Studies on the Iconography and Interpretation of Combat Scenes of the Late Bronze Age Aegean: A re-appraisal

Abstract The iconographic depictions of combat scenes in the art of the Late Bronze Age Aegean constitute the most fascinating motives of their era. These representations of fighting astonish us by their diversity. They have been immortalised on heterogeneous kinds of material, throughout the Late Bronze Age. The aim of this paper is to present and examine the issues of iconography of these performances. To do so, I use a typological method based on thematic, chronological, material and contextual criteria. Questions, such as whether these representations refer to mythical-fictional or historical-real events, will be addressed. In addition, questions arises as to what extent these combat scenes were a common topic of the Aegean Bronze Age art and during which chronological periods they occurred. Questions about the importance of such motifs in the society of that period, as well as whether they were products of either Minoan or Mycenaean workshops and if it is possible to recognize different artistic tendencies, are also examined. The analysis of the data shows that it is possible, at least for the early phase of the Late Bronze Age, to distinguish between artistic styles. It also shows that every combat scene of the Late Bronze Age Aegean could have a manifold significance for the society of that era, above all because the symbolic meaning of the struggle was integrated into the practical occurrence of war.