The Spreading of Objects and Ideas in the Late Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean

Two Case Examples from the Argolid of the 13th and 12th Centuries B.C

Bibliographic Data

ID15913614
AuthorsJoseph Maran (0000-0002-7060-143X, Heidelberg University, corresponding author)
Year2004
Volume336
Pages11-30
Publication date2004-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueBulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-097X • E-ISSN: 2161-8062
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2307/4150085
OpenAlexW2011552666
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited16

New evidence from Tiryns is presented, suggesting that two object groups of eastern derivation-namely, wall brackets and armor scales-correspond not only in their form, but also in the contexts of their use, to oriental prototypes. The major importance of the wall brackets in Tiryns lies in the local manufacture of a foreign object with likely cultic connotation. While this new element in the Argolid was seemingly not introduced into public cults, it is likely to have been employed in domestic and workshop cults. The few bronze armor scales known from Late Bronze Age and Iron Age Greece are interpreted as evidence of an adoption not of a new type of weaponry, but rather of rituals using such objects either as pars pro toto dedications or as devices with apotropaic significance. It is argued that the potential for change brought about by such transmissions depended on whether society at large was willing to integrate the foreign traits into their world view

Ancient history · Archaeological evidence · Armour · Bronze · Bronze Age · Connotation · Linguistics · Object (grammar · Ancient Egypt and Archaeology · Ancient Near East History · Classical Antiquity Studies · History · Philosophy

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