Ancient Mediterranean

Digital Project

Minoan ship ceremony

Cat. No.

A43

Date

LM IIIB

Findspot

Epidauros, north of the temple of Apollo Maleatas. Disturbed layer with EH-LH ceramics

Dimensions

L (along circumference): 10.8 cm; H: 4.6 cm; Th: 0.6-0.8 cm; Diam: 10.2 cm

Medium

Gray-black marble rhyton with clear speckles, probably conical in shape. Fragment in 3 pieces.

Accession Number

Athens National Archaeological Museum 10395

References

Shaw 1980: 176, fig. 10; Warren 1979: 127, fig. 5; Wedde 2000: 324, no. 642; Xenaki-Sakellariou 1971

Parts of an ikrion in the lower right edge of the fragment, with the head of a seated figure poking out of it. The structure consists of a square construction with a thick wavy line delimiting its upper edge, with two additional horizontal bands dividing its surface. There is a tapering vertical pole rising out of it, with another oblique line crossing behind the ikrion and the head of the man. At the base of the ikrion there is a dolphin protome rearing up.

Part of a Minoan type ship on the right. To the left there is a shoreline with marching men broken off at waist level. Below them in the lower left corner are at least two men carrying body shields, with the man on the right holding a long baton in his outstretched hand.

A rare example of a narrative composition. The artist has made an error in aligning the mast with the ikrion. The dolphin protome echoes the sternpost lions and griffins on the Theran fresco ships.

Shaw, M. C. 1980. “Painted “Ikria” at Mycenae?” AJA 84.2: 167-179.

Warren, P. 1979. “The Miniature Fresco from the West House at Akrotiri, Thera, and its Aegean Setting,” Journal of Hellenistic Studies 99: 115-129.

Wedde, M. 2000. Towards a Hermeneutics of Aegean Bronze Age Ship Imagery. Peleus Studien zur Archäologie und Geschichte Griechenlands und Zyperns, vol. 6. Bibliopolis: Mannheim and Möhnsee.

Xenaki-Sakellariou, A. 1971. “Scène de bataille sur un vase mycénien en pierre?” RA: 3-14.

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