Heraklion Archaeological Museum - CollectiveAccess System : Clay objects : Bull rhyton depicting bull-leaping [Π5052]

Vaulted Tombs of Mesara ➔ Bull rhyton depicting bull-leaping

Π5052

Clay

The bull's tail is restored. The bull-leaper's head and the second horn are missing .

Height: 9.5 cm. Length: 16.5 cm.

Porti

Tholos Tomb

Middle Bronze Age. Late Prepalatial - Protopalatial period, Middle Minoan I period.:

2000 - 1800 BC:

Gallery:

Case:

Exhibition thematic unit:

Middle Bronze Age - Late Prepalatial-Protopalatial period (2200-1700 BC). From small communities to towns

Description

Rhyton in the shape of a bull with human figures on it. The handmade vessel has a filling hole in the neck of the animal and a pouring hole in the muzzle. A figure, probably male, is clinging to one of the bull’s horns, while there was probably a corresponding figure on the other horn, which has not been preserved. The bull’s back and body are covered with a dense grid of vertical and horizontal lines in dark red on white. The ornament is interpreted as a net, based on later depictions of the theme. This rhyton provides another three-dimensional depiction of bull-capturing orbull-leaping, a subject very familiar from later Minoan iconography. The rhyton was found in the tholos tomb at Porti and is associated with funerary rituals.

Bibliography:

Koehl, R. B. Aegean Bronze Age Rhyta. Prehistory Monographs 19. Philadelphia, 2006, 70, 327-329, pl. 1:9. Marinatos, N. "The Bull as an Adversary: Some Observations on Bull-Hunting and Bull-Leaping". Αριάδνη 5 (1989):23-32. Xanthoudides, St. The Vaulted Tombs of Mesara. An Account of Some Early Cemeteries of Southern Crete. London, 1924, 62, pl. VII:5052, XXXVII:5052.

Author:

E. S.

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