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Contents and Abstracts

Contents

Irini Papageorgiou
A kourotrophos goddess on horseback from the Geometric Period in the Benaki Museum  >>

Matthias Recke
On the manufacture of Thera amphorae  >>

Iulian Bîrzescu
The transport amphoras of the ‘Lesbos red’ series in Istros  >>

Eleni Manakidou
Fragment of a column krater from Karaburnaki and the depiction of heroic weddings on Corinthian and Attic black-figure vases  >>

Evgenia Vikela
Greek votive reliefs dedicated to Athena. Iconography of the goddess and pictorial composition of the reliefs  >>

Bernhard Schmaltz
ΕΡΓΟΝ ΑΡΙΣΤΟΚΛΕΟΣ ΑΡΙΣΤΙΟΝΟΣ  >>

Christina Vlassopoulou
New sculpture fragments from the Acropolis. Observations on the iconography of Athena in the Classical period  >>

Mathias René Hofter
The intellectual among the heroes. On the portrait of Pindar  >>

Claudia Ruggeri
‘Internal’ and ‘external Kerameikos’ from Athens: a modern invention?  >>

Giorgos I. Despinis
Iphigeneia and Orestes. Suggestions for the inter- pretation of two sculpture finds from Brauron  >>

Oliver Pilz
Dionysos on a clay relief of the Classical Period in Berlin?  >>

Heide Froning
Reflections on the Aphrodite Urania of Phidias in Elis  >>

Lydia Palaiokrassa-Kopitsa
Female head from Andros in Berlin  >>

Nikolaos Katsikoudis
The female statuette in the Archaeological Museum of Arta, Inv. 3086  >>

Monika Trümper
The Maison des sceaux in Delos – a ‘sealed’ find complex? A consideration of the significance and interpretation of the finds from a late Hellenistic house destroyed by fire  >>

Anna Wassiliki Karapanagiotou
ΕΚΤΟΡΟΣ ΑΝΑΙΡΕΣΙΣ. A sarkophagus in the Museum of Tegea, Inv. 3  >>

Abstracts

Irini Papageorgiou, A kourotrophos goddess on horseback from the Geometric Period in the Benaki Museum
In 1991, the Benaki Museum acquired as a gift the bronze statuette of a kourotrophos on horseback, which can be dated to the third quarter of the 8th century B. C. The statuette shows a naked female figure – her head was never elaborated – who is sitting side-saddle on a horse. She is holding a boy in her left arm. The surviving portion of the horse argues for attribution – with all due caution – to an Argive workshop; the two figures riding on its back, on the other hand, could be attributed to the circle of a Corinthian workshop. In terms of iconography the statuette is connected with the motif of the female figure on horseback, which was already known in the Peloponnese in the period from which the statuette is presumed to date. What makes the statuette unique in the Greek context is the addition of a child, which clearly reveals the chthonic nature of the goddess. In the kourotrophos on horseback, the child is shown in an advanced age, which may indicate that he is a prospective ephebus. Significantly, the statuette does not only show the motherly side of the goddess, but also endeavours to convey her protective care of the boy, and hence of young men, throughout life. The question remains as to what need might have led to the creation of this iconographic type in which the old idea of fertility appears combined with the new ideal of the aristocratic upper class.

Keywords: Sculpture - Bronze - Geometric Period - Kourotrophos - Female Rider  ▲

Matthias Recke, On the manufacture of Thera amphorae
The fragment of an amphora from Thera in Heidelberg does not show a unique plastic rim decoration, as proposed in the first publication. Rather it is the copy of a manufacturing device not intended to be seen, with the help of which it is now possible to reconstruct how such large vessels were manufactured. The Heidelberg fragment enables us to grasp as yet unknown technical details of the manufacturing process of Thera amphorae and affords an insight into the working methods of potters and vase painters.

Keywords: Ceramics, Late Geometric - Thera - Manufacture - Proportion System  ▲

Iulian Bîrzescu, The transport amphoras of the ‘Lesbos red’ series in Istros
The transport amphoras of the ‘Lesbos red’ series in Istros »Lesbos red« is the term given to a group of amphoras which are thought to have been produced on the island of Lesbos. Our contribution offers a detailed study of a group of Archaic transport amphoras which, though little known, nonetheless exists in a large number of specimens which make up a considerable proportion of all the Archaic pottery from Istros. On the basis of the evolution of the form of ‘Lesbos red’ amphoras in Istros it is possible to distinguish fi ve successive phases between the late 7th century and the beginning of the 5th century. This new analysis of the trade amphoras of the ‘Lesbos red’ series furthermore allows information to be gleaned about the signs and marks, which can lead to conclusive findings about origin, storage and trade.

Keywords: Lesbos - Istros/Histria - Amphorae, Archaic - Trade Routes - Ceramic Inscriptions  ▲

Eleni Manakidou, Fragment of a column krater from Karaburnaki and the depiction of heroic weddings on Corinthian and Attic black-figure vases
This contribution treats the wedding processions that feature chariots on Corinthian and Attic black-figure vases, all of which belong in my view to the mythical-heroic sphere and not to the human. There are two pictorial variants, with one or several chariots. The older variant is the chariot procession of divine guests at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis in which the old scheme of a solitary chariot-borne divine pair has been adopted into a new context of multi-figured procession scenes and already appears formulaic. In the same period this pictorial scheme was taken over by the Corinthian vase painters from Attica – albeit it in a somewhat generalized form; it is discussed here in the light of a column krater recently discovered in Karaburnaki. In spite of its fragmentary state, the krater can be attributed to the Detroit Painter. The younger ikonographical type occurs from the second quarter of the 6th century BC onwards in vase painting from both Attica and Corinth, the depiction varying according to provenance. Shown at the centre of the scene is a single chariot on which the newly wedded couple rides. On few such vase paintings is the married couple named by inscriptions; when it is, the pair is always identifi ed with known heroes and heroines. The vases bearing the scenes, the attributes of the depicted fi gures, and the inscription of details vary between Attic and Corinthian vases.

Keywords: Vase Painting - Wedding Procession - Chariot Procession - Heroic Couple - Detroit Painter ▲ 

Evgenia Vikela, Greek votive reliefs dedicated to Athena. Iconography of the goddess and pictorial composition of the reliefs
The examination of votive reliefs dedicated to Athena is important for several reasons. Firstly, in view of the great number of works that survive, most of them of Attic provenance and of good quality, an overview is necessary. The author offers a detailed discussion of the subjects of the reliefs and their compositional forms in order on the one hand to trace the chronological development and on the other to identify similarities and peculiarities in the iconography and outer form with a view to categorizing the votive reliefs. The treatment is chronological using the various pictorial schemes of the goddess, which, it should be noted, are also of great significance for the general iconography of Athena, i. e. beyond the category of votive reliefs. Parallels may be found in other categories of monument. From selected figure types of Athena and the structure of the relief composition, it is possible to glean information about the nature of the goddess and about the identity of those who believed in her and the role they played in society. The fact that the majority of votive reliefs dedicated to Athena come from Athens and, moreover, from by far the most splendid sanctuary in that polis testifi es to how close Athenian citizens felt to the tutelary goddess of their city, and it also reflects the degree to which the iconography was dependent on concrete historical events.

Keywords: Votiv Reliefs - Athena - Iconography - Cult - Religion  ▲

Bernhard Schmaltz, ΕΡΓΟΝ ΑΡΙΣΤΟΚΛΕΟΣ ΑΡΙΣΤΙΟΝΟΣ
Close examination of the Aristion Stele under a spotlight reveals that details like the hem and folds of the chiton, the pteryges, the edge of the armour, and the greaves were chiselled very shallowly into the carefully smoothed surface. It seems reasonable to assume that at first a naked youth with thick curly hair was sculpted, and then in the course of subsequent use or reuse the figure was outfitted with chiton, armour, greaves and beard; the tip of the beard, the chiton folds in the crotch, the helmet calotte and plume being added at the same time. It appears that the alterations were carried out by the sculptor Aristokles, while the name Aristion seems to have referred to the work’s original state. Whether the unusual term ergon in the artist’s signature denotes this no less unusual process of reworking must remain an open question.

Keywords: Grave Reliefs, Attic - Archaic Period - Alteration - Reuse  ▲

Christina Vlassopoulou, New sculpture fragments from the Acropolis. Observations on the iconography of Athena in the Classical period
In this contribution the author considers new fragments of statues and statuettes of the Classical Greek and early Roman era from the Acropolis in Athens and offers some observations about the iconography of the goddess Athena in the Classical period. On the basis of their features, it is possible to ascribe the fragments to known statue types such as the Athena Parthenos, the Athena Velletri, the Athena with a cross-slung aegis, the Athena with a crossed aegis and the Athena with a collar aegis of the Ince type. Certain sculpture fragments made of Parian marble of excellent quality and dating from the second half of the 5th century BC are particularly interesting since they provide indications of the existence of earlier versions of certain Athena types which heretofore have been known only from Hellenistic and early Imperial repetitions in the Greek lands or from copies in the Italian region. In addition, the article presents some unpublished Athena statuettes which are either contemporaneous repetitions of Greek originals or repetitions from the early Imperial period; as such they contribute significantly to the typological classification of the original creations of the Classical era.

Keywords: Athens - Acropolis - Classical Period - Sculpture - Athena  ▲

Mathias René Hofter, The intellectual among the heroes. On the portrait of Pindar
The striking physiognomic features of the Pindar portrait have previously been interpreted as a sign either of socio-political conservatism (Bergemann et al) or of a specific religious attitude (Himmelmann). One can go a step further, however, and see them as a reference to Pindar’s conception of himself as a poet and educator. Both the knots in his beard and the physiognomic resemblances to sculptures of centaurs can be regarded as alluding to ritual and mythical guides in rites of passage, the passing from adolescence into adulthood. This process is indeed commonly symbolized as the passing from wildness into civilization, and in it the centaur Chiron, wise creature of nature and teacher of the great Greek heroes, plays a prototypical role. Pindar makes him speak at length in the 9th Pythian Ode, where Apollo asks him for advice regarding his liking for Cyrene. In the words of the centaur, the god comes to possess the girl not by force or trickery, as is usual in mythical love affairs, but by the path of regular courtship. With this advocacy of a civilized form of amorous relationship, Chiron, as Pindar’s alter ego, sets out the poet’s genuine design, namely the correction and refi ning of the handed-down stories and fi gures of myth to make them ethically instructive and civilizing. The figure of Chiron as the hero’s mythical tutor therefore represents Pindar’s own attempt to mediate between the mythic tradition and contemporary morals. Thus the typological features of the Pindar sculpture may be said to constitute a metaphorical statement about the central poetic and religious concerns of the subject of the portrait.

Keywords: Portrait - Iconography - Pindar - Chiron - Intellectual History  ▲

Claudia Ruggeri, ‘Internal’ and ‘external Kerameikos’ from Athens: a modern invention?
‘Internal’ and ‘external Kerameikos’ from Athens: a modern invention? Scholars of the Kerameikos of Athens are confronted with the question of whether it is justified to talk of an ‘internal’ and an ‘external Kerameikos’. This object of this study is to set out the evidence from ancient sources on the ‘two Kerameikoi’ and to consider whether, from when, and how a distinction might have been drawn in the ancient world between an internal and external Kerameikos. The investigation reveals that our terms »internal« and »external Kerameikos« are not, in fact, a literal translation of the ancient Greek terms and consequently must be regarded as ‘modern’. Nevertheless they are justified because they correspond to the ancient differentiation in which the fortifications of the city of Athens were taken to be the boundary between the internal and external Kerameikos. The following terms are recorded for the internal Kerameikos: Κεραμεικoς ἐν τῇ πόλει or ἔνδον or ἐντὸς τῆς πόλεως or τείχους; and these for the external: Κεραμεικoς ἐκτὸς or ἔξω τῆς πόλεως or τείχους.

Keywords: Athens - Kerameikos  ▲

Giorgos I. Despinis, Iphigeneia and Orestes. Suggestions for the intepretation of two sculpture finds from Brauron
The study presented here considers the interpretation of two significant sculpture finds from the sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron which, in the author’s opinion, represent Iphigeneia and Orestes, protagonists of the myth of the conveying of the xoanon of Artemis from the land of the Taurians to Attica. First we discuss the so-called Götterrelief (gods’ relief) Inv. ΝΕ 1180, surviving in a fragmentary state, whose decoration included a depiction of a cart drawn by two deer and bearing Orestes and Iphigeneia, with Orestes holding the reins in his hands and Iphigeneia pressing the goddess’s image to herself with her left arm. The relief, which in the author’s view may date from immediately after the fi rst performance of Euripides’ Iphigeneia in Tauris in 414 or 413 BC, emphasizes that the sanctuary at Brauron has ‘just claim’ to the image of the Taurians’ goddess in accordance with the version of the myth given in Pausanias I 33, 1, while the version known from Euripides’ tragedy holds that the ‘claim of ownership’ lies rather with the sanctuary of Halai Araphenides. The author imagines the relief set in a niche. Its find location inside the stoa of the sanctuary, and the stone slabs in front of which it was discovered, are not connected with where the relief would have been displayed originally. The statuette of a youth dressed in a chlamys, Inv. ΝΕ 1170, which dates from c. 330 BC, may also be interpreted in the author’s view as a depiction of Orestes. The arguments advanced for this identification are firstly the fact that the figure is supporting itself on an idol of a goddess, probably Artemis, and secondly the youth’s garments and boots, which characterize him as a hero on a journey.

Keywords: Relief - Brauron - Iphigeneia - Orestes  ▲

Oliver Pilz, Dionysos on a clay relief of the Classical Period in Berlin?
A Tarentine clay relief in Berlin, scarcely noted to date, shows a reclining youth with a female harpist sitting at the foot of the kline. This relief, which was thought to have been lost in the war until its rediscovery by the author in the terracotta store of the Antikensammlung (Collection of Antiquities), can be connected with a fragment from the same mould that emerged in the Swiss art trade. The prime focus of the analysis is the disputed interpretation of the depiction, which proves to be a defi nite iconographical type with a series of parallels in vase painting. The associations of the iconographical type with Dionysiac and wedding iconography are explored. Although it would obviously have been possible to adapt the iconographical type to make it depict mortal revellers, there are indications that the youthful figure of the Berlin clay relief represents the god Dionysos. It is possible that all repetitions of the iconographical type derive from a common ancestor, probably a famous work of wall or panel painting.

Keywords: Iconography - Dionysus - Symposium - Funerary Banquet - Musical Instruments  ▲

Heide Froning, Reflections on the Aphrodite Urania of Phidias in Elis
Among the figural terracottas of Elis published by the author is the right foot of a statuette of a woman; the foot is resting on a turtle. It was probably made after direct contemplation of the Elis gold and ivory statue of Aphrodite Urania from the hand of Phidias, of which Pausanias records this very motif. The elaborated sandal of the fragment including the cleft in the sole after the big toe could also be consistent with the original, because this form of sandal can be attested for the late 5th century B. C. Since the statuary echoes that are known of the Urania have the left foot placed on the turtle, it is suggested that they derive from the other Phidias statue of Urania, which stood in Athens. The combination of turtle and Aphrodite Urania, not clarified to date, is here explained by reference to their shared predilection for moisture, since Urania is responsible for sexuality, procreation and being blessed with children.

Keywords: Sculpture - Elis - Phidias - Aphrodite Urania - Turtle  ▲

Lydia Palaiokrassa-Kopitsa, Female head from Andros in Berlin
In the collection of antiquities of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin there is the head from a female statue from Andros, which comes from the Sabouroff Collection. The head type, with the wavy hair parted in the middle and covered by the himation and the forming of a slight fold on the highest part of the head, follows the tradition of the Demeter of Cnidus, which lasts, with slight variations, from the end of the 4th century into the Hellenistic and Roman period. The poor state of preservation of the piece does not allow of any further stylistic comparisons. However, some observations can be made on the basis of the characteristic rendering of the locks of hair, and these suggest provenance from an island workshop with a high degree of probability. Stylistic comparisons make a dating to the 3rd century very likely. There are marked similarities with the heads of Arsinoe II. It may be noted that the Ptolemies were present on Andros during the fi rst half of the 3rd century BC. The head comes from a statue carved in the round, but does not provide suffi cient evidence to support any tenable theses on how it may have been used. The covering of the head by the himation indicates that the person was respected and married. The interpretation of the statue as a grave monument appears highly plausible; however its use as a votive cannot be ruled out.

Keywords: Andros - Sculpture - Head - Ptolemaic  ▲

Nikolaos Katsikoudis, The female statuette in the Archaeological Museum of Arta, Inv. 3086
The statuette in the Archaeological Museum of Arta, Inv. 3086, came to light in the course of an emergency excavation in a Byzantine-era debris accumulation near the Byzantine church of Hagia Theodora and the 3rd Gymnasium of Arta. The statuette to be presented in the following contribution is a less-than-life-size female figure in chiton and mantle. Typologically the figure recalls a series of marble and terracotta statuettes that refer to depictions of the clothed or naked ‘leaning Aphrodite’ and date from Hellenistic and above all late Hellenistic times. In the absence of external clues, the dating of the statuette can be based solely on stylistic comparison with other clothed female figures and to a limited degree on the iconography. Typological parallels and above all stylistic characteristics allow the dating of the statuette to the late Hellenistic period, probably the last quarter of the 2nd century B. C. Given the marble that is used, it is most likely to come from an Attic workshop. Possibly the figure is to be interpreted as a votive offering. Since the figure was found in a Byzantine-era debris accumulation that was the result of a later rearrangement of the square, it is possible that the fi gure comes from material transported there from another site. In what building the Aphrodite statuette may have stood, however, is a question that cannot be answered.

Keywords: Ambrakia - Sculpture, Greek - Hellenism - Aphrodite   ▲

Monika Trümper, The Maison des sceaux in Delos – a ‘sealed’ find complex? A consideration of the significance and interpretation of the finds from a late Hellenistic house destroyed by fire
Of the almost 100 houses of Hellenistic Delos which have been uncovered, a substantial portion of the household inventory has survived in only two, both of which were destroyed by fire. One of these houses, the Maison des sceaux, is the subject of this article, which is presented here as a methodical contribution to the ongoing academic debate of ‘household assemblages’. Firstly, as the basis for evaluating the finds, the author analyses the construction history of the house, in which five building and utilization phases can be made out in the period from its construction at some uncertain point of time after 167/166 B. C. until its destruction in the year 69 B. C. In the second  part, the distribution of the finds and their significance for determining the function of the rooms is discussed, with particular attention being paid to the conspicuously findrich upstairs rooms. This discussion takes examples from selected find groups, since the finds have not been published in their entirety. At the end the author considers whether it is possible to determine the nationality and social status of the house’s occupants on the basis of the architecture, furnishings and finds.

Keywords: Delos - Hellenism - Residential Housing - Planning and Regulation of Building - Furnishings   ▲

Anna Wassiliki Karapanagiotou, ΕΚΤΟΡΟΣ ΑΝΑΙΡΕΣΙΣ. A sarkophagus in the Museum of Tegea, Inv. 3
This article considers in detail the figuratively decorated reliefs in the Museum at Tegea, Inv. No. 3, which originate from the rear side of a marble sarcophagus. The reliefs depict the triumphant Achilles, dragging Hector’s corpse around the walls of Troy. The iconographic and typological features of the sculpture work on the sarcophagus suggest that it dates to the late 2nd or early 3rd century A. D. After a thorough-going analysis of the depictions on the relief panel in Tegea, the author comes to the conclusion that the treatment of the subject reveals the infl uence of municipal Roman sarcophagus iconography. The search for parallels in works from the other major sarcophagus production centre, Attica, did not lead to any satisfactory fi ndings. The attempt to identify workshop provenance did, however, bring to light elements that indicate that the Tegea relief panel could be a product from Sparta – which was a significant artistic centre on the Peloponnese during the Roman imperial period, producing notable art works in a wide range of genres.

Keywords: Tegea - Sparta - Sarcophagus - Achilles  ▲