![]() The sanctuary is placed on top of an acropolis next to the sea, with the temple itself situated directly above a natural cave in the rock. The Athana Lindia sanctuary in Lindos, Rhodes, will be the starting point of the study, where, in the period between 525 and 330 B.C.E., more than 700 protomai out of around 2600 votive terracottas were dedicated. ![]() As symbolic, bodiless depictions of females, goddesses or worshippers, the protomai might have had a closer connection with deities shaped by the natural setting, as there were no limitations in gesture and attributes, but rather a more flowing and open symbolic value. Greek sanctuaries often connect with the landscape, but certain elements of the setting, such as water, caves, rocks and cliffs may have had a specific impact on how the deities were worshipped – and thus which gifts were more suitable – such as the terracotta protomai. The purpose of the paper is to study the use of votive terracotta protomai in Greek sanctuaries and the connection between the protomai as votive offerings, the deities to whom they were offered and their aspects, and their relations to the surrounding landscape of the sanctuaries. Votive Terracotta Protomai in Greek Sanctuaries and their SettingsģSanne Hoffmann, PhD Fellow, The National Museum of Denmark & Aarhus University The terracotta hands from the Cave of the Nymph Koroneia, coming from the context of a huge deposit of ex votos, describe the symbology of the gestures themselves and reveal the character of the offerings in a center of cult and adoration in early Classical, central Greece. This is the study of the hand as a medium of specific types, of a non-verbal form of expression, as a guide, or as the prototype of every immediate way of communication connected with the archetypical mimesis of the silent, though powerful exposure of the human soul. This study focuses on the gesticulation of the hands and on the symbology of the gestures on a diachronic basis, throughout a typological paraphrasis from other archaeological contexts of the eastern Mediterranean. Nelli Skumi, Archaeologist, Ephorate of Paleoanthropology and Speleology, Athens, GreeceĪ collection of terracotta hands discovered during the archaeological investigation of the Cave of the Nymph Koroneia in Boeotia is presented in this paper. The Gestures and Symbology of the Terracotta Hands from the Cave of the Nymph Koroneia, Boeotia, GreeceĢStavros Oikonomidis, Professor of Archaeology, Arcadia University, College for Global Studies, Glenside, U.S.A Arcadia Center, Athens, Greece This paper explores the consistent use of the isolated head for sacral and funerary terracottas and the connection to the motif’s most prolific application as a decorative element on over one third of the red-figure vases produced in southern Italy and Sicily between ca. The manufacture of busts and protomai are part of a larger phenomenon of utilizing the isolated head in a wide variety of media, especially in the late Classical period, including other types of molded terracottas, such as arulae, pinakes, and thymiateria. Representing the head apart from the body was of particular significance to the indigenous peoples of pre-Roman Italy, unlike their Greek counterparts who tended to conceptualize the human form holistically. Busts and protomes are also uncovered in tombs, further underscoring the connection between these objects and the underworld. ![]() Other female busts have a small winged-figure, presumably Eros, seated in the area of the collarbones, suggesting a connection with Aphrodite, whose chthonic aspect was venerated in Magna Graecia. Over time, attributes were included such as lotus flowers, pomegranates, cross-bar torches, and piglets, all items associated with Demeter and Persephone. Overwhelmingly female, these truncated human figures were frequently dedicated to chthonic goddesses in southern Italy and Sicily until the end of the third century B.C.E., such as at the Malophoros sanctuary at Selinus and the Mannella sanctuary at Locri Epizephyrii. ![]() Protomai, which originated in Ionia in the mid-sixth century and soon after appeared in Sicily, are not self-supporting and therefore leaned against something, were laid flat, or hung on a wall, probably that of a temple or temenos. The busts, which stand independently, have their beginnings in Etruria. Terracotta shoulder busts and protomai were produced throughout the Italian peninsula and Sicily starting in the mid-seventh century B.C.E. Abstracts Countenances of Clay: Isolated Heads and Terracottas in Pre-Roman ItalyġKeely Heuer, Associate Professor, State University of New York at New Paltz Jaimee Uhlenbrock, Professor Emerita, State University of New York at New Paltz President, Association for Coroplastic Studies. ![]()
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