Corrado, CrispinYawn, LilaCushmore, Georgianne2024-09-232024-09-232022Cushmore, Georgianne. "Marine Frescoes in the Aegean Bronze Age: The Flying Fish of Phylakopi". Master's Thesis, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy. 2022.https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14490/281Master of Arts in Art History -- John Cabot University, Fall 2022.In the Bronze Age, Minoans seemed to be mesmerized with images of nature. Throughout their cities and palaces, Minoans depicted landscapes, animals, flora and fauna in such beautiful compositions and with such accuracy that the images still enchant viewers today. Marine creatures were a special interest to the Minoan culture, as they were often depicted in their frescoes. However, as the Minoans constantly had access to the water, why would they have depicted the sea in their interior spaces? Throughout this thesis, this research will explore if there was significance to fish imagery in Minoan frescoes other than simply representing nature? For the purpose of this thesis, the focus is the Flying Fish Frescoes from the complex G3 from Phylakopi, Melos, as a central case study.In the course of researching the above question, I have compared the Flying Fish Frescoes to other marine frescoes, marine objects, and religious frescoes in order to deduce possible purposes of marine imagery. Additionally, the entire artistic program of the room in which the Flying Fish Fresco fragments were found, Room G3, is investigated in this thesis. Frescoes from Room G3 include the Nature Goddess, the Adorant, and a Marinescape. Furthermore, biological analysis, marine shrines, nature-based sanctuaries, and cultic objects are investigated as part of the assessment of these frescoes with respect to the G3 complex and Minoan culture. In conclusion, the evidence presented here suggests that the Flying Fish Frescoes of Phylakopi were a unique example of a marine fresco in Minoan Bronze Age art.xi, 65 pagesenAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Bronze ageAegean CivilizationMural painting and decorationMinoan artThesis