This is my attempt to catalogue all known art of Minoan and Mycenaean women by date, location, and clothing type, with links to locations where good photos can be found. Wish me luck.
In the beginning, at least, the links will be basic. I’ll add more links as the catalogue is fleshed out. This is a work in progress.
Clothing Definitions
Heanos: The long dress worn as a base garment, sometimes as the only garment. Comes in both tight and loose variants; if no variant is mentioned, the heanos is tight.
In some art, especially in seals and signet rings, the heanos is depicted with horizontal or vertical lines representing either decoration or folds. When these are present, it will be noted.
Jacket: A short jacket worn over the heanos, the same color as the heanos but with reverse-colored trim. Identifiable mainly by the diagonal line of the trim along the rear point.
Kilt: The wrapped skirt with pointed tiers and an opening down the front.
Tiered skirt: The full-length tiered skirt with no opening down the front. Unlike the kilt, the tiers are even and horizontal all the way around.
Shaggy skirt: A white, shaggy-looking overskirt that may be made from animal hide.
Apron: The short, apron-like garment (with flaps both in front and behind) that is worn over another skirt by a few women. This is usually a male garment.
Wrap: A wide scarf or dupatta-like wrap.
The Catalogue
Title
Find spot:
Date:
Clothing depicted:
- links
Large-Busted Woman in Striped Kilt from the House of the Ladies
Find spot: Akrotiri, House of the Ladies
Date: 1700-1600 BCE
Clothing depicted: Heanos with horizontal decoration, kilt. The woman appears to be holding another kilt.
Standing Woman in Fringed Kilt from the House of the Ladies
Find spot: Akrotiri, House of the Ladies
Date: 1700-1600 BCE
Clothing depicted: Heanos with horizontal decoration, kilt with fringes or very fine pleats. Top of the figure is missing.
The Procession Fresco
Find spot: Crete, Knossos, palace
Date: 1600-1450 BCE
Clothing depicted: Heanos without overskirt; kilt worn over tiered skirt
Ladies in Blue Fresco
Find spot: Crete, Knossos, palace
Date: 1600-1450 BCE
Clothing depicted: Heanos with exposed breasts, viewed from the front
Tripartite Shrine Fresco/Grandstand Fresco
Find spot: Crete, Knossos, palace
Date: 1600-1500 BCE
Clothing depicted: Fragmentary. Heanos or jacket with exposed breasts; some kind of overskirt. The images are small, but may depict women wearing jackets and skirts with no heanos.
The Saffron Gatherers
Find spot: Akrotiri
Date: c. 1650 BCE
Clothing depicted: Heanos (both tight and loose), kilts, detailed jewelry
Snake Goddess Figurine with Tall Hat
Find spot: Crete, Knossos, palace
Date: 1650-1550 BCE
Clothing depicted: Heanos, some kind of overskirt. The skirt is reconstructed.
Snake Goddess Figurine with Bird on Hat
Find spot: Crete, Knossos, palace
Date: 1650-1550 BCE
Clothing depicted: Heanos, tiered skirt, apron
The Ivory Triad
Find spot: Mycenae; north slope of the Acropolis, close to the megaron
Date: 15th-14th c. BCE
Clothing depicted: Two women in heanos, kilts, jewelry, and a shared wrap; a toddler in heanos without overskirt, and jewelry
Signet Ring with Three Women Worshipping a Fourth
Find spot: Knossos, Isopatra
Date: 1500-1450 BCE
Clothing depicted: Heanos; kilt worn over tiered skirt; tiered skirt, possibly with an apron; kilt worn over heanos with vertical lines; tiered skirt, possibly worn without a heanos
The Ring of Minos
Find spot: Crete, Knossos, the Gypsadhes Hill
Date: 15th-14th c. BCE
Clothing depicted: Heanos, a skirt that has tiers and wraps around her legs like a kilt, but doesn’t have visible points. Probably a kilt. Also, unusually, a nude.
Signet Ring with Three Women in Procession to a Shrine
Find spot: Mycenae, near Nemea, the “Treasure of Aidonia”
Date:
Clothing depicted: Kilts worn over heanos with vertical lines
Signet Ring with Five Women at a Shrine
Find spot: Pylos, the Mycenaean Griffin Warrior’s tomb
Date: c. 1450 BCE
Clothing depicted: Three women in tiered skirts; two women in smooth tiered skirts (?) and aprons
Signet Ring with Seated Woman and Attendant
Find spot: Pylos, the Mycenaean Griffin Warrior’s tomb
Date: c. 1450 BCE
Clothing depicted: The seated woman wears a skirt that has tiers and wraps around her legs like a kilt, but doesn’t have visible points. Probably a kilt. The attendant wears what appears to be a heanos with a horizontal line halfway up the skirt; this could represent decoration, or be an attempt at depicting some kind of overskirt.
Signet Ring with a Badly Drawn Woman with a Staff
Find spot: Pylos, the Mycenaean Griffin Warrior’s tomb
Date: c. 1450 BCE
Clothing depicted: Probably a tiered skirt and heanos, but whomever carved this put more effort into the birds than the central figure.
Procession Fresco from Thebes
Find spot: Thebes, the House of Kadmos
Date: 14th century? [verify this]
Clothing depicted: Fragmentary, but appears to show heanos with kilt
- Piecing Together the Evidence for Painted Plaster at Mycenaean Eleon
- Photo in the Archaeological Museum of Thebes
The Camp Stool Fresco/Libation Fresco
Find spot: Crete, Knossos, palace
Date: 1400-1350/1300 BCE
Clothing depicted: Heanos with vertical decoration (“La Parisienne”), some kind of short tiered skirt (a kilt?) worn over a heanos (seated woman)
Mycenaean Woman from the Front
Find spot: Tiryns
Date: 1400-1200 BCE [verify; 13th century?]
Clothing depicted: Heanos, jacket (discernable by the reversed-color trim), detailed jewelry; figure cuts off below the chest. A rare view of the heanos from the front with breasts covered.
Mycenaean Woman from Tiryns
Find spot: Tiryns
Date: 14th-13th c. BCE
Clothing depicted: Fragmentary. Detailed view of decorated band of heanos.
Two Women in Tiryns
Find spot: Tiryns
Date:
Clothing depicted: Fragmentary. Heanos and kilt?
Ritual Fresco from Mycenae
Find spot: Mycenae
Date: 1400-1200 BCE [verify]
Clothing depicted: Fragmentary. Kilt; the top of the figure is missing. Unusual one-shouldered tied wrap; the figure is missing below the chest.
The Hagia Triada Sarcophagus
Find spot: Crete, Hagia Triada, Necropolis, Tomb 4
Date: 1370-1320 BCE
Clothing depicted: Heanos with jacket and no overskirt; the priestesses wear a jacket and shaggy skirt, but the heanos hem is not visible, so it’s unclear whether they wear a heanos.
The Great Procession Fresco from Hagia Triada
Find spot: Crete, Hagia Triada, Villaggio
Date: Late Minoan III [verify]
Clothing depicted: Heanos with no jacket or overskirt
- Paper on the frescoes at the Villaggio, photo on p. 125
- Another paper on the frescoes, photo on p. 24