Aegean art covers two major pre-Greek civilizations: the Minoans and the Mycenaeans. This unit provides a nice segue between ancient Near Eastern (Mesopotamian and Egyptian) art and Greek art. Both the Minoans and the Mycenaeans were influenced by these earlier civilzations (their writing systems, for instance, are thought to be adaptations of Egyptian and Mesopotamian systems), and the Mycenaeans, who eventually colonized Minoan Crete, were the immediate forerunners of the ancient Greeks.
This unit is a wonderful place to talk about the ways that artistic representation expresses cultural values: for the Minoans, in terms of their relationship to the environment, and for the Mycenaeans, in terms of displays of political power. These two concepts are still very palpable in students’ lives today, and it’s fun to use this lesson as a way for them to think about how contemporary visual culture relates to our social, political, and geographic relationships.
This is also good chance to introduce the concept of institutional history, or historiography. Both the Minoan and Mycenaean sites were discovered and excavated around the turn of the last century by Western archaeologists, who had their own culturally specific agendas.
Finally, this unit is a wonderful opportunity to introduce the question of epistemology: how do we know what we know? The Minoan culture is an especially good place to get students to question their assumptions about what art means. You might begin the class by showing a simple Minoan object such as the Octopus Flask, and ask students to do a quick free write about what they think it symbolizes or represents. Then, either right away or later in the lesson, you can ask students to think about what evidence they would need in order to prove their theories—evidence that is unlikely to be available, since we have no decipherable written documents from the Minoan culture and thus know little about their specific beliefs and traditions.
Aegean art covers two major pre-Greek civilizations: the Minoans and the Mycenaeans. This unit provides a nice segue between ancient Near Eastern (Mesopotamian and Egyptian) art and Greek art. Both the Minoans and the Mycenaeans were influenced by these earlier civilzations (their writing systems, for instance, are thought to be adaptations of Egyptian and Mesopotamian systems), and the Mycenaeans, who eventually colonized Minoan Crete, were the immediate forerunners of the ancient Greeks.This unit is a wonderful place to talk about the ways that artistic representation expresses cultural values: for the Minoans, in terms of their relationship to the environment, and for the Mycenaeans, in terms of displays of political power. These two concepts are still very palpable in students’ lives today, and it’s fun to use this lesson as a way for them to think about how contemporary visual culture relates to our social, political, and geographic relationships.This is also good chance to introduce the concept of institutional history, or historiography. Both the Minoan and Mycenaean sites were discovered and excavated around the turn of the last century by Western archaeologists, who had their own culturally specific agendas.Finally, this unit is a wonderful opportunity to introduce the question of epistemology: how do we know what we know? The Minoan culture is an especially good place to get students to question their assumptions about what art means. You might begin the class by showing a simple Minoan object such as the Octopus Flask, and ask students to do a quick free write about what they think it symbolizes or represents. Then, either right away or later in the lesson, you can ask students to think about what evidence they would need in order to prove their theories—evidence that is unlikely to be available, since we have no decipherable written documents from the Minoan culture and thus know little about their specific beliefs and traditions.
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