A View from the Sea

Abstract

This study takes a close look at the Naval Fresco from the West House at Akrotiri, Thera (end of the 17th c. B.C.), describing it as an illustrated naval voyage — not enough is preserved to know where the voyage may have gone, but the fantastic element at the end, the Niolitic scene, may indicate a long and distant voyage. It also looks at other, early indications of a sense of geography (e.g., the orderly list of sites in the Pylos tablets, the embassy of Amenhotep III to the Aegean) and compares the fresco's length and height to actual papyrus maps from Egypt and its illustrations to the late Roman Peutinger Tabula and to Medieval Portalans. Finally, this study tries to account for the inclusion of rare every-day scenes in the fresco, incorporating theories of viewing and the gaze.