Minos and the Heroes of Homer: The Art of the Prehistoric Aegean
	The Art Of The Prehistoric Aegean :: Cycladic Art :: Minoan Art :: Mycenaean Art
	THE ART OF THE PREHISTORIC AEGEAN Between 3000 and 1200 BCE three important civilizations flourished on the islands in the Aegean Sea and on the mainland of Greece: the Cycladic civilization on the islands of the Cyclades, the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete, and the Mycenaean civilization on the Greek mainland. Homer describes in The Iliad the might and splendor of the Greek armies poised before the walls of Troy. Schliemann, Troy, and Mycenae: Through sometimes controversial methods, German archaeologist, Heinrich Schliemann uncovered many invaluable items as well as some of the very cities Homer named. King Minos and Crete: Legendary figure, King Minos of Knossos was said to have lived on the island of Crete. He was said to have exacted from Athens a tribute of youth and maidens to be fed to the Minotaur, a creature half bull and half man housed in a vast labyrinth. In 1900, an Englishman, Arthur Evans, began work at Knossos and uncovered a palace that resembled a maze. Aegean archeology today: Less glamorous than the palaces and works of art, but arguably more important for the understanding of Aegean society, are the many documents archeologists have discovered written in scripts dubbed Linear A and Linear B. Aegean geography: The sea-dominated geography of the Aegean contrasts sharply with that of the Near East, as does its temperate climate.
	The Art Of The Prehistoric Aegean :: Cycladic Art :: Minoan Art :: Mycenaean Art