Greek Artefact From The Bronze Age

Figurine of a Woman, circa 2500-2300 BCE, was represented in the Cycladic art from Syros, Greece. It is made of marble, eighteen inches high, and can be found in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. This artwork wraps their arms around their belly, is highly collectable, and lacks contrast. A work like this is commonly known as a guardian in the afterlife and protects their people. The body is attenuated in that it is elongated and

This rhyton was used during the Late Minoan II period during the Prehistoric Aegean Bronze Age for religious rituals and libation purposes, in which the hollow vase was filled with liquid offerings. It is a depiction of a bull’s head, which represents the connection that the Minoans made with their natural surroundings. The maximum dimensions of the vase are 9.5 by 13.9 centimeters. The material the vessel consists of terracotta as

The Harvester Vase was found in Hagia Triada on the island of Crete. This vase is from the Late Bronze Age, dating from 1550 to 1500 BC. The vase was originally made in three parts and was fitted together. The face is oval shaped and has a vessel on the top. The vase was carved on brownish steatite. The vase was originally glided with gold and hammered to paper-thin thickness. This piece is decorated with low-relief sculpture and shows a unique scene. The piece has pictorial designs. The composition is powerful, rhythmical, and lively.

The artifact I chose during the museum tour was the artifact called Parthian Rhyton. The Parthian Rhyton is from Iran from the time 150 BC – AD 225. It is made up of Silver with mercury gliding. This artifact reflects the style of its culture by having the goat in an attack position with the head down lets up this piece reflects power and strength. The piece identifies it as being from a particular civilization and time of the naturalism of the goat, with its carefully detailed horns and swirling coat, is characteristic of such vessels in the subsequent Parthian period (247-224 AD), along with the highlighting of such details the vegetal design at the throat of the vessel with mercury gliding. The visual clues

The small size and spherical shape of A18 suggests that it is an aryballos, the standard name for small rounded vases, that were often used to store perfume or oil (B. A. Sparkes, 1991). The aryballoi shape was most common in Corinth, and while Athenian examples also exist (University of Oxford, 2011a), the light colour of the clay suggests this particular example is Corinthian. This one has no foot, a single handle and a narrow neck with a wide, flat mouth that is suitable for pouring oil in small quantities. They were mostly worn as accessories by young men like athletes (Neer, 2012).

During the Hellenistic period, jewelry played a tremendous role in the cultural atmosphere of that time. Similarly to today, Jewelry was worn for its beauty and visual appeal, but at the time it was also incredibly symbolic towards greek mythology and often contained repeatedly used motifs. Jewelry was commonly passed down from generation to generation as family heirloom and other times it was dedicated at sanctuaries as offering to the gods. Some of the most preserved jewelry has been found buried, which is though to have been for safekeeping and for decoration of the bodies of the deceased. Use of jewelry on the deceased was a common ritual of Macedonians during the earlier times of the Hellenistic period. This tradition faded away during the late years of the Hellenistic period, but jewelry was still generally worn in life.

It looks like its made out of very strong clay, and done nicely to give it a long useful life.To make this vessel, the potter worked from the bottom, beginning with small coils of clay and adding successively larger ones as he or she moved to the waist. From there, the coils decreased in size to the neck.The coils were probably fused by hand on a slow-turning wheel to form this shape.The jar was then fired at a very high temperature, painted, and finally polished into a shiny finish. In daily use, it may have been carried with a rope strung through the pair of handles. Jars like this one have also been excavated from burial

The Patera found in Greek South of Italy during the Archaic period c. 500 BC. Was a shallow pan made from bronze with a Kourous figure as it handle. This research essay will work to prove how the form of the Patera served a greater purpose to it functions through its significance journey through the craftsmanship of bronze, superior status of the Kouros and multipurpose usage it served. The bronze material which the Patera was crafted from is a valuable resource to the Greek and Romans. It is primarily used in Greek and Roman art because of its tensile strength, thus validating as to why the Greek and Romans were possessive over the material. Furthermore, its unique handle of the nude Kourous

This artifact, at first glance appears to be made of copper because of the greenish blue color. Upon closer inspection though you can see rust, and copper doesn't rust, it oxidizes. Which leads me to believe that it is some other sort of metal. This object appears to be no more than an inch, and doesn't appear to be very wide. As I stated before, it has a greenish blue color to it. It appears to be rough, but the roughness and the rust makes me believe that it is weathered, so it most like could have been smooth when it was first crafted. There appears to be no movable parts to it and there is a indentation on the front that may have been a design or something written on it at one point in time.

Imports of precious metals and animal friezes were found in the Athens cemeteries and were indicative of Eastern influence (Biers 128). Athen’s blacksmith’s skill can be seen in their use of gold foil shaped, as well as, gold jewelry found in a graves such as one from 850 in Athenian agora (Biers 127). Another find in the Athens cemetery of Kerameikos were the ivory female figurines with four other statuettes in the 3rd quarter of the 8th century. These figurines were imitations of eastern figures but Greeks placed their geometric flare onto the naturalistic style (Biers

Derived from the Greek word for water, the hydria was a clay jar used for the collection and storage of water during the advanced construction of aqueducts and fountain houses in Athens, rather than wells. Similar to others of its time, our hydria is made with terracotta and black paint. Terracotta, Italian for “baked earth,” is a ceramic (glazed or unglazed) where the body is fired and porous. While not watertight, surface-burnishing and paint or glaze can decrease its porousness and seal the material to become impermeable. The earliest vessels typically have a wide body and broadly rounded shoulder. Our hydria is approximately 17.5 inches tall (to rim) and 16 inches wide (diameter with handles). It has three handles consisting of two different shapes: A large vertical handle on the back for carrying the hydria when empty and for dipping and

This is a Greek lekythos which is usually used to store ointment, oil, and sometimes adorn graves. This artifact was found in the land of Israel/Palestine. This paper will examine how this object was produced, what kind of style was used in its production and what it meant to individuals at the time. On a larger level, trading objects like this one during the Persian Period represent the strength of local tastes and cultures over nationalistic tensions between Greece and Persia.

Red-figure pottery was invented at Athens about 530 bce, is the opposite of the black-figure design in that the reddish figures appear light against the black background of the pot surface.The figures such as eyes and inside lines were painted on in black and the brush allowing more subtle characterization than did an incising tool. The red-figure technique allowed a more naturalistic and aesthetically appealing treatment of human figures. The red hues mimicked the colour and tone of sun-bronzed skin and dramatically spotlighted the figures against the dark background. Around 500 bce Greek artists abandoned the convention of using only profile views and began to use three-quarter frontal poses, as well as foreshortenings and the carefully depicted

The ancient Greeks were master artists. Their paintings and statues have been admired for hundreds of years. Examples of these works are still displayed in museums around the world. Greek statues are so admired because the sculptors who made them tried to make them look perfect. They wanted their statues to show how beautiful people could be. To improve their art, these sculptures carefully studied the human body, especially how it looked when it was moving. Then, using that they had learned, they carved stone and marble statues.

The Aegean Bronze age displayed a proliferation of beliefs manifested in social practices, and material culture. Among these practices, the display of idols became substantial in epitomizing social realities. The Minoan civilization, being one of the most momentous urbanization formed during this period, established the use of icons to exemplify their cultural and societal views. Emblems in the form of deities, monstrous creatures, hybrids and composites were prominent, alluding to the ways in which the Minoan populace endured the changing scope of their society. Yet despite these emblems’ production, the notion of fantastic beings did not necessarily originate from Crete alone. More often than not, cultural practices migrated and constantly moved allowing for adaptations in material culture to materialize. Bearing this in mind, this essay will seek to probe the ways in which fantastic creatures moved and were adapted in Minoan culture, specifically within the ritualistic contexts of the Minoan Civilization. Three issues will be investigated by the essay namely, how fantastic creatures were depicted within the Minoan setting, the roles these icons played within the context of ritualistic practices of the Minoan period, and how the origins of these creatures impacted the new society they belonged in.