Ancient Aegean pg 69 09 11 2013 I Ancient Aegean Bronze Age 3000 1200 BCE On Disappearing Major Jackson On Cocoa Beach II Minoans 2000 1400 BCE about their culture o language linear A has not yet been deciphered but a later version of the script Linear B found on mainland Greece appears to be an early form of Greek o Peaceful people no protective walls open not aggressive Sir Arthur Evans 1900 CE is on the island of Crete Palace of King Minos at Knossos o King Minos is mythogical historical aspect but mythology o 3 story palace at Knossos was a labyrinthine masonry structure with dozens of rooms and corridors built around a that s around it central courtyard The myth of Minotaur King Minos makes a God angry and in turn his wife falls in love with a bull and his wife has a bull baby Their language is called Linear A we are waiting for a missing piece something along the lines of the Rosetta Stone so we can The Minoans have used this bulbus capital style columns that is The Queen s Quarters painting of dolphins still in Palace of translate unique to them Minos at Knossos o True fresco paint into the plaster as it is still wet The painting becomes part of the wall almost because the paint is inside the plaster It lasts longer this way This is important to do because of the Greek Islands have humidity and such and these things don t last as well as paintings would in Egypt Matrinerial sp o Women had an important role in passing down roles through the lines as opposed to passing down through the men o Women and men were more equally viewed Non aggressive culture o No walls or moat or anything around the palace Bull leaping fresco from the palace at Knossos Crete Greece 1450 1400 BCE Fresco o Shows ceremonial o Males and females could both participate o Drawing does not differentiate much between women and men women did not wear tops all the time freedom in culture Landscape with swallows Spring Fresco from Room Delta 2 Akrotiri Thera Cyclades o Pompai of ancient Greece o Modern day Santorini o Bringing the outdoors inside o No people or anything involved pure beauty o Volcano on island o Not supposed to be photographic realistic supposed to be the essence of life organic flowers lively o Colors very specific to Minoan culture Snake Goddess from the palace at Knossos o Not too sure if she is a Goddess we do not know culture b c can t read their language o Topless explains this freedom that women have o Depicts how women dressed in this time period o Thinks could be connection to fertility o Pinched waist very typical of this period More pictures of Minoan art o Very into style and fixing hair o Frontal eye gigantic eye ball Still using some attributes of art that have been with us III Mycenaean Civilization 1600 1200 BCE Unlike the Minoans the Mycenaeans were a militant and aggressive people their warships challenged other traders for control of the eastern Mediterranean Language Linear B Lion Gate o Citadel at Mycenae o Limestone o 9 feet 6 in o Built walls so massive that later generations thought they had been built by giants known as the Cyclops o These cyclopean walls were guarded by symbols of royal power in the triangular arch above the entrance gate to the citadel two 9 foot high stone lions flank a column that rests on a stone altar Funerary mask possibly of Agamemnon o Gold o 1500 B C E o 12 inches o Agamemnon is the legendary king who led the ancient greeks against the city of Troy immortalized and became The Iliad The Classical Greek Style pg 107 Greek Sculpture Architecture 09 11 2013 Greeks are obsessed with order and proportion What happened after the mycnaean fall Goes into dark ages and goes out of that around 700 1200 700 is limbo ages Vitruvius he is Roman Romans are in love with the Greeks Records aesthetic principles and structural techniques used by the ancient Greeks Buildings must imitate the proportions of the human body Without proportion no design No design no art Greek Concept The writing of Virtuvius influences the art of Polykleitos o Polykleitos is the perfect man Influences Leonardo da Vinci Terms Important when talking about Greek Art Humanism observes fundamental laws derived from human physique and focuses consistently on the actions of human beings Realism faithful to nature Idealism refines nature an effort to achieve perfection Vase Painting in Ancient Greece I Geometric Period a Dipylon Vase Geometric krater a vessel used for mixing wine and water vase with geometric shapes Human form is in geometric form Torso is a triangle Big vase 3 feet tall Vases were used as grave markers Hole at bottom and people would pour wine down and go to the densest down below Register shows a battle scene must have been a soldier warrior i Registers sections that tell story with pictures II Archaic Period a Black Figure Achilles and Ajax playing a dice game Frontal eye Exekias the artist decides to ditch registers and just create one scene III Classical Period black Red Figure b Posed naturally a Artists replaced the black figured style with one in which the human body was left the color of the clay and the ground was painted c Artists in classical period moved toward aesthetic idealism d Red Figure would cover the vase in a slip watery clay and stick into the fire it becomes red after it cools it becomes black After being out in the air the background vase returns red and the slip remains black i Euphronios herakles is wrestling Antaios Herakles wins Frontal 3 quarter view of body o Sculpture in Ancient Greece I Archaic Period Kouros the boys o grave marker looks Egyptian because face isn t portrait idealized image left foot forward Shows Egyptians were influencing the Greeks Difference naked Greeks have no problem with nudity Left foot forward to Greeks represents movement or life not step to eternal life as Egyptians would describe it o Calf Bearer moschophoros he is smiling Archaic Smile The smile does not represent happy it represents life Greeks focus on life now not afterlife Clothes on Beard represents masculinity age power More gently and realistically modeled note especially the abdominal muscles and the sensitively carved bull calf The hollow eyes of the shepherd once held inlays of semiprecious stones that would have given the face a strikingly realistic appearance o Kroisos Words at base of statue says stay here and stay awhile and mourn the death of Kroisos who died too early in battle something along the lines of that All these sculptures would have