CLAS241 - Middle Bronze Age (2000 - 1550 BCE)

Wasp pendant. Middle Bronze Age. 2000 - 1550 BCE.

• Bees are important in Minoan culture (antimicrobial and makes honey)

• Shows that Minoans are good in metal working

Metal-working techniques

• Relief: how far an image stands up from the surface (high or low)

• Repoussé: achieving relief through hammering from behind

• Filigree: decoration made with thin wire

• Granulation: soldering globules of gold/silver onto jewellery

The wasp pendant uses relief, repoussé, filigree, and granulation.

Relief is how far an image sticks out. The wasp pendant has high relief because it sticks out a lot from the back. Relief was done through repoussé, which hammers the image from behind. Filigree is decoration made with thin wire, which was used for stuff like the legs. Granulation solders globules of gold or silver onto jewelry. Droplets can be seen on the wasp’s honeycomb for example.

Plaques in the shape of houses. Middle Bronze Age. 2000 - 1550 BCE.

• In Malia, Crete

• Earliest example of domestic middle bronze age architecture

• These plaques may have decorated the sides of chests

• Represents the external face or elevation of the private houses at Mallia

• Probably owned by rich people

• Found beneath the flooring of the rebuilt palace of Knossos (these plaques date the time the first palace was there)

• Illustrates the houses with two or three stories, a symmetrical arrangement of windows (showing Minoans interest in air and light for ventilation), shutters, flat roofs

• Built of brick and timber

Model of a house. Middle bronze age. 2000 - 1550 BCE.

• Another version of the house shaped plaques

• Owned by wealthy people

• This is the terracotta model of a house 

• Gives more evidence for upper stories of houses and staircases opening out onto the flat roofs

Figurines. Middle Bronze Age. 2000 - 1550 BCE.

• Earliest examples of Minoan sculpture, made of terracotta 

• Figurines represent humans, animals, or human limbs, which are offerings to the divinity

• Both figures are geometrically similar, carries on into later Crete

• Faces lacking detail, except nose and chin

• Man figure

  • Looks like a warrior

  • Standing to attention

  • Wearing only codpiece, belt, and dagger

  • Arms raised to chest to show respect (possible religious context)

  • Man is less detailed than woman

• Female figure

  • Arms raised extended in front of them

  • Wearing flounced shirt, hat

  • Has bare breasts 

• Inherent difference in status

• Woman figure looks like she’s in a position of power, suggests more equal society

Snake goddess. Middle Bronze Age. 2000 - 1550 BCE.

• Geometric form like Cycladic figurine

• Slim waist, bare, breasts, flounced skirt

• Common dress in Minoan culture

• Made of faience (quartz ceramic)

• Snake goddess figurines were found in Knossos in stone-lined pits, sealed below debris from the later earthquake

• Shows formality, naturalism, symmetry, geometry, and elaborate design

Snake goddess. Middle Bronze Age. 2000 - 1550 BCE.

• Geometric form like Cycladic figurine, which is seen in the cones and cylinders

• Slim waist, bare, breasts, flounced skirt

• Common dress in Minoan culture

• Made of faience (quartz ceramic)

• Similar posture, display, and clothing (brightly coloured - red, green, blue)

• Snake goddess figurines were found in Knossos in stone-lined pits, sealed below debris from the later earthquake

• Shows formality, naturalism, symmetry, geometry, and elaborate design

Beak Shaped Kamares Ware Jug. Middle Bronze Age. 2000 - 1550 BCE.

• Bright colours, high contrast

• Pairs of spirals and oval motifs that wrap diagonally around the jug

• Naturalistic and represents a sea animal (a seabird)

  • Pellets of spout meant to look like bird eyes, like the Vasilike ware

• Painted before firing clay

• Sometimes kamares ware designs look as complicated as fireworks 

• After palace reconstruction, Kamares ware designs became more naturalistic yet stiff, vegetal designs were popular, and kamares ware was popular/shipped out of crete

Minyan ware goblet. Middle Bronze Age. 2000 - 1550 BCE.

• Named by Schliemann

• Grey, monochrome, no decor

• Fired very hard so it doesn’t have any big clay particles

• Sharply profiled due to the use of the fast wheel

• Similar to the two-handed tankards from Troy, which shows material influences between cultures due to trading.

Plan of Troy. Middle Bronze Age. 2000 - 1500 BCE.

Troy

• Discovered by Schliemann from Homer’s poems

• In a commanding position

  • Migrants traveled here because it’s at the end of the land route from Asia to Europe

  • A recognizable channel for cultural ideas

• Near the Black Sea and Aegean/Mediterranean

  • Controlled trade flow

  • Placed high taxes on people

• The more you dig, the older the architecture

Troy I

• Big stone walls

• Inside the walls, people lived in dwellings of a rectangular plan with a porch

  • Megaron: a rectangular building with two rooms and an entrance and porch on the short side

  • Corridor type house influences architecture for Mycenaeans

Troy II

• Big stone walls fortified by towers and bastions

• There was a megaron larger than the House of Tiles which overshadowed smaller residences

• Inhabitants were potters and great metalworkers

Troy III and IV

• These short-lived citadels show decline in prosperity from the brilliance of Troy II

Troy V

• Final stage of the EB citadel

Troy VI

• Survives because of the big defensive walls

• Enclosed houses that stood individually