Find spot: Akrotiri, island of Thera (Santorini), Xesté 3, wall paintings, 1st story, north corridor wall and south corridor wall
Date: 17th century BCE (circa 1600–1550 BCE)
Clothing depicted: snood, heanos, cloak, necklace,
Museum link: (probably) Museum of Prehistoric Thira, Santorini https://www.namuseum.gr/ en/collection/syllogi-archaiotiton-thiras/
“Excavated by Spyridon Marinatos in 1973, the upper portions of two of the figures were published in color in 1992 by Christos Doumas. A new reconstruction by Andreas Vlachopoulos (PI. CXLIIa-b) depicts four figures, easily referred to as the Rose Bearer, the Basket Bearer, the Lady of the Landscape, and the Lily Bearer.” From “The Jewelry Worn by the Procession of Mature Women from Xeste 3, Akrotiri”
“The Basket Bearer is dressed in a fleecy red mantle worn over a pale yellow short-sleeved bodice decorated with crocus stamens and murex purple bands.20 She carries a basket similar to those held by the nearby Saffron Gatherers, wears a heavy necklace, and binds her hair in a snood – a pouchfor restraining long hair that is held in place by a ribbon over the forehead. Crocus blossoms further ornament her hair.” From “The Lady of the Landscape”
“Beside her, the Rose Bearer wears a similarly fleecy mantle, colored yellow rather than red, over a pale yellow short-sleeved bodice decorated with red lily flowers and murex purple bands. A beaded necklace graces her neck, her hair is bound in a snood, and she carries large posies of wild roses or rockroses (cistus) in her hands.” From “The Lady of the Landscape”
“The Lily Bearer is the better preserved of the two and carries a large bouquet of white Madonna lilies in her arms. She is dressed in a white flounced mantle worn over a murex purple short-sleeved bodice decorated with a net pattern; on one sleeve are two blue birds, perhaps rock doves. She also has a white lily in her bound hair and a gold beaded necklace about her neck.” From “The Lady of the Landscape”
“In front of her is the Lady of the Landscape, the most fragmentary of the four processional women. Little of the upper body is preserved, but a fragment of her head shows that, like the others, her hair is bound in a snood, and a piece of her left arm demonstrates that she too wore a murex purple sleeved bodice. Although any objects she may have carried in her hands do not survive, she is set apart from the others by her unusual garment decorated with its brightly painted rocky landscape and darting swallows.” From “The Lady of the Landscape”
Sources
Hatzaki, Eleni. “Pots, Frescoes, Textiles and People. The Social Life of Decorated Pottery at Late Bronze Age Knossos and Crete” (2018) https://www.academia.edu/88698664/Pots_Frescoes_Textiles_and_People_The_Social_ Life_of_Decorated_Pottery_at_Late_Bronze_Age_Knossos_and_Crete.
Papageorgiou, Irini. “Stories of Coming of Age at prehistoric Akrotiri: Rituals and iconographic correlations” (2011-2012) p. 48-49 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/este-3-space-3b-ground-oor-e-composition-from-the-south-wall-Detail-with-the-head-of_fig19_356987506.
Simons, Emily. () “Thinking About Thera: A Re-interpretation of the Wall Paintings in Xeste 3” https://www.academia.edu/15525770/Thinking_About_Thera_A_Re_interpretation_of _the_Wall_Painting_in_Xeste_3
Chapin, Anne. (2008). “The Lady of the Landscape: An Investigation of Aegean Costuming and the Xeste 3 Frescoes.” In Reading a Dynamic Canvas: Adornment in the Ancient Mediterranean World, edited by Cynthia S. Colburn and Maura K. Heyn, 48-83. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. https://www.academia.edu/1524251/The_Lady_of_the_Landscape_An_Investigation _of_Aegean_Costuming_and_the_Xeste3_Frescoes_in_Reading_a_Dynamic_Canvas_ Adornment_in_the_Ancient_Mediterranean_World_C_S_Colburn_and_M_K_Heyn_eds _Newcastle_2008_48_83
Palliser, Chase Brittany. “Lilies in Bloom: An Investigation into the Iconography of Lilies in Aegean Wall Paintings”. (2024) Master’s Thesis, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy. https://archive.johncabot.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/b7623cfd-2b8b-4314-9fbf-67db60fc98ba/content
Ulanowska, Agata. (2018). “But How Were They Made? More about Patterned Textiles in the Aegean Bronze Age”. Fasciculi Archaeologiae Historicae. 31. 39-54. 10.23858/FAH31.2018.003. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330013589_But_How_Were_They_Made _More_about_Patterned_Textiles_in_the_Aegean_Bronze_Age
Shank, Elizabeth. (2012) “The Jewelry worn by the Procession o Mature Women from Xeste 3, Akrotiri”. In: AEGAEUM 33 Annales liégeoises et PASPiennes d’archéologie égéenne KOSMOS JEWELLERY, ADORNMENT AND TEXTILES IN THE AEGEAN BRONZE AGE. https://www.academia.edu/34842050/THE_JEWELRY_WORN_BY_THE_PROCESSION _OF_MATURE_WOMEN_FROM_XESTE_3_AKROTIRI
Vlachopoulos, Andreas and Georma, Fragoula. (2012) “Jewellery and Adornment at Akrotiri, Thera: The Evidence from the Wall Paintings and the Finds”. In: AEGAEUM 33 Annales liégeoises et PASPiennes d’archéologie égéenne KOSMOS JEWELLERY, ADORNMENT AND TEXTILES IN THE AEGEAN BRONZE AGE. https://www.academia.edu/1985225/Andreas_Vlachopoulos_and_Fragoula_Georma_ JEWELLERY_AND_ADORNMENT_AT_AKROTIRI_THERA_THE_EVIDENCE_FROM_ THE_WALL_PAINTINGS_AND_THE_FINDS_
