Janus Pannonius Múzeum Évkönyve 13 (1968) (Pécs, 1971)

Régészet - Makkay, János: The Chalcolithic Male Relief from Villánykövesd and the Earliest Male Figurines in South-Eastern Europa

CHALCOLITHIC MALE RELIEF 49 are faced by a find, we have to decide individually which character may be apnlied to the presentment of the male god. We have to add that a further distinction should be made between cult statues of large size idolâtrie images) and the smaller clay figurines (ex-voto terracottas), portraying males,

61 this distinction, however, is rather functional than pertaining to the character of the male god in the case of a given culture or site. No doubt, that the circumtance that the man is sitting on a throne (or foot stool, chair, etc.) does not suffice alone to prove the presentment of the self-standing chief god, since a considerable part of the earliest Neolithic male statuettes in Anatolia are placed on a small chair, foot stool or throne already. In the following we shall investigate the types of the earliest male statuettes of southEastern Europe from these points of view. The earliest European Neolithic male statuettes are known from Thessaly, both are naked male figures. One in sitting position is derived from Pyrasos (Fig. 8 no. 7), the other from Magulitsa (fragmentary, from the level В of the site), both belong to the middle period of the Early Neolithic, to the Protosesklo phase. Their closely parallel is a male enthroned figurine from Elateia, from the Early Neolithic too.

6

'

1 In Kournovon (Middle Greece) has been found a statuette in sitting position too.

05 The contemporary female figurines accompanying them are standing statuettes. But we should not use this fact to conclude on a rule of general validity, since the nearest contemporaneous parallel of both male idols from Knossos is an equally standing marble male figure (Fig. 5 no 3). Its dating is Early Neolithic I = Level VIII.

66 For the rest the statuettes of the new Knossos excavations, totalling 33, are all female representations, with the exception of a fragmentary Late Neolithic male figurine of clay.

67 The Early Neolithic plastics of Nea Nikomedeia

m or Thessaly, admitting a valuation from this point of view,

69 are also exclusively females. It is doubt63 J. Mellaart. Catal Hüyük, op. cit. p. 180; Id., Earliest Civilizations, op. cit. pp. 42—43. 64 M. G. Papadopulou, Magoulitsa, a Neolithic Settlement near Karditsa. Thessalika A (Volos 1958) p. 45.; Elateia: L. Franz, JPEK 1932—1933. PI. 10,9. 65 O. Höckmann, Die menschengestaltige Figuralplastik der südosteuropäischen Jungsteinzeit und Steinkupferzeit. (Hildesheim, 1968) Katalog, p. 34, no. 327. 66 J. D. Evans, BSA 59 (1964) p. 237 and Fig. 63. no. 15. 67 Ibid. 68 JR. J. Rodden, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 28 (1962) pp. 285—286, and Balkan Studies 5 (1964) PI. 2B, ЗА. 69 V. Milojcic, JRGZM 6 (1959) pp. 9,13 etc less in our judgment that the mentioned few male figures cannot portray the self-standing chief god but the paredroi of the Neolithic goddess of fertility, as it is proved by their numerical ratio as well. The same statement may be valid for the earliest male figurines of Mesopotamia known so far, the clay and remarkably phallic, 6.7 cm high idol from TeZZ esSawwan.

70 Chronologically it belongs to the beginning of the Hassuna period, so it may be contemporaneous with the mentioned Early Neolithic idols from Greece; similarly to them, it belongs to the suite of several figures portraying women, i. e. »Mother Goddes« figurines.

71 This sunperts its definition as a paredros. This is the • single Mesopotamian male figure from the earliest periods as far and, if we leave the single small idol from Arpachiyah

72 and some male representations (idol fragments and painted figures) from Tell Halaf

3 aside, the situation remains unchanged till the second half of the al'Ubaid period.

74 As we have pointed out at another occasion,

75 it is just this time, the second half of the al'Ubaid age, in which Mesopotamia witnesses the development of the self-standing chief god, as the head of the polytheistic Pantheon. Nevertheless, we regard the male idols of the preceding ages (in whatever area) as the representations of the companions of the goddess of fertility only, emphasizing the probability that the conclusions drawn from Chatal Hüyük cannot be applied to the idols of Thessaly or even Mesopotamia in all details. At any rate it is likely that the sex ratio of the idols may be regarded as essentially identical in the Hassuna-Samarra-early Halafian age, in the parallel Chalcolithic period of Hacilar

76 and in the Middle Neolithic of Greece (mainly the »Urfirnis ware« and the beginning of Thessaly A); so our statements, based on this fact, may possess general validity. Further there are also considerable typological connections between the figurines of the 70 F. El-Wailly — B. Abu as-Soof. Sumer 21 (1965) pp. 22—23 and Fig. 67; J. Oates, The Baked Clay Figurines from Tell es-Sawwan. Iraq 28 (1966) pp. 146—153 and. PI. 38—42. 71 Sumer 21 (1965) Fig. 66. 72 Iraq 2 (1935) pp. 99—100. 73 Max Oppenheim. Tell Halaf, I. Die prähistorischen Funde. Bearb. von H. Schmidt. (Berlin 1943) p. 43 and PI. 60 nos 1—2; p. 100, PI. 105 no. 18. 71 J. Oates. Iraq 28 (1966) p. 147 and note 8; E. Ebeling — E. Weidner, Reallexikon der Assyriologie. 3:1. (Berlin 1957) p. 63. 75 J. Makkay, Acta Arch. Hung. 16 (1964) pp. 36 seqq. and A mezopotámiai őskor istenalakjai. (The divine figures of Mesopotamian Prehistory.) Antik Tanulmányok 12:1 (1965) pp. 67—76. 76 J. Mellaart. ILN 238, No. 6341. 1961. pp. 229— 231: a single male figure among 35 idols,