{"id":732,"date":"2020-09-22T17:00:56","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T21:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/cavestocathedrals\/?post_type=part&#038;p=732"},"modified":"2021-01-30T17:12:32","modified_gmt":"2021-01-30T22:12:32","slug":"aegean","status":"publish","type":"part","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/cavestocathedrals\/part\/aegean\/","title":{"raw":"Aegean Art","rendered":"Aegean Art"},"content":{"raw":"<header class=\"entry-header\">\r\n<h3 class=\"entry-title \"><em>Any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.<\/em> - <em>Homer, The Iliad\u00a0<\/em><\/h3>\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\r\n<div id=\"attachment_44476\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\r\n\r\n<a class=\"fancybox image\" href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Aegean-1.jpg\"><img class=\"wp-image-44476 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Aegean-1-870x586.jpg\" alt=\"Map with ancient Aegean cultures (\u00a9 Google)\" width=\"870\" height=\"586\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-44476\" \/><\/a>\r\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-44476\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em><strong>Map with ancient Aegean cultures<\/strong> (\u00a9 Google)<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nThe Aegean refers to the Aegean Sea, the northern portion of the Mediterranean between Greece and Turkey and extending south to the island of Crete. In art history this designation refers to the era of the Bronze Age, the 3rd\u00a0and 2nd\u00a0millennium B.C.E. This era encompasses three different but inter-related cultures:\r\n<ol>\r\n \t<li>the Cycladic islands (c. 3000 BCE-1600 BCE)<\/li>\r\n \t<li>the Minoans of Crete (c. 1900 BCE-1375 BCE)<\/li>\r\n \t<li>the Mycenaeans of the mainland of Greece (c. 1600 BCE-1100 BCE)<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<div id=\"attachment_25458\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">By the end of this module you will be able to:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Identify and describe the form, content, and context of key works of Aegean art<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Define the critical terms related to Aegean art<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Explain the similarities and differences of art by the three Bronze Age Aegean cultures<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Describe the materials and techniques of Aegean Art<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nRelative to many ancient cultures, those of the Aegean were only recently discovered, at the end of the 19th century. The Classical Greeks and Romans never faded from memory but the Mycenaeans and Minoans were largely forgotten, except in myth; it is the people and places of Bronze Age Crete and Greece featured in the\u00a0<span class=\"tooltips \" title=\"\"><em>Iliad<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>Odyssey<\/em><\/span>\u00a0of Homer.\r\n\r\nTwo archaeologists who set out to find the people mentioned in Homer\u2019s epics, Heinrich Schliemann and Sir Arthur Evans, had little more than the poems themselves and some obscure remains to lead them. Schliemann dug several Aegean Bronze Age sites, most famously Troy from 1870\u201373, and\u00a0Mycenae\u00a0(the mythical house of Atreus, best known from the tragic play the\u00a0<i>Oresteia<\/i>\u00a0of Aeschylus) in 1876. In 1900, Evans, following the first explorations of the site by\u00a0Minos Kalokairinos\u00a0in 1877, began to fully uncover\u00a0Knossos, the site associated with the mythical palace of King Nestor of Crete.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\r\n<div id=\"attachment_31736\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\r\n\r\n<a class=\"fancybox image\" href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Grave-Circle-A.jpg\"><img class=\" wp-image-31736\" src=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Grave-Circle-A-870x523.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"998\" height=\"600\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-31736\" \/><\/a>\r\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-31736\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em><strong>Grave Circle A:<\/strong> Mycenae, Greece, c. 1600-1100 B.C.E.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nSince these early discoveries, the study of the Aegean has been primarily archaeological and not so much art historical. We now know that the Minoans and Mycenaeans both wrote languages, used sophisticated identity and security mechanisms as part of religious and economic bureaucracies which centered around large sites with imposing central buildings. They were great seafarers and traders, talented potters, painters, jewelers, weavers and carvers of stone.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<div id=\"attachment_50988\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\r\n\r\n<img class=\"(photo: Martin D\u00fcrrschnabel, CC-BY-SA-2.5) aligncenter wp-image-50988\" title=\"(photo: Martin D\u00fcrrschnabel, CC-BY-SA-2.5)(photo: Martin D\u00fcrrschnabel, CC-BY-SA-2.5)\" src=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Reconstructed_Minoan_Fresco_Avaris-870x267.jpg\" alt=\"Reconstructed Minoan Fresco: Avaris, Egypt. Archaeological Museum Iraklion, Crete, Greece.\" width=\"1957\" height=\"600\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-50988\" \/>\r\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-50988\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em><strong>Reconstructed Minoan Fresco from Avaris, Egypt:<\/strong> Archaeological Museum Iraklion, Crete, Greece.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nThe prehistoric Aegean was the first truly international age, and much of the art shows influence across cultures: Minoan wall painting owes much to Egyptian art; late Bronze Age Cypriot pottery imitates Mycenaean pieces. Today, the sites and art of the Minoans and Mycenaeans are some of the most popular in the ancient world.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<h4 class=\"textbox__title\">Summary<\/h4>\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Aegean art includes three different but inter-related cultures: Cycladic, Minoan, Mycenaean.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Much of our understanding of Aegean art has been shaped by the work of nineteenth-century archeologists like Heinrich Schliemann and Sir Arthur Evans.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-size: 1em\">Adapted from Dr. Senta German, <strong>\"An introduction to the ancient Aegean,\"<\/strong> in <\/span><em style=\"font-size: 1em\">Smarthistory<\/em><span style=\"font-size: 1em\">, August 25, 2020. <\/span>https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/an-introduction-to-the-ancient-aegean\/ <strong>License<\/strong>: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License\r\n\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<header class=\"entry-header\">\n<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><em>Any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we&#8217;re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.<\/em> &#8211; <em>Homer, The Iliad\u00a0<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<div id=\"attachment_44476\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\n<p><a class=\"fancybox image\" href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Aegean-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-44476 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Aegean-1-870x586.jpg\" alt=\"Map with ancient Aegean cultures (\u00a9 Google)\" width=\"870\" height=\"586\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-44476\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-44476\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em><strong>Map with ancient Aegean cultures<\/strong> (\u00a9 Google)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Aegean refers to the Aegean Sea, the northern portion of the Mediterranean between Greece and Turkey and extending south to the island of Crete. In art history this designation refers to the era of the Bronze Age, the 3rd\u00a0and 2nd\u00a0millennium B.C.E. This era encompasses three different but inter-related cultures:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>the Cycladic islands (c. 3000 BCE-1600 BCE)<\/li>\n<li>the Minoans of Crete (c. 1900 BCE-1375 BCE)<\/li>\n<li>the Mycenaeans of the mainland of Greece (c. 1600 BCE-1100 BCE)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_25458\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">By the end of this module you will be able to:<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<ul>\n<li>Identify and describe the form, content, and context of key works of Aegean art<\/li>\n<li>Define the critical terms related to Aegean art<\/li>\n<li>Explain the similarities and differences of art by the three Bronze Age Aegean cultures<\/li>\n<li>Describe the materials and techniques of Aegean Art<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Relative to many ancient cultures, those of the Aegean were only recently discovered, at the end of the 19th century. The Classical Greeks and Romans never faded from memory but the Mycenaeans and Minoans were largely forgotten, except in myth; it is the people and places of Bronze Age Crete and Greece featured in the\u00a0<span class=\"tooltips\" title=\"\"><em>Iliad<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>Odyssey<\/em><\/span>\u00a0of Homer.<\/p>\n<p>Two archaeologists who set out to find the people mentioned in Homer\u2019s epics, Heinrich Schliemann and Sir Arthur Evans, had little more than the poems themselves and some obscure remains to lead them. Schliemann dug several Aegean Bronze Age sites, most famously Troy from 1870\u201373, and\u00a0Mycenae\u00a0(the mythical house of Atreus, best known from the tragic play the\u00a0<i>Oresteia<\/i>\u00a0of Aeschylus) in 1876. In 1900, Evans, following the first explorations of the site by\u00a0Minos Kalokairinos\u00a0in 1877, began to fully uncover\u00a0Knossos, the site associated with the mythical palace of King Nestor of Crete.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<div id=\"attachment_31736\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\n<p><a class=\"fancybox image\" href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Grave-Circle-A.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-31736\" src=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Grave-Circle-A-870x523.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"998\" height=\"600\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-31736\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-31736\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em><strong>Grave Circle A:<\/strong> Mycenae, Greece, c. 1600-1100 B.C.E.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Since these early discoveries, the study of the Aegean has been primarily archaeological and not so much art historical. We now know that the Minoans and Mycenaeans both wrote languages, used sophisticated identity and security mechanisms as part of religious and economic bureaucracies which centered around large sites with imposing central buildings. They were great seafarers and traders, talented potters, painters, jewelers, weavers and carvers of stone.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_50988\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"(photo: Martin D\u00fcrrschnabel, CC-BY-SA-2.5) aligncenter wp-image-50988\" title=\"(photo: Martin D\u00fcrrschnabel, CC-BY-SA-2.5)(photo: Martin D\u00fcrrschnabel, CC-BY-SA-2.5)\" src=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Reconstructed_Minoan_Fresco_Avaris-870x267.jpg\" alt=\"Reconstructed Minoan Fresco: Avaris, Egypt. Archaeological Museum Iraklion, Crete, Greece.\" width=\"1957\" height=\"600\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-50988\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-50988\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em><strong>Reconstructed Minoan Fresco from Avaris, Egypt:<\/strong> Archaeological Museum Iraklion, Crete, Greece.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The prehistoric Aegean was the first truly international age, and much of the art shows influence across cultures: Minoan wall painting owes much to Egyptian art; late Bronze Age Cypriot pottery imitates Mycenaean pieces. Today, the sites and art of the Minoans and Mycenaeans are some of the most popular in the ancient world.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<h4 class=\"textbox__title\">Summary<\/h4>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<ul>\n<li>Aegean art includes three different but inter-related cultures: Cycladic, Minoan, Mycenaean.<\/li>\n<li>Much of our understanding of Aegean art has been shaped by the work of nineteenth-century archeologists like Heinrich Schliemann and Sir Arthur Evans.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1em\">Adapted from Dr. Senta German, <strong>&#8220;An introduction to the ancient Aegean,&#8221;<\/strong> in <\/span><em style=\"font-size: 1em\">Smarthistory<\/em><span style=\"font-size: 1em\">, August 25, 2020. <\/span>https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/an-introduction-to-the-ancient-aegean\/ <strong>License<\/strong>: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"parent":0,"menu_order":3,"template":"","meta":{"pb_part_invisible":false,"pb_part_invisible_string":""},"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-732","part","type-part","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/cavestocathedrals\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/cavestocathedrals\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/cavestocathedrals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/part"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/cavestocathedrals\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2253,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/cavestocathedrals\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/732\/revisions\/2253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/cavestocathedrals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/cavestocathedrals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=732"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/cavestocathedrals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}