Moscow University
Anthropology
Bulletin
Anthropology
Bulletin
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Anuchin Institute and Museum of Anthropology, Mokhovaya str., 11, Moscow, 125009, Russia
Shpak Larisa Yu.; PhD; ORCID ID: 0000-0002-6936-9426; larusparus@mail.ru.
Introduction. The iconography of votive offerings depicting a person has a significant role in the cult practices of the Greco-Roman world. According to their classification in ThesCRA, votives in the form of isolated heads, statues and busts are non-anatomical votives; half-heads, masks, body parts, internal organs are anatomical «ex-votos». The purpose of this work is to study literary sources about the origin, distribution, production, regional characteristics and typology, the nature of the Greek influence on iconography; analysis of votives statistic and data interpretation. Materials and methods. The statistical data on some antique deposits are analyzed, the literature is studied, terracotta and bronze votive heads, statues and busts in electronic collections of museums are considered. Results and discussion. Dedications of votive heads, statues and busts are distributed locally - in Etruria, Latium and Campania, each region has its own characteristic types of votive. The earliest heads date back to the 6th-5th centuries BC. The most numerous of dedications of votive heads dates back to the 4th-2nd centuries BC. The appearance of votive heads outside this territory is associated with Roman expansion and the dedications of the colonists. In Greek votive practices of Southern Italy and Sicily, as well as in the metropolis, the genre of votive heads did not develop in the portrait direction. According to the literary tradition, architectural terracotta and coroplasty are of Corinthian origin. The question of the genesis of votive terracotta heads in Central Italy has not been finally resolved. The technique of their mass production was developed during the archaic period for the manufacture of architectural antefixes. Regional typological variations in votive production reveal to an authentic art traditions in Etruria and Latium, associated with both the partial depiction of the human body (anatomical votives) and the development of the portrait direction (votive heads). Due to the lack of literary evidence, the medical aspect of the interpretations of votive heads offerings must first be considered, as well as their replacement of the person of the worshiper or the very fact of worship. Conclusion. Votive dedications are considered individual commissions, economically acceptable for the middle social class, but preliminary calculations of the frequency of anatomical and non-anatomical votives in the deposits of some sanctuaries reveal contradictory indicators that require further verification. The research an ethnic «component» based on votive portrait images, in connection with the historical and cultural community of this Mediterranean phenomenon, becomes an extremely difficult problem.
coroplasty; Mediterranean; votive depositories; anatomical «ex-votos»; terracotta votive heads
DOI: 10.32521/2074-8132.2020.4.138-152
Цит.: Shpak L.Yu. The image of a person in the votive tradition of the ancient Mediterranean (according to literary sources) // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2020; 4/2020; с. 138-152
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