A watercolor reconstruction of the Pylos Throne Room by Piet de Jong. Credit: Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati
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 ...
A watercolor reconstruction of the Pylos Throne Room by Piet de Jong. Credit: Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati
Wasn’t Nestor the wise old king in the Iliad? I know he was from Pylos.
nice!
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
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The name was taken from the Iliad, iow, there isn’t a “Nestor’s House” sign on the entrance to the ruined palace, alas. ;’)
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.
Very creative...at least it’s not Navajo White.
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
yeah that is a righteous crib..
Good to be the king.
How pretty. Love reading and seeing the works in Ancient Greece/Crete.
Wow, that is one beautiful room.
:’)
It’s a shame that the eruption of Thera led to the failure of the Minoan civilization.
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
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