Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-x4r87 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T20:21:05.441Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Votive riders seated side-saddle at early Greek sanctuaries1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

Mary Voyatzis
Mary Voyatzis
Affiliation:
University of Arizona
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A relatively rare type of bronze votive dedicated at Greek sanctuary sites in the second half of the 8th cent, BC depicts a female seated side-saddle on a horse. Examples have been found at only four sites, primarily in the Peloponnese: three come from sanctuaries in Arcadia, one from Olympia, and one from Samos. At 7th- and 6th-cent. sanctuaries in the Peloponnese, the type in terracotta is more frequent, but it never becomes particularly common as a votive. In the Aegean, the depiction of female riders seated side-saddle can be traced back to the Late Bronze Age; the type was probably originally inspired by models from the Near East. A similar pattern is found on Cyprus. Male versions of riders seated side-saddle are known from LBA sites, and the type reappeared in the late 8th cent. BC. The evidence suggests that the similarity between the Geometric bronze type and LBA examples was a result of memories of the significance of the female rider that survived in Arcadia through the Dark Age.

Type
Articles
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 87 , November 1992 , pp. 259 - 279
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

2 Schweitzer 156–9; see also discussion by L. Curtis Turnbull, Some Aspects of Greek Geometric Bronzes (Ph.D. diss.: Radcliffe College, 1958), ch. 1.

3 Levi, D., ‘Gleanings from Crete’, AJA 49 (1945), 270–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4 Levi, D., ‘La dea micenea a cavallo’, in Studies Presented to David Moore Robinson, i (St Louis, 1951), 108–25.Google Scholar

5 Gill, M. A. V., ‘The Minoan dragon’, BICS 10 (1963), 1–12Google Scholar; Poursat, J.-C., ‘Notes d'iconographie préhellénique: dragons et crocodiles’, BCH 100 (1976), 462–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

6 Wiesner, J., Archäologia homerica: die Denkmäler und das frühgriechische Epos, i: Fahren und Reiten (Göttingen, 1968), 116–18Google Scholar; Bevan, E., Representations of Animals in Sanctuaries of Artemis and Other Olympian Deities (BAR International Series, 315; Oxford, 1986), i. 207–8Google Scholar; Zimmermann, J.-L., Les Chevaux dans l'art géométrique grec (Geneva, 1989), 323.Google Scholar

7 e.g. Crouwel 51.

8 Karageorghis, V., ‘A Late Bronze Age horse and rider from Cyprus’, RDAC 1980, 128–32.Google Scholar

9 Schweitzer 157–8.

10 Jantzen, U., Samos, viii: Ägyptische und orientalische Bronzen aus dem Heraion von Samos (Bonn, 1972), 80–4, B 452; pl. 8. 1.Google Scholar

11 Schweitzer 156–9, pl. 196: Heilmeyer, W.-D., Frühe olympische Bronzefiguren (Ol. Forsch, xii; Berlin, 1979), 103Google Scholar; Kunze, E., Ol. Ber. iv (Berlin, 1940–1941), 107Google Scholar, fig. 89. See also a recent catalogue from Vienna, : Guss und Form: Bronzen aus der Antikensammlung (Vienna, 1986), 64Google Scholar, no. 55, fig. 117; Zimmermann (n. 6), 92, no. 8.

12 Heilmeyer (n. 11): Sinn, U., ‘Ein Fundkomplex aus dem Artemis-Heiligtum von Lusoi in Badischen Landesmuseum’, Jahrbuch der Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen in Bad-Württemberg, 17 (1980), 35Google Scholar, fig. 12; Weber, M., ‘Eine arkadisch-geometrische Bronzegruppe’, Städel-Jahrbuch, 1 (1967), 9Google Scholar; Zimmermann (n. 6), 93, no. 29.

13 Dugas, C., ‘Le sanctuaire d'Aléa Athéna à Tégée avant le IVe siècle,’ BCH 45 (1921), 354CrossRefGoogle Scholar, no. 49; Voyatzis, ESAA 103: 303: Heilmeyer (n. 11), 100 n. 135: Zimmermann (n. 6), 94, no. 49.

14 Heilmeyer (n. 11), 221, 79. 174, pl. 36, no. 310; Kunze (n. 11), 107, pl. 33. 1; Schweitzer 156–8, fig. 195: Zimmermann (n. 6). 92. no. 6.

15 Jantzen (n. 10); Schweitzer 156–8, pl. 194.

16 Sinn (n. 12), 26–7.

17 Voyatzis, , ESAA 103Google Scholar; Dugas (n. 13), 353.

18 Heilmeyer (n. 11), 103 n. 140; Rolley, C., Monumenta graeca et romana (Leiden, 1967), 2Google Scholar, no. 16; Schweitzer 156–7. See also Zimmermann (n. 6), 98, 102. who dates the two Lousoi horses earlier than the others (second quarter of 8th cent. BC). He dates the Tegean rider to the ‘géométrique récent’, later than the Lousoi examples. The evidence to support an earlier date for the Lousoi riders, however, is inconclusive.

19 Snodgrass, A. M., Archaic Greece: The Age of Experiment (London, 1980), 52–4.Google Scholar

20 Coldstream, J. N., Geometric Greece (London, 1977), 332–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

21 Weber (n. 12), 9; Zimmermann (n. 6), 91; 98.

22 Heilmeyer (n. 11), 103.

23 Voyatzis, , ESAA 136–7Google Scholar; 260–4; Sinn (n. 12), 31.

24 For connections between some Lousoi and Olympia bronzes, see Voyatzis, , ESAA 134–8.Google Scholar For the Arcadian production of these riders, see also Zimmermann (n. 6), 98.

25 For the parallel see Dugas (n. 13), 346, no. 9; Romaios, K., ‘Ἀνασϰαφαὶ τοῦ Ναοῦ τῆς Ἀλέας,’ PAE 1909, 305.Google Scholar For local production see Voyatzis, , ESAA 103–4Google Scholar; Heilmeyer (n. 11), 100 n. 135; Zimmermann (n. 6), 92; 100; 102. Also note that the 1990 excavations at Tegea yielded large pieces of bronze slag in a 7th cent, BC context, found in the area N of the temple. It is thus conceivable that local bronze production was taking place at the site from at least the 7th cent, and probably earlier. See Voyatzis, M., ‘The 1991 excavations at the Athena Alea sanctuary at Tegea’, AJA 95 (1991), 303.Google Scholar

26 Heilmeyer (n. 11), 79, pl. 36, nos. 309–10. For the Olympia rider, see also Zimmermann (n. 6), 92 and 98, who considers it an Arcadian product. For connections between Olympia and Arcadia in the Geometric period see Morgan, C., Athletes and Oracles: The Transformation of Olympia and Delphi in the Eighth Century BC (Cambridge, 1990), 79–85; 89–90.Google Scholar

27 Schweitzer 157.

28 While a case might be made to identity the animal as a donkey, it appears more likely to be a horse on the basis of its graceful pose and the depiction of the lower body.

29 Jantzen (n. 10); id., AA 53 (1938), 580, pl. 23; Boardman, J., The Greeks Overseas (3rd edn; London, 1980), 64–5.Google Scholar Professor Jan Bouzek informed me recently that he has seen many unpublished examples of female riders seated side-saddle and holding babies in modern-day Georgian museums. He therefore agrees with Jantzen that the Samian bronze is linked to the Caucasus.

30 Gill (n. 5), 6. no. 1; Poursat (n. 5), 463, no. 2.

31 Ibid. no. 1; Gill (n. 5), 7, no. 5.

32 Ibid. 8, no. 12; Poursat (n. 5), 464. no. 4; Crouwel 51.

33 Ibid., pl. 113; Gill (n. 5), 8. no. 13; Poursat (n. 5), 464, no. 5.

34 Ibid., no. 6.

35 Levi (n. 4), 108–25, pl. 4 a–b; Crouwel 52, pl. 46. Crouwel (52 n. 46) mentions that the authenticity of this statuette has been questioned by one author (E. French).

36 Ibid. 52, pl. 47.

37 Gill (n. 5), 7–9; Poursat (n. 5), 464–6.

38 Gill (n. 5), 1–4; Levi (n. 3), 270–80.

39 Gill (n. 5), 2–3.

40 Poursat (n. 5), 466–8: 471–4.

41 Crouwel 51: Levi (n. 3), 269–73.

42 Gill (n. 5), 4.

43 Poursat (n. 5), 467–8, fig. 2. Poursat believes there are many similarities between this fragment and the Aegean scenes; but tuo of the Aegean seals to which he compares the fragment have dubious authenticity at best (the Hagia Pelagia seal and Nestor's ring). See Poursat (n. 5), 467; 472–3: Gill (n. 5), 9, no. 16.

44 Crouwel 51; Littauer, M. A. and Crouwel, J., Wheeled Vehicles and Ridden Animals in the Ancient Near East (Leiden, 1979), 46Google Scholar; 65–6.

45 Crouwel 45.

46 Gérard-Rousseau, M., Les Mentions religieuses dans les tablettes mycéniennes (Rome, 1968), 118–20Google Scholar; id., ‘Connections in religion between the Mycenaean world and Anatolia’, in Crossland, R. and Birchall, A. (eds.), Bronze Age Migrations in the Aegean (Park Ridge, NJ, 1974), 166.Google Scholar

47 Chadwick, J., ‘What do we know about Mycenaean religion?’ in Davies, A. Morpurgo and Duhoux, Y. (eds.), Linear B: A 1984 Survey (Cabay, 1985), 191–202, at p. 195.Google Scholar

48 Crouwel 32–5; Azzaroli, A., An Early History of Horsemanship (Leiden, 1985), 12Google Scholar; 51;Dent, A., The Horse through Fifty Centuries of Civilization (New York, 1974), 20.Google Scholar

49 Crouwel 32–5.

50 Ibid. 37; 46–50: Langdon, S., ‘The return of the horse leader’, AJA 93 (1989), 191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

51 Crouwel 37; 46.

52 Hood, S., ‘Mycenaean cavalryman’, BSA 48 (1953), 86 n. 5.Google Scholar

53 Maringer, J., ‘The horse in art and ideology of Indo-European peoples’, Journal of Indo-European Studies, 9 (1981), 177–204, esp. 181; 199.Google Scholar

54 Langdon (n. 50), 199; Hanfmann, G. M. A., ‘Lydiaka’, HSCP 52 (1958), 76–7Google Scholar; Azzaroli (n. 48), 12.

55 Ibid.

56 Karageorghis (n. 8), 131, pl. 17, 1–2.

57 Catling, H. W., ‘The Bomford horse and rider’, RDAC 1974, 97–100Google Scholar, fig. 1; Maier, F. G. and Karageorghis, V., Paphos: History and Archaeology (Nicosia, 1984), 128, fig. 105.Google Scholar

58 Karageorghis (n. 8), 128–31, pl. 17. 4–5; id., Palaepaphos–Skales: An Iron Age Cemetery in Cyprus (Constance, 1983), 90, no. 2, pl. 63; Crouwel, J., ‘Ridden horses in Iron Age Cyprus’, RDAC 1988, 85Google Scholar; Maier and Karageorghis (n. 57), 150, fig. 136. For further discussion about this statuette and its possible identity, see Voyatzis, M., ‘Arcadia and Cyprus: aspects of their interrelationship between the twelfth and eighth centuries BC’, RDAC 1985, 161, n. 23.Google Scholar

59 Maier and Karageorghis (n. 57), 19; 52; 55; 120–50; Maier, F. G., ‘Excavations at Kouklia (Palaepaphos), thirteenth preliminary report: seasons 1983 and 1984’, RDAC 1985, 106.Google Scholar

60 Catling (n. 57), 111; Karageorghis (n. 8), 131; Maier and Karageorghis (n. 57), 71.

61 Voyatzis (n. 58), 161–2; see also Turnbull (n. 2), 16.

62 Chadwick, J. and Ventris, M., Documents in Mycenaean Greek, 2nd edn. (London, 1973), 68–9Google Scholar; 73–5; Vovatzis (n. 58), 157–8.

63 For survey work on BA Arcadia see Howell, R., ‘A survey of eastern Arcadia in prehistory’, BSA 65 (1970), 79–127Google Scholar; Simpson, R. Hope and Dickinson, O. T. P. K., A Gazetteer of Aegean Civilization in the Bronze Age. i: The Mainland and the Islands (Gothenburg, 1979), 75–84.Google Scholar

64 Charneux, P. and Ginouvès, R., ‘Reconnaissances en Arcadie: fortification de Palaiocastro, Saint Nicolas et Hellénico’, BCH 80 (1956), 535CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Howell (n. 63). 101, no. 55; 115. Recently excavations have been carried out in Palaiokastro by the Arcadian–Laconian ephor, Dr Th. Spyropoulos; the material found in the tombs is on display in the Tripolis Museum.

65 Voyatzis, , ESAA 240Google Scholar; 252; 269–71.

66 For recent finds from the early sanctuary at Lousoi, , see AR 34 (1987–1988), 24.Google Scholar For the Pylos tablet see Chadwick (n. 47), 193–4. Cf. also Gérard-Rousseau. Les Mentions (n. 46). 203–4.

67 See the bronzes in Coldstrcam (n. 20), 256–7; see also Gehrig, U., Die geometrischen Bronzen aus dem Heraion von Samos (Hamburg, 1964).Google Scholar

68 Jantzen (n. 10). 80–4. B 452.

69 Lordkipanidze, O.D. and Mikeladze, T. K., ‘Le littoral oriental de la Mer Noire (Colchide) durant la colonisation grecque’, DHA 6 (1980), 44, fig. 8.Google Scholar

70 For examples of the riders on double protomes see Hančar, F., ‘Kaukasus = Luristan’, Eurasia septentrionalis antiqua, 9 (1934), 89–93, figs. 30–1.Google Scholar There is a striking resemblance between these bronzes and Archaic Greek depictions from Sparta: see Figs. 13–14.

71 Lordkipanidze, O. D., ‘Colchis in the early antique period and her relations with the Greek world’, Archeologia, 19 (1968), 39.Google Scholar

72 Schweitzer 158.

73 Snodgrass (n. 19), 52–4.

74 It is possible, however, that a memory of the significance of the female rider seated side-saddle survived at Samos. The site was one of the first architecturally developed sanctuaries in the Greek world, and there is some suggestion of continuity there during the Dark Age. See Nicholls, R. V., ‘Greek votive statuettes and religious continuity, c. 1200–700 BC’, in Harris, B. F. (ed.), Auckland Classical Essays Presented to E. M. Blaiklock (Auckland, 1972), 14–15.Google Scholar

75 Reichel, W. and Wilhelm, A., ‘Das Heiligtum der Artemis zu Lusoi’, ÖJh 4 (1901), 38Google Scholar, fig. 29. See also Weisner (n. 6), 116–18, fig. 21 ƒ, who notes the connection between the Lousoi terracotta rider and some of the Mycenaean depictions of riders seated side-saddle.

76 Sinn, U., ‘Das Heiligtum der Artemis Limnatis bei Kombothckra’, AM 96 (1981), 40, pl. 7. 5.Google Scholar

77 Payne, H. G. G., Perachora: The Sanctuaries of Hera Akraia and Limenia (Oxford, 1940), 228, pl. 100.Google Scholar

78 Waldstein, C., The Argive Heraion, ii (Boston, 1905), 40. pl. 48.Google Scholar

79 Dawkins 150–1. pl. 33. 7. 8. 10; 34. 1–8.

80 Thompson, M. S., ‘The terracotta figurines’, BSA 15 (1908–1909), 124Google Scholar, fig. 3. nos. 35–6, 41–2. 46.

81 Karageiorga, T.. ‘Die Göttin aul dem Kamel’, AM 84 (1969), 87–102, pl. 38.Google Scholar

82 For location of site see Vovatzis, , ESAA 16–17Google Scholar, fig. 3.

83 Lesbos: Lamb, W., ‘Antissa’, BSA 32 (1931–1932), 60–2.Google Scholar pl. 25. 6. Megara Hyblaea: Richardson, , MA i (1889), 933.Google Scholar pl. 8.2. There are also two examples, supposedly riders, from Corinth and Amyklai, not included in this study. The animal in the Corinthian statuette appears to be a bird rather than a quadruped, and it is not at all clear that there ever was a rider. (See Richardson, R. B., ‘Terracotta figurines from Corinth’, AJA 2 (1898), 210CrossRefGoogle Scholar, fig. 11.) As for the remains of the so-called rider from Amyklai. I have seen a photograph and believe it unlikely that they could be reconstructed as a rider seated side-saddle. (See von Massow, W., ‘Von Amyklaion’, AM 52 (1927), 43.Google Scholar)

84 For the purposes of this paper I maintain that the bronze found at Olympia was dedicated to Hera; since numerous deities were worshipped at Olympia, this attribution must remain tentative. It is probable, in any case, that this statuette was dedicated to a female deity, as were all the other Greek rider figurines. For other tabulations see Bevan (n. 6), i. 202; ii. 424. Bevan does not include all the riders known, and thus determines a smaller total number.

85 Weber (n. 12). 9: Schweitzer 156–9: Goldstream (n. 20), 157. Zimmermann (n. 6). 323. also believes it likely that the Arcadian bronze riders are deities.

86 Dawkins 150–1: Thompson (n. 80). 124.

87 French, E., ‘The development of Mycenaean terracotta figurines’, BSA 66 (1971), 101–88.Google Scholar at pp. 107–8; ead., ‘Mycenaean figures and figurines, their typology and function’, in Hägg, R. and Marinatos, N. (eds.), Sanctuaries and Cults in the Aegean Bronze Age (Stockholm, 1981), 173–7Google Scholar: see also Nicholls (n. 74), 2–3.

88 Alroth, B., Greek Gods and Figurines: Aspects of the Anthropomorphic Dedications (Boreas: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, 18: Uppsala, 1989), 61–4.Google Scholar

89 This function is suggested by a number of bronze votive statuettes and pendants; see Voyatzis, , ESAA 269–73.Google Scholar See also Jost, M., Sanctuaires et cultes d'Arcadie (Études péloponnésiennes, 9; Paris, 1985), 368–85.Google Scholar

90 Voyatzis, , ESAA 269–70.Google Scholar

91 Yalouris, N., ‘Athena als Herrin der Pferde’, Mus. Helv. (1950), 88–9Google Scholar; Bevan (n. 6), 195–200. See also Langdon (n. 50), 198–201. for ancient connections between Poseidon and the horse.

92 Schweitzer 156—9. Zimmermann (n. 6), 110. supports Schweitzer's general conclusions regarding the significance of the rider in Arcadia and the connections between females and horses in Arcadian cult.

93 Jost (n. 89), 301–17; 333–5.

94 Langdon (n. 30), 199–200.

95 Jost (n. 89), 332–3.

96 von Gaertringen, F. Hiller and Lattermann, H., Arkadische Forschungen (Berlin, 1911), 41.Google Scholar pl. 13. 3; Voyatzis, , ESAA 118Google Scholar; 282; Schweitzer 155, fig. 193.

97 Dugas (n. 113), 384. no. 154. fig. 45; Coldstream (n. 20), 157, fig. 51 b; Voyatzis, , ESAA 214–16.Google Scholar fig. 28. For pomegranate pendants see ibid. 184–7. pls. 110—14: Kilian-Dirlmeier, I., Anhänger in Griechenland von der mykenischen bis zur spätgeometrischen Zeit (Prähistorische Bronzefunde, xi. 2; Munich, 1979), 123–7.Google Scholar Note that a small number of pomegranate pendants was also found at the Artemis Orthia sanctuary in Sparta.

98 See n. 89; cf. also a bronze figurine from Tegea with hands to her breasts, Voyatzis, , ESAA 123–4Google Scholar, pl. 60.

99 For various types of votive evidence which support Artemis' role as a fertility goddess, see Bevan, E., ‘The goddess Artemis and dedications of bears in sanctuaries’, BSA 82 (1987) 21Google Scholar; idem, ‘Ancient deities and tortoise representations in sanctuaries’, BSA 83 (1988) 1–6; idem, ‘Waterbirds and the Olympian gods’, BSA 84 (1989) 163–9.

100 Dawkins pl. 172. 1: fig. 123 e; Yalouris (n. 91). 93; 99. Note the similarities between the image from Sparta (Fig. 14) and the Tegean bronze; see Voyatzis, , ESAA pl. 121, B 162.Google Scholar