Bronze Statuettes from the Athenian Agora: Evidence for Domestic Cults in Roman Greece

by Heather F. Sharpe

Hesperia, Volume 83, Issue 1
Page(s): 143-187
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2972/hesperia.83.1.0143
Year: 2014
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ABSTRACT:

This study presents two deposits of bronze statuettes discovered in the Athenian Agora. Both groups were found with material associated with the Herulian sack of A.D. 267/8. The author proposes that these statuettes were used in the service of domestic cults. The Greek, Roman, and Egyptian deities represented illustrate the diversity of domestic cult activities current in Athens during the mid-3rd century A.D. While the deposits provide some evidence for Roman domestic cult practices in Athens, it is clear that Greek cult practices remained the dominant tradition.