PUBLIC LECTURE: Reconstructing an Iconographical Program of the Palace of Nestor at Pylos: New Wall-Paintings and their Interpretation.

"Reconstructing an Iconographical Program of the Palace of Nestor at Pylos: New Wall-Paintings and their Interpretation."

Carl W. Blegen, excavator at the Palace of Nestor, designed an admirable program of publication for his finds, most of which was completed during his lifetime. One volume, written by Mabel Lang, treated its frescoes. Inasmuch as this palace is the best preserved of any Greek Bronze Age palace yet explored, it is unique in allowing investigators to consider its wall-paintings in context: that is to say that, in a great many instances it is possible to restore the entire iconographical program of decoration in a room or in an architectural complex. In this way it is possible for us to imagine how different parts of the palace functioned, or at least how their designers wanted the imagery in them to be interpreted by viewers. In this lecture are described amazing new discoveries made in 1995, when some 50,000 unpublished fragments of wall-paintings from the Palace of Nestor were unexpectedly found in a local museum. The study of these fragments has resulted in the reconstruction of entirely new iconographical scenes and has contributed greatly to our knowledge of Bronze Age style and the technology of painting.