A Grecian Artifact Evokes Tales From the ‘Iliad’ and ‘Odyssey’
- 7 years ago
A Grecian Artifact Evokes Tales From the ‘Iliad’ and ‘Odyssey’
Later archaeologists were more doubtful, but allowed that the destruction of Troy in 1200 B. C.
could have been remembered in oral poetry for 500 years until the Homeric poems were first written down, around 700 B. C.
The Griffin Warrior was buried around 1450 B. C., distancing him even further from the first written version of Homer.
The oldest known Linear B inscriptions date to 1450 B. C., and the script disappeared after the collapse of Mycenaean civilization around 1200 B. C.
Some of the scansion problems in the Homeric poems “can be resolved if you restore older forms of Greek which are
consistent with the dialect recorded in Linear B documents,” said Dr. Bennet of the British School at Athens.
The seal stone’s owner, known as the Griffin Warrior after the mythical animal depicted in his grave, was buried around 1450 B. C.
He lived at a critical period when the Minoan civilization of Crete was being transferred to cities of the Greek mainland.
Dr. Davis and Dr. Stocker believe that the seal stone, like other objects in the Griffin Warrior’s grave, was made on Crete.
“The stunning combat scene on the seal stone, one of the greatest masterpieces of Aegean art, bears comparison with some of the drawings in the Michelangelo
show now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art,” said Malcolm H. Wiener, an expert on Aegean prehistory and a trustee emeritus of the Met.
Fritz Blakolmer, an expert on Aegean art at the University of Vienna, argues
that the seal stone is a miniature copy of a much larger original, probably a stucco-embellished wall painting like those found at the Palace of Knossos on Crete.
Later archaeologists were more doubtful, but allowed that the destruction of Troy in 1200 B. C.
could have been remembered in oral poetry for 500 years until the Homeric poems were first written down, around 700 B. C.
The Griffin Warrior was buried around 1450 B. C., distancing him even further from the first written version of Homer.
The oldest known Linear B inscriptions date to 1450 B. C., and the script disappeared after the collapse of Mycenaean civilization around 1200 B. C.
Some of the scansion problems in the Homeric poems “can be resolved if you restore older forms of Greek which are
consistent with the dialect recorded in Linear B documents,” said Dr. Bennet of the British School at Athens.
The seal stone’s owner, known as the Griffin Warrior after the mythical animal depicted in his grave, was buried around 1450 B. C.
He lived at a critical period when the Minoan civilization of Crete was being transferred to cities of the Greek mainland.
Dr. Davis and Dr. Stocker believe that the seal stone, like other objects in the Griffin Warrior’s grave, was made on Crete.
“The stunning combat scene on the seal stone, one of the greatest masterpieces of Aegean art, bears comparison with some of the drawings in the Michelangelo
show now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art,” said Malcolm H. Wiener, an expert on Aegean prehistory and a trustee emeritus of the Met.
Fritz Blakolmer, an expert on Aegean art at the University of Vienna, argues
that the seal stone is a miniature copy of a much larger original, probably a stucco-embellished wall painting like those found at the Palace of Knossos on Crete.