Greek Art in Unit 2 (Ancient Mediterranean, 3500 BCE–300 CE): Deep Study Notes

Aegean art

Bronze Age art and architecture from cultures around the Aegean Sea, especially the Minoans (Crete) and Mycenaeans (mainland Greece).

Minoans

Bronze Age culture centered on Crete, strongly associated with maritime trade and large multifunctional palace complexes such as Knossos.

Mycenaeans

Bronze Age mainland Greek culture known for fortified citadels, controlled entrances, and elite warrior values expressed in architecture and tombs.

Palace of Minos at Knossos

Minoan complex on Crete (c. 1700–1400 BCE) functioning as an administrative, storage, and ceremonial center organized around a central court (not simply a royal residence).

Light wells

Open vertical shafts in Minoan architecture that bring illumination and ventilation into interior spaces (notably at Knossos).

Buon fresco

Painting technique in which pigment is applied to wet plaster so the image becomes integral to the wall surface; common in Minoan palace decoration.

Cyclopean masonry

Mycenaean building technique using massive, irregular stone blocks fitted together to create powerful, fortress-like walls.

Relieving triangle

Triangular opening above a lintel (as at the Lion Gate) that reduces structural load and can serve as a space for sculptural decoration.

Lion Gate

Monumental entrance to the Mycenaean citadel at Mycenae (c. 1250 BCE), built with Cyclopean masonry and a relieving triangle with a lion relief signaling authority.

Tholos tomb

Mycenaean beehive-shaped burial structure (often built into a hillside) with a circular chamber and corbel-vaulted “dome.”

Treasury of Atreus

Large Mycenaean tholos tomb at Mycenae (c. 1300–1250 BCE) approached by a dromos and built with corbelling to form a monumental chamber.

Dromos

Long entrance passageway leading to a Mycenaean tholos tomb’s doorway (e.g., at the Treasury of Atreus).

Corbelling

Construction method where each stone course projects slightly inward beyond the one below, gradually closing an opening to form a corbel vault (used in Mycenaean tholos tombs).

Greek temple

A carefully proportioned structure that houses a deity’s cult statue; major rituals (processions, sacrifices, offerings) typically occur outside at altars.

Cult statue

Sacred image of a deity housed in a temple’s cella/naos; the primary “occupant” that gives the temple its religious purpose.

Doric order

Greek architectural order with sturdy proportions and a frieze divided into triglyphs and metopes; used prominently on the Parthenon’s exterior.

Ionic order

Greek architectural order with slimmer columns and volute capitals; often features a continuous frieze and appears as an intentional element in the Parthenon.

Triglyph

Doric frieze element made of a block with three vertical grooves; alternates with metopes.

Metope

Square panel in a Doric frieze between triglyphs, often filled with sculptural relief (e.g., mythic battles on the Parthenon).

Peristyle

The surrounding colonnade of a Greek temple, framing the building and shaping the viewer’s experience around it.

Entasis

Subtle swelling of a column shaft used as an optical refinement to counteract visual distortion and make a temple appear more stable and “right.”

Parthenon

5th-century BCE temple on the Athenian Acropolis dedicated to Athena Parthenos; Doric overall with Ionic elements, expressing Athenian religious and civic ideology.

Polychromy

The practice of painting Greek sculpture and architecture in multiple colors; much of the pigment is now lost, leading to the misconception of “white marble” as intended.

Kouros

Archaic Greek freestanding nude male youth statue type used for purposes such as grave markers or votive offerings, expressing ideals rather than individual portraiture.

Red-figure technique

Greek vase-painting method where the background is filled in dark and figures are left the clay’s red color; details are brush-painted, enabling greater naturalism than black-figure.