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.

Mías Evdomádas

Today marks the classes first week on Crete! It is hard to believe that we have been traveling the island for seven days. From the village of Zoros, we visited the Palace of Phaistos and the Minoan harbor at Kommos. Afterwards, we took a short snack break on the beach at Kommos and had a spectacular view of the Libyan Sea.

Following the break, the class heard the first group presentation by Rayah and Alexandra at the Kamilari Tholos Tomb. According to their research and findings, the Kamilari Tomb was built in the Middle Minoan IB period and was used all the way into the early MMIII period. One can tell that the tomb was from the Middle Minoan period because of its shape. Unlike the square shaped Late Minoan Tholos Tomb we had seen a few days before at Maleme, the Kamilari Tomb was circular and much rounder. In addition, we learned that since the first excavation in 1959 by the Italian Archaelogical Mission, archaeologists have found more MMIII period material at this site than any other period and have recovered 2,500 vases as well as 800 conical cups. One can tell that the tomb was used during the Middle Minoan period because of the shape of the tomb. Unlike the square shaped Late Minoan Tholos Tomb we had seen a few days before at Maleme, the Kamilari Tomb was definitely much rounder.

We also learned that the little red dots waxed on the corners of each stone left behind by archaeologists currently excavating the site. Professor Burns explained that they are used as markers for digital mapping for the drawing of the architecture of sites and something he has seen before on excavation sites he has worked on.

After seeing sites, Vivi took us to an olive oil factory where we watched olives being pressed and processed into olive oil.
First, they go up the chute where the leaves are separated from the olives

Then they are crushed and smashed in a machine. Afterwards the pits and oil are separated with the olive oil then packaged to be sold

While the pits and skin are processed outside and made into fuel. According to Professor Burns, Cretans have been using this as a source if fuel since ancient times! It was neat to see this tradition in person.

In addition to exploring excavation sites, at lunch today we were able to hear another account about Cretan identity. Since the beginning of the course, we have previously heard two other perspectives: one by the tour guide on the first day who argued that most identify as Greek and the second by the secretary at the Etz Hayyim Synagogue who argued that most people on the island identity as Cretan. Vivi explained that 90% of the islanders identify as a Cretan rather than Greek. She also told us Cretans share a lot of traditions and commonalities with the people of northern Greece and that Cretans consider Thessaloniki as their “brother city” despite the fact that the two do not trade or really interact with each other often. Cashman later told the class that this could be because the two regions of Greece were both occupied by the Turks at the same time.

Tomorrow we will travel to Heraklion. Can’t wait!

Heraklion Archaeological Museum: Scholarly Debate / Should We Accept What We See?

Having gotten used to waking up to the smell of pies and feasting on goat cheese, chocolate, and spinach pies and mountain tea for the past few days, I was a little disoriented this morning waking up to the sounds of cars from the streets and eating a more “American-like” breakfast with sausages, bacons, and milk.

After a pretty relaxed morning, our first site was the Heraklion Archaeological Museum at the center of town with a large Minoan art collection. Stepping foot into the museum, I quickly noticed the difference between this museum and the others we have visited. Here, we were greeted a guard at the door to check our tickets and every room that was separated by the the different time periods also had a guard. The gray wall color and the blend of a white and gray colored floor matched with clear glass windows to protect the art provided us with a new experience in seeing the details of the paintings and the pottery. The lighting in each of these rooms were bright enough that small details could be noted and good photographs could be taken. We were also alongside many other tourists, which is definitely different than some of the other museums we had visited where we were the only people.

The Heraklion museum has collections ranging from the archaic to the Late Roman period, and most of the pieces of findings were from nearby sites including Knossos, Gortyn, and Ierapetra. In the first room, we entered we saw that the pieces that were found were included on a larger canvas and the missing parts were restored. This restoration process takes in what is known from what is found and completes the remainder of the paintings by interpreting the findings to provide a more complete picture of what they were depicting. This process can be problematic in the sense that as viewers we cannot “un-see” things, so we would only take into mind what is restored and not try to figure out from the pieces that were actually found.

One of the pieces we saw was the “Tripartite Shrine”, which is also known as the “Grandstand Fresco”. This scene is thought to depict a scene taking place at the Central Court of the palace of Knossos with open space in the front and spectators on the side. The building has the horns of consecration. The females conversing in the front are more detailed in their depiction and their higher class status is noted, and a large crowd of people are in the back and only their heads are visible. This painting gives people a general ideal of what kind of place Knossos was, but it should be noted that whether or not the setting is Knossos is still under debate by scholars.

This is the first time that we also saw art pieces with high relief composition. One to take note is the “Prince of Lilies”, which is very characteristic of Minoan Crete. The life-sized figure is composed of parts that are not joined together, so the majestic headdress is still under debate as in whether it’s for the man or for the bull who is part of this larger mural composition but not depicted here. Likewise, the identity of this man is still much under debate because Sir Arthur Evans who excavated Knossos argued that he was the ruler of Knossos or a priest king, while other scholars suggest that he is an athlete.

So is it a good idea to try to complete a piece provided that you only retrieve minimal information from the findings? This may not always be accurate as shown by Sir Arthur Evans. He made a copy of the pieces that he found at Knossos and using the pieces that he had recovered as shown on the left, he thought that the painting was of a boy placing flowers in a basket as a offering. After a piece of the muzzle of the monkey was identified, it was determined that the fresco was actually a portrait of a money picking up flowers and placing them in baskets that is offered to a goddess as a gift as shown on the right. Monkeys play an important role in Minoan culture and religions. If that extra piece had not been recovered, everyone would have assumed that it was a boy doing the offerings and not the monkeys. This revelation provides a more accurate and new view of the Minoan culture that would have otherwise been misunderstood. Therefore, the process of restoration, which is important and easier for viewers to see a more complete piece, is helpful but can sometimes be misleading.

We continue our tour of these museum and see a wonderful collection of terra cotta pots, dedalic figurines found in tombs and sanctuaries, and sculptures of Roman emperors. After more free time to explore the vibrant city, we are off to another tour of Heraklion with Marinella!

Comparing Phaistos with Agia Triada

At times it’s difficult to relate to ancient communities because of the vast differences in things like technology, education, and language. But by congregating in groups and sharing activities through culture and religion I find that we are similar than we might expect. We noticed these similarities today as we visited the different ruins and learned about the many spaces and their functions. After another delicious breakfast of countless pies, we drove to the palace of Phaistos, one of the most notable in Crete. We entered the ruins by walking down a grand staircase, and then a second, narrower, staircase that led us to the central court facing Mount Ida to the north. The court, one of the most distinguishing features of a palace, was enormous and was likely used for religious events or a location to distribute food. To the west were magazines, some containing pithoi or small stone containers and to the north was the area of the “royal” residence.

In order to reach the “king’s” hall from the court, we had to walk through a narrow corridor which could easily have been blocked off. Actually, this space reminded me of the Palace of Versailles, where, in order to reach the king’s private chambers, one has to enter a series of increasingly private and ornate rooms and finally walk through the Hall of Mirrors. The Minoan chambers included the familiar pier-and-door partition and light well which added to the luxuriousness of the rooms.

Perhaps one of the most useful aspects of Phaistos is that it includes an old Protopalatial palace and the newer Neopalatial palace. The Protopalatial area includes another central court that was distinct in that it included a raised walkway (probably for a religious procession) and a stone platform in the corner which may have been used for seating or bull leaping.

A few ruin stops later, we visited Ayia Triada (literally “holy trinity”). Unlike Phaistos, Ayia Triada is considered more of an administrative complex than a palace because of the lack of lustral basins, the smaller size of the Minoan Halls, and the many Linear A tablets and sealings found there.

During the New Palace period, Ayia Triada was even more prosperous than Phaistos, which is evident in features such as the wall murals. Since Ayia Triada is located so close to Phaistos, one would think that it would adopt similar features to the palace, but there are slight differences that are interesting such as the light well being located in the middle of a room instead of the end. The specific use of Ayia Triada is something of a mystery: it was thought to hold food for the population because of its many magazines, but in actuality it only has enough storage space to sustain a portion of the population. The mystery of Ayia Triada is the most intriguing to me: that even after excavating a site and digging up various artifacts it’s still impossible to understand the purpose of a building, probably because people constantly use spaces for a variety of purposes; for example, the gym near my house also has a chapel and a game room and I once stayed at a hotel that housed a small museum. Comparing Phaistos with Agia Triada just enforces the idea that culture is multifaceted, regardless of whether it was developed thousands of years ago or within the last decade.

Gortyn: Public Spaces & Recycling

Today, we explored the Roman city of Gortyn (or Gortyna), capital of the province of Crete and Cyrene. As the largest Roman city on Crete, it boasted enormous structures including an amphitheater, two theatres, an odeion, and a bath.

When we first entered the site however, the first remarkable landmark was in fact the earlierst church built in Crete. Built in the 6th century CE, the church also used architectural fragments from what believe to be an earlier temple. You could see this by looking at the stones used in the architecture – differing shapes, reused in unusual formations point towards recycling on the Roman architects’ end. This church was built to be a basilica with a cross dome plan and an eastern influence.

The church really was in marvelous condition, but we were unable to go inside due to current excavation/conservation work going on. We watched and discussed the workers on the site, with Bryan and Cashman explaining the specificities in working on archaeological sites in Greece: while the finds and the land of a field site belong to the country, different “international schools” can apply to excavate there – excavating without being part of an international school isn’t allowed.

Moving on from the church, we walked over to the Odeion. The first few rows of stairs were in very good condition and I found myself in awe over the marble floor, still very much intact. Odeions were generally used solely as concert halls, but research on Gortyn’s suggests that it was also used as a political space. We noted as we took in the tall mountains around us (with consistent sheep climbing up the side), that the choice of location was particularly Roman: the Greeks liked to build their amphitheater-like-spaces into hill sides to make use of the natural incline. The Romans on the other hand instead built supporting arches to support the structure and built the seats from the ground up.

At the back of the Odeion was the true prize of today’s sights: the Law Code of Gortyn. Written in the mid 5th century BCE, this public documentation lays out the laws of the city involving different items of personal conflict such as rules of property, marriage, and citizenship. When the Romans built their Odeion, they reused the blocks from this Law Code laying them out in the outer perimeter wall of the building’s structure. Reusing previous blocks was in fact common (as seen in the church although built years later). Elsewhere in the structure, you can see blocks with writing carved in used as part of the walls. They would have formerly been covered in plaster, however, and not been noticeable. With the Law Code, it’s different – emphasized and placed in its own walkway within the Odeion and meant to be observed.

After this, we moved on to look at some Roman sculptures that had been uncovered in the site (including a couple of Herculean Women) before crossing the street to admire the Temple of the Egyptian Gods, the Temple of Pythian Apollo, the Praetorium, and the baths. The final thing we came upon in our venturing was the newer excavations of one of the theatres of Gortyn. It was only half excavated – the other still covered under the current layer of earth. It was built similar to the Odeion in that exterior structures held up the towering seats, but instead of a completely “free” area to work with in the center, there was a stage with areas to utilize beneath and behind the main area. All of these are examples of the Romans modelling Gortyn off of other areas of the empire, showcasing how the splendor of these other areas continued into outer provinces.

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.

Cretan Hospitality: Tylissos / Arriving at Zaros

From Rhethymon, we traveled to the ancient city of Tylissos, which flourished during the Minoan periods. Even after our late travels, we were greeted with Cretan hospitality by the guard, George, and his two cats at the gate.

We jumped right into business and started looking at the site plan of Tylissos, a villa site, and finding our way through the maze. There are three residential complexes, labeled House A, B, and C. These buildings were two stories high as noted by the stairs that were found in certain hallways. The walls and the architectures shared elements of villas and palaces. However, Tylissos is considered a villa because it is separated into a few buildings, there is no cohesion around a single central court, there is storage but on a smaller scale than the palaces, and there are Linear A tablets found but not as much as that in palaces like Knossos.

Most noticeable at Tylissos are the Minoan halls, the lustral basin, the pillar crypts of the Late Minoan I period. The Minoan hall consists of an open space, fore-hall, and a room closed off by the pier-and-door partition. Here the halls have light-wells, which are rooms that are actually open without coverings to let light and air into enclosed areas nearby.

Right off the main hall stairs led down to the lustral basin at a lower level. The purpose of the basin is still unknown, although it was once thought to be a ritual space perhaps for cleansing. However, objects used for dedication were not found in this area nor was a drainage system. During the LM IB period, walls were built off the main halls just to close up the lustral basin area.

The later LM III house built at Tylissos had a large circular cistern that is very well preserved. Along with this was a drainage system that helped bring together rain water.

After weaving ourselves out of this maze, we found ourselves again eating Cretan food in the village right near the site, and all around favorite seems to be the fried zucchini balls (“kolokithokeftedes”). Then we ventured across the mountain to Zaros. Woken by the sound of “Oh Bryan, Bryan,” I know we have finally arrived in the wonderful village of Zaros and this time greeted by hospitable Vivi and Katerina.

Pitstop in Rethymno

I woke today to realize it was Sunday. This was extraordinarily obvious because I woke up much earlier than I planned on due to the bells calling us all to church. Rather than answering the call we all waited until a man’s chanting added ambiance to our breakfast. The chanting went on for a couple hours. Apparently after the morning service and communion was over, a funeral began. These words too were broadcasted throughout the entire town on giant speakers. I’ve never seen a church service broadcasted before, but that may be my own ignorance.

We then tried to fit all our luggage – including Caitlin’s giant bag – into the vans and headed to Rethymno. We went to the museum of Ancient Polyrrhenia, which was outside the high imposing walls of Fortetza Fortress.

Next to the entrance was some graffiti which, when translated, read “the only good fascist is a dead one.” Appropriately charmed we entered the museum. The one open room with the works could be navigated circumambulatory in a clockwise manner, progression chronologically from the Neolithic to Roman periods. Amongst the works were such pieces like Kamares ware pottery, the first sighting of what will apparently be common.

The as we explore a statue that is the only concrete evidence of religious life in early Minoan culture, fragments with Linear A, and statues of GUAs: Goddesses with Upraised Arms, typical of the final phase of the Cretan Bronze Age, LM IIIC. We also learned about the kernos, a ritual vase shaped like a stand with multiple vessels, and even how papyrus plants were made into paper. Most fascinating to me was an unfinished statue of Aphrodite. While unfinished, there was enough of the iconography that the subject was still pretty clear.

We then walked around Rethymno looking for some place to eat, which was an unsuccessful endeavor. The town was picturesque though, and similar to Chania in its building style.
We did get to see a mosque as well, which was being reconstructed rather than allowed to fall due to earthquakes, like many of it’s other Cretian counterparts. The minaret had scaffolding and the mosque was closed, but the exterior was in itself quite impressive.

Next – on to Tylisos!

Crete 2014

Wellesley College Blog for our January course in Greece