Important new data was, recently, collected from the excavations of an area 2 km north-east of Thebes carried out by the 9th Ephoria of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities of Beotia, under the guidance of V. Aravantinos. The excavation of this site discovered a large necropolis with many burial sites and funeral enclosures. During the Hellenistic and Early Roman period (last quarter of the 4th c. BC - 1st c. AD), this cemetery was frequently used and many graves were often reused. However, although there were many Hellenistic graves at the site, only around 30 % contained terracotta figurines. Most are of common types, but there are several remarkable exceptions. The aim of this paper is to present the most interesting data that the research on Hellenistic terracotta material has revealed. The study, in this case, is underpinned by the contextual data for the pottery and the other materials associated with the terracotta figurines. Typology, chronology and technical features allow us to acquire more informations about the circulation of moulds and products in the site, in order to reconstruct the commercial routes of products (either moulds or replicas), and to compare these results with what we know about the history of Thebes. At the end of the 4th and the beginning of the 3rd century BC, together with imported products and figurines of high quality that, usually, are replicas that are strictly based on archetypes created in Athens or Tanagra, there are types that were created locally. During this period, there seems to be active workshops in Thebes that were included in a circuit of products dealing mainly with central Greece, but not restricted to that area. After a period of crisis in the second half of the 3rd century BC, in which we see the decrease of the use of clay figurines in the graves, the second half of the century apparently marks a revival of this trend. In this period the Theban workshops were still active and included in a trade larger than the commercial circuit of the first half of the 3rd century BC. These workshops, judging by the few imported and bad-quality products of the second half of the 2nd century BC, seem to have closed their activity in this period.
Pisani, M. (2012). Production and Diffusion of terracotta figurines in Thebes (Boeotia) during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. In Figurines de terre cuite en Méditerranée orientale grecque et romaine. Production et Diffusion, Iconographie et Fonction (pp.1-18). Paris : De Boccard.
Production and Diffusion of terracotta figurines in Thebes (Boeotia) during the Hellenistic and Roman periods
PISANI, MARCELLA
2012-01-01
Abstract
Important new data was, recently, collected from the excavations of an area 2 km north-east of Thebes carried out by the 9th Ephoria of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities of Beotia, under the guidance of V. Aravantinos. The excavation of this site discovered a large necropolis with many burial sites and funeral enclosures. During the Hellenistic and Early Roman period (last quarter of the 4th c. BC - 1st c. AD), this cemetery was frequently used and many graves were often reused. However, although there were many Hellenistic graves at the site, only around 30 % contained terracotta figurines. Most are of common types, but there are several remarkable exceptions. The aim of this paper is to present the most interesting data that the research on Hellenistic terracotta material has revealed. The study, in this case, is underpinned by the contextual data for the pottery and the other materials associated with the terracotta figurines. Typology, chronology and technical features allow us to acquire more informations about the circulation of moulds and products in the site, in order to reconstruct the commercial routes of products (either moulds or replicas), and to compare these results with what we know about the history of Thebes. At the end of the 4th and the beginning of the 3rd century BC, together with imported products and figurines of high quality that, usually, are replicas that are strictly based on archetypes created in Athens or Tanagra, there are types that were created locally. During this period, there seems to be active workshops in Thebes that were included in a circuit of products dealing mainly with central Greece, but not restricted to that area. After a period of crisis in the second half of the 3rd century BC, in which we see the decrease of the use of clay figurines in the graves, the second half of the century apparently marks a revival of this trend. In this period the Theban workshops were still active and included in a trade larger than the commercial circuit of the first half of the 3rd century BC. These workshops, judging by the few imported and bad-quality products of the second half of the 2nd century BC, seem to have closed their activity in this period.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
