NAME OF TEACHER: Prof.

Zeba Nisar
MOB. NO. 9532669866
E MAIL ID: zeba@iul.ac.in
DESIGNATION: Professor
UNIVERSITY NAME/COLLEGE NAME: Integral University,
Lucknow
STREAM NAME: Architecture
FACULTY NAME: Faculty of Architecture, Planning and Design
DEPARTMENT NAME: Department of Architecture
SUBJECT NAME: History of Architecture, Art and Culture-II
COURSE: B.Arch
COURSE DURATION: 5 years
SUBTOPIC NAME: Aegean Civilization
CONTENT TYPE: PPT
SEARCH KEYWORD: Mycenaea, Creta
AR 206

Prof. Zeba Nisar

LEARNING OUTCOMES

We should expect to learn the following about the Aegean civilization –

• The influence of location on architecture

• Architecture of Palaces, tombs and citadels

• Stone construction and fortifications

 GLOBAL TIMELINE

INDIAN TIMELINE
AEGEAN CIVILIZATION
2000 BCE – 1200 BCE
 Mesopotamian
Aegean

Egyptian
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Location
The Aegean civilization was the first major
civilization in Europe

The civilization also marks the beginning of

western civilization

The civilization occurred around the areas

of the Aegean sea

It was centered at two locations; the island

of Crete and the Greek mainland around
Mycenae

The civilization was only discovered in the

18th century following archeological work
Aegean

Cyclades

Minoan
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Period

 The Aegean civilization occurred during the period 2000 B.C. to 1200
B.C.

 Two cultures flourished during the period; Cretan and Mycenaean.

 The two cultures though related in detail, were not contemporary

 The Cretan civilization, also known as Minoan civilization after its

most famous king Minos of Knossos, occurred first, starting around
2000 B. C.

 It flourished until the period 1400 B.C. to 1100 B. C. when it was

completely obliterated
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Period
It is believed that Cretan civilization was obliterated by some natural
disaster, either earthquake or floods

The fall of Crete was paralleled by the rise of the Mycenaean civilization
centered at Mycenae around 1400 B. C.

The Mycenaean civilization lasted until 1100 B. C.

The whole Aegean civilization died out after 1100 B. C. following a period of
invasions by outsiders
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Social Characteristics & Beliefs

 Not much is known about Aegean culture and societies .

 The cultures is believed to be founded on trade around the Mediterranean
sea
 The Aegean people were a religious people with religion focused on nature
worship
 Divinities were conceived in human form and represented by small idols,
rocks and stone pillars
 They did not have the concept of a supreme powerful God
 All sorts of trees and animals were respected and treated as sacred
 The Aegean people were ruled by powerful kings
 The kings built large and visible palaces
 Location played an important role in the society, social life and
architecture of the Aegean civilizations
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Social Characteristics & Beliefs

Crete
Crete was located on an island
It was protected from attack by the sea and its naval power
The Mediterranean yielded great wealth to the Cretan through trade with the
cities by the river
Cretan culture was unique
Their way of life was peaceful, relaxed and luxurious
Their paintings depicted joyous hunts, and dances with sacred bulls and sea
creatures
In architecture, they consciously rejected formal principles such as axiality,
symmetry and abstracts
They rather adopted an organic and informal approach to space organization
and building form
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Social Characteristics & Beliefs

Mycenaea
The character of Mycenae was quite different from that of Crete
Mycenae was neither sustained nor protected by the sea
Mainland Mycenae was open to attacks from the north
The society was more a society of warriors than of traders
Their architecture emphasized defense
They built fortified citadels as royal living areas rather than the pleasure
palaces of the Cretans
The citadels were enclosed by high walls of large stone blocks with difficult
and highly defensible entrance ways
A common general characteristics of Aegean architecture was the
arrangement of rooms around courtyards
This was probably adopted from practices in the Ancient Near East
ARCHITECTURE OF THE CIVILIZATION
 Cretan Architecture 2000 –1400 BC
 Mycenaean Architecture 1400 –1100 BC
 CRETAN ARCHITECTURE
INTRODUCTION- PALACES
 The palaces are the best known of Cretan buildings and were more than
just residence
 They also function as religious focal point, administrative center, and place
of manufacture and storage
 The palaces were recently discovered following archeological work by Sir
Evans in the early part of the 20th century
 The palace of Knossos was the first to be discovered and thereafter other
palaces including Phaistas, Malliaand Zakro. Archeological work suggests
that all palaces date from around 1900 B.C.
 They were built at the same time, but were destroyed around 1625B. C. by
a series of natural disasters, probably earthquakes.
 They were then rebuilt in a more sumptuous manner but were all
destroyed in the mid 1500 BC.
 Only the palace of Knossos has survived which is also the best known
example of a Cretan palace
CRETAN ARCHITECTURE
INTRODUCTION- PALACES
Archeological excavations essentially discovered how the buildings were
arranged in plan at the ground level
There is no concrete knowledge of how the upper floors of the buildings are
organized but in design the palaces resemble each other.
They were multi-storey buildings
Function rather than form appears to predominate in their organization
The most striking feature of the palace is the extraordinary number of rooms
they contain organized around a central courtyard
The courtyards were aligned north-south, the reason for which is not clear
All the palaces have multiple entrances, most of which led to the courtyard
The palaces do not also suggest the application of any formal principles of
planning or design
Their organization is more or less organic in nature, suggesting gradually
The building of the palace was at
least two stories high

The various functions of the palace

were not distributed in distinct areas

Functions were gathered in

chambers and apartments spread
around the central courtyard

The palace had two prominent entrances, one on the north face and another on the
west side.

The north entrance appears to be the main entrance and is defended by a guard
house

The western entrance was indirect and dog-leg in form

The bulk of the northern part of the East wing was
used for industrial activity

Industrial activities included jewelry and pottery

making and other light industries

Towards the southern part of the East wing is

found the Queen’s suit.

The queen’s suit boasted a bathroom room with a

sophisticated drainage system of earthenware
pots fitted together

A staircase and a ramp lead from the ground floor

of the east wing to the upper floors

Archeological evidence suggest that the main

living apartments were on the upper levels of the
east wing
Most of the western wing was devoted to
storage

The storages were in long and narrow

magazines found against the western wall

The storages were for oil jars and probably

granaries

The most important room in the western wing

at the ground level was the throne room

This was entered from an ante room at a level

lower than the court.

The throne room was dark and mysterious;

the stone throne was against the north wall,
flanked by benches
The walls were decorated with paintings of
sea animals

The decorations appear to have a religious

purpose rather than royal one

A magnificent staircase in the west wing led

to staterooms on the upper floors.

Rooms were generally approached through

rows of double doors so that they could be
opened, or totally or partially shut off

Everything was designed to permit the circulation of cool air, to counteract

the intense heat of the Cretan summer.

Staircases also designed to have light wells; These were opening in the roof
that admits light into the staircase
Construction and Design Ideas
The palace did not embody any idea of monumentality or conceptual order

Rather it was picturesque, colorful with an atmosphere of comfort and

informality

The building materials of the palace were rich; Wood and gypsum were
extensively used to achieve fine bright surfaces

Wood was used to erect widely space columns to support light weight
wooden roof

The columns taper upward and had round capitals

The perishable nature of the materials have made materials not to survive to
the present
MYCENAEAN ARCHITECTURE
INTRODUCTION- PALACES
Mycenae rose around 1400 following the decline of Crete

The Mycenaean people were Greek by race.

The Mycenaean kingdom was small and lacked protection and buffer zones to
protect the capital

The people of Mycenae were also more of a society of warriors than traders,
which the Cretans were.

Their architecture focused on defense on a grand scale and built fortified

kingly palaces located within Citadels instead of the pleasure palaces of the
Cretans

The citadels were usually built along the edge of sharp change in elevation,
on hilltops to make them difficult for would-be-attackers

The citadels organized royal living areas enclosed by huge cyclopean walls or
rough hewn immense stone blocks
MYCENAEAN ARCHITECTURE
INTRODUCTION- PALACES

Citadel walls were constructed of huge unworked limestone boulders roughly

fitted together

Small chunks of limestones are used to fill the gaps between the boulders

The exterior face of the boulders may be roughly dressed but the stones are
never carefully cut

They ensure difficulty of access and were highly defensible

The palaces located within the citadels acted as centers of administration

The highest degree of sophistication in citadel construction was achieved at

Mycenae and Tiryns of which, Tiryns is better preserved.

The two palaces were essentially similar and might have been constructed by
the same workmen
Citadel at Tiryns
Citadel at Tiryns
The royal residence at Tiryns is one of the
best preserved Mycenaean fortifications

Tiryns was located on the coast and was

in effect a castle, guarding the beach
head that served as the port of Mycenae

The citadel at Tiryns is located on a low

rocky citadel hill.

It was guarded by an immensely thick

wall 36feet thick
Casemates, or covered galleries, protected and concealed troops within the wall

There were also tunnels within the walls that provided access to water sources beneath
the hill

The tunnels were cunningly camouflaged where they extended beyond the area
enclosed within the fortification walls
Citadel at Tiryns

Tiryns citadel also had large galleries to the south

and east that is used for storing a large quantity of
agricultural produce

All the water and food arrangements ensured that

the city can withstand attacks by its enemies for a
long time without running out of supplies
The fortification walls were constructed in the
irregular style of masonry construction termed
cyclopean

The citadel had a long narrow approach on the east

side with two gates which could be barred.

The palace of Tyrinsis located within the citadel to

the south

Additional vacant land is enclosed on the north side

Although one royalty resided in the citadel, in times of
war the vacant land served as a refuge for the
community living in the city below

The living quarter and lifestyle of the ruler is not much

different from that of the other feudal barons.

All the principal apartments were located on a single

floor

They were made up of a simple rectangular box with a

single door called megaron

The Rectangular house of the ruler is called the chief megaron which consists of a
veranda- Megaron courtyard , entrance hall and throne room

The throne room is entered from the entrance hall, through a door placed axially

In the center of the throne room is a large circular fire place around which Four columns
are arranged in a square.The floors and walls are all painted and decorated

The Megaron courtyard is entered from the citadel gate through a series of corridors,
entrance portals and other courtyards.
Lion Gate
Mycenaean citadels usually had massive trabeated portals
that served as gates.

The gates were designed to complement the defensive nature

of the citadels .

The famous and best surviving example of the gates is the lion
gate at Mycenae .

The gate consists of great upright stones 3.1 meter high

supporting an immense lintel 4.9 meters long and 1.6 meters
high

The lintel defined a gate 2.4 meters deep with an opening of 3m wide.

Above the lintel is a triangular shaped corbelled opening filed with a stone panel
bearing a carved relief depicting two rampant lions facing a central column of the
downward tapering type

The column was the sacred symbol of the earth that the lions supposedly protected.
 Mycenean Tomb- Tholos
The monumentality of the
Mycenaean citadels was rivaled by
that of their tombs.

The most important of the tombs

was the beehive or tholos tombs.

This consists of circular chambers

cut into the hill side approached by
an open passage called dromos
which is lined with masonry

Between the chamber and the

dromos a thick portal façade
structure was built which was
topped by a lintel
The chambers were corbelled vaulted structures shaped like beehives.

Their upper part emerged above ground and was covered with a mound of earth.

The dead person was placed in pits below the ground or in adjoining rectangular chambers.

After burial, the tomb was permanently sealed and the dromos blocked by a massive wall.

The tholos was thus not used as a funerary chapel but remained curiously empty-a pure
invisible monument to the deceased.

In the tholos, the Mycenaean people recognize that the key to monumentality was
geometry and proportions.

The clear geometry of the tholos was stressed by proportions in which the diameter equals
the height.

It structure was also gradually perfected by making the upper levels of corbelling into
uninterrupted rings of stone.
Tholos –Treasury of Atreus
The most splendid of the Mycenae is so
called Treasury of Atreus or Tomb of
Agamemnon which was built around
between 1350 and 1250 BC.

The dromos is about 6meters wide and

36m long. Its side walls rise to 13.7m high.

The chamber is 14.5m in diameter and

13.2m high made up of 34 circular courses
of masonry

A lateral chamber 8.2m square by 5.8m

high was the actual place of burial

The treasury of Atreus exhibited the best

masonry and most careful and ambitious
construction to be found at Mycenae
Materials, Construction & Tech.

Gypsum, cut stone and Timber were the principal building materials of the Aegean.

Gypsum was common in Crete, while limestone was common in Mycenaea

Timber was not very common in both locations

In Crete, gypsum was preferred for wall and frescoed decoration, while timber is used
for columns and roofs

In Mycenae, cut stone was the most common material.

This was used with wooden frame for houses or in cyclopean construction for citadels.
Construction systems differ between the two locations.

In Crete, Island location makes it impossible to use large stone construction

Buildings were made up of small stones with gypsum or other carbonate or sulphate
material as bonding material

Gypsum based alabaster was also used as a vaneer layer on walls, which is further
painted for decoration to create the unique colorful looks of Cretean buildings

In Mycenae, cyclopean construction for walls, and stone on wooden frame for
megarons was used

In cyclopean construction, the large stones are arranged one on the other without
shaping and the gaps between them is filled with smaller stones
Crete introduced technologies of toilet and drainage

Example of this was found in the Queens suit with its bathroom and intricate
drainage system of earthen clay pots

The Cretans also introduced the concept of light wells in their palaces

They also introduced the idea of using double doors to create comfortable
interiors and control humid summer environments