always dangerous to generalize from the fragmentary remains of an an-
cient civilization. Nonetheless, life-size Aegean statuary must have been
rare. After the collapse of Mycenaean civilization and for the next sev-
eral hundred years, no attempts at monumental statuary are evident
until, after the waning of the so-called Dark Ages, Greek sculptors were
exposed to the great sculptural tradition of Egypt (see Chapter 5).
WARRIORS VASEAn art form that did continue throughout
the period after the downfall of the Mycenaean palaces was vase
painting. One of the latest examples of Mycenaean painting is the
krater (bowl for mixing wine and water) commonly called the Wa r -
riors Vase (FIG. 4-25) after its prominent frieze of soldiers marching
off to war. At the left a woman bids farewell to the column of heavily
armed warriors moving away from her. The painting on this vase re-
veals no setting and lacks the landscape elements that characterized
earlier Minoan and Mycenaean art. All the soldiers also repeat the
same pattern, a far cry from the variety and anecdotal detail of the
lively procession of the Minoan Harvesters Vase (FIG. 4-14).
This simplification of narrative has parallels in the increasingly
schematic and abstract treatment of marine life on other painted
vases. The octopus, for example, eventually became a stylized motif
composed of concentric circles and spirals that are almost unrecog-
nizable as a sea creature. By Homer’s time, the heyday of Aegean civ-
ilization was but a distant memory, and the men and women of Crete
and Mycenae—Minos and Ariadne, Agamemnon and Helen—had
assumed the stature of heroes from a lost golden age.96 Chapter 4 THE PREHISTORIC AEGEAN4-25Warriors Vase,from Mycenae, Greece, ca. 1200 bce. 1 4 high. National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
This krater, or mixing bowl, shows a woman bidding farewell to a column of heavily armed Mycenaean warriors depicted using both silhouette
and outline and a combination of frontal and profile views.
1 in.