Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Ancient Palace's Painted Floors Display Bronze-Age Creativity
LiveScience ^ | January 06, 2014 | Denise Chow

Posted on 01/06/2014 7:43:36 PM PST by SunkenCiv

Emily Catherine Egan, a doctoral student at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio, studied the floor of the Throne Room at the Palace of Nestor, one of the best-preserved palaces of Mycenaean Greece, a civilization from the late Bronze Age. She found that the floors of the palace, located in the present-day Greek town of Pylos, were made of plaster, and were often painted with grids of bright patterns or marine animals.

The creative decorations show how ancient Mycenaean artists used floors — together with painted ceilings and walls — to impress palace visitors, Egan said.

"Mycenaean palatial floor paintings are typically believed to represent a single surface treatment — most often, cut stone or pieced carpets," Egan said in a statement. "At Pylos, however, the range of represented patterns suggests that the floor in the great hall of the palace was deliberately designed to represent both of these materials simultaneously, creating a new, clever way to impress visitors while simultaneously instructing them on where to look and how to move within the space."

The Palace of Nestor's painted floors date back to between 1300 B.C. and 1200 B.C., according to archaeologists. The Throne Room's floor recalls both patterns of painted stone masonryand depictions of textiles in Greek wall paintings, Egan said. The intricate motifs, and the combination of the different patterns, were likely designed by the artist to express the sheer power of the monarchy, she added...

Egan also found evidence that a drafting technique called an "artist's grid" was used to paint the floor. This technique involves laying down a faint grid on the surface to help ensure accurate spacing for repeating patterns or designs.

(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: catastrophism; crete; godsgravesglyphs; greece; greeks; griffinwarrior; knossos; linearb; minoan; minoans; mycenaean; mycenaeans; nestor; pylos; tholos; trojanwar
A watercolor reconstruction of the Pylos Throne Room by Piet de Jong. Credit: Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati

A watercolor reconstruction of the Pylos Throne Room by Piet de Jong. Credit: Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati

1 posted on 01/06/2014 7:43:36 PM PST by SunkenCiv
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; ...

2 posted on 01/06/2014 7:44:43 PM PST by SunkenCiv (http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

Wasn’t Nestor the wise old king in the Iliad? I know he was from Pylos.


3 posted on 01/06/2014 7:47:13 PM PST by yarddog (Romans 8: verses 38 and 39. "For I am persuaded".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

nice!


4 posted on 01/06/2014 7:49:09 PM PST by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

http://www.varchive.org/dag/pylos.htm
http://www.varchive.org/nldag/pylos.htm
http://www.varchive.org/schorr/pylos.htm
http://www.varchive.org/ce/tc14.htm
http://www.varchive.org/ce/c14.htm


5 posted on 01/06/2014 7:51:45 PM PST by SunkenCiv (http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: 75thOVI; agrace; aimhigh; Alice in Wonderland; AndrewC; aragorn; aristotleman; Avoiding_Sulla; ...
Another one of *those* topics.

6 posted on 01/06/2014 7:51:59 PM PST by SunkenCiv (http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: yarddog; BenLurkin

The name was taken from the Iliad, iow, there isn’t a “Nestor’s House” sign on the entrance to the ruined palace, alas. ;’)


7 posted on 01/06/2014 7:53:19 PM PST by SunkenCiv (http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

They excavated Phidias’ work shop at Olympia where he created the statue of Zeus.

Beneath all the dirt etc. they found a cup and it said “this is Phidias’ cup” of course in Greek. He probably did not want anyone else using it.


8 posted on 01/06/2014 8:04:28 PM PST by yarddog (Romans 8: verses 38 and 39. "For I am persuaded".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

Very creative...at least it’s not Navajo White.


9 posted on 01/06/2014 8:16:41 PM PST by Conservative4Ever (Happy New Year 2014)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: yarddog

It happened, but that’s rare. A cup was found in Britain that had the inscription, “Alfred made me” (or had me made).

Archaeology meets mythology in Mycenean Pylos (King Nestor)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2337119/posts

The Linear B Tablets and Mycenaean Social, Political, and Economic Organization
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1202723/posts

The Linear B Tablets and Mycenaean Social, Political, and Economic Organization
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1290075/posts

Greek treasures unearthed (Minoans, Linear A, Linear B)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1521086/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/pylos/index


10 posted on 01/06/2014 8:28:02 PM PST by SunkenCiv (http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/trojanwar/index


11 posted on 01/06/2014 8:28:44 PM PST by SunkenCiv (http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Conservative4Ever

yeah that is a righteous crib..


12 posted on 01/06/2014 9:11:44 PM PST by RitchieAprile
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: RitchieAprile

Good to be the king.


13 posted on 01/06/2014 9:44:27 PM PST by Kirkwood (Zombie Hunter)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

How pretty. Love reading and seeing the works in Ancient Greece/Crete.


14 posted on 01/07/2014 11:33:26 AM PST by SueRae (It isn't over. In God We Trust.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

Wow, that is one beautiful room.


15 posted on 01/07/2014 2:03:35 PM PST by colorado tanker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SueRae; colorado tanker

:’)


16 posted on 01/07/2014 5:35:05 PM PST by SunkenCiv (http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv; All

It’s a shame that the eruption of Thera led to the failure of the Minoan civilization.


17 posted on 01/10/2014 1:43:15 AM PST by gleeaikin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: gleeaikin

Even those who continue to claim a supereruption during the 3rd m BC can’t account for either the sudden failure of the Minoan civ either 80 or around 200 years after the supposed supereruption — particularly since the ash strata left on Crete — ash purportedly from Thera — is only mm’s in thickness.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1180724/posts


18 posted on 01/10/2014 5:16:46 PM PST by SunkenCiv (http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1202723/posts?page=6#6


19 posted on 01/10/2014 5:23:14 PM PST by SunkenCiv (http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson