Minoan Pottery from Cyprus, and the Origin of the Mycenean Style

Author(s): E. J. Forsdyke
Source: The Journal of Hellenic Studies , 1911, Vol. 31 (1911), pp. 110-118
Published by: The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies

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MINOAN POTTERY FROM CYPRUS, AND THE ORIGIN OF THE
MYCENEAN STYLE.

THE recent enthusiasm of English explorers for the preh

antiquities of Greece, if involving some neglect of things 'merely
has at least resulted happily in the enrichment of our museu
Minoan civilisation can at present be studied only in Crete, En
America; and while the journey to Crete is always necessary for a
understanding of the subject, the introductory idea can be better
at home, where the material is limited by selection and less bewil
bulk and variety. Crete and Minoan art are naturally associated
Ashmolean Museum; and it is perhaps overlooked that the British
has at the same time acquired, by gift of excavators and of the C
of the British School at Athens, a collection of originals anridrepr
not indeed comparing with the splendour of Oxford, but valuable
senting most of the important sites, and especially useful to st
possessing an arranged series of sherds of every period.
In reviewing an accession of this kind, it is interesting to not
pieces of earlier acquisition are brought into their proper context b
material. In 1868, when the first vases arrived in London from Bi
excavations in the Ialysos tombs, Mycenean pottery was alread
Several false-necked jars from Athens had been acquired in the ea
of last century, probably with the Elgin Collection, and there we
examples, presumably from Egypt, which remained with the
collections when the old Department of Antiquities was divided. In
museum most phases of art are somewhere represented; and it is re
that so few Minoan objects had appeared before the present o
Cretan sites. A large pithos decorated with moulded rope-pattern
to the British Museum in 1884 by the appropriately-name
Calocherinos, who had sunk a shaft through one of the Magazi
Palace at Knossos. This was naturally assigned to a late period
companions were brought to light by Mr. Arthur Evans. Another
piece was the bowl with painted design of nautilus and seawe
Greville Chester brought from Erment in Egypt in 1890. Not lon
the Cretan discoveries came Professor Petrie's find of Kamares sherds in
Twelfth Dynasty rubbish heaps at Kahun. These early specimens of Minoan
polychrome ware, so acutely appreciated by their discoverer, will continue
to hold a prominent place as supplying a fixed point in Minoan chronology.

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 MINOAN POTTERY FROM CYPRUS 111
Accidental finds of Cretan pottery of less importance oc
Cyprus, in the British Museum excavations of 1895-7. The
these (Fig. 1, No. 1), from Curium (Site D, Tomb 101), was duly
at the time, but was not connected with the more elaborate exam
same fabric from Kamares and Kahun.' It is a sherd of good
ware (M.M. II.): fine reddish clay worked very thin; blackened b
the interior, and on the exterior painted with regular dots of t
pigment on a ground of lustrous black varnish. The dots are

FIG. 1.-MINOAN SHERDS FROM CURIUMI AND LARNAKA. (About 1:2.

in patterns, zig-zags or triangles, which can hardly be restored

fragment. Two narrow lines of white paint and a row of dots d
design into bands. The other firniture of the tomb consiste
bronze bracelet with twisted fastening, two painted bowls of Cyp
ring ware, and two Mycenean vases-a globular pseudamphora wi
pattern on the shoulders, and a three-handled jar with design of s
There is nothing among these which will bear such an early date a
and the presence of a single fragment of Kamares ware must be
purely accidental.
The other sherds (Fig. 1, Nos. 2 and 3) were a surface find o

1 British Museum, Excavcations involume of the Catalogue of Vases which will

(Cyprus,
p. 81. shortly appear: C 173, C 174, C 438, C 522;
2 These bear the following numbers in the the Kamares sherd is A 231.

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112 E. J. FORSDYKE

Sultan Tekke site, near Larn

Late Minoan I. The clay is o
yellow slip on which the free
Both pieces are from the sam
flattened shoulder; but the sh
Of more importance is the n
vase from a grave at Maron
tions were not published w
contents of the tomb are giv
of primitive type, thick red
two jugs of base-ring ware
Cypriote bucchero; a bowl an
the form of a bull; a terracot
cylindrical shape with horiz
large bowl of krater form, wi
dull white paint on a band of
scale-pattern, and a small pse
By the side of this bowl is
Mr. Evans for the purpose o
the Palace at Knossos (L. M
Cypriote example. Both are
and are decorated with a curio
and narrow bands at foot and
Mycenean vases with which
precludes the possibility of an
either as a survival, preserv
belonging to a previous buria
is certainly of primitive typ
will be much too early for
disturbance in the tomb. On
can be based; but Cypriote chr
The subsequent Cretan perio
finds in Cyprus. Two fragm
part of a large pithos: very t
a smooth slip and painted d
pigment have both perished
square trellis of linked spiral
arcs. This type of design o
terracotta chests and bath-tu
larnax with almost identical
Zafer Papoura,4 and similar e
4 Evans, ' in
3 Numbers of vases The Prehistoric
the Tombs of Knossos'
forthcomi
(Archaeologia,
logue: C.11, C 120, C151, vol. lix. 1906),
C p.152,
91, Fig. 102a.
C 20
5 Harriet Boyd
C 251, C 253, C 256, C 332, HIawes, Gournia,
C 474, P1. X. C
45, 46.
Mliuoan bowl is A 371, and the cup fr
sos A 370.

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 MINOAN POTTERY FROM CYPRUS 113

It represents the ultimate development of nati

influenced by the architectonic formalism of the P
craftsmen were inspired by the grandeur of the d

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FIG. 2.-VASES FROM MARONI AND KNossos. (1:2.)

In marked contrast is the conventionality of the octopus on a large false-

necked jar from Curium in Cyprus (Fig. 4); yet this vase too is Cretan.

FIG. 3.-MINoAN SHERDS FROM ENKOMI. (1 :3.)

The peculiar design and technique were recognised by Mr. Walters in the
original publication," and numerous parallels have since been found.7

each
6 Excavations in Cyprus, p. 74, and p. 79 handle of this vase.

(Tomb 50), where the contents of the grave are7 E.g. Gournia, P1. X. 12; B.S.A. ix. p. 318.
given. Catalogue, C 501: the sign - is cut on
H.J. VOL. XXXI. I

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 114 E. J. FORSDYKE

In regard to the pottery o

noted by Mr. Evans as an unex
marked by the reappearance
the octopus and the triton sh
Palace Period (L. M. I.), but ha
motives of the advanced
presented in another form
occupation Period (L. M. III.)
technically superior to that o
inferior, and betraying a pau
the same tendency is remarke
the Mycenean pottery, now s
generally recognised.
An explanation of this appa
found in the character of t
mainland type of pottery, b
emphasises the fact that thes
ware of Late Minoan III., have
of Late Minoan I. Both in f
Here are the floral and marin
ventionalised indeed, but rath
long process of development.
origin; and they are often tho
Crete." The technique is of th
contrary, represents the natu
fabric and decoration, and it
Palace Style (L. M. III.).
The Mycenean style would
derived from Minoan pottery
the mainland in the early Pal
finally returned to Crete, wh
extent displaced the exotic an
style.
The evidence in the style of the pottery is supported by its date. The
degradation of the mainland art would naturally be rapid, and the dull
rigidity of Mycenean designs, which is really due to their arrested develop-
ment, has suggested a later date than is justified. The remains from Ialysos
obviously cover a long period, and it is wrong to date the finer vases by
objects which may belong to the later burials. There is, unfortunately, no
useful record of the finding of the Ialysos scarabs. These were three in
number is1: one is of the early Nineteenth Dynasty, another bears the throne-

S ' Prehistoric Tombs of Knossos,' p. 127, etc. "I E.g. the pseudamphora, the flat three-
9 Gournia, p. 45. handled jar, and the straight-sided filler. See
10 Dawkins in B. S.A. ix. pp. 316 sq.; x. p. 226. below, p. 118.
Mackenzie in J.II.S. xxiii. (1903), p. 199. 12 Furtwangler and Loeschcke, Mykenische
Vasen, p. 75.

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 MINOAN POTTERY FROM CYPRUS 115

name of Amenhotep III., and the third, which

fish, the emblems of Selkit and Hathor, is also an
quite possibly of the reign of Thothmes III. (
is so far negative; but it is confirmed fro
tomb of the lady Maket at Kahun, belonging
Professor Petrie14 found a vase which has been v
period Late Minoan I.,15 and, more correctly,
temporary with Late Minoan II.I There is, how
decoration of this piece to separate it from t

FIG. 4.--MINOAN VASE FROM CURIUM. (1

vases. The leaf design (sea-weed) has a sup

naturalistic Cretanl motives, but this is the char
art. The mature style must accordingly be ass
the Eighteenth Dynasty (c. 1450 B.c.). Other

13 Loc cit. No. 3-' unkenntliche

Illahun, etc.,Darstellung.'
p. 21.
I owe the interpretation and dating to Mr. H.
R. Hall. 1. Hall,
16 Proc. Zeit
Fimmen, Soc. und
Bibl. Dauer
Arch. der
1909, p. 141.
klretisch-
14 J.H.S. xi. (1890), p. 273, P1. XIV. 1;
m ykenischen Kultur, p. 51.
i2

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116 E. J. FORSDYKE

later type at Gurob 17 (Amen

to Amenhotep IV.) might favo
There is thus good reason fo
closer chronological relation
be taken to represent a Cre
Period (L. M. I.). The Minoan
great an influence on the sub
accidental hoard of Cretan s
The presence of late Kamares
a still earlier settlement in
considerable overlapping of th
technique survives in Mycenea
was insignificant by the side
Late Minoan age. The variatio
greater than a single generati
Local pottery of the transit
to the period, and the vases
portations of the Palace Style
facture are in no way typical
tombs of distinguished perso
Crete. It appears in fact fro
fabrics did not influence the
seems to have been a time of
or rather, Knossos.
These observations may per
first Late Minoan period w
close is marked on the one ha
towns, and on the other hand
Palace was remodelled and g
foreign intrusion, for the ru
Palace Period. It must be co
new thing in Cretan annals, w
the inhabitants of the falle
Greece. The artistic culture w
all the Cretan sites, best perh
in the shaft-graves of Mycen
the points at which the sequ
suddenly taken up in Greec
of Knossos is indicated by th

17 Petrie, J.H.S.pp. xi.317 sq.

(1890), p. 274, P
3; Illahun, etc., p. 2117. Harriet Boyd Ha
18 Petrie, VIII., IX.
Tell-el-Amarna, P1. XXVI
19 Hall, ' The Discoveries in Crete,'
22 Furtwaingler and Loeschecke, AMykenische etc
Soc. Bibl. Arch. Thongefdsse.
1909), p. 140.
2 E.Qg. Bosanquet in J.H.S. xxiv

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 MINOAN POTTERY FROM CYPRUS 117

follows this generation: the lack of influence of the P

and the distinct character of Mycenean art.
The fall of Knossos at the end of the Palace Period
partial revival on nearly all the ancient sites, and t
mainland type of pottery, together with an admixture
which are at first, however, not strongly marked.23 T
downfall of Knossos at least with the assistance of the
attempt to restore the old conditions, and the gradual
people.24 It is only in the hypothesis
of an extensive Cretan colony in the
North that an explanation can be found
for the destruction of Knossos, the rise
of new influences, and still the con-
tinuity of Minoan tradition.
So far the only considerable
remains of the original colonisation
have been found at Mycenae; but the
deserted sites in Crete were numerous,
and the rapid and universal expansion
of the Mycenean power points to a
number of settlements. The recent
discovery by Dr. Dtirpfeld of early
vases and other objects of Cretan
origin (L. M. I.) in the ruins of three
tholos tombs at Kakovatos,25 suggests
a landing near Pylos; but further
remains must exist on many sites.
Isolated finds of Minoan pottery of
this and earlier periods have occurred,
but they attest no more than a normal
intercourse. No other conclusion can
be drawn from the presence of these
specimens in Cyprus.
It is not suggested that Cyprus
was colonised from Crete: the first
Mycenean culture appears rather to
have come southwards from the
Rhodian centre, and there is no traceFIG. 5.--ALABASTERI YASE.
of early Cretan influence in what is
thought to be the Cypriote Mycenean ware, unless the remarkable Cy
technique of subsidiary designs in white pigment on the black varnish
is to be referred to the Cretan pottery of Late Minoan I. and the Kamares

23 Burrows, Discoveries in Crete , pp. 25

160,
Ath. Mitt. xxxiv. (1909), p. 269, P11. XII.-
177, etc., with references. XXIV.
24 Cf. Mackenzie in B.S.A. xi. pp. 220-223.

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118 MINOAN POTTERY FROM CYPRUS

There may be evidence of later Cretan influenc

of birds, animals, monstrous creatures, and
Cypriote motives. These were a feature of t
native Minoan style,26 and similar tendencies, a
Crete, have been observed by Mr. Hall27 in the
Philistia. It may have been in this direction
after the final destruction of the Minoan realm.
This is a convenient opportunity to republish an alabaster funnel-vase or
'filler' (Fig. 5) which has been withdrawn from view in recent years, though it
seems to have been formerly well known.28 It was sent to the British Museum
in 1874 by Sir Alfred Biliotti, and was therefore said by Dumont to belong to
the Rhodian finds. This may be true, but there is no foundation at all for
the statement; no provenance was given at the time of acquisition, and the
connexion with Rhodes need not be assumed. The piece appears, however,
to be of Mycenean origin. It is rather coarsely made; the walls are about
one-fifth of an inch thick, the hole in the pointed end is half an inch in
diameter, and the mouth 33 inches; the height of the body is 11A inches,
and the handle is rather more than an inch wide. There is no decoration
beyond a narrow rim at the lip, and two roughly cut grooves which divide the
flat handle into three vertical ribs. The shape of the handle, the cylindrical
stud at the bottom, and the overlapping top show a very close connection
with the metal prototype: the handles of the Vapheio cups or of the silver
cup from Enkomi 29 are of similar construction. The form of the vase is that
of the earlier Minoan model (L. M. I.).30 In the advanced Palace Period a more
elaborate type was in vogue, bottle-shaped, with a narrow moulded neck. I
do not know any example of the later Cretan type in Mycenean pottery,
while this earlier, straight-sided shape is of common occurrence at Ialysos, in
Cyprus, and on the mainland.
E. J. FORSDYKE.

Saglio, Dict. Antiqu. s.v. ' Infundibulum.'

26 For the birds, B.S.A. ix. p. 318 ; x. p. 226.
2 H. R. Hall, The Oldest Civilisation in
27 The Discoveries in Crete and their Rela-
Greece, p. 54, Fig. 24.
tion to the History of Egypt and Palestine'
(Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch. 1909), p. 235, note 102. 3o Seager, 'Excavations on the Island of
28 Dumont and Chaplain, Udramiques de la Pseira' (Univ. Pennsylvania Mus. Anthrop.Publ.
Gr&de Propre, i. p. 45; whence Daremberg and vol. iii. No. 1, 1910), p. 26.

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