Minoan Myc Etru

AR0104: EARLY CIVILIZATIONS
MINOAN, MYCENAEA & ETRUSCAN civilizations

3500-1100 BCE
MINOANS Urban civilizations of the Bronze Age of Crete.
Started declining in 1450 BCE
Minoan Civilization – 3500-1100 BCE
Aegean Bronze Age civilization flourished on the

island of Crete.
The Minoans helped to shape the first Greek

civilization.
Their legacy was as masters of the sea and great

shipbuilders. Remarkable for its great cities and
palaces, its extended trade
Due to their location, Minoans made a living on

trading their goods by ship across the
Mediterranean and Black Seas. Products
included honey, olive oil, wine, gold, and grains.
Based on frescoes (painting on fresh plaster) we

know the Minoans were lively and active people
who enjoyed life. They were fond of animals,
dancing, and sports. Bull leaping or bull fighting
was both a sport and a religious ceremony.
Architecture
• Minoan cities were connected by narrow roads paved

with blocks cut with bronze saws.
• Streets were drained, and water and sewage facilities
were available to the upper class through clay pipes.
• Minoan buildings often had flat, tiled roofs; plaster,
wood or flagstone floors, and stood two to three Restored model of a Minoan house
stories high. Lower walls were typically constructed of
stone and rubble, and the upper walls of mudbrick.
Ceiling timbers held up the roofs.
• Construction materials for villas and palaces varied,
and included sandstone, gypsum and limestone.
• Building techniques also varied, with some palaces
using ashlar masonry and others roughly-hewn,
megalithic blocks.
• In north-central Crete blue-greenschist was used as to
pave floors of streets and courtyards between 1650
and 1600 BC
Minoan Palace at Knossos (Crete)
• Courtyard surrounded by verandas

at upper level in palace
Palace built with wooden roof, gypsum plaster walls gracefully and colorfully painted.
Large throne room with light wells, family apartments in palace.
Palace at Knossos
Palace at Knossos
One of the most notable Minoan

contributions to architecture is their inverted
column, wider at the top than the base (unlike
most Greek columns, which are wider at the
bottom to give an impression of height).
The columns were made of wood (not stone)

and were generally painted red. Mounted on a
simple stone base, they were topped with a
pillow-like, round capital.
Built several stories high around a

central courtyard, the palace had light
wells to admit light into the lower
reaches of the palace.
Palace at Knossos
MYCENAEAS
(c.1400 – 1100 B.C.E.)
• The Mycenaeans came from the grasslands

of Central Asia and eventually made their
way south to the Balkan peninsula, where
they settled in southern Greece. Their
name comes from their largest and most
powerful city, Mycenae. They exchanged
goods and ideas with the Minoans
• Unlike the Minoans, the Mycenaeans were a

warlike people known for producing
weapons. They built their cities with armed
fortresses on hillsides, all connected
together by huge stone walls. Their art is
mostly of battle scenes, and particularly the
Trojan War.
Mycenaean Civilization
Characteristic features
• Corbels- horizontal courses of stones were laid, projecting
one beyond the other till the apex was reached
• This produced either a triangular opening (found above
the doorways of the tholos tombs) or an apparent arch
(found at the gallery at Tiryns, or a dome-shaped roof
(found at the Treasury of Atreus) in Mycenae
Megaron – The Great Hall in the Palace of Pylos
• A square rooms with 4 columns

• A hearth in the centre
• Clerestory ceiling
Megaron
T h e L io n G a t e , M y c e n a e
• Relief carving of two lions facing a central column

• Triangular sculpture supports the load above entrance.
• Ashlar masonry walls on the sides.
Tr e a s u r y o f At r e u s
Tr e a s u r y o f At r e u s
• Kings were buried outside the cities in

beehive tombs or
tholos – monumental symbols of wealth
and power
• Circular chamber - 15m high and 15m
diameter; into the hillside.
• 36 m long and 6 m wide corridor
(dromos)
• Corbelled dome was covered with earth
to form conical hill
• 2 half columns and stone lintel above the
entrance.
ETRUSCANS
(c.900 – 27 B.C.E.)
• The Etruscans were the people that lived in Italy (Etrutia) before the Romans
• Etruscans were in contact with the Greek colonies in southern Italy and their
sculptures and temples were heavily influenced by Archaic Greek art
• Etruscan excelled in bronze and terra-cotta sculptures
• The sophisticated tombs in huge necropoli (“city of the dead”, large burial area) still
survive in large numbers to give us some idea of Etruscan life and art.
ETRUSCAN TEMPLE
• Temples are almost square(ratio was 6:5),

unlike the rectangular Greek temples, and
placed on a much higher platform.
• Columns are known as the Tuscan type
and, like the Doric order, they have no
flutes but they do stand on a base.
• These support the roof which overhangs
the entrance creating a deep porch.
• it had 3 cells (one for each chief god)
• statuary was in terracotta instead of
stone – on the roofs of their temples
• Greek stone gable-roofed temples but had wood

columns, tile-covered wood roof, and walls of sun-
dried mud brick.
• Entrance was a narrow staircase at the center of the
front of the temple, which sat on a high podium, the
only part made of stone.
ETRUSCAN TEMPLE
ETRUSCAN TEMPLE
• One of the best-documented Etruscan temples is the c. 510 BCE Portonaccio Temple at Veii.
• It was built on an almost square base of volcanic tufa blocks measuring 18.5 m along the
sides. With a front stepped-entrance, columned veranda, side entrance, and three-part cella.
• The roof was decorated with brightly painted life-size figure sculpture made in terracotta, a
figure of a striding Apollo survives.
• As in Greek temples, the actual altar and place of religious ceremonies remained outside the
temple itself.
ETRUSCAN TEMPLE
ETRUSCAN TOMB
ETRUSCAN TOMB
ETRUSCAN TOMB
Simple stone cavities cut into the ground, with a jar of the deceased's ashes and a
few daily objects placed in them, gave way to larger stone tombs enclosed in
tumuli and, even later, free-standing buildings often set in orderly rows.
Tumulus (Tumuli): an artificial mound of earth and stones placed over a grave or a mound
• Tumuli are made from a circular tufa block base and lower
courses arranged in a circle.
• The low walls can have simple moulded decoration.
• A stone corridor leads to a central chamber, which is made to
resemble a house with painted windows and door.
• Some corridors and chambers have corbelled roofs such as the
7th-century BCE tomb at Volterra.
• Drainage was provided by either sloping stone slabs placed across
the roof or building the whole tomb on a sloping stone base as
seen in the Tomb of the Chariots at Populonia.
• The whole structure was then covered with a mound of earth.
• Some of the largest tumuli, such as at Cerveteri, measure up to
40 metres in diameter. Many of these tombs were in use over
several generations.
ETRUSCAN TOMB
• A new type of tomb appeared from the

6th century BCE, the small free-standing
block with gabled roof.
• These cube-like structures are best seen

in the Banditaccia necropolis of
Cerveteri.
• built using large stone blocks and

incorporate natural rock at the site;
• each has a single doorway entrance and

inside are stone benches on which the
deceased were laid, carved altars, and
sometimes stone seats.
• Set in rows, the tombs perhaps indicate a

greater concern with town planning at
that time.
Necropoli of the Banditaccia
ETRUSCAN TOMB
Necropoli of the Banditaccia

ETRUSCAN TOMB
ETRUSCAN TOMB
ETRUSCAN TOMB
THANK YOU

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AR0104: EARLY CIVILIZATIONS

MINOAN, MYCENAEA & ETRUSCAN civilizations

Aegean Bronze Age civilization flourished on the

The Minoans helped to shape the first Greek

Their legacy was as masters of the sea and great

Due to their location, Minoans made a living on

Based on frescoes (painting on fresh plaster) we

• Minoan cities were connected by narrow roads paved

Minoan Palace at Knossos (Crete)

• Courtyard surrounded by verandas

One of the most notable Minoan

The columns were made of wood (not stone)

Built several stories high around a

• The Mycenaeans came from the grasslands

• Unlike the Minoans, the Mycenaeans were a

Megaron – The Great Hall in the Palace of Pylos

• A square rooms with 4 columns

• Relief carving of two lions facing a central column

• Kings were buried outside the cities in

• Temples are almost square(ratio was 6:5),

• Greek stone gable-roofed temples but had wood

• A new type of tomb appeared from the

• These cube-like structures are best seen

• built using large stone blocks and

• each has a single doorway entrance and

• Set in rows, the tombs perhaps indicate a

Necropoli of the Banditaccia

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