• Agia Triada Sarcophagus



Agia Triada Sarcophagus

Λ396
Plaster (Lime plaster), Stone (Poros stone)
Incomplete in parts of the surface. Restored.
Length: 130 cm. Width: 43 cm. Height: 91 cm.
Hagia Triada
Necropolis, Tomb 4
Late Bronze Age. Final Palatial period, Late Minoan LΜ ΙΙΙΑ2 period.:
1370-1320 BC:
Gallery:
XII
Case:
Not in case
Exhibition thematic unit:
Late Bronze Age - Postpalatial period (1300-1100 BC). The larnakes. The world of the dead
The larnakes: The world of the dead
Description
Stone chest larnax. The outer surface is covered with a thin coat of plaster and painted in the fresco technique with scenes of the funerary ritual of the period. On one long side, on the right, the deceased man is shown standing in front of his tomb, wearing a long sleeveless tunic and receiving offerings of models of animals and a boat. On the left, priestesses are pouring libations into a tub between poles surmounted by double axes. On the other long side are depicted other funerary rites, a bull sacrifice and bloodless offerings at an altar in front of a sacred structure with a sacred tree. The events are accompanied by music, while the presence of the goddess is indicated by birds. On the two narrow sides, the figures in chariots drawn by agrimia (wild goats) and griffins may be a symbolic depiction of the last journey of the deceased. The larnax was discovered in a funerary building near the Villa of Agia Triada. Its material and the quality of its construction, as well as the iconography, indicate that it was used for the burial of a particularly eminent person. Its iconography provides valuable information on the elaborate funerary ritual and the rendering of honours developed by the Minoans and Mycenaeans. It also forms the link between the great art of the frescoes and the iconography of the clay larnakes of Postpalatial Crete.
Bibliography:
Paribeni, R. “Il sarcofago dipinto di Haghia Triada.” Monumenti Antichi pubblicati per cura della Reale Accademia dei Lincei(1908): 5–87. Long, C. The Ayia Triadha Sarcophagus: A Study of Late Minoan and Mycenaean Funerary Practices and Beliefs. Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology 41. G?teborg, 1974. Burke, Β. “Materialization of Mycenaean Ideology and the Ayia Triada Sarcophagus.” American Journal of Archaeology 109.3 (2005): 403-22.
Author:
D. M.


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