Santorini [Wall Painting]
[Cont.]

Certain other elements indicate some uniformity among the sailing ships of this wall-painting. Firstly it would appear that the passengers on board are warriors. They have hung their helmets on the pronged pole intended to hold the lowered mast and lateen yards of the sails. On these same prongs the warriors have placed their spears too. The captain is also a warrior who sits iin his cabin astern. His helmet hangs high up while his spear projects a long way behind. With the warriors on board the boats acquire a somewhat martial aspect. Perhaps the wild beasts which are depicted, sometimes carved on the stern and sometimes painted on the bows of the ships, are also aimed at expressing this character. The relatively small sailing boat, the only one depicted with sails unfurled, has a swift-flying bird painted on its sides. Did the artist perhaps wish to show through the bird that the ship is a fast-sailing one? [the messenger boat of the fleet?] It is, anyway, the only boat with two paddles at the stern end, essential for controlling the movements of a fast boat. Each paddle is operated by a paddler.

All the above elements [the single direction of the fleet, the martial character of the ships, the messenger vessel] bolster the opinion that the boats comprise a specific unity, in which case the whole scene may perhaps refer to a particular event. However, in addition to its narrative character this wall-painting is also a rich source of unique information. For, apart from information concerning the architecture, the fauna and flora and the people's apparel, we have for the first time information concerning the art of ship-building in the prehistosric Aegean, as well as the manner in which the various parts of the boat operated [raised masts, sails, paddles, oars, cabins, etc.] Also we gain, indirectly, an idea of the dimensions of the ships. This is the first time we have representations of prehistoric ships in a scale which permits the rendering of such details. A most significant piece of information of historical importance is the armoury depicted on the boats. Not so much the shields and spears as the helmets, make us wonder whether the warriors who were using them were not Mycenaeans. Boar's tusk helmets are usually counted among the accessories of the Mycenaean armoury. If, however, the warriors in the miniatures of Thera are Mycenaeans then certainly many of our views on the prehistory of the Aegean around the middle of the 2nd millennium B.C. will have to be revised. The fact that Mycenaean warriors could come, even in paintings, so close to Crete means that even in the 16th century B.C. Crete had begun to lose some of her power and sovereignty in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The realism which characterises the wall-paintings of Santorini, in addition to the diverse information it provides, also verifies that the artists --for many artists worked at Akrotiri --did not paint abstractly. They depicted specific personal experiences. Perhaps they themselves had travelled to other lands. Thus it was not difficult for them to paint convincingly not only the immediate environment but also exotic animals such as the antelopes, monkeys, lions, wild cats, deer, etc. [p. 39]