DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9804#0110
CHAPTER VI
THE PALACE STYLE AND THE SACK OF KNOSSOS
The covering up of a complex of apartments on the
north-east, and the simultaneous submergence of many
floor deposits/ mean that Middle Minoan III., like
the two preceding periods, was closed by a general
catastrophe. The Late Minoan I. that succeeds it
is the period of many of the masterpieces of Minoan art
already described.2 The villa of Hagia Triada, with its
steatite vases, cat and bird fresco, and sarcophagus with
the sacrificial procession, is to be placed here. So prob-
ably is the royal draughtboard of the palace of Knossos.
The linear writing of Class A is now in regular use. Bronze
swords have succeeded the daggers whose blades have
been gradually lengthening during the Middle Minoan
period.3 Naturalistic designs are still dominant, not
only in the carved work of Hagia Triada, which gives
us such vivid pictures of human life in peace or war,
but in the flower and shell designs of the painted vases.
The white on dark of the last period has now given place
to a dark on light, and we find brown or red designs on
a ground that varies from buff to a yellowish pink. A
good example is a tall slight " filler " or " strainer " from
Zakro,4 with its shell and sea anemones, and an almost
identical vase, made probably by the same artist, from
1 See p. 62 ; J.H.S. xxvi. p. 267.
2 In Chaps. I. and II. 3 E.C. p. 9 ; P.T. p. 105.
* J.H.S xxii. Plate XII. No. I.
84
THE PALACE STYLE AND THE SACK OF KNOSSOS
The covering up of a complex of apartments on the
north-east, and the simultaneous submergence of many
floor deposits/ mean that Middle Minoan III., like
the two preceding periods, was closed by a general
catastrophe. The Late Minoan I. that succeeds it
is the period of many of the masterpieces of Minoan art
already described.2 The villa of Hagia Triada, with its
steatite vases, cat and bird fresco, and sarcophagus with
the sacrificial procession, is to be placed here. So prob-
ably is the royal draughtboard of the palace of Knossos.
The linear writing of Class A is now in regular use. Bronze
swords have succeeded the daggers whose blades have
been gradually lengthening during the Middle Minoan
period.3 Naturalistic designs are still dominant, not
only in the carved work of Hagia Triada, which gives
us such vivid pictures of human life in peace or war,
but in the flower and shell designs of the painted vases.
The white on dark of the last period has now given place
to a dark on light, and we find brown or red designs on
a ground that varies from buff to a yellowish pink. A
good example is a tall slight " filler " or " strainer " from
Zakro,4 with its shell and sea anemones, and an almost
identical vase, made probably by the same artist, from
1 See p. 62 ; J.H.S. xxvi. p. 267.
2 In Chaps. I. and II. 3 E.C. p. 9 ; P.T. p. 105.
* J.H.S xxii. Plate XII. No. I.
84