The miniature fresco from the West House at Akrotiri, Thera, and its Aegean Setting

The mansion known as the West House or House of the Admiral at Akrotiri, Thera, was excavated by Spyridon Marinatos in the 1971 and 1972 seasons. The miniature fresco, one of the most important monuments of Aegean art yet found, decorated room 5, which was the north-west corner room on the upper, first floor of the building. This room, approximately 4×4 m internally, had wide windows of three and four frames respectively in the north and west walls, an exit eastwards into the central part of the house and a door in the south-east corner into room 4 and the adjacent bathroom, 4a (Fig. i). Although its function cannot now be demonstrated room 5 was probably a living room, with its wide windows and reasonable size. But a curious vessel, which may have been a ritual sprinkler (Thera VI 31—2 and pl. 70), was found in the south-west corner among the fresco fragments and carries a hint of other functions.