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Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2018.03.10
Angela Bellia, Clemente Marconi (ed.), Musicians in Ancient
Coroplastic Art: Iconography, Ritual Contexts, and Functions.
Telestes: Studi e ricerche di archeologia musicale nel Mediterraneo,
2. Pisa; Roma: Fabrizio Serra editore, 2016. Pp. 216. ISBN
9788881474585. €48.00 (pb).
[Authors and titles are listed at the end of this review.]
This volume presents the collected proceedings of a conference on
archaeomusicology held at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York
University in 2015. Its focus is the depiction of musicians, musical
instruments, and music making on terracotta plaques and figurines, and
its aim, to promote the analysis of these materials in musicological
studies of ancient societies. The emphasis on terracotta objects is
timely, and corresponds to the current revitalization of the field of
ancient coroplastics. Like other recent publications on the subject,1
this collection endeavors to address not just the iconography of
figurines, but also their context, meaning, and function. It gives
special consideration to ritual contexts and to the capacity of
terracotta objects to bridge the gap between musical and religious
practice.
The proposed scope of the project was broad both geographically and
chronologically. The end product, however, with fifteen contributions
(including an introduction and foreword by the editors), is mostly
concerned with the Mediterranean of the first millennium B.C.E.; no
less than five essays are dedicated to materials from the Italian
peninsula and its surrounding islands. The few outlying entries carry
well the extra burden of addressing audiences unfamiliar with their
fields and allow the volume to claim a global perspective. The variety
of subjects and the diversity of methodical approaches utilized
throughout contribute meaningfully to ongoing discussions about the
effective use of coroplastic evidence.
The book opens with an introduction by Clemente Marconi,
contextualizing subsequent essays with a discussion of the study of
musical iconography and of the value that the consideration of ancient
terracottas might add to this multidisciplinary field. Cross- cultural
comparisons between the varied contributions are encouraged but not
offered; a reader willing to do the legwork, however, should be
rewarded by finding a number of interesting interrelations.
The first two essays are concerned with the Near East and showcase the
interpretive possibilities of materials of unclear meaning, function,
and archaeological provenance. Regine Pruzsinszky tackles terracotta
plaques of the Old Babylonian period that show monkeys in musical
contexts. After analyzing their iconography and the relevant literary
sources, the author suggests that the wild, ambiguous figure of the
monkey works both as a reflection of humanity and as an indicator of
the lower social position of certain musicians (30-31). An ambiguous
character is also the subject of Annie Caubet’s essay. A group of
middle Elamite figurines depict a male lute player, nude, with fat,
bowed legs, and some traits of dwarfism. The not-entirely natural
anatomy and frontal posture of the musician signify a suprahuman,
magical identity, while the bent knees imply the act of dancing. The
author proposes that dance linked the lute-player to higher beings,
and that thus, the figurines worked as intermediaries between the
human and divine realms (40).
The next three essays move the discussion into the broader
Mediterranean area. Mireia López-Bertran and Agnès Garcia-Ventura
present their work on a sample of figurines from Iberia, Ibiza, and
Carthage dated from the seventh to the second century B.C.E. Most of
the statuettes are mold-made, represent women holding percussive
instruments, and rarely preserve pigments. After examining examples
from Carthage that do not conform to this description (wheel-made,
showing stringed instruments, and with significant traces of
polychromy), the authors conclude that, despite the foreign
iconography, these figurines represent predominantly Punic traditions,
and bear witness to a strong connection between music and funerary
rituals (51-52). Manolis Mikrakis focuses on Cypriot coroplastic
production as evidence for the cultural shift experienced by the
island’s inhabitants during the transition from the Bronze Age to the
Iron Age. Considering both the permanence and the disruption of
certain traditions, and noting parallels in the Aegean, Mikrakis
advances musical practice as one of the strategies utilized by
Cypriots in the formation of social identities and the assertion of
political power. A figurine type depicting a lyre player in the
context of warfare is presented as evidence for the use of musical
performance as an enhancer of status (61-64). Moving into Ionia, Elçin
Doğan Gürbüzer discusses the typology and iconography of the many
terracotta votives representing musicians recovered from the sanctuary
of Apollo Clarios. The essay focuses on figures carrying various
stringed instruments in their left hands; the author demonstrates the
differences in form and meaning between these, and using their precise
findspot, proposes that some of these figurines may have been used in
the cult of Leto rather than that of Apollo (78).
Museum collections supply the evidence for the following two essays.
With a broad approach, Maria Chidiroglou considers objects housed in
the National Archaeological Museum in Athens and recovered from
various regions in Greece and western Asia Minor. Employing a
typological analysis, Chidiroglou first discusses figurines that
depict ancient musical instruments, then turns to those that represent
musicians, singers and dancers. The large sample allows the author to
identify significant repeating types and to remark on the importance
of musical education in many ancient cities (91). A more focused
approach is undertaken by Kiki Karoglou, who analyzes three terracotta
statuettes in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art that
portray the god Eros playing the kithara, the tympanon or the lyre.
Considering their iconography and fairly well documented funerary
contexts, Karoglou suggests that representations of Eros as musician
can serve as tangible manifestations of the capacity of music to
communicate both erotic desire and the pain of loss (104).
Five contributions analyze materials from the Italian peninsula and
its islands. Monica de Cesare examines terracotta pinakes from the
Manella sanctuary of Persephone at Locri Epizephyrii that portray 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. The author identifies the riders as either the Spartan or
Theban Dioskouroi on the basis of their attributes (lyre and kantharos
for the latter), and argues that the particular myths and music that
they each refer to were used within the context of the Locrian
sanctuary as tools for self- representation (110). A group of plaques
that depict a couple dancing in a grotto, under an arc laden with
fruit, a syrinx, and a tympanon, are explored by Rebecca Miller
Ammerman; the votives date from the second half of the fourth to the
beginning of the third century B.C.E. and were found at Metaponto.
After reviewing the archaeological context of the plaques and the
extensive iconography of the instruments, the author addresses their
role in public and private rites and argues that the figurines were
used in the context of nuptial celebrations (131). An essay by
Alessandro Pagliara adds to the mounting scholarship on the miniature
theatrical masks from the Liparean necropolis at Contrada Diana. Using
Bernabò Brea’s identifications as a departure, Pagliara suggests that
the masks’ expressions of pathos correspond to the new and
characteristic sadness of contemporary music, and that associations
between masks and other figurines within funerary contexts may be
meaningful depending on the literary genre to which they allude
(143-146). Aura Piccioni deals with a type of clay figurine from
Taranto that represents a standing woman holding a tympanon; with the
support of inscriptions and other textual evidence, the author
proposes that these were dedicated to the professional drum players
who participated in rites that honored the goddess Cybele (160). The
last look at Old World materials is Daniele F. Maras’s study of
statuettes representing lyre players found in Etruscan votive
deposits. Taking into consideration the physicality of the dedicant in
addition to the iconography of the figures, Maras recommends the
identification of the lyre player, alternatively, as Apollo or devout
musicians (173), and underscores the importance of the music in the
enactment of ritual.
A final essay offers a glimpse at the coroplastic tradition of the
American continent. Working from a sample of 800 ceramic objects,
Daniela La Chioma Silvestre Villalva investigates the
politico-religious role of musicians in Moche ceremonies during the
Middle Moche period (100-450 C.E., northern coast of Peru). Two case
studies illustrate that players of the antara (panpipe) are associated
with very high social positions, and suggest that instruments may work
as signifiers of status.
The volume closes with an afterword by Angela Bellia, followed by
indexes of places and subjects. The conclusion is not a summary, but a
guide and exhortation to future engagement. Bellia uses multiple
examples and focuses on the examination of the iconography, ritual
contexts, and functions of figurines, to demonstrate how coroplastic
evidence may be best utilized in archaeomusicological investigations.
Taken together, the contributions to this volume are motivating,
persuasive, and cogent. Though the varied sources and quality of the
evidence may limit the breadth of some studies, terracotta figurines
are presented as excellent sources for the understanding of certain
ancient practices. Most discussions rely heavily on iconographic
analysis, but also engage with broader questions about the role of
music and musicians in antiquity; this aspect should make the
collection interesting to an audience wider than those involved in
coroplastic studies.
The book is well edited and has few typographical errors. Regrettably,
the small, black and white illustrations do not do justice to the
polychrome materials that are at the heart of its discussions, and for
whose inclusion in the broader narratives about ancient societies the
book so insistently advocates.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction (Clemente Marconi) 17
2. Musicians and Monkeys: Ancient Near Eastern Clay Plaques Displaying
Musicians and their Socio-Cultural Role (Regine Pruzsinszky) 23
3. Terracotta Figurines of Musicians from Mesopotamia and Elam (Annie Caubet) 35
4. Performing Music in Punic Carthage: A Coroplastic Approach (Mireia
López-Bertran, Agnès Garcia-Ventura) 45
5. Musical Performance and Society in Protohistoric Cyprus:
Coroplastic and other Visual Evidence (Manolis Mikrakis) 57
6. Terracotta Figurines with Stringed Instruments from Claros (Elçin
Doğan Gürbüzer) 73
7. Terracotta Figurines of Musicians in the National Archaeological
Museum in Athens (Maria Chidiroglou) 85
8. Eros Mousikos (Kiki Karoglou) 97
9. Which Dioskouroi? On Some Locrian Pinakes with Music Themed
Iconography (Monica de Cesare) 109
10. Tympanon and Syrinx: A Musical Metaphor within the System of
Ritual Practice and Belief at Metaponto (Rebecca Miller Ammerman) 117
11. Masks of Death: Music, Theater, and Burial Customs in Lipari,
Fourth-Third Centuries BCE (Alessandro Pagliara) 141
12. Cybele, the Drum, and the Role of Female Musicians (Aura Piccioni) 157
13. Gods, Men, Turtles: Terracotta Lyre Players in Etruscan Votive
Deposits (Daniele F. Maras) 163
14. The Social Roles of Musicians in the Moche World: An Iconographic
Analysis of Their Attributes in the Middle Moche Period’s Ritual
Pottery (Daniela La Chioma Silvestre Villalva) 179
15. Afterword: An Archaeomusicological Approach to Representations of
Musicians in Ancient Coroplastic Art (Angela Bellia) 191
________________________________
Notes:
1. For example, Stéphanie Huysecom-Haxhi and Arthur Muller (edd.).
Figurines grecques en contexte: présence muette dans le sanctuaire, la
tombe et la maison. Archaiologia. Villeneuve d'Ascq: Presses
universitaires du Septentrion, 2015.
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