Chapter 4: AEGEAN ART
1. What timeframe and cultures are central to the study of so-called “Aegean” art?
2. Who were the people responsible for the development of Aegean archaeology and art history? What was their inspiration?
3. What is the Iliad, and how did it impact the art history of the Aegean?
4. What is the subject matter of most sculpture from the Cycladic Islands, and where are most thought to be from? Describe their forms.
5. What were the dominant architectural structures on Crete? Describe their shared features. What types of ceremonies may have taken place there?
6. What features of the architecture of the Palace of Knossos are thought to have given rise to the Greek myth of the labyrinth and passed it into Greek legend? Provide specific evidence that relate to this.
7. When was the potter’s wheel introduced and how did it influence the shape of pottery?
8. What are the ceramics from Minoan society called and what types of imagery do they feature?
9. Describe a Minoan column. How are they different from Egyptian columns?
10. What is ashlar masonry? Describe its form and identify an example.
11. How were most of the interiors of the palaces decorated? What type of imagery is featured?
12. What artwork/artifacts provide evidence that Minoan culture may have been dominated by a female priestess or goddess cult? Describe these objects.
13. What is cyclopean construction? Describe its use in Mycenaean architecture.
14. What is a Mycenaean royal audience hall called? Describe its form.
15. What do the terms tholos and dromos refer to? What types of structures are they associated with?
16. What is a relieving triangle? Provide an example of where you would see one.
17. Who did Schliemann associate with the funerary mask found at Mycenae? Explain the controversy that surrounds this object.
18. Describe the story of the Trojan War.