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ADORNMENT, RITUAL AND IDENTITY: INSCRIBED MINOAN JEWELLERY
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2015
Abstract
In this paper, we re-examine inscribed items of Minoan jewellery in the light of the increasing number of studies on ancient eastern Mediterranean jewellery and its meanings. We reach a fourfold conclusion. First: as these objects, with one exception, are clearly associated with adult females, while the exception (a ring) cannot be affiliated with a particular gender or age, inscribed Minoan jewellery seems so far to lie mostly outside the purview of men. Second: these objects were almost certainly used to construct and broadcast the elite identity (and perhaps authority) of the people who wore them. Third: the objects may also have served as apotropaic amulets and/or symbols of rites of passage for their wearers, thus expressing certain rituals associated with the lives of the people who wore them. Fourth: inscribed items of Minoan jewellery may have played an active role in linking elite Minoan (and particularly elite Minoan female) identity and authority to the divine.
Στολισμός, λατρεία και ταυτότητα: ενεπίγραφα Μινωικά κοσμήματα
Στο προκείμενο άρθρο, εξετάζουμε εκ νέου επιλεγμένα ενεπίγραφα Μινωικά κοσμήματα αντικείμενα υπό το φως του διαρκώς αυξανόμενου αριθμού μελετών με επίκεντρο την ανατολική Μεσογειακή τέχνη του κοσμήματος και της σημασίας της. Καταλήγουμε στα εξής τέσσερα συμπεράσματα. Πρώτον, καθώς τα εν λόγω αντικειμένα (εξαιρουμένου ενός) σχετίζονται σαφέστατα με ενήλικες γυναίκες, ενώ το κατ᾽ εξαίρεσιν αντικείμενο (ένα δακτυλίδι) δεν μπορεί να ταυτιστεί με συγκεκριμένο φύλο ή ηλικία, τα ενεπίγραφα Μινωικά κοσμήματα δεν σχετίζονται κατά κύριο λόγο με άνδρες. Δεύτερον, τα αντικείμενα αυτά χρησιμοποιήθηκαν για να κατασκευάσουν και να μεταδώσουν την ταυτότητα της άρχουσας τάξης (και πιθανώς την εξουσία) των ανθρώπων που τα φορούσαν. Τρίτον, τα αντικείμενα πιθανώς λειτουργούσαν ως αποτροπαϊκά φυλακτά και/ή σύμβολά διαβατήριων τελετών για τους φορείς τους, εκφράζοντας ως εκ τούτου ορισμένες τελετουργίες σχετιζόμενες με τον τρόπο ζωής των ανθρώπων που τα φορούσαν. Τέταρτον, τα ενεπίγραφα αντικείμενα της Μινωικής τέχνης του κοσμήματος πιθανώς είχαν συμβάλει στη σύνδεση της ταυτότητας και της εξουσίας της Μινωικής άρχουσας τάξης (και ιδιαιτέρως των μελών της γυναικείας άρχουσας τάξης) με το θείο.
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References
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