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The standing female figure in its ancient Mediterranean context: an investigation into the origins and significance of the Kore type in Archaic Greek sculpture

Atac, Mehmet Ali
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1371827160

Abstract Details

1996, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, History of Art.
Archaeological evidence for early Greek cult images is very scarce. Literary sources constitute the only means through which we learn about them. The antiquarian and iconoclastic tradition ascribes crude beginnings to such images positing that representational sculpture evolved from aniconic prototypes. This is an art- and religious-historical fallacy on the part of ancient authors and modern scholarship that subscribed to it. Aniconism always existed side by side with the iconic impulse in the ancient world. From the Neolithic period onward, holy images in the eastern Mediterranean reflect two different types of female figure. The first is a patterned or modeled type whereas the second is a simpler rendition. Orientalizing Greek sculpture in stone displays these two types through the Daedalic and early Archaic styles respectively. The former is a translation into stone of small-scale statuary fashioned in wood and precious materials. The latter reflects semi-iconic predilections. Daedalic images of Levantine pedigree probably depicted divinities and influenced early Greek cult images. However, early korai belong to a different tradition that may have partaken of aniconic tendencies. The votive significance of korai and the offerings they bear render implausible the idea that they represent divinities. Whereas small-scale images in wood and costly materials may have attempted to reproduce the substance of the divinity, larger images in stone may have been thought to act as temporary vessels for it. There are important stylistic differences between eastern and Mainland korai. The latter are more ornate than their eastern sisters and reflect Daedalicizing facial features. As opposed to the Daedalic image which came to Greece from the Orient via Cyprus and Crete, the kore emerged in East Greece under the influence of Anatolian and Mesopotamian models. As well, the Levant may have been a source of influence for this type, for it had close contacts with the Neo-Hittite world and a tradition of litholatric aniconism. In this regard, as far as early Greek sculpture is concerned, one can talk about two different forms of Orientalizing style that stemmed from about the same geographic area.
Mark D. Fullerton, Dr. (Advisor)
Art History

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Atac, M. A. (1996). The standing female figure in its ancient Mediterranean context: an investigation into the origins and significance of the Kore type in Archaic Greek sculpture [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1371827160

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Atac, Mehmet. The standing female figure in its ancient Mediterranean context: an investigation into the origins and significance of the Kore type in Archaic Greek sculpture . 1996. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1371827160.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Atac, Mehmet. "The standing female figure in its ancient Mediterranean context: an investigation into the origins and significance of the Kore type in Archaic Greek sculpture ." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 1996. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1371827160

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1371827160
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© 1996, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.
Release 3.2.12