1 Acknowledgments. The followings are warmly thanked: Drs. E. Andrikou and † E. Zervoudaki (publication permits); V. Aravantinos and the conservators of the Thebes Ephorate (A. Dimitriadou and M. Karadimou); E. Stasinopoulou and V. Vivliodetis, National Archaeological Museum (study amenities); E. Langridge (proof-reading). – All dates are BC.

2 V. Sabetai, ADelt 49 (1994), B1 [1999], p. 289, Atalalis plot. The digging was undertaken by the antiquities guard, S. Dimitrellos, without prior notification of the Ephorate. According to him, all objects were accumulated one on top of the other in a layer of plain, in places grey, earth, at a depth of 1.5 m. Although he believed that the whole pit was cleared and every sherd removed, missing sherds from the terracottas and pottery indicate that there must still be more material in situ. No bones were retrieved.

3 For a map, see Kountouri 2006, p. 790, no. 6. The types of pottery and figurines suggest a grave rather than a funerary offering ditch. The latter is not common in Boeotia.

4 V. Sabetai, CVA Greece 6, Thebes, Archaeological Museum 1 (2001), text to pl. 13, 2-4; Ure 1941-1945, esp. p. 26 (Chaeroneian floral ware).

5 Sparkes 1967, p. 130, grave 76.

6 See Mylonas 1975, p. 40, pl. 198β; p. 61, pl. 213α; p. 174, pl. 273α (grave of 430-420 BC); pp. 180-181, pls. 275-276; p. 194, pl. 283β. For late Haimoneian cups see further Vokotopoulou 1985, pp. 16-19, no. 2; pp. 309-310, no. 517 (from graves dated 460-440 BC).

7 If dated on stylistic grounds. Yet, in Boeotia conservatism and innovation coexist, not to mention variations among main and peripheral artistic centers.

8 Updated studies on protomes: Hinz 1998; Merker 2000, pp. 73-78; Chryssanthaki-Nagle 2006; Huysecom-Haxhi, Muller 2007, pp. 242-243; Muller 2009.

9 Smith 1949, p. 358.

10 On the Halai protomes blue on white appears ca. 450 BC: Goldman, Jones 1942, p. 371.

11 Winter 1903, I, p. 246, nos. 1-3 (shorter type with no bent arms). Female protomes seem to be more common in Western and Northern Boeotia (Smith 1949). They are reported from Tanagra, Thebes, Haliartos, Livadia, Chaeroneia, Akontion (by the Boeotian Kephissos river) possibly also Thisbe. Beyond the Northern Boeotian border: Lokris (Halai), possibly Abai (Exarchos) and Phokis. They are very rare in Eastern Boeotia (Akraiphia and Rhitsona).

12 Breitenstein 1941, pl. 40, no. 333.

13 Besques 1954, p. 97, no. C 82, pl. 69.

14 Higgins 1954, p. 224, no. 842. For an example recently auctioned in New York see Sotheby’s, Antiquities, Auction 10.12.2008, lot 52. I owe the reference to G. Kalliontzis.

15 Nat. Mus., no. 18593; ht. 39 cm; from the G. Empedokles collection; inventoried in 1953 (fig. 3). Nos. 23125 (ht. 36 cm; unknown provenance; fig. 4), 17511 (ht. 28 cm; fig. 5), 17509 (ht. 28 cm; fig. 6) and 17507 (ht. 26 cm; fig. 7) are of the shorter type. The last three, possibly from the same grave group, were appropriated from Th. Zoumboulakis (for whom see V. Sabetai, CVA Greece 9, Athens, Benaki Museum 1 [2006], pp. 10-11) and entered the museum in 1941. The Kanellopoulos Museum owns 6 examples, of which no. 2098, unpublished, is the closest parallel to ours.

16 I. Konstantinou, ADelt 16 (1960), B, pl. 144 a-b (Delphi).

17 E. Andrikou, ADelt 48 (1993), B1, pp. 183-187 (Akontion; fig. 11). See further the paper of A. Alexandropoulou in this book.

18 Croissant 1983, pp. 296; 299-300; 345 ff. (Boeotian “Corinthianizing” group).

19 Smith 1949, p. 355. An archaic “corinthianizing” type with wig-like hairdo occurs sporadically in Magna Grecia: Froning 1990, pp. 337-338, fig. 1; Barra-Bagnasco 1986, p. 55, no. 68, pl. XIII. For the fused Corinthian and Rhodian style of archaic protomes from Central Greece see Croissant 1983, p. 312.

20 Szabó 1994, pp. 127; 129 (Boeotian koine; diffusion). Szabó 1975, esp. pp. 14-15 (diffusion of the archaic protome from Boeotia to Macedonia). Brown-Kazazis 1982, p. 138, pl. 27, no. 108 (Tragilos). Mandel, Gossel-Raeck 2004, esp. p. 315 (Asia Minor). See also in this book the paper of K. Tzanavari (Lete).

21 E.g. Schürmann 1989, pl. 15, no. 70.

22 Higgins 1954, p. 224, thinks that the archaizing hairdo may be due more to structural necessity than to excessive conservatism.

23 The two small, but too fragmentary protomes of our pyre may have been from the same mould (fig. 9). For a parallel see Schürmann 1989, p. 37, no. 72, pl. 15.

24 V. Aravantinos, ADelt 49 (1994), B1, p. 281, pl. 87d. Andrikou, Lanara 2004, pp. 102-103, no. 29 (M. Bonanno-Aravantinos).

25 Example dated too high: Reeder 1995, p. 241, no. 62. It is from the same mould as Kanellopoulos Museum no. 1445, unpublished. Both should be dated later, in the 3^rd quarter of the 5^th century.

26 Szabó 1975, pp. 17-22; Szabó 1980-1981; E. Vlachogianni, ADelt 52 (1997) B1, pp. 390-391, pl. 154 a-d (big votive protome of Athena in Pheidian style).

27 Nicholls 1995, pp. 413-419 argued that the big protome was long-lived in Attica, where it was born in the 2^nd quarter of the 6^th century and enjoyed a final peak in the Classical era. The dearth of Attic material is due to its exclusively votive versus funerary use. For archaic protomes from the Nymphe shrine see A.K. Orlandos, Ergon 1957 [1958], pp. 10-11, fig. 7 (I. Meliades).

28 See Hinz 1998, p. 40.

29 Schürmann 1989, p. 37, no. 72, pl. 15 (three); Goldman, Jones 1942, p. 384, no. 8; p. 389, nos. 12-13; p. 390, no. 15; p. 404, nos. 19-20 (two, three and six). There exist more examples from Lokris (see n. 60, below) and Macedonia (Chryssanthaki-Nagle 2006, pp. 18-21).

30 Barra-Bagnasco 1986, pp. 138-145 (Locri); Uhlenbrock 1988, pp. 19-27; pp. 139-156 (identification based on cult context); Mertens-Horn 1994 (Carthago). Protomes in Sicily occur primarily in votive contexts.

31 Hinz 1998, pp. 33-53.

32 For protome finds from Boeotian sanctuaries of female divinities see Vassilopoulou 2013, Aravantinos et al. 2014. See further Guillon 1936, p. 418, fig. 1 (goddess associated with the hero Ptoios). From identified shrines in Central Greece and beyond: E. Sapouna-Sakellaraki, ADelt 45 (1990), B1, p. 160, pl. 78a (Artemis Amaryssia, Euboea); Metzger 1985, p. 41 (Thesmophorion, Eretria). See further Mandel, Gossel-Raeck 2004, p. 323 (Nymphs); Chryssanthaki-Nagle 2006, pp. 16-17.

33 Karaghiorga 1965.

34 Merker 2000, p. 74: “Perhaps the dedicants… offered votives that contained the idea of the bride and fertility rather than a reference to a specific deity”. Mandel, Gossel-Raeck 2004, pp. 323-327.

35 Winter 1904, I, p. 246, nos. 2-3; E. Vlachogianni, ADelt 52 (1997) B1, pp. 390-391 (from a votive deposit at Akraiphia, a thoroughly excavated eastern Boeotian site that has not otherwise yielded protomes); Choremi-Spetsieri, Zarkadas 2006, p. 100, no. 62 (Ch. Vlassopoulou).

36 Hauch des Prometheus 1996, p. 81, fig. 103.

37 Lembessi 1992; Schmaltz 1974, pp. 126-135, esp. 128-132.

38 Frontisi-Ducroux 1991, pp. 207-211.

39 Jeammet 2003a, pp. 105-106, no. 61. The cockerel is commonly held by ephebes in Boeotian plastic arts and recurs in the homoerotic imagery alluding to the agoge of youths in the polis system.

40 Isler-Kerényi 2007. See esp. pp. 7, 22-23, 49, 109-110, 162-171.

41 Thus Hinz 1998, p. 41. Huysecom-Haxhi, Muller 2007 take the generic protomes as abridged images of mortal women depicted as matrons; they are, however, rightly cautious about extending this meaning also to the big shoulder-busts. For different but relative discussion about whether generic archaic votive statuary represented mortals or deities see further Keesling 2010, where it is argued that reception of such imagery was more contextual than it was iconographic.

42 Merker 2000, p. 77.

43 Pausanias IX 32, 1. Schneider 1972.

44 A.K. Orlandos, Ergon 1957, pp. 10-11, fig. 7 (I. Meliades).

45 See in volume I the paper of F. Rumscheid.

46 Chryssanthaki-Nagle 2006; see G. Karamitrou-Mentessidi, ADelt 39 (1984), B, p. 255, pl. 130 (Aiani); K. Preka-Alexandri, ADelt 49 (1994), B1, p. 425, pl. 136 c (Corfou).

47 Walker , Goldman 1915, p. 429, fig. 5 (protomes propped or applied to the exterior slab of tombs).

48 Pausanias IX 6, 5; 16, 5.

49 See Papachatzis 1981, p. 107, n. 6, for other interpretations about this statue’s appearance. Chryssanthaki-Nagle 2006, p. 18 (history of research).

50 Jucker 1963, pl. 21, 3: possibly Artemis. Her crown signifies both festivity and maidenal status; on gender roles in the imagery of the Frauenfest vases such as this see Pemberton 2000. On abridged females depicting mortals in Corinthian vase-painting see Klinger 2009, pp. 100-107.

51 Zaphiropoulou 2003, pp. 44-50.

52 Aphrodite, Kore, a local Nymph or archetypical bridal maidens such as Pandora.

53 V. Sabetai, CVA Greece 9, Athens, Benaki Museum 1 (2006), text to pl. 50 (anodos bibliography); add Ferrari 2004.

54 Uhlenbrock 1988, pp. 149-150 (woman carrying a mask or protome). The downwards gaze of several protomes suggests hanging above eye level: Nicholls 1995, p. 418.

55 Hoffman 2002; Hendrix 2003; Talalay 1993, esp. pp. 40-44.

56 See n. 11, above.

57 See n. 24, above. Could the wealth of floral ware and the multiplicity of protomes in this woman’s burial indicate that her relatives wished to stress her marital status?

58 Children are interred almost exclusively in Boeotia: Sabetai 2000 (Akraiphia); Kountouri 2003, p. 782 (Chaeroneia).

59 E. Andrikou, ADelt 48 (1993), B1, p. 187, pl. 63 β.

60 Ph. Dakoronia, ADelt 54 (1999), B1, p. 375 (grave no. XLVIII). For a rich child burial with a protome from Euboea see Chidiroglou 2006, p. 133, fig. 32.

61 Vierneisel-Schlörb 1964, p. 98, pl. 55, 2.

62 Vokotopoulou 1990, pp. 22-49.

63 Vokotopoulou 1990, p. 68.

64 Chryssanthaki-Nagle 2006, pp. 19-20.

65 Kaltsas 1998, pp. 43-44, pl. 27; pp. 65-72, pls. 67-73; pp. 92-93, pl. 99; p. 96, pl. 103 β-γ; pp. 115-116, pl. 129 γ-η. For models of “genre scenes” and maturation rites see Rutter 2003, pp. 40-41. For protomes from child burials in Italy see Carter 1998, pp. 241, 355, 780-785.

66 Liston, Papadopoulos 2004.

67 Merker 2000, p. 329. Athena, like Artemis, may have been meant as the maiden who never crossed to wifehood and thus a protectress of youth.

68 Felsch 1980, esp. pp. 89-99; Felsch 1991. The temple has been associated with Artemis Elaphevolos of Hyampolis or Apollo of Abai.

69 Term coined by Isler-Kerényi 2007.

70 “Lebenssituation”: Hinz 1998, p. 35.