Reply To: Lives of Leisure and War

[tmbergan]

The pottery made by both the Minoan and the Mycenaean people show flowing lines and shapes, as well as their sea and plant life around them. But Minoan pottery also seems shows a more relaxed culture versus the Mycenaean culture, who depicts them as “militaristic’ (see Minoan Harvester Rhyton, Mycenaean Warrior Krater). Those seem to be the only two big examples showing the difference between their people through their artwork. However, in some of their pottery that shows their sea life, both have made vases with an octopus on them. The Minoan vase shows the octopus drawn in a more cartoony way in its face, with the big eyes, but otherwise still seems fairly realistic while feeling freer. The Mycenaean vase, on the other hand, makes the octopus symmetric with ridiculously long tentacles and loses both the realistic and the freer feeling. The stiffer feeling of the Mycenaean octopus could be corresponding to a more rigid lifestyle that revolves around more uniformity as we can see in the Krater. I don’t necessarily see it as the Mycenaeans engaged in a lot more conflict, but maybe don’t view life as peaceful as the Minoans had.