Minoan Art: History and Images

Introduction

Minoans are a group of the earliest Greeks who lived in Crete in the Mediterranean sea. They have shown growth in the period, and they are famous for their artwork. Some of their artworks are being preserved today. They are extraordinary in cities, palaces, trade and the use of writing. Minoans are traders who import and export the goods with their surroundings. They developed the trading system and made use of it through natural harbours. They were subject to a long period of peace.

Their artwork contains images of current events and the Minoans' physical environment. Their art also portrays the god, goddesses and religious rituals. The bulls were also highlighted in their art to emphasize strength and fertility. They used the image of a bull due to religious significance.

The Minoans history

• The Bronze age civilization of Crete is known as the Minoan civilization. The name taken from the Greek legend and a king. Crete was the top level site and centre of high civilization in the Bronze age culture. This was started during the 3rd millennium BCE and they lived around 3300 BCE.

• There were two facts about the Minoan period. According to Evan it was divided into three such as early Minoan, middle Minoan and late Minoan. By Nikolaos Plato It was divided according to the palaces such as pre palatial, proto palatial, neo palatial and post palatial.

Early Minoan

The early Minoan period was between 3500 and 2100 BC. They are further subdivided into EMI,EMII, and EMIII. This is the period of development of Korakou culture.

Middle Minoan

• The period between 2100 and 1600 is the middle Minoan period during which the early Minoans changed to civilisation and are called as the apex of Minoan civilisation.

• Because in this period a disaster, Earthquake happened and that destroyed the knossos, palaces etc. They rebuilt their palaces and civilisation increased. This is the period when it changed to material culture.

Late Minoan

• The period between 1600 to 1100 BC is the late Minoan period. In this period again a natural disaster occurred. They partially re-built their knossos and palaces.

What art did the Minoans known for?

• Minoan art was focused to show ordinary life, their religious rites, the life of plants and animals, particularly bull which was considered as a symbol of power and abundance.

• The best preserved arts of Minoans were pottery, construction of palaces, sculptures such as jewellery, metal vessels etc.

Pottery

• In the first stage of pottery making, Minoans use two types of ceramics such as pre-palatial ceramics and Barbotine ceramics. The former one was mottled with red and black surfaces and later one is with added ornamental excrescences .

• The next development is Kamares pottery and it was defined by the red and white designs that were plotted on a black background.

Minoans Frescoes

• Minoans used to decorate the palaces by Fresco painting. Without any usage of binding agent the colour pigments were painted on a wet lime plaster called Frescoes.

• This is because it prevents the paintings from fading while absorbed by the cement. Primary colours used in Fresco paintings are white, blue, green, yellow, red, and black.

Minoan sculpture

• They construct figurines to reflect the culture of Minoan and aspects of daily life are called minoan sculpture.

• The sculptures were made with the help of ivory, gold, faience and bronze.

What are the characteristics of Minoan art?

• Internal enhancement, advancement or upgradation of government people and their characters are the objective of Minoan art.

• It contains a lot of dynamic compositions with movements. The sources of their paintings arose from nature such as sea life, animals, plants etc.

• Beyond the facts about nature, shapes such as curvilinear curves, lines etc. are also used in their art.

What were the three important features of Minoan culture?

The three important features of Minoan culture are given below.

• The Minoans who lived on the Bronze age Crete were popular for their construction of buildings. They formed large palace-like buildings in four places such as Knossos, Phaistos, Malis and Zakros.

• The colourful and exciting paintings that are placed in their palaces.

• One of the art known as pottery which is decorated by marine life scenes.

Conclusion

Minoans were the Bronze age civilisation of crete. They were developed from stage to stage. They are famous for their arts, architecture, etc. The important architectural fact about them are large palaces built for many purposes. They portray their life, animals, nature, god and goddess by their arts known as minoan art.

FAQs

What is known as Prince of Lilies?

Ans. This is the most famous Fresco of Minoans and is excavated in pieces on the Greek island of Crete from the palaces of knossos. The originally reconstructed painting was in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum.

Description − The prince of Lilies fresco in Heraklion Archaeological Museum.

What is known as Kouloura?

Ans. A round shaped subsurface pit used by Ancient Crete which is covered by stone walls is called Kouloura. The main purpose of this is not clear. There are three suggestions about that. According to Evan it was used as a garbage pit. Chapouthier and Pernier say that It was a container used for the storage of water. The most believable fact is, it was a granary used for storing extra harvest.

What are the purposes of Palaces built by Minoans?

Ans. Mimoans built palaces for religious, cultural, commercial and administrative centres. They were also used for gathering events and celebrations, artist workshops and crop storage.