On women and on lions

Interpreting the Seventh Century BC Tradition and Innovation Edited by Xenia Charalambidou and Catherine Morgan Archaeopress Archaeology Archaeopress Publishing Ltd Gordon House 276 Banbury Road Oxford OX2 7ED www.archaeopress.com ISBN 978 1 78491 572 8 ISBN 978 1 78491 573 5 (e-Pdf) © Archaeopress and the authors 2017 Cover images: Sanctuary of Herakles by the Elektran Gates at Thebes. Foreground: dinos or louterion depicting Herakles killing the Centaur Nessos while abducting Deianeira (© Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports: Archaeological Receipts Fund; photograph: S. Mavromatis). Background: concentration of unpainted jugs massed together in the ash altar (photograph: V. Aravantinos). All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owners. Printed in England by Oxuniprint, Oxford This book is available direct from Archaeopress or from our website www.archaeopress.com Contents Editors’ Preface ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� iii Notes on Contributors ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ iv 1. Introduction: interpreting the seventh century BC �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������1 Xenia Charalambidou and Catherine Morgan 2. Introduction: can one speak of the seventh century BC? �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������9 Roland Étienne 3. Ceramics, analytical scales and cultural histories of seventh-century Crete �����������������������������������������������������15 Antonis Kotsonas 4. The birthplace of Greek monumental sculpture revisited ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������24 Georgia Kokkorou-Alevras 5. On women and on lions �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������31 Eva Simantoni-Bournia 6. Greek art in the seventh century BC: the example of bronzes from Delphi ��������������������������������������������������������38 Hélène Aurigny 7. Al Mina and changing patterns of trade: the evidence from the eastern Mediterranean ������������������������������47 Alexander Vacek 8. Cypriot evidence in seventh-century Rhodes: discontinuity or change? ������������������������������������������������������������60 Giorgos Bourogiannis 9. Faience in seventh-century Greece: egyptianizing ‘bric a brac’ or a useful paradigm for relations with Egypt? ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������71 Virginia Webb 10. A sea of luxury: luxury items and dyes of marine origin in the Aegean during the seventh century BC �������80 Tatiana Theodoropoulou 11. Coarse, plain and cooking ware: seventh-century innovation for old-fashioned pots ����������������������������������93 Jean-Sébastien Gros 12. East Greek pottery workshops in the seventh century BC: tracing regional styles ��������������������������������������100 Michael Kerschner 13. Old Smyrna: a window onto the seventh-century painted wares from the Anglo-Turkish excavations (1948-1951) �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������114 Stavros A� Paspalas 14. Euboea and the Euboean Gulf region: pottery in context �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������123 Xenia Charalambidou 15. Parian ceramics of the seventh century BC in Cycladic cemeteries and sanctuaries�����������������������������������150 Photini Zaphiropoulou 16. Beyond Athens and Corinth. Pottery distribution in the seventh-century Aegean: the case of Kythnos ���160 Maria Koutsoumpou i 17. Conservatism versus innovation: architectural forms in early Archaic Greece ��������������������������������������������173 Alexander Mazarakis Ainian 18. Fortifications in the seventh century. Where and why?��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������186 Rune Frederiksen 19. Corinthian sanctuaries and the question of cult buildings���������������������������������������������������������������������������������193 Catherine Morgan 20. Achaian interaction and mobility in the area of the Corinthian Gulf during the seventh century BC ���212 Anastasia Gadolou 21. The sanctuaries of Herakles and Apollo Ismenios at Thebes: new evidence���������������������������������������������������221 Vassilis Aravantinos 22. A group of small vases with Subgeometric – early Archaic decoration from the sanctuary of Herakles at Thebes �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������231 Kyriaki Kalliga 23. Cult in Attica. The case of the sanctuary of Artemis Mounichia �����������������������������������������������������������������������245 Lydia Palaiokrassa-Kopitsa 24. Athenian burial practices and cultural change: the Rundbau early plot in the Kerameikos cemetery revisited�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������260 Anna Maria D’Onofrio 25. Special burial treatment for the ‘heroized’ dead in the Attic countryside. The case of the elite cemetery of Vari ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������281 Alexandra Alexandridou 26. Cumae in Campania during the seventh century BC ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������293 Matteo D’Acunto 27. Cultural dynamics in the seventh-century Sibaritide (Southern Italy) ������������������������������������������������������������330 Jan Kindberg Jacobsen, Sine Grove Saxkjær and Gloria Paola Mittica 28. From innovation to tradition: seventh-century Sicily ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������339 Gillian Shepherd 29. An early orientalizing spouted krater from Naxos on Sicily �������������������������������������������������������������������������������349 Maria Costanza Lentini 30. The city of Mende during the late eighth and seventh centuries BC ����������������������������������������������������������������355 Sophia Moschonissioti 31. Panhellenes at Methone, Pieria (c. 700 BC): new inscriptions, graffiti/dipinti, and (trade)marks ����������364 Yannis Tzifopoulos, Manthos Bessios and Antonis Kotsonas 32. Frontiers in seventh-century epigraphy: aspects of diffusion and consolidation ����������������������������������������375 Alan Johnston 33. Skilled in the Muses’ lovely gifts: lyric poetry and the rise of the community in the seventh-century Aegean����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������382 Jan Paul Crielaard Bibliography �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������393 General Index ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������443 Topographic Index �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������447 ii 5. On women and on lions Eva Simantoni-Bournia Abstract: The neck panel of a relief amphora from Boeotia in the National Archaeological Museum and a fragment from Xobourgo in the Museum of Tenos are decorated with an impressive frontal figure with upraised arms escorted by two small attendants pressed closely against her� Two lions in profile rear on either side of this central group� In this chapter, the different approaches to the iconographic subject are considered and a new reading of the image proposed, interpreting it as an optical transcript of Iliad 21�479-84 according to which Artemis could behave as a lion towards women and was, by Zeus’ permission, free to kill whomever she wished� It is suggested that the frontal figures on the neck panels represent Artemis as Potnia, while the small female worshippers attempt to placate the all-powerful deity, asking her to avert the danger embodied in the lions, and to protect them in marriage, pregnancy and labour� The paper locates other iconographic subjects of the same period and on the same pottery type that apparently represent visual translations of Homeric verses� One hundred and twenty years ago, Paul Wolters published an almost intact and very impressive early Archaic vase with relief decoration, the amphora from Thebes since exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Athens (inv. 5898; Wolters 1892: 213-40, pls 8-9).1 An almost exact duplicate of the iconographic theme on the neck panel of the Boeotian vase came to light much later, in the excavations of Nikolaos Kontoleon at Xobourgo on Tenos (Archaeological Museum of Tenos B1; Kontoleon 1969: pl. 57). A heated discussion rapidly arose about the exact meaning of the two images (Figures 5.1-2); several, often controversial interpretations were advanced, but none has been unanimously accepted. The present paper recapitulates the different approaches to the subject of the two neck panels and ventures a new reading in an attempt to bring forth its symbolic value. It does not aim to present a definitive thesis but rather some thoughts triggered by a most remarkable composition. Immediately under the lip of the Boeotian vessel (Figure 5.1) runs a thin palmette frieze followed by three parallel lines framing the neck panel. In the centre of that panel stands a frontal figure, clad in a loose, unbelted and short-sleeved chiton decorated with incised lozenges with dots at their centres;2 both arms are raised in a gesture of epiphany.3 The head is crowned by a strange stephane made of six vertical leaves or ridges; two vine tendrils with dotted ‘grapes’ spring from either side of the headdress.4 The arched eyebrows meet above the nose (the end of which is chipped), while two relief circles with a protruding dot in the centre represent the figure’s huge, wideopen eyes. The volute shaped ears, set at eye level, stick out on either side of the face, impressed upon two conical masses of hair from which they project. Figure 5�1 The central group decorating the neck panel of the Boeotian amphora National Archaeological Museum, Athens 5898. (© National Archaeological Museum, Athens: Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports: Archaeological Receipts Fund). 1 My warmest thanks are due to Dr Xenia Charalambidou for her unfailing good spirits throughout the conference in spite of her advanced pregnancy� I dedicate this paper to her and wish that Artemis keeps a benevolent hand over the new member of her family� 2 Blome (1985: 39-41) offers a detailed description of the two relief representations� 3 Compare the analogous pose of the central seated figure on the ‘Birth Amphora’ (Kontoleon 1969: pl� 53)� 4 Ahlberg-Cornell (1992: 142) calls it ‘a high palmette-like cap’� Palmette-like crowns and a floral finial with two blossoming tendrils are worn by some of the winged deities on seventh-century ivory plaques from the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia at Sparta (Dawkins 1929: pls 91�1A, 92�2, 93�1)� See also the palmette-like crown worn by seventh-century terracotta statuettes of Artemis from San Biagio (Dufeu-Muller et al. 2010: 4467, fig� 8c)� 31 Eva Simantoni-Bournia A thin horizontal incision marks the mouth, above a strong protruding chin. Small feet emerge beneath the chiton, pointing to the left. There has been no scholarly doubt about the gender or nature of this central figure: as soon as the relief amphora became known, it was agreed to represent a female divinity. Two more human figures, much smaller and closely pressed against the central deity, seem also to be female as they wear long, unbelted, short-sleeved chitons (although this view is not unanimously accepted). They stand in profile, their hands placed on the divinity’s abdomen, in sharp contrast to the goddess’s frontal stance and her size. They have pointed noses, curiously accentuated, and large volute-like ears low on their heads. They share the same style in the treatment of eyes, mouths and hair as the central figure, but the garments of the two attendants are plain except for the neck borders and hems. Their feet are visible ankle high. All three figures stand on top of the three lines framing the lower border of the neck panel. Figure 5�2 Fragment from Xobourgo, Tenos Museum B1. (© Archaeological Society of Athens. Photograph: I. Iliadis). Two lions in profile rear up on either side of the central group, their hind legs spread wide apart; their front legs presumably rest on a support which is not depicted, thus giving the lions a strange, unstable stance. Their muzzles are wide open, revealing pointed teeth and a lolling tongue; their eyes are rendered in the same manner as those of the humans. A generally accepted date for the Boeotian amphora is early in the second quarter of the seventh century BC (Ervin-Caskey 1976: 78; Simantoni-Bournia 2004: 92).5 Many years later, in 1938, a small excavation on Tenos led by Nikolaos Kontoleon, between the village of Tripotamos and the rocky hill of Xobourgo, revealed a large fragment of the neck of a relief amphora decorated in two registers. The lower and better preserved register bore the same iconographic theme (Figure 5.2) in an obviously newer version (dated 660-650 BC by Simantoni-Bournia [2004: 94] and to the second quarter of the seventh century by Ervin-Caskey [1976: 78]). The new fragment was first mentioned by Lemerle (1938: 480, fig. 34)6 and was published by the excavator (Kontoleon 1940). Although the Boeotian and Tenian neck registers bear the same iconographic theme, there are some minor differences between them. The central figure on the fragment from Tenos is slimmer than her Boeotian counterpart, and wears a more lavishly decorated chiton with a vertical paryphe and a band of impressed rosettes on the shoulder. There is no tower-like crown on her head,7 only tendrils loaded with grapes (rendered as small impressed circles) which hang on either side of her wig-like hair. The two small attendants bow their heads slightly, while their visible arms press on the central figure’s breasts. The rearing lions’ muzzles are shut and one of their front paws is raised in salute, almost in contact with the central figure’s raised hands. The oval-shaped eyes, the fuller cheeks and the straight noses give the faces a benevolent expression. The central figure’s ears are hidden in the mass of her hair while those of her assistants are very small and almost correctly placed. As noted, the impressive mass and imposing gesture of the frontal figures led to their interpretation as divine, a view which remains undisputed. There was, however, a difference of opinion about the deity represented. Peter Blome meticulously gathered all the views expressed by 1985 (Blome 1985: 41-3), which he divided into three groups. To the first he assigned considerations of the central deity as a universal, all-powerful divinity, a Potnia Theron, ‘Great Mother’ or ‘Great Nature Goddess’, whether Artemis, Rhea or Hera, Mistress of all living creatures, humans and animals, and of the underworld alike. In the second group he put interpretations of the scene as cultic, e.g. as a dance of worshippers around the xoanon of Artemis (Nilsson 1955: 309) or a ritual dressing of the statue of Hera by priestesses or mythical attendants such as Horae or Charites (Simon 1969: 57-61). A similar view is implied by 5 6 7 For a different view, see Blome (1985: 41), who puts it in the ‘erste Viertel des 7� Jhs’� See also Jantzen (1938: 578) and Gebauer (1939: 262, fig� 16)� See Blome (1985: 44) for detailed discussion of the meaning of such a crown� 32 5. On women and on lions Kontoleon’s interpretation of the central figure as Delian Artemis surrounded by the Hyperborean virgins Arge and Opis (Kontoleon 1940: 435-6). Blome’s third group comprised interpretations focused on a goddess in labour or in the process of giving birth to a child or children; the small attendants would therefore be the Eileithyiai, divinities of labour and delivery (Dörig 1993; LIMC III [1986], s.v. Eileithyia [R. Olmos]; Pigniatoglou 1981). This was also Blome’s personal interpretation: Leto as Potnia Theron is in labour and is helped by the two birth-related divinities (Blome 1985: 42-3).8 Many arguments have been voiced in support of one or other of these interpretations, and a significant number take into account only some elements of the iconography. However, as Jorg Schäfer (1957: 81) has argued in his exhaustive analysis of the two scenes, we cannot expect that the combination of elements in the representation would have appeared contradictory to the contemporary viewer. Therefore, in seeking to understand what the artist intended to convey to the contemporary observer, one should prefer an interpretation that assigns a role to each of the elements of the picture. The rearing lions have caused many scholars to interpret the divinity as a Potnia Theron. But this interpretation would be more convincing if the deity was in physical contact with the beasts, holding them by the front paw or the tail, or placing her hands on their mane, head or neck, as is customary in the iconography of Potnia in all media (Barclay 2001; LIMC VIII, 1021-7, s.v. Potnia [N. Icard-Gianolio]; Marinatos 2000: chapters 1, 3, 5-6).9 Apart from our two relief vases, there are no other certain depictions of Potnia Theron in Cycladic relief pottery with which to compare; the lower part of a richly clad woman on Tenos Museum B 35 is considered by some to represent such a deity, but this is far from secure (Simantoni-Bournia 2004: 81 pl. 34, fig. 89). The iconographic theme is, of course, often met in Cycladic and related painted pottery.10 Seventh-century Cretan relief pottery – as almost all other Cretan media – offers several good parallels for Potniae in frontal position, some naked11 and some winged, flanked by lions (Sakellarakis 1966: 414, pl. 448b), sphinxes (Hornbostel 1970: C30 pls 32-3), or horses (Levi 1945a: pl. 31.34, 32; Schäfer 1957: 15, Stufe III.15). Potnia’s male equivalent, the Despotes Theron (Barclay 2001: 380-1; LIMC VIII [1997] 559, s.v. Despotes [V. K. Lambrinoudakis]), is also present on Cycladic relief vases as well as in Cretan art. As with the Potniae, he is framed by and in physical contact with a variety of animals, such as goats12 (SimantoniBournia 2004: 80, pl. 33, fig. 87; Themelis 1976: 90 figs 8-9), lions (Fittschen 1969: 80-1, L27; Kontoleon 1971: 152 pl. 36), or horses (Schefold et al. 1993: 72-3 fig. 56).13 The excessive mass of the deity and the two small figures pressed against her are uncommon in the iconography of Potnia. The bulk of her body has been variously interpreted; one plausible explanation would be that she is pregnant and in labour, in which case she should be regarded as a maternal deity, as Rhea,14 Hera or Leto, with the small figures being conveniently explained as the Eileithyiai helping her to deliver. A similar opinion has been advanced by Ahlberg-Cornell (1992: 142), although she took the small figures to be Leto’s new-born twins, Artemis and Apollo, and not the Eileithyiai. Ahlberg-Cornell understood the gesture of touching the central figure’s breasts on the Tenos fragment as the act of suckling, with an iconographic parallel in an Assyrian ivory relief from Ras Shamra dated c. 1350-1340 BC (Ahlberg-Cornell 1992: 142 fig. 256). However, her proposition is shown to be flawed by the gesture of the attendants on the Boeotian amphora, who touch the central figure’s belly instead of her breasts, but most of all by the fact that both are probably female. In early Archaic iconography the long garment worn by both of the central figure’s attendants is almost exclusively a feminine characteristic: with the exception of charioteers, orientalizing male figures are either naked or wear a short tunic. Seventh-century Cycladic relief pottery offers several good examples of this fashion - the short tunics of the Achaians on the Mykonos relief amphora (Ervin 1963), for example, or the garment of the presumably male enthroned deity on the Tenian Birth Amphora and its counterpart Tenos Museum B 3, which reaches only to the knees of the seated figure (Simantoni-Bournia 2001: 70-1, figs 1-3). The deliberate depiction of a loose, beltless chiton, a garment often represented in early Archaic art, could also account for the broad, nearly square form of the central figure.15 The belt is an essential element of female accoutrement which has a potent symbolic meaning. Its presence or absence is not fortuitous as it offers visible proof of maidenhood or marriageability: a betrothed girl would remove the belt she had worn as a virgin and 8 Schäfer (1957: 81) was the first to interpret the theme as Leto giving birth to her children assisted by the Eileithyiai, a suggestion later followed by Schefold (1964: 30 pl� 12)� 9 On the role of the lions, see Blome (1985: 47)� 10 Compare the amphora BC 19 (Dugas 1935: pl� XIIb); the neck of a fragmentary Parian amphora in Berlin (Zaphiropoulou 2008b: 240 fig� 10); the plate illustrated by Zaphiropoulou (2003: 42 and 202 no� 135); and the Thasian plate (Salviat 1983: 189 fig� 5)� 11 On the frontal naked goddess, see Böhm 1990� 12 On the Despotes/Potnios aigon, see Hiller 2001� 13 See also Simantoni-Bournia (2004: 34, 36-7) with further bibliography� 14 Levi’s interpretation of the two neck panels as Rhea attended by the Kouretes (Levi 1945b: 323) is rightly rejected by Schäfer (1957: 80)� 15 Especially in the coroplastic art of Boeotia, e�g� the bell-shaped figurines of the late eighth and seventh centuries BC (Grace 1939: fig� 1; Aravantinos 2010: 137; Avronidaki and Vivliodetis 2013: 6 [mid seventh-century, from Locris])� See also the seventh-century plaque from Mathia, Crete (Alexiou 1958: 284 pl� ΙΓ΄ .3; Marinatos 2000: 126 fig� 6�14)� Also see the plank-like sixth-century Boeotian figurines (Aravantinos 2010: 207)� 33 Eva Simantoni-Bournia Figure 5�3 Shoulder of the ‘dance amphora’ from Xobourgo, Tenos Museum B63. (© Archaeological Society of Athens). consecrate it to a specific deity - chiefly Artemis - just before her marriage (Dufeu-Muller et al. 2010: 465 [Y. Morizot]; Langdon 2008: 151-2). It would not be unusual for an artist to represent the deity ungirdled, wearing the dress which her worshippers donned for a very special occasion in their lives. As noted, several scholars have supported the identification of the central figure as the goddess Artemis (Kontoleon 1940), some interpreting the scene as a ritual dance around her xoanon (Nilsson 1955: 308-9; Wide 1901: 253). Ritual dances are widespread in late eighth- and early seventh-century iconography, a famous example in Cycladic relief pottery being the Tenian Dance Amphora (Figure 5.3; Kontoleon 1969: 227; Simantoni-Bournia 2004: 81-3). Nevertheless, a simple comparison between the dancers on the Dance Amphora and the small attendants on the Theban vase and our Tenian fragment precludes a dance in the latter cases. Paul Wolters, who first published the Boeotian vase, argued that the female goddess was Artemis-Eileithyia in labour (Wolters 1892: 225). It should, however, be noted that while Artemis was the main divinity who took care of procreation and of women in labour, she herself does not give birth;16 epithets such as Artemis-Eileithyia and Artemis-Locheia do not define her as a goddess-mother but as the protector of maternity and birth (Blome 1985: 43; Papachatzis 1978: 1-23). The central figures on the Boeotian and the Tenian vases strike a pose which would be strange for any woman in labour: the same posture is assumed on the Tenian Birth Amphora by the enthroned Zeus from whose head emerges a tiny Athena. Blome’s association (1985: 45) of the upraised arms and palms turned towards the spectator with labour and birth cannot be accepted; this gesture is in keeping with a divine apparition, an epiphany or appearance of the deity to worshippers (Gesell 1985: 49; Rethemiotakis 2001: 130-133)17 that can be traced back to Minoan/Mycenaean times and the Early Iron Age,18 but cannot be related to childbirth. Clay figurines of mortal women in labour are often found in Crete as early as the mid-ninth century BC.19 They are naked, gesticulating and semi-recumbent within the arms of a second seated female figurine who is obviously trying to help and soothe the pregnant woman (Kanta and Davaras 2011: 111-18, nos. 110-15).20 The few seventh-century representations of mortals in labour differ radically from the Boeotian and Cycladic relief goddesses: they mostly kneel naked, with swollen bellies. Pregnant goddesses in the act of childbirth stand impassibly, as befits their immortal status, with hands lowered on either side of their naked body.21 Nevertheless, some lesser divinities or heroines adopt the kneeling posture of mortal women: according to the Homeric Hymn to Apollo (115-18), Leto knelt by the palm tree 16 On the peculiar character of a ‘virgin’ goddess who protects pregnancy and birth, see Burkert (1977: III.2.6, 236) or the Greek translation of this book by N. P. Bezantakos and A. Avagianou, 1993. Αρχαία Ελληνική Θρησκειία. Αρχαϊκή και Κλασσική εποχή, Athens: 321. 17 On the religious significance of the gesture, see Burkert (1977: 53, 63, 90, 151; 1997, 26-30)� 18 On the continuous presence of the goddess with upraised arms from prehistoric to historical times mainly in Crete, see Hiller (1983: 92-3); Barclay (2001: 380-1); Marinatos (2000: chapter 6); Prent 2009� 19 For their prehistoric antecedents, see Kanta and Davaras (2011: 31 fig� 17)� 20 With few exceptions, the pregnant women are considered to be mortals helped in the act of giving birth by a midwife rather than by Eilytheia herself: Kanta and Davaras (2011: 32 no� 114)� 21 On childbirth in antiquity: Barras 2004; Demand 1994� On divine birth: Rigoglioso 2009� On seventh-century representations of pregnant women and goddesses in the round or in relief, especially in Crete: Lebessi 2002b� 34 5. On women and on lions on Delos to give birth to her divine twins and Pausanias (8.48.7) informs us that Auge did the same in Tegea (Lebessi 2002b: 40). The frontal faces of the goddesses with their wide-open eyes accord with their extended arms. Setting aside gorgons and gorgoneia, and seventh-century Cretan art in which frontal faces abound, frontal rendering of the face is rare at this time on both relief and painted pottery (Kontoleon 1969: 231; Simantoni-Bournia 2001: 75-6). Frontality has little to do with giving birth. The frontal face befitted a being removed from common humanity because it precludes contact with events in its immediate vicinity. A frontal figure does not converse with other figures represented in the same picture through gesture or eye contact: whenever a seventh-century potter or painter depicted such a figure, he did so in an attempt to spellbind the spectator and instil awe of superhuman power.22 Having reviewed the iconographic particularities of the two neck panels, we will now concentrate on their interpretation. If we identify Artemis as the central divinity, then we must reject the idea of pregnancy and ascribe the shape of her body to the deliberate omission of her belt. Such an interpretation would be more reasonable if we assume that it is her xoanon which is represented instead of the goddess herself. The dressing of xoana in real clothing dedicated by worshippers was common practice in several sanctuaries of Artemis. It was not unusual to cover the wooden image of the goddess with multiple layers of dedicated garments: fourth-century inscriptions record that the (several) statues of Artemis Brauronia were dressed in as many as four or five garments at once (Romano 1988: 130-2). This practice could cause the xoanon to appear as bulky as the central figures on our relief vases. Artemis is not depicted in the standard iconography of her later representations. She is rendered in her capacity as Potnia,23 despite the fact that she is not in close physical contact with her escorting beasts as is almost compulsory for a Potnia Theron. Artemis is the deity most often associated with this iconographic type, and was among the first divinities to be explicitly designated as such, in Iliad 21.470 (τὸν δὲ κασιγνήτη μάλα νείκεσε, πότνια θηρῶν, Ἂρτεμις ἀγροτέρη).24 A Mistress of Animals is seldom associated with humans. Discussing the iconography of Artemis and the Potnia Theron, Nanno Marinatos observes that ‘the Potnia is almost never shown with women whereas Artemis can be’ (Marinatos 2000: 93).25 A new role has also to be devised for the small female attendants, since they are definitely not performing a sacred dance or helping the goddess to deliver since she is not pregnant. The way in which the two small women press themselves against the deity, or her xoanon, touching the crucial organs of human procreation, the abdomen in the first case and the breasts in the second, is better explained if they are conceived as suppliants, probably young women before marriage26 asking for divine protection in marriage, an important transition in a girl’s life, and begging for the goddesses’ help during the life-threatening pangs of labour that lay ahead.27Artemis/ Potnia’s upraised arms seem to shelter her suppliants from the lions which rear on either side of the group. Here one cannot but be reminded of Iliad 21.479-84: Hera quarrels with Artemis and in an attempt to insult Leto’s daughter shouts that, by permission of Zeus, Artemis can behave as a lion towards women and is free to kill whomever she wishes.28 I therefore conceive the iconographic theme on both the Theban and the Tenian vases as a visualization of the Homeric verses. It alludes to the double nature of Artemis/Potnia as simultaneously a benevolent goddess providing protection during a woman’s most critical life phase and a cruel divinity who tortures and kills pregnant women, just as lions claw at and tear down their prey. The subject of the two neck panels is better understood as an appeal by the small female worshippers to the all-powerful deity for protection in marriage, pregnancy and 22 On the frontal position and its meaning, see Schäfer (1957: 80-1 [noting dependency on prehistoric models]); Frontisi-Ducroux 1995; Korshak 1987; Marinatos 2000 (see ch� 4 on the meaning of the gorgoneion)� 23 The difficulty of establishing the divine identity of the Potnia is systematically explained by Thomas and Wedde 2001� 24 Artemis is among the oldest deities in the Greek pantheon� Even if we consider the Homeric poems, in which she is explicitly mentioned, to be a creation of the late eighth or even the early seventh century BC, there are sound reasons to believe that she has a prehistoric pedigree: see Antoniou (1981: 291-6); Muskett (2007: 53-68)� 25 Marinatos notes a sole exception in four fragmentary lead pieces from the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia at Sparta which represent a winged goddess standing en face and holding the tails of her two lions� On either side, facing towards her but without physical contact, stands a female votary holding a votive wreath (Dawkins et al� 1929: 259-60 fig� 120 [A� Wace])� 26 Note their unbelted chitons (Langdon 2008: 151-2)� 27 On the many aspects of female life placed under the protection of Artemis, see Dufeu-Muller et al. (2010: 399-400)� 28 Iliad 21�479-84: … χολωσαμένη Διὸς αἰδοίη παράκοιτις νείκεσεν ἰοχέαιραν ὀνειδείοις ἐπέεσσι˙ … … χαλεπή τοι ἐγὼ μένος ἀντιφέρεσθαι τοξοφόρῳ περ ἐούσῃ, ἐπεὶ σὲ λέοντα γυναιξὶ Ζεὺς θῆκεν, καὶ ἒδωκε κατακτάμεν ἣν κ’ ἐθέλῃσθα. 35 Eva Simantoni-Bournia labour, and as an attempt to placate her and avert the danger29 embodied in the lions which loom over them.30 If this assumption is correct, the two vases could have served either as dedications at a sanctuary of Artemis (worshipped in her capacity as a Potnia) or as funerary vases, grave markers or coffins for young women who passed away in pregnancy or in labour. Unfortunately in neither case are there sufficient excavation data to allow us to prefer one possibility over the other.31 The preference for epic subjects shown by the artists who produced Cycladic relief pottery places the islands of the Aegean among the leading areas of Greece in this respect. As is generally the case across Greece, they favoured themes from the Kyklia, the Thebais, the Kypria, Figure 5�4 Fragment of a Teniot relief amphora, National the Ethiopis or the Ilioupersis (Snodgrass 1998: 141-2; Archaeological Museum, Athens 2495. Simantoni-Bournia 2004: 125-31). Images of epic scenes (© National Archaeological Museum, Athens: Hellenic following closely the verses of Homer, as proposed, are Ministry of Culture and Sports: Archaeological Receipts Fund). rare but not altogether absent; even a scholar as sceptical as Anthony Snodgrass does not exclude the possibility that Homeric poems inspired the visual arts during the seventh century.32 Among the most striking instances of such visual transcriptions of poetry on relief pottery are the birds of prey devouring corpses on two Tenian sherds (National Archaeological Museum, Athens, 2495, Figure 5.4, being the older) and on the lower zone of a relief amphora from Eretria (Simantoni-Bournia 2009; Themelis 2006), which illustrate the first verses of the Iliad (1.4-5): αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν / οἰωνοῖσί τε πᾶσι. Battle scenes with a Homeric background on Cycladic relief pottery are both fragmentary and rare (Simantoni-Bournia 2004: 128-9).33 However, at least one example from Naxos shows the ill-fortune of an anonymous warrior fallen in battle, who still wears his helmet and carries his shield and spears while run over by a chariot drawn by two horses. The scene fits the description in Il. 11.531-5 and 20.498-500 (SimantoniBournia 1990: 78 pl. 9.K17 and drawing 6). Finally, the neck panel of a long-known amphora in Boston (MFA 99506) may also be among the few Homeric themes represented on relief pottery. It features the Trojan queen Hekabe and a procession of four Trojan women (the γεραιαί of the poem) carrying a heavily ornamented textile to be dedicated at the temple of Athena (Ahlberg-Cornell 1992: 58 no. 28; Simantoni-Bournia 2004: 102-3 pl. 60, figs 145-6). The picture follows closely the description in Il. 6.293-6. With the exception of the fallen warrior under the speeding chariot, these Homeric subjects do not appear on contemporary painted pottery.34 As noted, there has been pronounced scholarly scepticism about ‘Homer’ as a significant inspiration for vase painters before the end of the eighth century.35 Whatever reservations one may have about Late Geometric iconography, it cannot be denied that from the seventh century onwards poems which came to be assigned to the Homeric corpus moved gradually into the centre of cultural and political controversy. As Snodgrass notes, it is not difficult to believe that people everywhere in the Greek world, including artists and their clients, were beginning to pay closer and more frequent attention to what the poets of the ‘Homeric’ corpus’ actually said (Snodgrass 1998: 165). Since no inscriptions relating to the content of the picture are preserved on the neck panels of the Theban and Tenian vessels (Snodgrass 1998: chapter 5), and the composition is not the standard treatment of a specific episode adopted in later iconography, there is room for doubt as to the accuracy of the proposed interpretation. Nonetheless, it is a plausible suggestion which might provide the incentive for further discussion. 29 Dufeu-Muller et al. 2010: chapter V, ‘Artémis, déesse de tous les dangers’, 463-70 (Y� Morizot)� For a selection of recent works from a large bibliography on the double nature of Artemis, on the different forms of her worship, and on the types of her sanctuaries, see: Des Bouvrie 2009; Kalogeropoulos 2010; Mejer 2009; Mitsopoulou-Leon 2009; Nielsen 2009; Petrovic 2010; Solima 2011; Waugh 2009; Zink-Kaasgaard Falb 2009� 31 The Tenian fragment was found in a partially excavated Archaic long building which has not yet been fully published� The very important portable finds recovered imply an official, and probably sacral, function� 32 Snodgrass 1998: 78: ‘I am thereby assuming the possibility that the visual artists of the seventh century could, in principle, have had access to Homer as a source of inspiration; and that their Homer and ours were essentially the same’� 33 The long debate over the Homeric pedigree of Late Geometric and seventh-century battle scenes is far from over: see Snodgrass 1998: 18-32; Zaphiropoulou 2000: 292-3; 2006a: 276� 34 A depiction of women offering a textile on a hydria from the sanctuary of Artemis (?) at Eretria (Huber 2003: 129-33 [vol� I], 30-1 [vol� II], pl� 28, C37 and C41) does not fit Il. 6�293-6, and is better understood as worshippers dedicating a cloth to a goddess worshipped in the sanctuary; see also Langdon (2008: 44 fig� 1�7)� 35 E�g� Snodgrass 1998; for an overview of the problem of Homeric depictions, see Morgan (2010: 65-74)� 30 36 5. On women and on lions True iconographic innovations are scarce in our period and are often introduced from the east. Such is the case with birds of prey devouring corpses of fallen warriors. In many instances, artists used current schemes and made minor adaptations to standard formulae to meet the requirements of special scenes.36 This is how the formulaic scheme of the fallen warrior trodden by the enemy’s chariot was treated, or the procession of women adapted to fit the dedication of the precious cloth by Hekabe. This is also how one artist manipulated the centuries-old theme of the Potnia Theron to illustrate the dual nature of Artemis, managing at the same time to convey awe at the menacing nature of the goddess, so well phrased by Homer at Iliad 21.483-4 (ἐπεὶ σὲ λέοντα γυναιξὶ / Ζεὺς θῆκεν) and to express her compassionate side as protectress of suppliant young women.37 36 I agree with the notion of ‘bricolage éclectique au service d’une identité’ expressed by Croissant (2010: esp� 336), to illustrate the mechanisms by which seventh-century Greek culture assimilated eastern influence� 37 Despotides 2013 appeared one year after the present paper was submitted for publication� I am glad to see that we share many views concerning the Boeotian and Tenian ‘Potniae’ and their adjoining figures, if not the final interpretation� 37