TO KILL AND TO BE KILLED: THE TRANSFERENCE, TRANSFORMATION AND USE OF THE SMITING POSE IN EGYPT AND THE AEGEAN DURING THE BRONZE AGE

Abstract

The smiting pose is a motif used by the Egyptians, Minoans, and the Mycenaeans during the Bronze Age (ca. 3000–1200 BCE). Although the smiting pose has been identified as an emblem of the pharaonic office, the pose has never been investigated in the field of Aegean prehistory. This motif is incorporated as evidence when discussing larger topics, such as warriors and warfare of the Aegean during the Late Bronze Age. In these arguments, art-bearing iconography is used as evidence to support the presence of martial Minoans and are only ever mentioned as such. This dissertation investigates the smiting scenes from the Egypt and Crete and the Mainland of Greece and examines them to answer the following questions: how people are creating and expressing power in the Eastern Mediterranean and how do trade networks influence this. The first part of this approach considers different trade routes explored by Crete and the Mainland as well as the role the Aegean peoples played in the international trade networks. The second part of this study focuses on the smiting motif in its regional context to explore how power was constructed and represented through violence to fit their concepts of ruling and kingship.