The Return of the Horse-Leader

The most characteristic motif of Argive Geometric vase painting, the so-called "horse-leader" figure, has evoked various interpretations in attempts to elucidate the nature of Geometric iconography. Recent scholarship has dispensed with earlier readings of the figure as a deity in favor of a secular reference to the Argive citizen, while relegating the accompanying horse and fish to the status of symbols of the Argolid's natural environment. The present reconsideration of the horse-leader's identity is occasioned by new evidence for the origin of the motif offered by two Mycenaean pictorial kraters from the North Syrian city of Ugarit. These Bronze Age kraters not only present a parallel horse-leading scene but add a surprising religious dimension by the depiction of a fish sacrifice ritual. Evidence for Bronze Age art and religion suggests an expansion of Mycenaean iconography in its late phase under the influence of East Mediterranean art and cult. Moreover, early Iron Age developments suggest that the transmission of the horse-leader to Argive Geometric painting may have retained elements of the religious context in which it originally coalesced

Aesthetics · Ancient history · Art · Art history · Bronze Age · Cult · Depiction · Iconography · Literature · Motif (music) · Painting · Visual arts · Ancient Near East History · Archaeology and Historical Studies · History · Law, logistics, and international trade

• Artistic narratives of death

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  Open Access•A Novozhenov, V A Novozhenov et al.•Archaeology Ethnology and…•2014

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• A Late Geometric Architectural Model With Figure Decoration From Ancient Helike, Achaea

  Open Access•Anastasia Gadolou•The Annual of the British School…•2011

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  Open Access•Laerke Recht, Christine Morris•The Annual of the British School…•2021

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  Open Access•Louise Steel•The Annual of the British School…•1998

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  Open Access•J H Crouwel•The Annual of the British School…•1991

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• Votive riders seated side-saddle at early Greek sanctuaries

  Open Access•Mary E Voyatzis, Mary Voyatzis•The Annual of the British School…•1992

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• Representations of a shrine on a Mycenaean chariot krater from Kalavasos–Ayios Dhimitrios, Cyprus

  Open Access•Louise Steel•The Annual of the British School…•1994

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• A Sanctuary of the Geometric Period in Ancient Helike, Achaea

  Open Access•Erophile Kolia•The Annual of the British School…•2011

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• Beyond the Grave

  Susan Langdon•American Journal of Archaeology•2001

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• Das Kuppelgrab A von Archanes und das kretisch-mykenische Tieropferritual

  Johannes A Sakellarakis•Praehistorische Zeitschrift•1970

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• The Mycenaean sanctuary at Phylakopi

  Open Access•Colin Renfrew•Antiquity•1978

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