Figure 8 Detail of fresco from Akrotiri, Thera (Santorini), ca. 1700 BC. Museum of Prehistoric Thera.

Source: © Malcolm Fairman / Alamy Stock Photo.

FRESCO  Painting    in  watercolor  on  a   wall    or  ceiling whose   mortar  or  plaster is  still   fresh   and

moist,  so  that    the colors  sink    in  and become  more    durable (figures    8,   16 ,   and 89).

The Greeks Speak Up

“And    Agamemnon   placed  his helmet  upon    his head,   a   helmet  made    of  four    sheets  of  metal,  with    two

horns   and a   horsehair   crest   that    nodded  menacingly  over    all.    He  took    up  a   pair    of  sturdy  spears  fitted

with    sharp   points  of  bronze, and the gleam   of  the bronze  shone   forth   from    him into    the far-off

heavens.    And about   him Athena  and Hera    made    the thunder ring    out,    paying  tribute to  the lord    of

Mycenae,    rich    in  gold.”  (Homer, Iliad   11.41–6)

Historians refer to the period that immediately succeeded the Minoan as the “Mycenaean Period,” or the
period in which “Mycenaean” civilization was dominant in mainland Greece and the Aegean. We saw
above that the term “Minoan civilization” is a modern confection created with ingredients deriving from