Search results for ""Author Nassos Papalexandrou""

This book is a focused study on the Greek tripod cauldron, the most revered religious symbol in Greek culture, and its multiple dimensions. At the core of its analysis is the visual apparatus of the early bronze tripods, which, as early as the 8th century, take the form of spear-brandishing warriors and, later in the 7th century, as handle holding youths. Traditional interpretations of these bronze images have neglected their original function on top of tripods. This study examines for the first time the iconography of these attachments in light of two considerations: first, the function of the tripod as symbol of authoritative discourse and political power in Early Greek culture and second the communicative role of images in the preliterate contexts of Early Greek sanctuaries, the specification of which informs the analysis in the last three chapters. The Visual Poetics of Power: Warriors, Youths, and Tripods in Early Greece has far-reaching implications for contemporary scholarship of early Greek culture: the performative contexts of epic poetry, the social function of early Greek works of art, and the communicative function of figurative art in preliterate contexts.

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The eighth and seventh centuries BCE were a time of flourishing exchange between the Mediterranean and the Near East. One of the period’s key imports to the Hellenic and Italic worlds was the image of the griffin, a mythical monster that usually possesses the body of a lion and the head of an eagle. In particular, bronze cauldrons bore griffin protomes—figurative attachments showing the neck and head of the beast. Crafted in fine detail, the protomes were made to appear full of vigor, transfixing viewers.Bronze Monsters and the Cultures of Wonder takes griffin cauldrons as case studies in the shifting material and visual universes of preclassical antiquity, arguing that they were perceived as lifelike monsters that introduced the illusion of verisimilitude to Mediterranean arts. The objects were placed in the tombs of the wealthy (Italy, Cyprus) and in sanctuaries (Greece), creating fantastical environments akin to later cabinets of curiosities. Yet griffin cauldrons were accessible only to elites, ensuring that the new experience of visuality they fostered was itself a symbol of status. Focusing on the sensory encounter of this new visuality, Nassos Papalexandrou shows how spaces made wondrous fostered novel subjectivities and social distinctions.

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The study of bronzes and other metals from the Athenian Acropolis traditionally has been overshadowed by the emphasis given to the famous monuments of architecture and sculpture, in part due to the incomplete publication of the metal small finds from the site following the major excavation campaigns in the 19th century. Without attempting to be a comprehensive synthesis on this topic, this volume positions itself against this tradition by resuscitating discussion on the Acropolis bronzes. The introduction reflects on the history of the relevant scholarship vis-à-vis the life of the Acropolis bronzes in various museums and collections in Greece and elsewhere. The six essays provide overviews, reinterpretations, and critical discussions as well as new methodological approaches to various aspects of the existing corpus. Diane Harris-Cline employs Actor-Network theory to showcase the intricate web of social relationships behind each gesture that resulted in the deposition of bronzes on the Acropolis. Andronike Makres and Adele Scafuro reflect on methodological quandaries and detail their efforts to produce a new critical edition of the corpus of inscriptions on dedicatory and other bronzes that takes into account the materiality of this epigraphic record. Amy Sowder Koch reviews the corpus of hydriai from the Acropolis, taking into account newly published examples, and situates them within the larger context of bronze hydriai, seeking to understand Athens' role in bronze hydria production. Germano Sarcone revisits technical and social aspects of the impressively monumental and technically complex tripod-cauldrons from the Acropolis from the eighth century BCE onwards. Nassos Papalexandrou discusses the corpus of griffin cauldrons arguing that their original lavishness added to the prestige of the sanctuary during a formative period of Athenian society. Elena Karakitsou publishes a fascinating inscribed phiale retrieved from the southwestern entablature of the Parthenon along with the remains of a rare ritual deposit.

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