DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0697
622 The axe carried by priests and priestesses
Sutekh. However, a glance at the gem from Melos1 already dis-
cussed makes it fairly certain that this is no axe-bearing divinity,
but a mere mortal; and I should be content to see in him a priest
carrying a ceremonial axe. The same tomb yielded an actual spe-
Fig. 522.
cimen in bronze of similar shape2, and other examples could be
quoted3.
A glandular gem of finer style (fig. 520), in the Museum at
Candia, is again taken by L. A. Milani4 to portray an axe-bearing
1 Supra p. 544 fig. 419.
2 Ch. Tsountas loc. cit. p. 155 f. pi. 8, 1, Perrot—Chipiez op. cit. vi. 977 fig. 553,
Stai's op. cit. p. 155 f. no. 1870, A. J. Reinach in Daremberg—Saglio Diet. Ant. iv. 1167
fig. 6265.
3 See Sir J. G. Wilkinson A popular account of the Ancient Egyptians London 1854
i. 362 f. fig. 319, 1—6, Milani Stud, e mat. di arch, e num. 1902 ii. 8 f. fig. 112, Forrer
Reallex. p. 66 f. fig. 57, A. J. Reinach loc. cit., Sir W. M. Flinders Petrie Tools and
Weapons London 1917 p. 9 f. pi. 6f. Infra § 3 (c) i (x). Cp. also an interesting bronze,
formerly in the Towneley Collection, which combines the shape of a perforated axe with
the figure of a bull [infra § 3 (c) i (/x)), and a magnificent axe-head in the Museo Egizio
at Florence (Milani loc. cit. fig. H3 = my fig. 521 f.), which possibly, but not certainly,
had a sacral character.
4 Milani Stud, e mat. di arch, e num. 1902 ii. 8 fig. n 1 ( = my fig. 520).
Sutekh. However, a glance at the gem from Melos1 already dis-
cussed makes it fairly certain that this is no axe-bearing divinity,
but a mere mortal; and I should be content to see in him a priest
carrying a ceremonial axe. The same tomb yielded an actual spe-
Fig. 522.
cimen in bronze of similar shape2, and other examples could be
quoted3.
A glandular gem of finer style (fig. 520), in the Museum at
Candia, is again taken by L. A. Milani4 to portray an axe-bearing
1 Supra p. 544 fig. 419.
2 Ch. Tsountas loc. cit. p. 155 f. pi. 8, 1, Perrot—Chipiez op. cit. vi. 977 fig. 553,
Stai's op. cit. p. 155 f. no. 1870, A. J. Reinach in Daremberg—Saglio Diet. Ant. iv. 1167
fig. 6265.
3 See Sir J. G. Wilkinson A popular account of the Ancient Egyptians London 1854
i. 362 f. fig. 319, 1—6, Milani Stud, e mat. di arch, e num. 1902 ii. 8 f. fig. 112, Forrer
Reallex. p. 66 f. fig. 57, A. J. Reinach loc. cit., Sir W. M. Flinders Petrie Tools and
Weapons London 1917 p. 9 f. pi. 6f. Infra § 3 (c) i (x). Cp. also an interesting bronze,
formerly in the Towneley Collection, which combines the shape of a perforated axe with
the figure of a bull [infra § 3 (c) i (/x)), and a magnificent axe-head in the Museo Egizio
at Florence (Milani loc. cit. fig. H3 = my fig. 521 f.), which possibly, but not certainly,
had a sacral character.
4 Milani Stud, e mat. di arch, e num. 1902 ii. 8 fig. n 1 ( = my fig. 520).