Dolphin frieze made of glass
The dolphin frieze from the Mycenaean fortification of Gla is part of a wall painting preserved in fragments , which was found during excavations by Spyros Iakovidis in 1981–1983 and 1990–1991 on the east wing of the south complex. Until 1995 the fragments were preserved and reconstructed as part of a project; today they are in the Archaeological Museum of Thebes .
Although fragments of wall paintings had been found earlier during excavations at the palace, the more recent finds are the only ones by Gla for which the context of the find is known. The fragments of the dolphin frieze were found in a pit next to a room (N1). The wall paintings were removed from the wall and buried in ancient times before the buildings in the Late Helladic III B around 1220–1200 BC. Were destroyed. Traces of fire on some fragments show that a catastrophe occurred in the second half of the 13th century. Since a relatively large number of fragments were found, they probably did not get into the earth far from their original location. You may even have decorated room N1 once.
The fragments can be reconstructed into at least six or seven dolphins , painted on a blue background that is obviously water. The whole wall was once about 2.30 to 2.40 meters high, the actual frieze with the dolphins about 1.60 to 1.65 meters. The dolphins were about 75 to 80 cm long and therefore about half-life-size. Various fragments come from a frieze that completed the picture above. The base zone probably consisted of a red stripe and, underneath, a frieze of imitation marble. The arrangement of the dolphins causes difficulties. In the excavation report they are distributed somewhat randomly over the water. In the more recent reconstruction, they appear in a row.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Spyros E. Iakovidis: Γλας II. H ανασκαφή 1981–1991 (= Βιβλιοθήκη της εν Αθήναις Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας. Volume 173). Athens 1998, plate IX.
- ↑ Christos Boulotis: Reconstructing a Dolphin Frieze and Argonauts from the Mycenaean Citadel of Gla. In: Hariclia Brecoulaki, Jack L. Davis, Sharon R. Stocker (Eds.): Mycenean Wall Painting in Context: New Discoveries, Old Finds Reconsidered (= Μελετήματα. Volume 72). National Hellenic Research Foundation, Institute of Historical Research, Athens 2015, ISBN 978-960-9538-34-3 , pp. 371-403.