Minoan Art

In this lesson we will explore various types of artwork created by the Minoans. Minoans were early Greeks who created vivid images in their artwork, which became a popular export to surrounding areas.

Minoan painting is distinguished by its vivid colors and curvlinear shapes that bring a liveliness and vitality to the scenes.

Minoan art crete ancient pottery architecture sculpture painting fresco metal gold.

Images of Minoan art.

Learn more about sculpture in the Boundless open textbook.

Minoan and Mycenaean Pottery - Bronze Age Pottery.

Minoan Art (c.3000-1100): Stone Carvings, Pottery, Murals, Palaces of Knossos, Phaestus, Akrotiri.

Frescoes are the source of some of the most striking imagery handed down to us from the Minoan civilization of Bronze Age Crete (2000-1500 BCE). Further, without written records, they are often the only source, along with decorated pottery, of just how the world appeared to the Minoans and give us tantalizing glimpses of their beliefs, cultural practices and aesthetic tastes.

Sir Arthur Evans, the British archaeologist, characterized the Bronze Age culture of Crete as Minoan, after the legendary King Minos. From the material he excavated at Knossos, Evans devised a chronological scheme consisting of nine periods for Minoan civilization on Crete.

The absence of perspective in painting gives a flat effect, yet the human figures, beasts, and plants are rendered in accurate detail. Plants or rocks tend to be treated as elements of a formal pattern.

Minoan craftsmen were particularly skilled at the art of seal engraving. Though small, Minoan seal stones often show scenes that are both beautifully carved and an insight into this ancient culture. Seals had a practical purpose - they were used to impress a pattern onto lumps of clay around the fastenings of doors, jars, boxes, and even bundles of documents.

This vibrant culture was centred around the island of Crete and eventually dominated the Agean region.

The Minoans were arguably Europe's first great civilization. They originated on the island of Crete around 3000 B.C. and flourished there from 2000 B.C. to 1,400 B.C. While most of Europe was still in the Stone Age the Minoans created cities with magnificent palaces and comfortable townhouses with terra cotta plumbing; traded throughout the Mediterranean and the Aegean with a huge fleet of ships; and developed a writing system.

Until recently little was known about the origins of Greek art: the stone age in Greece was unknown and only large stone walls were preserved, these stone walls were named Cyclopean or Pelasgian constructions because the ancient Greeks said they were the work of the first settlers of their country whom they called Pelasgians.