The iconography of the Mycenaean warriors in the Eastern Mediterranean region (original) (raw)

The profile of the Minoan and early Mycenaean warrior: 1700–1400 BC

METIOESSA. Studies in Honor of E. Mantzourani, edited by G. Vavouranakis and I. Voskos, 461-476. Athens: AURA & Kardamitsa, 2022

As the Aegean transitioned itself from the Middle Bronze Age into the Late Bronze Age, it experienced the emergence of a distinct warrior identity. Evidence of this is seen in the vivid illustrations of warriors in Minoan and early Mycenaean iconography, as well as the weapons found in the archaeological record. Although martial iconography of early Mycenaean Greece was influenced by Minoan Crete, each of these two cultural areas went on to form their own distinct warrior profile. The objective of this paper is to shed light on similarities and differences in related iconography in order to better understand issues of war and violence in the Aegean Bronze Age and beyond.

“Reading Post-palatial Mycenaean Iconography: Some Lessons from Lefkandi,” in Y. Galanakis, T. Wilkinson, and J. Bennet (eds.), ΑΘΥΡΜΑΤΑ: Critical Essays on the Archaeology of the Eastern Mediterranean in Honour of E. Susan Sherratt (Oxford 2014) 197-205

Chronologies should carry a 'use by' date: the archaeological life history of the 'Beth Shan Stirrup Jar' ������������������� 81 Elizabeth French Arthur Evans and the quest for the "origins of Mycenaean culture" ������������������������������������������������������������������������ 85 Yannis Galanakis Man/Woman, Warrior/Maiden: The Lefkandi Toumba female burial reconsidered �������������������������������������������������� 99 Kate Harrell The Waz-lily and the Priest's Axe: can relief-beads tell us something? �������������������������������������������������������������������� 105 Helen Hughes-Brock 'Working with the shadows': in search of the myriad forms of social complexity �������������������������������������������������� 117 Maria Iacovou James Saumarez Cameron: a forgotten collector of Cretan seals ���������������������������������������������������������������������������� 127 Olga Krzyszkowska ii The Post-Mycenaean dead: 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' �������������������������������������������������������������������� 135 Katie Lantzas The spider's web: innovation and society in the Early Helladic 'Period of the Corridor Houses' ������������������������������ 141 Joseph Maran and Maria Kostoula 'Metal makes the wheel go round': the development and diffusion of studded-tread wheels in the Ancient Near East and the Old World ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 159 Simone Mühl "For it is written": an experimental approach to the materiality and temporality of clay documents inscribed in Linear B ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 177 Ceramic developments in coastal Western Anatolia at the dawn of the Early Iron Age ������������������������������������������� 223 Rik Vaessen Beaker Folk in Thrace: a metrological footnote ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 233 Michael Vickers Rosso antico marble and the façade entablature of the Treasury of Atreus ����������������������������������������������������������� 237 Peter Warren Feasts of clay? Ceramics and feasting at Early Minoan Myrtos: Fournou Korifi ������������������������������������������������������� 247 Todd Whitelaw Dressing the house, dressing the pots: textile-inspired decoration in the late 3rd and 2nd millennia BC east Mediterranean ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 261 Toby C. Wilkinson

L. Battini (éd), Making Pictures of War: Realia et Imaginaria in the Iconology of the Ancient Near East

2016

This book brings together the main discussions that took place at an international conference on the iconology of war in the ancient Near East, a subject never addressed at an international meeting before. The articles span the 3rd to the 1st millennium, with a special stress on the Neo-Assyrian period. They try to respond to many questions about representations of war: what is warrior iconography and on what basis it can be defined? Did the war scenes follow a specific directory whereby they adopted the most varied forms? Can we determine the most usual conditions for the creation of pictures of wartime (such as periods of great change)? Were the war scenes referring to specific historical events or were they generic representations? What can a society accept from the representations of war? What did war images silence and why? What is a «just» punishment for enemies and thus the «just» representation of it? Who has control of the representation and therefore also the memory of war? Who is the real subject of war representations? What emerges from the articles published here is the relevance of textual data in any analysis of iconological material. And this is not only true for iconology, but for all the archaeological material discovered at historical sites.

Studies on the Iconography and Interpretation of Combat Scenes of the Late Bronze Age Aegean: A re-appraisal

2024

Ikonografische Darstellungen von Kampfszenen gehören zu den faszinierendsten Motiven Ihrer Zeit innerhalb der Kunst der späten Bronzezeit. Diese Kampfdarstellungen überraschen mit ihrer Vielfältigkeit und wurden im Verlauf der Spätbronzezeit auf einem heterogenen Material verewigt. Ziel dieses Beitrags ist es, die ikonographischen Aspekte dieser Darstellungen vorzustellen und zu untersuchen. Dazu verwende ich eine typologische Methode, die auf thematischen, chronologischen, materiellen und kontextuellen Kriterien beruht. Es wird der Frage nachgegangen, ob sich diese Darstellungen auf mythisch-fiktionale oder historisch-reale Ereignisse beziehen. Darüber hinaus stellt sich die Frage, inwieweit diese Kampfszenen ein häufiges Thema der ägäischen bronzezeitlichen Kunst waren und in welchen chronologischen Perioden sie auftraten. Die Bedeutung solcher Motive in der damaligen Gesellschaft wird ebenso untersucht wie die Frage, ob es sich um Produkte minoischer oder mykenischer Werkstätten handelt und ob sich unterschiedliche künstlerische Tendenzen erkennen lassen. Die Analyse der Daten zeigt, dass es zumindest für die frühe Phase der Spätbronzezeit möglich ist, zwischen künstlerischen Stilen zu unterscheiden. Sie belegt ferner, dass jede Kampfszene der spätbronzezeitlichen Ägäis eine vielfältige Bedeutung für die Gesellschaft dieser Epoche haben konnte, vor allem, weil die symbolische Bedeutung des Kampfes in das praktische Kriegsgeschehen integriert war.

The Missing “Barbarians”: Some thoughts on ethnicity and identity in Aegean Bronze Age iconography, in Talanta 44, 2012, 53–77

With regard to ethnic personification, phenotypical physiognomy and individual portraiture, the iconography of the Aegean Bronze Age confronts us with some fundamental problems. In Minoan and Mycenaean arts, representations of foreign people occur extremely rarely, so that we even gain the impression that the iconographic vocabulary for depicting people from foreign regions was never developed in the Aegean arts which, in this respect, stood in sharp contrast to the artistic intentions of Egypt and the Near East. Although there flourished a widespread iconography of war in Minoan Crete as well as on the Mycenaean mainland, these images present rather exclusively combats against people coming from within the Aegean basin. Moreover, our attempts to differentiate by iconographical means between Creto-Minoans, Mycenaean Greeks, and the inhabitants of other regions of the Aegean, until now turn out to be highly unsuccessful. It appears conclusive that the absence of any inner-Aegean differentiation in iconography allowed a common, interchangeable usage and comprehension of images throughout the entire Aegean. Thus, the assumption of a comprehensive and coherent 'Aegean' ethnic identity, among other parameters of identity, is suggested by the Bronze Age iconography.

Triumph and Defeat Emulating the Postures of Near Eastern Rulers and Deities in Aegean Bronze Age Iconography

Günkel-Maschek, Ute et al. (Hrsg.): Gesture, Stance, and Movement: Communicating Bodies in the Aegean Bronze Age. Acts of the International Conference at the University of Heidelberg, 11–13 November 2021, Heidelberg: Propylaeum, 2024, S. 389–404., 2024

The identification of rulers in Aegean Bronze Age iconography constitutes one of its most problematic issues and is addressed in numerous studies. This problem arises from the absence of written sources and clearly defined attributes for rulers, as well as from the mode of self-presentation of the ruling elite, which, at first glance, is different from the practice known from Near Eastern cultural regions. However, it is precisely the comparison with these regions which appears to be helpful in detecting earthly or divine Aegean rulers. This contribution focuses on the analysis of triumph and defeat in depic- tions of a victor and his enemy, through examining postures and gestures expressing higher status or domination over animals and human beings. A triumphant hero, ruler or god and a defeated mortal or divine enemy constitute one of the most important motifs symbo- lizing the victory of civilization and its ruler over wild nature, evil forces and chaos. The motif of a standing male figure in a dynamic posture, striking with a weapon, or deliver- ing a fatal blow to a kneeling or lying enemy occurs from the very beginning of the great empires of Egypt or Mesopotamia and was widespread in many Near Eastern regions. A detailed comparison of different Aegean and Near Eastern images reveals further evidence for the emulation of this motif, not only in known combat scenes. Their distribution, con- texts and interpretation help to explain their meaning in the Aegean, as well as the possi- ble reasons for their adoption and adaptation.