Minos and the Heroes of Homer: The Art of the Prehistoric Aegean  
       
  The Art Of The Prehistoric Aegean :: Cycladic Art :: Minoan Art :: Mycenaean Art   Images courtesy of
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  MYCENAEAN ART

Homer's Mycenaeans:

The origins of the Mycenaean culture are still debated. By 1500 BCE, Mycenaean culture flourished on mainland Greece. Several centuries later, Homer described Mycenae as "rich in gold."

Architecture

Citadels giants built:

The Mycenaeans built citadels on hilltops heavily fortified with massive stone walls. Outside the walls of Mycenae, large tholos chambers built of stone and covered by earthen mounds served as ceremonial tombs for the wealthy.

Homer knew the citadel of Tiryns, located about ten miles from Mycenae, as Tiryns of the Great Walls.

4-16: Aerial view of the citadel at Tiryns, Greece, ca. 1400-1200 BCE.
  1. Tiryns
  2. Tiryns
  3. Tiryns
  4. Tiryns
    
       
  4-17: Corbeled gallery in the walls of the citadel, Tiryns, Greece, ca. 1400-1200 BCE.
  1. gallery
  2. gallery
  3. gallery
  4. gallery
4-18: Three methods of spanning a passageway: (a) post and lintel, (b) corbeled arch, (c) arch.
  1. arches
  2. post and lintel
  3. corbeled arch
  4. arch
The king's hall:

Would-be attackers at Tiryns were compelled to approach the palace within the walls via a long ramp that forced the (usually right-handed) soldiers to expose their unshielded sides to the Mycenaean defenders above. If able to continue, they passed through a series of narrow gates that also could be easily defended.

4-19: Plan of the palace and southern part of the citadel, Tiryns, Greece, ca. 1400-1200 BCE.
  1. plan
  2. plan
  3. plan
Mycenae's lion gate:

The severity of these fortress-palaces was relieved by frescoes, as in the Cretan palaces, and, at Agamemnon's Mycenae at least, by monumental architectural sculpture.		  
       
  4-20: Lion Gate, Mycenae, Greece, ca. 1300-1250 BCE. Limestone, relief panel approx. 9' 6 high.
  1. Lion Gate
  2. Lion Gate
  3. Lion Gate
  4. detail
  5. detail
Beehive tombs:

The Lion Gate at Mycenae and the towering fortification wall circuit of which it formed a part were constructed a few generations before the presumed date of the Trojan War.

4-21: Treasury of Atreus, Mycenae, Greece, ca. 1300-1250 BCE.
  1. plan and section
  2. plan and section
  3. plan and section
  4. exterior view
4-22: Vault of the tholos of the Treasury of Atreus, Mycenae, Greece, ca. 1300-1250 BCE. Approx. 43' high.
  1. interior
  2. interior
  3. interior
  4. interior
Metalwork, Sculpture, and Painting:

Mycenaean metalwork includes a life-size beaten gold mask, and bronze dagger blades with scenes of hunters and animals inlaid in gold, silver, and niello. Mycenaean sculpture includes the large triangular relief of lions over the Lion Gate at Mycenae, and a painted plaster head of a woman. Examples of painted pottery also survive, including a krater with a frieze of soldiers.

Treasures of revered kings:

The Treasury of Atreus had been thoroughly looted long before its modern rediscovery, but spectacular grave goods have been found elsewhere at Mycenae.		  
       
  4-23: Funerary mask, from Grave Circle A, Mycenae, Greece, ca. 1600-1500 BCE. Beaten gold, approx. 1' high. National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
  1. gold mask
  2. gold mask
  3. gold mask
4-24: Inlaid dagger blade with lion hunt, from Grave Circle A, Mycenae, Greece, ca. 1600-1500 BCE. Bronze, inlaid with gold, silver, and niello, approx. 9 long. National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
  1. dagger
  2. daggers
  3. detail
  4. dagger
  5. dagger
Monumental sculpture:

Large-scale figural art is very rare on the Greek mainland, as on Crete, other than the Minoan-style paintings that once adorned the walls of Mycenaean palaces.

4-25: Female head, from Mycenae, Greece, ca. 1300-1250 BCE. Painted plaster, approx. 6 1/2 high. National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
  1. female head
  2. female head
  3. female head
  4. female head
  5. female head
Warriors march to battle:

An art form that did continue throughout the period after the downfall of the Mycenaean palaces was vase painting.

4-26: Warrior Vase, from Mycenae, Greece, ca. 1200 BCE. Approx. 1' 4 high. National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
  1. warrior vase
  2. warrior vase
  3. warrior vase
  
 
 
       
       
  The Art Of The Prehistoric Aegean :: Cycladic Art :: Minoan Art :: Mycenaean Art