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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
The Queens Megaron
in Knossos contains
the Dolphin fresco,
which gives the
impression of being
underwater.
Malia
Phaistos
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)
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
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