La Parisienne also known as the Minoan Lady, is part of the Camp Stool Fresco, which was probably painted on the wall of the Sanctuary Hall on the Piano Nobile at the palace of

Knossos Knossos (also Cnossos, both pronounced ; grc, Κνωσός, Knōsós, ; Linear B: ''Ko-no-so'') is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and has been called Europe's oldest city. Settled as early as the Neolithic period, the na ...

. The sacral knot worn at the back of the neck seems to indicate that she is a priestess or even a goddess. The archaeological research in

Minoan palaces The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands, whose earliest beginnings were from 3500BC, with the complex urban civilization beginning around 2000BC, and then declining from 1450 ...

, cemeteries and settlements has brought to light a multitude of objects related to beautification.

Edmond Pottier Edmond François Paul Pottier (13 August 1855, Saarbrücken – 4 July 1934, Paris) was an art historian and archaeologist who was instrumental in establishing the Corpus vasorum antiquorum. He was a pioneering scholar in the study of Pottery of Anc ...

gave her the name as he felt she resembled a contemporary woman from

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. It seems that there were beautification areas in the palaces of

Zakros Zakros ( el, Ζάκρος; Linear B: zakoro) is a site on the eastern coast of the island of Crete, Greece, containing ruins from the Minoan civilization. The site is often known to archaeologists as Zakro or Kato Zakro. It is believed to have been ...

and

Pylos Pylos (, ; el, Πύλος), historically also known as Navarino, is a town and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part of the municipality Pylos-Nestoras, of which it is th ...

. These beauty objects were used during the whole

Aegean Bronze Age Aegean civilization is a general term for the Bronze Age civilizations of Greece around the Aegean Sea. There are three distinct but communicating and interacting geographic regions covered by this term: Crete, the Cyclades and the Greek mainland ...

. By using these objects, the Minoan ladies highlighted the red lips and the white of the face. In the

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

of the Parisienne, the use of the black colour for emphasizing the form of the eyes and red for the lips can clearly be seen. It dates to the Final Palatial Period, ca. 1450–1350/1300 B.C., and is currently in the Herakleion Archaeological Museum.

Bibliography

*A. Evans, The Palace of Minos at Knossos III repr. New York 1964 *A. Papaefthymiou-Papanthimou Utensils and toiletries of the Cretan-Mycenaean Age, Thessaloniki 1979 *Poursat, J.C., Les Ivoires myceniens, Paris 1977 *Palmer L, The Interpretation of Mycenaean Greek Texts, Oxford 1963.

External links

"Minoan woman or goddess from the palace of Knossos (“La Parisienne”)"
by Senta German,

Khan Academy Khan Academy is an American non-profit educational organization created in 2008 by Sal Khan. Its goal is creating a set of online tools that help educate students. The organization produces short lessons in the form of videos. Its website also in ...

Greek thesaurus - Minoan civilizationKathimerini newspaper - 7 daysHerakleion Archaeological Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parisienne 15th-century BC works 14th-century BC works Minoan frescos Heraklion Archaeological Museum Knossos Portraits of women

See also

Bibliography

External links