Kylix: Spirals

Mycenaean Greece and Cyprus

Mycenaean culture dominated mainland Greece and much of the Aegean for five centuries (1600–1100 B.C.E.). Regional kingdoms were typified by large fortified palatial centers at sites like Mycenae and Tiryns that were identified by later Greeks with the heroes of the Trojan War. Mycenaean pots often imitated objects made of precious metals but were decorated in different styles. Here, spirals, scales, shells, and marine creatures are rendered as schematic and abstract patterns around the body of the vessels.

The exchange of both bulk commodities and luxury goods brought Greece into a broader Mediterranean network during the Mycenaean era and continuing into the Geometric period. The influence of Greek pottery decoration can also be seen in these vessels from Cyprus, an important crossroads of trade routes between the Near East and the Western Mediterranean throughout antiquity. The migration of people from the Aegean to the eastern Mediterranean also fostered the cultural and stylistic development of Cyprus for many centuries.