From Homer’s world Tinos and the Cyclades in the Mycenaean age

© Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού και Αθλητισμού – Γενική Διεύθυνση Αρχαιοτήτων
και Πολιτιστικής Κληρονομιάς – Εφορεία Αρχαιοτήτων Κυκλάδων

Benaki Museum / 138 Pireos Street
Duration: December 19, 2019 –  March 08, 2020

The Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades, the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation and the Benaki Museum present the archaeological exhibition "From Homer's World. Tinos and Cyclades in the Mycenaean Age", at the Benaki Museum (138 Pireos Street).

The exhibition is an important landmark in the study of this period, shedding light on unknown aspects of the Cycladic past: one hundred and fifty-one objects, representative works including items of ceramic art, metalwork, miniature art, figurines and statuettes and jewellery, have been collected together for the first time and reveal to the public a comprehensive tableau of Mycenaean culture in the island group of the Cyclades. The narrative, accompanied by visual and audio media, is comprised of sections presenting the main elements of life at that time, such as every-day tasks and leisure, religious worship, funerary customs, warfare - aspects of the magnificent heritage of the Mycenaean world, the inspiration for two of the foremost works of global literature, the Iliad and the Odyssey.

At the epicentre lie the findings in the Mycenaean vaulted tomb at Agia Thekla, in northern Tinos, rare for the entire Aegean Sea. The small monument was discovered during road-building works, and its remains were excavated by the unforgettable Tinian archaeologist Georgios Despinis in 1979. It is one of only three known vaulted tombs in the Cyclades and is, at this time, the only confirmed Mycenaean site on the island. The resting place for an "aristocratic" family, the tomb at Agia Thekla (13^th-12^th century BC) had been used for multiple burials. The findings (pots, jewellery, bronze artefacts) are a valuable source of information on burial practices, social organisation and art in the Cyclades in the last centuries of the 2^nd millennium BC.

Beyond the findings from Tinos, the exhibition also includes ancient artefacts from other important prehistoric sites in the Aegean, specifically from Naxos, Delos, Mykonos, Paros, Milos, Sifnos, Thera and Kea, so that visitors can acquire a fuller picture of the overall profile and significance of Mycenaean culture in the Cyclades. Of particular interest is the "Lady of Phylakopi" (mid-14^th century BC), a masterpiece of Mycenaean figurine art, which was found at the sanctuary of Phylakopi in Milos. The "Lady of Phylakopi" welcomes the visitors with her large, expressive eyes, and the statuette's size and quality of craftsmanship immediately make an unforgettable impression; it is undoubtedly one of the most important findings of the Mycenaean era in the Aegean Sea.

The exhibition "From Homer's World. Tinos and Cyclades in the Mycenaean Age" was presented for the first time in the summer of 2019 in Tinos, at the Museum of Marble Crafts of the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation, the result of the fruitful collaboration between the Foundation and the Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades; it attracted the interest of 23,000 Greek and foreign visitors.

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