ARHI 201 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Cycladic Art, Lion Gate, Minoan Snake Goddess Figurines

• School: University of Calgary
• Department: Art History
• Course: ARHI 201
• Professor: Kaarina- Nancy Bauer

Document Summary

Early cycladic art (3,000 2,000 bce) Middle and late minoan art (1,700 1,200 bce) Mycenaean late helladic art (1,600 1,200 bce) Comes from a grave (uncertain if depicts deceased) Rendered female body schematically as a series of triangles. Must have been placed lying down on back like deceased. May be playing for deceased in the afterlife. Keen interest in recording elegant shape (must have been prized possession): harp with duck/swan bill. Women have fair skin, men has dark skin. Grab bull by horns and jump onto his back. May represent priestess, more likely bare-breasted goddess. Snakes in hands and feline on her head imply she has power over animal world. Confronting lions filling relieving triangle , guarding entrance. Gate consists of two great monoliths and a huge lintel. Lost lion heads could be sphinxes or griffins. Earthen mound covers burial chamber reached through doorway at end of long passage. Corbeled courses of stone blocks laid in circular base.