Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T17:03:41.104Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Celtic Dragons from the River Thames

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2011

I. M. Stead
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Two La Tène I swords found in the River Thames more than a century ago are in the remains of iron scabbards decorated with dragon-pairs. These designs, which have only recently been revealed, are similar to those on La Tène scabbards throughout Celtic Europe from France to Romania: ninety examples can now be listed, and half of them have been added in the last decade. The discovery of dragon-pairs in the Thames emphasizes the links that must have existed between Britain and the rest of the Celtic world in the decades around 300 B.C.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 64 , Issue 2 , September 1984 , pp. 269 - 279
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bertin, D., 1974. ‘Le fourreau d'epèe celtique dècorè de Baron-sur-Odon (Calvados)’, Gallia, xxxii, 243–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biel, J., 1974. ‘Ein mittellatènezeitliches Brandgräberfeld in Giengen an der Brenz, Kreis Heidenheim’, Arch. Korr. iv, 225–7.Google Scholar
Bittel, K., Kimmig, W., and Schiek, S., 1981. Die Kelten in Baden Württemberg (Stuttgart).Google Scholar
Brunaux, J.-L., Meniel, P., and Rapin, A. 1980. ‘Un sanctuaire gaulois à Gournay-sur-Aronde (Oise)’, Gallia, xxxviii, 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bulard, A., 1979. ‘Fourreaux ornès d'animaux fantastiques affrontés découverts en France’, Études celtiques, xvi, 27–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bulard, A., 1982. ‘A propos des origines de la paire d'animaux fantastiques sur les fourreaux d'epée laténiens’, in Duval and Kruta 1982, 149–60.Google Scholar
De Navarro, J. M., 1952. ‘The Celts in Britain and their art’, in Charlesworth, M. P. et al. , The Heritage of Early Britain (London), 56–82.Google Scholar
De Navarro, J. M., 1959. ‘Zu einigen Schwertscheiden aus La Tène’, Ber. R.G.K. xl, 79–119.Google Scholar
De Navarro, J. M., 1972. The Finds from the Site of La Tèie, 1, Scabbards and the Swords Found in Them (London).Google Scholar
De Navarro, J. M., 1977. ‘Swiss arms of the La Tène period at Princeton, N.J.’, in Markotic, V. (ed.), Ancient Europe and the Mediterranean (Warminster), 121–33.Google Scholar
Duval, A., and Heude, D., 1983. L'Art celtique en Gaule (Marseille/Paris/Bordeaux/Dijon).Google Scholar
Duval, P.-M., 1975. ‘La decoration des fourreaux d'epée laténiens en Europe du centre-est et en Europe occidentale’, Albia Regia, xiv, 9–13.Google Scholar
Duval, P.-M. and Kruta, V., 1982. L'Art celtique de la période d'expansion (Paris/Geneva).Google Scholar
Guštin, M., 1982. ‘Zeitliche Einordnung der verzierten keltischen Schwerter aus Jugoslawien’, in Duval and Kruta 1982, 191–202.Google Scholar
Guštin, M., 1983. ΚΕΛΤΟΙ: Kelti in njihovi sodobniki na ozemlju Jugoslavije (Ljubljana).Google Scholar
Jacobsthal, P., 1939. ‘The Witham sword’, Burlington Mag. lxxv (no. 436), 28–31.Google Scholar
Jacobsthal, P., 1944. Early Celtic Art (Oxford).Google Scholar
Jope, E. M., 1982. ‘Hallstatt D daggers: Britain and Europe’, Bull. Inst. Arch. London, xix, 83–9.Google Scholar
Kunysz, A., 1962. ‘Miecz celtycki z Rzeszowa’, Wiadomosci Arch, xxviii, 86–7.Google Scholar
Pârvan, V., 1926. Getica (Bucharest).Google Scholar
Petres, E. F., 1982. ‘Notes on scabbards decorated with dragons and bird-pairs’, in Duval and Kruta 1982, 161–74.Google Scholar
Piggott, S., 1950. ‘Swords and scabbards of the British Early Iron Age’, P.P.S. xvi, 1–28.Google Scholar
Stead, I. M., 1983. ‘La Tène swords and scabbards in Champagne’, Germania, lxi, 487–511.Google Scholar
Szabó, M. 1971. The Celtic Heritage in Hungary (Budapest).Google Scholar
Szabó, M. 1974a. ‘Contribution à l'étude de l'art et de la chronologie de La Tène ancienne en Hongrie’, Folia Arch, xxv, 71–86.Google Scholar
Szabó, M. 1974b. Review of de Navarro 1972 in Acta Arch. Acad. Sc. Hungaricae, xxvi, 246–51.Google Scholar
Szabó, M. 1977. ‘The origins of the Hungarian Sword Style’, Antiquity, li, 211–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szabó, M. 1982. ‘Remarques sur la classification des fourreaux d'epée dits Hongrois’, in Duval and Kruta 1982, 175–90.Google Scholar
Todorović, J., 1972. Praistorijska Karaburma, 1 (Belgrade).Google Scholar
Zachar, L., 1974. ‘Datovanie pošiev keltských mečov z Drne a Košic’, Zbornik Slovenského Narodného Mùzea, lxviii (Historia 14), 55–80.Google Scholar
Zirra, V., 1971. ‘Beiträge zur Kenntnis des keltischen Latène in Rumänien’, Dacia, xv, 171–238.Google Scholar