Cult in context : the ritual significance of miniature pottery in Ancient Greek sanctuaries from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period
Several previously overlooked questions related to ancient Greek dedicatory practices are investigated in this thesis. The main questions addressed are: how do the contexts of Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic votive miniature vessels inform us about the Greek cults in which they are used, and the transmission of such cults? What role did miniaturisation play in the sanctuaries and the rituals in ancient Greek society, and why miniaturisation? A number of supplementary questions accompany the main questions, for example, what did miniaturisation mean in the context of votive dedications in sanctuaries? This thesis aims to demonstrate that earlier explanations arguing that miniatures are simply and profoundly cheap substitutes for more expensive objects do not work well, since many of these small objects are carefully made and some are elaborately decorated, and would thus not have been cheaper, or less time consuming to produce compared to full sized objects. The chronological time frame of the thesis is limited to the Archaic to the Hellenistic period, and its core is three case studies with different themes and different geographical locations in focus (Kalydon, Olympia, Kombothekra, various sites in South
Barfoed, Signe
CB History of civilization ; DF Greece
Cult in context : the ritual significance of miniature pottery in Ancient Greek sanctuaries from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period. Several previously overlooked questions related to ancient Greek dedicatory practices are investigated in this thesis. The main questions addressed are: how do the contexts of Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic votive miniature vessels inform us about the Greek cults in which they are used, and the transmission of such cults? What role did miniaturisation play in the sanctuaries and the rituals in ancient Greek society, and why miniaturisation? A number of supplementary questions accompany the main questions, for example, what did miniaturisation mean in the context of votive dedications in sanctuaries? This thesis aims to demonstrate that earlier explanations arguing that miniatures are simply and profoundly cheap substitutes for more expensive objects do not work well, since many of these small objects are carefully made and some are elaborately decorated, and would thus not have been cheaper, or less time consuming to produce compared to full sized objects. The chronological time frame of the thesis is limited to the Archaic to the Hellenistic period, and its core is three case studies with different themes and different geographical locations in focus (Kalydon, Olympia, Kombothekra, various sites in South
cult context ritual significance miniature pottery ancient_greek sanctuaries archaic hellenistic period several previously_overlook question related ancient_greek practice investigate thesis main_question address context archaic_classical hellenistic votive miniature vessel inform greek cult use transmission cult role miniaturisation play sanctuary ancient_greek society miniaturisation number supplementary question accompany main_question example miniaturisation mean context votive dedication sanctuary aim earlier explanation_argue miniature simply profoundly cheap substitute expensive object work well since_many small object carefully make elaborately decorate would thus less time consume produce compare full size object chronological time_frame limited archaic hellenistic period core three_case_study different theme different geographical location focus various site south