Nature Scenes: An Approach to a Symbolic Art

Comparable material from Crete enables us to study the ways in which the depiction of nature varies in compositions of similar character. The wide range of options available to the painters extends beyond the modes of representation to the choice of areas to be decorated and the function of nature scenes either as independent compositions or as parts of wider iconographic programmes. The variety of ways in which the artists handled compositions dealing with nature would not have been possible if nature scenes had an a priori determined, commonly shared meaning.

The basic principle in the symbolism of nature scenes is the recurrence of certain iconographic motifs. The multiplicity of meanings of these motifs confirms that the symbolism of nature scenes does not follow specific rules. As a result, approaches to their interpretation have to take account of this multiplicity.

INTRODUCTION

The study of Late Bronze Age Aegean civilisation entered a new era following the discovery of Akrotiri in the late 1960s. Of special importance among the rich finds of the town are the numerous wall paintings, which decorated almost every excavated building. Their wide diffusion suggests that future research will significantly enrich our evidence.

The Thera paintings echo the character of an art which reached its peak in the early Late Bronze Age. The excellent state of preservation of both buildings and wall paintings, their wide repertoire, secure dating and in situ recovery, make the Akrotiri paintings an inexhaustible source of information on the techniques, materials, iconography, style, composition and the relation of painting to architecture. The detailed study of these aspects aims at the analysis and understanding not only of a flourishing local workshop but also of an entire artistic expression, which is attested in the towns and palaces of Minoan Crete and the three important urban centres of Phylakopi on Melos, Ayia lrini on Keos and Trianda on Rhodes. However, in these latter cases, the existing paintings are often very fragmentary and detached from their architectural setting.

The representations of the Theran paintings are drawn from the two major thematic cycles of Aegean art, namely human activity and nature. Nature scenes have been found in every excavated house or building complex of Akrotiri. They are large scale compositions, with the exception of the 'River' scene from the miniature frieze which decorated Room 5 of the West House. In large scale compositions, nature is depicted without human presence or constitutes the background of human activities.

The painters possess a rich repertoire of iconographic elements with a great variety of plants and animals, drawn almost exclusively from the wild fauna and flora. Accordingly, in these scenes appear plants such as reeds, lilies, crocuses, sea daffodils, myrtles, palm trees, and animals such as swallows, ducks, dragonflies, monkeys, lions, wild cats, deer, antelopes, doves and dolphins.

In the scenes with no human presence, the depiction of the natural environment is characterised by great variety (Table 1). A large group consists of compositions such as the 'Spring fresco' (Doumas 1992, 100-101, figs. 66-68) in Room 2 of Building Complex Delta, the 'Cattle'  (Doumas 1992, 125, fig. 91) in Room 6 of Building Complex Beta, the 'Reed fresco' (Doumas 1992, 173, fig. 135) (Pl. 16) in Room 3b of Xeste 3, the 'frieze of the Swallows' (Doumas 1992, 135, figs. 97-99) in Room 4 of Xeste 3, and the 'River' (Doumas 1992, 64, fig. 30) in Room 5 of the West House. In these scenes the representation of the environment is characterised by the combined presence of animals and plants. The figures are placed in a usually rocky and, in a few cases, marshy landscape ('Reed fresco'), or in riverside scenery (the 'River'). With the exceptions of the 'Reed fresco' and the 'River', in all other cases one species of animal or plant is depicted. Scarcer are variations, where either animals or plants are exclusively depicted. In compositions such as the 'Sea Daffodils' (Doumas 1992, 36-37, figs. 2-5) in Room 1 of the House of the Ladies and the 'Antelopes' (Doumas 1992, 117, fig. 83) in Room 1 of Building Complex Beta, it is apparent that the intention of the painter was to stress the presence of plants or animals by diminishing or eliminating other iconographic elements. In the 'Sea Daffodils' the painter magnified the plants and at the same time reduced the ground element to a broad surface with an undulating upper limit. By contrast, in the 'Antelopes' scene any suggestion of natural environment is excluded.

The composition of the 'Monkeys' (Doumas 1992, 120-121, figs. 85-86), in Room 6 of Building Complex Beta, lies stylistically between the two groups; the animal figures are depicted in a rocky landscape, in which, however, no plants were included.

In a few cases the landscape is used as a background for human activity, namely in the 'Saffron Gatherers' scene (Doumas 1992, 152, fig. 116; Pl. 8) in Room 3a on the first floor of Xeste 3, and the 'Miniature frieze' (Doumas 1992, 58, 68-70, figs. 28, 35; Pl. 3) of the West House. In the 'Saffron Gatherers', the action is focused on a rocky landscape with lush crocus plants. In the 'Miniature frieze' the countryside is rich in flora and fauna, as part of the painter's intention to create a lavish composition.

Nature scenes with no human presence are either parts of wider iconographic programmes or independent compositions; the latter form the sole decorations of rooms, such as the 'Spring fresco' in Room 2 of Building Complex Delta and the 'Monkeys' in Room 6 of Building Complex Beta. The areas these scenes decorated seem to have had different functions. Thus, nature scenes adorned rooms of Xeste 3, where initiation rites took place (Marinatos 1984, 80ff.) as is indicated by the finding of a 'lustral basin', the repertoire of the wall paintings and the almost complete absence of domestic utensils (Doumas 1992, 128). Such scenes also decorated areas such as Room 5 in the West house, Room 2 in the House of the Ladies and Room 6 of Building Complex Beta; the finds and architectural arrangement of these areas suggest that they served different functions from the rooms of Xeste 3. Finally, these scenes are found in Room 2 in Building Complex Delta, a small area which seems to have been reserved for special use, since it is the only ground floor area adorned with wall paintings.

The number, variety and excellent state of preservation of these paintings enable us to study the treatment of nature scenes without the limitations posed by the fragmentary preservation of analogous compositions from other areas. Hence, the Akrotiri nature scenes are of important significance for the analysis of a number of questions which relate not only to nature scenes but to the art of figural wall painting as a whole. Questions as to the meaning of the scenes and the character of the iconographic elements may be posed, in an attempt to comprehend the function of this symbolic art.

DO NATURE SCENES HAVE A UNIFIED MEANING? 

As already mentioned, the painters at Akrotiri treated nature scenes with great variety, decorating areas with probably different functions, either as independent (self-sufficient) compositions or as integral components of wider iconographic programmes. Thus, the use of the overall term 'nature scenes' refers to compositions which do not have one specific character but are differentiated in their structure, execution and function.

In the surviving fragments of wall paintings from Crete, there are scenes which have similar subject matter and character to some Theran paintings. Consequently, the Cretan material is very important for analysing and determining the wide range of choices at the disposal of the painters.

The 'Saffron Gatherers' scene in Room 3a of Xeste 3 depicts an activity which is also attested in two Minoan examples of more or less the same date. These are the 'Saffron Gatherer' (Evans 1921, 265ff.; Platon 1947, pl. K) from the Palace of Knossos and that from Room 14 at Ayia Triada (Evans 1921, 539; Stevenson Smith 1965, figs. 106-110). The ritual character of the act is illustrated in the Theran composition, where crocus flowers are offered to the 'Goddess of Nature'. This ritual aspect can also be inferred for the Cretan examples. In the Knossos scene, the monkey is gathering crocus flowers. The fact that it puts them in a basin-like object suggests that the monkey intends to carry them, possibly in order to offer them to a figure who is not preserved. The Ayia Triada painting shows a female figure collecting flowers, among them possibly crocuses; in this scene the ritual aspect of the act is indicated by the presence of a shrine and an adjacent female figure, to whom the flowers were probably offered. In the Theran and Knossian scenes, the natural setting consists of a rocky landscape with no other plant besides crocuses. In both cases, nature is not just indicative of the time and location of the specific act. The summary depiction of the environment, and the stressing of the crocus flower, helps emphasise the act. If a similar function is postulated for the natural environment on the Ayia Triada composition, this fact did not preclude a considerably different approach in representing the environment. The landscape lush in flora and fauna has nothing in common with the 'abstract' nature scenes from Thera and Knossos.

Other examples of the numerous different options available for depicting the environment are the 'Spring fresco' and the 'Monkeys and Bluebird frieze' (Cameron 1968, 1-31, fig. 13) from the 'House of the Frescoes' at Knossos. In the Theran painting, the time of the year is implied by the blossoming of one kind of plant, the lilies, together with the presence and flight of one kind of bird, the swallow; the latter does not occur in wall paintings outside Thera. The approximately contemporary Cretan painter of the 'House of the Frescoes' presents us with a vivid narrative scene, in which springtime is indicated by the orgiastic vegetation of numerous flowers and the presence of small streams which flow through the rocky landscape. In both cases, the representation of the same season is evident, even though it is achieved via different artistic choices.

The wide range of options available to the painters extends beyond the modes of representation to the choice of the areas destined to be adorned with nature scenes. In Crete and the important urban centres of Phylakopi on Melos, Ayia Irini on Keos and Trianda on Rhodes, the majority of the preserved wall paintings have been found out of their architectural context, a fact which seriously hinders the study of the relationship between the wall paintings and the function of the areas they decorated. Nevertheless, the study mainly of the Cretan fragments indicates that, here too, nature scenes were possibly used to adorn areas with various functions. Therefore, if we accept the interpretation of areas, such as Room 14 at Ayia Triada (Cameron 1975, 234) and Room 7 at Amnissos (Cameron 1975, 234), as shrines, the existence in them of nature scenes did not rule out the use of nature scenes in other areas, such as the stepped pavilion of the 'Caravanserai' at Knossos (Evans 1928, 109ff., fig. 49).

The extraordinarily good state of preservation of the buildings at Akrotiri offers a more secure basis for the analysis of this subject. Thus, nature scenes decorated rooms in Xeste 3, which were not merely residential but most probably were designated for ritual activities. This latter fact, that is the appearance of nature scenes in ritual contexts, did not exclude their inclusion in areas with probably different functions in buildings like the West House, the House of the Ladies and, possibly, Building Complex Beta.

Theran nature scenes, as we have seen, function either as independent compositions or as parts of wider iconographic programmes. It is reasonable to assume that the same is also true for all Aegean nature scenes, even though their fragmentary state does not permit a full examination of all the factors involved in their specific function in each case. Paintings like the 'Spring fresco' in Room 2 in Building Complex Delta and the 'Monkeys' in Room 6 in Building Complex Beta are autonomous in both composition and meaning. This does not apply to nature scenes which are parts of wider iconographic programmes, in which they are combined with compositions devoted to human activities. If this combination of subjects was not coincidental but derived from a shared meaning, then the content of the nature scenes is closely associated with that of the other compositions. It seems that in some cases nature scenes significantly add to the meaning of those devoted to human activities. In the 'River' scene the narrative is focused on the episodes taking place in towns, which were shown in the other parts of the miniature frieze. The integral connection of the 'River' scene, especially with the northern part of the frieze (Televantou 1990, 322), indicates that its placing in the middle of the entire composition might have served to supplement the meaning of the narration. The 'Reed fresco' probably had a similar, supplementary function, as is indicated by its location adjacent to the area with the 'Mistress of Animals', and the existence, on her necklace, of duck- and dragonfly-shaped beads (Doumas 1992, 162-163, figs. 125-126; Pl. 13); both creatures are included in the 'Reed fresco'. The presence of these two creatures in both scenes, and the composition as a whole, imply that the 'Reed fresco' might have served to accentuate the power of the goddess over the aquatic element (marsh).

The wide range of options as regards the various iconographic elements and their combination, the choice of areas to be decorated, and the function of nature scenes are directly linked to their symbolic character and meaning. The painters did not aim at faithfully reproducing nature, with the purpose of placing the natural and the artificial, architectural environments in opposition. The freedom and wide variety in the iconographic elements and options employed by the painter are explained by his liberation from the constraints imposed by the faithful representation of a model, and by his creative use of this specific model as a source of inspiration. The latter explains the marked difference between Theran and Cretan nature scenes. Theran compositions, where two different kinds of animals or plants are never shown together, constitute abstract depictions of the natural environment. By contrast, Cretan painters create lavish compositions that, in some cases, surpass the richness of nature itself, depicting plants that possibly do not belong to Aegean flora (Popham 1984, 130, pls. 46-47).

It would be interesting to try to determine whether nature scenes are bearers of a specific, unified meaning. The dependence of the wall paintings on architecture is beyond doubt. Moreover, there exists an interaction between paintings and their architectural backgrounds; compositions were used to emphasise specific functions of rooms, while at the same time these functions led to certain choices of subject matter. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that the presence of nature scenes in areas with probably diverse functions is directly related to the absence of an a priori determined, shared meaning. This supposition can be corroborated by the fact that nature scenes, such as the 'Reed fresco' and the 'River', are organically integrated with scenes with different contents, whose meaning they supplement.

WHAT ARE THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF THE SYMBOLISM OF NATURE SCENES?

The study of the basic principles of the symbolism of nature scenes is seriously hindered by the possibility that the latter might not have had a shared meaning. The image itself is the only way to approach the issue. How did the painter handle the independent iconographic elements?

One of the favourite iconographic elements of Theran art is the lily (Table 2a). In wall paintings lilies adorn the dress of a female figure (Doumas 1992, 170, fig. 133; Pl. 4) in the 'Procession' of Room 3b on the first floor of Xeste 3, as well as the 'altar' (Televantou 1994, fig. 58) from the 'Lustral Basin'. White lilies are connected with a female figure from the same building (Televantou 1994, 374, pl. 60). They are also the basic structural elements of the 'Spring fresco' and the composition of the two 'Flower Vases' (Doumas 1992, 96-97, figs. 63-64) from the window jambs of Room 4 of the West House. The presence of lilies in scenes, such as those of Xeste 3, that depicted or were closely related to rituals, suggests that lilies were not so much decorative elements as symbols with a special meaning which accentuated that of the compositions. This is probably also true for the lilies of the 'Spring fresco', if the scene was indeed the setting for rituals related to the fertility of nature. The symbolic character of the lilies did not preclude their presence in the compositions of the 'Flower Vases'. The placing and appearance of these paintings suggest that here lilies had a primarily decorative character.

Ducks (Table 2d) are depicted on the necklace of the 'Goddess of Nature', where their symbolic use, as signs of the dominance of the 'Goddess' over the animal kingdom, is apparent. They are also portrayed in their natural environment in the 'Reed fresco', a composition which is related to and supplements the content of the 'Goddess' scene. Thus, it is reasonable to suppose that their presence here is also symbolic. A different function can be supposed for the inclusion of this iconographic element in the 'River', where they serve to emphasise the character of the landscape.

Dragonflies (Table 2e), like ducks, are depicted on the necklace of the 'Goddess of Nature', as well as in the 'Reed fresco'. Their use as symbols did not exclude their presence in the 'frieze of the Swallows' where they constitute the food for the nestlings.

Monkeys (Table 2c) are known from four scenes, two from Xeste 3, a fragmentary scene from Sector Alpha and the one adorning Room 6 of Building Complex Beta. In the first three compositions the monkeys are engaged in human activities. The composition of Room 4 of Xeste 3 (Doumas 1992, 134, figs. 95-96) shows a monkey playing a musical instrument and another holding a sword, a clear indication of the adoption of a Near Eastern theme (Doumas 1985, 31). The 'Goddess' scene from Xeste 3, and possibly the fragmentary scene from Sector Alpha (Doumas 1992, 186, fig. 147), illustrate a different aspect of the character of this iconographic element. In the 'Goddess' scene the monkey is the link between the woman offering crocuses and the 'Goddess'; its inclusion in such a composition indicates that the monkey has acquired a symbolic meaning, directly related to the religious beliefs of the time. A religious symbolism can be supposed for the monkeys in the composition of Sector Alpha, where they are portrayed framing a 'sacred' construction crowned by horns of consecration. Nevertheless, there exist scenes, such as the painting from Room 6 of Building Complex Beta, where the monkeys are presented in their natural environment and are devoid of any anthropomorphic element.

The symbolic character of the crocus (Table 2b) is apparent in the compositions of Xeste 3. The act of crocus gathering is placed in a rocky landscape, rich in crocus plants. A similar landscape is repeated in the 'Goddess' scene and the 'Adorants' (Doumas 1992, 136-137, fig. 100) from the 'Lustral Basin'. Crocus flowers and stamens adorn the dress of the goddess while the two red strokes on her cheek are probably crocus stamens (Doumas 1992, 162-163, figs. 125-126; Pl. 13). In addition, crocus stamens were embroidered on the dress of the first female figure from the left on the 'Adorants' scene; the same figure wears a necklace with beads in the shape of the crocus plant (Doumas 1992, 139, fig. 102). Finally, it is possible that crocus stamens adorn the dress of a female figure in the 'Procession' scene from Room 3b on the first floor (Doumas 1992, 169, fig. 132). The presence of the crocus in these scenes, which depicted ritual activities, did not preclude the use of the same motif in compositions of different character and, possibly, meaning. The monkeys engaged in human tasks are depicted in a rocky landscape full of crocuses on the painting of Room 4. The same landscape is repeated in the 'frieze of Swallows' from the same room, a scene typical of Aegean nature. A similar character is discernible in the 'Cattle' scene from Room 6 of Building Complex Beta, where the animals are again placed in a rocky landscape full of crocuses.

It is thus evident that painters 'recycled' individual iconographic elements in compositions with different themes and possibly meanings. The recurrence of the iconographic motifs is a basic principle of the symbolism of nature scenes, which enables painters to associate not only the various scenes from the same iconographic programme but also nearly all compositions which draw on nature. This recurrence would not have been possible if the individual iconographic elements had a single significance. The analysis of their function in paintings with different meanings suggests that their significance is determined by their context.

The absence of a unified meaning in nature scenes and the multiplicity of meanings of the various motifs confirm that the symbolism of nature scenes does not follow specific rules. Consequently, any attempt to interpret nature scenes cannot be based on generalisations. Therefore, the fact that the close bond between nature and religion is revealed in compositions such as the 'Goddess' scene does not form a safe criterion for recognising a religious character in all scenes inspired by nature. Even more problematic is the attempt to interpret fragmentarily preserved paintings on the basis of their iconographic elements. Hence, the symbolic use of individual elements, such as the lilies or crocuses in religious scenes, does not justify the connection and identification of an analogous meaning in all scenes where these are present. The interpretation of the symbolism of nature scenes can neither rely on models/patterns nor follow a single approach. Moreover, the significance of isolated examples cannot be projected onto the totality of nature scenes. The study of this material, rich both in means of expression and symbolism, demonstrates that the approach to their interpretation cannot but be manifold.

Theran nature scenes illustrate the fact that the painters aimed to offer a complete view of nature, in which the relationship of the natural environment with human life unfolded in all its aspects. Undoubtedly, this intention to express the complex relationship between nature and man was not limited to Theran art. Similar aims must have been served by Cretan painters or those who decorated buildings in the urban centres of Melos, Keos and Rhodes.

The excellent state of preservation of the Akrotiri nature scenes presents us with a unique opportunity to try to put ourselves in the place of the ancient viewer, in the hope of comprehending the meaning of the individual scenes and, more importantly, in an attempt to appreciate how the tight bond of nature and human actions and beliefs is manifested via the symbolism of nature scenes.

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