Chapter 4 The Prehistoric Aegean

Chapter 4 The Prehistoric Aegean
This chapter surveys the art and architecture of cultures that thrived in Greece two millennia before the birth of Homer, the poet who immortalized them in the Iliad (ca. 750 BCE). Artworks from the Prehistoric Aegean civilizations include Early Cycladic marble figurines from ca. 3000 BCE; Minoan palaces on Crete, constructed beginning ca. 1700 BCE; and the deep shaft graves, funerary objects, fortified citadels and monumental sculptures built by the Mycenaeans ca. 1600-1200 BCE. Homer’s writings were thought to be pure poetic fiction until the 19^th century, when archaeologists discovered ruins of cities such as Troy and Knossos. The artworks subsequently unearthed at sites throughout the Aegean provide evidence of the rich cultures and artistic productions that preceded those of Ancient Greece.