2001/01/01 by Christina Cain · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History #Classical Antiquity Studies #Historical and Architectural Studies
paper · doi:10.2307/507325
openalex publication_date 2001/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/04/04
In theory, narratives in any medium can recount religious, profane, real, or fantastic events. But some stories, those involving battles for instance, are easier to relate and understand than others; they have more narrative value, or narrativity. The often-reproduced scene on a ring from Isopata, Crete, is an instructive example of the rich narrative character of the finest Aegean glyptic art. It also exemplifies the difficulties posed to the modern viewer-narrator by images that depict religious tales or events. The examination of the pictorial structure and gestures of the protagonists on the Isopata ring undertaken here, which takes the form of a comparative analysis and centers the discussion within the theoretical framework of narratology, discloses the intense ambiguities of the ring's representation. The characters on the ring appear to take part in an event of some significance, yet it is not possible to determine the individual status of each figure (e.g., divine or mortal) from the pictorial texts at our disposal. Nor can we tell precisely what each figure is doing, where they are positioned in relation to one another, and in what sequence the action depticted should be read. This revelation is unsettling, given that the traditional view of Minoan religion as being focused on invoking an epiphany of the goddess through ecstatic dancing is based in large part on readings of the scene on the Isopata ring.