Polymnia. Studi di Archeologia n.06

The attention of the author is focused on the relationship between Cybele and Apollo on a votive altar found in the territory of the ancient Celeia. The presence of symbols referring both to the anatolian goddess and to the oracular deity on the sides of the monument was considered from scholars as an evidence of a symbiosis between these particular healing deities. However, the lack of close comparisons for this exclusive association with respect to other figurative documents in the roman world leads to a review of the monument. The considering of the altar from a different prospective and the research of connection between metroac and apollonian cult on an historical level suggest an alternative interpretation for the presence of tripod and other symbols of Apollo on the altar.

In Norditalien gibt es nur wenige Fußbodenmosaike mit mythologischen Darstellungen. Eine der interessantesten Beispiele ist ein Mosaik, das 1948 in Rimini entdeckt wurde und eine männliche Figur abbildet, in Hirtenbekleidung, mit Hundskopf, der eine große Anzahl wilder Tiere und Fabelwesen hütet. Die Figur wurde von der Wissenschaft als Anubis interpretiert. Dieser Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit den in diesem Zusammenhang auftretenden Fragen der Datierung und dem Kontext des Mosaiks ebenso wie mit denen der ikonographischen Interpretation der Szene, die einzigartig ist.

The aim of this paper is to reconsider and to put in its context the iconographic scheme with the meeting between Dionysus and Ariadne. The point of departure is an Attic black-figure amphora kept in Trieste’s Civici Musei di Storia ed Arte, which has been attributed to the Antimenes Painter (530-510 BC). In the following, we will discuss the beginning of this scheme by the theories of Cornelia Isler-Kerényi, which in several papers points out the Cycladic origin of the depiction with Dionysus and Ariadne. In greater detail, the scholar believes that there is a close connection between the scheme depicted in the Attic black-figure and a discussed Cycladic production, the Melian pottery. The critical review of this thesis raises interesting questions about the beginning and the development of this iconographic scheme, which are going to enjoy great fortune for all the VI century BC.

The Heraion of Samos is characterized by the simultaneous presence of several temples, whose role and function is not always easily identifiable. Available archaeological, epigraphic and literary evidence suggests that some of them actually served as authentic cult edifices, connected with worship practices related to the deities attested in the area, such as Hera or Aphrodite. Nevertheless, the analysis of some significant inscriptions reveals the primary importance of economic activities taking place in the sacred space, indicating that the role played by at least one of the temples was indeed deeply focused on the financial deposits’ management and thereby shading some light on the debated problem concerning the constructions’ interpretation.