The ‘Skyphos Sanctuary’ from the North Slope of the Acropolis
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Date
2005
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Archaeological Institute of America
Abstract
Oscar Broneer’s excavations on the North Slope of the Acropolis (1939) brought to light an unusual deposit of over 200 skyphoi, all inverted and placed in rows of four to six vessels. Broneer, who published only a brief note on the deposit (AJA 44 [1940] 254–256), concluded that the skyphoi represented ritual activity marking some previously unknown cult location. Four types of skyphoi are represented, now dated to the early third century B.C. The uniformity of size, shape, and manufacture suggests that each series was acquired from the same workshop and deposited together at the same time. From the same area were found miniature votive cups, a fragmentary terracotta figurine, several coins, and the bones of a dog. While inverted cups have often been found in ritual deposits of the prehistoric Aegean, few parallels have been noted from historical Greek periods. However, two sanctuaries in Italy (S. Nicola di Albanella) and Sicily (Bitalemi), both associated with the worship of Demeter, provide examples of the ritual inversion of skyphoi. One possibility is that the North Slope “Skyphos Sanctuary” represents cult activity associated with the worship of Demeter or another chthonic deity, but over a very limited period of time. The ritual may have involved libation by small groups of people, after which the vessels were carefully placed (or “planted”?) in rows. Since so many of the vessels were found intact, it is likely that the skyphoi were deliberately covered over by a layer of earth soon after they had been deposited.
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Glowacki, K.T, and S. Rotroff. 2005. “The ‘Skyphos Sanctuary’ from the North Slope of the Acropolis,” Archaeological Institute of America 106th Annual Meeting Abstracts, Boston: Archaeological Institute of America, 89. ISBN 9781931909099