Askòs in the shape of a goose, a boat and paddlers

Relevant to a burial of an adolescent girl, the objects represent a unicum, both for the typology and for the underlying ideology. The tomb (brick chest with flat cover), excavated in 1990 in Contrada Ciantro (Coop. Serena), dates back to the middle of the III sec. BC. The burial, recovered by Benedetto Giovanni Roselli, at that time member of the Archeoclub of Milazzo, has returned numerous objects that should accompany the little deceased in his journey to the underworld. Among these, in addition to the usual ones (an ointment and a olpetta) or related to the female world (two pins and a bone pisside) and body care (strigile), stand out findings quite unique.

These are three model boats, one of which is clearly inspired by fantasy (rooster protomes, an animal connected to the otherworldly world and sacred to Persephone). For the other two model boats, with more realistic features, it was thought that they could be toys or even offers of a family member who exercised an activity in some way related to the world of seafaring.

Of the five hand-shaped dolls, four are aniconic and have their characteristic pointed headdress, while the fifth has physiognomic features, perhaps allusive to the deceased.

The kit included an askòs in the shape of a goose, which was to serve as a bottle to hold lamp oil, as suggested by the circular filter, provided with two holes for suspension. Overall, therefore, it is a clear allusion to the otherworldly journey that every deceased was supposed to make. The boat becomes thus the means to make the last journey, in the Hereafter, not before having paid the obol to Charon, nocchiero of the Hells, as the presence of two bronze coins suggests. The finds are now kept inside the Antiquarium Archeologico Domenico Ryolo (room 9, showcase 19).

For the information below:

 

Gabriella Tigano (con il contributo di Laura Bonfiglio, Gabriella Mangano, Piero Coppolino), “L’Antiquarium archeologico di Milazzo. Guida all’esposizione.”, Messina, Sicania, 2011