The Aegean

c. 3000-1100 BCE
Cycladic
Civilization
Cyclades
 Mesopotamian
Aegean

Egyptian
Aegean

an
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Cyclades
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Minoan
 Aegean Cultures & Periods:

Cycladic: 3000-1600 BCE (Cycladic islands in the Aegean Sea) *Produced stylized
statuettes of nude standing females and nude males playing musical
instruments
Minoan: 1900-1375 BCE (Island of Crete) *Built mixed-use palaces with complex
ground plans
Mycenaean: 1600-1100 BCE (Greece) *Built massive citadels marked by
cyclopean masonry and corbelled vaulting Aegean art’s three main civilizations:
 Cycladic Civilization
(c. 3000-11th century BCE)
 Cycladic Artwork
Early Aegean Period
•Abundance of marble influenced artwork created

•Abstracted forms appear ‘modern’

•Prevalence of nude female forms

Female Cycladic
Idol, from Amorgos
c.2700-2300 BCE
Early Bronze Age
Figurine of a woman,
from a grave in
Syros, (Cyclades)
Greece,
(c. 2500-2300 BCE)
Male
Cycladi
c
flute player
from Keros
c.2700-2300
BCE
Early
Bronze Age
Male Lyre Player,
from Keros
(Cyclades) Greece,
c. 2700-2500 BCE.
 Minoan
Civilization
(c.3000-1100)
 Minoan Architecture
Middle Aegean Period
•Construction of large palaces

•Served as private residential suite for the king and his

family as well as administrative, commercial, civic and
religious centers for the Minoan people

•Size, number and contents attest to the power and

prosperity of Minoans
 Reconstruction
of the
Palace of Knossos
c. 1600-1400 BCE

Reconstructed Architect
porticos of Dedalos It
north entrance
the had such
complexity
passage with frescothat no one
placed in
it could
ever find
Palace of Minos, at Knossos
Knossos, Crete. 1600 – 1400 BCE
Palace of Minos, at Knossos
Knossos, Crete. 1600 – 1400 BCE
Palace of Minos, at
Knossos

Staircase, east wing

1500 BCE
Palace of Minos, at Knossos

The Queen’s Megaron

Minoan Woman or
goddess, from the
palace at
Knossos, Crete,
Greece,
c. 1450-1400 BCE
Toreador Fresco, from Knossos, Crete. (c. 1500
BCE) Minoan Civilization
 The Queen’s
megaron,
Palace of Minos,
Knossos, Crete,
c. 1600-
1400BCE
Minoan period
View of the “Throne Room” Palace of
Minos, Knossos, Crete (c.1600-1400 BCE)
Minoan
Theran Volcano Eruption 1628 BCE. Major climatic
change from Greenland to Egypt.
Landscape with swallows (Spring Fresco), from Delta
2, Akrotiri, Thera, Cyclades, Greece, c. 1650 BCE
Octopus Vase,
from Palaikastro,
Crete,
(c. 1500) BCE
Minoan
Ship Fresco, from Akrotiri,
Thera, (c. 1500-1650) BCE
Theran
Papyrela, boats made from papyrus
Boxing Children,
from Akrotiri,
Thera, (c. 1650-
1500) BCE
Minoan/ Theran
Mycenaean
Civilization (c.
3000-1100 BCE)
 Mycenian Art & Architecture
Late Aegean Period
•Flourishing culture in Greece by 1500 BCE

•Architecture: fortified palaces

•Art: metalwork, sculpture, painting

1300-1200 BCE -
Trojan War (?)
750-700 BCE
-
Homer writes
Iliad
&Odyssey
Palace of Tiryns, Greece; 1400 - 1200 BCE
Palace of Tiryns, Greece; 1400 - 1200 BCE
Lion Gate at Mycenae; 1350 BCE
Mesopotamian
Lion Gate, Hattusa, ca. 1400
BCE.
 Treasury of Atreus
Corbelled dome, 1330 BCE
 Treasury of Atreus
Corbelled dome, 1330 BCE
 Treasury of Arteus
(Illustration showing a section cut of the structure)
Interior of the Treasury of Atreus
Interior of the Treasury of
Atreus
Inlaid dagger blade with lion hunt , from
Grave Circle A, Mycenae, Greece, c. 1600-
1650,.
Mycenean Bronze Dagger with Lion Hunt. 1550 BCE.
Mycenaean Bronze Dagger with Lion Hunt. 1550 BCE.;
(Compare to Assyrian Lion Relief)
Crocus Gatherer, from Thera, Goddess from the
Pre 1500 BCE Citadel
Theran of Mycenae,
(c. 1200
c. 1340 BCE

c. 1250 BCE

c. 1200
BCE
 House of Commons

Postern Gate megaron

Great Ramp

Lions’ Gate
Grave Circle Warrior Vase house
A
Cyclopean walls, 25 feet wide, 30 feet
high
 Three Methods of
Spanning passageways

a. Post and
Lintel

b. Corbelled
Arch

c. Round Arch, already

Popular in the Near
East.
Treasury of Atreus Entrance c. 1300-1200
BCE
Inside the Atreus Tomb, cyclopean, roofed with corbelled vault
built up with regular courses or layers of ashlar, perfectly cut
blocks of stones smoothly moving inward and carefully
calculated to meet in a single capstone, top most stone that
joins sides and meets in the center forming a peak.
Entrance to nine Tholoi. Ancient tombs in the citadel at
Mycenae
Lion
Gate,
Mycenae
1300 BCE,
Mycenae
Mask of Agamemnon, from Mycenaean
c. 1500 BCE, Mycenaean
Minoan and
Mycenaean cups,
from Vapheio.
(c. 16th Century BCE)
Minoan or
Mycenaean or both