Minoan villa of Makrygialos

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Foundation walls of the Minoan villa

The Minoan villa of Makrygialos ( Greek Μινωική έπαυλη Μακρυγιαλού Minoiki epavli Makrygialou ) refers to an archaeological excavation site in the southeast of the Greek island of Crete . It is located in the municipality of Ierapetra in the Lasithi regional district , immediately west of the place Makrygialos ( Μακρυγιαλός ) on a settlement road. The generic term "Minoan villa" describes a type of building that is largely limited to the new palace period of the Minoan culture .

history

The "Minoan Villa" of Makrygialos is located about 250 meters northwest of the beach Kalamokanias ( Καλαμοκανιάς ) on a hill about 25  meters high. The site, recorded under the name Makrygialos - Plakakia - Kalamokiana , was excavated in 1973 and 1977 by the Greek archaeologist Costis Davaras . He dated unfortunately poorly preserved, as drawn by agriculture affected "Minoan Villa" in the Late Minoan period SM IB . At the end of this era, the building was probably destroyed by fire.

Central courtyard with an altar and a dark stone bench behind it

In contrast to other structures called “villas”, the building resembles the Minoan palaces Knossos , Phaistos , Mallia or Kato Zakros , only in a smaller version. The “villa” of Makrygialos had a central, rectangular courtyard with a length of 12.5 and a width of 6 meters. On the north side and on the northern part of the east side there were two colonnades ( Stoen ), as on the east side of the palaces of Mallia and Phaistos. Opposite the west entrance was an altar in the courtyard, next to which a stone seal was found depicting a priestess in a sacred boat with raised arms, the Minoan adoration gesture , in front of a palm tree and a wooden altar. A bench was set into the building next to the west entrance, facing the altar. There were similar benches in Mallia and Phaistos, but the arrangement of the altar in the inner courtyard is similar to that in the palace of Kato Zakros.

Ritual cup

The main entrance of the "Minoan Villa" of Makrygialos was in the north. From there you only reached the central courtyard on winding paths. In addition to this there was another farm in the west, such as in Knossos, Phaistos or Gournia . Little can be seen of the west facade, the building on the west side of this courtyard. The rooms of the "villa" were partly equipped with paved floors and walls coated with gypsum plaster. A large part of the rooms in the west wing served as storage, such as the main storage rooms 7 to 9. The rooms in the east wing are less well preserved, including the largest room in the "villa" (room 16), measuring 6 × 6 meters. Room 10 in the north-west corner of the building with its paved floor also seems to have been an important room. It is very difficult to assign the type of use of the individual rooms. For room 22 on the southwest corner with its two benches in the middle, the excavator Davaras assumed a cultic significance, he compared the two sub-rooms with the civic shrine in Gournia and the cult room I at Kannia Mitropolis near Gortyn in the Messara plain .

Overall, Costis Davaras came to the opinion that the “Minoan villa” of Makrygialos must have been a “manorial” or “cult villa”, similar to those of Nirou , Amnissos , Kannia and Vathypetro . He concluded this from the largely religious character of the few finds in his view. In addition to the stone seal mentioned, this includes a small figure of a woman with pronounced breasts and genitals, found near the altar, sea-style ceramics that is ritually interpreted, and a large stone anchor. Davaras sees the latter as a dedication to the Minoan sea goddess. The finds from the excavation site are in the archaeological museum of Agios Nikolaos . The relationship between the “villa” and the Minoan coastal settlement of Diaskari, 2.8 kilometers to the east, on the Vigla hill is uncertain, as the settlement with the two ports at Diaskari and Langada has not yet been systematically excavated.

  • Excavation site

  • Room 16 in the east wing, largest room in the "villa"

  • West entrance with room 6 and room 7 (right)

  • Western storage rooms, room 8 and room 9

  • Benches in the middle of room 22 (south corner)

literature

  • Costis Davaras: The “Cult Villa” at Makrygialos . In: Robin Hägg (Ed.): The Function of the “Minoan Villa” . Proceedings of the Eighth International Symposium at the Swedish Institute at Athens, 6-8 June 1992. Svenska Institutet i Athens, 1997, ISSN  0586-0539 , pp. 117–135 (English, digitized version [accessed August 11, 2018]).
  • Costis Davaras: Makrygialos . In: Giovanni Pugliese Carratelli (ed.): Enciclopedia dell'Arte Antica , Secondo Supplemento . tape 3 . Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1995 (Italian, online [accessed January 3, 2019]).
  • 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. 87-95 ( PDF; 1.6 MB ).
  • Ingeborg Witzmann: Bronze Age fixed altars on Crete. Diploma thesis, University of Vienna 2009, pp. 124–127 ( PDF; 28.2 MB )
  • Eleni Mantzourani, Giorgos Vavouranakis: The Minoan Villas in East Crete: Households or Seats of Authority? The Case of Prophitis Ilias Praisou . In: Kevin T Glowacki, Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan (Ed.): Stega. The archeology of houses and households in ancient Crete (=  Hesperia Supplement . Volume 44 ). The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Athens 2011, p. 125-135 , JSTOR : 41363146 .
  • Eleni Mantzourani: Sexuality or Fertility Symbol? The Bronze Figurine from Makrygialos . In: Eleni Mantzourani, Philip P. Betancourt (Ed.): Philistor: Studies in Honor of Costis Davaras . INSTAP Academic Press, Philadelphia 2012, ISBN 978-1-62303-030-8 , pp. 105–112 (English, Google books [accessed December 23, 2018]).

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 ( PDF; 1.6 MB ).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Makriyialos. Minoan Crete, May 20, 2016, accessed October 8, 2016 .
  3. ↑ Makrygialos - Plakakia - Kalamokiana. Archaeological Atlas of Crete: Archaeological Sites. Forth: Institute for Mediterranean Studies, accessed October 8, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Siegel CMS VS1A 055. Arachne , 2018, p. 165283 , accessed on October 4, 2018 (image database).
  5. ↑ Minoan Villa (Makri Gialos). Digital Museum of Ierapetra, accessed October 8, 2016 .
  6. ↑ The Minoan Villa of Makry Gialos. In Sitia, 2011, accessed October 8, 2016 .

Web links

Commons : Minoan Villa of Makrygialos  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 35 ° 2 ′ 16 ″  N , 25 ° 58 ′ 2.2 ″  E