Heroic Offerings

Heroic Offerings illuminates the study of religion in Sparta, one of Greeces most powerful city-states and the long-term rival of Athens. Spartas history is well known, but its archaeology has been much less satisfactorily explored. Through the comprehensive study of a distinctive class of terracotta votive offerings from a specific sanctuary, Gina Salapata explores both the art of figurines and regional religion. By integrating archaeological, historical, literary, and epigraphic sources, she provides important insights into the heroic cults of Lakonia and contributes to an understanding of the political and social functions of local ritual practice. This volume focuses on a large group of moulded terracotta plaques, from the 6th to 4th centuries BCE. These plaques, both fragmentary and intact, were discovered with other offerings in a sanctuary deposit excavated near Sparta more than 50 years ago, but they have remained unpublished until now. In technique, style, and iconography they form a homogeneous group unlike any other from mainland Greece but closely related to a group of local stone reliefs. The large number of plaques and variety of types reveal a stable and vigorous artistic tradition in Lakonia during the late Archaic and Classical periods. Heroic Offerings will be of interest to students and scholars of Greek history, art, and archaeology; to those interested in ancient religious practice; and to all inspired by Athens chief political rival, Sparta. This volume received financial support from the Archaeological Institute of America.