Dal Protogeometrico B all'Orientalizzante: persistenze e innovazioni nello stile decorativo della ceramica cretese tra IX e VII sec. a.C.

The term Orientalizing is used to define a phase marked by an important cultural, productive and artistic influence from the Near East. With regard to the island of Crete and, specifically, ceramic production, the Orientalizing phenomenon was identified by H.G.G. Payne in the 1920s: this was an innovative period in terms of vase production techniques, which saw a flourishing of decorative motifs inspired by Eastern artistic techniques. Subsequent research, carried out in the 1950s by J.K. Brock and, more recently, by J.N. Coldstream, revealed the presence of a typically Cretan phenomenon, called Protogeometric B (second half of the 9th century BC), in which various Levantine-inspired motifs were already expressed well before the Orientalizing period proper, leading some scholars to propose calling the period in question «Proto-Orientalizing». The aim of the present contribution is to examine and compare the stylistic phases relating to the Orientalizing and Protogeometric B, highlighting those elements that represent novelties in the 7th century BC – and thus a discontinuity with the past – and, at the same time, those decorative motifs that were already present at the end of the 9th century BC and thus persist over time.