DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0880
and the fork of Hades 799
forks of bone1 or bronze2, and from forked spear-butts of bronze3, a
double-pointed spear-head of copper was found in the sepulchral
deposit of Hagios Onuphrios near Phaistos4, and a double-pointed
lance is held by a Lycaonian warrior carved on the stele of Ikonion5.
Again, a weapon of this type figures in Greek mythology.
Lesches the Lesbian, who wrote the Little Iliad about the middle
of s. vii B.C., described the spear of Achilles as of similar make :
The ring of gold
Flashed lightning round, and o'er it the forked blade0.
Aischylos in his Nereids said of the same weapon :
The shaft, the shaft with its double tongue, will come".
And Sophokles mentioned it in his Lovers of Achilles :
Or the two-mouthed striker, the spear ;
For it rent him—the twofold pang
Of the spear that Achilles bore8.
The hero had been taught to use this engine by Peleus, and
Peleus in turn by Cheiron9,—a pedigree which points to Thessaly
as its home. It is then not inappropriate that Kastor, depicted on
a black-figured amphora from Corneto as advancing side by side
with Peleus against the Calydonian boar, plunges a two-pronged
spear into the monster's head10.
1 R. Munro The Lake Dwellings of Europe London, Paris, and Melbourne 1890 p. 157
fig- 39> I2> L. Savignoni in the A/on. d. Line. 1903 xiii. 93 f. fig. 6 (from a pile-dwelling
on the Mondsee, Austria).
2 C. A. de Bode in Archaeologia 1844 xxx. 250 pi. 16, 11, L. Savignoni loc. cit. p. 93
fig. 5 (from a tumulus near Asterabad at the S.E. corner of the Caspian Sea).
3 SirW. M. Flinders Petrie in the Jour>i. Hell. Stud. 1890 xi. 273 ('spear-heads.. .of the
forked form' from graves at Nebesheh dated c. 650—500 B.C. and regarded as those of
the Carian mercenaries of Psammetichos), id. Tools and Weapons London 1917 p. 33
pi. 39 f., 182 ff. ('forked butts'). An example in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge,
described on the label by Sir W. M. Flinders Petrie as a two-pronged spear, is almost
certainly a spear-butt.
4 Sir A. J. Evans Cretan Pictographs andprae-Phoenician Script London—New York
1895 p. 135 f. fig. 139, L. Savignoni loc. cit. p. 99 fig. 7 ('piii accurato'), Sir A.J. Evans
The Palace of Minos London 1921 i. 100 f. fig. 72.
5 C. F. M. Texier Description tie PAsie Mineure Paris 1849 ii. 148^ pi. 103, Perrot—
Chipiez Hist, de PArt iv. 741 f. fig. 359, Sir W. M. Ramsay The Cities of St. Paid
London 1907 p. 333 f. fig. 43.
The 5t/3o\tct of the Cimbri (Plout. v. Mar. 25) probably involved a pair of lances
(cp. Aristoph. frag. 401 ap. Poll. 7. 157, Herodian. 2. 13. 4).
6 /lias parvafrag. 5 Kinkel ap. schol. Pind. Nem. 6. 85 and schol. //. 16. 142 a[x<pi
de TropKr/s | x/wcreos ao~TpairTei /cat ew' avru biKpoos apSis.
7 Aisch. Nereides frag. 152 Nauck2 Ka.fj.aKos elcri Ka/xaKos yXdicrcrripia 5ltt\6.(ti.ov.
s Soph. Achilleos erastaifrag. 156 Nauck2, 152 Jebb ij 8opbs 8lxoo-to/hov irXaKTpov j
dLwTVxoi. yap ohvvai /xlv rjpMov | 'AxiAXtji'ou boparos. On the text see A. C. Pearson's note.
9 Schol. //. 16. 142.
10 E. Petersen in the Ann. d. List. 1884 lvi. 284 f. ('un bidente'), Mon. d. List, xii
pi. 10, Reinach Lie'p. Vases i. 230, 3 (' une fourche').
forks of bone1 or bronze2, and from forked spear-butts of bronze3, a
double-pointed spear-head of copper was found in the sepulchral
deposit of Hagios Onuphrios near Phaistos4, and a double-pointed
lance is held by a Lycaonian warrior carved on the stele of Ikonion5.
Again, a weapon of this type figures in Greek mythology.
Lesches the Lesbian, who wrote the Little Iliad about the middle
of s. vii B.C., described the spear of Achilles as of similar make :
The ring of gold
Flashed lightning round, and o'er it the forked blade0.
Aischylos in his Nereids said of the same weapon :
The shaft, the shaft with its double tongue, will come".
And Sophokles mentioned it in his Lovers of Achilles :
Or the two-mouthed striker, the spear ;
For it rent him—the twofold pang
Of the spear that Achilles bore8.
The hero had been taught to use this engine by Peleus, and
Peleus in turn by Cheiron9,—a pedigree which points to Thessaly
as its home. It is then not inappropriate that Kastor, depicted on
a black-figured amphora from Corneto as advancing side by side
with Peleus against the Calydonian boar, plunges a two-pronged
spear into the monster's head10.
1 R. Munro The Lake Dwellings of Europe London, Paris, and Melbourne 1890 p. 157
fig- 39> I2> L. Savignoni in the A/on. d. Line. 1903 xiii. 93 f. fig. 6 (from a pile-dwelling
on the Mondsee, Austria).
2 C. A. de Bode in Archaeologia 1844 xxx. 250 pi. 16, 11, L. Savignoni loc. cit. p. 93
fig. 5 (from a tumulus near Asterabad at the S.E. corner of the Caspian Sea).
3 SirW. M. Flinders Petrie in the Jour>i. Hell. Stud. 1890 xi. 273 ('spear-heads.. .of the
forked form' from graves at Nebesheh dated c. 650—500 B.C. and regarded as those of
the Carian mercenaries of Psammetichos), id. Tools and Weapons London 1917 p. 33
pi. 39 f., 182 ff. ('forked butts'). An example in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge,
described on the label by Sir W. M. Flinders Petrie as a two-pronged spear, is almost
certainly a spear-butt.
4 Sir A. J. Evans Cretan Pictographs andprae-Phoenician Script London—New York
1895 p. 135 f. fig. 139, L. Savignoni loc. cit. p. 99 fig. 7 ('piii accurato'), Sir A.J. Evans
The Palace of Minos London 1921 i. 100 f. fig. 72.
5 C. F. M. Texier Description tie PAsie Mineure Paris 1849 ii. 148^ pi. 103, Perrot—
Chipiez Hist, de PArt iv. 741 f. fig. 359, Sir W. M. Ramsay The Cities of St. Paid
London 1907 p. 333 f. fig. 43.
The 5t/3o\tct of the Cimbri (Plout. v. Mar. 25) probably involved a pair of lances
(cp. Aristoph. frag. 401 ap. Poll. 7. 157, Herodian. 2. 13. 4).
6 /lias parvafrag. 5 Kinkel ap. schol. Pind. Nem. 6. 85 and schol. //. 16. 142 a[x<pi
de TropKr/s | x/wcreos ao~TpairTei /cat ew' avru biKpoos apSis.
7 Aisch. Nereides frag. 152 Nauck2 Ka.fj.aKos elcri Ka/xaKos yXdicrcrripia 5ltt\6.(ti.ov.
s Soph. Achilleos erastaifrag. 156 Nauck2, 152 Jebb ij 8opbs 8lxoo-to/hov irXaKTpov j
dLwTVxoi. yap ohvvai /xlv rjpMov | 'AxiAXtji'ou boparos. On the text see A. C. Pearson's note.
9 Schol. //. 16. 142.
10 E. Petersen in the Ann. d. List. 1884 lvi. 284 f. ('un bidente'), Mon. d. List, xii
pi. 10, Reinach Lie'p. Vases i. 230, 3 (' une fourche').