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Votive deposit - Definition and Overview |
| Related Words: Acquittal, Allocation, Alluvium, Amortization, Ash, Assignment, Bank, Binder, Bond, Bosom, Bury, Cache, Cash, Chimney, Chute, Cinder |
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A votive deposit or votive offering is an object left in a sacred place for ritual purposes.
Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally made in order to gain favour with supernatural forces. This is attested by historical Roman and Greek sources although similar acts continue into the present day, for example in the wishing well.
In Europe votive deposits became common in the middle to late Bronze Age. Intact, high status artefacts were apparently buried or more commonly cast into bodies or water or peat bogs, from whence they could not possibly have been recovered. The purposeful discarding of valuable items such as swords and axes is thought to have therefore have had ritual overtones. The items have since been found in rivers and lakes by archaeologists.
In archaeology, votive deposits differ from hoards in that although they may contain similar items, votive deposits were not intended for later recovery.
An icon with votive offerings An icon of Aghia Paraskevi with votive offerings hung beside it. Seen in 2001 in Crete at a place where votive offering have been made (http://www.rhaworth.myby.co.uk/hols/saints.htm) for four thousand years. The saint holds a plate with two eyeballs in it because she is considered to be an healer of the blind. One of her visitors has left an offering showing eyes to indicate what their affliction is.
Curse tablet
A curse tablet was a small sheet of tin or lead on which was inscribed a message wishing misfortune upon someone else. The tablet was rolled up and thrown into a well or spring. Hundreds of such tablets have been recovered from places such as Aquae Sulis, Roman Bath, England.
See also
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