Greek Art 2

Mycenaean Art and the Trojan War

Credit to Gardner’s Art Through The Ages 12th Ed.

Mycenaean Art

• Homer (believed by the Greeks to be the first and greatest epic poet…The Iliad, the Odyssey) described Mycenae as “Rich in gold”

• Built several large, impressive citadels in various parts of Greece, including Tiryns, Mycenae, Pylos, Orchomenos, and even on the Acropolis in Athens– Citadel = a fortress, typically on high ground,

protecting or dominating a city

Mycenaean Citadels

Locations of known MycenaeanCitadels

Mycenaean Citadels

• These citadels were so monumental, they have been compared to the pyramids of Egypt– Specifically, the “Tiryns of the Great Walls”

• The Greeks of this historical age did not believe humans could construct such buildings– Instead, attributed them to the mythical

“Cyclopes,” a race of one-eyed giants– Termed “Cyclopean masonry”

Mycenaean Citadels

• Mycenaean citadels were more defensive by design than the open, airy palaces of Crete (Minoans)

• Walls of Tiryns are about 20 feet THICK!• In one section of Tiryns, there is a long gallery covered

by a corbeled vault– Piled large, irregular Cyclopean blocks horizontally and

cantilevered them inward until the two walls met in a pointed arch at the top

– No mortar was used! Held in place by the weight of the blocks (several tons each) and by smaller stones used as wedges, and a little clay that fills some of the empty spaces

Tiryns of the Great Walls Corbeled Vault

Each one of these stones weighs several tons

NO WONDER THE ANCIENT GREEKS THOUGHT THEY WERE BUILT BY A RACE OF GIANTS!!!

Tiryns of the Great Walls Reconstruction

Tiryns of the Great Walls Aerial View

Mycenaean Citadels

• Inside the citadels, the most important element was the “megaron”, or reception hall of the king

– The main room had a throne and a central hearth

• These defensive citadels were “lightened” with frescoes as well as with monumental architectural sculpture– Such as in King Agamemnon’s Mycenae: Lion Gate– Lion Gate was the main public gate into the city

Lion Gate, Mycenae, 1300-1250 BCE, Limestone, h. 9’6”

The slab the lions are carvedinto is an important part of the architecture thatrelieves the weight of the “lintel”, which is held up by two monoliths.

This is called a “relievingtriangle”

Lintel

Monoliths

Funerary Practices of Mycenaean Culture

• Wealthy Mycenaeans were buried outside the citadel walls in beehive-shaped tombs covered by large earthen mounds– Called “Tholos tombs”– Best preserved is the Treasury of Atreus

• Atreus = Father of Agamemnon and Menelaus

• Similar to Egyptian tradition, men were buried with their weapons and gold, and women with their jewelry; all had “death masks” covering their faces

Funerary Mask, found just inside Lion Gate, Mycenae, 1600-1500 BCE, Beaten gold, h. 1 foot

Called the “Mask of Agamemnon,” butAgamemnon lived 300 years after thetime this mask was dated…

One of the first known attempts torender a life-sized human face by theAncient Greeks

Compared to the death mask of KingTut in terms of gold

Treasury of Atreus (OUTSIDE): Mycenae, 1300-1250 BCE

Treasury of Atreus (INSIDE): Mycenae, 1300-1250 BCE

Who were these people???

• Atreus: – King of Mycenae, father of Agamemnon and

Menelaus– Murdered by his nephew Aegisthus– When he died, Agamemnon and Menelaus took

refuge with the King of Sparta, Tyndareus– They married his daughters, Clytaemnestra

(Agamemnon) and Helen (Menelaus)

Who were these people???

• Agamemnon and Clytaemnestra had a son and 3 daughters:– Orestes– Iphigeneia– Electra– Chrysothemis

• Menelaus succeeded the king of Sparta, and Agamemnon recovered Mycenae

Trojan War 13th Century BCE

• Main source of info. about the Trojan War comes from Homer’s “Iliad,” (written in 8th Century BCE)– Recounts 53 days during the final year of the ten

year war– Believed to be more myth than reality

Trojan War

• It all started with Prince Paris of Troy, called “The Judgment of Paris”:• Zeus threw a banquet to celebrate the wedding of Peleus and

Thetis (parents of Achilles)• Eris, goddess of discord, was not invited• Angry, she showed up anyway with a golden apple from the

Garden of Hesperides (garden of the nymphs of the evening/the golden light of sunset)– The apple served as the prize for winning a beauty contest– 3 goddesses claimed the apple: Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera– Zeus was asked to be the judge…he didn’t want to, so he put the

responsibility on Paris to be the judge, because Paris had shown fairness in a previous godly competition

Trojan War

• Hermes took the 3 goddesses to prepare for the competition on Mount Ida, and on this mountain, confronted Paris to judge their beauty

• Each goddess tried to tempt Paris to pick her:– Hera offered to make him king of Europe and Asia– Athena offered wisdom and skill in war– Aphrodite offered him the world’s most beautiful woman,

HELEN OF SPARTA (who was married to King Menelaus!)• Although Hera was known to be the truly most beautiful

of the three, Paris accepted Aphrodite’s offer and awarded her the golden apple

Trojan War• Aphrodite neglected to mention that Helen of Sparta was

married to King Menelaus, so Paris had to raid Menelaus’s house to steal Helen– Some say she fell in love with him and left willingly

• Menelaus united his countrymen to fight a war of revenge against Troy– Some of the most famous Greek heroes:

• Achilles (River Styx; his parents wedding was the catalyst for the Trojan War…his mom knew he was fated to live a short but glorious life, and tried to hide him, gave him to a royal family to raise him; taught by Chiron, a wise centaur, who also taught Hercules)

• Odysseus (Great leader and speaker during the war, convinced Achilles to join the Greeks in war, Athena helped him develop the idea for the wooden horse)

• Ajax (also trained by Chiron, the biggest, strongest warrior of the Greeks)

Trojan War

• Agamemnon had to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigeneia to Artemis in order be able to sail safely to Troy

• Trojan Horse– How did they do this successfully?

• They abandoned the beach, leaving only the horse and one man behind, Sinon, who pretended to have been hunted by the Greeks

• Sinon told the Trojans that Athena was angry with the Greeks, and told them the only way she’d forgive them was if they would build this giant wooden horse in her honor and leave Troy

• The Trojans believed him, and took the horse (full of Greek soldiers) into their city walls and outside their temple of Athena)

• The Trojans then partied all night, believing they had won the war• When the Trojans fell asleep that night, Sinon signaled the Greek ships back

to Troy and the warriors inside the horse descended upon the city

Concept of the Trojan Horse Mr. Peabody and Sherman

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXQpC-gDR4w

Trojan War

• Greeks won the battle, but:– The gods were mad at the Greeks’ deceitfulness in

battle, and made their voyage home treacherous• One of the few survivors was Odysseus, but only after a

10-year-long voyage of detours and misadventures (Homer’s “Odyssey”)

– Achilles was killed in battle by Paris (with the help of Apollo)…how was he killed???

Trojan War

• In his absence during the war, Aegisthus (the murderous nephew), seduced Agamemnon’s wife (Clytaemnestra), and convinced her to kill her husband (Agamemnon) and all of his friends and plunders of war (included the daughter of King Priam of Troy, Cassandra)

• Orestes (son of Agamemnon and Clytaemnestra) avenged his father’s death by slaying both his mother and Aegisthus

The Decline of Mycenae, 1000 BCE

• Mycenae was constantly at war, even after the Trojan War

• Eventually the Mycenaean citadels were destroyed around 1200 BCE

• Greece plunged into a “Dark Age” when most art forms nearly disappeared