Orientalia come strumenti di auto-rappresentazione delle élites cretesi in epoca alto-arcaica

In this paper the phenomenon of circulation of orientalia in Crete during the Iron Age will be examined from a social point of view: what was the social reason of the demand and how did local communities react to the arrive of exotic artefacts? Orientalia were found mostly within contexts characterised by a local material culture, so they attest the demand for luxury goods, rather than the settling of foreign people in the island; it is suggested that orientalia probably had the main function of high status-symbol. Therefore, they could represent a key for the interpretation of some social aspects of the Iron Age Cretan communities.

Tra argilla e pietra: indagini prosopografiche tra epigrafia seriale ed epigrafia lapidea

This essay analyses all the epigraphical occurrences about the gens Coelia found in Altino (Venice). Having the inscriptions all grouped together allowed for a prosopographical study, in order to find out how productive processes were organised and which gentes were involved in them. Finally, the value of instrumenta inscripta have as documents of ancient social and economic history has been made explicit as well.

Medusa carissima forma (Ov. Met. 4.794)

The aim of this paper is to propose the analysis of a mirror, discovered in Chiusi at the end of 20th century. It was found in a woman’s burial, dated to the final decades of the 4th century BC, and probably it was produced in Vulci around 350 BC, as revealed by the epigraphical traits and the style. The object was lost and we know only the drawing ES V. The study of the representation, considered in its social context, allows to reconstruct the morals of female education in Etruria.

Il ‘sacro’ tra antico e contemporaneo

We owe to Grottanelli several seminal works on the role of ideological perspectives in approaching the topic of sacrifice in antiquity. Starting from ancient Rome and Greece, the concept and practice of human sacrifice are investigated throughout their historical transformations. Grottanelli pays particular attention to the reception of the notion of sacrifice by modern ideologies. Such readings can be linked to different aims and can lead to a denial, an exaltation, or a re-evaluation of sacrifice, as experiences like the Kosmiker of Munich and Acéphale show.

The Production and Consumption of Elite Culture at Malia in the Early Minoan and Middle Minoan Periods

The analysis of the archaeological data from Early Bronze and MM IB/II Malia shows a sort of an evolution in the Palace’s significance for Malian society, when the main arenas of consumption of elite culture shifted – as far as we can see – from the cemeteries and the court building to elite residences. The Palace continues to be used as does the cemetery, but the architectural elaboration of the elite residences suggests that the role of the latter as arenas becomes more pronounced. Nonetheless, the ceremonies held in the elite residences were more likely exclusive rather than inclusive. Inclusion or exclusion can be seen as a confirmation of the social order in MM II; the fact that innovations find their way into multiple co-existing elite residences in MM II points towards a climate of emulation and competition.

Sulla via di Dioniso

The aim of this paper is to propose a new placement for a little sculpture representing a lying winged child that is today in Florence, at the Tesoro dei Granduchi in Palazzo Pitti: ascribed until now to an unknown XVI-century sculptor, the artwork shows stylistic and iconographical elements that allow to suppose a roman origin and a possible dating to the Antonine age. The most curious detail, the forced position of the right wrist, unnaturally wheeled, finds until now just one known matching in an antique sleeping Cupid at the Musei Vaticani, and it is possible to consider some details of the sculpting method as typical of the II century AD. Otherwise, the depiction reveals a mixture of two iconographies, the ‘sleeping Cupid’ and the ‘bacchic child’ (putto bacchico), according to the eclectic practice attested in the late imperial age: the child’s posture is in fact similar to the ‘sleeping Cupid’ type, but the crown held in his left hand (and his heavy eyelids on the ajar eyes) helps to evoke the drunkenness induced by Dionysus, ideally connecting the image to the large tradition of representations of drunken bacchic children, attested here by sarcophagi and an ivory pyxis from Grumentum. Furthermore, the crown finds matches in depictions of deceased on the covers of the Klinentypus sarcophagi, showing dionysian attributes with an apparent connection to the otherwordly life. Given the analogue funerary destination of similar images of sleeping Cupids (surely attested, for example, by the setting of one of these on the cover of a sarcophagus in Copenhagen), it is therefore possible to suppose that the artwork was anciently pertinent to a similar context, as an allegorical portrayal of a deceased child or adult initiated to the mysteries of Dionysus.

Necropoli o santuari?

Beliefs and religious practices of the steppes people between the Bronze and the Iron Age represent one of the most interesting aspects of these cultures, which spread over a huge and highly varied territory. They are characterised by a series of local expressions, in which Iranian and Zoroastrian influences do not affect the originality of the sanctuaries and of the relevant religious practices. These are sometimes difficult to interpret, as for example the Kirighsuur and Deer Stones contexts, or rock art sites: these introduce very complex and highly debated issues, which are difficult to be fully understood, as for instance the question of shamanism. The most interesting phenomenon of the Iron Age (Scythian period) consists of massive burial mounds, that seem to acquire the role of real sanctuaries, which are strongly related to the landscape and to the natural elements, thus becoming the focus for the social and religious community. This hypothesis is proposed by some scholars, who argue that it may be supported by Herodotus’ description of the sanctuary of Ares.

Dinamiche insediative delle élites nell’Antico Elladico II

To describe relationships between elites in Prehistory is a difficult task, for the available data are scanty. Without written sources, what we know about the growth of elite groups and their settlement choices depends exclusively on archaeological evidences. As for the Early Helladic period, it is possible to identify a gradually increasing social complexity, which resembles the ‘chiefdom-type’ model. At the same time some archaeological clues allow us to recognise the presence of distinct élite groups: e.g. the monumental elements displayed by the Building BG and the House of Tiles in Lerna, the Rundbau at Tiryns, the Weisses Haus at Kolonna, the Fortified Building at Thebes, two megara at Akovitika, and the House of Pithoi at Zygouries. The growth as well as the discontinuity of these protopalatial sites can easily be followed through the archaeological evidence: not only in Lerna and the Argolid, but also in the surrounding area.

I depositi votivi di kotylai e kotyliskoi corinzi provenienti dal santuario demetriaco di Bitalemi a Gela

This paper concerns the study of the votive deposits, containing Corinthian kotylai and kotyliskoi, discovered in the Thesmophorion, situated on the Bitalemi hill at Gela (Sicily). The work, part of a broader analysis of these specific Corinthian classes, examines in depth the votive depositions made during the first phase of the sanctuary’s frequentation (5th layer). This report highlights six composite deposits that testify, through their material associations, some ritual features related to the Demeter Thesmophoros’ cult.