{"id":1807,"date":"2021-08-03T18:53:14","date_gmt":"2021-08-03T16:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antonimiquel.com\/escultura\/epifania\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T15:48:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T13:48:39","slug":"epifania","status":"publish","type":"trabajo","link":"https:\/\/www.antonimiquel.com\/en\/sculpture\/epifania\/","title":{"rendered":"Epiphany"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Minoan civilisation is the first culture of the Copper Age and the Bronze Age to have appeared on the island of Crete. The most paradigmatic example of the convergence of Minoan art, society, economy and religion, however, 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 centre of the island, approximately in 1613 BCE (Magad\u00e1n and Rodr\u00edguez, 2013). The largest group of paintings found there to date belong to the so-called Neopalatial period (Field, 2007), and are 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, who has traditionally been identified as a goddess or Potnia<\/em> (G\u00fcnkel-Maschek, 2014; Nikola\u00efdou, 2012; Vlachopoulos, 2016).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seated on an altar, resplendent and luminous, this figure wears earrings and necklaces in the shapes of ducks and dragonflies, and has a saffron flower tattooed on her cheek. Four other women appear at various stages of the saffron harvest (Field, 2007; Nugent, 2008). Although in general the different interpretations of the pictorial programme of Xeste 3 have pivoted around religion, Field proposes an alternative reading of the nature of the female figures depicted in its frescoes. Saffron was venerated as a multifunctional resource embedded in many aspects of this society: as a spice, as a yellow dye for textiles and as an ingredient in the manufacture of perfumes, achieving great economic importance. Therefore, if women were so clearly associated with saffron as the iconographic records seem to show, it is likely that they played a decisive role in its production and distribution, and their participation in the commercial sphere should be considered. Field therefore concludes that the images in the frescoes may have reflected the metaphorical authority of a goddess, but also the literal power of a ruler, a controller of elite goods or a merchant (2007).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u00b7 Field, P. (2007): Is divinity a gender issue? The case of the Minoan “Goddess”<\/em>. (Master’s Thesis). University of Oslo, Oslo.
\u00b7 G\u00fcnkel-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<\/em> (Aegaeum 39), 255-262. Peeters.
\u00b7 Magad\u00e1n Olives, M. T., y Rodr\u00edguez Manero, I. (2013): Una mirada retrospectiva a las restauraciones antiguas III. El yacimiento de Acrotiri en la isla de Santorini, Grecia. Unicum<\/em>, 12, 119-131.
\u00b7 Morro Mas, Antoni Miquel (2023). Tras el Azafr\u00e1n Minoico: una Propuesta Escult\u00f3rica para un Nuevo Paradigma. BRAC \u2013 Barcelona, Research, Art, Creation. Published Online First<\/em>. Doi: 10.17583\/brac.12010
\u00b7 Nikola\u00efdou, 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<\/em>, 38-53. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
\u00b7 Nugent, M. (2008). Seasonal flux-three flowers for three seasons: seasonal ritual at Akrotiri, Thera. Iris<\/em>, 21, 2-20
\u00b7 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<\/em> 39, 375-386). Peeters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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