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The Fortetsa Gold Rings*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

A. Lebessi
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Extract

The floruit of the Cretan jewellery workshop in the Iron Age is attested by many finds. To these are now added two gold finger-rings, each decorated with two attached embossed heads, recently acquired by the Metaxas Collection in Heraklion (Plate 23, a). They not only enrich our knowledge of this important branch of the art of Crete, but also prove Cretan priority in the adoption of a decorative technique widely used in the islands and in Ionia. I am greatly indebted to Mr. N. Metaxas for permission to publish these important works.

Type
Research Article
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 70 , November 1975 , pp. 169 - 176
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1975

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References

1 Karydi, E., AA (1964) 266–85.Google Scholar

2 Metaxas Collection no. 1560a. D. 0·017 m. Th. 0·002 m. Weight 1·75 gm.

3 Metaxas Collection no. 1560b. Weight 1·05 gm. It is unworked and the depressions on its surface are accidental. Similar lumps were found in a Tekke tomb: Boardman, J., BSA lxii (1967) 69Google Scholar, pl. 7 nos. 11, 12.

4 No. 60 2nd row of New Fortetsa Street.

5 M. S. F. Hood, Archaeological Survey of the Knossos Area C 5 no. 21.

6 Hutchinson, R. W., BSA xlix (1954) 215 ff.Google Scholar See also Boardman, op. cit. 57 ff. Idem, Dädalische Kunst auf Kreta im 7. Jhr. (1970) 15, where this example is mentioned as unique in Greek burial practices and interpreted as an Eastern custom.

7 Metaxas Collection no. 1563. H. 0·082 m. Brown varnish used for decoration; added white on two bands above and below a wider one around lower part of the body. On shoulder stylized bee motif repeated three times; near the handle small four-petal rosette. Row of double lozenges between lines and bands on body. Flat base.

8 Cf. Brock, J. K., Fortetsa (1957) 101, 159–60, pl. 97 no. 1356Google Scholar; pl. 100 no. 1367.

9 Metaxas Collection no. 1562. L. 0·054 m. D. of disk 0·006 m. Th. of disk 0·001 m. D. of shaft 0·002 m. Weight 3·35 gm.

Metaxas Collection no. 1561. L. 0·055 m. D. of disk 0·006 m. Th. of disk 0.001 m. D. of shaft 0·002 m. Weight 3·5 gm.

The only differences between the two pins are the slightly larger knob on the disk of no. 1562 and the number of facets on the double cone, eight on no. 1562 and seven on no. 1561.

10 Brock, op. cit. 87, 195, pl. 75 nos. 1091–2.

11 Levi, D., Ann. x–xii (1927–1929) pl. 12, P. 48.Google Scholar

12 Jacobsthal, P., Greek Pins (1956) 17 ff.Google Scholar

13 Metaxas Collection nos. 1558–9. Measurements of bezel: 0–018 × 0·029 m. W. of hoop 0·006–0·007 m. Weight 1·8–1·83 gm. The hoop of no. 1559 has been repaired in three places.

14 This apparent difference between the rings becomes more pronounced in the illustrations because of the artificial lighting used in the photographic process.

15 Ohly, D., Griechische Goldbleche des 8.Jhr. v. Chr. (1953) 14Google Scholar (for embossing technique), 120 (for the material used for the moulds).

16 e.g. the plaques from Eleusis: Reichel, W., Griechische Goldreliefs (1942) pl. 9 no. 33Google Scholar; Higgins, R. A., Greek and Roman Jewellery (1961) 100, pl. 14DGoogle Scholar; Matz, F., Geschichte der griechischen Kunst (1950) 93, pl. 41.Google Scholar

17 They are preserved on ring no. 1559 only (PLATE 24, a, c) but no. 1558 must have been decorated in the same way. Most of the granules on the latter are missing, as well as the wire frame of the left eye on one of the heads.

18 The back of the gold pendant from the Idaean Cave shows the same treatment; see below, n. 24.

19 Brock, op. cit. 196, pl. 22 no. 377, pl. 37 no. 569, pl. 75 nos. 1103–4; Payne, H., Perachora i (1940) 73–4Google Scholar, pl. 18 nos. 9–15.

20 See 1 n. 1. That the attached embossed head is not unknown as a decorative motif in other areas of the Greek world is indicated by three rings found in a grave at Megara, which have been attributed to the Argive work shop: de Ridder, A., Catalogue sommaire des bijoux antiques (1924) 136 ff.Google Scholar, pl. 8; Higgins, op. cit. 103, pl. 15A; Karydi, op. cit. 278 fig. 8. See also below, p. 176.

21 Jenkins, R. J. H., Dedalica (1936) 89 ff.Google ScholarKunze, E., Gnomon xxi (1949) 11Google Scholar; Higgins, op. cit. 111; Karydi, op. cit. 284.

22 Lippold, G., HdArch v (1950) 39 n. 11Google Scholar; Matz, op. cit. 157 ff., pl. 66.

23 See below, n. 29.

24 Levi, D., AJA xlix (1945) 313 ff.Google Scholar figs. 23, 23 bis; Boardman, , BSA lxii (1967) 60 n. 11 (date)Google Scholar; Higgins, op. cit. 108, pl. 14A.

25 Boardman, op. cit. 60, pl. 7, 2 and 11, 2; Higgins, op. cit. 109 pl. 16C.

26 Boardman, op. cit. 57 ff. esp. 59–61; cf. Higgins, , BSA lxiv (1969) 151.Google Scholar

27 The bezel of a sub-Mycenaean bronze ring from the Kerameikos has the same shape: Higgins, op. cit., 144 pl. 34A.

28 For the petals see n. 16; cf. the eyes with those of a Geometric figurine in the Heraklion Museum: Naumann, U., in Opus Nobile: Festschrift Ulf jantzen (1969) 114 ff. pl. 17.Google Scholar

29 Boardman, op. cit. pl. 11, 47.

30 Rizza, G. and Santa Maria Scrinali, V., Il santuario sull'acropoli di Cortina, i (1968) 213 ff.Google Scholar, pl. 1 no. 1 fig. 275a–b, pl. 6 no. 18, fig. 274a–b.

31 See n. 6.

32 On the basis of the hitherto known works Boardman has maintained (BSA lxii (1967) 57 ff.) that the Knossian workshop was no longer active after the end of the Geometric period.

33 Higgins, Greek and Roman Jewellery, 28 ff.

34 Reichel, Griechische Goldreliefs, 37 ff., 46–8, 51.

35 Higgins, op. cit. 96.

36 Karydi, , AA (1964) 266–85, esp. 271, 278 ff.Google Scholar

37 The Idaean Cave pendant is a characteristic example; see n. 24. On this feature in general see Homann-Wedeking, E., Die Anfänge der griechischen Grossplastik (1950) 112.Google Scholar

38 e.g. Levi, D., Ann. x–xii (1927–1929) 323Google Scholar fig. 42oa–d, 330 fig. 431.

39 Zahn, R., Führer durch die Ausstellung von Schmuckarbeiten aus der Staatlichen Museen (1932) 15 no. 26Google Scholar; Furt-Wängler, A., AZ xlii (1884) 111Google Scholar, pl. 9, 11 (reprinted in Kleine Schriften i (1912) 466, pl. 16, 11); Rosenberg, M., Geschichte der Goldschmiedekunst … Granulation (1915) 67 fig. IIIGoogle Scholar; Karydi, op. cit. 266 n. 4, 278 n. 45 fig. 3.

40 Marshall, F. H., BMC Jewellery (1911) pl. 14 nos. 1230–1Google Scholar; Higgins, op. cit. pl. 17a; Karydi, op. cit. 279 figs. 9, 10.

41 Ducati, P., Guida del Museo Civico di Bologna (1923) 70Google Scholar with illus. Rosenberg, op. cit. 73 fig. 121; Bossert, H. Th., Geschichte des Kunstgewerbes iv (1930) 223Google Scholar; Becatti, G., Oreficerie antiche dalle mimische alle barbarische (1955) 201, pl. 34Google Scholar; N. Alfieri, etc., Ori e argenti dell'Emilia Antica (1958) no. 265 fig. 74; Karydi, op. cit. 279 fig. 11.

42 Boardman, , BSA lxii (1967) 59 fr.Google Scholar, 69 no. 18, pl. 12.

43 Higgins, op. cit. 104.

44 Reichel, op. cit. 15 ff. Kunze, , Gnomon xxi (1949) 41.Google Scholar Ohly, Griechische Goldbleche, 105 ff. Higgins, op. cit. 95 ff. Idem, BSA lxiv (1969) 143 ff. See also Coche de la Fertè, E., Les Bijoux antiques (1956) 25 ff.Google Scholar

45 This is Boardman, 's theory (BSA lxii (1967) 57 ff., 66–7)Google Scholar concerning Cretan art in particular.

46 Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston xli (1943) 43 ff.

47 See Ohly, op. cit. 110 ff. for the relationship of the eighth-century Attic gold-impressed jewellery to the contemporary pottery and small-scale sculpture of the area.

48 Boardman, op. cit. 64.

49 Cf. for example the colony of the Phoenicians at Ialysos and the limitations of their influence: Coldstream, N., BICS xvi (1969) 1–8, pls. 1–3.Google Scholar If the Tekke tholos had been used by Eastern immigrants, as Boardman has maintained (BSA lxii (1967) 56, 63), and if the custom of collecting valuable offerings in a vase buried in the tomb were an Eastern practice, then the early seventh-century grave at Fortetsa, where the rings were found, must have also belonged to a family of Eastern metalworkers. In that case, we must accept that the richest graves in the Knossos area belonged not to the locals but to metics!

50 Bosanquet, R. C., BSA viii (1901–1902) 243 fig. 11Google Scholar; Higgins, Greek and Roman Jewellery 114; idem, BSA lxiv (1969) 152 fig. 2.

51 See p. 171 n. 19.

52 See Ohly, op. cit. 73 ff., esp. 76 ff. on the Attic gold diadems. Coche de la Ferté, op. cit. 54, believes that the decoration was not always necessarily symbolic or connected with the cult of the dead; cf. the apt observation of Picard, Ch., BCH lxxxii (1958) 461 ff.Google Scholar

53 See pp. 171 ff.

54 Karydi, , AA (1964) 268–9Google Scholar; idem, Gnomon xlvi (1974) 206.

55 On the name, type, and meaning of the deity referred to in the literature as ‘Rankengöttin’ see Schauenburg, K., RM lxiv (1957) 204ff.Google Scholar, Jucker, H., Das Bildnis im Blätterkelch (1962) 195 ff.Google Scholar with older relevant bibliography. See also Schauenburg, K., JdI lxxviii (1963) 302 ff.Google Scholar, who refers to isolated groups of later works of problematic or doubtful purpose.

56 Jucker, op. cit. 133, 209 ff. Cf. Andreae, B., Gnomon. xxxvii (1965) 507–13Google Scholar, esp. 512; Curtius, L., Torso (1957) 198.Google Scholar

57 Jucker, op. cit. 164 ff., 178. Cf. Schauenburg, , RM lxiv (1957) 217 ff.Google Scholar; idem, JdI lxxviii (1963) 314 n. 93 for relevant bibliography.

58 Marshall, BMC Jewellery, pl. 16 nos. 1265–6, 1294–5. See also Jucker, op. cit. 196; Schauenburg, op. cit. 310.

59 See n. 41.

60 See n. 39.

61 e.g. on the plaques from Rhodes in the Boston Museum: Reichel, Griechische Goldreliefs 62, pl. 22 no. 79b; Karydi, , AA (1964) 267 fig. 4.Google Scholar

62 Zahn, Ausstellung von Schmuckarbeiten, 16 no. 27; Furtwängler, , AZ xlii (1884) III pl. 9, 12Google Scholar (reprinted in Kleine Schriften i 466, pl. 16, 11); Karydi, op. cit. 266 fig. I.

63 Karydi, op. cit. 278 n. 20 fig. 2. Cf. similar attachments from Fortetsa and the Idaean Cave: Brock, Fortetsa 197, pl. 76 no. 1144; Levi, D., AJA xlix (1945) 317 fig. 231.Google Scholar

64 See Langlotz, E., ‘Aphrodite in den Gärten’, SBHeid. 1953/1954, 2, 32 n. 48Google Scholar; Higgins, Greek and Roman Jewellery 112 n. 5.

65 Marshall, op. cit., pl. 11.

66 Ibid. no. 1128.

67 Ibid. no. 1132.

68 Ibid. nos. 1121, 1126.

69 Ibid. no. 1108.

70 Ibid. no. 1108.

71 A similar example of an abbreviated divine figure appears on another attachment from Kameiros: Marshall, op. cit. 93 pl. 12 no. 1152. See also Jucker, op. cit. 197 ff. for parallel examples of a later date and 204 n. 8 on her representation on a shield from the Idaean Cave.

72 Hatzisteliou-Price, Th., JHS xci (1971) 48–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Cf. Simon, E., Schweizerische Numismatische Rundschau xlix (1970) 5–19 figs. 1–3 pl. 1–2.Google Scholar

73 e.g. Idaean Cave pendant: see n. 23. Temple model from Gortyna: Rizza, and Scrinari, , Il santuario sull'acropoli di Gortina i, pl. 21 no. 124.Google Scholar

74 Alexiou, St., I minoiki thea meth'ipsomenon kheiron (1958) 252 ff.Google Scholar, esp. 267 ff.

75 See n. 20.

76 Schauenburg, , RM lxiv (1957) 219 ff.Google Scholar Jucker, op. cit. 200 ff.

77 Hesychius, s.v. Antheia. See also Farnell, L. R., The Cults of the Greek States ii (1896) 642.Google Scholar The so-called Aphrodite Antheia: Beschi, L., ‘Il Territorio Veronese in età Romana’, Atti del Convegno tenuto a Verona (1971) 231–2.Google Scholar

78 Lebessi, A., AAA iv (1973) 104–14, esp. 112Google Scholar; idem, PAE (1972) 193–203. It is noteworthy that of the male gods only Hermes was, according to tradition, represented double or triple: Hatzisteliou-Price, op. cit. 53 ff.

79 Farnell, op. cit. 652 ff. Idem, RE i2, 2732, s.v. ‘Aphrodite’.

80 Cf. related motif on the gold Hellenistic diadem from Ini in the nome of Heraklion: Neumann, G., AM lxxx (1965) 143–51 Beil. 56–9.Google Scholar