knossos: palace, city, state || knossos and the argolid: new evidence from midea

Knossos and the Argolid: new evidence from MideaAuthor(s): Katie DemakopoulouSource: British School at Athens Studies, Vol. 12, KNOSSOS: PALACE, CITY, STATE (2004), pp.405-410Published by: British School at AthensStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40960798 .

Accessed: 28/06/2014 19:02

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

British School at Athens is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to British Schoolat Athens Studies.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 193.142.30.55 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 19:02:31 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=bsa

http://www.jstor.org/stable/40960798?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


35 Knossos and the Argolid: new evidence from Midea

Katie Demakopoulou

At the beginning of the Mycenaean era, finds from graves, notably from the Grave Circles at Mycenae, in- dicate a close association between Crete and Mainland Greece (Karo 1933; Mylonas 1973; Hood 1978, 23-4). The island's influence certainly played an important role in the development of Mycenaean civilisation. The archaeological evidence shows Minoan influence in the Argolid to have been very strong (Dickinson 1994, 303). It seems that there must have been a special relation- ship between the Minoan palaces, and especially Knossos, and Mycenae and the other centres of the Argolid (Dickinson 1977, 54-5, 1989, 136, 1994, 304). During Late Helladic I and HA there were very strong connections between Crete and the Argolid. Within the framework of these close relations, Minoan craftsmen were sent, probably from the Palace at Knossos, to work in the great palatial centres of the Argolid (Dickinson 1977, 55; Hood 1978, 40-1). In the succeeding periods, when the Mycenaeans had already established them- selves in Knossos as overlords, relations between Crete and the Mainland, and mainly the Argolid, continued to be close and productive, mostly by trade contacts (Popham 1994, 95; Demakopoulou 1997, 104-12). Finds from all great Mycenaean centres in the Argolid show that there existed interconnections between this region and palatial and Postpalatial Knossos.

The recent Greek-Swedish excavations on the Mycenaean acropolis of Midea have provided new evidence for cultural, economic and political relations between Crete and the Argolid. As the finds from these excavations demonstrate, Midea was an administrative and craft centre and the third most important site of the Mycenaean Argolid (Demakopoulou et al 1994; Demakopoulou 1995; Demakopoulou et al 1998, 2001, 2002; Walberg 1998). It had an important strategic role in the control and defence of the fertile Argive plain, and it is associated with the rich neighbouring cemetery of Dendra (Persson 1942). The excavations have uncovered the West Gate of the acropolis and many buildings in the area by the West Gate and near the East Gate.

Most of the structures belong to the LH IIIB2 phase and a few to the postpalatial LH HIC period. Unstratified finds, however, from all over the acropolis and some sporadic architectural remains show that Midea was already an important site in MH II to LH I and also during the early Mycenaean phases

(Demakopoulou et al 2001, 2002). The most notable finds from all periods are abundant fine and domestic pottery, fragments of metal and stone vessels (Demakopoulou 1998), metal and stone tools, ivories, remains of painted plaster, sealstones (CMS 5, Supplementum 3.2. 222-35), Linear B inscribed sealings and stirrup jars (Demakopoulou and Divari- Valakou 1995; Walberg 1997; CMS 5, Supplementum 3.2. 236-40), as well as objects with significant cult as- sociations, including a complete wheel made female figure (Demakopoulou 1999) and fragments of other large female and bovid figures. The complete figure was found in a room of the building complex by the West Gate.

Among the numerous finds from Midea there are quite a few which may be imports from Crete, possibly from Knossos, and some with other Minoan artistic features. This paper presents the Minoan and Minoanising finds from the West Gate area and the southwest slope of the acropolis, the Greek sector of the excavations.

The earliest Minoan object from this area is a prismatic seal of fine whitish faience, which was found in the upper layers accumulated over the gateway of the West Gate (Demakopoulou 1995, 156, pl. 10 b' CMS 5. Supplementum 3.2. 222). Its three surfaces bear small and large dots, and circles with dots in the centre, sepa- rated by fine lines (FIGS. 35.1-35.3). It is a characteristic Minoan seal dated possibly to MM II- III. Seals with similar motifs, some made of steatite, come from the Knossos area and other sites of central Crete (CMS 2.2. M, 30, 35. 38, 44. 53> 55> 61, 66).

The most impressive stone vessel from Midea is a large fragment of an amethyst rhyton in the form of a triton shell (FIGS. 354-35.5). It was found in an undis- turbed LH IIIB2 deposit against the fortification wall near the West Gate (Demakopoulou et al 1994, 32-4, fig. 45; Demakopoulou 1995, 160-1, 1998, 222, pl. 21 a-c). Triton shaped vessels are purely Minoan (Warren 1969, 91, type 35). The fragment of the triton shell vessel from Midea can be compared to a number of stone models of triton shells of the LM I period found in Crete, which had been probably used in ritual activities (Hood 1978, 142; Baurain and Darque 1983, 49-50, 59- 73). A similar example is a small amethyst fragment from the Acropolis of Mycenae, exhibited in the Na- tional Archaeological Museum at Athens (NM 1396),



4O6 KATIE DEMAKOPOULOU

Figs- 35 '-J-35 -3- Midea, West Gate: Middle Minoan II- HI (?) prismatic seal of faience from the gateway.

Figs. 35-4-355- West Gate area: fragment of an amethyst rhyton in the form of a triton shell (front and back).

which comes from Tsountas's excavations and was published, later, as a small vase. Its shape shows, however, that it, too, must have been part of a triton shell model (Demakopoulou 1998, 222, pl. 21 d-e).

Both fragments belong to the upper part, namely the lip, of a triton shell rhyton. It is even possible that they could be from one and the same vase, which must have been especially fine and precious. The fragments were still considered valuable, possibly to be used as raw ma-

terial, for a long time after breakage and were kept as such in the two citadels after their dispersal. The origi- nal, or the originals, were probably Minoan works cre- ated from a large single piece of raw amethyst, possibly in a palatial workshop at Knossos, and were subse- quently sent to the Argolid from Crete. The Midea and Mycenae fragments are both remarkable since in the Middle and early Late Bronze Age Aegean amethyst, like rock crystal, was used for the making of seals and



KNOSSOS AND THE ARGOLID: NEW EVIDENCE FROM MIDEA 407

small pieces of jewellery but very rarely for the manu- facture of vases (Evely 1992, 17). They are thus closely related to the rock crystal duck bowl from Shaft Grave Omikron at Mycenae (Mylonas 1973, 203-5, pis« ̂3- 5), and are all among the finest lapidary products of LMI.

Noteworthy among the early Mycenaean pottery from the southwest slope of the acropolis is a vase fragment, mended from sherds, with Marine Style decoration (FIGS. 35.6-35.7). It was found in a layer associated with some badly preserved architectural remains of the fifteenth century BC (Demakopoulou et al 2002, 35-6, fig. 30). It comes from a large stirrup jar of the typical Minoan shape with broad shoulder and flat base, FS 169. A characteristic example of this type of vase is the well known stirrup jar with Marine Style decoration from Gournia (Müller 1997, 321, pl. 21. 44). Stir-

rup jars of the Marine Style are usually decorated from neck to base with octopus, FM 21. Our piece preserves part of the base and of the lower belly. The decoration consists of the tentacles of an octopus with rockwork, FM 28, seaweed, FM 30 (Müller 1997, 178, 182, figs. 97 5, 100) and air bubbles. The octopus is of Type B, that is having suckers without dots (Mountjoy et al. 1978, 143; Mountjoy 1984, 161; Müller 1997, 237, figs. 141-2). The decoration not only reaches the base but continues beneath the base, which is an unique feature. The piece is a fine specimen of the classic LM IB/LH IIA Marine Style.

The Marine Style is one of the most characteristic and best known classes of LM IB decorated pottery; it has been extensively studied, particularly by Mountjoy (1984, where other works by her are cited) and Müller (1997). Although it has a great diffusion in the Aegean

Figs. 35-6-35-7- Southwest slope: fragment of an LM IB/ LH IIA stirrup jar with Marine Style decoration.



4O8 KA TIE DEMAKOPOULOU

areas, most of the material comes from Crete; many examples have been found in the Knossos area, and it is believed that they derive from the palatial workshops at Knossos. Many pieces, however, have also been found in the islands and in Mainland Greece, and recent re- search tends to accept that most of these were locally produced (Mountjoy et al 1978; Mountjoy and Ponting 2000). On the Mainland they are concentrated for the most part in the Argolid. It is noteworthy that, while most of the Marine Style material from the Mainland is associated with tombs, in contrast with Crete and the islands where the bulk of the Marine Style pieces come from settlement contexts (Mountjoy 1984; Müller 1997), the Midea piece was found on the acropolis. It could well be an import, although an Argolid origin cannot be excluded, in a period when Minoan pottery was widely imitated, perhaps with the help of Minoan craftsmen, who must have been employed in the palatial centres of the Argolid (Popham 1967, 343). That the piece was locally produced is suggested by the octopus of Type B used for its decoration; this type of octopus, though common on Crete, is more typical of the islands and Mainland (Mountjoy et al 1978, 143- 6; Mountjoy 1984, 167). Three sherds from a closed vase with Marine Style decoration, again with octopus B, weed and rockwork, as on the piece from Midea, were found in the dromos of Dendra T. 6 (Persson 1942, 27, fig. 29). Moreover, the famous gold cup from the Tholos Tomb of the Dendra cemetery has fine Marine Style decoration, with profound Minoan artistic influence (Hood 1978, 169, figs. 166-7; Popham 1994, 95). A small sherd with similar Marine Style decoration was

also found in the area of the southwest slope of the acropolis of Midea. It comes from a closed vase and presents part of a tentacle of an octopus of type B (Demakopoulou et al 2002, 36, fig. 37 top right).

Of the many sealstones found in Midea one has a scene with Minoan connotations. Found in an accumu- lation deposit along the fortification wall with mixed MH to LH IIIB2 pottery (Demakopoulou et al 1994, 32, figs. 43-4; CMS 5, Supplementum 3.2. 223), it is a flattened cylinder made of agate and depicts a "minotaur" (FIGS. 35.8-35.9). The fantastic creature with the head of a bull and the body of a man is repre- sented as an acrobat, describing a semicircle as he throws his head and upper body backwards. The scene includes other subsidiary motifs, such as a dolphin between the minotaur's feet, a figure-of-eight shield below his head and the branch of a tree in the upper left corner. This fine seal can be dated to the fifteenth century BC.

A significant find of Minoan origin from Midea is an inscribed storage stirrup jar mended from numerous fragments (Demakopoulou and Divari- Valakou 1995, 326-7, pl. 2; Demakopoulou et al 1998, 62, fig. 19). The fragments were recovered from the debris in one of the rooms (Room VIb) of the building complex uncovered against the fortification wall in the West Gate area. The pottery associated with this debris is dated to LH IIIB2. It is noteworthy that a clay nodule with a sealing depicting a spider and a Linear B ideogram was found in the same room (Demakopoulou and Divari- Valakou 1995, 324-6, fig. 1, pl. 1 b' Demakopoulou et al 1998, 62-3, fig. 20). The main decoration of the stirrup jar, in red brown paint on a smoothed surface cov-

Figs. 35-8-35-9- West Gate area: agate sealstone depicting a minotaur.



KNOSSOS AND THE ARGOLID: NEW EVIDENCE FROM MIDEA 409

ered with whitish slip, consists of a broad zone on the belly with highly stylised octopus tentacles, forming a double deep wavy line, which is continuous around the body. In one of the open spaces of the tentacles the Lin- ear B inscription wi-na-jo is painted (FIG. 35.10).

wi-na-jo is a very common name in Cretan Linear B inscriptions, known from several tablets found in Knossos and two storage stirrup jars. The inscription on the stirrup jar from Midea is the first occurrence of this name on the Mainland. The two stirrup jars from Crete with this name (wi-na-jo) come from the Unex- plored Mansion at Knossos and Armenoi (Demakopoulou 1988, 212-13. 186-7). Both inscriptions are on the shoulder of the vessel, whereas the Midea inscription is on the belly. Fabric and graphic rendering of the signs suggest that all three jars come from the same workshop. Their inscriptions, however, were probably not written by the same hand. Rather, all three must have been copied from a common model.

The Knossos inscribed stirrup jar has also the same decoration on the belly as that on the stirrup jar from Midea; they both belong to a distinct group of storage stirrup jars decorated with a double deep wavy line, mostly without inscriptions, and known from Crete, Mycenae and other sites on the Mainland, notably from Thebes (Haskell 1981, 232-3, Group 4). The frequent use of the name wi-na-jo in Crete, the graphic tradition

of the inscription and the two storage stirrup jars from Crete with the same name, make it almost certain that the Midea stirrup jar was imported from Crete, probably from west or central Crete.

Apart from the inscribed stirrup jar, many coarse ware storage stirrup jars without inscriptions were recovered from the excavations in the West Gate area of Midea, constituting a large group of mostly fragmen- tary pieces. Their decoration is in both light-on-dark and dark-on-light with linear motifs (FIG. 35. 1 1) or deep wavy lines on the belly. The coarse ware stirrup jars from Midea are important for chronological reasons, as well, for most of them come from well stratified LH IIIB2 contexts. This group has parallels at Knossos and can be compared with the larger deposits of similar coarse ware stirrup jars from Mycenae and the Kadmeion at Thebes which, however, are of an earlier date (Catling et al 1980; Haskell 1981; Day 1995).

It has been argued, following scientific analyses, that most of the coarse ware stirrup jars found on the Main- land were imported from west Crete and also from the Knossos region, or central Crete, like those with the Linear B inscriptions, by means of an active trade in oil or wine (Haskell 1981, 237; Haskell et al., forthcoming; Day 1999, 65-71). Thus, some of the coarse ware stirrup jars from Midea, along with the inscribed stirrup jar, may well be Minoan imports; this would confirm

Fig J5-Jo. Building Complex: storage stirrup jar with Linear B inscription.

Fig- 3511- Building Complex: coarse ware stirrup jar.



410 KATIE DEMAKOPOULOU

that political and economic relations between the Argolid and Postpalatial Crete continued in the second half of the thirteenth century BC.

The new finds from Midea provide further evidence for strong connections between Mycenaean Argolid and Crete. It seems that Knossos had developed especially close ties with the palatial and other great centres of the Argolid. Midea, as one of these centres, participated in the lively intercommunication between the two re- gions.

REFERENCES

Baurain, C. and P. Darque, 1983. 'Un triton en pierre à Malia' Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique 107: 3-73.

Catling, H. W., J. F. Cherry, R. E. Jones and J. T. Killen, 1980. 'The Linear B inscribed stirrup jars and west Crete' Annual of the British School at Athens 75: 49-1 13.

Day, P. M., 1995. 'Pétrographie analysis of transport stirrup jars from the House of the Oil Merchant, Mycenae' in I. Tournavitou The Ivory Houses at Mycenae (British School at Athens Supplementary Volume 24): 309-16. London.

Day, P. M., 1999. 'Pétrographie analysis of ceramics from the shipwreck at Point Iria' in W. Phelps, Y. Lolos and Y. Vichos (eds) The Point Iria Wreck: Interconnections in the Mediterranean ca. 1200 BC: 59-76. Athens: Hellenic Institute of Marine Archaeology.

Demakopoulou, K. (ed.), 1988. 0 nvxr)váixóç xóofioç. névre aiœvsç ngaißou eXkr'vixo6 ttoàitigjuoó 1600-1100 n.X. Athens: YTrooQyeío IIoXitiojioü - EÀÀr|vixó T|ir||xa ICOM.

Demakopoulou, K., 1995. 'Mycenaean citadels: recent excavations on the Mycenaean Acropolis of Midea in the Argolid' Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 40: 151-61.

Demakopoulou, K., 1997. 'Crete and the Argolid in the LM II/LH IIB to IIIAi periods. Evidence from Kokla' in J. Driessen and A. Farnoux (eds) La Crète mycénienne (Bul- letin de Correspondance Hellénique Supplément 30): 101- 12. Paris.

Demakopoulou, K., 1998. 'Stone vases from Midea' in E. H. Cline and D. Harris-Cline (eds) The Aegean and the Ori- ent in the Second Millenium (Aegaeum 18): 221-7. Liège and Austin.

Demakopoulou, K., 1999. 'A Mycenaean terracotta figure from Midea in the Argolid' in P. P. Betancourt, V. Karageorghis, R. Laffineur and W. -D. Niemeier (eds) MELETEMATA. Studies in Aegean Archaeology Pre- sented to Malcolm H. Wiener {Aegaeum 20): 197-205. Liège and Austin.

Demakopoulou, K. and N. Divari- Valakou, 1995. 'New finds with Linear B inscriptions from Midea (MI Z2, Wv3, Z4)' Minos 2^-30 (1994-95): 323-8.

Demakopoulou, K., N. Divari-Valakou and G. Walberg, 1994. 'Excavations and restoration work in Midea 1 990-1 992' Opuscula Atheniensia 20: 19-41.

Demakopoulou, K., N. Divari-Valakou, P. Aström and G. Walberg, 1998. 'Excavations in Midea 1 995-1 996' Opuscula Atheniensia 22-23 (I997~98): 57-90.

Demakopoulou, K., N. Divari-Valakou, P. Aström and G. Walberg, 2001. 'Work in Midea 1997- 1999: excavation,

conservation, restoration' Opuscula Atheniensia 25-26 (2000-01): 35-52.

Demakopoulou, K., N. Divari-Valakou, A. -L. Schallin, G. Ekroth, A. Lindblom, M. Nilsson and L. Sjögren, 2002. 'Excavations in Midea 2000 and 2001' Opuscula Atheniensia 27: 27-58.

Dickinson, O. T. P. K., 1977. The Origins of Mycenaean Civi- lisation (Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology 49). Göteborg: Paul Aströms Förlag.

Dickinson, O. T. P. K., 1989. '"The Origins of Mycenaean Civilisation" revisited' in R. Laffineur (ed.) Transition. Le monde égéen du Bronze Moyen au Bronze Récent (Aegaeum 3): 13 1-6. Liège.

Dickinson, O. T. P. K., 1994. The Aegean Bronze Age. Cam- bridge: Cambridge University Press.

Evely, D, 1992. 'Stone vases' in D. Evely and C. Runnels Ground Stone (Well Built Mycenae 27): 1-20. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

Haskell, H. W., 1981. 'Coarse-ware stirrup-jars from Mycenae' Annual of the British School at Athens 76: 225- 37-

Haskell, H. W, R. E. Jones, P. M. Day, H. W. Catling and J. T Killen, forthcoming. Transport Stirrup Jars of the Bronze Age Aegean and East Mediterranean (British School at Athens Fitch Laboratory Occasional Paper 5).

Hood, S., 1978. The Arts in Prehistoric Greece. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.

Karo, G., 1933. Die Schachtgräber von Mykenai. Munich (1930-33): Verlag F. Bruckmann.

Mountjoy, P. A., 1984. The Marine Style pottery of LM IB/LH IIA: towards a corpus' Annual of the British School at Athens 79: 161-219.

Mountjoy, P. A., R. E. Jones and J. F. Cherry, 1978. 'Prov- enance studies of the LM IB/LH IIA Marine Style' Annual of the British School at Athens 73: 143-71.

Mountjoy, P. A. and M. J. Ponting, 2000. 'The Minoan thalassocracy reconsidered: provenance studies of LH IIA/LM IB pottery from Phylakopi, Ay. Irini and Ath- ens' Annual of the British School at Athens 95: 141-84.

Müller, W., 1997. Kretische Tongefässe mit Meeresdekor (Archäologische Forschungen 19). Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag.

Mylonas, G. E., 1973. O Tacpixóç KóxÁoç B rœv Moxt]vév (Biß^ioOrpcTi ttiç ev AOrjvaiç AQxaiota>yixr|ç ExaiQeiaç 73 [I972-73])- Athens.

Persson, A. W, 1942. Nem Tombs atDendra near Midea. Lund: C. W. K. Gleerup.

Popham, M. R., 1967. Late Minoan pottery, a summary Annual of the British School at Athens 62: 337-51 .

Popham, M. R., 1994. 'Late Minoan II to the end of the Bronze Age' in D. Evely, H. Hughes-Brock and N. Momigliano (eds) Knossos: a Labyrinth of History. Pa- pers in Honour of Sinclair Hood: 89-102. London: Brit- ish School of Athens.

Walberg, G, 1997. 'Two new nodules from the Lower Ter- races at Midea' Minos 31-32 (1996-97): 133-4.

Walberg, G., 1998. Excavations on the Acropolis of Midea 1. The Excavations on the Lower Terraces iq8$-iqqi (Skrifter Utgivna av S venska Institutet i Athen 40 49. i ). Stockholm.

Warren, P., 1969. Minoan Stone Vases. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.



knossos: palace, city, state || knossos and the argolid: new evidence from midea

Documents