Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-kwt9d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-13T19:51:32.441Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mycenaean centaurs at Ugarit

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2012

Ione Mylonas Shear
Ione Mylonas Shear
Affiliation:
Princeton, New Jersey
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The identification of two Mycenaean terracotta centaurs from the excavations at Ras Shamra-Ugarit suggests a Bronze Age origin for the centaurs known from the historic periods of Greece. The Mycenaean centaurs from Ras Shamra-Ugarit are compared to the later examples from the Greek mainland. No continuous artistic tradition can be identified among the preserved examples. Since writing ceased to be used in Greece in the Iron Age and no artistic trend connecting the different representations of centaurs can be seen, it is suggested here that the concept of centaurs was transmitted by way of the oral tradition.

Information

Type
Shorter Contributions
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 122 , November 2002, pp. 147 - 153
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Ahlberg-Cornell, G. (1992) Myth and Epos in Early Greek Art, Representations and Interpretation (SIMA 100, Jonsered)Google Scholar
Arnold, R. (1972) The Horse-Demon in Early Greek Art and his Eastern Neighbors (Diss., Columbia University)Google Scholar
Banti, L. (1954) ‘Myth in pre-Classical art’, AJA 58, 307–10CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Basch, L. (1987) The musée imaginaire de la marine antique (Athens)Google Scholar
Baur, P.V.C. (1912) Centaurs in Ancient Art. The Archaic Period (Berlin)Google Scholar
Belgiordino, M.R. (1978) ‘Centauressa o sfinge su una larnax micenea da Tanagra?’, SMEA 19, 205–28Google Scholar
Blegen, C. W. (1937) Prosymna. The Helladic Settlement Preceding the Argive Heraeum (Cambridge, MA)Google Scholar
Boardman, J. (1963) Island Gems. A Study of Greek Seals in the Geometric and Early Archaic Periods (London)Google Scholar
Bohen, B. (1988) Kerameikos. Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen 13: Die geometrischen Pyxiden (German Archaeological Institute, New York and Berlin)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brommer, F. (1960) Vasenlisten zur grieschischen Heldensage (Marburg)Google Scholar
Buchholz, H.-G. (1999) Ugarit, Zypern und Ägäis. Kulturbeziehungen im zweiten Jahrtausend v. Chr. (Münster)Google Scholar
Buschor, E. (1934) ‘Kentauren’, AJA 38, 128–32CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Courtois, J.-C. (1978) ‘Corpus céramique de Ras Shamra-Ugarit, Deuxième partie’, in Schaeffer, C.F.-A. (ed.), Ugaritica 7 (Paris) 191–370Google Scholar
D'Agata, A.-L. (1997) ‘The shrines on the Piazzale dei Sacelli at Ayia Triadha. The LM IIIC and SM material: a summary’, in Dreissen, J. and Farmoux, A. (eds), La Crète mycénienne. Actes de la Table Ronde Internationale organisée par I'École française d'Athènes (BCH Suppl. 30, Athens) 85–100Google Scholar
Demargne, P. (1929) ‘A propos d'une représentation de centaure’, BCH 53, 117–28CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Demetriou, A. (1989) Cypro-Aegean Relations in the Early Iron Age (SIMA 83, Goteberg)Google Scholar
Desborough, V.R.d'A. et al. (1980) ‘The Dark Age pottery (SM-SPG III) from settlement and cemeteries’, in Popham(1980) 281–350Google Scholar
Desborough, V.R.d'A., Nicholls, R.V. and Popham, M. (1970) ‘A Euboean centaur’, BSA 65, 21–30Google Scholar
Dickinson, O.T.P.K. (1994) The Aegean Bronze Age (Cambridge)Google Scholar
Evans, A.J. (1894) ‘Primitive pictographs and a prae-Phoenician script from Crete and the Peloponnese’, JHS 14, 270–372CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fittschen, K. (1969) Untersuchungen zum Beginn der Sagendarstellungen bei den Griechen (Berlin)Google Scholar
French, E. Wace (1971) ‘The development of Mycenaean terracotta figurines’, BSA 66, 101–87Google Scholar
French, E. Wace (1985) Chapter VI: ‘The figures and figurines’, in Renfrew, C. (ed.), The Archaeology of Cult. The Sanctuary at Phylakopi (BSA Suppl. 18, London) 209–80Google Scholar
Gejvall, N.-G. (1968) Lerna, a Preclassical Site in the Argolid: Results of Excavations Conducted by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 1: The Fauna (Princeton)Google Scholar
Hampe, R., and Simon, E. (1981) The Birth of Greek Art. From the Mycenaean to the Archaic Period (New York)Google Scholar
Higgins, R.A. (1967) Greek Terracottas (London)Google Scholar
Iakovidis, S.E. (1969) Περατὴ. Τὸ νεκροταφεῖον (Athens)Google Scholar
Karageorghis, V. (1993) The Coroplastic Art of Ancient Cyprus 2: Late Cypriote II – Cypro-Geometric III (Nicosia)Google Scholar
Kourou, N., and Karetsou, A. (1997) ‘Terracotta wheelmade bull figurines from central Crete: types, fabric, technique and tradition’, in Laffineur, R. and Betancourt, P. (eds), TEXNH. Craftsmen, Craftswomen and Craftsmanship in the Aegaean Bronze Age (Aegeum 16, Liegè) 107–116Google Scholar
Kübler, K.(1943)Kerameikos. Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen 4: Neufunde aus der Nekropole des 11. und 10. Jahrhunderts (German Archaeological Institute, Berlin)Google Scholar
Kübler, K. (1970) Kerameikos. Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen 6.2: Die Nekropole des späten 8 bis frühen 6 Jahrhunderts (German Archaeological Institute, Berlin)Google Scholar
Kunze, E. (1930) ‘Zu den Anfängen der griechischen Plastik’, AM 55, 141–62Google Scholar
Langdon, S. (1989) ‘The return of the horse-leader’, AJA 93, 185–201CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leonard, A. Jr(1994) An Index to the Late Bronze Age Aegean Pottery from Syria-Palestine (SIMA 114, Göteberg)Google Scholar
Monloup, T. (1987) ‘Figurines de terre cuite’, in Yon, M. (ed.), Ras Shamra-Ougarit 3 (Paris) 307–26Google Scholar
Nicholls, R.V. (1970) ‘Greek votive statuettes and religious continuity, c. 1200-700 BC’, in Harris, B.F. (ed.), Auckland Classical Essays Presented to E.M. Blaiklock (Auckland and Oxford) 1–37Google Scholar
Papadopoulou-Kannellopoulou, C. (1989) Συλλογή Καρόλου Ποίτη (Athens)Google Scholar
Pini, I. (1988) Corpus der minoischen und mykenischen Siegel 11: Kleinere europäische Sammlungen (Berlin)Google Scholar
Popham, M.R., Sackett, L.H. and Themelis, P.G. (eds) (1980) Lefkandi 1: The Iron Age, the Settlement, the Cemeteries (BSA Suppl. 11, London)Google Scholar
Rombos, T. (1988) The Iconography of Attic Late Geometric II Pottery (SIMA PB 68, Jonsered)Google Scholar
Rutter, J.B. (1993) ‘The prepalatial Bronze Age in the southern and central Greek mainland’, AJA 97, 774–97Google Scholar
Schaeffer, C.F.-A. and Chenet, M.G. (1949) ‘Corpus céramique de Ras Shamra’, in Schaeffer, C.F.-A. (ed.), Ugaritica 2 (Paris) 131–301Google Scholar
Schiffler, B. (1976) Die Typologie des Kentauren in der antiken Kunst vom 10. bis zum Ende des 4. Jhs. v. Chr. (Frankfurt)Google Scholar
Schweitzer, B. (1971) Greek Geometric Art (London)Google Scholar
Shear, I.M. (1987) The Panagia Houses at Mycenae (Philadelphia)Google Scholar
Shear, T.L. (1931) ‘The excavation of Roman chamber tombs at Corinth in 1931’, AJA 35, 424–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snodgrass, A.M. (1998) Homer and the Artists (Cambridge)Google Scholar
Szabó, M. (1994) Archaic Terracottas of Boeotia (Rome)Google Scholar
Tamvaki, A. (1973) ‘Some unusual Mycenaean terracottas from the Citadel House Area’, BSA 68, 207–65Google Scholar
von den Driesch, A. and Boessneck, J. (1990) ‘Die Tierreste von der mykenischen Burg Tiryns bei Nauplion/Peloponnes’, in Tiryns 11 (Mainz) 87–164Google Scholar
Yon, M., Karageorghis, V. and Hirschfeld, N. (2000) Ras Shamra-Ougarit 13: Céramique mycéniennes d'Ougarit (Paris and Nicosia)Google Scholar