“ The Antonine Dynasty (138–193).” (October 2000)ĭepartment of Greek and Roman Art. 310 B.C.).” (July 2007)ĭepartment of Greek and Roman Art. Additional Essays by Department of Greek and Roman Artĭepartment of Greek and Roman Art. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972. Art and Culture of the Cyclades: Handbook of an Ancient Civilisation.

Islands under Influence: The Cyclades in the Late Bronze Age and the Nature of the Mycenaean Presence. The Emergence of Civilisation: The Cyclades and the Aegean in the Third Millennium B.C. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1979. 'Some Long Thoughts on Early Cycladic Sculpture.' Metropolitan Museum Journal 33 (1998), pp. Hornblower, Simon, and Antony Spawforth, eds. 'Painted Ladies of the Early Bronze Age.' Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 55 (Winter 1997–98), pp. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1987. Sculptors of the Cyclades: Individual and Tradition in the Third Millennium B.C. Early Cycladic Sculpture: An Introduction. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1987.įitton, J. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. “Early Cycladic Art and Culture.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. The vessels from this period-bowls ( 2001.766), vases, kandelas (collared vases), and bottles-display bold, simple forms that reinforce the Early Cycladic predilection for a harmony of parts and conscious preservation of proportion.ĭepartment of Greek and Roman Art. Scientific analysis has shown that the surface of the marble was painted with mineral-based pigments-azurite for blue and iron ores, or cinnabar for red. Many of these figures, especially those of the Spedos type, display a remarkable consistency in form and proportion that suggests they were planned with a compass. Early Cycladic sculpture comprises predominantly female figures that range from simple modification of the stone to developed representations of the human form, some with natural proportions and some more idealized ( 1972.118.104 68.148). The majority of Cycladic marble vessels and sculptures were produced during the Grotta-Pelos and Keros-Syros periods. Varying qualities and quantities of grave goods point to disparities in wealth, suggesting that some form of social ranking was emerging in the Cyclades at this time. Unfortunately, few settlements from the Early Cycladic period have been found, and much of the evidence for the culture comes from assemblages of objects, mostly marble vessels and figurines, that the islanders buried with their dead. These names correspond to significant burial sites. 3200?–2700 B.C.), and the Keros-Syros (Early Cycladic II) culture (ca. Inhabitants turned to fishing, shipbuilding, and exporting of their mineral resources, as trade flourished between the Cyclades, Minoan Crete, Helladic Greece, and the coast of Asia Minor.Įarly Cycladic culture can be divided into two main phases, the Grotta-Pelos (Early Cycladic I) culture (ca.

It was especially fortuitous for the Early Cycladic culture that their islands were rich in iron ores and copper, and that they offered a favorable route across the Aegean. At this time in the Early Bronze Age, metallurgy developed at a fast pace in the Mediterranean. 3200–2300 B.C.), emerged with important settlement sites on Keros and at Halandriani on Syros. In the third millennium B.C., a distinctive civilization, commonly called the Early Cycladic culture (ca. They were also accomplished sculptors in stone, as attested by significant finds of marble figurines on Saliagos (near Paros and Antiparos). These earliest settlers probably cultivated barley and wheat, and most likely fished the Aegean for tunny and other fish. Archaeological evidence points to sporadic Neolithic settlements on Antiparos, Melos, Mykonos, Naxos, and other Cycladic Islands at least as early as the sixth millennium B.C. Many of the Cycladic Islands are particularly rich in mineral resources-iron ores, copper, lead ores, gold, silver, emery, obsidian, and marble, the marbles of Paros and Naxos among the finest in the world. The ancient Greeks called them kyklades, imagining them as a circle ( kyklos) around the sacred island of Delos, the site of the holiest sanctuary to Apollo. The Cyclades, a group of islands in the southwestern Aegean, comprises some thirty small islands and numerous islets.

Faceless head for sculpting