Sphyrelaton

thumb|Bronze winged feminine figure, 590–580 BC. Archaeological Museum of Olympia A sphyrelaton ( for "hammer-elongated", plural: sphyrelata, σφυρήλατα) was a type of large archaic Greek bronze votive statues.

==Features== The sphyrelata were obtained by hammering a thin sheet of bronze around a core of wood previously carved up to take the desired shape. The technique seems to be of Oriental origin, probably imported from north-Syrian workers arrived in Greece around the seventh century BC. In ancient Greece the sphyrelaton type (along with many other inventions, such as the xoanon) were attributed to the mythical figure of Daedalus, and it is indeed significant that the most important testimonies of similar votive objects come from excavations on the island of Crete .