98. 3000-2000, Cycladic Goddesses.pdf (original) (raw)
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in N.C. Stampolidis, Cycladic Society 5000 years ago. Athens: Museum of Cycladic Art – Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, pp. 136-137, 144, 148, 152-153, 154, 157, 180-181, 183 and 191-192., 2016
Athener Mitteilungen, 2017
Representations of the human body are prominent in LBA Aegean iconography, but they are not differentiated by means of the primary sexual organs. A large wheel-made terracotta phallus fragment from Tiryns departs significantly from this iconographic convention. Contextual and comparative analyses of the find, as well as the site’s historical setting, highlight its unique performative qualities in libation practices and point to Levantine influences in the conception of this male figure. In the present article, we argue that the figure may have functioned as a cult image; this hypothesis is discussed in the light of growing evidence for larger male figures in the archaeological record of the Mycenaean late palatial period. Such male figures indicate the incipient iconography for male deities, which was previously lacking in Mycenaean imagery. Set against the socio-political background of the Argolid in the late 13th century B.C.E., this iconographic development may be connected to the emergence of absolutist rulership.
Simply "Good to Look at": Cycladic Figurines and Women's Role in Ritual
Cycladic figures are often viewed as ambiguous objects of an ancient past. Because of the large amount of female Cycladic figurines they have been interpreted as fertility figures, or objects of cultic or religious significance. However, many of these objects lack a known archaeological context, rendering it difficult to deduce conclusive meaning regarding their significance and function. In this essay I attempt to dispel the myth that Cycladic figurines are ambiguous objects that cannot be understood by examining these objects in context. It is only by examining these objects from secure archaeological contexts that we can go beyond the rhetoric of “we shall simply never know” and begin to deduce the significance of these figurines, and as such, the significance and role of women in the ancient Aegean.
The representation in art of women of the Aegean Bronze Age with exposed or bared breasts has attracted interest ever since Sir Arthur Evans excavated artefacts such as the faience " Snake Goddesses " or the women gathered in the miniature frescoes at Knossos. These and other similar imagery have been interpreted over the years in many differing ways: as signifying maternity and fertility, as being symptomatic of sexual freedom, or as simply a fashion, which happens to expose the breasts. Given the wide-ranging thoughts on the subject, it is perhaps surprising that there has not been more extended discussion of what is a highly distinctive costume, one which not only exposes, but also sometimes shapes, and always frames and draws attention to the breast area. Of course, in the Bronze Age Aegean we can engage only with the representation of the breast in art; we cannot be sure of how fully such representations reflect real dress, or whether women dressed in this way in contexts other than the ritual or ceremonial ones, which are the focus of so much of the art. We also lack the benefit of texts, which give our colleagues working in the neighbouring cultures of the Near East and Egypt insights into ancient perceptions of the human body — perceptions that could (and often did) differ from our own. It is perhaps in areas such as perceptions and constructions of the body and its attendant sexuality that modern cultural filters can be especially problematic. The familiar Minoan image of the " Snake Goddess " was part of the stunning opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Athens, in 2004 (Pl. XLIIIa). It is unsurprising that this was one of the iconic images chosen to encapsulate the historical past of the Greeks. But of particular interest for the present study are American newspaper reports that the broadcaster NBC had censored the " goddess " by pixellating her breasts, and that complaints were received about the unsuitability of this imagery for mainstream family viewing. While Evans and others have interpreted the exposed breasts of these figures as references to divine maternity, the 21st century viewer immediately interprets this imagery as primarily sexual and erotic. We have here, in a nutshell, the dualism of much Western thought from mind/body, nature/culture, magic/religion, which extends to perceptions and representations of the breast, as either maternal and good or erotic and bad. This division, which separates and creates a border between motherhood and sexuality, has been described as " one of the most overdetermined dichotomies in our culture. " 1 In this paper, I will be pursuing this dichotomy, arguing that it has strongly influenced the way that scholars have thought about bared breasts in ancient art.
Images of Cypriot Aphrodite in her sanctuaries during the Age of the city-kingdoms, Brill 2010
Amy C. Smith, Sadie Pickup (eds.), Brill’s Companion to Aphrodite (Leiden Boston 2010), 2010
Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters (Oxford, ) AJA American Journal of Archaeology AM Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts. Athenische Abteilung ARV 2 Beazley, John D., Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters, nd ed. (Oxford, ) BAPD Beazley Archive Pottery Database, Oxford University www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/databases/pottery.htm BCH Bulletin de Correspondence Hellénique BSA Annual of the British School at Athens CHD Güterbock, Hans G., Harry A. Ho ner, Jr., and eo P.J. van den Hout, eds., e Hittite Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (Chicago, -) CIG Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum (-) CQ Classical Quarterly CVA Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum FHG Müller, C., Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum (-) IG Inscriptiones Graecae (-) IGRom. Inscriptiones Graecae ad res Romanas pertinentes (-) JHS Journal of Hellenic Studies JRA Journal of Roman Archaeology LIMC Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (Zurich, -) OCD Hornblower, Simon, and Anthony Spawforth, eds., e Oxford Classical Dictionary, rd ed. (Oxford, ) RDAC Report of the Department of Antiquitues, Cyprus SEG Supplementum epigraphicum Graecum (Amsterdam, -) TAPA Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philogical Association Abbreviations of primary sources follow those given in OCD. ILLUSTRATIONS . Terracotta from Salamis, Cyprus, fourth century. London, British Museum, A . Photograph by omas Kiely © e Trustees of the British Museum. . Drawing of bronze gurine excavated at Sparta, fourth-third centuries. Drawing by Paul C. Butler, a er Solima, "Era, Artemide e Afrodite, " g. , used with kind permission. . Marble statue from Epidauros, Roman. Athens, National Archaeological Museum, NM . Photo: Alinari/Art Resource, New York. . Gelon Gem, Hellenistic (ca. ). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, .. Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. . Attic black-gure dinos by Lydos, mid-sixth century. Drawing by Paul C. Butler, used with kind permission. . Bronze gurine from building gamma at Gravisca. Tarquinia, Museo Archeologico, / . Drawing by Paul C. Butler, used with kind permission. . Bronze gurine from building gamma at Gravisca. Tarquinia, Museo Archeologico, / . Drawing by Paul C. Butler, used with kind permission. . Coin of Octavian. From Forum Ancient Coins, www.forumancientcoins.com, used with kind permission. . Bronze mirror back, Roman. Berlin, Staatliche Museen . Image a er Flemberg, Venus Armata, g. . . Plasma intaglio depicting Venus Victrix, rst century. Beazley Archive (formerly Marlborough Collection ). Beazley Archive, Oxford University, www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/gems. Photograph by Claudia Wagner, used with kind permission. . Marble sculpture of Armed Aphrodite, Roman. Pafos District Museum, FR / . Permission to publish this photograph has been given by kind courtesy of the Director of the Department of Antiquities, Republic of Cyprus. . Marble sculpture of Venus Victrix, second century. Paris, Louvre Museum, MA . Photo: Réunion des Musées Nationaux / Art Resource / New York. . An Attic black-gure amphora, featuring Aphrodite and Poseidon, ca. . London, British Museum B. Drawing a er Lenormant, de Witte, Élite des monuments céramographiques. Matériaux pour l'histoire des religions et des moeurs de l' antiquité (Paris, -), , pl. . . Map of Cyprus with all city-kingdoms and other cult places mentioned in the text. Drawing Anja Ulbrich.
Marthari, M. 2017. Early Cycladic sculptures as archaeological objects
in M. Marthari, C. Renfrew and M. Boyd (eds.), Early Cycladic Sculpture in Context, Oxford and Philadelphia: Oxbow, pp. 13-21
It was a February afternoon in 2009, in the prehistoric antiquities room of the Archaeological Museum of Naxos, when I first talked with Colin Renfrew about the publication of all the Early Cycladic figurines found in excavations. Our conversation took place among the cases in which the antiquities from Keros, and all the large figurines from Aplomata, Phiondas, and other sites are exhibited. Renfrew, as the excavator of Keros, where a large number of marble figurine fragments and vases have been recently found, wanted to look for comparanda in the excavated material. The author, as the then Ephor of the Ephorate of Antiquities for the Cyclades but also the excavator of Skarkos, wished to see all the excavated material published. Thus we joined forces and after a long collaboration our efforts materialized in the form of a symposium entitled Early Cycladic Sculpture in Context, held at the Athens Archaeological Society on 27–29 May 2014. The results of this symposium are presented here. The current volume aims to publish a very important class of material, partly unknown to scholarship. At the same time, it constitutes a break from the usual way of treating and publishing Early Cycladic sculptures...
Beyond the Cyclades, Early Cycladic Sculpture in Context from Mainland Greece, the North and Eastern Aegean, 2019
An Early Cycladic Figurine from a Late Protogeometric Burial Context in Argos
Beyond the Cyclades. Early Cycladic Sculpture in Context from Mainland Greece, the North and East Aegean, 2019
Maria worked always and everywhere (as she did in Euboea) with deep love and attachment to antiquities and the Archaeological Service, as well as with scholarly and ethical consistency. Ο τόμος αυτός αφιερώνεται στη μνήμη της Μαρίας Κοσμά, 1970-2015 Η Μαρία εργάστηκε πάντα και παντού (όπως έκανε και στην Εύβοια) με βαθιά αγάπη και αφοσίωση για τις αρχαιότητες και την Αρχαιολογική Υπηρεσία, καθώς και με επιστημονική συνέπεια και ήθος.
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