Architekturmodelle aus Selinunt

Rekonstruktion, Dekor, Funktion

Abstract

From Dieter Mertens’ excavations at the Agora in Selinunte come several fragments of ›building models‹ that find equivalents in counterparts from other areas of the city – for example from sanctuaries on the Acropolis and the Demeter Malophoros, but also from the settlement itself. According to their contexts and for typological reasons, they are to be dated to the 6ᵗʰ century B.C. Similar to the depictions of buildings in the vase paintings of the same period, they use symbolic codes to describe houses. Their high quality and fidelity to the monumental architecture can be identified in the way in which even the decorations are reproduced. The building models are to be understood as votive gifts offered on the occasion of a wedding and the wife’s move to the new house. The establishment of a new household was of particular importance during the founding phase of the polis of Selinunte, but later this habit ceased.