What do terracotta figurines in a sacral context reveal? The case of the Aphaia sanctuary on the island of Aegina

Maria G. Spathi
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Abstract

Figurines are one of the most numerous categories of finds, coming to light in their hundreds in sacral contexts. And while other finds, such as ceramics, fall often into the category of profane, coroplastic finds are clearly always votives. They are offerings to the deity given either singly or, possibly, in groups, along with other offerings, such as edible stuffs. The importance of figurines as votive offerings in shrines has undergone a revision: up to a few decades ago, they were considered cheap, mass-produced products of little interpretive significance to the results of modern research. Their study, when from sacred assemblages, has since progressed greatly. Many independent publications bear witness to this. Their newly-appreciated importance lies not only in their being revealing finds for the practice of worship in a place but also, when there exists, say, a repetition of types for a long time, they offer valuable information about the character, qualities, and sometimes even the very identity of the worshiped deity. And while individual figurines as votive offerings to shrines may be a personal expression of the dedicator, they all reflect a collective and repetitive practice directly related to the deity worshiped. Depending on their place of manufacture, they also provide information on domestic production, influences from other regions and the commercial relations of the sanctuaries and the wider area in which they exist with other such religious centres and other ceramic traditions. But their artistic value is not necessarily negligible. Along with the handmade or mass-produced products, there are similar coroplastic examples on a larger scale, made in multiple moulds; these may far exceed 20 cm in size. Such pieces were certainly not cheap votive offerings but expensive and perhaps made to order. In the present study, the information that may be drawn from figurines in sanctuaries is examined. The exercise takes as a case-study all the figurines from the sanctuary of Aphaia on the island of Aegina in the Saronic Gulf, which are mainly dated due to the Archaic period. This corpus is well-suited to the task in that it gives information not limited only to the typology of the figurines and their relation to the properties of the worshiped deity, but also on their origin, which goes beyond the island itself.
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在神圣的背景下,兵马俑揭示了什么?埃伊纳岛上的阿法亚保护区
小雕像是数量最多的发现之一,在宗教背景下发现了数百个小雕像。虽然其他的发现,比如陶瓷,通常属于亵渎的范畴,但塑料的发现显然总是有信仰的。它们是献给神的贡品,可以是单独的,也可以是成群的,还有其他的贡品,比如可食用的东西。在神殿中,小雕像作为祭品的重要性经历了一次修正:直到几十年前,它们还被认为是廉价的、大规模生产的产品,对现代研究的结果没有什么解释意义。他们的研究,从神圣的集会,已经取得了很大的进步。许多独立出版物都证明了这一点。它们新近被认识到的重要性不仅在于它们揭示了一个地方的崇拜实践,而且,当存在,比如,长时间重复的类型时,它们提供了关于被崇拜的神的性格,品质,有时甚至是身份的宝贵信息。虽然供奉给神殿的个人雕像可能是奉献者的个人表达,但它们都反映了与所崇拜的神直接相关的集体和重复的实践。根据其制造地的不同,它们还提供了关于国内生产、来自其他地区的影响以及圣殿及其所在更广泛地区与其他此类宗教中心和其他陶瓷传统的商业关系的信息。但它们的艺术价值也并非不容忽视。除了手工制作或批量生产的产品外,还有更大规模的类似coroplastic例子,使用多个模具制作;它们的大小可能远远超过20厘米。这些东西当然不是便宜的祭品,而是昂贵的,也许是定制的。在本研究中,研究了可能从避难所的小雕像中提取的信息。这项研究以萨罗尼克湾埃伊纳岛上的阿法亚神庙的所有雕像为例,这些雕像主要是由古代时期确定的。这个语料库非常适合这项任务,因为它提供的信息不仅限于雕像的类型学及其与所崇拜的神的属性的关系,而且还涉及它们的起源,这超出了岛屿本身。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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