Tanagra

Tanagra (Greek: Τανάγρα) is the name of an ancient city in Boeotia, in central Greece. The site lies in eastern Boeotia, near the modern town of Tanagra. During the Classical and Hellenistic periods, Tanagra participated in regional alliances and trade networks, leaving behind remains of its city walls, temples, and urban layout. The archaeological record includes pottery workshops and stratified layers that attest to continued occupation into later periods.

The best-known aspect of Tanagra's legacy is the Tanagra figurines, a class of small terra-cotta statues dating from the late 4th to the 2nd century BCE. These figurines were produced locally in and around Tanagra and are characterized by finely modeled heads, naturalistic facial expressions, and polychrome painting. They depict women in elaborate robes, young men in short tunics, children, and mythological or everyday scenes. Many were buried in graves, sometimes as grave goods, but others appear in hoards or as votive offerings. The Tanagra figurines circulated widely in the ancient world and have provided crucial insight into fashion, customs, and craft production of the period; their stylistic features also influenced later Hellenistic and early Christian art traditions and provoked extensive modern scholarly study since their discovery in the 19th century.

In modern times, Tanagra is used as the name of a town and municipality in Boeotia. The area continues to be associated with the archaeological site and the famous figurines, which remain central to its historical identity.