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A Hellenistic terracotta and the gardens of Adonis*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2012

John H. Oakley  and
Laurialan Reitzammer
John H. Oakley
Affiliation:
The College of William and Mary in Virginia
Laurialan Reitzammer
Affiliation:
University of California at Berkeley
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Abstract

A Hellenistic terracotta from Myrina now in the Louvre is interpreted as showing a young woman tending the ‘gardens of Adonis’ in connection with the rites of the Adonia. Further associations are made between the perfume apparently being poured into a planter from an alabastron that the young woman holds, Adonis’ mother Myrrha, the provenience of the terracotta (Myrina) and grave rituals.

Type
Shorter Contributions
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 125 , November 2005 , pp. 142 - 144
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 2005

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References

1 Detienne, M., Les jardins d'Adonis (Paris 1972)Google Scholar; translated by Lloyd, J. and republished as The Gardens of Adonis. Spices in Greek Mythology (Hassocks 1977).Google ScholarRibichini, S., Adonis. Aspetti ‘orientali’ di un mito greco (Rome 1981)Google Scholar; B. Servais-Soyez, LIMC 1.1 s.v. Adonis 222–9; Edwards, C., ‘Aphrodite on a ladder’, Hesperia 53 (1984) 59–72CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Baudy, G.J., Adonisgärten. Studien zur antiken Samensymbolik (Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie 176, Frankfurt 1986)Google Scholar; Tuzet, H., Mort et résurrection d'Adonis. Étude de l'évolution d'un mythe (Paris 1987)Google Scholar; Furley, W.D., ‘Die Adonis-Feier in Athen, 415 v.Chr.’, Ktema 13 (1988) 13–19Google Scholar; Stehle, E., ‘Sappho's gaze: fantasies of a goddess and a young man’, in Greene, E. (ed.), Reading Sappho (Berkeley 1990) 193–225Google Scholar; Winkler, J., The Constraints of Desire. The Anthropology of Sex and Gender in Ancient Greece (New York 1996) 188–209Google Scholar; Reed, J., ‘The sexuality of Adonis’, CA 14 (1995) 317–47Google Scholar; Simms, R.R., ‘A date with Adonis’, Antichthon 31 (1997) 45–53CrossRefGoogle Scholar; eadem, ‘Mourning and community at the Athenian Adonia’, CJ 93 (1998) 121–41.

2 Paris, Louvre Inv. Myr. 233: Pottier, E. and Reinach, S., La Nécropole de Myrina (Paris 1887) 424–30 and 550, no. 233, pls 37–8Google Scholar; Winter, F., Die Typen der figürlichen Terrakotten 2 (Berlin 1903) 124, no. 6Google Scholar; Mollard-Besques, S., Musée du Louvre. Catalogue raisonné des figurines et reliefs en terre-cuite grecs et romains 2: Myrina (Paris 1963) 48, pl. 57dGoogle Scholar; Muller, A., ‘Nikô ou les avatars d'une Béotienne à Myrina et Thasos’, REA 95 (1993) 171–2CrossRefGoogle Scholar, fig. 9; Jeammet, V., Tanagra. Mythe et archéologie (Paris 2003) 178–9, no. 122.Google Scholar This terracotta figure was found in a grave as part of a group of thirteen female figurines of various heights. Eleven of the figurines are elaborately draped; three are veiled. They appear to be connected as a group, and in fact the excavator suggested that they be arranged in the shape of a pediment, with the taller ones nearer the centre and the shorter ones at the sides. Of the thirteen figurines, one consists of a group of two female figures: a woman who stands and another who kneels and embraces the lower body of the standing one, possibly in a gesture of sorrow. Although nothing directly connects any of them with the Adonia, one wonders if they could have been thought of as participating in it, especially as one of the figurines holds a tympanum, an instrument associated with female religious ritual.

3 Karlsruhe, Badisches Landesmuseum B 39: CVA Karlsruhe 1 Germany 7 pl. 27, nos. 1–4; LIMC 1.2 pl. 169, Adonis 47; Pirenne-Delforge, V., L'Aphrodite grecque. Contribution à l'étude de ses cultes et de sa personnalité dans le panthéon archaïque et classique (Athens 1994) 21–4Google Scholar; and Reeder, E., Pandora. Women in Classical Greece (Princeton 1995) 236–8Google Scholar, all with earlier bibliography. After noting the relationship of the terracotta to this vase-painting, the excavators dismissed the idea that the terracotta was related to the festival: Portier and Reinach (n.2) 429–30. For the problem of associating other vase-paintings with the festival, see Edwards (n.1) 62–72; Reed (n.1) 320 n.15; Simms (1997) (n.1) 45–6; Simms (1998) (n.1) 123 n.13.

4 Theophrastus, Hist. pl. 6.7.3; Hesychius and Suda, s.v. Ἀδόνιδος κῆποι.

5 Eubulus fr. 13 K-A; cf. Callimachus fr. 478 Pf.

6 See Reed (n.1) 324 n.30 and 338 for the proverb, and 323–46 and Simms (1998) (n.1) 128–33 for various interpretations of the meaning and use of the garden.

7 Angermeier, H.E., Das Alabastron (Giessen 1936)Google Scholar and Gericke, H., Gefässdarstellungen auf griechischen Vasen (Berlin 1970) 72–5.Google Scholar

8 Simms (1997) (n.1) 48 n.17; Simms (1998) (n.1) 129–37.

9 In Bion's Epitaphius Adonidis 77 the dead Adonis is to be sprinkled with Syrian unguents and perfumes.

10 Myrrhine in Aristophanes' Lysistrata (940–9) makes use of perfumes in the seduction scene with Kinesias.

11 For Adonis, see fr. 140, fr. 168, fr. 211b.iii (Loeb) = 211c Voigt.

12 Lesbos has been suggested as one of the conduits for the importation of the cult from the east where it originated: Simms (1998) (n.1) 124. Alexiou, M., The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition (Cambridge 1974) 55Google Scholar argues that fr. 140 was meant for choral performance.