Epiphany
Material:
Methacrylate
Measurements
27 x 27 x 26 cm
Year:
2021
The Minoan civilization is the first culture of the Copper Age and the Bronze Age to emerge on the island of Crete. However, the most paradigmatic example of the convergence of Minoan art, society, economy, and religion is not found in Crete but on the island of Santorini, also known by its ancient name, Thera. Around the second millennium BCE, the settlement of Akrotiri developed there, until a massive volcanic eruption destroyed the island’s center around 1613 BCE (Magadán and Rodríguez, 2013). The largest collection of paintings found there to date dates back to the so-called Neopalatial period (Field, 2007) and is located on the walls of the structure known as Xeste 3. According to the majority consensus, the elaborate pictorial narrative on its walls represents complex initiation and offering rituals involving men and, especially, women of different ages, culminating in the central female figure on the first floor, traditionally identified as a goddess or Potnia (Günkel-Maschek, 2014; Nikolaïdou, 2012; Vlachopoulos, 2016).
Seated on an altar, splendid and luminous, this figure wears earrings and pendants in the shapes of ducks and dragonflies, and a saffron flower tattooed on her cheek. Four more women appear at various stages of the saffron harvest (Field, 2007; Nugent, 2008). Although in general, the different interpretations of the pictorial program of Xeste 3 have revolved around religion, Field proposes an alternative reading of the nature of the female figures represented in this frescoes. Saffron was revered as a multifunctional resource rooted in many facets of this society: as a spice, as a yellow dye for fabrics, and as a component in the manufacture of perfumes, achieving great economic importance. Therefore, if women were as clearly associated with saffron as the iconographic records seem to show, it is likely that they played a determining role in its production and distribution, and their participation in the commercial field should be considered. Thus, Field concludes, the images in the frescoes could reflect the metaphorical authority of a goddess, but also the literal power of a ruler, an elite product controller, or a merchant (2007).
· Field, P. (2007): Is divinity a gender issue? The case of the Minoan “Goddess”. (Tesi de Master). Universidad de Oslo, Oslo.
· Günkel-Maschek, U. (2014): Establishing the Minoan ‘Enthroned Goddess’ in the Neopalatial Period: Images, architecture, and elitist ambition. E. Alram-Stern, F. Blakolmer, S. Deger-Jalkotzy, R. Laffineur y J. Weilhartner (Eds.). Metaphysis. Ritual, Myth and Symbolism in the Aegean Bronze Age (Aegaeum 39), 255-262. Peeters.
· Magadán Olives, M. T., y Rodríguez Manero, I. (2013): Una mirada retrospectiva a las restauraciones antiguas III. El yacimiento de Acrotiri en la isla de Santorini, Grecia. Unicum, 12, 119-131.
· Morro Mas, Antoni Miquel (2023). Tras el Azafrán Minoico: una Propuesta Escultórica para un Nuevo Paradigma. BRAC – Barcelona, Research, Art, Creation. Published Online First. Doi: 10.17583/brac.12010
· Nikolaïdou, M. (2012): Looking for Minoan and Mycenaean Women: Paths of Feminist Scholarship Towards the Aegean Bronze Age. S. L. James y S. Dillon (Eds.). A Companion to Women in the Ancient World, 38-53. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
· Nugent, M. (2008). Seasonal flux-three flowers for three seasons: seasonal ritual at Akrotiri, Thera. Iris, 21, 2-20
· Vlachopoulos, A. G. (2016): Images of Physis or perceptions of Metaphysis? Some thoughts on the iconography of the Xeste 3 building at Akrotiri, Tera. E. Alram-Stern et al. (Eds.), Metaphysis. Ritual, Myth and Symbolism in the Aegean Bronze Age, Aegaeum 39, 375-386). Peeters.
