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Figurine of an actor playing a runaway slave

The disobedient or runaway slave was a standard character of New Comedy, a type of drama that developed around 320-300 BC. This slave has taken refuge on an altar, probably in an attempt to protect himself from punishment. New Comedy features ordinary people, such as lovers kept apart by angry parents; and it specialised in unexpected changes of fortune - the slave may prove to be a prince.

Production place: Tanagra, Greece
Date: around  325–100 BC
Fired Clay
Bequeathed by Shannon, C.H.
Ricketts and Shannon Collection

Object Number: GR.85b.1937

see the online collections database

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Tanagra figures

These figures are named after the Greek town of Tanagra in Boeotia, north-west of Athens, where many have been found. They seem very life-like: this may be how wealthy people dressed, with fine clothes, gold jewellery and broad-brimmed sun-hats. Some were placed in tombs, where perhaps they took the place of a dead person’s relatives. Others were deposited in sanctuaries, again acting as substitutes for the living – this time for the worshippers who had left them there.

Production place: Tanagra, Greece
Date: around  300–200 BC
Fired Clay
Bequeathed by Shannon, C.H.
Ricketts and Shannon Collection

Object Number: GR.64.1937

see the online collections database