Ceramics and the Sacred in Greek Antiquity
Date of Award
Spring 2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
History of Art
First Advisor
Gaifman, Milette
Abstract
This study takes as its subject the unfathomable number of ceramics abandoned in sanctuaries in Greek antiquity. It examines how ceramics became sacred for those who made, offered, and viewed them by studying their material and physical qualities—their clays, manufacturing processes, forms, paintings, and displays. Until now, these objects have usually been understood in terms of rituals or the gods to which they were offered. But the physical presence of ceramics in sanctuaries is not so straightforward or easily explainable by reference to transient activities and invisible divine personas. Why were these objects made and left in these spaces, of all objects and spaces made and known in antiquity? What could ancient gods and heroes possibly have had to do with pottery, and in such massive quantities? This study shows how ceramics can be interpreted to account for their own existence, and for how they physically mediated between people and their gods.
Recommended Citation
Gunnarsdottir, Soffia, "Ceramics and the Sacred in Greek Antiquity" (2023). Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations. 1072.
https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/gsas_dissertations/1072
