Sunken Votives? Figurines from the Seabed and Seashore in Southern Phoenicia (original) (raw)
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TERRACOTTA FIGURINES IN THE ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN: NEW APPROACHES ON USES AND CONTEXTS
2022 AIA and SCS joint Annual Meeting, January 5-8, in San Francisco, CA, 2022
Among the most frequently found artefacts in sanctuaries, tombs, houses, caves, and other archaeological sites are terracotta figurines. Having been studied extensively by scholars, in terms of typologies and chronologies, their general classification is well-established. More recently, coroplastic studies have also focused on the analysis of figurines within their immediate contexts (Barret-2011; Huysecom-Haxi/Muller-2015). Despite this progress, many questions still remain concerning the use of figurines at various sites: Did the use of figurines change over time at a specific site? What were the meaning and implications of these changes? Can the figurines be associated with a specific gender or social class? The present panel aims to contribute to the understanding of the use of terracotta figurines within their broader context by addressing the questions above. The panel begins with an examination of recently excavated and still-unpublished terracotta from the Petsas house (LBA) that analyzes consumers’ choice by comparing data about the range of figurines available to consumers with information about the figurines’ depositional context. The second paper explores the terracotta figurines of two sanctuaries in the Iron Age Cypriot city-kingdom of Marion to see how different cult practices impacted the choice of iconography and how this iconography subsequently changed over time. Moving to the Acropolis in Athens, the third paper considers the uses of Archaic generic figurines at this location by comparing the uses of similar items at other Archaic sanctuaries in Greece. The next paper studies Archaic figurines from temple G in Agrigento (6th-5th century BC) to understand the use of the sacred area before the building of the temple and its altar during the Classical period. The paper sheds light on many little-known ritual activities which took place during the Archaic period. Next is an exploration of the development of figurines at Eleon (6th -4th centuries BC) and the implications of changes in ritual practices. The discussion progresses with a paper which discusses the disappearance of piglet figurines at Sicilian sanctuaries (end of the 4th century BC) and their relation to changes in the cult of Demeter and Kore. The last paper of this panel examines a corpus of Corinthian comic terracotta figurines (dating from the Late Classical to Hellenistic periods) found at various locations (sanctuaries, shrines and market centers) demonstrating that these figurines had more than one function. Together, the papers of this panel will explore new questions and methodologies regarding the use of terracottas.
The Mystery of the Seated Goddess: Archaic Terracotta Figurines of the Northeastern Peloponnese
Acta Hyperborea 13 - Vessels and Variety. Edited by Hanne Thomasen, Annette Rathje, and Kristen Bøggild Johannsen, 2013
The handmade Argive figurine dubbed ‘Tirynthian Argive’ has yet to be treated and assesed independently. The type has been found at Peloponnesian sites such as Tiryns, the Argive Heraion, Argos, and Prosymna, and it has been sporadically published, but a coherent discussion of its importance, distribution and the problem of assigning a deity to it is still lacking but will be demonstrated here. When consulting the various publications where this type of figurine occur, the chronology suggested is sometimes unclear often because of the lack of stratified and contextual excavations. Newer excavations, as well as publications, makes it possible to narrow down the figurine’s chronology. A presentation of the unpublished Rawson Deposit from Nemea with well-dated Corinthian and Attic pottery, and the first attestation of the ‘Tirynthian Argive’ type in Nemea, further strengthens the dating of the figurine to the end of 6th to the beginning of the 5th century BC. In the following I will discuss the chronology of the handmade ‘Tirynthian Argive’ type, its distribution in the Peloponnese, the possible diety it represents, and provide a suggestion to its origin in the area of Argos, and eventually the diffusion and impact in the north-east Peloponnese.
Graeco-Phoenician Figurines in Phoenicia. A Medley of Imports, Derivatives, Imitations, and Hybrids
in Bonnet, C., Galoppin, T., Guillon, E., Luaces, M., Lätzer-Lasar, A., Lebreton, S., Porzia, F., Rüpke, J. and Urciuoli, E. (eds.), Naming and Mapping the Gods in the Ancient Mediterranean: Spaces, Mobilities, Imaginaries, De Gruyter, Berlin-Boston, pp.473-492, 2022
The discovery of some favissae, or what is presumed as such, from the Persian period along the Levantine coast containing mixed coroplastic materials, has generated a long-lasting debate regarding the presence of “eastern” and “western” style terracottas. This debate went so far as to hypothesize both the possible presence of the earliest Greek temples in Phoenicia and the evidence of syncretism between the Greek and Phoenician worlds. To date, this raises the question whether we can really say that these temples ever existed. Was there already an active syncretism at a local level during the Persian period? And what exactly is meant by “western” style terracottas? This paper aims to answer these questions through the analysis of part of the Graeco-Phoenician coroplastic and its local development. Firstly, two import phases are distinguished based on chronological issues and the presumed origin of production centres in Greece. The interpretation of the terracottas in Greek contexts is then used to explain the phenomenon of imports into the Levant. Simultaneously, the degree of "foreignness" of this production is disclosed with the identification of derivative, imitation, and hybrid figurines. Imitations and hybrids, in particular, serve to understand how these figurines may have been perceived locally. They both demonstrate a process of acculturation in which Greek and Phoenician elements are fused and/or alternated. Ultimately, an interpretative hint is provided regarding the relationship between cultic objects, the worshippers behind them, and the way the latter interacted with the divine. Indeed, the plurality of coroplastic specimens and their supposed various geographical origins could reflect a mixed cultural composition of the attendants in Levantine temples.
n G. Papantoniou, D. Michaelides, M. Dikomitou-Eliadou (eds.), Hellenistic and Roman Terracottas (Monumenta Graeca et Romana, vol. 23), Leiden, 2019
Figurines from Seleucia highlight close contacts with terracottas coming from the eastern Mediterranean area, showing on the other hand an equally intense bond with Mesopotamian production. This paper aims to illustrate how the encounter and exchange between Greek and local culture led to the creation of a new iconographic and formal language, resulting in a dramatic renewal of the old Mesopotamian repertoire and in a deep reelaboration of western subjects.
It is well known that Greek jointed dolls, intended as female articulated figurines either dressed in chiton or naked, standing or in a sitting position, have been found in a variety of contexts in Greece, mainly in Corinth and Athens and their areas of influence. On the contrary, these terracotta articulated figurines are usually reported as rare in Greek Sicily. This paper aims to verify whether this assessment is to be held true or instead is due to a basic knowledge of archaeological contexts in Greek Sicily, some crucial of whom have remained unpublished or are known merely in preliminary reports. As the present Author has started scrutinizing storerooms and museums in search of ‘dolls’ in Sicily, the paper wishes to present the first results of the ongoing research.