ara, altar

MAC GIR-023396

Object type ara

Fabric stone material, construction and architectural of the Classical and Protohistoric period

Culture/period Protohistory and Iberian world

Materials marble

Technique sculpting

Mint

Production date -300 / -200

Seu Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya - Girona

Current location MASPG

Archaeological site Mas Castellar

Township Pontós (Alt Empordà)

Dimensions 620 x 480 mm

Description

Monolithic piece of white marble carved in a column. The column is topped by a classic Ionic capital with small volutes. The shaft is fluted with a circular cross-section and enlarges at the bottom to form a wide and delicate plinth. At the top of the shaft and surrounding the entire perimeter a moulding is decorated with motifs of lanceolate leaves located between the grooves separated by edges of the same shaft and framed by pearls. In the front of the shaft there is heavy wear in the bottom of the grooves. Petrographic analyses have determined the Pentelic marble quarry, near the city of Athens and exploited since the beginning of the sixth century BC. Pentelic marble would have supplied Empúries, where several pieces have been documented, such as the statue of Aesculapius, and it would not be surprising that the one now of Pontos would have arrived by that route and been reused for purposes of worship. The altar was found in House 1 in the agricultural establishment of Mas Castellar (Pontós Alt Emporda, Girona) site, and is related to worship use.

Image

3D Model

Omeka ID 195