Bronze Age Greek Sculpture
Minoan Snake Goddess
In the Bronze Age there was not a lot of sculpture in Greece. In Crete, between about 1700 and 1450 BC, the Minoans produced a lot of medium-sized figurines, mainly made of bronze and ivory.
Some of these show women holding snakes: this may be the goddess
herself, or a priestess. Other figurines show the Minoan interest
in nature and graceful movement, like a young man jumping on
a bull's back. A number of figures are of cows
or bulls, which also may have a religious meaning.
On the mainland, the Myceneans
made only tiny clay figurines,
three or four inches high, which were probably gifts for the gods.
Psi and Phi figurines
Can you see that there are two kinds - one with the arms up (called a PHI figurine because it looks like the Greek letter PHI) and another kind with the arms folded (called a PSI figurine because it looks like the Greek letter PSI)?
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(a project)
Stone
Age
Bronze Age
Dark
Age
Archaic
Severe
Classical
Hellenistic
For more information about Bronze Age Greek sculpture, check out these books on Amazon.com or in your local library:
Minoan and Mycenaean Art, by Reynold Higgins (2nd revised edition 1997) The standard book for college students
The Archaeology of Greece: An Introduction, by William R. Biers (1996) This is NOT a children's book, but Biers writes very clearly and has a lot of good pictures.
Greek Art and Archaeology (3rd Edition), by John G. Pedley (2002) This is also NOT a children's book, but it has a lot of good information and is pretty readable. Plus, the author is really an expert in this field.
Main Greek Art page
Main Greeks page
Main art page
This page was reviewed for accuracy by Ioannis
Georganas in March 2005.
