Egypt
Heritage Link (Owen Jarus)
- Book Review: Aegyptiaca On The Island Of Crete In Their Chronological Context: A Critical Review
Rosetta (Reviewed by Marsia Sfakianou Bealby) Jacqueline Phillips, Aegyptiaca on the Island of Crete in Their Chronological Context: A Critical Review. Volume I and II (Contributions to the Chronology of the Eastern Mediterranean XVIII. Bietak, M. and...
- Hawass On Manfred Bietak
Al Ahram Weekly (Zahi Hawass) We as Egyptians believe that our monuments belong not only to us, but to everyone, all over the world. At the same time, the discipline of Egyptology was created by foreign scholars, and they solved many mysteries like the...
- A Volcano, Old Wood And History
Spero News (Heinrich Hall) About 140 generations ago, a massive explosion shook the Aegean island of Thira (Santorini). It was probably audible as far away as modern Iraq or Southern France. The island, including its capital at Akrotiri - hitherto a bustling...
- Minoan Art At The Onassis Cultural Center
Suite 101 (Stan Parchin) From the Land of the Labyrinth: Minoan Crete, 3000-1100 B.C. Onassis Cultural Center, March 13th 2008 - September 13th 2008. Crete's early civilization flourished in the 3rd and 2nd Millennia B.C. It produced settlements,...
- Frescoes Returned
Here is a nice picture of one of the frescoes taken from the 3200 year old tomb of Tetiky in the Theban necropolis. Egypt's Supreme council of antiquities had recently cut off the Louvre's concessions in Egypt over the frescoes. ...
Egypt
Feature: Minoan artists in Egypt?
Heritage Link (Owen Jarus)
One of the most perplexing mysteries that Egyptologists and Aegean experts are tackling is that of the frescoes of Tell el-Dab'a, also known as Avaris.
This site was used as the capital of the Hyksos, at a time when they ruled much of Egypt, from 1640 – 1530 BC. It is on the Nile Delta and would have provided access to the Sinai, Levant and southern Egypt.
The site appears to have been abandoned for a time after the Hyksos were driven out. However, by the end of the 18th dynasty (when the Egyptians were back in control of their land), the site was in use and sported with three – yes three – large palaces. They were ringed by an enclosure wall. The whole complex was about 5.5 hectares in size.
Two of those palaces were decorated, for a very short period of time, with Minoan frescoes. These include drawings of bull-leaping scenes – which are well known from the Palace of Knossos in Crete.
Site excavator Manfred Bietak published a book in 2007 that discussed these frescoes and compared them with the more famous scenes at the Palace of Knossos.
There is no question that the frescoes at Tell el-Dab'a are Aegean influenced, and it seems likely that the artists are from Crete. Dating them is tricky but from the stratigraphy and pottery they seem to date to around the time of Thutmosis III.
- Book Review: Aegyptiaca On The Island Of Crete In Their Chronological Context: A Critical Review
Rosetta (Reviewed by Marsia Sfakianou Bealby) Jacqueline Phillips, Aegyptiaca on the Island of Crete in Their Chronological Context: A Critical Review. Volume I and II (Contributions to the Chronology of the Eastern Mediterranean XVIII. Bietak, M. and...
- Hawass On Manfred Bietak
Al Ahram Weekly (Zahi Hawass) We as Egyptians believe that our monuments belong not only to us, but to everyone, all over the world. At the same time, the discipline of Egyptology was created by foreign scholars, and they solved many mysteries like the...
- A Volcano, Old Wood And History
Spero News (Heinrich Hall) About 140 generations ago, a massive explosion shook the Aegean island of Thira (Santorini). It was probably audible as far away as modern Iraq or Southern France. The island, including its capital at Akrotiri - hitherto a bustling...
- Minoan Art At The Onassis Cultural Center
Suite 101 (Stan Parchin) From the Land of the Labyrinth: Minoan Crete, 3000-1100 B.C. Onassis Cultural Center, March 13th 2008 - September 13th 2008. Crete's early civilization flourished in the 3rd and 2nd Millennia B.C. It produced settlements,...
- Frescoes Returned
Here is a nice picture of one of the frescoes taken from the 3200 year old tomb of Tetiky in the Theban necropolis. Egypt's Supreme council of antiquities had recently cut off the Louvre's concessions in Egypt over the frescoes. ...