The Ship Procession in the Miniature Fresco

The various methods of propulsion - sail, oar and paddle - are shown to be relevant to the question of the length of journey. The features of the ships which differentiate them from their prototypes suggest the nature of the occasion. Specific emblems decorate the prow and stern, hull, mast-top and dress-ship lines. A central awning protects the elite passengers and a special stern cabin marks the 'place of honour'.

The stern projection is almost certainly a landing and boarding plank and belongs to an Aegean tradition. The stern cabin may also be a form of litter which was brought onto the ship via this landing-plank. The repetition of the cabins in large scale in the adjoining room raises the question of the relationship between the frescoes in the West House; in particular, the figure of the Priestess may have a strong connection with the ships. The spectacular emphasis given to these ships, combined with the old-fashioned and inappropriate method of propelling them by paddle, indicates that the scene is more likely to represent a ceremonial Procession than an ordinary nautical venture (either of a war-like or mercantile nature. A possible interpretation of the scene as a Nautical Festival - something in the nature of the Resumption of the Navigation Season - is put forward.

The ships form a spectacular Procession moving a short distance between two harbour towns and watched excitedly by the local inhabitants. The details of the vessels, while providing valuable insights into Aegean shipping of the period, also suggest the nature of the special occasion on which this particular voyage took place.

All the boats and ships in the Miniature Frescoes have a continuously curved hull with sheer - line high above the water - a type more characteristic of ships on Minoan sealstones than the angular lower line of Early Cycladic and later Mainland tradition. The vessels in the Shipwreck Scene on the opposite North Wall are of the same type, but without the additions of the Procession ships (fig. 2): the fragile bowsprit lacks the individual motifs; the central awning, stern cabin and stern projection (details which will be considered in turn) are all missing and in their place is a small look-out post. The differences clearly indicate the nature of the scenes. The shipwrecked vessels show the essential structure, while the ships in the Procession have been attired specifically for the occasion.

The first striking characteristic of the Procession is the variety of methods of propulsion and the suggestion of function and hierarchy which these imply. Of the large ships, one only is under sail. Of the others only two have their masts raised - a mark of distinction as the two ships are the most important of the fleet. The retractable mast shows the rings at the top through which the rigging passed, and the wooldings binding the wood suggesting that it was a composite structure.

The combination of a raised mast passing through a central awning was particularly common on Egyptian ships of the 18th dynasty, but is rare in the small corpus of ship representations from the Aegean. The well-known ship ring from Tiryns (CMS I, Nr. 180) provides our closest parallel; it shows an abbreviated version of the men seated facing each other beneath the awning, and even the mast-top decoration and dress-ship lines at the side.

All the ships are steered in the Aegean fashion by a quarter rudder on the starboard side. The massiveness and oar-like shape is characteristic of the period and contrasts with the shorter blunt blade of Late Bronze III. The helmsman's stance is balanced for an oar without a tiller. The sailing ship, with its central cargo hold, differs in being steered by two rudders, probably because sailing ships frequently need a leeward as well as a windward oar to retain steering power under a strong wind (Clowes 1932, 22 - 23).

The painter was familiar with nautical details and the rigging is clear (fig. 3). All sailing-ships of the Bronze Age carried a square-rigged sail which would have lain athwartship basically catching the wind astern (Casson 1966, 43). Artistic convention has necessitated that it face the spectator so it appears to be running in a fore-and-aft line. Both an upper and a lower yard (the boom) are shown supporting the sail. The existence of the boom in the Aegean had been suspected from ships on Minoan sealstones; it was fashionable in contemporary Egypt but seems to have disappeared in both countries a few centuries later. The boom was stationary and the upper yard lowered down to it when the sail was furled. The Theran ship had only working, or running rigging: lifts to raise and lower the sail, braces to adjust the yards and possibly sheets to trim and let out the sail. But it had no standing rigging - in other words no forestays or back-stays to stabilize the mast. As the mast is unlikely to have been permanently fixed to the keel in this one case, it must be considered that the journey represented was too short to require the stabilizing use of stays.

The same conclusion regarding the duration of the journey is reached when we turn to the other methods of propulsion. Even though the boat in front of the Departure Town (Marinatos' Town 2) is being efficiently rowed by the men facing the stern (fig. 4), the crew of the large ships face the prow making hard work of their journey by paddling (fig. 7). They are cramped together leaning uncomfortably over the gunwale in their effort to reach the water with oars which are too short for the freeboard of the hull. The method of paddling they have to adopt is unnatural, even for special harbour manoeuvres ⁽¹⁾.

The type of craft for which these short paddles would be suitable can be seen in the Arrival harbour (Town 3) (fig. 5). The small two-man boat is being paddled in the conventional fashion - the men push the water back while kneeling on thwarts. The same technique is used by the figure in a small vessel on a sealing from A. Triada (fig. 6) and was the method used by sailors in Egypt and the Nr. East when paddling was fashionable during the 3rd millenium.

Paddling was, however, an old-fashioned method for the late 16th - early 15th century. And while we might expect to find a small canoe using the technique within the harbour, we would not expect to see it used for massive sea-going ships, especially when the superior technique of rowing was evidently known. The drawing in fig. 7 by Mr. K. Eliakis (Thera VI, 51, fig. 6), shows the attitude of the paddlers. They are surely not kneeling; in order to get sufficient thrust into the water they would have had to have raised the paddles and themselves high before the downward movement. This is just what we see in a unique depiction of progressive motion from the 5th dynasty Weserkaf Temple at Sakkara shown below (fig. 8). In the centre of the line of figures we see that the downward thrust entails a plunge over the gunwale and the resulting position is the same as that held by the Theran sailors. The technical reason is the same - the ship was otherwise too large to be paddled (Landström 1970, 58 - 59). At the time of the fresco, the occasional use of paddling ships in Egypt was restricted solely to those in processions belonging to specific annual festivals when the old-fashioned method recalled tradition in a manner so typical of such occasions.

It seems likely that a similar deference to tradition is being displayed here, for the entire character of the ships suggests that this is no ordinary naval venture.

All the large ships are decorated at prow and stern, some have the further distinction of a painted hull. The most elaborate of these (fig. 9), which Marinatos called the Admiral's flag-ship, is distinguished by its hull decoration of lions and dolphins, its greater number of prow motifs, its mast with elaborate top, the larger stern cabin, a blue flag attached to the rudder, and, above all, by the dress-ship lines of festoons with pendants of stylized crocus-blooms hanging from mast to prow and stern.

The painting of designs on the hull had not been suspected for Aegean ships at this early time. It was, however, a common feature of 18th dynasty ships - the paintings were made on a kind of plaster covering the hull - and it was a particularly striking feature of ships used on ceremonial occasions (Marx 1946, 31). We cannot imagine that these ships would normally have been attired in this way. The shipwrecked vessels and the small harbour boats are of plain wood and lack additional details.

The prow and stern have received the most attention - an emphasis which is traditional among maritime people. The long fragile bowsprit is clearly an extension to the basic hull design rather than an integral part. It is impractical and would easily break in a high wind, but it holds the all-important motifs belonging to the individual ships. Both this high, decorated end, and the other lower end with its distinctive projection near the water-line are well-known features of many Early Cycladic and Minoan ships; on this type of vessel at least, the fresco settles the controversy as to which end is the prow and which the stern. ⁽²⁾ The parallels between these ships and those of the fresco are close and we are now in a better position to study those enigmatic details.

Concentrating first on the prow, we can distinguish three basic varieties :

a plain undecorated high prow known from, for example, an EM II clay model from Palaikastro (Bosanquet & Dawkins 1923, fig. 7; cf. Renfrew 1967, Pl. 3, Nos. 12 -14);

the addition of a fish and below it a flag seen on Early Cycladic representations incised on the so-called 'frying-pans' (fig. 10); and

a bi-fid division or two bent pieces either side of the bowsprit frequently seen on ships on Minoan sealstones (figs. 11 & 12).

All these characteristics and more are to be found in the frescoes. The plain undecorated high prow is seen on the rowed boat and the small fishing boats in the harbour; the fish decorates one of the large ships, and the flag and divided bowsprit is clearly visible on the shipwrecked vessels.

Among the prow motifs are a bird, dolphins, and the eyed-butterfly - a familiar feature of Late Bronze I iconography (e.g. Platon 1971, 148; Karo 1930, Pls. XXVI - XXVIII) - which decorates the prows of the two main ships and rests as a double emblem on top of the mast (fig. 13a). All the prows of the large ships, regardless of other emblems, carry a star (or rosette) with dots in-between the outer points (fig. 13c). Both this and the festoons of crocus pendants which form the dress-ship lines of the 'flag-ship' (fig. 13b) are familiar elements of LM 1 b marine style pottery. ⁽³⁾ Their association with marine elements in the pottery takes on a new significance in the light of this fresco. The star was not only attached to every prow in the Procession, it was also painted on the hull of the 'flag-ship'. It is possible that while the other prow emblems may have an individual significance for each ship, such as a name - device, this image is the one unifying emblem - something like the insignia of the fleet - and it is emphasized here on the most important ship of the company.

On the sterns, the large ships share three important features which have been added for the purpose of the occasion (they are not found on the small harbour boats, nor on the shipwrecked vessels); these are the stern figurehead, the projection just above the water-line, and the stern cabin (fig. 15). The figureheads alternate between a dappled creature and the skin of a lion, recalling the widespread convention of placing crania or horns on the ends of ships in order to infuse the vessels with power. The draping of an actual skin over the rudder can occasionally be seen on New Kingdom ceremonial vessels. The paddled boat on the sealing from A. Triada (fig. 6) shows an animal-headed stern, as does a probable cult vessel on an LM I gold ring from Mochlos (PM II, 250, fig. 147a). But it is a rare feature in the Aegean.

The stern projection which occurs on so many representations of Minoan and Cycladic ships is a specifically Aegean element of shipbuilding at this time. It is possible that its technical origins may have differed from its function in the fresco. It has been plausibly argued in the past that it originated as an extension of the keel or central plank (Gray 1974, 34; Kirk 1949, 125 - 126), but here the angle of the construction, the continuation of the side pieces along the hull, and the ropes attaching the upper part make clear that the structure is removeable.

The fact that this feature occurs only on Aegean ships seems to reflect its purpose. Almost certainly, as Marinatos suggested (Thera VI, 50; 1974, 147), it was a form of gang-plank. Whereas in Egypt and the Levant landing and boarding took place at the bow with portable ladders, the Aegean tradition appears to have been to beach ships stern first, ⁽⁴⁾ and evidence now shows that during the Bronze Age such a structure was used in the process. Fig. 14 shows an incised rock from Naxos, published shortly before the discovery of the fresco and compared by Doumas to Early Cycladic vessels (Doumas 1965; 1970). We can now recognize the specific elements of the Thera fresco which we saw reflected in those EC ships: the high prow and the lower stern with its projection just above the waterline of the hull. The man on the left is stepping onto this projection to board the ship. Whether or not it was a separate attachment as in the fresco we cannot tell, but it is unquestionably being used as a landing/boarding plank. In the fresco only the large ships carrying the élite passengers under the central awning and in the stern cabin are equipped with this landing plank - in this case the height of the large hulls and the status of the passengers aboard made necessary the luxury device. The fact that the structure has not been thought worth disengaging confirms the previous observations that the ships are making only a very short journey.

The use of the central awning and, above all, the stern cabin indicate not only the high status ot their occupants but also the importance of the occasion.

They are the one element on the ships that suggest foreign influence. The very few examples from the Aegean are either approximately contemporary or later than the fresco. We have already noted the central awning on the Tiryns ring, and it may be recognized on a few LM I - II sealstones in which the usual lines indicating the sail have been adapted to suggest the sides of an enclosed awning (fig. 12). In fig. 16, a seal of the same period, a fence-like structure has been placed at what may be the stern (cf. the shipwreck vessels in fig. 2); and, probably contemporary, an incised stone from Hyria in Boeotia shows a cursory rendering of both stern and bow cabins (fig. 17). There may be a close parallel to the stern cabins on the LH III stone 'siege' fragment from Epidaurus (Sakellariou 1971) but unfortunately the rest of the ship is not preserved. Otherwise, there is nothing to compare with the elaboration of the fresco structure. Yet a central awning or cabin and both bow and stern structures were an almost indispensible feature of Nile craft from Predynastic times right through to the New Kingdom. Their structure, decoration and even function varies considerably, ranging from a wattle look-out post to an enclosed awning or elaborately decorated cabin. Middle Kingdom models of boats from the Tomb of Meket-Ré at Thebes had stern cabins decorated with hide shields (Winlock 1955) - a similar suggestion of warrior status as we see in the fresco with the hide cabin and boars-tusk helmet above. We should notice that the models represent peaceful Nile craft, not ones involved in battle.

The basic structure of the Theran cabins comprises three horizontal and three vertical struts over which the hide skin is stretched. The tops are then decorated with plants or a helmet. The whole thing rests on an elevated platform on the poop deck. The structure is obviously not a normal part of the ship's equipment and it must have been carried onto the ship. Both in form and in function, with its important passenger seated inside, it does in fact resemble a litter. That such means of transport was occasionally used in Minoan Crete is certain in both from the Palenquin Fresco and from the terracotta model of a litter from the MM II Dove Shrine at Knossos (PM II, fig. 502; PM I, fig. 166 G). Its use on ships is recorded in the paintings of the 12th dynasty Tomb of Tebuti-hetep at El Bersheh. The litter is shown first carried by porters on a long pole, and then placed on the ship (Newbury, Pl. XIII & XVIII; cf. Winlock, 54, 56). We now see the necessity of attaching the landing/boarding plank just below the cabin.

It seems clear that, as in later naval tradition, the most important part of the ships is the stern area with the cabin as the focus. A stern cabin as the 'place of honour' was a feature common to Egyptian, Classical and Byzantine ships (Marx 1946, 29; Torr 1895; Casson 1971, 151). Even so, the repetition of these elaborate cabins in massive scale around the walls of the adjoining room (fig. 18) must give us pause for thought. This type of cabin, decorated with plants above, is closely echoed on New Kingdom papyriform ships of a slightly later date (fig. 19). It was a form of cabin used not for ships on ordinary nautical ventures, but only for those in ceremonial processions. The occasions for their use were different, but the principle of equipping the vessel in this way for an important event remains.

The Ship Procession Fresco lay on the South Wall of Room 5, a doorway led through into Room 4 in which the massive stern cabins were painted (Thera VI, Plan 4). Also in Room 4, in a space backing onto the Ship Fresco and next to the connecting doorway, was the magnificent large figure which Marinatos called the Young Priestess (Fig. 20). If she is in any way connected with the fresco cycle it must be in relation to the stern cabins which surrounded her. She holds a brazier in the Egyptian offering gesture - a new position in Aegean iconography though it was soon to become standard for Procession figures.

Although it is not possible to show in this paper the various connecting elements, the frescoes in the West House represent a related sequence with a unifying maritime or aquatic theme (Brown 1977). It is the stern cabins surrounding the Priestess which provide the connecting link in this case. Traditionally the stern has been considered the proper area for any form of preparatory ritual or thanksgiving worship connected with the welfare of a ship. The burning of incense near the stern was a feature of such rituals during the Classical period (Casson 1971, 181 - 182, note 69, fig. 146), but a painting from the 15th century Tomb of Kenamun at Thebes offers a parallel considerably closer in time (Davies & Faulkner 1947, Pl. VIII). Syrian merchants are shown arriving at an Egyptian harbour, and on two of the ships a richly dressed Syrian is making an offering.

In the detail in fig. 21 the brazier and flame comprise the ideogram for incense and the man has his hands in the offering gesture. The Priestess, surrounded as she is by stern cabins, may have similarly made her offering in an act which took place at the stern cabins on the ships represented in the Procession Fresco. The act would have had to have taken place either before or after the moment of the Procession which is shown, but various points (such as the repetition of attributes and gestures) indicate a close relationship between the scenes on the North Wall and the Procession Scene, suggesting a sequence of related events occuring at different moments of time. Further support for this connection lies in a newly published LM (I ?) sealstone from Makrygialos in eastern Crete (fig. 22). From the distinction between the height and depth of the two ends of the boat the woman can be seen to be facing the stern, her arm in the familiar position of Minoan votaries - in front of her is a cabin-like structure at the stern.

An interpretation of the nature of the event in which the Procession took place can be suggested from the specific elements of these ships. We have seen that the ships differ from their prototypes in several important ways: the elaborate decoration with specific emblems of prow and stern, hull, mast-top and dress-ship lines; and the provision of luxury for the passengers - the central awing, stern cabin and stern landing plank. These details, when combined with the method of paddling inappropriately applied to these large vessels, make clear the fact that they are travelling only a short distance, and that they are creating an impressive display for the onlookers. Every settlement shown in the West House frescoes is coastal. The major focus of attention is shipping; the minor, fishing and (by implication of the warriors and the hunting animals) conquest. Clearly, the welfare of the island people depended largely on the sea.

Putting these facts together - the concentration on maritime affairs, the special occasion shown by the elaboration of the ships, and the suggestion of related ritual events - it seems likely that the ships in Procession are taking part in a Nautical Festival, such as, for example, the Annual Resumption of the Navigation Season. Nautical Festivals and Processions are common to virtually all maritime peoples and are documented throughout the ancient world: the Greek and Roman Isis Festivals, the Egyptian New Year Opet Festival along the Nile and the Babylonian Zagmuk on the Euphrates - all very different, but related by the common theme of a Ship Procession.

Certain details which we see in the Fresco are characteristic of these Festivals: the garlanding of the prow, the draping of an animal skin on either prow or stern, the use of flags, the application of the old-fashioned method of propulsion (paddling), an offering or burning of incense in relation to the ships, and even the participation of warriors, fishermen and priests in the occasion. ⁽⁵⁾ While the related genre scenes of Shipwreck and Coastal Raid seem to show a typical story, the Ship Procession Fresco represents a festive occasion of central importance to the maritime people of Thera.

- (1).   Marinatos suggested it was necessary because of shallow water: Thera VI, 51; 1974, 151. Cf. Casson’s criticism, 1975, 7, and remarks by Gillmer, 1975, 324, and Tilley & Johnstone, 1976, 286.

- (2).   Cf. Casson 1975, 7 - 8. For recent reviews of the controversy see Casson 1971, 41 - 42; Johnstone 1973.

- (3).   E.g. Festoon: Furumark, Motif 38, fig. 56 IIA; Palaikastro : Bosanquet & Dawkins 1923, fig. 40; Kythera : Coldstream & Huxley 1972, Pl. 40, 149. Star: Palaikastro : ibid, fig. 38 & 41, Pl. XX; Kythera : ibid, 296 & Pl. 34μ 48, Pl. 53ω, 133, 134. (Cf. MM III fresco fragment, Knossos : PM I, fig. 343).

- (4).   Stern beaching on a gold ring from near Iraklion : PM II 250, fig. 147b. Kirk (1949, 126 - 7) and Marinatos (1933, 215 - 6) held the view that the projection (said to be at the bow) was an aid against the shock of beaching. Johnstone (1973, 10) suggests this may have been stern-first. Cf. Cohen 1938, 493, n. 1, on stern beaching in Homer. In the Geometric period, prior to the use of ladders hung at the stern, it seems that the rudders were let down for use as landing and boarding planks: Morrison & Williams 1968, Pls. 4e, 7b, 10d; Gray 1974, Pl. Ie.

- (5).   On these and related nautical festivals see in particular Canney 1938; Hornell 1946, Ch. XIX. The Opet Festival: A.M. Blackman, Luxor & its Temples, 70 - 79, London 1923. Isis Festival: Apuleius, The Golden Ass, Ch. XI. The modern annual navigation festival in Greece is described by G.A. Megas, Greek Calendar Customs, 51, Athens, 2nd ed. 1963. On the season for navigation in Ancient Greece see E.C. Semple, The Geography of the Mediterranean Region, 579 - 580, London 1932. An interpretation of Linear B 'po-ro-wi-to-jo' as 'Plowistos' the month in which navigation was resumed is given by L.R. Palmer, 'A Mycenaean Calender of Offerings', Eranos 53, 11 (1955); cf. M. Ventris & J. Chadwick, Documents in Mycenaean Greek, 286, 459, 480, Cambridge University Press (2nd ed.) 1973.

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