9.50-10.10 am
12 December 2022
ARWA International Conference
Death, Rituals, and Symbolism in the Prehistoric Aegean
Public Lecture
Recent archaeological discoveries reveal that Bronze Age (ca. 3,000-1,100 BCE) exchange networks reach from at least the Aegean to the Indus River Valley, and almost certainly much farther afield. Within the context of the quickly growing corpus of evidence for such far-flung exchange, this particular iconographic study addresses a critical and lingering lacuna: evidence for possible overlap between Aegean and Mesopotamian cosmologies, as they may relate to down-the-line exchange and western (Aegean) knowledge of eastern (Mesopotamian, Harappan, and even more distant) imports. This paper focuses on the mythical Minoan genius, a hybrid creature derived from the Egyptian Taweret, and the monkey, which may have been considered a supernatural hybrid by Aegean people. Both of these creatures serve as liminal figures in Mesopotamian and Aegean art, and yet seem to also serve distinctly different roles within the broader Aegean.
In Aegean iconography, the genius and monkey are not depicted as dead, wounded, hunted, or conquered, unlike other animals, and both creatures are depicted interacting with over-sized humans, who are traditionally identified as deities or rulers. Although monkeys are accepted as agents/symbols of rebirth and renewal in both the Aegean Islands and eastern regions, the specific role of the genius is rarely addressed, despite its depictions as performing similar tasks as those of the monkey. Perhaps more importantly, Genius iconography surges on the Greek Mainland while monkey imagery almost disappears, after eruption at Akrotiri. Perhaps the Minoan genius serves as psychopomp, escorting – in some cases, even carrying – the deceased. When considered in light of the Tiryns Ring, which preserves a subterranean scene in which several genii bring libations to a seated female figure, a pattern emerges in which a deeper, more nuanced understanding of the liminal natures of these creatures becomes possible. This study interrogates notions of liminality, the metaphysical, death, and renewal within Bronze Age cosmologies.
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