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A Mykênaean Treasure from Ægina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

Arthur J. Evans
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Extract

A remarkable Mykênæan gold-find brought to light some years since in the island of Ægina after finding its way into the London market has secured a permanent resting-place in the British Museum. In the interests of archæological science it must be a matter for rejoicing that our national collection should have received so important an accession in a department of ancient metal-work hitherto almost wholly unrepresented in any museum outside Athens. Opinions may well differ as to the propriety of removing from the soil on which they are found and to which they naturally belong the greater monuments of Classical Antiquity. But in the case of small objects, made themselves for commerce, and free from the same local ties, the considerations, which weigh under other circumstances, lose their validity, while on the other hand the benefits to be derived by students from their partial dispersion are not to be gainsaid. This, it is true, is not the standpoint of the Greek, or, for that matter, of the Turkish Government. But the theory that the present occupants of Greece or the Ottoman possessors of the Eastern Empire are the sole legitimate heirs even of such minor monuments of ancient culture is not likely to commend itself to the outside world.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 13 , November 1893 , pp. 195 - 226
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1893

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References

1 Schliemann, , Myeenœ and Tiryns, Nos. 317Google Scholar, 339, 340, 342, 343, 344, 453.

2 Op. cit. No. 339. Professor Petrie observes that this two-handled vessol resembles certain Egyptian bronze cups of c. 1300–1200 B.C.

3 Schliemann, op. cil. No. 341.

4 Compare for instance Compte-rendu du Congrès d'Anthr. et d'Arch. préhistorique, Budapest, 1878, Pl. LXXIII. 2a, LXXVI. 2 and 3, &c. This Danubian class in turn becomes the forerunner of a whole series of ‘Late Celtic’ vessels.

5 Compare Rosellini, , Monumenti Civili, tav. cxxvii. 1Google Scholar (funereal boat with covered bier), and Mon. del Culto, tav. lxxviii.

6 Perrot, et Chipiez, , L'Egypte, p. 845Google Scholar, Fig. 586.

7 Monumenti dell' Inst. &c. x. t. xxxii. It is engraved with the Phoenician inscription Esmnni 'ear ben ‘Asta, the style of which is compared by Fabiani, (Ann. dell’ Inst. &c. 1876, 258seqq.)Google Scholar to that of Assyrian contracts of the 7th century B.C.

8 Ib. tav. xxxi.; Perr. et Chip. Phénicie, p. 853, Fig. 623.

9 Rosellini, Mon. del Culto, No. vii.

10 Ib. No. v.

11 Ib. No. vi.

11a Cf. Wilkinson, , Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians (1878 ed.) vol. ii. 104Google Scholarseqq. It is worth remarking in this connexion that the throwing-stick supplies another link between Egypt and the Mykênæan world. Upon the siege-scene brought to light by careful cleaning on one of the silver fragments of vases from the Akropolis Tomb No. 4 at Mykênæ, there are seen strewing the ground beneath the combatants—together with oval objects representing sling-stones—certain incised figures the significance of which has hitherto remained unnoticed. They are, in fact, throwing-sticks, of a form that strikingly recalls the Australian tombat. The throwers of these are not seen, and, as the missiles did not return to them but lay where they were thrown, it becomes evident that the name boomerang would be a misnomer. The throwing-stick is also Syrian.

11b Lepsius, , Denkmäler, , &c, Abth. iii. BI. 113Google Scholar. Ib. Abth. ii. BI. 130.

12 Milchhöfer, , Anfänge der Kirnst, p. 55Google Scholar, Fig. a.

13 E.g. Layard, , Discoveries, p. 609Google Scholar, from Kouyoundjik; Perr., et Chip., Chaldée, &c, p. 666Google Scholar, Fig. 323.

14 Milchhöfer, , Anfänge der Kunst, p. 86Google Scholar, Fig. 56a. In this case she holds the birds by the wings and below are wavy lines indicative of water. On a three-sided amethyst from the Vaphio tomb the same female figure is seen holding up a bird in either hand by the neck (, 1890, Pl. X. 5).

15 It has been already pointed out by Milehhöfer, (Anfänge der Kunst, p. 87)Google Scholar that Mykênæan art supplies the forerunners of the Greek Artemis: and fresh evidence on this point has now accumulated. (See Tsountas, , Ἐψ. ἀρχ. 1891, p. 43Google Scholar, &c.)

16 In the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford.

17 To be described in this volume of the Hellenic Journal. It seems to me that the pointed projection on the chin of this fine archaic Greek figure is traceable to the small horn-like beard of Egyptian fashion.

18 Layard, Monuments of Nineveh, 1st series, Pl. 90, Fig. 21; Perr., et Chip., Chaldée, &c. p. 535Google Scholar, Fig. 249.

19 Cf. Layard, Mon. 1st series, Pl. 86, 87; Perr., et Chip., Chaldée, ka., p. 291Google Scholar. Fig. 118.

20 Cf. Perr. et Chip. op. cit. p. 730, Fig. 391.

21 See Linas, De, Les Origines de l' Orfèvrerie cloisonnée, t. iii. p. 240Google Scholar, who first published the ornament from a photograph supplied by Count Gozzadini. It was found in the dolium containing the great bronze-founder's hoard, but had escaped notice in the first enumeration of its contents.

22 Spännen från Bronsåldern, p. 95.

23 Ghirardini, G., Seavi nel sepolcreto antichissimo tarquiniese (Not. degli Scavi, 1882, tav. xiii, bis, 19 and p. 190)Google Scholar. He compares a similar ornament from Villanova (Gozzadini, , Di un Sep. &c, tav. vi. 9Google Scholar).

24 Falchi, Isidoro, Vetulonia, tav. xviii. 16Google Scholar. In the Musée Ravenstein (No. 1207) is another similar ornament from Chiusi with a single duck.

24b A. ‘Late Celtie’ open-work disk of the same general type, with two confronted ducks, occurred in the barrow of Wald-Algesheim (Weerth, Auss'm, Grabfund von Wald-Algesheim, taf. v. 1Google Scholar. Lindenschmit, Alterthümer, &e. B. iii. H. 1).

25 Sacken, Von, Grabfeld von Hallstatt, taf. xv. 1Google Scholar. Matériaux, &c. 1886, p. 54.

26 It is engraved in Perr., et Chip., Phénicie, &c., p. 839Google Scholar, Fig. 610.

27 Mon. dell' Inet. x. tav. xxxi.; Perr., et Chip., , Phénieie, &c, p. 759Google Scholar, Fig. 543.

23 Falchi, I., Vetulonia, tav. xvii. 11Google Scholar.

29 lb. tav. vii. 4, see p. 101.

30 Mon. dell' Inst. x. tav. xxxi, a; Annali, 1876, 250; Bull. 1876, 130.

31 See for instance the specimen in the Louvre, Perr., et Chip., Égypte, p. 834Google Scholar, Fig. 369: xxii. Dyn.

32 E.g. at Vetulonia; Notizie degli Scavi, 1882, tav. xiii. 7, p. 146. It was found in a pozzetto, inside an ossuary, and apparently was a pendant of a necklace found in the same urn.

33 Ausgr, von Olympia, Atlas, taf. xxiv. 421. For duck ornaments see also t. xiii. 210, 210b, 211.

34 Cf. Virchow, R., Gräberfeld von Koban Atlas, taf. viii. 1Google Scholar, 3; taf. x. 5, 6; taf. xi. 6a, 6b. Chantre, E., Recherches Anthropologiques dans le Caucase, Atlas t. ii. xxiv. 5–10Google Scholar; xxvi. 8. Numerous other specimens are to be seen in the Museum at Tiflis.

34a See for instance Aspelin, , Antiquités du Nord Finno-Ougrien, p. 512Google Scholar, No. 989 (Antiquités Mériennes: Vladimir).

34 Specimens of these are known from Corneto-Tarqninia, (N. d. Scavi, 1881, tav. v. 24, p. 361)Google Scholar, Salerno (Mus. Ravenstein, No. 1169), Viterbo (ib.), Glasinac, in Bosnia, (Mitth. d. Anthr. Ges. in Wien. 1881, p. 289Google Scholarseqq.), and Transylvania. Similar in clay from Este (N. d. Scavi, 1882, tav. iii. 1, p. 18).

35 See especially that in the British Museum marked N. C. 221. Some of these ivories are perhaps of Phœnician work.

36 Perr., et Chip., Phénicie, p. 828Google Scholar, Fig. 589.

36a Notes on the Antiquities of Mykênœ, Hell. Jour. XII. (1891) p. 201.

36b Petrie, , Illahun, Kahun and Gurob, pp. 23Google Scholar, 24. The Twenty-Second Dynasty begins about 975 B.C.

37 As for instance the plates from Grave V. (Schuchhardt, op. cit. p. 258; Schliemann, p. 319, No. 481).

38 See p. 225.

39 Jahrbuch d. deutsch. Arch. Inst. 1891, p. 262 seqq.

40 See Linas, De, Les Origines de l' Orfé;vrerie cloisonnée, t. i. p. 19Google Scholar seqq.

41 Head, , Hist. Num. p. 291Google Scholar suggests that it was connected with the cult of Athena Itonia, in whose temple was held the Pambœotian festival. But it may rather have been intended to represent the shield of some legendary hero suspended in the temple.

42 For late developments of this Dipylon form see Pernice, E., Geometrische Vase von Athen, Athen. Mitth. 1892, pp. 211Google Scholar, 215.

43 I note the occurrence of this type as an ornamental appendage, on a bronze pendant of the Late Hungarian Bronze Age from the Hoard of Rima-Szombat in the county of Gömör, (Arch. Ertesiö, 1886, vii. 11–14Google Scholar; cf. Congr. Préh. Budapest, vol. ii. Pl. 112, 4 and LIV. 1). Its wide extension and survival on the Asiatic side is shown by its appearance in a highly developed form in the hands of the guards of Darius on the walls of the palace at Persepolis.

43a On ornamental imitations of this form of shield see Mr.Gardner, Ernest's paper on ‘Palladia from Mycenæ,’ Hellenic Journal, xiii, p. 21Google Scholar seqq. To the instances there given may be added the use of this form for the ornamental head of a nail on the fragment of the silver vessel with the siege-scene found in the Fourth Akropolis Tomb at Mykênæ; Ἐψ. Ἀρχ. 1891 Pl. It is possible that the dumb-bell-like symbol, consisting of two disks with a connecting stem, to be seen on some Mykênæ gems (e.g. B.M. Cat. No. 74), should be regarded as a variant form of this same Mykênæan type. A shield of this shape actually occurs on a relief at Sendschirli.

44 It seems to me possible that the long pointed boss of these Mykenææn shields represents the original parrying-stick, which was probably the earliest form of shield. The combination of the parrying-stick and the targe or body-shield may be illustrated from various parts of the world. In Sumatra it survives as a raised keel in front of an oar-like shield. Among the Kaffirs the parrying-stiek is preserved at the back of an elliptical body-shield; and this method is often followed by savage races.

44a Schuchhardt, p. 229) fig. 227; see too Gardner, E., Hell. Jour. xiii. p. 22Google Scholar, fig. 3, and compare fig. 6, which is very suggestive ot a prototype in leather. Similar forms are to be seen on a gold signet and gem from the Vaphio tomb (Ἐφ. Ἀρχ. 1890, Pl. X. figs. 7, 39). Tsountas (op. cit. p. 171) calls the object on the signet a ‘rock,’ but it is clearly a shield of this form.

44b For this notice and the sketch of the object in question I am indebted to Mr. J. L. Myres.

45 Il. vii. 219 seqq.:—

46 Helbig, (Homerische Epos, p, 17)Google Scholar, as against Riedenauer, (Handwerk und Handwerker, p. 59)Google Scholar observes that Hylê need not be in Bœotia, as there were other places of the same name. But the fact that the traditional shield of Ajax as seen on the Salaminian coins was of the Boeotian type weighs in favour of the most obvious iden. tification of the name.

46a Plin. vii. 200.

47 Cf. for example Dr.Busolt, 's conclusion in his chapter on Mykênaean, art prefixed to the recently issued vol. i. of the 2nd. edit, of his Griechische Geschichte, p. 98Google Scholar: ‘Alle Wahrscheinlichkeit spricht dafür dass die Goldbecher, ebenso wie die reichverzierten Dolchklingen Erzeugnisse der syrischen, nach ägyptischen Mustern und unter ägyptischen Einflüssen arbeitenden Industrie sind.’ Pp. 104–106, &c. develop the extraordinary thesis that (with the exception of a small group) the Mykênaean gems were also imported from Northern Syria.

48 The Gythion gem is in my own collection as is also the original of Milchhoefer, , Anfänge der Kunst, p. 80Google Scholar, fig. 51 (Cades, No. 76)—one of the finest existing specimens of Mykênæan glyptic art,—which is in the same material. It was therefore doubtless of Peloponnesian manufacture, though its provenience is not recorded. This gem was formerly in the Meyer collection at Liverpool.

49 See Petrie, , Illahun, Kahun, and Gurob, and ‘Egyptian Bases of Greek History,’ Hellenic Journal xi. (1890), p. 271Google Scholarseqq.

50 For a summary statement of the Egyptian evidence see Steindorff, , Arch. Anz. 1892, p. 11Google Scholarseqq. and Smith, Cecil, Classical Review, vi. 462Google Scholarsqq.

51 See Hellenic Journal, 1890 p. 273, 1891 p. 199 seqq.

52 To the question of the Mykênæan fibulae I hope to return on another occasion. Gold fibulæ of this type are found in Cyprus. Two from Paphos, found in company with a Bügelkanne with geometric ornament, are in the Ash-molean Museum at Oxford, presented by the Cyprus Exploration Committee. Another from Kition, also of gold and of the same form as the above, is in the New York Museum. It is engraved by Perrot, et Chipiez, , Phéicie, &c. p. 831Google Scholar, Fig. 595.

53 See Tsountas, , Ἐκ Μυκηνῶν; Ἐφ. Ἀρχ., 1891, p. 22Google Scholarseqq., and Pl. II. Figs. 1, 4, 4α.

54 Ch. xx; v. 13, ‘Javan, Tubal, and Meshech they, were they traffickers; they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass for thy merchandise.’

55 Catal. Fragm. 96, Kinkel.

56 B. M. Cat. Attica, &c. p. lxvi, and cf. Hist. Num. p. 331.

57 See above p. 211.

58 Head, Hist. Num. p. xxix. Some of those weighed by Prof.Petrie, from Nankratis scaled as low as 136.8 grains (Naukratis, p. 75)Google Scholar. For a criticism of some of Mr. Petrie's conclusions see Prof.Kidgeway, , Origin of Currency, and Weight Standards, p. 241Google Scholar note.

59 Hell. Journ. x. (1889), p. 90 seqq. Had the People of Prehistoric Mycenae a Weight Standard ? Compare too his Origin of Currency and Weight Standards, p. 37 seqq.

60 See Head, Hist. Num. p. xxxviii.