N. Britova

Aegean culture played an important role in the development of the culture of the peoples living near the Mediterranean Sea. It developed on the islands and shores of the Aegean Sea, in the eastern Mediterranean, for almost two thousand years, from 3000 to 1200 BC. simultaneously with the art of Egypt and Mesopotamia. The center of the Aegean culture was the island of Crete. She also captured the Cyclades, Peloponnese, where the cities of Mycenae, Pylos and Tiryns were located, and West Coast Asia Minor, in the northern part of which was Troy. The Aegean culture is also called Cretan-Mycenaean.

The memory of the Aegean world was preserved in the legends and myths of ancient Greece, and the legends of ancient Troy - in the epic of Homer. No one doubted the legendary nature of the information about the pre-Greek inhabitants of the Greek land, until in the second half of the 19th century. the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann did not unearth the real remains of Homeric Troy on the Gissarlik hill, although he did not manage to figure out which of the cultural layers he unearthed belonged to the times described in the Iliad.

After that, in the 70s and 80s. 19th century As a result of the excavations of G. Schliemann and W. Dörpfeld, the Mycenaean culture was discovered on the Peloponnesian Peninsula. At the beginning of the 20th century English archaeologist A. Evans made his amazing discoveries in Crete. Quirky and strange world, long forgotten by mankind, suddenly appeared before the eyes of the people of the 20th century. Studying the artistic treasures of the Palace of Knossos that he uncovered, as well as the ancient Cretan cities of Gurnia and Phaistos excavated by other archaeologists, Evans was the first to consider the culture of Crete in comparison and in connection with the cultures of Egypt and other countries. ancient east. He also proposed a periodization of the Aegean culture, rather conditional, since it was based on a successive change in the forms of Cretan ceramics, but is still generally accepted. Evans divided the history of the Aegean world into three great periods, and each of them in turn into three sub-periods; he called them Minoans after the legendary king of Crete - Minos. Aegean writing has not yet been fully deciphered, which greatly complicates the study of Aegean culture. But here a comparison of archaeological finds and corresponding references in ancient Greek is of great help. literary works, as well as information found in Egyptian and Western Asian texts.

The beginning of culture in Crete dates back to the Neolithic. The prehistory of the Aegean culture also includes the most ancient “pre-Homeric” cities excavated by Schliemann in 1871 of the twelve cities that successively existed on the Hissarlik hill, the so-called first and second Troy, dating back to the 3rd millennium BC. In its development, the Aegean culture reached the formation of an early slave-owning society. This development proceeded most rapidly in Crete.

The location of Crete in the center of the eastern Mediterranean created exceptionally favorable conditions for the development of trade and navigation. In those days, Crete was a fertile, abundantly forested and densely populated island, its harbors were well protected from storms. Already in the early Minoan period (3rd millennium BC), Cretan ships penetrated Melos, Thera, Delos and other islands of the Aegean Sea.

Around 2000 BC the first palaces of military leaders were erected on Crete. Some of them, like the first palace of Knossos and the palace in Mallia, were well fortified with walls and towers, others, like the palace at Phaistos, which stood on a steep hill, had no fortifications.

Around the middle of the 18th century. BC. some kind of catastrophe occurred on Crete, the nature of which is still not clear. Some researchers explain it by a strong earthquake, others - by a military invasion, similar to the invasion of the Hyksos in Egypt, others consider some major social upheaval to be the cause of the disaster. But the Aegean culture was not destroyed; on the contrary, from the beginning of the 17th century. BC. its new heyday began, accompanied by the flourishing of art. The period of power of Crete, a strong maritime power that gained dominance in the eastern Mediterranean, began.

During this heyday (according to Evans - at the end of the Middle Minoan period and the beginning of the Late Minoan one), the art of Crete created numerous works of high artistic merit: an unusually peculiar architecture, very dynamic, full of picturesque and lighting effects; decorative painting, bright and colorful, striking with the boldness of the drawing and the variety of subjects, and sometimes with realistic observation; ceramics, decorated with an exceptional richness of fantasy; subtly elegant small plastic and carved stones. The art of Crete, whose heyday coincides with the establishment and high rise of the New Kingdom in Egypt, is on the whole close to the art of the countries of the Ancient East; however, there is no monumentality in it, no strict, calm rhythm and symmetry.

Excavations in Crete have yielded, above all, many remains of architecture. The most significant architectural monument of Ancient Crete is the Palace of Knossos. This is a huge architectural complex that was created over several centuries, experienced several earthquakes and other catastrophes, collapsed and rose again from the ruins. . Greek myths about the mysterious Labyrinth and its owner, the bull-man Minotaur, were associated with the Palace of Knossos. Even at the very end of the 19th century. this palace was considered a fiction of popular fantasy; no one then thought that he would actually be found.

The first buildings in Knossos appeared, as already mentioned, around 2000 BC. The entire palace complex was finally formed around 1600 BC. when he occupied the greatest territory. But even after that, various completions and restructurings continued.

During their heyday, the Cretans felt completely safe from attacks from the sea and therefore no longer built fortress walls around the city and the palace. The central place in the Knossos palace was occupied by a large (52.5 m long) rectangular courtyard; on all sides it was adjoined by palace premises built at different times, mostly rectangular; some of them were located at the level of the central courtyard, some - below it, some - one or two floors higher, in an extremely intricate alternation. The palace had several entrances; wide staircases led to four of them. The location of the premises at different levels necessitated many stairs and ramps. Air and light entered through numerous light wells. The illumination of the rooms was thus not uniform. The variety of lighting, as well as the placement of rooms on different levels, contributed to the picturesque overall impression. A very important role was played here by wall paintings, which are distinguished by their exceptional decorative effect; the contrast of color comparisons of these paintings indicates that the artists took into account their illumination with diffused or weak light.

A thorough study of the ruins of the palace made it possible to establish with a significant degree of certainty the purpose of the surviving premises, of which only a few were large sizes- dominated by small, cozy rooms. The southeastern part of the palace was occupied by living quarters; here were the rooms of the "queen" (the existence of which Evans suggests), a bath, pools for ablutions; in the eastern and northeastern parts of the palace there were palace workshops, in which artisans worked, as well as storerooms and treasuries. In the center of the western part of the palace, Evans identifies a number of rooms of the “king”, including the “throne room”, where, probably, cult actions were performed with the participation of the king-priest; it was frescoed with griffins lying among lilies (15th century BC). Farther to the west were numerous narrow and long warehouses and storerooms, and between the king's quarters and the central courtyard were cult rooms and temple treasuries. In the northwestern part of the palace there was a special place for religious theatrical performances: a platform bounded on both sides by steps for spectators. The walls of the palace were made of raw bricks with a wooden frame, rubble masonry and facing the lower part of the walls with large stone slabs; in addition to limestone, gypsum blocks were widely used. One of the most peculiar features of Aegean architecture was wooden columns widening upwards with a base of stone or plaster and a wide stone capital (along with such columns, there were also straight or tapering upwards). The walls of the rooms were covered with plaster and painted. The outer walls of the Knossos palace were closely lined with small houses of the townspeople, two or three stories high, with flat roofs, as can be seen on the faience tablets found at Knossos depicting houses.

Festive, elevated decorativeness is the most characteristic feature fine arts Crete. Variegated and multicolored decorative painting on wet plaster, that is, frescoes, the walls of palaces, public buildings and rich houses were covered. Frescoes were located on the walls in the form of friezes or panels. The figurative and semantic content of the Cretan wall paintings is clearly connected with religious and mythological ideas. But the interpretation of individual scenes and images is very difficult because we do not know either the religion or mythology of the Cretans and can only build more or less probable guesses about them on the basis of deciphered texts and surviving works of art, as well as comparisons with the religion and mythology of various peoples of the Ancient East.

The earliest fresco in the Knossos Palace is considered to be the so-called "Saffron Collector" (perhaps 18 or 17 century BC) - a leaning human figure (or perhaps not a person, but a monkey) in the middle of large crocus or saffron flowers. The disproportionate figure given by a flat silhouette is painted with bluish-green paint; white blooming flowers growing on the “hills” outlined by a sinuous curvilinear contour stand out brightly against a red background.

One should not, however, think that all the painting of Crete had such a conditional character, although some features of early painting were constantly repeated in the future. In contrast to the “Saffron Collector”, the frescoes of the late Middle Minoan period (that is, the end of the 17th - the beginning of the 16th century BC) from Agia Triada with images of plants and animals have a very great realistic observation and, at the same time, a special colorful subtlety. In the surviving fragment of the fresco with a cat hunting for a pheasant in the thickets, the artist well found both the flexible, cautious tread of the cat and the calmness of the pheasant not noticing the danger with remarkable decorative grace and at the same time fidelity to nature, the branches and leaves of various plants are conveyed in other fragments of these frescoes. . The immediate freshness of the perception of nature also distinguishes the fresco "Blue dolphins and colored fish" against the blue background of the sea, on the wall of one of the "Queen's quarters" in Knossos.

Picturesqueness and decorativeness, as well as the freedom and courage of Cretan painting at the end of the Middle Minoan period, found their expression in frescoes, more or less concretely depicting the life of the inhabitants of Crete. Fragments of a fresco were found in the so-called Old Tower of the Palace of Knossos, where a motley crowd of people gathered in front of a temple is depicted very briefly, but clearly enough, near which elegantly dressed women, perhaps priestesses, are sitting, apparently talking animatedly. These women are dressed in dresses with wide skirts cinched at the waist, with open breasts and puffy sleeves, with tiaras and necklaces on carefully combed hair. Of great interest are the architectural forms of the temple. It consists of a central part crowned with an elegant roof on a high stone base with two columns widening upwards, two side extensions located below, with one column at each extension, and, finally, two staircases on the sides of the building, also with columns. The point of view of the whole scene is taken from above, but the temple (including the stairs) is shown strictly frontally.

Even more curious is the Knossos fresco with the "ladies in blue", as archaeologists have called them. On the surviving top of three female figures faces are drawn in profile, eyes and chest - in front; women are dressed in patterned blue dresses with narrow waists, with open breasts and sleeves to the elbows, on their heads there are diadems and pearl threads with which strands of heavy black hair are intertwined, part of which falls on the back and chest, curls on the forehead. The mannered gestures of full, bangled hands with thin fingers. The women's faces are exactly the same and inexpressive, but there is still some animation in them: perhaps a circus performance or some other spectacle was unfolding in front of them.

Both of these frescoes give an idea of ​​the appearance of the noble women of Crete, the complexity and sophistication of the culture of the inhabitants of the Palace of Knossos, allowing us to speculate about the importance of women in Cretan society. In the northwestern part of the Knossos Palace, fragments of a multi-figured “fresco with stools” were found, which depict smartly dressed young men sitting on stools, and among them a girl in profile with a huge laughing black eye, bright mouth, full of liveliness and enthusiasm. She wears a patterned blue and red dress with a large bow at the back of her neck; on the forehead - a curl. Despite the ease, unexpected for the art of that era, and even the free naturalness of moving gestures or spectacular costumes and hairstyles, general character All this painting, however, does not go beyond the boundaries of ancient Eastern solemnity and spectacle, invariably retaining the features of patterning and flatness.

Among the frescoes of the Palace of Knossos, as in all the art of Crete, a very significant place is occupied by the image of a bull, which apparently played an extremely important role in economic life and in the religious and mythological ideas of the Cretans. In the religions of the ancient peoples throughout the Mediterranean, the bull occupied an important place. The understanding of this image changed from ancient and primitive totemic ideas to the personification in it of the life-giving force of nature. However, nowhere was the bull given such great importance as in Crete.

In Knossos, wonderful frescoes were found with acrobats - boys and girls jumping over a rapidly running bull. They are all dressed in the same way - with a bandage around their hips, their waists are pulled together with metal belts. Their movements are free and agile. The width of the chest, the thinness of the waist, the flexibility and muscularity of the arms and legs are emphasized. Apparently, these features were considered signs of beauty. It is possible that such dangerous exercises with an angry bull were not only spectacular, but also sacred meaning. Among the Cretan frescoes, only these dynamic acrobatic scenes have the same vital veracity as the frescoes depicting nature, although the features of conventionality stand out quite clearly in them (the “flying gallop” of a bull, etc.).

Already by the late Minoan period (after 1580 BC) there are large decorative painting in the so-called "corridor of processions" of the Palace of Knossos, where the frescoes were probably arranged in two rows; the bottom row has been preserved with a procession of young men carrying silver vessels, and girls with musical instruments. Human figures are given here to a very large extent conditionally, decoratively and planarly. Of the same kind is the famous painted relief from Knossos, the so-called (according to the suggestion of Rvans) "Priest-King". This incompletely preserved and restored relief, large in size (about 2.22 m high) and slightly protruding from the background (no more than 5 cm in the most prominent parts), depicts a walking young man in a traditional ancient costume (bandage and belt), with a thin waist and wide shoulders. The tread of the young man is full of solemnity. On his head is a crown of lilies and three feathers descending back, on his chest is a necklace, also of lily flowers. Right hand, clenched into a fist, he touches his chest, holding a rod in his left hand laid back. It passes among growing white lilies with red stamens and fluttering butterflies. The relief background is red. The extraordinarily refined and mannered style of this relief finds echoes in the simultaneous palace art of Mycenae and Tiryns. Even more conventional and similar to the flat pattern of the painting of the sarcophagus from Agia Triada, where cult scenes are presented - a sacrifice in front of two double axes (apparently, the former symbol of the sacred bull) and bringing gifts to the deceased. Increasingly increasing schematization leads Cretan painting already in the 15th century. BC. to total collapse.

Cretan ceramics has passed a complex and varied path of development. The earliest handmade earthenware vessels (circa 3000 BC) are covered with simple geometric designs common in Neolithic art. By the middle of the Middle Minoan period (approximately 17th century BC), the art of ceramics reached its peak. By this time belong the vases, which received their name from their first find in the Kamares cave, with graceful rounded shapes, covered with black lacquer, on which large plant patterns are applied with white and red paint. Over time, vase paintings have become much more realistic. At the end of the Middle Minoan period (end of the 17th and beginning of the 16th century BC), vessels appeared with excellent images of plants: tulips, lilies, ivy, made dark paint on a light background. The colors of the vases became more and more refined (for example, vases with lilac watering and white lilies on it).

The murals of the early Late Minoan period (16th century BC) are dominated by fish, nautilus shells, starfish, etc. One of the masterpieces of Cretan ceramics is a vase with an octopus from Gurnia. This vase has a somewhat vague, as if fluid form, entirely subordinate to the painting depicting a large octopus; its elastic tentacles, muscular body and burning eyes are conveyed with amazing authenticity; around it are algae and corals. on rhyton ( Rhyton - a vessel for wine in the form of a horn.), from Psira depicts dolphins caught in nets.

Later, in the 15th century. BC, in ceramics, as well as in wall painting, an increase in schematization began. The so-called "palace style" developed - the forms became drier, more refined, the pattern gradually turned into an ornament.

By the time of the heyday of the art of Crete, probably by the 16th century. BC, include stone, relief-covered vessels made of steatite (wen): a vessel with a group of reapers returning from the field with a song, or a rhyton with scenes of fisticuffs, wrestling and acrobatic scenes with a bull, where, despite the general the conventionality of the relief, the complex movements of the wrestlers or the swift run of an angry bull are conveyed with great vivacity.

The famous golden goblets with relief images of bulls, found in the Peloponnese, near the village of Vathio, belong to the same period of the brilliant flowering of Cretan art. The simple form of low, slightly widening goblets corresponds well to the relief that covers them. Both goblets were clearly made in the same workshop. One of them shows bulls grazing peacefully on the grass among olive trees, and a broad-shouldered, muscular youth who tied one of them. The appearance of the bulls, their movements, as well as the details of the landscape, testify to the artist's powers of observation and his high skill. The scenes on the second goblet are full of fast-paced action. In the center is a bull, caught in a spread net and making desperate efforts to escape: he twists his whole body and convulsively stretches his neck; on the right, a rapidly fleeing bull whose feet do not touch the ground; on the left - the struggle of a wild bull with hunters, one of which clung to the horns, the other, thrown back by the animal, flies headlong down. The movement of the angry bull is conveyed with vivid expressiveness, but the turn of his head is conditional, it is as if flattened. The connection of these images with the religious and mythological ideas of the Cretans is undeniable. The people on the cups from Vafio are given in the same way as on the frescoes and seals: the same thin, muscular figures in short aprons, just as tightly tied with a belt, in high shoes with pointed toes. Trees, grass, stones, a network of thick twisted rope are carefully rendered.

The heyday of Cretan art was accompanied by the development of fine plastic arts. Figurines of goddesses holding snakes in their hands, found in Crete, made of faience or ivory, faience tablets with multi-colored figures of flying fish, shells, a goat with a goat, etc. combine decorativeness and sophistication common to Aegean art with a great deal of realistic observation. The figurines of goddesses with snakes, with their traditional Cretan costume and flower-decorated headdress, with their solemn, motionless pose, were probably images of the goddess revered throughout the Mediterranean - the patroness of all living things, the goddess of vegetation; the snake, an attribute of the goddess, was considered a sacred creature. Such an image of the goddess, reflecting the appearance of a noble Cretan woman, could only take shape in a society that had already reached significant social stratification.

The statuette of the goddess with snakes of the Boston Museum, made of ivory and gold (17 cm high), can be called a masterpiece of Cretan fine plasticity. Her slender figure is also dressed in a long ruched dress, and she also holds snakes in outstretched arms. But the face is interpreted more realistically than that of the faience figurines, and more finely modeled. The muscles of the hands are carefully transferred. The boldness of its decision is distinguished by an ivory figurine, in which the rapid movement of an acrobat jumping over a bull is conveyed. Sharp observation, fidelity and accuracy of movement are also found in other examples of Cretan fine plastic art, especially in the numerous images of a bull characteristic of the Aegean art.

There are reasons to think that there was also a large sculpture in Crete, most likely wooden, which has not reached us.

The decline of Cretan culture in the 15th century BC. under the influence, apparently, of some kind of internal crisis unknown to us, accompanied in art by a rapidly growing schematization and geometrization of forms, it was most clearly reflected in sculpture. The figurines of young men of this time are distinguished by unnaturally elongated proportions, a primitive image of the body and face.

Around 1400 BC the cities of Crete were apparently destroyed by some foreign (most likely Achaean) military invasion. The destruction of the Palace of Knossos, which was the center of the Cretan sea power, may have been reflected in the Greek legends about Theseus, the hero who defeated the monstrous Minotaur, half-man, half-bull, who lived in the Labyrinth.

Aegean art that developed on the Greek mainland is commonly referred to as Mycenaean art.

The question of the ethnicity of the population of Crete and Mycenae is one of the most difficult in historical science. It is believed that the inhabitants of Crete and Mycenae belonged to different ethnic groups. The inhabitants of Mycenae were probably Achaeans. Pressed by other tribes, they settled in the south of the Balkan Peninsula around 2000 BC. The local population, maybe Carians or Pelasgians, partly left their native places and moved to others, partly mixed with newcomers. The heyday of the Mycenaean culture dates back to 1500-1200. BC. The social system of Mycenae and other Aegean cities of the Peloponnese and the coast of Asia Minor was characterized by the decomposition of the tribal system, the separation of the aristocracy, the presence of patriarchal slavery and the addition of a number of small states headed by a basileus - a military leader, high priest and judge. The People's Assembly had some significance in state affairs. Legends about the intra-clan struggle for the primacy of the clan, for the royal throne, were reflected later in Greek mythology and tragedy.

The leading place in Mycenaean art is occupied by architecture. Architectural monuments of this time were found in Mycenae, Tiryns, Orchomenos, Athens and other places in Greece, as well as in Troy (on the coast of Asia Minor). They are located on high ground. Unlike the palaces of Crete, which did not have fortifications, the palaces of Tiryns and Mycenae were well fortified (see pictures).

Behind their walls, the entire surrounding population was saved during enemy raids. Inside the fortress walls there were palace buildings in which the basileus lived, his family and numerous relatives, retinue and servants; there were also storage facilities.

The composition of these palace complexes had some common features with the composition of the Cretan palaces - an asymmetrical arrangement of buildings, light wells, etc. But it also had its own local features: in the plan of the palace, the central place was occupied by a megaron, a large rectangular hall with a hearth in the middle, four expanding upwards columns on the sides of the hearth, which supported the ceiling, and the vestibule (prodomos), which had an outer portico with two columns. The central place of the megaron in architectural ensemble, the plan of the megaron and the portico “in antah” (that is, with two columns between the protrusions of the side walls of the megaron) were those features of the Aegean architecture that passed into the architecture of Ancient Greece.

The walls of the palace buildings were built of mud brick with wooden lining, covered with plaster and sometimes painted. Mycenaean architecture is also characterized by the primitive technique of laying fortress walls from huge unhewn stones, dry. The thickness of these walls in Tiryns reaches 8 m. The walls were reinforced with towers. The Greek traveler Pausanias (2nd century AD) called them cyclopean in his Description of Hellas, because it seemed that only mythical cyclops could move such stones (more than 3 m in length and 1 m in height). This term - "cyclopean masonry" - is still used today.

The Mycenaean fortified palaces were the forerunners of the later acropolises in Greece. Mycenaean burial structures were distinguished by great originality. These are "mine graves" (opened in large numbers in last years), carved into the rock, lined with stone slabs and covered with slabs from above, and domed tombs (tholos), which are round structures covered with a dome, which is formed by concentric rows of overlapping masonry. A narrow corridor (dromos) leads to the round chamber. The best-preserved domed tomb of the 14th century. BC. was discovered by Schliemann in Mycenae and named by him "the treasury of Atreus", after the father of King Agamemnon, the leader of the Achaeans, the hero of the Trojan War. Its height is 13 m, its diameter is 14.5 m, its dome consists of 34 concentric masonry circles, the length of the dromos is 36 m. The entrance to the tomb is made of regular stone squares; the doorway, slightly tapering at the top, is covered with a huge monolithic slab (about 120 tons in weight), over which the masonry continues, forming a triangular hole to lighten the wall above the transverse slab. We see the same construction in the so-called "Lion's Gate" leading to the acropolis of Mycenae. The triangle above the span of the gate is occupied here by a large triangular slab with a sculptural relief in the form of two lionesses leaning with their front paws on the altar along the sides of the column standing on it, expanding upwards. The relief of the majestic "Lion's Gate" is the only example monumental sculpture in Aegean art. The heraldic character of the relief fully corresponded to the conventional art of Mycenae. The composition of the Mycenaean architectural complexes was original, but the decoration and ornamentation were formed under the strong influence of Crete, differing only in great schematism. The size of the buildings, their monumentality testify to the involvement of a huge number of people for their construction - both captive slaves and the local population.

Mycenaean wall painting has been preserved in Mycenae, Tiryns, Thebes and other places in Greece. The subjects of the paintings are the same as in Crete, or local; it is possible that the performers of these frescoes were Cretan masters. A fresco from Tiryns depicting acrobatic games with a bull is similar to the Cretan one; in a large fresco with a figure of a magnificently dressed woman carrying an ivory casket in front of her, the features of much more conventional local art stand out more clearly, although the costume and hairstyle are Cretan. Among the best frescoes of Tiryns is a fresco with a boar hunt. The rapid movement of a wild boar wounded by arrows and running away through the thickets and the dexterous movements of dogs are full of life. But the conditional coloring of the dogs enhances the abstract-decorative nature of the painting. The decorativeness of Mycenaean painting is closer to the decorativeness of the ornament: it is not a spot that prevails in it, but a line. Over time, the features of flatness and conditional schematization grew more and more, as can be seen, for example, from a small fresco (about 50 cm high) with a scene of the departure of two girls in a chariot, the so-called "hunters". Girls stand on a chariot drawn by a pair of horses; their clothes are not Cretan, similar to the Greek tunic; behind them are completely conventionally interpreted trees. The composition is cut off at half of the horse's figure; the fresco is possibly a copy of a part of some multi-figured composition.

Homer calls Mycenae rich in gold. Indeed, the excavations of Schliemann and the excavations of the 50s. 20th century gave absolutely exceptional wealth and partly artistic skill things: the so-called "mask of Agamemnon", goblets, bowls, vessels - of coarse local work, but massive, of pure gold; a wonderful goblet made of rock crystal with a handle in the shape of a duck's head; heavy bronze swords with ivory handles inlaid with gold; many plaques, probably decorating the burial canopy and clothing; daggers of Cretan work with amazingly subtle inlay on the blades depicting running lions among lilies, hunting for lions, etc. Thus, in applied art, as in architecture, a combination of a highly developed Cretan culture with a more primitive local one can be seen.

Highly interesting view Aegean art are carved seal rings made of stone or metal. These seals are very diverse in subject matter; some of them shed light on the religious ideas that developed in the Aegean world (when they are carved, for example, a double ax - an object of worship, or scenes with priestesses and their cult actions). People, just like in wall paintings, are depicted with a thin waist, muscular, with a small head. Although the human figures on the seals are strongly schematized, the animals are depicted with the usual subtle observation of Aegean art (see figure).

During the period of prosperity of the Cretan state, the Aegean culture also spread to the coast of Asia Minor, and rich Troy was included in its sphere of influence. Archaeological research has established that Homeric Troy corresponds to the seventh city of the twelve former on the Gissarlik hill; in this city there were fortress walls and (not preserved) palaces and a temple.

Based on the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" by Homer and on archaeological data, it can be assumed that in the 13th - 12th centuries. BC. the union of the Achaean tribes with the Mycenae at the head began the struggle for the possession of the Hellespont and the coast of Asia Minor. The long siege of Troy (for 10 years) ended in victory for the Achaeans, but weakened both sides.

Around 1200 BC Mycenaean culture was swept away by a new wave of Greek tribes - the Dorians moving from the north, pressed by the Thracians and Illyrians.

Archaeological discoveries of recent decades confirm the proximity of the late Mycenaean and early Greek culture and thus the significance of the Aegean art for the composition early stages proper Greek art.

The first centers of culture were discovered by the excavations of Heinrich Schliemann in Mycenae (), Arthur Evans in Crete (c). Since the 19th century several hundred monuments have been explored: burial grounds, settlements, large cities such as Poliochne on about. Lemnos with a stone wall 5 m high, Phylakopi on about. Milos; royal residences - Troy, the palaces of Crete (Knossos, Mallia, Festus), the acropolis in Mycenae.

The most famous archaeological cultures of this period are the Minoan (Cretan) and Mycenaean, from which it got its name, but there are also several local ones, in particular the Cycladic and Hellenic.

periodization

1. Crete-Mycenaean period (late III-II millennium BC). Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations. The emergence of the first state formations. The development of navigation. Establishment of trade and diplomatic contacts with the civilizations of the Ancient East. The emergence of original writing. For Crete and mainland Greece, various periods of development are distinguished at this stage, since on the island of Crete, where a non-Greek population lived at that time, statehood developed earlier than in Balkan Greece, which underwent BC at the end of the 3rd century. BC e. the conquest of the Achaean Greeks.
   1. Minoan civilization (Crete):
      1. Early Minoan period (XXX-XXIII centuries BC). The dominance of tribal relations, the beginning of the development of metals, the beginnings of crafts, the development of navigation, a relatively high level of agrarian relations.
      2. Middle Minoan period (XXII-XVIII centuries BC). Also known as the period of "old" or "early" palaces. The emergence of early state formations in different corners islands. Construction of monumental palace complexes. early forms of writing.
      3. Late Minoan period (XVII-XII centuries BC). The heyday of the Minoan civilization, the unification of Crete, the creation of the sea power of King Minos, the wide scope of Crete's trading activities in the Aegean Sea, the flourishing of monumental construction ("new" palaces in Knossos, Mallia, Phaistos). Active contacts with ancient Eastern states. Natural disaster of the middle of the XV century. BC e. causes the decline of the Minoan civilization, which created the prerequisites for the conquest of Crete by the Achaeans.
   2. Helladic civilization (Balkan Greece):
      1. Early Helladic period (XXX-XXI centuries BC). Dominance in Balkan Greece of tribal relations among the pre-Greek population. The appearance of the first large settlements and proto-palace complexes.
      2. Middle Helladic period (XX-XVII centuries BC). The settlement in the south of the Balkan Peninsula of the first waves of Greek speakers - the Achaeans, was accompanied by a slight decrease in the overall level of socio-economic development of Greece. The beginning of the decomposition of tribal relations among the Achaeans.
      3. Late Helladic period (XVI-XII centuries BC) or Mycenaean civilization. The emergence of an early class society among the Achaeans, the formation of a productive economy in agriculture, the emergence of a number of state entities with centers in Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos, Thebes, etc., the formation of original writing, the flourishing of Mycenaean culture. The Achaeans conquer Crete and destroy the Minoan civilization. In the XII century. BC e. a new tribal group invades Greece - the Dorians, the death of the Mycenaean statehood, the beginning of the Greek dark ages and the next historical period.

Cities

Cities, fortified with walls with towers and bastions, with public buildings and temples appeared in western Anatolia in 3000 - 2000 years. BC e.; fortified settlements in mainland Greece - at the end of 2300 - 2000 years. BC e.; no fortresses have been found in Crete.

Culture classification

There are several local archaeological cultures (civilizations that are part of Aegean civilization):

• Thessalonian Civilization,
• Macedonian Civilization,
• Western Anatolian civilization (Troy, Beydzhesultan, Limantepe),

Chronologically, these civilizations are usually divided into three main periods - early, middle and late, and each period - into 3 sub-periods (I, II, III): for example, Early Minoan I, Middle Solun III and so on.

The development of civilization

Development Aegean civilization passed unevenly, its centers experienced epochs of decline and prosperity at different times.

Formation process Aegean civilization was complex and lengthy.

• the civilizations of western Anatolia and Central Greece emerged from the local Neolithic,
• on the islands of the eastern Aegean, the civilization of Troy had a great influence;
• western Anatolian influence was strong on the other islands as well.

Middle Bronze Age (2000-1500 BC) - the period of greatest consolidation Aegean civilization, as evidenced by a certain unity of material culture: ceramics, metal products, etc.

Around 1600 BC e. the invasion of mainland Greece by new tribes (possibly the Achaeans), whose warriors used war chariots, marked the beginning of the emergence of small states of the Mycenaean period near other centers - Mycenae, Tiryns, Orchomenus.

Around 1470 B.C. e. some centers Aegean civilization(especially Crete) were affected by the volcanic eruption of Santorini. The Achaean (Mycenaean) population appeared on Crete, which brought a new culture and Linear B.

From 1220 BC e. Aegean civilization is experiencing a deep internal crisis, which is accompanied by the invasion of the Dorians and the "peoples of the sea", which leads Aegean civilization to death.

Art of the Aegean Civilization

Aegean art is characterized by the transition of the main role in its development from one area of ​​the Aegean world to another, the addition of local styles, relationships with the art of Ancient Egypt, Syria, Phoenicia. In comparison with the artistic cultures of the Ancient East, Aegean art is more secular.

Cycladic art

Among the monuments of 3000-2000. BC e. the funeral plastic of the Cyclades stands out, “Cycladic idols”, - marble figurines or heads (fragments of statues) of geometrized, laconic, monumental forms with clearly expressed architectonics (“violin-like” figures, naked female figurines).

Cretan art

"Blue Monkeys". Fresco from Santorini.

Approximately from 2300-2200. BC e. Crete became the main center of artistic culture (flourishing in 2000-1500 BC). The art of Crete extended its influence to the Cyclades and mainland Greece. The highest achievements of Cretan architects are palaces (opened in Knossos, Phaistos, Mallia, Kato-Zakro), in which the combination of large horizontal areas (courtyards) and complexes of 2-3-storey premises, light wells, ramps, stairs creates the effect of a colorful overflow of space, emotionally rich, saturated with an endless variety of impressions artistic image. In Crete, a peculiar type of column was created, which expands upwards. In the fine and decorative arts of Crete, the ornamental and decorative style (2000-1700 BC, which reached perfection in vase painting kamares) is replaced in 1700-1500. BC e. more concrete and direct transfer of images of flora and fauna and man (frescoes of the palace in Knossos, vases depicting sea creatures, the production of small plastic, toreutics, glyptics); by 1400 BC e. (approximately, in connection with the conquest by the Achaeans), conventionality, stylization are growing (frescoes of the “throne room” and a painted relief with a stuko “king-priest” from the palace at Knossos, vase painting of the “palace style”).

Achaean art

1700-1200 BC e. - a period of high flowering of the art of Achaean Greece. Fortified cities (Mycenae, Tiryns) were built on hills, with powerful walls of cyclopean masonry (from stone blocks weighing up to 12 tons) and a layout on two levels - the lower city (the habitat of the population of the outskirts) and the acropolis with the ruler's palace. In the architecture of dwellings (palaces and houses, as in Crete, were built on stone plinths of adobe with wooden bundles), a type of rectangular house with a portico is formed - a megaron, a prototype of the ancient Greek "temple in ants". The best excavated palace in Pylos. There are round domed tombs-tholos with the so-called. false vault and dromos (“Tomb of Atreus” near Mycenae, 1400-1200 BC). The fine and decorative arts of Achaean Greece were strongly influenced by the art of Crete, especially in 1700-1500. BC e. (wares made of gold and silver from the "shaft tombs" in Mycenae). The local style is characterized by generalization and conciseness of forms (reliefs on tombstones of "shaft tombs", funeral masks, some dishes ("Nestor's cup") from burials). Art 1500-1200 BC e., like Cretan art, paid great attention to man and nature (frescoes of palaces in Thebes, Tiryns, Mycenae, Pylos; vase painting, sculpture), but tends to persistent symmetrical forms and generalizations (heraldic composition with figures of 2 lions of relief lion gate in Mycenae).

periodization of history.

I. 3 thousand BC - 12th c. BC. Crete-Mycenaean or Aegean civilization.

1. Cretan culture 3 thousand BC - 15th c. BC.

2. Mycenaean culture of the 18th century. BC e. - 12th c. BC e.

II. 12th c. BC. - 8th c. BC Homeric period. Homer's poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey" are the main source of information about this period.

1. 12 - 9 c. BC "Dark Ages", during this period there is a decline in culture, which was caused by the invasion of the Dorian tribes from the north. As a result, writing was forgotten, stone construction stopped;

2. 9 - 8 c. BC. - the emergence of new states-policies (Miletus, Ephesus, Corinth, Megara, Athens, Sparta),

III. 8 - 6 c. BC - archaic period

The foundations of Greek culture are being formed, the Greeks populate the entire Mediterranean (Great Colonization).

IV. 6 - 5 c. BC. classical period

The period of the highest flowering of ancient Greek culture.

V. 4 - 1 c. BC. Hellenistic period.

The spread of Greek culture to the East (to India), the interweaving of Greek culture with the culture of the East.

Crete - Mycenaean (Aegean) culture.

At the turn of III - II millennium BC. the ancestors of the later Greeks, moving across the Danube, invaded the Balkan Peninsula and drove out the indigenous population.

At the beginning of the 20th century, A. Evans and G. Schliemann managed to find and prove the existence of the Aegean culture created by the pre-Greek population.

Cretan culture.

According to Greek myth, the first ruler of the island of Crete was Minos, the son of Zeus and the Phoenician princess of Europe, so the culture has a second name - the Minoan culture.

The culture of Crete is divided into three periods:

one . Early Minoan - 3000 - 2300 / 2100 BC

2. Middle Minoan period - 2300/2100 - 1600 BC

3. Late Minoan - 1600 - 1200 BC

The first period of prosperity of Crete and its hegemony in the Aegean world began at the turn of III - II millennium BC. The southern and eastern parts of the island, where settlers from Asia Minor landed, received the greatest development. The largest settlement of Fest.

In the Middle Minoan period (the period of the "first palaces"), the northern part of the island developed - Knossos, Festus, Mallia. The period ended in disaster. K due to the earthquake in Ser. 18th century BC. only ruins remained of the palaces. After 50 years, Crete entered a time of new prosperity and the rise of Cretan culture was until the middle of the 15th century. BC, when civilization died as a result of a grandiose volcanic eruption on the neighboring island of Thira (Thera). In 1400 BC. the island was conquered by the Achaeans, who came from mainland Greece.

Crete became the first maritime power in the Mediterranean. Unconditional domination of the sea allowed Crete not to build defensive fortifications on the island itself. A powerful fleet allowed the Cretans to develop a lively trade. Their exports of wine, olive oil, products artistic craft(dishes, fabrics, jewelry, weapons) covered all the islands of the Mediterranean, Egypt, Syria, the Iberian Peninsula, Asia Minor. From Egypt, the Cretans brought colored glass and faience, from Cyprus - copper, from Libya - ivory and precious metals, from Syria - horses.

Crete was an oriental despotism. All land belonged to the state. In addition to the king and the aristocracy, there was a layer of artisans - potters, sculptors, masons, jewelers. Probably, there was also slavery in the form of the so-called. "domestic slavery", characteristic of the East (in the economy of the king and the nobility). But first of all, slaves, as state property, were used in the construction of large structures, characteristic of the ancient East. Farming was done by free peasants. The life of the privileged strata was concentrated at court. The ruler was also the high priest. It is believed that two dynasties ruled in Crete in the Middle Minoan period: one in the northern part of the island with its capital at Knossos; the other is in the southern part of the island with its capital in Phaistos. At the beginning of the late Minoan period, all power passed into the hands of the rulers of Knossos.

The Cretans had a written language (the archive of the Knossos palace on clay tablets (about 3,000 clay tablets) has been preserved). There are three stages of development: hieroglyphic (the turn of III - II millennium BC), linear writing A (17 - 14 centuries BC). e) and Linear B (1500-1100 BC, it was used by the Achaeans who came to Crete).Linear A, which was used by the pre-Greek population, has not been read, because the language of the Cretans is unknown.

The ruins of the Knossos Palace testify to the highest level of development of construction and architecture. Unlike monumental architecture ancient egypt with its strict symmetry, the palace at Knossos did not have a strictly thought-out plan. Together with the city buildings near the harbor, it could accommodate up to 100 thousand inhabitants. Although the Palace of Knossos bears signs of oriental splendor, it is distinguished from eastern buildings: picturesque lines, openness of spacious rooms, repetition of the same architectural elements, a large number of halls connected by corridors around the central courtyard form labyrinths. It is not monumentality that is decisive, but profit and comfort, and although the palace looks chaotically built and is a conglomeration of individual structures included in a single complex, its architecture is solid and perfectly adapted to the requirements of the local climate. It had a water supply and sewerage system with terracotta baths, thoughtful ventilation and lighting. Light penetrated into the halls of the palace from the vast central courtyard, but if the light did not reach any point, the architect placed light holes in the ceilings or made special skylight windows. In general, light courtyards are one of the most characteristic ideas of Cretan construction. Unusual and interesting are the monumental stairs, which were used not only for their intended purpose, but also as a kind of stands for spectators, from where they could watch games or other spectacles.

The interior of the apparently three-storied palace was luxurious: the floors were lined with stone, the lower part of the walls was lined with plaster, the upper part with fresco paintings. The walls of the palaces are painted with frescoes depicting scenes of court life and images of animals and plants. The ornament is dominated by plants (lilies, crocuses, palms), and the inhabitants of the sea (dolphins, fish, mollusks). The favorite plot of the frescoes was tauromachia - games with a bull, which were of a ritual nature.

The frescoes and ceramics of ancient Crete are an important source of information about the life and culture of the islanders. The palace was the largest, but not the only building in the city. Houses of ordinary citizens were also found. In the vicinity of the city, the remains of well-equipped mansions have been preserved. A viaduct (a bridge over a ravine), a caravanserai (an inn and a trading yard) have also been preserved. The oldest form of dwelling in Crete was a round building made of stone or raw brick with a conical roof. Following the model of a dwelling in Crete, tombs were built, which were family or ancestral tombs

Numerous stone labryses (ancient Greek double-sided axes, an attribute of Zeus) were found in Crete, which, apparently, played a cult role and were a kind of symbol of the island. The name of the Palace of Knossos is often derived from labrys - the Labyrinth.

Women played an important role in the life of Crete, they enjoyed such freedom, which was not there either in the ancient or in the medieval world. The cult of a woman manifested itself in everyday life, in sports and in religious ritual.

In the Cretan pantheon, female deities were in the first place (prototypes Greek goddesses Athens, Artemis, Aphrodite).

The Cretans had a cult of animals, primarily a bull, as evidenced by numerous images of bulls, scenes of bullfights, images of a monster with a human body and legs, but with hooves, a head and a tail of a person. The cult of snakes is evidenced by their numerous images, including female figurines with snakes in their hands.

Religious rites were performed by priests (and most likely priestesses) in sacred caves, of which there were many in the mountains of Crete, and during the ceremony opium was taken and an ecstatic state was achieved.

The Cretan culture is often referred to as a feminine culture.

Mycenaean culture

Europeans began to study the Mycenaean culture before the Cretan. In 1876 G. Schliemann, conducting excavations in search of traces of the Trojan War, discovered inside the acropolis of Mycenae the tombs of the Achaean kings, these so-called. "mine burials" (deep rectangular graves in the rock) rich in gold items - the most early monuments Mycenaean culture. They belong to the end of the 17th - 16th century. BC. Mycenaean culture is divided into periods:

1. Early Mycenaean period 1700-1550 BC

2. Middle Mycenaean period 1550-1400. BC.

3. late Mycenaean period 1400-1200. BC

Around 1700 BC in Argolis (the eastern coast of the Peloponnese) - the center of power of the Mycenaean rulers, the influence of Crete (fashion, Cretan-type sanctuaries in which sacrifices were made to the goddess from Crete) began to manifest itself especially strongly. But despite the impact of more advanced civilization, the Achaeans retained many features of the culture they brought from the north. For example, they wore beards and mustaches. And if the Cretan culture is “feminine”, then the Mycenaean is “masculine”.

The Achaeans built powerful defensive structures against possible attacks from the north and uprisings of the population they conquered. Their buildings are monumental, and the themes of the wall paintings are scenes of war and hunting.

One of the most outstanding buildings of this period is the Lion's Gate, decorated with a relief depicting two lionesses surrounded by huge stone blocks piled on top of each other. Behind these gates were shaft tombs carved into the rock.

In the 14th century BC. shaft tombs were replaced by domed tombs (tholos). The most famous is the “tomb of Agamemnon” (door height - 5 m, covered with stone blocks, weighing 120 tons). The most valuable finds in these tombs were the golden death masks of the rulers.

As well as in Crete, the main centers of culture were palaces - in Mycenae, Tiryns, Pylos, Athens, Iolka. The palaces were similar to the Cretan ones, also decorated with paintings, but surrounded by powerful walls of huge stone blocks without binding material. The place of the central open courtyard is occupied by a large quadrangular hall with four columns and a hearth in the center (megaron). The climate, colder than in Crete, did not allow to have many windows, and in the megaron there were none at all, the light penetrated through the doors and the hole above the hearth. The workshops have already been moved outside the palace, and open water pipes have been built. In order for the enemy to get into the palace, it was necessary to overcome a huge number of defensive structures.

A huge role in the study of Mycenaean culture was played by the decoding of Linear B, made in 1953 by the Englishmen M. Ventris and J. Chadwick. Linear B contained 88 characters - more than in sound and less than in hieroglyphic. It was a syllabary borrowed from the pre-Greek population. It was not adapted to Greek phonetics.

Numerous clay tablets contain mainly economic records, testify to the strong differentiation of society, the head of the state was the ruler - "va-na-ka", who was the largest landowner who levied taxes. The king performed the supreme functions of the priest.

There was a significant layer of the aristocracy and officials.

The Mycenaeans worshiped Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Athena and Artemis. There was no Apollo and Ares, but Peavon and Enuvalios corresponded to them). There were female correspondences to Poseidon - the goddess Posideya, to Zeus - the goddess Divia, which classical Greece did not know. The Goddess of the Winds is mentioned (name unknown), Dionysus is mentioned not as a god, but as an ordinary person, known to many compatriots. Central in Mycenaean mythology was the goddess - Mother.

The Achaean documents mention many names that are included in Homer's poems, but have nothing in common with his heroes - Achilles, Ajax, Hector, Hector, Machaon, Theseus.

The Achaeans begin an active colonization policy and populate the Mediterranean coast. The Hittite and Egyptian texts speak of the Achaeans. Memories of the conquest of the Achaeans in Asia Minor are preserved in the legend of the Trojan War (according to the Greek chronology, the destruction of Troy took place in 1184 BC).

The predominance of the Achaeans in the Aegean world came at the turn of the 12th -11th centuries. BC, when a huge mass of the north-Balkan barbarian peoples rushed to the south. The leading role in this migration of peoples was played by the Greek tribes of the Dorians. They had a great advantage over the Achaeans - they had iron weapons, more effective than the bronze weapons of the Achaeans.

With the advent of the Dorians in the 14-13th century. BC. in Greece, the Iron Age begins and the Cretan-Mecenaean civilization ceases to exist.

Homeric Greece.

In the 12th - 8th centuries BC the transition from the tribal system to the state organization of the polis type took place, i.e. policy was formed. These processes are reflected in Homer's poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey". The Greek tribes that came from the Balkans were settled in small tribal groups headed by elected leaders - basileus. To solve some common problems, clans sometimes united, forming phratries, phratries united into a tribe - phyla - headed by filabasileus. Elements of private property began to spread, although the land was the common property of the clan, the booty belonged to the one who appropriated it, the cattle was also individual property. The lands of the aristocracy were inherited.

The main form of political organization of the Greeks was the city-states (policies), controlled by the aristocracy. The city was the center of the state; it was formed as a result of the merger of several villages to strengthen the defense capability. This measure is called synoykism. For example, Sparta consisted of 5 villages, while Athens consisted of 12 villages.

In the 9th century BC an event occurred that became decisive for the entire Greek culture: the Greeks borrowed the alphabet from the Phoenicians and improved it by adding several signs to indicate vowels. However, the oldest Greek inscription that has come down to us dates back to the 8th century. BC. Two great masterpieces of Greek culture in the 8th century BC. - Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey" originally existed only in oral form. Although the poems are dedicated to the previous period - the Mycenaean culture, they are sources of information for the period 12 - 11c BC.

epic poems Homer's code of aristocratic morality. supreme value for a noble warrior, this is posthumous glory and eternal memory of the name of a valiant fighter and his exploits.

Over time, Homer's poems became for Greek culture like sacred books, a canon of behavior and at the same time a source of knowledge about the past. Homer inspired the Greeks with his idea of ​​the gods, and they have never been able to get rid of this idea. Although in fact the world of the Olympic gods and goddesses developed much earlier, when the Greek tribes settled near Mount Olympus in Northern Greece. And the relationship of the gods is very reminiscent of the court life of the ancient rulers of Thessaly, located at the foot of Olympus.

Similar information.

Cretan-Mycenaean culture, common name for civilizations bronze age(3rd-2nd millennium BC) on the islands of the Aegean Sea, Crete, in mainland Greece and M. Asia (Anatolia). The first centers were discovered by excavations G . Schliemann in Mycenae (See Mycenae) (1876), A. Evans in Crete (since 1899). Since the 19th century several hundred sites have been explored: burial grounds, settlements, large cities such as Poliochni on about. Lemnos with stone wall 5 high m, Filakopi on about. Milos; royal residences - Troy, palaces of Crete (Knoss, mallia, Festus, the acropolis at Mycenae. The development of E. to. took place unevenly, all centers experienced epochs of decline and prosperity at different times. Walled cities with towers and bastions, with public buildings and temples appeared in western Anatolia in the 3rd millennium BC. e.; fortified settlements in mainland Greece - at the end of the 3rd millennium; fortresses are unknown in Crete and in the 2nd millennium BC. e. There are several local archaeological cultures (civilizations) (Thessalian, Macedonian, Western Anatolian, Helladic culture, cycladic culture, Minoan culture), included in E. to. Chronologically, these cultures are usually divided into three main periods - early, middle and late, and each period - into 3 sub-periods (I, II, III): for example, Early Minoan I, Middle Thessalian III, etc. .P. The process of formation of E. to. was complex and lengthy: the cultures of western Anatolia and Central Greece arose on the basis of the local Neolithic, on the islands of the eastern part of the Aegean Sea the influence of the Troy culture prevailed; the western Anatolian influence was strong on the other islands as well. Around 2300 B.C. e. The Peloponnese and northwestern Anatolia were subjected to enemy invasion, as evidenced by traces of fires and destruction in the settlements. Under the influence of newcomers (possibly of Indo-European origin), by the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. the material culture of mainland Greece, Troy, and some islands has changed. In Crete, unaffected by the invasion, the Minoan culture continued to develop; at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. hieroglyphic writing appeared, from 1600 BC. e.- Linear letter A. Cf. the Bronze Age (the first half of the second millennium BC) was the period of greatest consolidation of E. to., as evidenced by a certain unity of material culture: ceramics, metal products, etc. Around 1600 BC. e. the invasion of mainland Greece by new tribes (possibly the Achaeans (See Achaeans)), whose warriors used war chariots, laid the foundation for the emergence of small states, the so-called. Mycenaean period around other centers - Mycenae, Tiryns, Orchomenus. Around 1470 B.C. e. some centers of E. k. (especially Crete) suffered from the eruption of the Santorini volcano. The Achaean (Mycenaean) population appeared on Crete, bringing a new culture and Linear B. From the end of the 13th century. BC e. E. to. is experiencing a deep internal crisis, accompanied by an invasion of the Dorians (See Dorians) and the "peoples of the sea" (See. Peoples of the Sea), which leads E. to. to death.

V. S. Titov.

Aegean art is characterized by the transition of the leading role in its development from one area of ​​the Aegean world to another, the addition of local styles, relationships with the art of Dr. Egypt, Syria, Phoenicia. Compared to the artistic cultures of the Ancient East, Aegean art is more secular. Among the monuments of the 3rd millennium BC. e. the funerary plasticity of the Cyclades stands out, “Cycladic idols”, - marble figurines or heads (fragments of statues) of geometrized, laconic, monumental forms with clearly defined architectonics (“violin-shaped” figures, naked female figurines).

Approximately from the 23rd century. BC e. Crete became the leading center of artistic culture (flourishing in the first half of the second millennium BC). the art of Crete extended its influence to the Cyclades and mainland Greece. The highest achievements of Cretan architects are palaces (opened in Knossos, Phaistos, Mallia, Kato-Zakro), in which the combination of vast horizontal planes (courtyards) and complexes of 2-3-storey premises, light wells, ramps, stairs creates the effect of a picturesque overflow of space, emotionally rich, saturated with the endless variability of impressions, an artistic image. In Crete, a peculiar type of column was created, expanding upwards. In the fine and decorative and applied arts of Crete, the ornamental and decorative style (20-18 centuries BC, which reached perfection in the “kamares” vase painting) is replaced in the 17-16 centuries. BC e. more concrete and direct transfer of images of flora and fauna and humans (frescoes of the palace in Knossos, vases depicting sea creatures, small plastic art, toreutics, glyptics); towards the end of the 15th century. BC e. (presumably in connection with the conquest by the Achaeans), conventionality and stylization are growing (the frescoes of the “throne room” and the painted relief from the knock “king-priest” from the palace at Knossos, the vase painting of the “palace style”).

17th-13th centuries BC e. - the period of high flowering of the art of Achaean Greece. Fortified cities (Mycenae, Tiryns) were built on hills, with powerful walls of the so-called. cyclopean masonry (from stone blocks weighing up to 12 tons) and a layout on 2 levels - the lower city (a place of refuge for the surrounding population) and the Acropolis with the palace of the ruler. In the architecture of the dwelling (palaces and houses, as in Crete, were built on stone plinths made of mud bricks with wooden ties), a type of rectangular building with a portico is formed - Megaron, the prototype of the ancient Greek "temple in ants (See Antes)" . The best excavated palace in Pylos . There are round domed tombs-tholos with the so-called. false Code and Dromos (“the tomb of Atreus (See Atreus)” near Mycenae, 14th or 13th centuries BC). Display. and the arts and crafts of Achaean Greece was strongly influenced by the art of Crete, especially in the 17th-16th centuries. BC e. (wares made of gold and silver from the "shaft tombs" in Mycenae). The local style is characterized by generalization and conciseness of forms [reliefs on tombstones of "shaft tombs", funerary masks, some vessels ("Nestor's cup") from burials]. Art of the 15th-13th centuries BC e., like Cretan, paid great attention to man and nature (frescoes of palaces in Thebes, Tiryns, Mycenae, Pylos; vase painting, sculpture), but gravitated towards stable symmetrical forms and generalization (heraldic composition with figures of 2 lions of the relief of the Lion Gate in Mycenae ).

N. M. Loseva.

Lit.: Polevoy V. M., Art of Greece. Ancient world, M., 1970; Sidorova N. A., The Art of the Aegean World, M., 1972; [Sokolov G.], Aegean Art. [Album], M., 1972; Mongait A. L., Archeology Western Europe. Bronze and Iron Ages, M., 1974; Blavatsky T. W., Greek Society of the Second Millennium BC new era and its culture, M., 1976; Schachermeyer F., Die ältesten Kulturen Griechenlands, Stuttg., ; Demargne P., Naissance de l'art grec, P., 1974; Matz F., Kreta, Mykene, Troja, , Stuttg.-Gotta, ; Renfrew C., The emergence of civilization. The Cyclades and the Aegean in the third millennium B. C., ; Vermeule E., Greece in the bronze age, hi.-L., 1972; History of the Hellenic world. Prehistory and protohistory, Athens - L., 1974.

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