Before the palaces of Crete and Mycenae, the islands of the Cyclades, in the middle of the Aegean, were home to one of the first civilisations of the Greek world. It left no writing or great buildings, but an extraordinary output of marble objects that fascinated modern artists such as Picasso, Brâncuși, Modigliani and Henry Moore.
Islands and villages
People lived in small coastal villages, growing cereals, olives and vines, raising goats and sheep and fishing. Above all they were seafarers: in long oared boats, shown on the so-called clay "frying pans", they linked the islands with each other and with mainland Greece, Crete and Anatolia. They traded obsidian from Milos, a sharp volcanic glass used for blades and tools since the Palaeolithic, as well as copper and marble.
The figurines
The best-known works are the marble figurines, from a few centimetres to over a metre and a half tall. They are almost always naked women, standing, with arms folded under the breasts and head tilted slightly back; only the nose is carved on the face. Harp and flute players and warriors are rarer.
We see them white today, but they were originally painted: traces of pigment show eyes, hair, necklaces and tattoos. Their purpose is uncertain. Many were found in graves; they may represent fertility goddesses, ancestors, companions for the afterlife or personal possessions.
A looted art
The figurines' success on the 20th-century art market fuelled illegal digging and forgeries. Many reached museums with no record of which grave or island they came from, and much information has been lost for ever.
Decline
Around 2000 BC the Cyclades came under the influence of Minoan Crete, and later the Mycenaeans. Akrotiri on Santorini shows an island strongly shaped by Cretan culture.
Where to see them
- Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens, founded by the Goulandris family, with one of the world's finest collections.
- National Archaeological Museum, Athens, with the famous harp player from Keros.
- The archaeological museums of Naxos, Milos, Paros and Santorini.
See also ancient Greek art and the history of Greece.