Supervisors info:
Ειρήνη Πέππα-Παπαϊωάννου, Ομότιμη Καθηγήτρια Κλασικής Αρχαιολογίας, Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας, Φιλοσοφική Σχολή, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Λυδία Παλαιοκρασσά, Ομότιμη Καθηγήτρια Κλασικής Αρχαιολογίας, Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας, Φιλοσοφική Σχολή, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Ευγενία Μακρυγιάννη, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια Αρχαίας Ελληνικής Φιλολογίας, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Φιλοσοφική Σχολή, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Summary:
This thesis investigates the custom of hair dedication in ancient Greece from the archaic period to the Roman era based on the written sources and iconography. Although research is essentially focused on Greece, it sometimes violates these geographical boundaries, extending to regions with a flourishing Greek element. The First Part is structured into three chapters, namely the dedications of hair to river personifications, those to heroes, and those to gods. In each of these three cases, hair is primarily dedicated in a public or private character’s framework of rites of passages of youths at the beginning of adolescence and before their coming of age, to girls before marriage, and to infants or pre-puberty children. The third and most extensive chapter, which also describes the sorts of hair dedicated to the gods and the rituals of haircut on the basis of written evidence, it also includes a variety of other reasons for hair dedication, such as dedications for childbearing or for protection, salvation from dangers, and all kinds of wishes. The second part attempts to investigate the iconography based on the sorts of the hair dedicated to the gods mentioned in the written sources. Apart from its first chapter, which presents the iconography of the ritual haircut in Myth, Part II examines the iconography of hair dedications to gods, as it is mainly depicted on terracotta figurines and sculptures from the archaic period to the Roman age. The coroplastic evidence is mainly derived from two important sanctuaries in Greece, related to the boys’ and girls' transitions, namely the sanctuary of Artemis in Vravron and that of Demeter on Acrocorinth, including some figurines from other sanctuaries. The presentation of the votive offerings attempts, on the one hand, to investigate their typological evolution throughout the time of operation of the particular sanctuaries in relation to the standards of the monumental statuary and, on the other hand, to the political and social conditions. Similarly, the costly sculptural works dedicated from the wealthy nobility, derived from various sanctuaries of nursing deities, as well as tomb reliefs and heads from tombs or houses, are also examined. The combined study of iconography and written evidence is followed by the formulation of some conclusions and interpretative approaches, including those attempting to explain in general the choice of hair as dedication.
Keywords:
hair, votive offerings, dedication, sculpture, terracotta figurines, ritual haircut, rites of passage
