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Palace Characteristics:

Palaces at Mycenae, Pylos, and Tiryns

Minoan influence

Megaron

Central Hearth

Queen’s Megaron

Floors coated with plaster with drainage for rain

Cyclopean Walls - large irregular blocks piled on top another filled with small stones

Ashlar Masonry - stones cut used on Lion's Gate and North Wall

-Used lots of geometric shapes and patterns when it came to decorating the interior of these palaces elaborately.

-There are frescoes of musicians and heraldic sphinxes

-Decorative and figurative friezes are sometimes stacked in registers, one atop the next showing the influence from Egypt in that was very much in Egyptian fashion

-Some compositions are so repetitive that they almost represent modern wallpaper with the reoccurring design

-Ritual focus of the main megaron frescoes is balanced by battle scenes, it has been suggested that these chambers functioned as seats of authority for the wanax

Nate Crossette

Emma Miller

Stephanie Huber

and Jenevieve Goldman

Minoan and Mycenaean Palaces

MYCENAE

- These palaces were home to many artifacts and artwork that used lots of gold and showed therefore the worth and wealth of the palace inhabitants but also the luxurious lifestyle

-Warfare is illustrated by a fresco from the megaron depicting a siege of a three-storeyed palace

- Frescoes preserve martial themes with horses, chariots, and warriors.

- Religious imagery is preserved most frequently here

- Some fragments of frescoes were found and do not quite make sense without knowing context, for example there was a fresco fragment from Mycenae depicting a helmeted woman carrying a small griffin, perhaps as a goddess or a priestess carrying a model

Underground Cistern

40m outside city

18m underground

underground spring clay pipes water in time of siege

walls coated waterproof

Tiryns Frescoes

-Frescoes discovered in Tiryns demonstrate the knowledge of the relief technique

-Frescoes depict a favorite sport of the Mycenaean elite, boar hunting

-Women driving chariots, huntsmen leading hounds, and spearmen closing in for the kill all seem to proclaim the ability of the Mycenaean ruling class to protect the land and its people from the forces of chaos represented by the highly destructive and dangerous wild boar

CRETE

Knossos

Knossos Throne Room

Labyrinth

Queens Megaron

The Queens Megaron

in Knossos contains

the Dolphin fresco,

which gives the

impression of being

underwater.

Malia

Phaistos

Fresco Examples

Figure Frescoes

The only full example of Fresco to room relation is the Throne Room in the Palace of Knossos, or Minos. Two pairs of griffins guard the throne and the entrance to a small cult room. The griffin frieze is lined with colored bands and is situated above a two foot dado made to look like veined stonework.

Figure Frescoes generally depicted scenes of daily life or religious rituals

Minos is famed for frescoes showing scenes of bull leaping games (Knossos)

Minoan Frescoes

Figure Frescoes

Wall paintings began in Crete before the late Neolithic age with influences from Egypt and the Near East

Most Minoan wall paintings depict scenes of humans, animals, or landscapes

Fresco Methods

Fresco Examples cont...

Minoan Frescoes were usually composed of a

central image with large intricate boarders.

boarders could include classic Crete swirl patterns

or other designs. These would include animal

prints, brick patters, or boarders made to look

like wood panels.

The basic foundation was a mud plaster applied to

the brick wall. To this were added coats of a finer

plaster . The paint was added in true fresco technique,

while the final layer of stucco was still wet.

Colors showed little variation in shade. The

principal colors used were red, brown, orange,

yellow, green, blue, grey and black.

Earliest of the recorded

frescoes found is the "Saffron-Gatherer". It was given this name because it was first believed to be a picture of a young boy gathering saffron from a garden, but is now believed to have been a picture of a pet monkey playing outside, as monkeys depicted in art were typically blue.

Neopalatial Palaces Floor Plans

What is a Minoan Palace?

History of the Palace Periods

  • Probably descendents of pre-Bronze age migrants from Asia
  • Architectural influences from Asia, very few from Egypt
  • Early Minoan Age (3100BC - 2100BC)
  • Minoan culture solidifies
  • Middle Minoan Age (2100 BC – 1700 BC)
  • Old Palace Period
  • First European Civilization
  • Late Minoan Age (1700BC – 1050BC)
  • New Palace Period
  • Don’t fit our general conception of a palace.
  • not just royal residences
  • Where at the center of large urban areas
  • Major Similarities:
  • Massive size
  • Knossos: 14000 sq meters
  • Phaistos: 9000 sq meters
  • Rectangular central courts oriented north-south
  • Western Courts facing the Palace facade
  • landscape was terraformed to build Palaces
  • Palace site were settled long before palace construction
  • Sets of rooms designed for specific purposes
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