BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

BASONOVA: The Brilliance of Aegean Bronze Age Wall Paintings

Out of caution, and respect for the need for social distancing at this time, this event has been canceled

Sunday, May 31, 2020.

The Brilliance of Aegean Bronze Age Wall Paintings.

Emily Egan.

This event is sponsored by the Hellenic Society Prometheas

The arc of magnificent Aegean-style wall painting began in Minoan Crete during the Middle Bronze Age. This style of pictorial art then spread to other Aegean islands and to the Mycenaean mainland.

By the collapse of the Bronze Age at the end of the thirteenth century BCE, this Greek art form had reached its apex, especially demonstrated in the extraordinary development and novel uses of color. Notable in this development was the use of “abstract” or “artificial” color, in which artists decorated subjects with seemingly nonsensical hues that veered away from naturalism. Among the subjects of this bold coloration were flora and fauna, particularly sea life.

This presentation explores this use of colors with prominent examples of wall paintings from Knossos, Mycenae, Tiryns, and Pylos.

Emily Egan is Assistant Professor of Eastern Mediterranean Art and Archaeology at the University of Maryland.

This event will be held at Raaga Indian Restaurant: 5872 Leesburg Pike / Falls Church / Virginia / 22041

The luncheon begins at 2 pm; the lecture begins at 3 pm.

For more information about this lecture and other events sponsored by BASONOVA, visit their website.

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More from Bible History Daily:

Minoan Frescoes at Tel Kabri  Over 100 years of excavations on Crete have exposed elegant Minoan frescoes that once adorned the walls of the island’s Bronze Age palaces. This distinctively colorful Aegean art style flourished in the Middle Bronze Age (1750-1550 B.C.).

Bronze Age Akrotiri Reopened  The mid-second millennium B.C.E. volcanic eruption on the island of Thera (the modern tourist island Santorini) redefined Bronze Age history for the entire Aegean. One of the largest eruptions in the planet’s history, the blast not only destroyed the island’s highly artistic Minoan population at Akrotiri, but also had repercussions across the region.

Starting the Dig  In the July/August 2013 issue of BAR, Tel Kabri excavation directors Eric Cline and Assaf Yasur-Landau describe the unique Aegean-style art at the Middle Bronze Age site in Israel. BAS web editor Noah Wiener is currently taking part in the excavation at Tel Kabri.