Minoan Art

The Minoan civilization was known for its beautiful ceramics, but also for its frescoes and stone and metal work.

Frescoes

The Bull-Leaping Fresco. Palace at Knossos. Heraklion Archaeological Museum. (c) ArchaiOptix

The majority of Minoan frescoes have been found at the Palace of Knossos and at Akrotiri on Santorini in the Cyclades. As these are the two main sites, it is not clear how wide-spread they were across the Minoan world but were clearly painted in high-status sites. They depict generic scenes, stylised and generalised images of what must have been common pictorial motifs, mostly connected to the prevailing Minoan ideology and religion.

  • Ladies in Blue Fresco. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
    Ladies in Blue Fresco. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  • The Prince of Lilies Fresco from Knossos.
    The Prince of Lilies Fresco from Knossos. (c) Katja Sparrow
  • The Dolphin Fresco from Knossos.
    The Dolphin Fresco from Knossos. (c) armagnac-commons
  • Minoan settlement and ships fresco from Akrotiri.
    Minoan settlement and ships fresco from Akrotiri.
  • Boxer Fresco from Akrotiri.
    Boxer Fresco from Akrotiri. (c) Marsyas
  • Saffron Gatherers from Akrotiri.
    Saffron Gatherers from Akrotiri. (c) Katja Sparrow
  • The Blue Monkeys Fresco from Akrotiri.
    The Blue Monkeys Fresco from Akrotiri.

Pottery

Minoan pottery has been used as a tool for dating the Minoan civilization. Its restless sequence of quirky maturing artistic styles reveals something of Minoan patrons’ pleasure in novelty while they assist archaeologists in assigning relative dates to the strata of their sites. Pots that contained oils and ointments, exported from 18th c. BC Crete, have been found at sites through the Aegean islands and mainland Greece, on Cyprus, along coastal Syria and in Egypt, showing the wide trading contacts of the Minoans.

Marine Style flask with octopus, c. 1500-1450 BC.
  • Agios Onouphrios ware with painted parallel-line decoration, 2600-1900 BC.
    Agios Onouphrios ware with painted parallel-line decoration, 2600-1900 BC. (c) Zde
  • Kamares ware jug, c. 2100 BC.
    Kamares ware jug, c. 2100 BC. (c) Wolfgang Sauber
  • Medallion Pithoi from Knossos.
    Medallion Pithoi from Knossos. (c) Harrieta171
  • Kamares dish from Phaistos.
    Kamares dish from Phaistos. (c) Olaf Tausch
  • Kamares Pithos.
    Kamares Pithos. (c) Olaf Tausch
  • Floral Style ewer with papyrus, from Palaikastro, 1500-1450 BC.
    Floral Style ewer with papyrus, from Palaikastro, 1500-1450 BC. (c) Zde

Other Art

Snake goddess figurine from the Temple Repository at Knossos, 1460-1410 BC. Heraklion Archaeological Museum. (c) C Messier
1. The Vaphio Cups; 1675-1410 BC. Athens National Archaeological Museum. (c) Sailko
2. The Hagia Triada sarcophagus from Chamber Tomb 4 at Hagia Triada, near Phaistos, 1370-1315 BC. Heraklion Archaeological Museum. (c) Jebulon
3. The Bees Pendant from Chrysolakkos complex at Malia, 1700-1600 BC. Heraklion Archaeological Museum. (c) Zde

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