[ΚΕΝΟ]



Pair of recumbent wild goat figurines

X823, Χ822
Metal (Bronze)
Good (male missing one horn)
Male animal: Height (with horns): 5.2 cm. Width: 5.5 cm. Female animal: Height (with horns): 3.6 cm. Width: 4.7 cm.
Hagia Triada
Palatial building - Central Pillar Hall - side room
Late Bronze Age, Neopalatial period. Late Minoan Ι period:
1580 - 1450 BC:
Gallery:
XI
Case:
124
Exhibition thematic unit:
Late Bronze Age - Postpalatial period (1300-1100 BC). Settlements. Sanctuaries. Tombs
Communal shrines
Description
Pair of bronze recumbent agrimia (wild goats), perhaps forming a unified composition. The sexes are differentiated by the length of the horns: the male has longer horns and a more robust body, while the female has smaller horns and a cylindrical body. The animals’ proportions and characteristics are extremely naturalistically rendered. The symmetry in the depiction of the muscular male compared to the slenderer female body, and the dynamism of their various features, in the neck, head, legs and horns, mark the height of the naturalistic style in Minoan miniature plastic art. The agrimia were found with a few bronze human figurines in a side room of a palatial hall featuring gypsum slabs and a central pillar set in a square recess in the floor, indicating that the room was used for special ceremonial activities. The wild goat (Capra aegagrus), or agrimi as it is called in Crete, is still found on the island. The animal is definitely one of the symbols of the Minoan world, depicted with wings, drawing chariots, relaxing on mountain peaks or accompanying the Great Goddess of nature. Beyond these symbolisms, however, this three-dimensional depiction of a pair of these sacred animals of the Cretan landscape probably has connotations of fertility.
Bibliography:
Pilali-Papasteriou, Angeliki. 1985. Die Bronzenen Tierfiguren aus Kreta. C.H. Becksche Verlagsbuchhandlung, München. p. 94, pl. 22 (238).
Author:
D. S.


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