This volume, the second in the TELESTES Series (Studi e ricerche di archeologia musicale nel Mediterraneo) initiated by Bellia, presents the papers of a conference on archaeomusicology held in 2015 at the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University. Both editors are well known at international level for their research topics related to ‘archeologia musicale’ (German Musikarchäologie), while Bellia has a particular interest in coroplastics depicting musical instruments and musicians from Sicily and Magna Graecia.
The thirteen contributions, together with the introduction by Marconi and the afterword by Bellia, are in English. The volume benefits from a list of abbreviations as well as indexes (of places and subjects). The wide geographical range of the discussed finds covers mainly the ancient Mediterranean landscapes, but also the Near East and Peru. Chronologically the focus is on the first millennium bc, with very few exceptions. It is pointed out that the selection was rather circumstantial and not intentional (p. 9). Iconography, ritual contexts and functions of the ancient coroplastics are mentioned as the foci of the general discussion, both in the volume's title and in the introduction (pp. 17–21).
The first two contributions, dedicated to the Near East, deal with examples of unclear meaning, function and archaeological provenance. R. Pruzsinszky focuses on terracotta plaques of the Old Babylonian period, the peak of clay production, and on musical scenes showing monkeys in musical contexts. Based on iconography and relevant literary sources, Pruzsinszky considers that the ambiguous figure of the monkey can be understood both as a reflection of humanity (‘Menschenbild’) and as an indicator of the lower social status of some musicians. The subsequent contribution by A. Caubet concentrates on a group of middle Elamite figurines depicting a male lute-player, presenting unnatural features and some traits of dwarfism. The conclusion is that the depicted was a dancing supra-human, a magical identity. Dance linked the lute-player to higher beings, and the figurines might have worked as intermediaries between the humans and the gods.
The main part of the volume concerns the areas around the Mediterranean. M. López-Bertran and A. Garcia-Ventura discuss examples of coroplastic art featuring Phoenician and Punic music, dating from the seventh to the second centuries bc. Previous research on figurines from the western and central Mediterranean observed several characteristics: they are mould-made, represent mainly women with percussion instruments and rarely with wind instruments. Only a few examples present traces of colour (red). After examining examples from Ibiza and Carthage, the authors found a group from Carthage that does not fit into this pattern: the items are wheel-made, the musicians are playing stringed instruments, and the figurines still bear traces of polychromy. The result of the investigation is that, despite the foreign iconography, these figurines represent Punic traditions and bear witness to a strong connection between music and funerary rituals.
Musical performance and society in protohistoric Cyprus is analysed by M. Mikrakis based on visual evidence, including coroplastic figures. Mikrakis investigates the permanence and the disruption of certain traditions, especially in the stringed instruments used and the introduction of ring-dance groups, and notes parallels in the Near East and the shift towards Aegean traditions of performance. He concludes that musical performance was one of the strategies utilised by Cypriots to express social identity and as a status-enhancing activity of the (warrior) elite.
E. Doğan Gürbüzer discusses the typology and iconography of the terracotta votives representing musicians recovered from the sanctuary of Apollo Clarios, at Claros, in Ionia. The essay focuses on mass-produced figurines carrying different stringed instruments in their left hands. They have been recovered since 2001 during the systematic excavations in the area of the Archaic altar of Apollo and in a structure (possibly a further temple) to the south of the temple. Based on the organology of the carried instrument (kithara, lyra, barbitos) between the end of the sixth and the third centuries bc, Doğan Gürbüzer investigates the differences in form and meaning between the figurines. In addition, on the basis of the documented find spot and the type of musical instrument, she proposes that some of these votives (with lyra and some with kithara, found in the structure to the south of the temple) may have been used in the cult of Leto rather than that of Apollo.
M. Chidiroglou presents an overview of figurines from the collections of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, found in various regions of Greece and in Myrina and Smyrna in Asia Minor. Employing an analysis of the depicted musical instruments and of the different functions attested for music in Greek society, Chidiroglou identifies significant repeated types and notes the importance of music in rites, dances and musical education in many poleis in Classical and Hellenistic times.
A more focused approach, on the iconography of Eros playing different musical instruments on Late Classical and Hellenistic terracottas, is offered by K. Karoglou. She analyses three statuettes in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Due to the fact that similar examples were recovered in tombs, the discussion concentrates on the funerary context and especially on the documented finds. She concludes that the depictions of Eros as a musician can be understood as a manifestation of the capacity of music and song to communicate both erotic desire and lament.
The next five contributions analyse materials from documented archaeological contexts and are therefore able to concentrate on the function of the figurines, as a votive in a sanctuary or as an element of a funerary inventory. M. de Cesare examines terracotta pinakes from the Manella sanctuary of Persephone at Locri Epizephyrii that depict a pair of young horsemen followed by a veiled woman. The attributes held by the men vary by series: either a phiale and shield or a lyre and kantharos. De Cesare identifies the riders from the second series as the Theban Dioskouroi on the basis of their attributes (lyre for Amphion and kantharos for Zethus), and argues that the particular myths and music that they each refer to were used within the context of the sanctuary as tools for self-representation.
A numerous group of terracotta plaques that depict a couple dancing in a cave, under an arc of grape clusters and musical instruments (syrinx and tympanon), are explored by R. Miller Ammerman. The votives date from the second half of the fourth to the beginning of the third century bc and were found at Metaponto, in contexts related to religious practice, and also next to their place of production. After reviewing the archaeological, iconographical and written evidence of the plaques and of the musical instruments, Miller Ammerman addresses their role in public and private rites and concludes that the figurines were used in the context of nuptial ceremonies.
The funerary context to which some of the coroplastic objects are related is discussed by A. Pagliara, investigating the miniature theatrical masks from the Liparean necropolis at Contrada Diana and in particular their association with figurines of female dancers playing krotala. Pagliara suggests that the masks’ expressions of pathos correspond to the new and characteristic sadness of ‘new music’ and theatre of the fourth century bc, and that associations between masks and other figurines within funerary contexts may be intentional depending on the literary genre to which they can be assigned.
Female musicians, playing drums, are the subject of A. Piccioni's contribution. The figurines were found in southern Italy and Sicily, many of them in funerary contexts, and depict a standing woman holding or playing a tympanon. Using written and epigraphic evidence, Piccioni advances the hypothesis that these were dedicated by the professional drum players who participated in rites that honoured the goddess Cybele (and eventually other gods like Demeter and Dionysus) or that they can even depict those musicians.
D.F. Maras's study of figurines representing lyre-players found in Etruscan votive deposits dated to the fifth and third centuries bc introduces into the discussion the not very often approached subject of Etruscan music and instruments. Taking into consideration the clothing of the depicted men, the iconography of the figures and the organological details of the stringed instruments in Etruria as well as their context (funerary or cultic), Maras plausibly considers the identification of the lyre-player, alternatively, as Apollo or attendant musicians.
The final contribution stretches the geographical and chronological arch of the volume to the coroplastic tradition of the American continent. D. La Chioma Silvestre Villalva investigates the social and politico-religious role of musicians in Moche ceremonies during the Middle Moche period (100–450 ce, northern coast of Peru). Two case studies illustrate that players of the panpipe (antara) are associated with leading social positions such as officiants, shamans and priests.
In the afterword, Bellia uses multiple case studies in order to exemplify the possible investigations on iconography and functions in sacred, domestic and funerary contexts of terracotta figurines representing musicians and musical instruments, and to demonstrate how coroplastic evidence may be best utilised in archaeomusicological studies. The depictions of ‘female and male musicians are not simply dedications and material objects but are dynamic and expressive products of human musical behaviour’ (p. 199).
The volume contributes significantly to discussions about the effective use of coroplastic evidence, and, at the same time, approaches broader questions about the role of music and musicians in antiquity. This aspect makes the volume interesting to a wide audience. The inclusion or at least mention of similar work (from the point of view of musical iconography), such as C. Vendries on Hellenistic and Roman terracottas from Egypt (Greek and Roman Musical Studies 1 [2013], 195–227) would have been of interest and of benefit for the general discussion in the volume.
This very elegant book is well edited and has few typographical errors. However, one problem is the illustrations. The small (in some cases tiny) size of the photographs makes the recognition of details, and also comparisons, sometimes impossible, both fundamental when dealing with iconography.
The volume offers a wide range of overviews and introductions in different areas related to archaeomusicology and, most importantly, raises many new questions or re-opens discussions, especially on the relation between iconography, contexts (of recovery, of use and eventual reuse), chronology and cultural exchange. As the series TELESTES is intended to approach this wide and generous theme, future studies will certainly present more insights into ancient societies and their approaches towards music.
