Category Archives: Culture

Tasting food from the past: Minoan style

Tonight we went to the INSTAP Study Center of East Crete and had a typical Minoan meal from the Bronze Age. Jerolyn Morrison, a researcher at the center, took the time to prepare the meal for us even though she is working on the last chapter of her dissertation. We tried the following dishes prepared with the methods used during the Neopalatial period: rabbit in white wine sauce and juniper berries, lentils with wild garlic leeks and honey, and octopus in beer and cinnamon and juniper.

Researchers, like Jerolyn, are able to identify meals and dishes prepared during the Neopalatial period from chemical residue analysis and macroscopic analysis. Jerolyn prefers to use macroscopic findings to support her research because it involves specific evidence such as animal bones, preserved seeds, and leaf imprints found on mud brick. In addition, researchers also look at frescos and vases to fill in the blanks for food lists.

Originally trained as a potter, Jerolyn was able to replicate the cooking scene. The clay pots here we’re made in 2009 out of clay from Mochlos. Originally, Jerolyn had used other clay but the pots cracked and didn’t last as long. Instead, she used the type of clay the Minoans used at the time and it has proven to be durable.

The basic Minoan cooking pot is a tripod shape, with three legs supporting the bowl. The reason why they made their pots in that style was because the vessels elevated the pot so that way they could have a portable hearth.
Overall the meal was wonderful! And I found it interesting how cooking can help us understand ourselves as people and the evolution of our identities through by looking back and then recreating our interpretation of the past.

Reconciling Ancient and Modern Crete

This trip we have not only been learning about ancient Greece and its inhabitants but also about the experience of modern Crete and the interactions of the island’s people with their rich history. We visited a weaving workshop in Zaros and met with Kyria Maria, who crafts her own designs, ones inspired both by ancient and modern motifs.

We also met with a potter who emulates the ancient pottery techniques but also creates his own modern designs.

Vassilis Politakis creating a clay vase on the electric wheel

These designs and themes remain similar across time, with the meander and rolling waves patterns, the octopus and dolphin images. Even the theme of the flora and vegetation of the island remain common embellishments like they do in Minoan wall frescos and pottery. There is a entire industry that thrives on producing replicas of famous archeological finds and I wonder how many of these artistic tropes and themes are a product of Greece capitalizing on what tourists expect to see and be able to purchase for their own mementos and how much of it remains in the artistic canon because of pride in their heritage. We have asked numerous people whether they consider themselves Cretan or Greek, and many responded that they are a Cretan first and a Greek second. This immense pride is evident in everything they do from creating textiles to producing olive oil and I’m sure that many of these artistic choices are deliberate in order to keep the Cretan spirit alive. Even with a history of 800 years of continuous occupation, the language, culture, and art of Crete has thrived and remains a core part of their identity today.

As an Art History and Classics double major, it’s extremely easy to only focus on the ancient side of things and forget that life continued beyond the second century A.D. This trip is not only about visiting as many archeological sites as possible but about experiencing the lives of the modern Cretans.

The Spirit of Greece

We spent the afternoon of January 17th in a potter’s workshop located outside of the Knossos archaeological site. The Spirit of Greece is run by Vassilis Politakis, who has officially been in this business since 1990, but comes from a family of ceramic artists. Vassilis specializes in recreating the pottery of the Aegean and Cypriot Bronze Age, focusing his talents mainly on the shapes and decorative techniques of the time of the Minoan palaces.

Our session with Vassilis started out with a brief chemistry lesson, during which he explained how clay is created, and how combining different metal oxides and organic matter into the original form can result in various colors and provide the clay with plasticity. The resulting clay is then kneaded and set upon a wheel to be thrown into the desired shape. The potter’s wheel was ‘revolutionized’ in ancient Greece around 1950 BC, and it consisted of a large ceramic disc that rotates atop a vertical wooden. The wheel was kept in motion entirely by the potter’s assistant, unless fitted with a piece for the potter to kick it into motion.

After explaining the process of creating the base of the pottery, Vassilis theatrically demonstrated how painted designs take a black or red color, using the same pigment material. Vassilis has a background in puppetry and theater, and he created five main characters to explain the three basic steps of firing. First off, red dirt containing traces of iron is mixed in with the ashes of wood and water to create a red paste that is consequently used to the draw figures on the pottery. The decorated pottery is then placed into a kiln, and is exposed to air that passes through the vent, changing the color of the base clay from its original grey to the red we see in its final form. This is the first step of firing, also known as oxidization. The second step, the reducing phase, consists of depriving the kiln of oxygen, forcing the production of carbon monoxide in place of carbon dioxide. This reaction changes the color of the entire pottery to black. The thirds and final step is re-oxidizing, allowing oxygen to flow back inside the kiln. The pottery absorbs this oxygen, allowing it to revert back to its red color, and the areas that are decorated stay black because the sintered surface was no longer able to absorb oxygen on account of the presences of the ashes.

Below are the characters that Vassilis used to theatrically explain to us the process of firing described above.

(From left to right: Mr. Fumes, Black-Iron Man, Ms. Ashes, Red-Iron Man, and Mr. Wind)

Clay can only exhibit permanent physical and chemical changes when fired in a kiln, after which it converts to its final ceramic form. The firing of the clay can reach temperatures of approximately 1150 degrees Celsius. Interestingly, the entire black figure process is reversible, if the pottery is inserted into a kiln that is hotter than 1150 degrees.

Creating pottery is a fascinating process, and I find it extremely interesting to note that the potters of the past did not have a the same knowledge of chemistry that we do now, nor any tools which measure and control temperature. Their entire work was basically trial and error, and one must appreciate their ability to create the beautiful pieces that we have recovered today.

(Image of Vassilis working)

Heraklion Archaeological Museum and Gortyn

As an art history student, I am most intrigued by how the visceral and intimate relationship between artist and viewer gives insight into social climate and personal expression thorough aesthetic language. Today’s adventure, viewing ancient objects in the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, after visiting the archaeological site in which the objects were found, Gortyn, was a particularly enriching experience.

Archaeological Site of Gortyn

Oftentimes it is difficult to reimagine the original context in which visual art objects functioned in antiquity. This task becomes especially difficult when we see these objects in pristine museums where the objects are displayed without context. Art objects existed in a certain time and place for a particular reason. As T.J. Clark, a prominent art historian, has noted, visual art objects represent history in a unique way; history is “actually there when the painter stands still in front of the painting, the sculptor asks his model to stand still.” Clark also describes how art represents the coalescing of a particular moment in time for both the artist and the society in which he or she lived. The opportunity to visit Gortyn helped achieve Clark’s mission for visual art objects; for the experience of viewing the art objects and understanding their social history was heightened after visiting the site.

Gortyn, a site in use from 700 BCE to 670 CE, was at its peak during the Roman era, when it served as the capital of the province of Crete and Cyrene. Gortyn’s importance to the Roman Empire is clearly communicated by the amount of imperial art depicting emperors, such as Marcus Aurelius.

Marble Portrait of Marcus Aurelius

Additionally, Gortyn asserts itself as a city that is powerful enough to commission grand and magnificent sculpture, such as a copy of the Hellenistic prototype, the Crouching Venus, and is thus able to construct a royal identity on par with that of Rome. By leveraging the visual arts as political capital, Gortyn also spreads imperial narratives by continuing Greek artistic traditions, such as the archaic and classical styles, and aligns itself as inheritors of the Greek civilization.

Though Clark characterizes art in contemporary life as powerless and ineffectual, clearly this was not always so. In antiquity, visual art played an important role is shaping political discourse and imperial narratives; Gortyn effectively used the visual arts to their advantage in this regard. The visual art found at Gortyn clearly indicates how art can be, in Clark’s words, “historically effective” as well as capable of “a series of actions in but also on history.” Though we witnessed Gortyn centuries after its destruction, the visit to the site provided context and insight into the visual art objects seen at the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion.

Life and Light

“We need life and light in our life,” Marinella, our tour guide, said, as she lit a candle in the narthex of a Greek Orthodox church. Today was our first full day in Heraklion. We spent the afternoon and early evening on a walking tour, exploring the different parts of the city such as a Greek Orthodox church.

Heraklion is our third stop on our adventure in Crete. It is also the largest city on the island and the capital of Crete. Its name was given to honor the Greek hero, Heracles. On our journey through these ancient streets, Marinella brought us to a few different Greek Orthodox churches. She led us to the first church named Ayios Titos, after the first bishop of Crete.

The architecture of the church looks very much like a mosque with its blue dome and square ground plan. It was built in the 19th century by architects from the northwest area of Greece. This area of Greece was heavily influenced by Muslim Turks, which explains the mosque-like facade. All of us proceeded into the sacred space, following Marinella’s direction. We congregated in the narthex, the area connecting humans from the physical to the spiritual world in the sanctuary. Marinella, then, crossed herself before she spoke to all of us. As she began to give a brief history of the church, she put money into a collection box and lit a candle.

Marinella then discussed the notion of needing a source of light in our life. Similar to Greeks attending church for spiritual nourishment, I feel that this trip to Crete has given all of us nourishment whether spiritual, cultural, emotional, etc. As a group, we have all had new experiences from traveling overseas, eating foreign food, learning a different language, and more. At least for me, this trip has given me “life and light.” It has opened new doors of culture, taste, and most importantly friendship.

Cretan Hospitality: A Look Into The Food Culture

Cretan food plays a very large role in the greater image of Cretan identity. After arriving to Zaros the previous night, experiencing our first flavor of Cretan hospitality, we were somewhat prepared for the quantity of food that was to come this morning.

As plates upon plates of pastries appeared from the kitchen, we wanted to try everything, and of course, show Kyria Katerina our appreciation for her cooking, which we learned to do through accepting all she had prepared and enthusiastically accepting her offer to wrap up the remainders for snacks later on in the day.

After observing the ancient city of Gortyna, the largest Roman city on Crete, we ventured to the olive groves where we were instructed on how to harvest olives to make olive oil. In ancient times, they would have picked the olives by hand; however today, they set up nets under the trees and use a whacking tool to make the olives fall. This is definitely a faster, more efficient way, but likewise, less precise and not as fruitful as a harvest. Every 5 liters of these harvested olives will produce about 1 liter of oil; none of which is wasted on Crete, for sure!

Next on our agenda was a cooking lesson with Kyria Katerina, Vivi, and Vivi’s mom. Confirming the importance of our earlier excursion, Vivi explained that in Crete they only use olive oil, never butter. In northern Greece some use butter for some things, but Cretans do not – which explains how they consume almost double the oil that mainland Greeks do. Olive oil was such an important staple to the Greek diet that in the Greek Orthodox faith we can see its inclusion in times of fasting. Before Vivi’s generation, during the Lenten period and other fasting times, they would give up any combination of meat, fish, and oil, totaling about 120 days of the year. By avoiding an ingredient as central as olive oil for the Greeks it shows the dedication to wanting to constantly observe the tradition, having to think about their choices and their meanings before, during, and after each meal. Aside from religious purposes however, this can be very good for the body, giving it a break by removing toxins.

Vivi explained that most Greek foods consist of only three to four ingredients, most of which is found in their garden – their primary ingredient, of course, being love. Our menu included: spanakopita (spinach pie,) euvarlakia (meatballs made with onion, rice, dill, and an avgolemono sauce,) dolmades made from stuffed cabbage opposed to the more common grape leaves (a winter food as Vivi explained,) stuffed tomatoes with small pasta (typically made with rice,) tiropita (with homemade filo dough by Kuria Katerina, from Keramos,) and to finish, galaktoboureiko, a milky custard cake, for dessert. Vivi remarked “when we wake up in the morning, the first thing the women think is what am I going to make today,” however; she added that with today’s cooking show media, more men are developing aspirations of being able to cook. With this, we can see the Cretan identity evolving into more modern times of greater gender equality while still maintaining their values of what is important to them.

We’re all here in Chania!

There are still traces of the holiday season in Chania’s harbor.

We are excited to all be in Crete, with all of our luggage too… Our travels were complicated by the extreme weather in the US, but now all we have to fear is a little rain.

Students will be posting to this blog once or twice a day, describing our travels across Crete and what they are learning about the island’s history and culture. I suspect we might also see some images of the beautiful landscape and adorable animals.

Twelve students are enrolled in this traveling course “Crete through the Ages,” including majors in Classical Studies, History, Art, and Economics – to name a few. Over the next three weeks we will cover most of Crete, the largest island in the Aegean Sea, visiting a variety of sites, cities, and all four coast lines. Our studies will explore a long span of history, with special emphasis given to the art and architecture of the Minoan civilization (3000-1000 BCE). Our first day in Chania, however, has been dedicated to more recent periods since the city preserves wonderful buildings of the Byzantine, Venetian, and Ottoman periods.

The “Mosque of the Janissaries” was built immediately following the Turkish conquest of the city in 1645. It occupies a prime location in the city’s harbor, and today is used as an exhibition space. In addition, most of the city’s Venetian churches were converted into mosques for the new Muslim population. Although you can still find a few minarets preserved around town, most of these buildings now function as Greek Orthodox churches.

The Wintersession in Crete group gathered in front of the Mosque of the Janissaries in Chania’s harbor.

Crete 2014

Wellesley College Blog for our January course in Greece