Editing Minoan civilization (section)

=={{anchor|Painting}}Art==
{{main|Minoan art}}
[[File:Wall painting of cult procession from Knossos (Corridor of Procession) - Heraklion AM - 01.jpg|thumb|500px|Procession fresco from Knossos; of the 23 figures, most feet are original, but only the head at extreme right]]
Minoan art is marked by imaginative images and exceptional workmanship. [[Sinclair Hood]] described an "essential quality of the finest Minoan art, the ability to create an atmosphere of movement and life although following a set of highly formal conventions".<ref>Hood (1978), 56</ref> It forms part of the wider grouping of [[Aegean art]], and in later periods came for a time to have a dominant influence over [[Cycladic art]]. Wood and textiles have decomposed, so most surviving examples of Minoan art are [[Minoan pottery|pottery]], intricately-carved [[Minoan seals]], palace [[fresco]]s which include landscapes (but are often mostly "reconstructed"), small sculptures in various materials, jewellery, and metalwork.

The relationship of Minoan art to that of other contemporary cultures and later [[Ancient Greek art]] has been much discussed. It clearly dominated [[Mycenaean art]] and [[Cycladic art]] of the same periods,<ref>Hood (1978), 17-18, 23-23</ref> even after Crete was occupied by the Mycenaeans, but only some aspects of the tradition survived the [[Greek Dark Ages]] after the collapse of Mycenaean Greece.<ref>Hood (1978), 240-241</ref>
[[File:Spring fresco from Akrotiri, NAMA BE 1974.29, 191198.jpg|thumb|The ''Spring Fresco'' from Akrotiri, Thera, dated to c. 16th century BC. It is currently in the [[National Archaeological Museum of Greece]].]]

Minoan art has a variety of subject-matter, much of it appearing across different media, although only some styles of pottery include figurative scenes. [[Bull-leaping#Minoan Crete|Bull-leaping]] appears in painting and several types of sculpture, and is thought to have had a religious significance; bull's heads are also a popular subject in terracotta and other sculptural materials. There are no figures that appear to be portraits of individuals, or are clearly royal, and the identities of religious figures is often tentative,<ref>Gates (2004), 33-34, 41</ref> with scholars uncertain whether they are deities, clergy or devotees.<ref>e.g. Hood (1978), 53, 55, 58, 110</ref> Equally, whether painted rooms were "shrines" or secular is far from clear; one room in Akrotiri has been argued to be a bedroom, with remains of a bed, or a shrine.<ref>Chapin, 49-51</ref>

Animals, including an unusual variety of marine fauna, are often depicted; the [[Marine Style]] is a type of painted palace pottery from MM III and LM IA that paints sea creatures including [[octopus]] spreading all over the vessel, and probably originated from similar frescoed scenes;<ref>Hood (1978), 37-38</ref> sometimes these appear in other media. Scenes of hunting and warfare, and horses and riders, are mostly found in later periods, in works perhaps made by Cretans for a Mycenaean market, or Mycenaean overlords of Crete.

While Minoan figures, whether human or animal, have a great sense of life and movement, they are often not very accurate, and the species is sometimes impossible to identify; by comparison with [[Ancient Egyptian art]] they are often more vivid, but less naturalistic.<ref>Hood (1978), 56, 233-235</ref> In comparison with the art of other ancient cultures there is a high proportion of female figures, though the idea that Minoans had only goddesses and no gods is now discounted.{{cn|date=May 2025}} Most human figures are in profile or in a version of the Egyptian convention with the head and legs in profile, and the torso seen frontally; but the Minoan figures exaggerate features such as slim male waists and large female breasts.<ref>Hood (1978), 235-236</ref>

[[File:AKROTIRI SHIP-PROCESSION-FULL.jpg|thumb|600px|"Ship Procession" fresco, from Akrotiri]]
What is called [[landscape painting]] is found in both frescos and on painted pots, and sometimes in other media, but most of the time this consists of plants shown fringing a scene, or dotted around within it. There is a particular visual convention where the surroundings of the main subject are laid out as though seen from above, though individual specimens are shown in profile. This accounts for the rocks being shown all round a scene, with flowers apparently growing down from the top.<ref>Hood (1978), 49-50, 235-236; Chapin, 47 and throughout</ref> The seascapes surrounding some scenes of fish and of boats, and in the ''Ship Procession'' miniature fresco from [[Akrotiri (prehistoric city)|Akrotiri]], land with a settlement as well, give a wider landscape than is usual.<ref>Hood (1978), 63-64</ref>

The largest and best collection of Minoan art is in the [[Heraklion Archaeological Museum]] ("AMH") near [[Knossos]], on the northern coast of Crete.

===Pottery===
{{Main|Minoan pottery}}
Many different styles of potted wares and techniques of production are observable throughout the history of Crete. Early Minoan ceramics were characterized by patterns of [[spiral]]s, [[triangle]]s, curved lines, [[cross]]es, [[fish bone]]s, and beak-spouts. However, while many of the artistic motifs are similar in the Early Minoan period, there are many differences that appear in the reproduction of these techniques throughout the island which represent a variety of shifts in taste as well as in power structures.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Minoans: Life in Bronze Age|last=Castleden|first=Rodney|publisher=Routledge|year=1993|pages=106}}</ref> There were also many small [[terracotta]] figurines.

During the Middle Minoan period, naturalistic designs (such as fish, squid, birds and lilies) were common. In the Late Minoan period, flowers and animals were still characteristic but more variety existed. However, in contrast to later [[Ancient Greek vase painting]], paintings of human figures are extremely rare,<ref>Hood (1978), 34, 42, 43</ref> and those of land mammals not common until late periods. Shapes and ornament were often borrowed from metal tableware that has largely not survived, while painted decoration probably mostly derives from frescos.<ref>Hood (1978), 27</ref>

===Jewelry===
Minoan jewellery has mostly been recovered from graves, and until the later periods much of it consists of [[diadem]]s and ornaments for women's hair, though there are also the universal types of rings, bracelets, armlets and necklaces, and many thin pieces that were sewn onto clothing. In the earlier periods gold was the main material, typically hammered very thin.<ref name="Hood 1978, 188-190"/> but later it seemed to become scarce.<ref>Hood (1978), 205-206</ref>

The Minoans created elaborate metalwork with imported gold and copper. Bead necklaces, bracelets and hair ornaments appear in the frescoes,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://university.langantiques.com/index.php/Greek_Jewelry|title=Greek Jewelry – AJU|access-date=2016-04-06|archive-date=2016-04-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423072032/http://university.langantiques.com/index.php/Greek_Jewelry|url-status=dead}}</ref> and many [[labrys]] pins survive. The Minoans mastered [[Granulation (jewellery)|granulation]], as indicated by the [[Malia Pendant]], a gold pendant featuring bees on a honeycomb.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Nelson|first1=E Charles|last2=Mavrofridis|first2=Georgios|last3=Anagnostopoulos|first3=Ioannis Th|title=Natural History of a Bronze Age Jewel Found in Crete: The Malia Pendant|date=2020-09-30|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0003581520000475/type/journal_article|journal=The Antiquaries Journal|volume=101|language=en|pages=67–78|doi=10.1017/S0003581520000475|s2cid=224985281|issn=0003-5815|url-access=subscription}}</ref> This was overlooked by the 19th-century looters of a royal burial site they called the "Gold Hole".<ref>Hood (1978), 194-195</ref>

===Weapons===
[[File:Bronzedolch Malia 01.jpg|thumb|Dagger with gold hilt and bronze blade, MM, AMH]]
Fine decorated bronze weapons have been found in Crete, especially from LM periods, but they are far less prominent than in the remains of warrior-ruled Mycenae, where the famous shaft-grave burials contain many very richly decorated swords and [[dagger]]s. In contrast spears and "slashing-knives" tend to be "severely functional".<ref>Hood (1978), 173-175, 175 quoted</ref> Many of the decorated weapons were probably made either in Crete, or by Cretans working on the mainland.<ref>Hood (1978), 175</ref> Daggers are often the most lavishly decorated, with gold hilts that may be set with jewels, and the middle of the blade decorated with a variety of techniques.<ref>Hood (1978), 176-177</ref>
[[File:Oreficeria funebre micenea, XVI sec. ac., fodero di pugnale con decorazioni in oro 02.JPG|thumb|Blade of the "Lion Hunt Dagger", [[National Archaeological Museum, Athens]]]]

The most famous of these are a few inlaid with elaborate scenes in gold and silver set against a black (or now black) "[[niello]]" background, whose actual material and technique have been much discussed. These have long thin scenes running along the centre of the blade, which show the violence typical of the art of Mycenaean Greece, as well as a sophistication in both technique and figurative imagery that is startlingly original in a Greek context.

===Metal vessels===

[[File:Golden cup from Vafio 1500 to 1450 BC, NAMA 1759 080874.jpg|thumb|250px|Golden cup from a LH&nbsp;IIA Mycenaean grave at Vapheio, one of a pair known as the "[[Vaphio|Vapheio Cups]]". This cup is believed to be of Minoan manufacture while its twin is thought to be Mycenaean. [[National Archaeological Museum, Athens]].]]

Metal vessels were produced in Crete from at least as early as EM II (c. 2500{{nbsp}}BC) in the Prepalatial period through to LM IA (c. 1450{{nbsp}}BC) in the Postpalatial period and perhaps as late as LM IIIB/C (c. 1200{{nbsp}}BC),<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hemingway|first1=Séan|title=Minoan Metalworking in the Postpalatial Period: A Deposit of Metallurgical Debris from Palaikastro|journal=The Annual of the British School at Athens|date=1 January 1996|volume=91|pages=213–252|doi=10.1017/s0068245400016488|jstor=30102549|s2cid=127346339 }}</ref> although it is likely that many of the vessels from these later periods were heirlooms from earlier periods.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rehak|first1=Paul|editor1-last=Laffineur|editor1-first=Robert|editor2-last=Betancourt|editor2-first=Philip P.|title=TEXNH. Craftsmen, Craftswomen and Craftsmanship in the Aegean Bronze Age / Artisanat et artisans en Égée à l'âge du Bronze: Proceedings of the 6th International Aegean Conference / 6e Rencontre égéenne internationale, Philadelphia, Temple University, 18–21 April 1996|date=1997|publisher=Université de Liège, Histoire de l'art et archéologie de la Grèce antique|location=Liège|isbn=9781935488118|page=145|chapter=Aegean Art Before and After the LM IB Cretan Destructions}}</ref> The earliest were probably made exclusively from [[precious metal]]s, but from the Protopalatial period (MM IB – MM IIA) they were also produced in [[arsenical bronze]] and, subsequently, tin [[bronze]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Clarke|first1=Christina F.|title=The Manufacture of Minoan Metal Vessels: Theory and Practice|date=2013|publisher=Åströms Förlag|location=Uppsala|isbn=978-91-7081-249-1|page=1}}</ref> The [[archaeological record]] suggests that mostly cup-type forms were created in precious metals,<ref>{{harvnb|Davis|1977}}</ref> but the corpus of bronze vessels was diverse, including cauldrons, pans, [[hydria]]s, bowls, pitchers, basins, cups, ladles and lamps.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Matthäus|first1=Hartmut|title=Die Bronzegefässe der kretisch-mykenischen Kultur|date=1980|publisher=C.H. Beck|location=München|isbn=9783406040023}}</ref> The Minoan metal vessel tradition influenced that of the Mycenaean culture on [[mainland Greece]], and they are often regarded as the same tradition.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Catling|first1=Hector W.|author-link1=Hector Catling|title=Cypriot Bronzework in the Mycenaean World|date=1964|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford|page=187}}</ref> Many precious metal vessels found on mainland Greece exhibit Minoan characteristics, and it is thought that these were either imported from Crete or made on the mainland by Minoan metalsmiths working for Mycenaean [[patronage|patrons]] or by Mycenaean smiths who had trained under Minoan masters.<ref>{{harvnb|Davis|1977|pages=328–352}}</ref>