“A Wonder to See”: Headdresses with Relief Decoration in Greek Sculpture
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18688/Keywords:
ancient Greek sculpture, Archaic period, ancient Cypriot sculpture, iconography, headdresses, mise en abyme, perception of sculptureAbstract
This paper focuses on the phenomenon of decorating the headdresses of ancient Greek and Cypriot statues with additional figures or friezes. The practice is examined both through archaeological remains and textual sources (including the mentions of adorned cult statues and the description of mythical crowns, such as the important Hesiodic passage on Pandora’s wreath and mentions of the adornment rituals of goddesses in hymns). It is argued, that such “miraculous” crowns from literature influenced the creation and, most importantly, the perception of richly adorned sculpted headdresses, allowing them to “come alive” in the eyes of the observers. The relief-decorated poloi of two Archaic caryatids from Delphi provide the main case study. The author discusses the dual role of the cylindrical headdresses as iconographical attributes and architectural members and the relation between the main figure of the caryatid-maiden and the supplementary images. Two modes of representation are highlighted: real-world cultic practices are projected onto the decorated headdress; at the same time the reliefs open up the possibility for the onlookers to peek into the mythical world, otherwise inaccessible. In the last section of the paper, the author examines a group of statues from Cyprus: deities and votaries, whose crowns or wreaths include numerous additional figures. In one type, a ritual dance is projected onto the headdress. In the second, extra images project outwards, forming an apotropaic boundary and exalting the main depicted figure.
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