Una tomba di armato da Herakleia di Lucania

Abstract

This paper presents a preliminary study of tomb 1188 which was discovered in 1996 in the Madonnelle necropolis at
Herakleia, the Greek polis located on the Ionian coast (Policoro, Matera, Italy).
The grave goods preserved give particular importance to this burial in terms of combination of artefacts and single
objects. As far as we know, this is the only tomb which yielded a complete set of defensive equipment within the
entire necropolis of Policoro. In addition, the helmet discovered into the tomb is a unique piece. No exact comparison
was found in the neighbouring region. The particularity of this tomb lies also in the presence of a single
ceramic pot, in contrast with other burials known in the rest of the necropolis of Herakleia. This object, a blackgloss
cup-skyphos, fixes the chronological range of the tomb to the period between the first and the second quarter
of the 4th century BC.
Although the understanding of the necropolis is still partial and deserves to be enlarged in order to give a broader
interpretation of funerary contexts and identities, this preliminary study represents a first step for further investigations
on the funerary remains of the ancient polis of Herakleia.