ISTHMIA - 2012

Isthmia, sanctuary of Poseidon. E. Gebhard (ASCSA/Chicago) reports on continuing study.

Work on the terracotta figurines (A. Thomsen) has isolated a ‘High-Arching Tail Group’ of horse-and-rider figurines of the second quarter or middle of the sixth century BC, thus earlier than the Asklepieion Group of the third quarter of the sixth century. Assessment of the general chronological pattern of figurine dedication indicates an increase through the second half of the seventh century (beginning from the construction of the Archaic temple around 650 BC), and again towards the middle of the sixth century when the Isthmian Games gained Panhellenic status. The common practice of dedicating terracotta figurines, represented by the most common horse-and-riders, ends in the early fourth century BC, with almost no figurines which must postdate the Classical temple fire of 390. Other types replace horse-and-riders only in small numbers and for a limited time, raising the question of why the practice of dedicating terracotta figurines was not revived with the Early Hellenistic refurbishment of the sanctuary or the Roman renewal of the games.