KLMgrB93 Greek small scale bronzes and toreutics

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 3 credit(s). Recommended Type of Completion: k (colloquium). Other types of completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Dr. Thanasis Sideris (lecturer), Mgr. Věra Klontza, Ph.D. (deputy)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Věra Klontza, Ph.D.
Department of Archaeology and Museology – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Jitka Šibíčková
Supplier department: Department of Archaeology and Museology – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites
This course will be teached in English by Dr. Thanos Sideris. The course deals with the domain of small metal artifacts in ancient Greece. It encompasses bronze figurines (small scale sculpture), bronze and silver vases, cosmetic artifacts such as mirrors, and arms and weapons with elaborate decoration. It examines the sources of material, the techniques of production, the workshops and styles, as well as the uses and the cultural context and significance of such artifacts.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 16 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
The scope of the course is to familiarize the students with an important field of Classical Archaeology, namely the small bronze figures, the metal vases and other related artifacts. The students will have the opportunity to approach issues related to the techniques in use, the organization of the production, the stylistic specificities of various workshops and schools, its relations to large scale sculpture, its place within the ritual, convivial, and funerary practices, as well as to follow a chronological evolution of the field from the Geometric to the Hellenistic period. Comparative material will be presented from earlier and later cultural areas (Mycenaean, Roman), from neighboring interrelated cultures (Phoenician, Phrygian, Lydian, Etruscan, Achaemenid, Thracian, Scythian, Celtic), and from related fields, such as jewelry design, pottery shapes, sculptural types, casting and embossing tradition and innovation. The issues of trade networks, social customs and vogues will be also addressed, as well as the position of such artifacts within the treasuring and exchange patterns of the ancient Greek economy.
Syllabus
  • 1. Definitions of the field. An overview of the research history. Small scale bronzes and toreutics as evidence for lost art in other media. Large excavations’ corpora and museum collections. Sanctuaries and graves. 2. Social status of the wealth. Dedicatory, sympotic and funerary patterns. Workflow and workshop organization. Social status of the artists and artisans, and their social and space mobility. Trade, market and context. 3. Metallurgy, sources of the rough materials, and techniques. Tradition and innovation in the Mediterranean and Aegean world from LBA to the EIA. Geometric small bronzes. 4. Archaic small bronzes: regional schools and local workshops. Styles in transition. Sources of inspiration and influence. 5. Classical and Hellenistic small bronzes: regional schools and local workshops. The formation of a “koine” from the 4th century BC onwards. 6. Geometric and Archaic metal vases: shapes and workshops. Distribution and find-spots. Oriental influences and the Greek banquet. The literary and archaeological evidence. 7. Classical metal vases: shapes and workshops. Distribution and trade routes. Luxury and changes in the funerary customs. The metal ware – pottery controversy. 8. Hellenistic metal vases: shapes and workshops. A second “orientalism”. Inscriptions and literary evidence. Towards the Roman melting pot. 9. The formation of various toreutic schools under Greek influence: Greco-thracian, Greco-scythian, Greco-bactrian to Parthian, Ptolemaic, Italic and Celtic. 10. Hand and box mirrors, and other cosmetic artifacts. Decorated arms and weapons. Horse trapping. Writing, medicine, and sport instruments. Furniture and architectural toreutics.
Literature
  • La tombe princière de Vix. Edited by Claude Rolley. Paris: Picard, 2003, 383 s. ISBN 2708406973. info
  • ROLLEY, Claude. La sculpture grecque. Paris: Picard, 1999, 439 s. ISBN 2708405063. info
  • ROLLEY, Claude. La sculpture grecque. Paris: Picard, 1994, 438 s. ISBN 2708404482. info
  • ROLLEY, Claude. Les Bronzes grecs. Fribourg: Office du livre, 1983, 270 pp. ISBN 978-2-7191-0185-8. info
Teaching methods
lectures
Assessment methods
A short essay.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Information on completion of the course: Studenti oboru novořečtina, pro které je předmět povinný, si jako ukončení zapisují zkoušku. Ostatní studenti, pro které je předmět volitelný, si zapisují jako ukončení kolokvium.
The course is taught once in two years.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2013.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2025/KLMgrB93