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For other uses, see Agia Triada (disambiguation).
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Hagia Triada (also Ayia Triada, Agia Triada, Agia Trias, Greek: [aˈʝia triˈaða], 'Holy Trinity') is a Minoan archaeological site in Crete. The site includes the remains of an extensive settlement as well as a large structure known as the Royal Villa. It is located in the Mesara Plain near the Palace of Phaistos, with which it appears to have had close political and economic ties. Excavations at Hagia Triada have provided crucial evidence concerning Minoan everyday life. Notable finds include the Hagia Triada sarcophagus, the "Harvester Vase", and the largest cache of Linear A tablets found at any Minoan site.

History

Minoan chronology
Timespan Period
3100–2650 BC EM I Prepalatial
2650–2200 BC EM II
2200–2100 BC EM III
2100–1925 BC MM IA
1925–1875 BC MM IB Protopalatial
1875–1750 BC MM II
1750–1700 BC MM III Neopalatial
1700–1625 BC LM IA
1625–1470 BC LM IB
1470–1420 BC LM II Postpalatial
1420–1330 BC LM IIIA
1330–1200 BC LM IIIB
1200–1075 BC LM IIIC

The site was founded in the Early Minoan I (EM I) period. By the Middle Minoan IA (MM IA) period it is known to have had a cemetery with a large circular "tholos" tomb.[1] The site grew rapidly during the MM IB to MM IIB period and with the Protopolatial period (c. 1925 BC) an extensive building program began which continued through the NeoPalatial period. In LM IB (c. 1625–1470 BC)the site was destroyed by fire. After that destruction monumental rebuilding occurred on a large scale.[2]

It remained inhabited until the 2nd century BC. Later, a Roman villa was built at the site. Nearby are two chapels: Hagia Triada in the deserted village and Hagios Georgios, built during the Venetian period.[3]

Archaeology

The famous Hagia Triada sarcophagus

Hagia Triada is in south central Crete, 30–40 meters above sea level. It lies four kilometers west of Phaistos, which is situated at the western end of the Mesara Plain. The site was not a Minoan palace but an upscale town with some kind of local administration center.

The site was first identified in June 1900 by Luigi Pernier who was excavating at Phaistos at that time. While work proceded at nearby Phaistos, Hagia Triada was excavated from 1902 to 1908 by a group from the Italian Scuola Archeologica Italiana di Atene, directed by Federico Halbherr and Luigi Pernier.[4][5][6] The site includes a town and a miniature "palace", an ancient drainage system servicing both, and Early Minoan tholos tombs. The settlement was in use, in various forms, from Early Minoan I until the site's destruction by fire in Late Minoan IB.

In 1903 archaeologists unearthed the Hagia Triada sarcophagus painted with illuminating scenes of funerary rituals.[7][8] It was found in a 3.8 meter by 4.2 meter tomb (Tomb 4) dated to the LM III period.[9] In 1956 a complete cleaning and restoration of the sarcophagus was completed.[10] It is the only limestone sarcophagus of its era discovered to date and the only sarcophagus with a series of narrative scenes of Minoan funerary ritual. However, it is possible that the Minoan religious beliefs were mixed with the beliefs of the Myceneans, who captured the island in the 14th century BC. It was originally used for the burial of a prince.

In the center of one of the long sides of the sarcophagus is the scene of a bull sacrifice. On the left of the second long side, a woman who is wearing a crown is carrying two vessels. By her side, a man dressed in a long robe is playing a seven-stringed lyre. This is the earliest known picture of the classical-Greek lyre.

The "Harvester Vase" from Hagia Triada Heraklion Archaeological Museum

In front of them, another woman is emptying the contents of a vessel—perhaps the blood of the sacrificed bull—into a second vessel, possibly as an invocation to the soul of the deceased.[11] It seems that the blood of the bull was used for the regeneration of the reappearing dead. This scene is reminiscent of a description of Homer, where the dead needed blood.[12] On the left, three men holding animals and a boat are approaching a male figure without limbs; he presumably represents the dead man receiving gifts. The boat is offered for his journey to the next world .[13] According to a Minoan belief, beyond the sea, there was the island of the happy dead Elysion, where the departed souls could have a different but happier existence. Rhadamanthys was the judge of the Elysion, and this idea probably predates some later Orphic beliefs.[12]

Linear A inscription on a clay tablet from Hagia Triada

It seems that, in Crete, some festivals corresponded to later Greek festivals.[14] An agrarian procession is depicted on the "Harvester Vase", or "Vase of the Winnowers", which was found in Hagia Triada along with the Chieftain Cup. The vase is dated from the last phase of the neopalatial period (LM II). Men are walking in twos with rods on their shoulders. The leader is dressed in a priestly robe with a fringe and is carrying a stick. A group of musicians accompany with song, and one of them holds the Egyptian sistrum.[15][16][17] Other interpretations of the procession have been proposed.[18]

Archaeological site of Agia Triada

Excavation resumed between 1910 and 1914, with the addition of Gaetano De Sanctis though the work from this effort is largely unpublished.[19] In 1938 and 1959 Luisa Banti carried out limited excavation at the site.[20] From 1970 until 1976 the site was excavated by Doro Levi and Clelia Laviosa. All of these excavations remain thinly published.[21]

From 1977 to 2012 a team from the Italian Archaeological School at Athens led by Vincenzo La Rosa excavated at the site.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ [1]Caloi, I., "The Mesara tholos tomb cemeteries in the Protopalatial period. Comparing the funerary complexes of Kamilari and Ayia Triada", CRETA ANTICA 17, pp. 59-72, 2018
  2. ^ a b Privitera, Santo, "Haghia Triada III", The Late Minoan III Buildings in the Villaggio (Monografie della Scuola Archeologica di Atene e delle Missioni Italiane in Oriente 23), Athens: National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and Italian Archaeological School at Athens, 2015
  3. ^ La Rosa, Vincenzo (2012). "Ayia Triada". In Cline, Eric (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean. Oxford University Press. pp. 495–508. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199873609.013.0037. ISBN 978-0199873609.
  4. ^ Federico Halbherr, "Lavori eseguiti dalla missione archeologica italiana ad Haghia Triada e nella necropoli di Phaestos dal 15 maggio al 12 giugno 1902", Roma : Tipografia della Reale Accademia dei Lincei, 1902
  5. ^ Federico Halbherr, "Rapporto alla presidenza del R. Istituto lombardo di scienze e lettere sugli scavi eseguiti dalla missione archeologica ad Haghia Triada ed a Festo nell'anno 1904", Milano : Ulrico Hoepli edit, 1905
  6. ^ Federico Halbherr & Luigi Savignoni, "Resti dell'eta micena scoperti ad Haghia Triada presso Phaestos : rapporto delle ricerche del 1902", Roma : Tipografia della Reale Accademia dei Lincei, 1903
  7. ^ Nauert, Jean Porter, "The Hagia Triada Sarcophagus: An Iconographical Study" Antike Kunst 8.H. 2, pp. 91-98, 1965
  8. ^ Crete: The Archaeological Site of Agia Triada
  9. ^ Burke, Brendan, "Materialization of Mycenaean Ideology and the Ayia Triada Sarcophagus", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 109, no. 3, pp. 403–22, 2005
  10. ^ Levi, Doro, "The Sarcophagus of Hagia Triada Restored", Archaeology, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 192–99, 1956
  11. ^ J.A.Sakellarakis, "Herakleion Museum. Illustrated guide to the Museum" pp. 113,114. Ekdotike Athinon. Athens 1987
  12. ^ a b F.Schachermeyer (1972), Die Minoische Kultur des alten Kreta. Kohlhammer Verlag Stuttgart, p. 172, 185
  13. ^ J.A.Sakellarakis, "Herakleion Museum. Illustrated guide to the Museum" p. 114. Ekdotike Athinon. Athens 1987
  14. ^ Walter Burkert (1985), Greek religion, p. 42
  15. ^ Forsdyke, John, "The'Harvester'Vase of Hagia Triada", Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 17.1-2, pp. 1-9, 1954
  16. ^ J.A.Sakellarakis, "Herakleion Museum. Illustrated guide to the Museum" p. 64. Ekdotike Athinon. Athens 1987
  17. ^ F.Schachermeyer (1967) p. 144
  18. ^ MacGillivray, J. A. "Reaper’s Rout or Mariner’s March? Reconsidering the ‘Harvester’Vase from Ayia Triada." Processions: Studies of Bronze Age Ritual and Ceremony presented to Robert B. Koehl, pp. 81-90, 2023
  19. ^ Levi Della Vida G., "Scavi della Missione Italiana in Creta", Ausonia 4, pp. 37-38, 1910
  20. ^ Banti l., "I culti minoici e greci di Haghia Triada", ASAtene 19, pp. 9-74, 1941-43
  21. ^ La Rosa V., "Haghia Triada: vicende e temi di uno scavo di lungo corso", Creta Antica 4, pp. 11-68, 2003

Further reading

  • Baldacci, Giorgia, "Pottery and ritual activity at Protopalatial Hagia Triada: a foundation deposit and a set of broken rhyta from the Sacello", Creta Antica 15, pp. 47-62, 2015
  • [2]Martino, Paula L., "Egyptian ideas, Minoan rituals: evidence of the interconnections between Crete and Egypt in the Bronze Age on the Hagia Triada sarcophagus", Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 4.1, pp. 31-50, 2012
  • [3]Monzani, Juliana Caldeira, "Spatial analysis in archaeology. A study of case: Hagia Triada, Crete", Revista do Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia. Suplemento, pp. 143-148, 2009
  • Privitera, Santo, "The LM III frescoes from the villaggio at Hagia Triada: New observations on context and chronology", Creta antica 9, pp. 111-137, 2008
  • Privitera, Santo, "The tomb, the house, and the double axes: Late Minoan IIIA2 Hagia Triada as a ritual and ‘mythical’place", AEGAEUM 39, pp. 149-156, 2016
  • Weingarten, Judith, "Seal-use at LM IΒ Ayia Triada: a Minoan elite in action I. Administrative considerations", Kadmos 26.1, pp. 1-43, 1987
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Triada