New light on the Ship Fresco from Late Bronze Age Thera

Friedrich, Walter; Sørensen, Annette Højen

doi:10.1515/pz.2010.013

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Immerwahr 1990, 74 is cautious about its identification as a specific town. Strasser 2010 and Friedrich and Sørensen 2010 suggested that the two harbours near the City V, and therefore the city itself, were located in the Theran caldera. According to Strasser and Chapin 2014, the landscape setting of the south wall is Theran.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Truth Lies in the Details: Identifying an Apiary in the Miniature Wall Painting From Akrotiri, Thera

Papageorgiou

2016

Annu. Br. Sch. Athens

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

One of a number of enigmatic depictions in the Aegean iconography of the second millennium bce is the structure painted on the south wall of the Miniature Frieze from the West House at Akrotiri, Thera. This structure covers the slope of a hill and consists of two vertical blue bands on its western edge and four horizontal blue bands, all with features indicating masonry construction. Five rows of black triangles alternate with the horizontal bands. Each triangle has a round opening in its base. Unique in Aegean iconography, it has been interpreted as a dovecote, a shipshed, a storage space, a rock-cut structure with triangular niches, a geological formation and even a stretch of land with terraces and a vineyard. In one very brief reference it has been identified with an apiary.In line with contemporary rules of perspective, certain details suggest this structure could represent an apiary on a terraced area, protected on its western edge by a wall to windward. The triangular elements must depict the vertical-type fixed-comb woven beehives, which were in use until quite recently in Greece. A road leading from the apiary and connecting the settlement with the tripartite building at the top of the hill completes the elements needed for organised beekeeping. Similarly, there is a trapezoidal expanse of blue to the east of it which probably depicts a pond, another essential element of beekeeping. Both the extent of the area covered by the installation and the prominence of beekeeping products (indicated by chemical analysis and references on Linear B tablets) raise questions about the management of the apiary and the function of the building at the top of the hill.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%