Abstract
Craig I. Hardiman
Department of Classical Studies
University of Waterloo
Greek Hellenistic domestic religion: the case of the statues
It is a generally held belief that Hellenistic domestic statuary is almost exclusively religious in its function. Recent research, however, has stressed the decorative and status functions that such sculpture may have fulfilled. An investigation of the scant references to domestic religion illustrates that the majority of gods worshipped in the home do not appear as subjects in the sculptural record. Similarly, the archaeological evidence shows that rarely are domestic sculptures found with an associated "religious" assemblage in the form of altars, miniature vessels, cult tables or louter bases. While an overly strict adherence to a religious/decorative dichotomy is to be avoided — after all many domestic statues were of deities and certain cult activities would not show up in the archaeological record — the non-religious aspects of domestic sculpture should be emphasized. Like their Roman counterparts, the Greeks decorated their abodes with sculpture to illustrate their wealth, taste and status.
Return to CACW 2006 "Household and Society in the Ancient World" Program