Greek Art
Year of lecture: 1957
Abstract:
"In the years between 1200 and 1000 B.C. the whole of the Eastern Mediterranean was convulsed by wars, invasions, and the movement of large groups of people. The period witnessed the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, and we may take 1,000 B.C. as a convenient date which to begin our study of Greek art. But I must say one or two words very briefly about the period before 1,000 B.C.
"Greece, had, of course, been populated before 1000 B.C. The culture of mainland Greece and the adjacent islands between 3,000 and 1,000 B.C. (the culture, that is, of Bronze Age Greece, has been called the Helladic culture) and it has been divided into early, middle and late Helladic, corresponding roughly in time with early, middle and late Minoan. I cannot deal with Helladic art here, but I want to point out that in Late Helladic times, that is, between 1,500 and 1,000 B.C. a civilization known as the Mycenaean flourished in Southern Greece and the adjacent islands. Great palaces were built at Tiryns and Mycenae, and the Late Helladic period is also known as the Mycenaean Age. Mycenaean art is closely affiliated with Minoan art, and the Mycenaean ousted the Minoans as the main maritime and commercial nation of the Eastern Mediterranean."
