Bronze Age Greek Sculpture
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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. |
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Myceneans
made only tiny clay figurines,
three or four inches high, which were probably gifts for the gods.
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Age Bronze Age Dark Age Archaic Severe Classical Hellenistic |
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The
one on the right is from Bronze Age Cyprus.
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.
