ancientart:‘Dolls’ from ancient Greece with articulated arms. Were these children’s toys, charms to
ancientart:‘Dolls’ from ancient Greece with articulated arms. Were these children’s toys, charms to ward off evil, or cult objects?Unfortunately, we just don’t know -it is near impossible to ascribe a single function of these objects. With their similarity in form to children’s toys we see today, it is tempting to assume that their function was the same. Some scholars in the past have even suggested that they would have once been dressed in clothing. While this idea should not be dismissed entirely, it is true that this original hypothesis is based on an inaccurate reading of an ancient epigram. It has also been pointed out that many would have been too fragile to have withstood constant children’s play.The archaeological contexts of these ‘dolls’ offer us some insight into their possible uses. Some seem to have served as offerings to deities, found in association with sanctuaries or temples. They have also been found in graves of both children and adults (gifts? protective objects? loved possessions of the buried person?), small house shrines (cult images?), and adorned homes (decoration? protective charms?). One type of these ancient figurines, those with movable legs as well as arms (example #1), stand out. We start to see these figures appearing in Greece from about the 10 century BC, and they remained popular right through to the Roman period. Also found in Cyrus, these dangling limbs would have been either shaken or hung: most of these figures have suspension holes atop their heads. These ‘dolls’ in particular are usually thought to have had some sort of perceived magical function, such as warding off evil, and have often been found in tombs.Shown examples are courtesy of & can be viewed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The first dates to the 5th century BC, and the second to the 4th century BC. Via their online collections: 44.11.8 & 18.96. When writing up this post, Maya Muratov’s article on the matter was of use.Also of interest: the oldest known preserved example of a Greek articulated figurine made of bone, also at the MET. -- source link
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