TheOrientalizing period orOrientalizing revolution is anart historical period that began during the later part of the 8th century BC, when art of theEastern Mediterranean and theAncient Near East heavily influenced nearby Mediterranean cultures, most notablyArchaic Greece. The main sources wereEgypt,Phoenicia,Syria, andAssyria.[1][2] With the spread of Phoenician civilization byCarthage andGreek colonisation into theWestern Mediterranean, these artistic trends also influenced theEtruscans and earlyAncient Romans in theItalian peninsula.
During this period there arose inancient Greek art ornamental motifs and an interest in animals andmonsters that continued to be depicted for centuries, and that also spread toRoman andEtruscan art. Monumental and figurative sculpture in this style may be calledDaedalic, afterDaedalus, who was according to legend the founder of Greek sculpture. The period is characterized by a shift from the prevailingGeometric style to a style with Eastern-inspired motifs. This new style reflected a period of increased cultural interchange in theAegean world, the intensity of which is sometimes compared to that of theLate Bronze Age.
The emergence ofOrientalizing motifs in Greek pottery is clearly evident at the end of theLate Geometric Period, although two schools of thought exist regarding the question of whether or not Geometric art itself was indebted to eastern models.[3] InAttic pottery, the distinctive Orientalizing style known as "proto-Attic" was marked by floral and animal motifs; it was the first time discernibly Greek religious and mythological themes were represented in vase painting. The bodies of men and animals were depicted in silhouette, though their heads were drawn in outline; women were drawn completely in outline. At the other important center of this period,Corinth, the orientalizing influence started earlier, though the tendency there was to produce smaller, highly detailed vases in the "proto-Corinthian" style that prefigured theblack-figure technique.[4]
From the mid-sixth century, the growth ofAchaemenid power in the eastern end of the Aegean and in Asia Minor reduced the quantity of eastern goods found in Greek sites, as the Persians began to conquer Greek cities inIonia, along the coast of Asia Minor.
During this period, theAssyrians advanced along the Mediterranean coast, accompanied by Greek andCarian mercenaries, who were also active in the armies ofPsamtik I inEgypt. The new groups started to compete with established Mediterranean merchants. In other parts of theAegean world similar population moves occurred.Phoenicians settled inCyprus and in western regions of Greece, while Greeks establishedtrading colonies atAl Mina, Syria, and inIschia (Pithecusae) off theTyrrhenian coast ofCampania in southern Italy. These interchanges led to a period of intensive borrowing in which the Greeks (especially) adapted cultural features from the East into their art.[5]
The period from roughly 750 to 580 BC also saw a comparable Orientalizing phase ofEtruscan art, as a rising economy encouraged Etruscan families to acquire foreign luxury products incorporating Eastern-derived motifs.[6] Similarly, areas of Italy—such asMagna Grecia,Sicily, thePicenum,[7]Latium vetus,[8][9]Ager Faliscus, theVenetic region,[10] and theNuragic civilization inSardinia[11][12]—also experienced an Orientalizing phase at this time. There is also an Orientalizing period in theIberian peninsula, in particular in the city-state ofTartessos.[13]
Massive imports of raw materials, including metals, and a new mobility among foreign craftsmen caused new craft skills to be introduced in Greece.Walter Burkert described the new movement in Greek art as a revolution: "With bronze reliefs, textiles, seals, and other products, a whole world of eastern images was opened up which the Greeks were only too eager to adopt and adapt in the course of an 'orientalizing revolution'".[14]
Among survivingartefacts, the main effects are seen in painted pottery and metalwork, as well asengraved gems. Monumental and figurative sculpture was less affected,[15] and there the new style is often calledDaedalic. A new type of face is seen, especially onCrete, with "heavy, overlarge features in a U- or V-shaped face with horizontal brow"; these derive from the Near East.[16] The greatest number of examples are from pottery found at sites. There were three types of new motifs: animal, vegetable, and abstract.[17] Much of the vegetable repertoire tended to be highly stylised. Vegetable motifs such as thepalmette,lotus and tendrilvolute were characteristic of Greek decoration, and through the Greek culture these were transmitted to most ofEurasia. Exotic animals and monsters, in particular thelion (no longer native to Greece by this period) andsphinxes were added to thegriffin, as found atKnossos.[18]
In bronze andterracotta figurines, the introduction from the east of themould led to a great increase in production of figures mainly made asvotive offerings.[19]
Cultural predominance of the East, identified archaeologically by pottery, ivory and metalwork of eastern origin found in Hellenic sites, soon gave way to thoroughHellenization of imported features in theArchaic Period that followed.
ManyGreek myths originated in attempts to interpret and integrate foreign icons in terms of Greekcult and practice.[21] Some Greek myths reflectMesopotamian literary classics. Walter Burkert has argued that it was migrating seers and healers who transmitted their skills in divination and purification ritual along with elements of their mythological wisdom.[22]M. L. West also has documented massive overlaps in early Greek mythological themes and Near Eastern literature, and the influences extend to considerable lexical flows from Semitic languages into early Greek. This overlap also covers a notable range of topical and thematic parallels between Greek epic and theTanakh.[23]
The intense encounter during the orientalizing period also accompanied the invention of theGreek alphabet and theCarian alphabet, based on the earlierLevantine writing, which caused a spectacular leap in literacy and literary production, as the oral traditions of the epic began to be transcribed onto imported Egyptian papyrus (and occasionally leather).[citation needed]
It is likely that the earliest writing systems in Italy developed from the Etruscan script. However, one of the earliest pieces of writing in Italy that dates to the Orientalizing period possibly contains text in aEuboean script.[20][24] The writing was inscribed by a metal point onto a globular flask in a double burial fromOsteria dell'Osa.[25] It is unclear precisely what the text reads, although it is most often interpreted as containing the letters "ΕΥΛΙΝ" ("Eulin").[24][26] Further interpretation of the text is likewise unclear, although it may have been a noun or name related to theAncient Greek term "εὔλινος" ("eúlinos", "spinning well"), a word that may have been chosen to connect to the weaving themes within the female burials of the Latial culture.[27] The term is otherwise interpreted as the Latin phrase "ni lue" ("do not untie [me]") or the Greek term "εὐοῖ" ("euoî"), a chant used in the cult ofDionysus.[28]
