2. Two Late Bronze Age Faience Rhyta From a Private Collection in Nicosia

Flourentzos, Pavlos

doi:10.1179/lev.1986.18.1.169

Levant

1986

DOI: 10.1179/lev.1986.18.1.169

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2. Two Late Bronze Age Faience Rhyta From a Private Collection in Nicosia

Pavlos Flourentzos¹

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“…Therefore it seems that the gesture of condolence directed in each of the groups of two figures towards the person in distress refers probably to some eschatological hope or consolation, symbolised by the triad of sphinxes and palmette into which the figures are inserted. Compare perhaps the scenes on the newly discovered sarcophagus from Kition: Flourentzos 2011, 22–5.…”

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The Sphinx on the Roof: The Meaning of the Greek Temple Acroteria

Petit

2013

Annu. Br. Sch. Athens

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In the Archaic period, from the end of the seventh and above all in the sixth century bc, sphinxes are ubiquitous in the figured decoration of Greek temples. They appear not only as acroteria, but also on antefixes and simas. As acroteria, they always occur as lateral versions, flanking the central acroterion at a distance. Although these figures have recently been the subject of several exhaustive studies, their significance remains a matter of debate. In the absence of explicit texts, the only means of comprehending their meaning is by examining the combinations of figures in which the sphinx makes an appearance. It is their association in three-part or heraldic compositions with a central vegetal or floral motif which provides the key to the explanation. This group is similar to that known in the Levant in which two sphinxes flank a ‘Tree of Life’, a group which the Old Testament texts allow us to identify as the cherubim guarding the Tree of Life of Genesis 3.24. This group was transmitted to Cyprus and to the Aegean world without losing its meaning. A series of documents allows us to verify that the ‘extended’ group of acroteria that we are concerned with has not lost its symbolic value by comparison with the ‘compact’ group known particularly from Archaic Greek vase-painting. An explanation in terms of eschatological ends and aspirations also permits us to interpret the other associations of the sphinx – with gorgons, with horsemen and with ‘Nike' figures.

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The Sphinx on the Roof: The Meaning of the Greek Temple Acroteria

Petit

2013

Annu. Br. Sch. Athens

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Fit for a (not-quite-so-great) King: A Faience Lion-Headed Cup from Hazor

Zuckerman¹

2008

Levant

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2. Two Late Bronze Age Faience Rhyta From a Private Collection in Nicosia

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

The Sphinx on the Roof: The Meaning of the Greek Temple Acroteria

The Sphinx on the Roof: The Meaning of the Greek Temple Acroteria

Fit for a (not-quite-so-great) King: A Faience Lion-Headed Cup from Hazor

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