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Volume 99 No. 3
July 1995
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A Flight of Swallows
Karen Polinger Foster
Recent ornithological research on swallow behavior has inspired a fresh look at the well-known flight painted on three walls of room Delta 2 at Akrotiri, Thera. The standard interpretation is that the birds are courting, while an alternative proposal has them feeding fledglings in midair. Instead, the swallows are exhibiting classic signs of aggressive, high-intensity display, the object of which is possession of airborne feathers for use in nests.
Similarly represented swallows occur elsewhere in the Theran wall paintings, as well as in other media and contexts. The evidence, especially from gold rings, shows that displaying swallows were important features of Aegean avian epiphany. Seen in this light, Delta 2 assumes new meaning as a cultic space in which iconography and architecture combined to create a dramatic setting for epiphanic ritual.
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