"Spinning top"

A

A
EN
- GR
- DE
- IT
- FR
- ES
VISIT
TICKETS

Provision of image

Inventory number

ΝΑ 1961 ΝΑΚ 300

Artist

Attic workshop

Category

Toy

Period

Geometric Period

Date

800-760 BC

Dimensions

Height: 0.127 m

Material

Clay

Location

Gallery of the Acropolis Slopes, Case 1, No 65

Description
Bibliography

Intact “spinning top” found in 1961 during the excavation of the Angelopoulos plot. It comes from Burial 3 and was deposited as a burial offering together with eight more intact pots and other vessels’ fragments.

The body is elongated and pointed whereas its upper surface is flat and covered in concentric circles with a knob in the middle. The body is decorated with zones of various geometric motifs, such as triangles, dots, diagonal and wavy lines.

The object’s original use remains unidentified. Most possibly it was an actual spinning top.

Δοντάς, Γ., «Ανασκαφή Οικοπέδου Αγγελοπούλου», Αρχαιολογικόν Δελτίον 17, Μέρος Α' - Μελέται, 1961/62, σελ. 91, πίν. 34β, αρ. κατ. δ
Μπρούσκαρη, Μ., Μουσείον Ακροπόλεως. Περιγραφικός κατάλογος, Αθήνα, 1974, σελ. 89, εικ. 168
Coldstream, J.N., Greek Geometric Pottery. A Survey of Ten Styles and their Chronology. Updated second edition, United Kingdom, 2008, σελ. 22
Papadopoulos, J., Smithson, E., The early iron age. The cemeteries, The Athenian Agora XXXVI, 2017, σελ. 780 υποσημ. 496, 781 υποσημ. 504