Ceramic Plate with a Depiction of a Ship

Ceramic plate with a depiction of a ship.

Detail from the “The Flotilla Fresco” of the prehistoric settlement at Akrotiri on Thera (circa 1700 BC). The Minoan ship with its sails open is in the center of the procession, and the birds with their wings spread suggest that this is the “messenger” ship of the flotilla. For the Minoans, dolphins symbolized their dominance in the Aegean during the Bronze Age.