Scene di prothesis e di deposizione a Creta e sul continente greco in età micenea

This paper deals with the depictions of two specific moments of the Late Bronze Age III funeral ritual: the exposure of the deceased (prothesis), and his or her subsequent deposition in the coffin. In the body of the Aegean figurative art, such depictions are admittedly rare, both on Crete and the Mainland. The author analyzes a total of eight images. Five are painted on four clay coffins (larnakes), the other three on pottery sherds. Among the depictions on larnakes, four have been recognized as funeral scenes since the date of their first publication, while one is interpreted as a prothesis scene here for the first time. As to the pottery, we have three sherds dating back to the LH IIIC period: on two of them we can easily recognise depictions of prothesis, while the comparison between the image painted on the third and the prothesis scenes painted on the previous two sherds is only tentative. The paper ends with a brief account of a few similarities between Mycenaean and Geometric depictions of funeral rituals.