English: Wall paintings from the Acropolis of Mycenae

The art of wall painting first appeared in the Aegean in Minoan Crete and was closely associated with palatial architecture. Indeed, the monumental painting was an official art, undertaken by artists who worked for the king. The iconography is inspired by the natural world or exhibits religious ceremonies from the royal court. The art of wall painting spread to mainland Greece with the construction of the palaces at Mycenae, Tiryns, Thebes, and Pylos, after the Mycenaeans established themselves at the palace of Knossos in Crete, at the end of the 15th century B.C. The Mycenaean artist used natural earth colors, made mainly of metal oxides, which he applied onto a wet plaster surface. The 13th century B.C. wall paintings from the rooms of the Cult Center at the southwest section of the Mycenaean citadel, near Grave Circle A, are especially important. They include a scene of a religious offering to a goddess and the representation of figure-of-eight shields, which may symbolize a military deity.

Fragment of a wall painting depicting a female figure, possibly a deity, wearing a helmet and holding a galloping griffin. Homer describes the boar's tusk helmet, which was an essential component of a Mycenaean warrior's attire. The griffin (a mythical creature with the head and wings of an eagle and a lion's body), a common motif in Creto-Mycenaean iconography and a symbol of power, is depicted on the walls of the throne rooms of the palaces at Knossos and Pylos. Inv. no. 11652. National Archaeological Museum of Athens. Text: museum label.