Introduction
A society's art is its spirit, and in order to comprehend a culture fully, understanding its art is crucial. The Minoan and Mycenean cultures were highly different from one another, despite the fact that the majority of the art created during this period was inspired by or an extension of Minoan art. This is mostly due to the differences between the people and leaders of these two periods. The people in the Minoan civilization were more subtle and peaceful whereas the people in the Mycenean civilization were furious as they belonged to the clan of warlords. This was a huge difference between the two civilizations and this is what set forth the difference in the art of the civilizations. This essay will discuss the difference and similarities in the two civilizations and the forms of art that were present in each civilization.Minoan Art
Minoan art is regarded as the art produced in the Minoan Civilization. Minoan art is very ancient and most of the art produced in the era has been decomposed because it mainly consisted of wood material and the pottery, palace architecture and the stone carvings are among some of the preserved examples of Minoan era. The most common and primary type of art form of Minoan culture was theFrescoes
. These frescoes in contrast to the Egyptian frescoes were very real and depicted the true meaning. The most famous fresco was the bull-leaping fresco which depicted many people with differentiation of the sexes which were distinguished by the color, the skin of a man was depicted by the reddish-brown color tone and the skin of women was depicted by white color. The Minoan art was also famous for the number of wares that were produced in the Crete. These wares and ceramic materials were characterized by patterns of different shapes like spirals, triangles, curved lines, crosses, beak-spouts and fish bones (Belloc, 1967). These characterizations were during the early Minoan period, during the middle Minoan period these designs became more naturalistic and contained patterns of fish, squid, birds and lilies. In the late Minoan period, these patterns included some more animals and plants, but the focus was more drafted towards nature.Minoans mastered the art of jewelry making as most of the jewelry made by them were very elaborate and it was framed with hints of gold or copper. The metal work was also very artistic and was done in precise conditions like controlled temperature, which helped the metal to bind itself to the gold without burning it so that it may not leave a mark on the gold ornaments and at the same time bonds itself to it in order to enhance the beauty of it.Minoan arts also included metal vessels as the one that is used today for different cooking purposes, these mostly contained cup-shaped materials like the cauldrons, pans, bowls, pitchers and basins. These metal vessels are still used and are said to be imported from Crete and from the Minoan time period. The purpose of these vessels in that era was not very clear and different possibilities are purposed such as the cup-shaped bowls were used for drinking, hydria or pitchers were used for pouring liquids and cauldrons were used to make food. Vessels that were made of gold or silver were said to be used in ritual drinking and were possessed by the elites which signified their status and power over those who drank in ceramic vessels. These vessels were also used in the culture as burying goods, people used to bury the most precious metal vessel with the body which depicted the wealth and the status of the deceased.Mycenean Art
The Myceneans borrowed most of the art from the Minoans, but the culture of two civilizations was very different. The ruler of these civilizations was very different Mycenean rulers were not in the favor of-of sharing prosperity with their people as they were warriors and they had no soft corner for the people of the land. This all affected the Mycenean art and the most affected domain was their architecture because the nation was built and run by warlords, they felt the need to build high walls around their city which helped them to save their land and their treasure which was a constant threat from other civilizations. The need of making high walls and making their city protected because of the military concerns and according to some theories this type of buildings was the foundation towards the building of Egyptian pyramids. Most of the Mycenae sculpture and metalwork was made to glorify the leaders because it was very important as they were very self-praised. The rulers were given a lot of metal vessels, both in their life and death. The pattern of burying their deceased changed with time and tholos tombs were practiced this involved the burying of the deceased in conical chambers which were equipped with gold ornaments, jewelry as they believed that this possession will help the deceased in the afterlife (Higgins, 1994). The emphasis on the military was very prominent in all forms of art. As the nation had a strong military background the weapons made by them were of very high quality and revealed their craftsmanship. They made their swords and other weapons in a particular method that is known as an inlay.The metal on the outside borders was cut to make specific designs and these designs were polished with gold or silver. This technique was used to make the metal-rich and prominent and different soldiers of different ranks had swords of different designs which also depicted their rank and status. The crowns and the diadems were made heavy as to make sure that the purity of the metal remains. This era also included the patterns of animals and flowers on their metals and jewelry and it marked the evidence that this era has most of the culture borrowed from the Minoan art (Trilling, 2001).It is very clear that Minoan were peaceful people and they were closer to nature and this fact depicted from their patterns of crafting also they were famous for their pottery and jewelry and not for their war metal and equipment. It is thus said that both the civilizations are different from each other and have their own characterizations however the basis of the art was the same Minoans excelled in jewelry and pottery whereas Myceneans excelled in war crafts and equipment.References
Belloc, H. (1967). On. Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press.
Higgins, R. (1994). Minoan and Mycenaean art. London: Thames and Hudson.
Trilling, J. (2001). The language of ornament. London: Thames & Hudson.
