Study Questions: Biers,
Chapter 2: “The Minoans”
Illustration: Reconstruction of the “Palaiokastro
Kouros,” Minoan chryselephantine figurine.
(From The Palaikastro Kouros, A Maserpiece
of Mionan Sculpture in Irory and Gold, by L. H. Sackett, Athens,
2006)
DUE IN CLASS FRIDAY, 28 AUGUST, 2009.
(Write the Answer to the Question(s) that have the same
digit as the last digit of your U of AR ID #.)
0. How many miles long is Crete from west to east?
1. What event separates the “New Palace” period from the “Old
Palace” period on Crete?
2. What does the “Neolithic” period mean, and how long did
it last? What kinds of Neolithic materials have been found on Crete?
3. Aside from the lack of palaces, what characterizes the “Pre-Palatial”
period on Crete?
4. What three writing systems have been found at Cretan Bronze Age sites?
What language(s) do they represent?
5. What kind of government do we think existed in Minoan Crete?
6. Why is it difficult to get a clear idea of Minoan religion?
7. What is “thalassocracy” as it relates to Crete?
8. How do we know that the Egyptians knew of the Minoans?
9. Find the island of Thera (Santorini) on Map 2. What does its shape
remind you of? Why is it shaped like that?
10. What caused the destruction of palaces “at a time when LM IB
Marine-style pottery was in use”?
11. What evidence is there for Mycenaean “occupation” of Knossos?
12. In what way(s) was Minoan Art different from Egyptian?
13. What was the “central point of focus” of each Minoan palace?
How was it used?
14. What did the Minoans make their palace walls out of? How did their
choice of materials reflect their knowledge of seismology?
15. What four (4) major palace sites on Crete does Biers mention? Find
them on Map 2, and list them, from West to East.
16. Why were Minoan palaces unfortified?
17. What is an “orthostate’, and where in a Minoan Palace would
you find one?
18. What use of columns was “a peculiarity of Minoan Architecture”?
Locate this peculiarity in figure 2.11 and on plan 2.3.
19. What are “pithoi”, and where would you find them in a Minoan
Palace?
20. How do we know that the palace at Knossos was more than one story
high? What was on the upper story?
21. What characterizes the “theatral area”? Look at its picture.
(2.10) How might it have been used?
22. Who might have sat on the “throne” which was “guarded”
by the two griffons? ( Fig. 2.12) What modern ideas tend to influence our
interpretation of this room?
23. How can we distinguish a “lustral area” from a “bathing
area”?
24. How was the “Grandstand Fresco” (2.22) used to reconstruct
the palace at Knossos?
25. What is “faience”, and what did the Minoans use it for?
(38, 60, 342, Fig. 2.43, 2.44, 2.45)
26. What is a “light well”, and why is it important to Minoan
architecture?
27. What evidence of “hydraulic engineering” does the palace
at Knossos show?
28. Who lived in Gournia?
29. What are “larnakes“,
and what was their use?
30. What is a “fresco”? How does it differ from a “relief
fresco” ?
31. What characterizes typical “Minoan nature scenes”? Where
was the “Flying Fish Fresco” found? (45, Fig. 2.20) Find this
island on Map 2, and say why you think a Minoan painting would turn up there.
32. What characterizes the paintings “from Minoan court and religious
life?”
33. What colors did Minoan artists use to distinguish men and women?
34. What has been found in the Nile Delta which reflect Minoan art?
35. What kinds of scenes are painted on the Ayia Triadhada sarcophagus?
How have they been interpreted? (48-49, Fig. 2.25, 2.26)
36. How do the frescoes from Thera (Santorini) compare to those on Crete?
37. How did the Minoans decorate their pottery?
38. How does the “Palace Style” of pottery decoration differ
from earlier pottery decoration?
39. Why did the stone bull’s head rhyton from the Little Palace at Knossos
have holes in it?
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