Rituals in Aegean Bronze Age iconography: A survey through seal images

The article aims at bringing some order into the images of religious rituals in the Aegean Bronze Age in the artistic medium that exhibits the largest variety of representations, namely seals, signet rings, and their impressions. By filtering the iconographical evidence, this study attempts to detect clusters, combinations and unique examples of Minoan and Mycenaean ritual scenes on the basis of which a coherent ritual sequence is reconstructed. The analysis focuses on iconographical concepts, the ›pictorial language‹, and aspects of narrativity in order to gain a better understanding of pictorial strategies in the Aegean, such as the abbreviation and codification of ritual activities in seal images. Additionally, it analyses the interrelation of humans, hybrid creatures, and deities in the iconographical realm of rituals and the underlying metaphysical mind-set of Minoans and Mycenaeans.