Protopalatial and Neopalatial Crete PDF

32 THE EARLY AND MIDDLE BRONZE AGES c. 3100–1600 bce PROTOPALATIAL AND NEOPALATIAL CRETE During the first phase of the Middle Minoan period we see the development of large palaces through-...

32 THE EARLY AND MIDDLE BRONZE AGES c. 3100–1600 bce PROTOPALATIAL AND NEOPALATIAL CRETE During the first phase of the Middle Minoan period we see the development of large palaces through- out Crete, giving rise to the term Protopalatial for the time corresponding to MM IB through MM II in the traditional chronology (c. 1900–1750 bce). These palaces featured a large central courtyard Kamares Ware surrounded by buildings, dwarfing in scale earlier houses and signaling the development of more a Minoan pottery style centralized administration and a much greater degree of wealth. There is also evidence of more produced in the extensive trade contacts, both through the presence of materials like gold and ivory imported into Protopalatial period and Crete and through the export of Cretan works, like Kamares Ware pottery, to places like Egypt. featuring a dark slip background with painted These palaces were all destroyed around 1750 bce, possibly due to earthquakes, but then rebuilt at a motifs in white, yellow, larger scale than before. The Neopalatial structures likely followed the general plan of their predeces- and red sors, but the vigorous rebuilding obliterated much of the remains of the Protopalatial structures. The Neopalatial period encompasses both the end of the Middle Minoan period (MM III) and the beginning of Late Minoan (LM I). Most of the palaces are destroyed at the end of LM IA, probably due to damage associ- ated with the eruption of Thera around 1625 bce, and only the palace at Knossos is rebuilt and continues to function until the end of LM IB around 1490 bce, when the Neopalatial period concludes. The palatial period on Crete not only marks a high point of art and architecture, but also signals a change from the less complex settlements of the Early Minoan period. Specialization of production at the palaces suggests an elite culture that reflects more centralized organization of agriculture, economic production, and trade, pro- viding the resources and patronage necessary for the skills and materials used in the production of art and architecture. We can readily see the change in artistic culture by examining a different approach to form and decora- tion in Middle Minoan pottery. Beginning in EM III, Minoan potters painted a coat of dark slip over the vase, and then added decoration in white on top of it. This fashion continued into the Protopalatial period (MM IB and MM II), by which time these wheel- thrown vases were both sharply defined in terms of their shape and architectural form and decorated with vibrant swirling designs by use of white and red paint on the dark surface (Figure 2.9). These Kamares Ware vessels, like this pitcher from the town of Phaistos, fea- ture abstract motifs that derive from plant forms, but the emphasis is upon an energetic and visually dynamic design that leads the eye around and over the vase fol- 2.9 Kamares Ware jug lowing the repeated linear patterns. The shape retains some of the stylized features that we saw in from Phaistos, MM IIB. Vasiliki Ware, like a projecting and angular spout, but the shape is more vertical, adding to the sense 105/8 in (27 cm). Herakleion, Archaeological Museum. of potential movement of the vase. Kamares Ware appears during the Protopalatial period and con- Photo: Nimatallah/Art tinues to be produced in a more restrained fashion into MM III and the Neopalatial period, suggest- Resource, NY. ing that the destruction of the palaces did not destroy the system that built them.  PROTOPALATIAL AND NEOPALATIAL CRETE 33 To survey Minoan architecture and towns, we have to look at buildings from the Neopalatial period, but these probably follow the forms and functions of the earlier Protopalatial phase. The town of Gournia shows an increase in both the area and population of Minoan towns during the Palatial period compared to Early Minoan sites like Myrtos (Figure 2.10). The town is organized around a large square (3 in the plan), above which was a modest “palace” (5–6) that was probably more like a governor’s residence than the large palaces found at sites like Knossos and Phaistos. While more modest in scale than the large palaces like Knossos that we shall discuss next, the palace at Gournia dominates visually the town around it by its central and higher position and the use of 9 2.10 Plan of Gournia, Crete, LM I. Drawing from N P. P. Betancourt, Introduction to Aegean Art (Philadelphia: INSTAP Academic Press, 2007), Fig. 5.7. F 10 E Image provided by INSTAP B Academic Press. A A Court F E A B 8 E 7 C 6 C D 5 2 4 D 3 Town of Gournia 1 H 0 10 m 34 THE EARLY AND MIDDLE BRONZE AGES c. 3100–1600 bce ashlar masonry ashlar masonry. The open square could have been used for public functions like markets, as well as square-cut stone, usually in for rituals, but sitting above it, the palace would have dominated the activities of the square. the form of long rectangular Gournia is built on a slope above a harbor, and three main roads run along the ridges, looping blocks from the main square and back again (7, 10, and 2). Stairs and sharp inclines run east–west between the main traffic arteries. As in Myrtos, the houses are quite varied in their plans and configuration, but most were two stories with six to eight rooms, with storage on the lower floor and living quarters above. The houses continue to use many of the same materials as earlier, rough stone, mud brick, timber, and reeds. Many of the houses share exterior walls, unlike the isolated exterior walls of the palace, giving further visual distinction to the palace and showing the importance of a centralized administration in Minoan Crete. It is in the palaces of the Neopalatial period that we see the use of more finely worked stone and larger-scale rooms. The palace at Knossos, often called the Palace of Minos after the legendary king of Crete who built the labyrinth to imprison the Minotaur, is the largest of the palaces. As can been seen in the plan (Figure 2.11), the palace was built around a large rectangular courtyard (25 m x 50 m) set along a north–south axis. The surrounding structures were built two, three, or four stories high, with a shrine, throne room, and staircase on the west side of the court (13/14, 12, 11) and residential 2.11 Plan of the palace at N Knossos, LM I. Drawing from P. P. Betancourt, 6 North 8 Introduction to Aegean Art entrance (Philadelphia: INSTAP 7 Academic Press, 2007), Theatral area Fig. 5.2. Image provided by INSTAP Academic Press. F 9 12 17 11 1 14 13 15 West 10 16 entrance 2 5 3 4 South entrance Palace at Knossos 0 30 m  PROTOPALATIAL AND NEOPALATIAL CRETE 35 area to the east (15). The walls were made of ashlar blocks of stone, as well as rougher stone, timber, rubble, mud brick, and plaster (Figure 2.12). Large wooden columns had a particular form that is distinctly Minoan: a smooth shaft that tapers downward from a large bulbous capital that is painted red and black. The plaster was made from burned limestone, making a durable coating to the walls. The plastered walls in Minoan palaces were covered with frescoes to make truly impressive rooms and passageways. The processed materials and their combination in construction to create staircases, corridors, windows, and openings required a skilled team of architects and builders and are by them- selves a sign of the increased prosperity of Crete during this period. Indeed, at an area of roughly 20,000 square meters, the palace at Knossos is larger than the town of Gournia. It is during the Protopalatial period that a writing system was developed, labeled Linear A, that Linear A remains mostly undeciphered today. Linear A inscriptions are found on sealings, tablets, storage ves- a writing script developed by the Minoans in sels as well as other objects, which suggests that it served an administrative role in signaling owner- Protopalatial Crete ship and inventory of goods and agricultural produce. As the palaces contained large storage areas (no. 17 at Knossos, no. 6 in the small palace at Gournia), it is thought that the palaces served a redis- tributive function: gathering commodities from the surrounding territory and distributing them to members of the palace and town, including those producing specialized products like potters, build- ers, and metalworkers. Production centers were concentrated around the palaces, and in the Protopalatial and Neopalatial period these workshops produced luxury items of gold, ivory, and other materials for the elite. Entrance to the palace at Knossos must have resembled something like a journey through a laby- rinth. The west entrance (1, 2, 3) led to a monumental doorway (4) and stairs to the upper floors, but also to the storage rooms of the palace (17). The north entrance (7) led into a long ramped corridor (9) that brought the visitor into the central court and was probably used for ceremonial processions and entries, while a kitchen and dining room above at 8 could entertain a large assembly. The throne room and palace shrine (12 and 13/14) could be accessed from the courtyard but looked out over it 2.12 View of west side of courtyard at the palace of Minos at Knossos: staircase and throne room (reconstructed). Photo: Gianni Dagli Orti/ The Art Archive at Art Resource, NY. 36 THE EARLY AND MIDDLE BRONZE AGES c. 3100–1600 bce from a second story. The central courtyard was prob- ably the center of activity and would have been big enough to accommodate a large number of people and activities, with the ability of observers to watch from the upper floors. The arts of the Neopalatial period include a broad range of materials and a distinct interest in the human figure. We can see this in one of the iconic works of Minoan sculpture, a female figure found buried in a repository (14) in the palace shrine at Knossos (Figure 2.13). The work is made of faience, a mater- ial imported from Egypt that vitrifies into a colorful glass-like surface. Like much of Minoan art, the color and sheen must have been quite appealing, especially in combination with an animated style for represent- ing the human figure. This figure, like others of men and women that we will see, combines a very narrow waist with shoulders that are broadened by the pro- jecting arms that hold two snakes. The neck and face are animated and she balances a headdress with an animal on top of her head. For female figures the heavy, flounced skirt is cone-shaped, and the bodice is open to reveal the breasts. The painted lines remind us that the fabric of her garments would have been richly patterned or embroidered, and it would appear from surviving paintings that Minoan textiles were elaborate and rich materials that were exported. The figure is called a “snake goddess,” but is one of several such statues found together that could be goddesses or might be priestesses performing a ritual. Certainly 2.13 “Snake goddess” the small scale of the figure would seem to argue from Knossos, MM III to against its serving as a cult statue, and the costume is, as we shall see in other media, typical of LM IA. Faience, 115⁄8 in (29.5 cm). Herakleion, women performing ritual. Archaeological Museum. Another cult figure is the so-called kouros found at Palaikastro in eastern Crete (Figure 2.14). Photo: Erich Lessing/Art The figure is a half-meter high and is one of the largest surviving Minoan sculptures. The body and Resource, NY. face are made of hippopotamus ivory, another Egyptian import, along with gray serpentine stone for the hair and skull, rock crystal for the eyes, and gold leaf for bracelets, kilt, and sandals. faience Chryselephantine statues are found in later periods of Greek art as cult statues, including the statue glazed ceramic ware of Zeus in the temple at Olympia and of Apollo excavated at Delphi (see Figure 7.12, page 168 and produced by a mixture of Figure 8.18, page 200). The Palaikastro kouros, too, may have served as a cult statue in a town sand, fluxes, water, and shrine, elevated on a base. Although the figure is not nearly as large as later cult statues, within its calcium carbonate small room and with its precious materials it would have been visually distinctive. One hypothesis is compounds that the figure is Diktaian Zeus, or Zeus born on Mount Dikte, where the god was born and raised kouros (pl. kouroi) according to later mythological accounts. The rituals of the shrine would then be focused on rites of a male youth, used to transition from adolescence to adulthood. The statue was broken and burned sometime at the end of denote statues of standing nude young men LM IB along with the rest of the town itself, perhaps at the hands of invading Mycenaeans. The town of Palaikastro was mostly abandoned afterward. chryselephantine a work made of gold and The kouros shares the narrow waist and vigorous pose of the snake goddess, here with the elbows ivory, often used for cult out and clenched hands bent back before the body. The hips flare out from the waist and taper statues through the thigh to the foot, and the left foot is positioned slightly forward. Attention to the tendons  PROTOPALATIAL AND NEOPALATIAL CRETE 37 and veins in the arms and legs conveys a feeling of ten- sion and animation in the figure that is distinctive of the Minoan style. Mortal humans are depicted in other media and works, including reliefs such as the stone Harvester vase (Figure 2.15). This vessel, called a rhyton, had a narrow, pointed foot (missing and restored) and was carved with a scene of men carrying harvesting tools and singing on its shoulder. Even at this small scale, we see the distinctive Minoan physique of small waists, broad shoulders, and tensed, extended arms. The men wear belts and kilts, as did the Palaikastro kouros originally, the male equivalent to the flounced skirt of Minoan women. Unlike the statues, these men are shown in vigorous action, marching briskly in procession. The figure at the center opens his mouth in song and shakes a bow-shaped metal device with crossbars and beads that is an Egyptian rattle called a sistrum. Even at the smallest scale we can find these ani- mated features of Minoan representations of the human figure. A gold intaglio seal ring from a tomb in Isopata by Knossos is just over 1 cm in height, but shows a full landscape with lilies and plants and four female figures wearing flounced skirts and open bod- ices (Figure 2.16). The two on the left are dressed like the snake goddess, but both hold their arms forward and up rather than out. At the top center is a partly frontal women dressed the same as the first two, but she has one arm bent and the other down. Between these three women is a tiny figure in a skirt hovering 2.14 Kouros from Palaikastro, LM IB. Ivory, in the air. Finally at the right is another three-quarter female figure facing back toward the others gold, serpentine, rock and on the same groundline as the first two. She has both arms bent and held up in a pose similar to crystal, 201⁄4 in (51.5 cm). the snake goddess. Even at this miniature scale, with each figure less than 1 cm high and formed Siteia Museum. Photo: by tiny incisions into the gold surface, the figures are recognizably Minoan and made by a highly British School at Athens. skilled workshop or artist. The ring functions like other seals, but the object itself conveys the rhyton wealth and status of its elite owner and perhaps reflects the rituals in which its owner a conical shape drinking participated. cup, sometimes with a base More difficult to decipher is whether the scene is meant to be entirely symbolic or whether there in the shape of an animal, is a narrative taking place. The pair of women to the left are surely mortal and performing some type head, or figure sistrum of ritual, and the small figure who hovers above them must be divine, but are the other two women a rattle made in Egypt with mortal or divine? Is the figure on the far right shown twice, once appearing in the skies on the left beads set on wires stretched side and then appearing on the ground as an epiphany for the three worshipping mortal women? Or between U-shaped or is the figure to the right a choral leader and the one in the center a lead performer, dancing while the squared arms other women sing? Undoubtedly the meaning of the gestures and the relationship of the figures to Special Palace Tradition each other was clear to the owner of the ring, but without a guide to Minoan religion, its ritual Minoan pottery produced actions and beliefs, we are left with a puzzle of large proportions in spite of the intricate detail. in the LM IB period at Knossos. It has several We have concentrated on Neopalatial art that would have been for the elite, but pottery also devel- different stylistic divisions: oped new styles of decoration, particularly in LM IB after the eruption of Thera. Rather than the Marine, Floral, Abstract or light on dark scheme of Kamares Ware, late Minoan pottery of the Special Palace Tradition used Geometric, and Alternating 38 THE EARLY AND MIDDLE BRONZE AGES c. 3100–1600 bce 2.15 Harvester vase, LM IB. Height of preserved section, 33⁄4 in (9.6 cm). Herakleion, Archaeological Museum. Photo: Marie Mauzy/Art Resource, NY.