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| Gorgon Antefix (about 525-500 BC) Taranto, Vecchio Museo Terracotta, pale yellow clay, mold-made, finished with a stick Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Taranto, inv. 17554 [Cat. no. 10] |
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Antefixes
Antefixes functioned as decorative architectural elements positioned at the ends of semicircular roof tiles on Greek temples or public buildings. Tarantine antefixes commonly took the form of the Gorgon Medusa [cat. no. 7]; a female deity [cat. no. 10]; or an aged satyr (silenus), a half-man, half-animal figure.The Gorgon antefix design [cat. no. 7], among the earliest produced in Taranto, was meant to horrify the viewer-the face grimaces, the tongue hangs down between two sets of fangs, the nostrils flare, large eyes have prominent curved eyebrows, and a beard of pointed locks surrounds a jutting chin. Artists enhanced the expression with the addition of colors such as black, red, and sky-blue, no longer preserved on this example but present on cat. no. 62. Such frightening physical traits served to ward off evil from the buildings embellished with antefixes. An archaic shrine near the necropolis of Taranto, possibly dedicated to deities of the underworld, incorporated such antefixes.
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Between the late 5th century and the first half of the 4th century BC, Tarantine Gorgon antefixes gradually lost their monstrous qualities, developing more naturalistic feminine features which led to the depiction of female divinities. The woman portrayed on cat. no. 10 may be Aphrodite, goddess of love, identified as such through her soft gaze and beautiful jewelry. The necklace with lunar crescent pendant may identify her specifically as Aphrodite Ourania, Aphrodite of the Heavens.
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