Jessica Herrera

Art History 110

ELAC/BRAVO

Minoans and Mycenaeans

Art has been used throughout the ages to express the culture of the civilization/society that

created that it. It is a way to reflect all of the aspects of life of said civilization, from gender roles

in their society to politics and government. Such representation of civilization is present in

endless places of the world and was created by the ancient civilizations,once as great or greater

than our own. Minoan art displayed a special connection with the environment and gives a sense

of harmony with the environment that once surrounded their civilization.Mycenaean art, on the

other hand, has several examples of art that displays political power.

Minoan art displayed a civilization that was in touch with their surroundings/environment and

that was actively involved with it,, bringing it into main parts of their society and way of life.In

several Minoan artworks, there is a natural aspect to it.Some artworks show animals or people

interacting with animals.This demonstrates just how important the Minoans surroundings were

to them and to their culture. Such an interaction between man and nature or an aspect of nature

shown within various Minoan art pieces.

Minoans also included their way of making sacrifices to worship their goddess of nature. This

shows the deep respect that they had for nature as well as for their religious figures. Among the

sacrifices they made were animal sacrifices, this included sacrificing bulls. To the Minoans,

nature was a part of their religion and themselves,something they very clearly portrayed in their
art. In the painting below one can see how the bull, or their love of nature and their nature

goddess, played a key role in defining who they were as a society.

Mycenaean art, on the other hand, had strong political ties that came along with it.For

example, the Parthenon was built as a temple for Athena. The Greek gods had a strong influence

in government in ancient times and were front and center in politics, influencing the Greek

people in various aspects of life, not only in politics. However,with the Greek Gods influencing

the people at every turn, one could make a strong argument that a vast majority of artworks made

that display political power also displayed the divine power of the Greek gods. As patron gods to

certain cities, whether it be Athena for Athens or Ares for Sparta, it changed the way that politics

functioned in each city-state.

The political connection in Mycenaean art is also closely tied with their way of ruling

themselves, or better said, the type of government that they had. Mycenaean government was a

hierarchal system, with a king who held all of the political power in their society. Very often art

was made to commemorate the king or ruler of the kingdom, therefore creating art that was tied

with the kings power. The religion and government system of the Mycenaeans is what mostly

caused their to be such a strong presence of politics in the art that they created in this time

period.