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Minoan Culture
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General
Stuff |
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Sometimes one is lucky. The Museum
was actually open and had most of its stuff
on display. That seems to be rather the exception than the rule in many of the
countries around the Mediterranean. The Heraklion museum actually was mostly
closed in the last 6 years or so. It reopened just about when we hit it in May
2014. It has moved to a new building and when it opened the necessary work of
redistributing the goodies in new case and rooms had almost been done. What was missing was the labelling
of the artifacts and a good museum shop with some books concerning the
exhibitions. Only general descriptions of the contents of show cases are given
but no details whatsoever. Much of what I state in the following is thus based
on educated guessing.
Since there is neither an Internet site nor any book about what you can find in
the museum, this is a bit annoying - in particular because highly interesting
swords are displayed but forbidden to photograph because the material hasn't
been published yet (many
years after finding it!). The best "book", covering some of what you
see below, is the Internet contribution from Stefanie
Gröner and Andrea Salimbeti, which I
have
copied for
you. |
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When I revisited the
museum in Nov. 2018, most artifacts have now been labelled. There is still no
book, however. |
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However, there are many
positive points and you should definitely go and visit this museum:
- It contains all the interesting stuff from the Minoan culture. The "palace of
Knossos" is nearby but there is nothing original there except old walls
and a few columns - and most of those are modern restorations.
- The museum contains a very large
collection of bronze swords, daggers, and other items.
- The artifacts are illuminated rather well. Taking pictures - to the extent
that this is allowed - is much easier than in many other places.
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Before I go into the
metal stuff, I show you a few of the highlights: |
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This is one of the two Snake
Goddesses (or possibly just priestesses) "performing a ritual". In
other words: we don't know. The figure dates from around 1600 BC.
The 'Snake Goddess' figurines were found in 1903 by Arthur Evans, the guy who excavated Knossos. The
figurines are made from glazed earthenware. The peculiar dress attracted a lot
of (male) attention and speculation. Maybe all Minoan women dressed this way?
Knowing that fashion sooner or later repeats itself, there is hope! |
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The museum has most of the famous
Minoan frescoes that adorned the walls of the royal palace around 1600 BC. Here
are two examples: |
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Live must have been
graceful. The ladies dolled up and young men enjoyed leaping over bulls. The
red-skinned figure is a man and the two light-skinned figures are women. There
is no sense in risking your life this way without drooling groupies, after all.
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There are many
sculptures. What takes your breath away is a full-size bronze grave statue of a
young man from the late Hellenistic period around the 1st century BC, and a
full size marble statue of Aphrodite (or just a well nymph) from the Roman
period; late 1st century AD. I give you just the heads. |
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Bronze
Swords and Other Objects |
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The Museum displays not only a very
large collection of bronze things, it shows objects I have never seen before.
Here are first examples from the Minoan time. Since the Minoan civilization
flourished from approximately the 27th century BC to the 15th century BC, this
implies that these tools are from around 1600 BC or earlier. |
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The fine "hand
saws" are remarkable. The cylindric object appears to be the famous hollow
drill that is often mentioned in the literature, in particular in the
context of Egyptian stone working. This is the first one I have seen in a
museum. |
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Various bronze tools including large saws.
Large size |
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Small hand saws (about the size of your
hand)
and what appears to be a hollow drill |
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As far as bronze swords
are concerned, the museum not only shows a very large number of these items but
many special ones. In particular
two daggers that look
like made from silver but are probably arsenic bronze.
That's at least my impression. But remember, I'm not an expert on swords in
general and bronze swords in particular.
Here are examples found in the Arkalochori Cave (1700 BC - 1450 BC) |
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Note that there are no
holes for rivets and that there is no damage to the edges. The museum mentions
that these are "model swords" but it appears to me that they were
just as-cast blanks, designed for trade. Also note that these swords are almost
exclusively of the
"Vollgriffschwerter"
(Naue I type) variety, i.e. the hilt is a separate piece that has to be riveted
onto the blade. |
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Of course there are also
swords of the later
Naue II
type. The examples below are from the "post palatial period",
1300 BC - 1100 BC. |
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While swords like these
can be seen in many places, the Heraklion museum has another speciality: it
shows bronze swords with well preserved hilts: |
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These objects are from
the "Warrior Cave" and date to 1450 BC - 1300 BC. Here are
details: |
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There is much more. A
particular speciality are extremely long bronze swords (my guess is 90 cm - 100
cm) with an extremely fine tip and a prominent central ridge: |
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Very long and very pointy bronze swords
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However, some objects
must no be photographed and I can't give you more then the incomplete picture
above. |
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What about iron objects? Well, the
glorious days of the Minoan empire were over well before iron became prominent,
so one shouldn't expect too much. They do have two
obili, however.
Indeed, the objects on display are not particularly remarkable, except perhaps,
for the saw: |
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Iron objects in the Heraklion museum; Crete.
The saw is on a different length scale
Large picture |
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Don't miss it! And encourage the
people in charge to publish something about their unique bronze swords and
objects! |
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© H. Föll (Iron, Steel and Swords script)