Minoan villa of Amnissos

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Villa of the Lilies

The Minoan Villa of Amnissos ( Greek Μινωική έπαυλη Αμνισού Minoiki epavli Amnisou ), also called Villa of the Lilies (Έπαυλη των Κρίνων), refers to an archaeological excavation site in the central north of the Greek island of Crete . It is located in the municipality of Chersonisos in the Heraklion Regional District , approximately seven kilometers east of the island's capital, Heraklion . The generic term "Minoan villa" describes a type of building that is largely limited to the new palace period of the Minoan culture .

location

Information sign on the roadside

The remains of the "Minoan Villa" of Amnissos (also Amnisos ) are on the eastern slope of the 32 meter high hill Paliochora (Παλιόχωρα) about 130 meters from the north coast of Crete on the Aegean Sea . The hill lies in a coastal plain, which is bordered in the south and east by mountain ranges, in the west by the river Karteros (Καρτερός) and in the north by the 1.8 km long sandy beach along the sea. Since the river Karteros was called Amnissos in ancient times, the coastal plain is now called the Amnissos plain. The coastline of the Aegean Sea forms a small bay here with the rocky island of Monocharako (Μονοχάρακο) towering about 360 meters in front of the beach, only about 80 × 50 meters.

History and description

Amnissos is recorded on several clay tablets with linear lettering B from Knossos, 5.4 kilometers away, as a-mi-ni-so ( ???? ). On a list from the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III. in ancient Egypt the place appears as ʿa-m-ni-ša (jʿ-mni-š3) , which indicates its great importance at this time. Amnissos is considered one of the ports of the southwestern Knossos. Of the at least 200,000 m² settlement area, 5200 m² have so far been archaeologically developed. Some estimates put the population of the Minoan Amnissos at around 10,000 people. About 750 meters south of the "Minoan Villa" is the cave of Eileithyia , a supraregional place of worship from the Minoan to the Greek period. Homer mentioned the bay of Amnissos in the Odyssey (19.188), Strabo the port and the temple of Eileithyia in his Geographika (10.4.8).

Northwest view of the "villa"

First excavations in the plain of Amnissos took place between 1932 and 1934 under the direction of Spyridon Marinatos . The "Minoan Villa" discovered in the process is located in the eastern area of ​​the coastal plain. Since adjacent areas were not excavated, the spatial context of the building and its function could not be determined from the archaeological findings. On the northeast side of the Paliochora hill, northwest of the "villa", only a well house from the Minoan period and a rectangular building of unclear function were uncovered. In ancient times, the sanctuary of Zeus Thenatas stood on the northwest side of the hill . This seems to have been built on Minoan structures, whose function is also incomprehensible.

During the subsequent excavations from 1983 to 1985 under the direction of Jörg Schäfer , the remains of the "Minoan Villa" damaged in the Second World War were restored. The excavation site is surrounded by a fence and is not open to the public. Due to its small size, 24 meters in east-west and 21.5 meters in north-south direction, it is easy to see from the outside. The “villa” consisted of more than ten rooms on the ground floor, some of which are assigned to different epochs of the Minoan culture. The building was probably built in the Middle Minoan phase MM III, after severe damage, possibly due to an earthquake , partially rebuilt at the end of MM III B and finally destroyed at the end of the late Minoan phase SM IA again by a possible earthquake accompanied by a fire .

Entrance area of ​​the "villa"
Lustration basin in the northeast

Due to the location of the “villa” at the foot of the eastern slope of the Paliochora hill, the western parts of the building, the walls of which were under higher layers of earth, are better preserved. The subsoil had been straightened for the construction. The small and angular structure had representatively designed outer walls, a paved entrance area with two columns in the west, a polythyron hall in the north with a front courtyard covered with slate, and a lustration basin in the north-east , which was sunk below ground level . The stairwell in the south and the filling layer of the horizon of destruction point to an upper second floor. During the reconstruction in MM III B, another stairwell was added in a room in the southeast of the building.

After the destruction at the end of MM III B, there were conversions and additions, partly using the building material from the first phase, which indicate a change in use of the building. The 'palatial' representative building was divided into different living and working units. In addition to the additional stairwell, further rooms and a retaining wall were built in the southwest in front of the entrance facade. Inside the "villa" there were changes by drawing in parts of the wall and installing an earthen fireplace in the room behind the western entrance. In contrast to the first construction phase using rectangular limestone ashlar stones, simple rubble stones were used almost exclusively in the reconstruction.

Lily fresco 05.jpg
Lily fresco
Lily fresco 08.jpg
Mint fresco


The most important finds of the "villa" are fresco fragments that had collected in the rubble around the northern column base of the entrance area. They had burst from the walls on the upper floor when the building was destroyed and fell into the vestibule of the entrance on the first floor when the floor on the north pillar collapsed. The archaeologist Veit Stürmer assumed that the frescoes found by Spyridon Marinatos in 1932 were on the walls of a corridor-like loggia open to the west . The floral images were reconstructed into three different motifs, the lily fresco, the mint fresco and the papyrus fresco. After the former, the Minoan building is also called the 'Villa of the Lilies'. The added heights are 180 cm (lily fresco) to 230 cm (mint fresco). The colors used were white, green and red, as well as orange and blue in the papyrus fresco. A special feature are the outlines of the lilies, filled with white fine plaster and previously cut out of the still damp surrounding plaster.

Stylistically comparable are the frescoes with the depictions in Akrotiri on Santorini , the “space-encompassing spring landscape with swallows” (room Δ2 in the Delta sector) and the papyrus or the dune cone narcissus in the “vestibule” (room 1) in the “ladies' house”. A similar depiction of white lilies can be found on a vessel from Knossos, which Fritz Schachermeyr (1964) and Veit Stürmer (1992) classified in MM III. The frescoes were thus probably created in the first construction phase of Amnissos' “Villa” in MM III, whereas the ceramics found in the building are exclusively assigned to the second phase in SM IA, in which the function of the rooms from a representative to a residential and work use had passed over. The ceramic fragments, found in the southeastern room next to the stairwell installed later and in the passage from the entrance area to the northwestern rooms, were partly unpainted, partly reddish and provided with remains of horizontal stripes, spirals, grass and ribbons. A reconstructed pithos is 30 cm high. Overall, the lack of funds within and around the "villa" causes a certain uncertainty factor in the chronological classification of the building.

  • Excavation site

  • Corridor and southeast room

  • Additions of the second construction phase from SM I A

  • Northwestern rooms with ashlar stones

  • Polythyron hall in the north of the "Villa"

literature

  • Bogdan Rutkowski: The settlement system of Amnissos in the Neolithic and Bronze Age . In: Opuscula Atheniensia . tape 15 . CWK Gleerup, Lund 1984, p. 147-153 .
  • Veit Stürmer : The "Villa of the Lilies" . In: Jörg Schäfer (Ed.): Amnisos: According to the archaeological, historical and epigraphic evidence of antiquity and modern times . Gebr. Mann, Berlin 1992, ISBN 978-3-7861-1607-3 .
  • Costas Davaras: Guide to the Antiquities of Crete . Eptalofos, Athens 2003, ISBN 960-8360-02-1 , p. 7-10 ( online ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sabine Westerburg-Eberl: "Minoan Villas" in the New Palace period on Crete . In: Harald Siebenmorgen (Ed.): In the Labyrinth of Minos: Crete - the first European high culture [Exhibition of the Badisches Landesmuseum, 27.1. until April 29, 2001, Karlsruhe, Schloss] . Biering & Brinkmann, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-930609-26-6 , pp. 87 ( archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de [PDF; 1.6 MB ]).
  2. ↑ a-mi-ni-so. minoan.deaditerranean.com, accessed October 22, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Felix Hahn: The 'Villa of the Lilies': A Minoan building in Amnisos on Crete . Bachelor thesis. Bachelor + Master Publishing, Hamburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-95549-067-6 , pp. 3–4 ( online [accessed October 22, 2018]).
  4. ↑ Homer : Odyssey. 19. Singing. gottwein.de, accessed on October 22, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Strabo: Description of the Earth . Translated and commented on by Dr. A. Forbiger . Hoffmann'sche Verlags-Buchhandlung, Stuttgart 1857, p. 146 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
  6. ↑ Felix Hahn: The 'Villa of the Lilies': A Minoan building in Amnisos on Crete . Bachelor thesis. Bachelor + Master Publishing, Hamburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-95549-067-6 , pp. 7-8 .
  7. ↑ Felix Hahn: The 'Villa of the Lilies': A Minoan building in Amnisos on Crete . Bachelor thesis. Bachelor + Master Publishing, Hamburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-95549-067-6 , pp. 8, 13 .
  8. ↑ Felix Hahn: The 'Villa of the Lilies': A Minoan building in Amnisos on Crete . Bachelor thesis. Bachelor + Master Publishing, Hamburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-95549-067-6 , pp. 7-11 .
  9. ↑ Felix Hahn: The 'Villa of the Lilies': A Minoan building in Amnisos on Crete . Bachelor thesis. Bachelor + Master Publishing, Hamburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-95549-067-6 , pp. 13-15 .
  10. ↑ Felix Hahn: The 'Villa of the Lilies': A Minoan building in Amnisos on Crete . Bachelor thesis. Bachelor + Master Publishing, Hamburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-95549-067-6 , pp. 17-22 .
  11. ↑ Felix Hahn: The 'Villa of the Lilies': A Minoan building in Amnisos on Crete . Bachelor thesis. Bachelor + Master Publishing, Hamburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-95549-067-6 , pp. 16, 24-26 .

Web links

Commons : Minoan Villa of Amnissos  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files
  • Amnissos: Amnisos 3. In: Digital Crete: Archaeological Atlas of Crete. Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH), Institute for Mediterranean Studies(English).;
  • Αμνισός. Ministry of Culture and Sport (Greece), 2012, accessed October 22, 2018 (Greek).
  • Ian Swindale: Amnisos. Minoan Crete, May 20, 2016, accessed October 22, 2018 .
  • Monika Zacher: Amnissos. minoer.net, December 6, 2015, accessed October 22, 2018 .
  • Alexandros Roniotis: Amnissos. CretanBeaches, accessed October 22, 2018 .

Coordinates: 35 ° 19 ′ 52.7 ″  N , 25 ° 12 ′ 25.7 ″  E