New Reconstructions of the “Mykenaia”

From The American Journal of Archaeology (online) Volume 113 No. 3 July 2009 Abstract of an article by Bernice R. Jones. (Figure: Fig. 21. Reconstruction B of the Mykenaia with outline of the Striding Lady from Thera (drawing by R. Ruppert (modified from Doumas 1992, pl. 6). This study presents evidence for reconstructing two frescoes, including the well-known "Mykenaia," found at the Southwest Building at Mycenae. It argues that the Mykenaia did not depict a seated goddess facing right but a life-sized, standing woman striding to the left and that the other fresco portrays a half-life-sized enthroned woman, likely a goddess, facing right and holding a miniature female figure. The reconstructions are based on detailed examinations, drawings, and photographs taken to scale of the fragments and on comparanda. The argument is based on the innovative use of both experimental costume replications and digital imaging that superimposes details from other well-documented frescoes onto the fragments to test possible poses and details. The reconstructions proposed here are based on costume details depicted by the frescoes and on textual data, including intriguing Linear B ideograms. These reconstructions are then set within the larger spectrum of cult scenes in Aegean art, and some details of the dress worn in these frescoes are connected to Aegean cult.

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There are lots of reconstructed images and other images to view. The outfit on the image pictured above (left) is very typical of what females of the Mycenaean culture wore: a tight-fitted short-sleeved blouse that buttoned under the breasts, on the ribcage and followed the natural line of the woman's waist downward, except in this instance the breasts appear to be covered by a very sheer fabric. Otherwise, the cinched-in waist and the bell-shaped, multi-layered skirt, are very much like that depicted on the so-called "Snake Goddess" (image right) which I believe dates to about 1650 BCE (not working from my notes tonight, so that may be wrong). Compare the images!

Notice the checkerboard patterns on the reconstructed image. The patterns remind me of similar patterns I've seen on lots of funereal objects and in tomb paintings from ancient Egypt.