Papers by D'Onofrio Anna Maria
in Véronique Dasen & Marco Vespa (eds), Toys as Cultural Artefacts in Ancient Greece, Etruria and Rome, Instrumentum Monograph Series 75, Editions Mergoil, Drémil-Lafage, 2022, pp. 117–128. , 2022
The article concerns the Late Geometric child’s grave of the Heroon burial plot near the Western ... more The article concerns the Late Geometric child’s grave of the Heroon burial plot near the Western Gate ofEretria, with a series of fourteen discs cut from vases, and a collection of five small cups. The re-examination of the discs, regarded as pawns of a game, has made it possible to verify that their vertical assembly, according to the decreasing size of the discs themselves, makes what we now call a stacker toy. As for the cups, also characterised by the variety of sizes, they make up a set of five that includes a specimen corresponding to the Greek measure of the kyathos.
Rather than playing at preparing dinner one can think of them as a game of dosing grains and other substances. The Platonic text of the Laws, dedicated to the education of children, evidences the custom of providing children with the skills necessary to perform various trades as adults, including that of the merchant. Through the educational use of simple everyday objects, Greek children were introduced to the knowledge of numbers and measurements.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
SICILIA ANTIQVA. An International Journal of Archaeology XIX, 2022
With the contribution dedicated to the pictorial cycle of the tholos of Kazanlak Torelli (2004) a... more With the contribution dedicated to the pictorial cycle of the tholos of Kazanlak Torelli (2004) addresses the eastern periphery of the Greek world and comes to a clarification of the iconographic attributes that define the local identity of the dynast and the 'international ascendencies' of the queen, whose ceremonial referents are to be found in the Macedonian dynasties involved, in the central years of the 3rd c. B.C., in military and diplomatic actions for the control of the precious metals resources of Thrace and for the dominion of the straits. .........The Author intervenes in the iconographic reading by specifying the male genre of trumpet players in megalography and widening the comparisons for the minor friezes of the tholos (with the chariot race and the bucrania) to the evidence of Halicarnassus and Lymira. The commonality of language between Thrace and microasiatic contexts – as well as with the nearby and better known Samothrace – testifies to the complexity of the network of artists serving local hellenized elites, pushing the re-examination of the external horizons of the Thracian art of the 3rd c. B.C. and the perimeter of its artistic koinè.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
V. Nizzo (a cura di), Archeologia e antropologia dell’amore: Atti dell’Incontro Internazionale di Studi di Antropologia e Archeologia a confronto [Roma, Parco Regionale dell’Appia Antica – Ex Cartiera Latina, 26-28 Maggio 2017]. Roma : Fondazione Dià Cultura., 2021
Where is buried Philip II king of Macedonia? To whom may we attribute the skeletal remains from t... more Where is buried Philip II king of Macedonia? To whom may we attribute the skeletal remains from the Tombs I and II at Vergina? These are the questions at the very core of a long, harsh and perhaps never-ending debate that began right after the discovery of the tombs of Vergina in 1977. A controversy involving scholars from various disciplines through the production of a vast bibliography. Andronikos, the discoverer of the site, claimed indeed that the Tomb II belonged to Philip II and his young wife Cleopatra; subsequently other hypotheses were put forward, among the others, the suggestion that the woman buried with Philip II is the Thracian princess Meda. Some authors indicate Philip III and his wife Euridyce as the true occupants of the tomb. Very recently this scenario was complicated by a renovated attention toward the Tomb I and the proposal that its occupants might be the best candidate as Philip II and Cleopatra. Here we present a reconsideration of the historical, archaeological, anthropological evidence published so far, showing some severe pitfalls in the interpretation and concluding that the issue of the identification of the occupants of the Tombs I and I at Vergina is still far from being resolved.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Orlando Cerasuolo (Editor), The Archaeology of Inequality: Tracing the Archaeological Record, SUNY Series, The Institute for European and Mediterranean Archaeology Distinguished Monograph Series,, 2021
Burials constitute the main evidence for existence of Athenian society
during the Early Iron Age... more Burials constitute the main evidence for existence of Athenian society
during the Early Iron Age and are distributed all around the Acropolis, in close
proximity to the space of the living, within a kinship‑based society. The paper deals
with the burials that have been attributed to male individuals on the basis of the
anthropological determination of their gender / and or grave gifts, and highlights those features that can be connected with their rank. The distribution of the weapon burial ritual
(centered on the sword bearer) and the weapon ritual (including the killing of
the weapon) are discussed in detail. The paper focuses on the Kerameikos evidence
and on the gender strategies enacted there. The analysis follows two trajectories: on
one hand, a local and generational perspective; on the other hand, within a wide
comparative approach, looking to the European prehistory. The main characteristics
of the social dimension of burials are investigated in order to discover the strategies
of discrimination and distinction enacted with regard to the male members of the
Athenian community and to test their durability.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Marion Meyer – Gianfranco Adornato (eds.), Innovations and Inventions in Athens c. 530 to 470 BCE – Two Crucial Generations,WIENER FORSCHUNGEN ZUR ARCHÄOLOGIE, Bd. 18, Phoibos Verlag, Wien 2020, 167-186. , 2020
The discoveries that have occurred over the last sixty years, together with chronological conside... more The discoveries that have occurred over the last sixty years, together with chronological considerations and the appropriate evaluation of the epigraphic corpus, testify overall to the duration of the system of monumental funerary dedications well beyond the advent of democracy by Kleisthenes (508/7 BCE) and probably up to the end of the Persian Wars. This ‘longue durée’ will require the revision of the interpretation that mechanically links Archaic funerary monuments and the ruling “aristocracy” during pre-democratic political regimes in turn paving the way for a more detailed analysis of patronage. The monument is built according to precise rules of a visual rhetoric, aimed at enhancing its beauty, to match and reflect the excellence of the recipients – largely male and including impressive monuments for non-Athenians (xenoi) – and to define their social position through the joint devices of word and image. The evidence is discussed in detail, and the Author accepts the proposal that the grave statue of Aristodikos, one of the latest examples of the kouros type, wore a helmet. The head of a youth, found in the Kerameikos and likewise once equipped with a helmet might attest to the next “step”: a grave statue in ponderation. The monuments recovered from Piraeus Gate are discussed in detail, as well as Jeffery’s so-called Samian plot; a new interpreation of the bases with athletic scenes is proposed, highlightening the possible connection with Sparta and the Athenian pro-Lacedemonian party (sphairomachia) as well as the connection with Eretria and eastern Attica for the allusion to the Amarysia or to the Attic version of the event (the chariot scenes with hoplites). Concluding, funerary monuments reflect the changes in Athenian society, which in turn are largely influenced by the international situation.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
SIRIS, 2017
There is currently a tendency to date the foundation of the new city on the plateau to the latter... more There is currently a tendency to date the foundation of the new city on the plateau to the latter decades of the 6th B.C. on the basis of the residual materials recovered in the emplekton of a stretch of the oldest Greek fortification in the Eastern part of Neapolis as well as in several other sections of the curtain-wall. This contribution analyzes the aporias of an interpretation of the archaeological evidence that tends to overlap the beginnings of the Cumaean re-colonization of Parthenope and the contextual expansion of the city with its urban planning and the construction of the city walls as emerges from the stratified urban fabric in the current city. At the same time there is a reflection on the nature of the cult connected with the votive deposit of St. Aniello a Caponapoli. The Author accepts the proposal of M. Osanna of a connection to the siren Parthenope, which is contextualized in the well-known epoikia that around the middle of the 5th B.C. valorises all the components of the new city, under the aegis of Athens.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Ostraka Rivista di antichità – Anno XXVII , 35-48. , 2018
In this article we will review the different iconographic readings of the frieze of the multiple ... more In this article we will review the different iconographic readings of the frieze of the multiple hunt that crowns the facade of the Tomb of the Great Tumulus of Vergina, edited by Saatsoglou-Paliadeli, with a critical approach that highlights the need to refer to the author's intentio, textual coherence and system of signification (Eco 1990), as already pointed out by Bruno Tripodi. The writer proposes a metaphorical reading that contrasts the andragathia of Philip II and Alexander – represented in the frieze in a dramatic moment of the lion hunt that enhances the collaboration between father and son – as well as the omonoia of the hetairoi and the basilikoi paides, to the hybris of the Persians, of which the iconographic manifesto appears in the Athenian lekythos of Xenophantos. On it, a frieze in relief and painted with a Persian royal hunt takes place, with the participation of King Darius among the named characters; through the hunting metaphor the Persians test themselves in a foolish and unsuccessful predation of the eschata to the ends of the world, as clearly shown by Halle M. Franks. In the frieze of Vergina the use of the metaphor is instead directed to the proclamation of the rightfully conquered domains – in particular the region of Thrace, as shown by Despina Ignatiadou – and of the danger of the Achaemenid adversary, which Philip II has already opposed and which Alexander prepares to defeat. Through the multiplicity of landscapes and preys, the symbolism of the sacralized tree, luxuriant among dried trunks (for which we refer to the context of the Meter Theon of Pella), as well as the nearby pillar surmounted by objects that are not identifiable, not only the military victories of Philip II are evoked, through which the sovereign established the greatness of his kingdom, but also the sacred dimension of Macedonian royalty and its roots in Hellenic culture.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Ostraka , 2019
I propose to establish a connection between the dead forest (on the left side of the frieze), the... more I propose to establish a connection between the dead forest (on the left side of the frieze), the flourishing sacralized tree and the pillar with the aniconic steles on top, that allude to worship of the Mother of Gods, ensuring the perpetuation of the wild nature as well as the royal power of the king.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
The tomb III at Haghios Athanasios stands out among the Macedonian tombs for the exceptional pain... more The tomb III at Haghios Athanasios stands out among the Macedonian tombs for the exceptional painted decoration of the temple-like façade. Excavated in the '90s by M. Tsimbidou-Avloniti it has been published by the scholar in full detail and the iconographic program of the monument has been the object of many publications. This article re-examines the different ways of reproducing the skin color (το ανδρείκελον) in the figures of the miniature frieze and in the megalographic figures beside the door. The realistic rendering of the megalographic figures of armed men in Macedonian attire, showing their sorrow for the lost of an etairos, is contrasting with the pale color of the participants to the symposion in the frieze above the door, a scene whose illusionistic overtone has been yet perceived by the critics. This symposion is articulated in three scenes and it can be interpeted as a necrodeipnon, but in the same time as a celebration of the Macedonian banquet style, centered on the royal court. The author suggests that the first figure on the right of the frieze, related to the group of armed men looking towards the banqueters feasting in the center of the frieze, can be read as the dead himself, for the particular rendering of his ανδρείκελον, showing the typical ochròtes or necròdes face color, according to the contemporary medical lexicon. The pathetic stance assumed by the same figure, the sole in the group which is not bearing arms, seems to confirm his role in the context of the scene.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici, Nuova Serie, 2017
In this article, an attempt is made to enrich the conventional archaeological picture of the much... more In this article, an attempt is made to enrich the conventional archaeological picture of the much-discussed Early Iron Age (EIA) weapon burials at Athens and Lefkandi, largely reverting to a comparative approach. The presence in some of these burials of working tools that can be connected with carpentry, raises the question of the relationship of the Greek evidence with that of the European koine of the period, where the hybridization of the system of symbols referring to war and to carpentry spread in the cemeteries according to differentiated geographic models, and culminated in the course of the 8th century BC, in parallel with the emerging of a new social order determined by the urban phenomenon. On the other hand, the occurrences of toilet implements, and personal adornments of various kinds point to the weapon bearers beautifying themselves, following an earlier Bronze Age tradition. In the mortuary contexts examined here, there is some evidence for sub-adult individuals receiving the honour of the weapon ritual: an uncommon legged vessel from Lefkandi as well as a unique bronze pin ending with a booted foot from Athens are discussed, to uncover the significance of this symbolism in connection with the male sphere and with adolescence. The analysis of the evidence, and the valorisation of objects rather neglected until now, led to the tracing of multiple male identities, and shows the complexity of the social background behind what was once called 'warrior graves'.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
In this article, an attempt is made to enrich the conventional archaeological picture of the much... more In this article, an attempt is made to enrich the conventional archaeological picture of the much-discussed Early Iron Age (EIA) weapon burials at Athens and Lefkandi, largely reverting to a comparative approach. The presence in some of these burials of working tools that can be connected with carpentry, raises the question of the relationship of the Greek evidence with that of the European koine of the period, where the hybridization of the system of symbols referring to war and to carpentry spread in the cemeteries according to differentiated geographic models, and culminated in the course of the 8th century BC, in parallel with the emerging of a new social order determined by the urban phenomenon. On the other hand, the occurrences of toilet implements, and personal adornments of various kinds point to the weapon bearers beautifying themselves, following an earlier Bronze Age tradition. In the mortuary contexts examined here, there is some evidence for sub-adult individuals receiving the honour of the weapon ritual: an uncommon legged vessel from Lefkandi as well as a unique bronze pin ending with a booted foot from Athens are discussed, to uncover the significance of this symbolism in connection with the male sphere and with adolescence. The analysis of the evidence, and the valorisation of objects rather neglected until now, led to the tracing of multiple male identities, and shows the complexity of the social background behind what was once called ‘warrior graves’.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
in C. Graml, A. Doronzio, V. Capozzoli (eds.), Rethinking Athens Before the Persian Wars. Proceedings of the International Workshop at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Munich, 23rd-24th February 2017) Münchner Studien zur Alten Welt 17 , 2019
The scale, structure and organization of the Athenian society during the Early Iron Age (c. 1100 ... more The scale, structure and organization of the Athenian society during the Early Iron Age (c. 1100 -700 BC) remains widely conjectural. The meagerness of the settlement data, the dearth of evidence for economy and use of land, the absence of writing and of a figurative art as well until the late phase of the period, oblige the researchers to address the grave contexts as the most relevant testimony to the period. From the 70’s of last century the social archaeology – starting from the Cambridge school groundbreaking studies – has built a methodological approach apt to exploit properly the material record and produced a bulk of meaningful literature. It is worth trying to offer a review of the main current strategies of use of the burial evidence to outline the characteristics of the Athenian society of the Early Iron Age, discussing the different and even opposite explanatory models adopted by the critics. Starting from the kinship-based burying practice, I will investigate the mechanism of pseudo-kinship groupings and the sense of shared ancestry developed through the kinship pattern, sensu J. Whitley. The theme of war and male elite, the rise of the aristocratic banquet and the Athenian aristocracy will be presented under this conceptual perspective.
Keywords: Iron Age, Athens, society, burials, kinship, aristocracy
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
At the turn of the seventh century, Athenian burial practices underwent a series of changes, incl... more At the turn of the seventh century, Athenian burial practices underwent a series of changes, including a decline in the number of graves, the advent of primary cremation and offering-ditches, and the disappearance of weapon burials. The main source of information for an analysis of burial customs is, once more, the Kerameikos cemetery. Here a particularly informative context is the early Rundbau plot and other burials next to it, dug into an area included within the Eridanos river bed and the path preceding the Sacred Way. The plot has produced a unique sequence of burials, beginning in Late Geometric IIb and continuing into the early sixth century, some of which contained rare bronze objects of both Greek and eastern (or orientalizing) production. These objects include double walled embossed bowls comparable to those from Etruscan princely tombs, and a badly preserved object of thin embossed bronze sheet, decorated with snakes, which may be a belt reproducing an Urartian pattern. A horse-burial completes the unusual picture. This chapter adopts a contextual perspective to bring together an archaeological record excavated at different times and published separately, thus allowing the totality of the evidence to be exploited as an historical and cultural source. The conclusion is that the burying group could have included individuals of high status and non-Athenian origin, who were integrated within a local descent group. Burial ritual creates cultural references and a network of correspondences worthy of analysis and explanation.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
ARCHEOTIPICO: L’ARCHEOLOGIA COME STRUMENTO PER LA RICOSTRUZIONE DEL PAESAGGIO E DELL’ALIMENTAZIONE ANTICA, Atti del Convegno a cura di Gian Maria Di Nocera, Alessandro Guidi, Andrea Zifferero, 2016
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
WINCKELMANN E L’ARCHEOLOGIA A NAPOLI, Atti dell’incontro di studi - Università degli studi di Napoli l’Orientale, I marzo 2017, a cura di E. Morlicchio e I. Bragantini, 2019
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Il contributo evidenzia le corrispondenze metodologiche e la collaborazione tra i due studiosi... more Il contributo evidenzia le corrispondenze metodologiche e la collaborazione tra i due studiosi francesi a partire dall'ambito della temporalità e della memoria. L'analisi dei testi antichi e delle testimonianze iconografiche portata avanti negli anni da entrambi e riuniti nei volumi dedicati a "La Grèce ancienne" (1965-1972) dimostra la rilevanza sociale del paradigma spazio-temporale, che Vernant e Vidal-Naquet hanno delineato da una prospettiva antropologica che ha profondamente mutato gli studi sulla Grecia arcaica e classica a livello internazionale.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Uploads
Papers by D'Onofrio Anna Maria
Rather than playing at preparing dinner one can think of them as a game of dosing grains and other substances. The Platonic text of the Laws, dedicated to the education of children, evidences the custom of providing children with the skills necessary to perform various trades as adults, including that of the merchant. Through the educational use of simple everyday objects, Greek children were introduced to the knowledge of numbers and measurements.
during the Early Iron Age and are distributed all around the Acropolis, in close
proximity to the space of the living, within a kinship‑based society. The paper deals
with the burials that have been attributed to male individuals on the basis of the
anthropological determination of their gender / and or grave gifts, and highlights those features that can be connected with their rank. The distribution of the weapon burial ritual
(centered on the sword bearer) and the weapon ritual (including the killing of
the weapon) are discussed in detail. The paper focuses on the Kerameikos evidence
and on the gender strategies enacted there. The analysis follows two trajectories: on
one hand, a local and generational perspective; on the other hand, within a wide
comparative approach, looking to the European prehistory. The main characteristics
of the social dimension of burials are investigated in order to discover the strategies
of discrimination and distinction enacted with regard to the male members of the
Athenian community and to test their durability.
Keywords: Iron Age, Athens, society, burials, kinship, aristocracy
Rather than playing at preparing dinner one can think of them as a game of dosing grains and other substances. The Platonic text of the Laws, dedicated to the education of children, evidences the custom of providing children with the skills necessary to perform various trades as adults, including that of the merchant. Through the educational use of simple everyday objects, Greek children were introduced to the knowledge of numbers and measurements.
during the Early Iron Age and are distributed all around the Acropolis, in close
proximity to the space of the living, within a kinship‑based society. The paper deals
with the burials that have been attributed to male individuals on the basis of the
anthropological determination of their gender / and or grave gifts, and highlights those features that can be connected with their rank. The distribution of the weapon burial ritual
(centered on the sword bearer) and the weapon ritual (including the killing of
the weapon) are discussed in detail. The paper focuses on the Kerameikos evidence
and on the gender strategies enacted there. The analysis follows two trajectories: on
one hand, a local and generational perspective; on the other hand, within a wide
comparative approach, looking to the European prehistory. The main characteristics
of the social dimension of burials are investigated in order to discover the strategies
of discrimination and distinction enacted with regard to the male members of the
Athenian community and to test their durability.
Keywords: Iron Age, Athens, society, burials, kinship, aristocracy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=8hSyijPkuas
Convegno scientifico internazionale
IV incontro di studi di Antropologia e Archeologia a confronto
"Antropologia e Archeologia dell'Amore"
Ex Cartiera Latina - Parco Regionale dell'Appia Antica, 26 maggio 2017
Giorno 1
Anna Maria D'onofrio, Luigi Gallo, Andrea Piccioli, Alessandra Sperduti, “Amore e morte nella famiglia reale macedone. Alla ricerca di Filippo II”
A.M. D'Onofrio, L.Gallo, A. Piccioli, A. Sperduti D’ONOFRIO A.M., GALLO L., PICCIOLI A., SPERDUTI A., “Amore e morte nella famiglia reale macedone. Alla ricerca di Filippo II”.