Knossos

It's been a tough day.  I've been trying to improve my Bronze Age paper by adding some information about the Irish Bronze Age, but my brain just hasn't been functioning properly...

So I'm afraid tonight's blog-entry will have to be short.

I cobbled together a distribution map, just to give you some idea of where the various sites I'll be talking about are actually located, along with a rough idea of their date. Unfortunately it's turned out really grainy and uninformative, so I'll have to leave it on the backburner for now.  It looked okay when I exported the Adobe Illustrator file into Photoshop, too...

I think I'll start my Minoan tour with Knossos.  It automatically springs to mind when one thinks of the Minoans, so it's as good a place as any to begin with.

My first featured image is the bust of Sir Arthur Evans, who began his excavations there in 1900 and whose observations, interpretations and reconstructions have given us the site we see today:-

 

His reconstructions have been criticised on a number of fronts, but there's one or two aspects of his work which I found rather interesting.  First of all, there were his efforts to combine consolidation with an attempt to improve an understanding of the site.  He did this by replacing its timber components with concrete, and giving these concrete elements the appearance of timber.

This photograph shows the concrete 'beams' and 'lintels' which have replaced the timbers - in those places where the masonry is original, there are grooves cut into the wall within which the timber elements would have been set.  With this concrete beginning to deteriorate, you can imagine what problems the Greek authorities are going to have with it:-
 

 

Another interesting thing about Sir Arthur Evans' restoration was the way in which he allows the onlooker to compare and contrast the site in its before and after state.  Here's a view of the Corridor of the Procession which shows, on the left hand side, the monument as restored, and on the right, the original levels:-

 

A classic view of Knossos now, one which I'm sure you're all familiar with.  I'm not going to discuss the site in detail at this time - I'll deal with that on Sunday, when I'm less knackered!

It's probably fair to say that Knossos in its current form is as much a monument to Evans as it to the Minoans.  A testament to one man's obsession, perhaps, but also, unquestionably, a key site in the history of Crete and  further afield, too.  It was, after all, the first of the palace sites to be uncovered and the one which first earned the 'Minoans' their modern popular name.  And if, as seems likely, the 'Minoans' played a major part in the shaping of Ancient Greek culture, then their presence resonates down through the eons even to the present.

There'll be more about Knossos on Sunday, but tomorrow I'm at a conference on the Cluniac Order in Paisley so when I finally get in, I'll have my medieval hat on!  Tonight, we're going out for dinner with friends.  Otherwise, I'd be travelling to Glasgow to watch Capella Nova, who are performing a concert of medieval music tonight.  They're Scotland's premier medieval and Renaissance music group and they're very good!

Knossos

It's been a tough day.  I've been trying to improve my Bronze Age paper by adding some information about the Irish Bronze Age, but my brain just hasn't been functioning properly...

So I'm afraid tonight's blog-entry will have to be short.

I cobbled together a distribution map, just to give you some idea of where the various sites I'll be talking about are actually located, along with a rough idea of their date. Unfortunately it's turned out really grainy and uninformative, so I'll have to leave it on the backburner for now.  It looked okay when I exported the Adobe Illustrator file into Photoshop, too...

I think I'll start my Minoan tour with Knossos.  It automatically springs to mind when one thinks of the Minoans, so it's as good a place as any to begin with.

My first featured image is the bust of Sir Arthur Evans, who began his excavations there in 1900 and whose observations, interpretations and reconstructions have given us the site we see today:-

 

His reconstructions have been criticised on a number of fronts, but there's one or two aspects of his work which I found rather interesting.  First of all, there were his efforts to combine consolidation with an attempt to improve an understanding of the site.  He did this by replacing its timber components with concrete, and giving these concrete elements the appearance of timber.

This photograph shows the concrete 'beams' and 'lintels' which have replaced the timbers - in those places where the masonry is original, there are grooves cut into the wall within which the timber elements would have been set.  With this concrete beginning to deteriorate, you can imagine what problems the Greek authorities are going to have with it:-
 

 

Another interesting thing about Sir Arthur Evans' restoration was the way in which he allows the onlooker to compare and contrast the site in its before and after state.  Here's a view of the Corridor of the Procession which shows, on the left hand side, the monument as restored, and on the right, the original levels:-

 

A classic view of Knossos now, one which I'm sure you're all familiar with.  I'm not going to discuss the site in detail at this time - I'll deal with that on Sunday, when I'm less knackered!

It's probably fair to say that Knossos in its current form is as much a monument to Evans as it to the Minoans.  A testament to one man's obsession, perhaps, but also, unquestionably, a key site in the history of Crete and  further afield, too.  It was, after all, the first of the palace sites to be uncovered and the one which first earned the 'Minoans' their modern popular name.  And if, as seems likely, the 'Minoans' played a major part in the shaping of Ancient Greek culture, then their presence resonates down through the eons even to the present.

There'll be more about Knossos on Sunday, but tomorrow I'm at a conference on the Cluniac Order in Paisley so when I finally get in, I'll have my medieval hat on!  Tonight, we're going out for dinner with friends.  Otherwise, I'd be travelling to Glasgow to watch Capella Nova, who are performing a concert of medieval music tonight.  They're Scotland's premier medieval and Renaissance music group and they're very good!