Museum Visit & Field Trip

Museum Visit

References:

Montreal museum vist.

Museums Readings. Posted on LEA.


Prep Questions Before Visit (First Floor)

Cycladic figures: Excavation in 2006, more than 200 figurines were unearthed. All figurines had "ritually" been broken into 4 pieces and then brought to Keros for "deposition".

Frying Pan: zoomorphic form; terracotta hedgehogs. Shows both humour and naturalism.

Kamares Ware One of the more popular themes for Kamares ware is the 'beak-spouted' jug.

Mycenaean funerary masks: The ceremonial daggers found in the Mycenaean grave circles depict scenes of hunting, lions and 'river life'.

Geometric pottery: Mourners on the geometric pot are tearing at their hair and signing laments.

Mycenaean swords: Type C Mycenaean swords are also referred to as 'horned swords'.

Labrys: Females are generally associated with Labrys in the Minoan religious culture.

Museum Work:

Mycenae:
-Athens. daggers. National Archaeological Museum. 16th century (second half) BC.
-Chania. Mirror/knife. 1450-1500BCE.
-Athens. Cup. National Archaeological Museum. 16th century (second half) BC.

Marble: Naxos created and was known for great marble. The island of Paros was also known for their wonderful marble.

Script: The words in Linear B translated into the mentioning of greek gods/goddesses, olive oil and man/female.

Bronze: Tin and copper are gathered together and melted. Once the metals are melted they are poured into a hardened clay mold. When the metals have cooled the clay mold is removed.

Sources: Most of the sources are from 'Wikipedia'. This is surprising because Wikipedia sources are not reliable. The museum sources should have originated from peer reviewed scholarly works that were published by professionals in the field.

Helmets: The war helmets had been constructed out of copper. This meant that over time they turned green as a result of oxidization.

Prep Questions Before Visit (Second Floor)

A) Ivory was the material used to create the figurines spoken of in the article. This is surprising because ivory was a rare material that was imported from Egypt and Syria. Also, the material eventually disappeared from the market after the Late Bronze Age.

B) The mountain sanctuary discussed by Pausanias is Ptoan Apollo.

Museum Work:

Statue: "The Princess of the Mediterranean" speaks about a grave of a women being found with several female ivory figurines in her tomb. The tomb of this wealthy women might be associated with the Lady of Archotiko.

This is Sparta:  Spartan hoplite statue dates to the second quarter of the 5th century BCE. The creation of the statue falls roughly 10 years after the battle of Marathon.

Alexander the Great: The archaeological remains are majestic and beautifully done. The pieces highlight and demonstrate the power that Alexander held and his glorious achievements.

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Masonic Temple

The Masonic lodge is an interesting building because it has elements of both Greek and Roman architecture. The building appears to be constructed out of limestone. The Masonic lodge shows evidence of a Roman 'Maison Carrée'. The architecture of this building like the Romans has only a few 'engaged columns'. These engaged columns create the illusion of a 'peripteral temple'. This differs from the Greeks who designed their temples to be surrounded by 'stylobates'. Also, the Masonic structure was designed with an extending wing to the left and right. These two extra wings, 'alae', link the Masonic building to Roman architectural designs.

In addition, The Masonic lodge has several Greek aspects. The columns used in the structure are designed in ionic fashion. The flat edge between the channels demonstrates Ionic 'fluting'.  Also, the entrance of the building has several rossettes around the door. Near the structure' columns we can see two features that highlight Greek influence. Between the ionic columns we can see torches that are designed with a tripod stand holding the piece where the flame would be found. Above the torches, built into the wall between the columns are five squares designed in a way that appears to make them look 'wavy'. This design hints towards a Minoan/bronze age influence. Also, the 'entablature' of the building has another Greek element. The Masonic lodge ties into Greek architecture because it has a 'pediment'. The Parthenon, ancient Greece's greatest temple, has pediments designed into the structure too.

Lastly, the Masonic lodge holds architectural elements that are neither Greek nor Roman. When studying the different elements of the structure you will notice that at the highest point of the building is located an etruscan 'acroteria'. The acroteria was an architectural design that Etruscans implemented on their early temples.


Acroteria:

Masonic Lodge:

Greek Pottery

Greek Pottery

References:

American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 113, No. 4 (Oct., 2009), pp. 599-627 



Greek vase painting has for many years held an important role in the topic of classical archaeology. The focus of analysis on Greek painted ceramics began in the 18th century. Scholars slightly disagree on some aspects of Greek vase painting.  One area that all professionals support is the importance of vases from the Archaic and Classical periods. Most reports made by scholars on Greek vase painting are collected and published every couple of years in the Bulletin Archeologique: Ceramique of the Revue des Etudes Grecques. This essential academic  resource was founded by Henri Metzger in 1960. Most publications highlighting Greek ceramics are the excavations reports created by professionals in the field. These reports either discuss specific finds at a certain location or go into extreme detail on entire sites. Excavation reports allow for a short overview of a specific type of pottery found on location. Also, the reports aide in comprehending individual artists and the importance certain ceramics had at a specific site. Sadly, excavation reports do not publish information regarding other materials found around the ceramics. This creates a situation that does not allow scholars to understand the context that ceramics fall under. Nowadays, professionals as a standard have began to report the ceramics within their contexts. This new standard may be seen with the publication of two volumes from the Kerameikos excavations: "Kunze-Gotte's study of archaic and classical graves and Knigge's publication of Bau Z". Some countries, such and the United States and Germany do not fully appreciate the study of Greek ceramics. Many American professionals only focus on the concept of studying pottery, but not excavating the vases. This poses a problem considering that pottery is the "most common artifact" unearthed during excavations. The Archaeology Institute of America's Code of Professional Standards, amongst other organizations, pressure archaeologists to publish their findings within a reasonable time, but many professionals do not abide by these standards. Conferences focused around Greek ceramics are a relatively new idea. The University of Amsterdam's "Ancient Greek and Related Pottery" conference in 1984 was a major step for international attention on the topic of Greek ceramics. A catalogue that was created specifically for ancient vases is the Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum. The catalogue was established in 1919 by Edmond Pottier, "who published the first volume of the series in 1923". Today, many of the catalogues focus on Greek painted pottery, especially all black/red figure types. The Germans compared to the other 26 countries who take part in the catalogue have produced the most editions, 84 copies out of the 325 are credited to them. Greek painted ceramics/pottery is a key component in several classical exhibitions. This has caused "major exhibits" in which Greek ceramics have had a crucial role, such as the several exhibitions that were created "in response to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens...".           

During the 19th century, scholars started to attempt linking ceramics with the specific artists who created them. At first, professionals used signed vases as an early point of reference. Unfortunately, this created a situation that did not allow unsigned vases to be link to any artist. Sir John Davidson Beazley did groundbreaking work in associating unsigned ceramics with specific artist. He devoted many years to this research and was able to credit several unsigned Athenian ceramics. Sir John was able to link ceramics to specific artists based on the style of drawing. This allowed for a better analysis of how Attic black figure and red figure ceramics developed. This new understanding enabled for the dating of figured pottery and is still used today. The concept provides professionals the ability to trace ceramics back to the workshop of origin. Thus, Beazley's research allows for scholars to be able determine several elements about the past, such as trade routes.