A Tale of Two Cities
The Miniature Frescoes from Thera and the Origins of Greek Poetry
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4539788 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sarah P Morris (0000-0003-0577-9909, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1989 |
| Volume | 93 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 511-535 |
| Publication date | 1989-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Archaeology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-9114 • E-ISSN: 1939-828X |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2307/505326 |
| OpenAlex | W2324664351 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 20 |
Since their discovery in 1972, the miniature frescoes from the West House at Akrotiri have attracted scholarship largely confined to synchronic and technical studies by Minoan archaeologists. Prehistorians have pursued their specialties in these frescoes, have defended their Aegean territories along predictable lines, and have explored formal aspects of style and subject. Evolving scholarship has remained loyal to earlier interpretations, despite new evidence outside Thera and fresh perspectives on the Bronze Age. What has been lost is the unity and wider significance of these frescoes. Their primary source is an epic or heroic transformation of historical experience that implies the existence of contemporary poetry. A comparison of visual images with poetic themes, formulae, and episodes makes the miniature frescoes an early and important document in the prehistory of the Greek epic tradition and in the evolution of narrative art. This interpretation coincides with recent, exciting developments in Aegean archaeology and philology to form a persuasive argument for the existence of epic poetry by the early Mycenaean period. An ulterior purpose of this essay is to stimulate thought and discussion about current methodology in Aegean prehistory, artificially isolated from evidence and research in Classical philology and archaeology
Archaeology · Art · Art history · EPIC · Fresco · Literature · Painting · Philology · Poetry · Prehistory · Scholarship · Sociology · Style (visual arts · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · Historical and Literary Studies · History
Mycenaeans in Messenia
Mycenaean Greece and the Aegean World
Lyric and Greek Myth
The Archaeology of Greek and Roman Troy
The Cambridge Guide to Homer
Problems of Dating Spread on Radiocarbon Calibration Curve Plateaus
Agency and personhood at the onset of the Mycenaean period
Moral theories, Homeric questions – and the shaft graves of Mycenae. A response
Miniature Crowd Frescoes from Knossos
Location and Perspective in the Theran Flotilla Fresco
Truth Lies in the Details
A Newly Discovered Minoan Faience Plaque From the Knossos Town Mosaic in the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery
Aššuwa and the Achaeans
A Survey of Evidence for Feasting in Mycenaean Society
Kerostasia, The Dictates of Fate, and the Will of Zeus in the Iliad
Homer and History
Singing the Rug
Inquiring into Nostos and Its Cognates
Separating Fact from Fiction in the Aiolian Migration
The Poetics of the Cretan Lion
| Unique citing works | 20 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,67 |
| Citation span | 1996 - 2026 (31) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 19 |