THE AEGEAN, ARCAHAIC GREECE - Vv HUM 111 THE AEGEAN CONTACT...

Vv HUM 111 THE AEGEAN: CONTACT POINT OF THE ANCIENT WORLD
Chronology: all dates are approximate and rounded off to nearest century
Cycladic: 2500-2000 BC
Minoan: 2000-1450 BC
Mycenaean: 1600-1200 BC
Invasions/Migrations: begun c. 1200 BC (Dorians [north] & Ionians
[east])
Dark Ages: 1200-800 BC (or 700 BC)
First Olympics: 776 BC (began Greek chronology)
Homeric Epics: 750 BC
Geography: Greece & surrounding islands mountainous, no major rivers, much
marble
Very sea oriented, depended on sea for commerce and trade, food (fishing, used to
have a lot of fish, not a lot anymore), fish are very expensive there now, also for natural
defense. Greece, protected on three sides by the sea, it was kind of a natural boundary
that would hamper anyone invading, the northern unprotected area became a problem
Lots of cultural interaction because of the sea, the greeks took elements of earlier cultures
like African, asian, Phoenician culture, and made it uniquely greek, made the greek
civilization (stand on shoulder of giants see so far saying)
About the size of Louisiana, rather small, never more than 40 miles from the sea
anywhere in Greece. You can see the sea off of a little mountain or hill
The terrain of Greece is very mountainous, extremely! Mountains so high that many have
snow nearly year round. Very large and rocky. Because of that, the city states of Greece
grew up very independently of one another. Not much contact between them. No large,
unifying rivers, and terrain, the city states grow up very differently, and eventually the
difference and the inability to get along with one another ultimately causes the decline of
Greece
They are all precursors of the greek culture
Climate: unpredictable, supported olives and grapes, necessitated trade for
other foods
Cycladic: Cyclades Islands in the Aegean Sea (east of Greece)
Cycladic Idols: cults of the goddess, guides to the underworld
Made out of marble, (just like greek and the islands, so they can use all the marble to
make/build beautiful things). Many hundreds have been found, all women. All found in
situe (in place) have been found in tombs, many are found in the black market so they
appear, but we don’t know what context they were found in (house, temple, tomb)

They will be mounted in museums , but originally were not meant to stand up, had little
pointed toes. Scale life size to very small(55 inches to a half an inch) maybe representing
individuals of different ages, more probably the result of the individual who owned the
idol (rich would have very large idols in the tombs, poor would have little) there isn’t an
attempt at reality, its very abstract, linear, flat. Maybe they’re trying to represent an
abstract concept instead of real women. They were painted, had eyes, lips jewelry.
Purpose?
1. some think because they were in tombs, they are spirits of the dead, like
serdab statues. Maybe the soul could go into the figures if the body was
destroyed. The problem with this is that the figures were all women, so
unless they believed men didn’t have souls, probably wasn’t that
2. fertility figures. Problem with this is that they weren’t fat, and they were