Small terracotta altar (arula)

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Provision of image

Inventory number

ΝΑ 1956 ΝΑΠ 29

Category

Ceremonial object

Period

Hellenistic Period

Date

150-86 BC

Dimensions

Height: 0.097 m
Length: 0.071 m

Material

Clay

Location

Gallery of the Acropolis Slopes, Case 3, No 162

Description
Bibliography

It was found in 1956 in cistern 14 on the south slope of the Acropolis and has been mended from many fragments and restored.

All four sides are decorated in relief: a woman adorns a trophy, Apollo and his mother Leto, Dionysos holding a Maenad and a Satyr, and Poseidon with Amymone who holds a vessel for water. Floral and geometric motifs complete the decoration. The surface preserves traces of white slip. It was probably placed in a house shrine and was perhaps used as an incense burner (thymiaterion).

Vogeikoff, N., Hellenistic Pottery from the South Slope of the Athenian Acropolis (διδακτορική διατριβή), Bryan Mawr College, 1993, σελ. 166, πίν. 236-237, αρ. κατ. D 85
Vogeikoff-Brogan, N., «Late Hellenistic Pottery in Athens: A New Deposit and Further Thoughts on the Association of Pottery and Societal Change», Hesperia Supplement 69, 2000, σελ. App. 2, εικ. 26
Παντερμαλής, Δ., Ελευθεράτου, Σ., Βλασσοπούλου, Χ., Μουσείο Ακρόπολης. Οδηγός, Αθήνα, 2016, σελ. 46-47, εικ. 37