Knossos. 4th millennium BC On the hill of Knossos, under the ruins of the Minoan palace, was excavated the longest-lived Neolithic installation in Crete. Knossos was the first permanent settlement established in Crete at the beginning of the 7th millennium BC, and remained the largest settlement on the island up to the end of the …

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On the hill of Knossos, under the ruins of the Minoan palace, was excavated the longest-lived Neolithic installation in Crete. Knossos was the first permanent settlement established in Crete at the beginning of the 7th millennium BC, and remained the largest settlement on the island up to the end of the Neolithic period and during the …

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Knossos, Palace. 1650 – 1550 BC Despite its fragmentary state of preservation, this impressive depiction of a charging bull is a crowning example of Minoan naturalistic art. The relief technique is used to render the bull’s head and the dramatic tension of the scene with extraordinary realism. The lowered head, pricked-forward ears and half-open mouth …

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Hagia Triada, Necropolis, Tomb 4. 1370-1320 BC This masterpiece is a unique stone chest sarcophagus which was discovered in a funerary building near the Villa of Hagia Triada by Italian archaeologist Roberto Paribeni in 1903. The outer surface is covered with a thin coat of plaster and painted in the fresco technique. The friezes covering …

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Palaikastro. 1370-1300 BC The chest larnax with gabled lid from Palaikastro stands out for its rich painted decoration. This is a dense arrangement of geometric decorative motifs and symbolic themes of Minoan iconography, such as waz-lilies, the column, the double axe, horns of consecration, birds and fish among astral symbols. The decoration is divided into …

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Alatsomouri, Pacheia Ammos. 1370-1300 BC This larnax in the shape of a bathtub, or an asaminthos as Homer calls it, was found at Alatsomouri in Pacheia Ammos, in a rock-cut chamber tomb containing three larnakes of the same type. The outside is richly decorated with painted themes such as the octopus, papyrus flowers and geometric …

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Amnisos. 1600-1500 BC The Lily Fresco forms part of a larger fresco composition that decorated a room on the upper floor of the villa at Amnisos. It depicts an array of white lilies springing from within or in front of a stepped structure. This structure indicates an architectural arrangement of the space, probably a formal …

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Knossos, Palace. 1450 – 1400 BC The Cup-bearer fresco is part of the Procession Fresco, which adorned the walls of the corridor leading from the West Entrance of the Palace to the official chambers on the upper storey of the West Wing via the South Propylaeum. This particular wall painting adorned the west wall of …

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Knossos, Palace. 1600 – 1450 BC The Dolphin Fresco is a magnificent seascape as well as a decorative masterpiece. Two dolphins are shown swimming among small blue, yellow and pink fish. The light blue background with a darker blue net pattern represents the iridescent surface of the sea. The fragments of the fresco were found …

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Knossos, Palace. 1400 – 1350/1300 BC Evans named this young woman depicted in profile on a fresco fragment “La Parisienne”. She is probably a priestess, as she is wearing a “sacral knot” on her back. The “sacral knot”, a long strip of cloth tied in a noose, appears in various religious scenes, often attached to …

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