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A bronze female figurine from the sanctuary of Athena Alea at Tegea : a new look at an old find

• Σαλαβούρα, Ελένη

Among the large number of finds from the old French excavations of the sanctuary of Athena Alea at Tegea is a nude bronze female figurine with her hands at her breast. Earlier research had dated the piece between the 13th and 6th c. BC and treated it as a “special” find that could not be placed in any category/group. Here the possibility of dating it to the Mycenaean period is discussed.The figurine displays elements found in Mycenaean and Minoan miniature sculpture, and the figure’s nude form shows pronounced Eastern influence. However, the frontal stance for male and female nude figures reappears with greater frequency in mainland Greece during the Late Geometric and Archaic period. Stylistic criteria, more general artistic trends, as well as the historical conditions themselves make more likely a date in the late 8th or 7th century, i.e. the period when the first Eastern influences arrived in Tegea.The so-called “Greek Renaissance” (770-700 BC) compris ed a reconnection with the heroic past and was evident in all fields of art. It is considered very probable that in addition to an increase in the number of sanctuaries, the memory of the sacredness of particular places, including the site of the sanctuary of Alea, was strengthened during just this period, when the dissemination of the Homeric epics was prompting the worship of Mycenaean ancestors. Considering that as a rule, religious beliefs and ritual were a society’s most conservative manifestations and subject to change at a much slower rate than other realms of life - even more so in a mountainous region like Arcadia - we may identify survivals of Creto-Mycenaean elements in this Tegean find.

• History and Archaeology

• Αρχαιολογία
• Excavations (Archaeology)
• Archaeology and art

Εκτός από τις συντομογραφίες των παραπομπών, που παρατίθενται μαζί με τη βιβλιογραφία στο τέλος του κειμένου, χρησιμοποιούνται και οι ακόλουθες:ΥΕ: Υστεροελλαδική.ΥΜ: Υστερομινωική.ΥΚ: Υστεροκυπριακή., Περιέχει εικόνες, συντομογραφίες και βιβλιογραφία, Το άρθρο περιέχεται στο τεύχος: Μέρος Α'-Μελέτες