Quote:
Originally Posted by paul m
The Minoans and ancient Greeks quite often painted them - as on this vase in Athens Museum.
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As Paul said octopi are definitly used a lot as decoration by the Myceneans and Minoans. For some reason the Minoans were crazy about octopi (anybody know why?) and they even devoted a whole style of pottery to them, the Marine-style (as seen on Pauls photo). This really playful style dates from around 1500 BC and inspired the Minoans to create the Palace style (1400 BC). In the style the octopus still is the main feature, but it's tentacles aren't so chaoticly placed and the head is less dominant.
The Myceneans on mainland Greece copied the Minoans and as per usual they decided to bring harmony and symmetry to the decoration. They go that far that their octopi look like a cup with ribbons coming out of it! The Mycenean octopus style was used from 1425 BC (when they were over-threw the Minoans) untill about 1300 BC. (I'm going to Amsterdams Ancient History museum on Friday, if I'm allowed I'll take some pictures to illustrate...)
By the way, thanks Paul for reminding me of my exam last week on Greek archeology!
