Heraklion Archaeological Museum - CollectiveAccess System : Clay objects : Head of a hybrid creature [Π1812]

Head of a hybrid creature

Π1812

Clay

Mended from many pieces.

Height: 13 cm.

Hagia Triada

Piazzale dei Sacelli

Late Bronze Age. Postpalatial period, Late Minoan IIIC - Subminoan period.:

1200 - 970 BC:

Gallery:

Case:

124

Exhibition thematic unit:

Late Bronze Age - Postpalatial period (1300-1100 BC). Settlements. Sanctuaries. Tombs

Communal shrines

Description

Male head, probably belonging to a hybrid creature. It has realistic features without departing from the general spirit of geometrisation of the human form in the Late Minoan IIIC period. Details of the face, such as the beard, are picked out in paint. On the forehead are rows of zigzag lines, a decorative motif found on the pottery of the period. The same motif also appears on two of the three legs, probably from the same figurine, which were found together with the head (Π3103α, Π3103β, HTR0437). The body is not preserved but was probably bovid, like other examples of this type. The head and legs come from the Piazzale dei Sacelli (Square of the Shrines) in Agia Triada, where there was an open-air shrine of the Late Minoan IIIC-Subminoan period. The existence of the shrine is attested by the many clay votives found in the area, which can be divided into three types: bovid figurines, horns of consecration and figurines of various sizes depicting fantastical creatures with a human head and legs and bovid body.

Bibliography:

D’Agata, A. L. "The Shrines of the Piazzale dei Sacelli at Ayia Triadha. The LM IIIC and SM Material: A Summary." In J. Driessen and A. Farnoux (eds), La Cr?te Myc?nienne. Actes de la Table Ronde Internationale organis?e par l' ?cole Francaise d' Ath?nes, 26-28 Mars 1991. BCH Suppl?ment 30. Paris, 1997, 85-100. D’Agata, A.L. Le Statuine Minoiche e Post-Minoiche dai Vecchi Scavi di H. Triada (Creta). SAIA Monographie vol. XI, Haghia Triada II. Roma, 1999, 76-77, Tav. XXXIX, XLI:C2.2b, c, d, XLIX:C2.2. Rethemiotakis, G. Ανθρωπομορφική Πηλοπλαστική στην Κρήτη από τη Νεοανακτορική έως την Υπομινωική Περίοδο. Βιβλιοθήκη της εν Αθήναις Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας no. 174. Athens, 1998, 31, 82-83, pl. 54, fig. 55.

Author:

E. S.

Photographs' metadata