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Regarding Zebedee’s comment: I have not suggested that the Amphipolis Tomb was a cult site for the Cabeiri. I have suggested that it was the tomb of an initiate of the Mysteries of Samothrace – specifically one who met her future husband there, by whom she bore a king who went on to conquer much of...

I would also re-iterate the point I made earlier that females did not participate in the sacrifice of Bulls, hence the depiction is most unlikely to be of such a sacrifice...... Not sure that's quite right to be honest. Typically they're labelled as 'priestesses', but there are a number of examples...

I don't think this is a cult site for the Cabeiri. There's a cremation in a grave. A lot of the elements which seem to be being pinned to Samothrace are very, very generic. Winged things etc. Useful to compare, certainly for mid 3rd century or whenever these are being painted.

The bull is wearing a garland around its neck as outlined below. I can only imagine that you are looking at some of the jagged damage patches that happen to join up in zig-zags in the vicinity of the neck, but it is the smooth trends that have to be followed for real features. Best wishes, Andrew Y...

You're reading my meaning far too well Amyntoros :lol: Just one issue since I posted that, is that the second horse Corso wants to place on his frieze is going in the same direction of travel as the first one and the groom. So if there is a second horse on this frieze (relief), there's no mirroring ...

If it's got a crescent on its chest it's not a sacrificial bull. Therein is the point. It's not a sacrificial scene. Is that rather curious? Absolutely. Gepd has a Roman example a few posts back which is most intriguing, but first I've seen of that mosaic. But, no, I still don't see either side goin...

They are not crotchless. The photos show that about 90% of the paint is gone. The "crescent" on the bull only looks like a crescent in the weird fantasy reconstructions. In the photos it looks like the remains of a wreath or garland. Perfectly normal for a bull about to be sacrificed. Bes...

And for your next trick, will you show us evidence that this was worn above the front legs of a (baby) centaur? :) Exactly how big is your example, please? How do you know that it is a piece of horse (or centaur) harness (i.e. phalera)? Ostensibly it could be a piece of crescent shaped decoration o...

I do wonder whether discussions of the "centaurs" are a bit too credulous. Their hindquarters are really not properly discernible in the photos and the claim that the things that look for all the world like loin cloths or kilts are actually peculiar crescent shaped bits of gold bling is r...

Haha! The eternal divine rodeo? Don't disagree with you on looking for Artemis in there at all. Just wondering whether I was missing something with the idea. My knowledge of this cult could be quickly written on the back of a matchbox. As indeed with most things. :D Just on the Egyptian links, I say...

I half agree with Andrew that the place to start is the original photos, but they are not fully available, the first comparanda ought too be Macedonian funerary iconography, however not the whole corpus of Greek art. The 'catch-all methodology' is a flawed basis and can be demonstrated by Corso's r...

If those are helmets and a sword, then it would make sense for a shield or cuirass to be the item in the centre. But I don't see that in this picture? The 'tower' is too narrow in relation to the other pieces to be a cuirass, and too out of proportion. We're reliant on the neon depictions which isn'...

Sorry you can't see the video Amyntoros. Would suspect it will need a facebook account to view. --- Some more vase art as exemplars, have a look at Heracles and Nike driving a chariot :D http://www.theoi.com/image/O12.5Kentauroi.jpg (Louvre, dated to c.410 - 400 BC) Or Dionysus driving his. http://w...

Subject to the disc between the bull's horns being there, wouldn't that rule out most of the Greek portrayals? It's something I'm sure was kicked about at the time the initial representations were done. But to add to the list, there are known votives to Heracles from Amphipolis which also link him t...

@ gepd. Certainly by the time of Demetrius Poliorcetes there were Egyptian influenced cults within Macedonia. Isis and Serapis are known from Amphipolis (albeit later again still), although the dating of a grave for a priestess of Isis is much debated and could be early 3rd century BC. The Antigonid...