Levantine Elements in the Sacred Architecture of the Aegean at the Close of the Bronze Age

1988 ◽  
Vol 83 ◽  
pp. 339-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ora Negbi

Two cult structures from Mycenae and from a sanctuary recently discovered at Phylakopi, on the island of Melos, shed a new light on the sacred architecture of the Aegean at the close of the Bronze Age. This paper suggests that the edifices of both these sites should be classified as popular places of worship. This suggestion is based on their location, layout and size as well as on their foreign architectural affinities. The Phylakopi sanctuary, located against the fortification wall of the town, consists of a major temple to which a subsidiary shrine is attached. The pair of adjacent structures located on the lower terrace of the acropolis of Mycenae, are of approximately the same size, presumably possessing the same religious status. The three edifices bear several asymmetrical features, such as indirect entrances and corner platforms that have no parallels elsewhere in the Aegean. These features are diagnostic to a special type of Canaanite temples that prevailed in maritime posts and harbour sites. There are indications, however, that in spite of the foreign architectural affinities, the cult practised in the Mycenae structures and in the major temple of Phylakopi was distinctively Aegean. On the other hand, architectural and contextual data seem to support the assumption that the subsidiary shrine of Phylakopi was reserved for foreign cult, practised by Canaanite traders.

Antiquity ◽  
1940 ◽  
Vol 14 (55) ◽  
pp. 233-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. B. Wace

The Treasury of Atreus is one of the most important monuments of the Bronze Age in Greece and is universally recognized as the supreme example of Mycenaean architecture. It is also the finest of all the many beehive or tholos tombs which are such a striking feature of Mycenaean culture. The beehive-tomb is essentially a creation of the architecture of the Greek mainland and of Mycenaean as opposed to Minoan building. In Crete so far three beehive-tombs of Bronze Age date are known, two of which—one at Hagios Theodoros and another just found at Knossos—date from late L.M. III, the very end of the Bronze Age. The third, found at Knossos in 1938, is not to be dated earlier than 1500 B.C. All three are small and poorly constructed. The Early Bronze Age circular ossuaries of Mesarà in Crete, often erroneously described as beehive-tombs, are, as Professor Marinatos has provel nothing of the kind. On the other hand, on the Greek Mainland and in the islands immediately adjacent to it, at least forty beehive-tombs are so far known. These figures are enough to indicate that the beehivetomb is a product of Mainland or Mycenaean rather than of Cretan or Minoan architecture. More accurate information about the date and construction of the Treasury of Atreus, the finest of all the beehivetombs, cannot fail to enlarge our knowledge of the history and art of the Mycenaean civilization.


Author(s):  
Amparo Hernando Grande ◽  
Catalina Galán Saulnier

Actualmente son numerosos los trabajos de investigación que tratan de sistematizar la Edad del Bronce en la Meseta, dando lugar a la identificación de diferentes facies u «horizontes» que ponen de manifiesto la personalidid propia y el bagaje cultural desarrollado por los habitantes de ese área geográfica. Pero este volumen de información, por otra parte, plantea problemas a la hora de analizar cual es realmente el estado de la investigación, qué aspectos son los más/menos conocidos. Sintetizar esa información que existe hoy sobre el tema, por los motivos que exponemos no es tarea fácil, por ello aportamos una serie de consideraciones que a nuestro modo de ver deben ser tenidas en cuenta en el futuro de las investigaciones.Now adays there are large works of investigation trying to systematize the Bronze Age in the Spanish Meseta giving place to the Identification of different facies or «horizons» which show the own personality and cultural background developped by the inhabitans of that geographic área. But, on the other hand, this amount of Information expounds problems when analyzing which is the real condition of the investigation, which aspects are the most/the less known. Summarize all the Information existing about this subject these days is not a easy task. That is why we contribute with a series of considerations, that in our opinión, should be kept in mind in further investigations.


1938 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 134-141

The period to which the occupation of Karphi belongs is clearly the dark age which follows the end of the Bronze Age. This period is often known indiscriminately as the Sub-Minoan or as the Proto-Geometric Period, that term being used which seems to fit best the results at the particular site to which it is applied. Neither term, however, is satisfactory when applied to the period as a whole.Sub-Minoan pottery is clearly contemporary with Proto-Geometric. It would be absurd to apply the term Proto-Geometric to a city like Karphi, where only one or two sherds of the true Proto-Geometric style have appeared. On the other hand, the term Sub-Minoan takes no account of the very considerable non-Minoan elements which have crept into the architecture and other manifestations of culture. In the same way, it would be absurd to apply the term Sub-Minoan to the Early Iron Age cemeteries of Knossos. Here the term Proto-Geometric is more excusable, though it still takes no account of the many Minoan features which survived there.


Author(s):  
Н.Б. Виноградов ◽  
С.В. Кузьминых ◽  
Р.К. Хайрятдинов

Статья посвящена поиску семантики фертообразных символов на выполненной из талька створке литейной формы – случайной находке на распаханном Старокумлякском поселении в окрестностях г. Пласт Челябинской области. Артефакт датирован заключительным этапом бронзового века в Южном Зауралье. Четырежды повторенный один и тот же символ – изображение рогов барана, по мнению авторов, должен восприниматься как знак, отражающий корпоративную обрядовую практику, призванную обеспечить мастеру покровительство фарна. The paper is devoted to search ingsemantics of Ф-shaped symbols on a casting mold valve made from soap-stone which is a chance find at the tilled Starokumlyakskoye settlement near the town of Plastin the Chelyabinskregion. The artifact dates to the final stage of the Bronze Age in the southern Trans-Urals. In the view of the authors, the symbol representing ram horns which is reproduced four times is to be perceived as a sign reflecting corporate ritual practice intended to ensure that the blacksmith was under the protection of the khvarenah.


Antiquity ◽  
1941 ◽  
Vol 15 (60) ◽  
pp. 371-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Matheson

The rabbit shares one characteristic with the archaeologist—both dig into the earth. Hence the latter, contemplating some object or evidence revealed by his spade, may sometimes be viewing merely the result of the activities of a humbler but much more numerous type of excavator. Is he not warned to ‘always make sure that an apparent post-hole is not a rabbit- or rat-hole’? And does not Professor James Ritchie describe the rabbit as ‘a burrower and a vandal which makes short cuts through the neat layers and classifications of the excavator’? On the other hand, the rabbit's activity or lack of it may on occasion be of service; it was a long patch of virgin turf on Easton Down, untouched by rabbits or moles, which led Dr Stone in 1932 to remove the turf, thus revealing a layer of tightly packed flint nodules covering a Bronze Age urn-field. Hence no apology, we feel, is needed for an article on the rabbit in a journal primarily concerned with archaeological research; particularly as much of the article deals with the status of the rabbit in medieval times, a topic which has already figured briefly in ANTIQUITY.


Author(s):  
Antonis Anastasopoulos ◽  
Christos Kyriakopoulos

Summary In Crete, as in the rest of the Ottoman Empire, patients who suffered from hernias and other diseases that required surgery made statements to the court of law that absolved the surgeons of liability in case of death as a result of the operation. These statements also included information about the medical condition concerned, the surgeon, the medical procedure and the fee to be paid. In this article, we discuss such statements of the period 1670–1760 from the town of Kandiye (mod. Heraklion). On one hand, we demonstrate that a critical analysis of the statements reveals a dynamic society, which actively overcomes its ideology of submission to God and religious prejudices when it comes to dealing with health issues. On the other hand, we argue that, as the statements were made before the official court of law, they constitute a facet of the Ottomanisation of Cretan society and its practices.


Scrinium ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 281-294
Author(s):  
Alexander V. Pigin

(1567) is a Northern Russian hagiographical work devoted to the founder of the St. Niсholas Alexander-Oshevensky Monastery, which was located nearby the town of Kargopol. The article analyses hagiographer Theodosius’ techniques for dealing with literary sources, especially with two Byzantine texts, The Ladder by John Climacus and The Life of Alexis the Man of God. Theodosius uses these sources to develop one of the major themes of his own work, that is, the relationship between St. Alexander and his family. The family theme bears ambiguous meaning. On the one hand, the family is rejected from the standpoint of monastic asceticism, but on the other hand, it is rendered as the ultimate value and stronghold of Christian morality.



2007 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 141-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.N. Postgate

AbstractStarting from Kilise Tepe in the Göksu valley north of Silifke two phenomena in pre-Classical Anatolian ceramics are examined. One is the appearance at the end of the Bronze Age, or beginning of the Iron Age, of hand-made, often crude, wares decorated with red painted patterns. This is also attested in different forms at Boğazköy, and as far east as Tille on the Euphrates. In both cases it has been suggested that it may reflect the re-assertion of earlier traditions, and other instances of re-emergent ceramic styles are found at the end of the Bronze Age, both elsewhere in Anatolia and in Thessaly. The other phenomenon is the occurrence of ceramic repertoires which seem to coincide precisely with the frontiers of a polity. In Anatolia this is best recognised in the case of the later Hittite Empire. The salient characteristics of ‘Hittite’ shapes are standardised, from Boğazköy at the centre to Gordion in the west and Korucu Tepe in the east. This is often tacitly associated with Hittite political control, but how and why some kind of standardisation prevails has not often been addressed explicitly. Yet this is a recurring phenomenon, and in first millennium Anatolia similar standardised wares have been associated with both the Phrygian and the Urartian kingdoms. This paper suggests that we should associate it directly with the administrative practices of the regimes in question.


2014 ◽  
Vol 109 ◽  
pp. 97-110
Author(s):  
Nicoletta Momigliano ◽  
Laura Phillips ◽  
Michela Spataro ◽  
Nigel Meeks ◽  
Andrew Meek

This article presents the curatorial context of a newly discovered fragment of Minoan faience, now in the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery (BCMAG), and the technological study conducted on this piece at the British Museum. It also discusses the British Museum study of comparable fragments, now in the Ashmolean Museum, belonging to the Town Mosaic from Knossos, an important and unique find brought to light during Sir Arthur Evans's excavations of the ‘Palace of Minos’ at the beginning of the twentieth century. Both the stylistic study and the analytical results suggest that the Bristol fragment is genuine, and most likely belonged to the Town Mosaic. The Bristol piece does not possess features that can advance our understanding of Crete in the Bronze Age, but its curious biography adds something to the history of collecting and the history of archaeology.


1963 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 258-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Britton

This paper is concerned with the earliest use in Britain of copper and bronze, from the first artifacts of copper in the later Neolithic until the transition from the Early to the Middle Bronze Age, as marked by palstaves and haft-flanged axes. It does not attempt to deal with all the material, but instead certain classes of evidence have been chosen to illustrate some of the main styles of workmanship. These groups have been considered both from the point of view of their archaeology, and of the technology they imply.Such an approach requires on the one hand that the artifacts are sorted into types, their associations in graves and hoards studied, their distributions plotted, and finally a consideration of the evidence for their affinities and chronology. On the other hand there are questions also of interest that need a different standpoint. Of what metals or alloys are the objects made? Can their sources be located? How did the smiths set about their work? Over what regions was production carried out? If we are to understand as much as we might of the life of prehistoric times, then surely we should look at material culture from as many view-points as possible—in this case, the manner and setting of its production as well as its classification.


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