, weapons, tools, blades made of bone or stone and offerings to the goddess of fertility.

9. PREPALATIAL PERIOD (2600-1900 B.C.) • The extensive use of copper resulted in growth of the population and commercial activity • The island’s geographic location, the fertile ground and the long periods of peace favoured the development of a glorious civilization. • The pre-Palatial period is divided into three periods • In the first period, copper has not fully substituted stone and clay (utensils) and communication with the nearby areas is limited. • The second period is characterized by growth in fishing, farming and shipping acctivities, as well as the trade of tin. • The third period is known for the improvement of construction techniques, while new products are used, such as precious stones, elephant bone, from Egypt and gold. The various seals, from that period, are beautiful works of art.

10. PALOPALATIAL PERIOD (1900-1700 B.C.) • In 1900 BC the first palaces were built in Crete, including the magnificent palaces of Knossos, Malia and Kato Zakros. • The settlements around the palaces had organized watering, sewage and street systems. • The period’s economy was based on agriculture and thrived on trade, as indicated by finds from Crete that have been located in Egypt as well as Cyprus. • The end of this period comes after a strong earthquake in 1700 BC, which destroyed most of the palaces.

11. Plan for the Palace at Knossos

12. NEOPALATIAL PERIOD (1700- 1450 B.C.E.) • The palaces were restored and the Neo-Palatial Period, the thriving years of the Minoan civilization, was inaugurated. • The palace was the center of the economic, social and religious life. • The locals were mostly occupied with shipping and wine and perfume oil trade, as well as with farming, pottery and weaving, although not in a large scale. • The class of merchants, manufacturers and priests commanded respect, second only to the King who was worshipped as a High Priest, along with the Goddess of Fertility. • The artistic production: pottery, painting, seal-making, lithotomy, miniatures and jewels. • Women played a prominent role in the Minoan civilization. • In about 1450 BC, the cities and palaces of the Minoan civilization were swept away by a tidal wave, caused by a volcanic eruption in the island of Thera, while extensive fires demolished everything.

13. Palace at Knossos

14. Snake Goddesses

15. Bull Leaping

16. Hieroglyphics:The Phaistos Diskca. 1600 bce

17. In about 1450 BC, the cities and palaces of the Minoan civilization were swept away by a tidal wave, caused by a volcanic eruption in the island of Thera, while extensive fires demolished everything. Knossos

18. POSTPALATIAL PERIOD (1450-1100 B.C.E.) • The Myceneans (Achaeans), exploiting the destruction of the Minoan civilization, occupied Knossos and established a strong dynasty. • According to tablets written in Linear B script, the Myceneans soon took control of the island. • The economy was still based on trade with nearby Egypt and Asia Minor, but change is evident in art and daily life. All ceramics, bronze objects, jewels etc., testify to the coexistence and influence of the two populations on one another, for a long time. • In 1300 BC another strong earthquake destroyed the last remains of the Minoan civilization, including the palace of Knossos. • According to historians, in 1200 BCE, Crete had a powerful fleet that raided the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. • In the early 11th cent. BCE, European tribes descended on Crete from the North.

19. Later goddesses Goddess with Poppy-headed Pins. 1350 BC. Bird Goddess. 1400-1200 BC. Goddess with a Cone and Horns of Consecration. 1400-1200 BC.

20. Myths about Crete and the Minoans:Zeus and Europa • For stories and images pertaining to the myths of the founding of Crete, the Minotaur and the labyrinth of Deadalus, go to: Greek Mythology: Crete The Rape of Europa

21. The MinotaurandThe Labyrinth of Daedalus

22. The Minoans ZEUS EUROPA HELIOS PERSE CIRCE MINOS PASIPAHAE POSEIDON’S BULL DIONYSUS ARIADNETHESEUS PHAEDRA MINOTAUR 2 sons

23. The Athenians AETHRA - - - -AEGEUS ----- MEDEA -----JASON MEDUS 2 sons HIPPOLYTA----THESEUS----- PHAEDRA HIPPOLYTUS 2 sons

24. Daedalus and Icarus Daedalus and IcarusFrederic Leighton (1830-1896)

26. Mycenean Myth:The Trojan War

27. A War among 3 Cultures • The Achaeans: The Greeks • The Trojans • The Olympian Gods

28. Meddle in the affairs of humanity Function as conceptual forces of nature and the psyche Aphrodite – lust Ares – war rage Athena – cunning strategy Pantheon Olympians

29. The Trojans • Bronze Age, pre-Greek city state, conceive of themselves as members of the family of Troy • Although they disapprove of Paris, they unite in familial responsibility and assume his guilt in an act of collective family responsibility -- "our lot is best, to fight for our country” -- doomed David, Helen and Paris, 1788

30. The Trojans TROS LAOMEDON PRIAM ------ HECUBA HECTOR -- ANDROMACHE PARIS POLYXENA CASSANDRA Astyanax many others

31. The Trojan Family King Priam and Queen Hecuba Hector and Andromache Paris and Helen Cassandra Priam and Hecuba plead with Achilles for the body of Hector

32. The Achaeans – MycenaeansGreeks Historically piratical Barbaric chieftains whose prized values of nobility, pride, power, glamour, and strength thrive only among violence Each hero is out for himself -- failure provokes shame rather than assumption of responsibility -- leads to disorder and tragedy Allied together against Trojans only because of pact made with the wooing of Helen

33. Leda and the Swan A sudden blow: The great wings beating still Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed By the dark webs, her nape caught in the bill, He holds her helpless breast upon his breast. How can those terrified vague fingers push The feathered glory from her loosening thighs? And how can body, laid in that white rush, But feel the strange heart beating where it lies? A shudder in the loins engenders there The broken wall, the burning roof and tower And Agamemnon dead. Being so caught up, So mastered by the brute blood of the air, Did she put on his knowledge with his power Before the indifferent beak could let her drop? -- William Butler Yeats Leonardo da Vinci, Leda

34. The Spartans Tyndareus Leda ZEUS King of Sparta Castor Pollux Clytemnestra ---- Agamemnon Menelaus ---- Helen ---- Paris King of King of Prince of Mycenae Sparta Troy

35. Helen and Menelaus • For stories, images and background about the Mycenaens/Achaens and the TrojanWar, see: Greek Mythology: Troy

36. The ships must sail Pompeian wall painting: Sacrifice of Iphigenia with Agamemnon and Calchas

37. Clytemnestra Image by John Collier(1850-1934)

38. Achilles Slaying Hector

39. OdysseusKing of IthacaMajor StrategistConceived the Trojan HorseHusband to Penelope

40. The Trojan Horse

41. Heroic Age (1200 – 750 BCE) • 1200 – Doric Invasion • Stories of Ancient Greece kept alive orally for generations • All Greeks shared a common cultural heritage • Myths, gods, and goddesses begin to take form • Greek myths were never canonized • There is no one scripture • Religion wasn’t meant to control behavior

42. Function of Greek myths and Gods • Explain Natural events • Demeter and Persephone • Zeus • Explain Human World • Gods resemble/behave like humans • Gods reveal psychological aspects of human behavior/actions • Apollo vs. Dionysus • NOT an ethical system

43. Homer and the Iliad • Blind poet who lived around 850 BCE • Composer of 2 epic poems: • The Iliad • The Odyssey • Oral stories first, then written down • Iliad and Trojan War: • Covers 51 days near the end of a 10 year war • Homer’s epics provided material for Greek literature and drama Bust of Homer, British Museum, London

44. The Iliad • Reveals how making heroic valor a culture’s prime value is fundamentally destructive to social order and humane community • The first word in the poem is menin: rage • The rage of Achilles • Rage as the hero and subject of the poem • Rage that transforms Achilles into a killing machine and Hector into a corpse

45. The Iliad • “Rage: Sing, Goddess, Achilles’ rage, black and murderous, that cost the Greeks incalculable pain, pitched countless souls of heroes to dark Hades, and leaving their bodies to be rot as feasts for dogs and birds…Begin with the clash between Agamemnon-the Greek warlord-and godlike Achilles.” (lines 1-9)

46. Aeschylus525-456 bceTHE ORESTAEIAAgamemnonThe Libation BearersThe Eumenides

47. The Judgement of Athena: the substitution of trial by jury for vengeance in Athenian law