“Original Reproduction”
Late Bronze Age (LBA)
Late Minoan I (LM I) Period
Late Cycladic I (LC I) Period
Painted sometime before ~1615 BC
Akrotiri, Thera (Santorini), Greece

This exquisite fresco was found during the excavations conducted by Spyridon Marinatos from 1967 to 1974 at Akrotiri on the southern coast of the ringed islands of Santorini (the Pompeii of the Aegean) which was covered by thick deposits of ash and pumice from the great Bronze Age eruption of the Santorini marine volcano that occurred between 1627 and 1600 BC. It was discovered on the south wall of room 5 in the West House and is 3.90 meters (12.8 feet) wide and 0.43 meters (16.9 inches) high. This fabulous fresco is on display at the P. M. Nomikos Exhibition Center’s Thera Wallpainting Exhibition Hall in the town of Fira which houses all of the restored frescoes found during the excavations at Akrotiri. It is considered the single most valuable source for information on the life and technology of the Bronze Age Aegean ever found.