275 B.C. (original) (raw)

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 A presentation of the unpublished Rawson Deposit from Nemea with well-dated Corinthian and Attic pottery, and the first attestation of the ‘Tirynthian Argive’ type in Nemea, further strengthens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.