Танатос: к характеристике одной группы эллинистических терракот [Roman Stoyanov: A Group of Hellenistic Terracotta Figurines]

Abstract

This article addresses a group of terracotta figurines of Thanatos not mentioned or reproduced in LIMC. The majority of them were found in the Necropoleis of Tauric Chersonesos (pl. 1–2) and Callatis-Mangalia. The figurines were originally painted. Traces of paint, chiefly in white, red and blue, are still discernible in certain areas on the surface of the statuettes. According to the color of the clay, the group can be divided into two variants – gray and brown clay terracotta. The interpretation of materials from cemeteries suggests that the figurines date to within an interval from the third quarter of the fourth century to the third century BC. It is argued that the Thanatos figurines were produced in Chersonesos or Callatis, and that these two poleis were centers of expansion of the burial cult with Thanatos among Greek settlements of the northwest Black Sea coast.