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Cyrene's Thea figure discovered in the Necropolis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2015

Joyce Reynolds
Affiliation:
Newnham College, Cambridge, UK
James Copland Thorn
Affiliation:
West Wickham, Kent, UK

Abstract

A small limestone half-figure from Alan Rowe's 1957 excavations in Cyrene was recently found to have the word ΘEA lightly inscribed on the polos. The authors describe the sarcophagi with which this figure may have been associated, together with the burial artifacts found within them. It is rare to find ΘEA used in this way, although two examples from Eleusis provide useful parallels. One is a votive plaque, the other a large relief, and each portrays the Eleusinian deities whose iconography is discussed here and compared with that of the Cyrene ΘEA example and also other uninscribed Cyrene half-figures.

Type
Notes
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Libyan Studies 2005

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