DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.808#0034
32 ARTHUR EVANS
this case a bow, aiming an arrow at a personage in a chariot. A sheath,
however, attached to his belt shows that the young warrior also bore a sword.
No foot-gear is here visible, but otherwise his dress seems to correspond with
that of the youth on No. 11, and displays the sametasseled attachments to his
flounced ' trousers.' He stands immediately in the horses' path, in what,
from the rocks that frame the upper border, seems to be a rugged defile, so that
the horses come to a dead stop, and one of them throws back his neck, as if
startled by the onslaught. The man in the chariot is designated by his triple
helmet with flying crest as of superior rank, as in other cases where this
feature appears. He holds a larger bow and is aiming an arrow in his turn
at the aggressor, though his action cannot be so free, since his Tight hand
that pulls the string also grasps the reins. Once more it will be seen that the
Fig. 34.—Combat between a Bowman in a Chariot and another
on foot. Taken from the original Intaglio. (?)
phototype (Fig- 34), taken from the original ring and not the impression as seen
in Fig. 33, shows the manner in which the weapons were actually held. The
elder man is depicted as bending forward over the high front of the chariot
seat and using the horses' heads and necks to a certain extent as cover. His
costume consists of a corslet with openings for the arms at the shoulders, a
broad belt and the same flounced and tasseled coverings of the thighs. In
neither case is the arrow actually shot, so we are left in doubt as to the result
of the encounter. The odds seem to be in favour of the youth, but the older
man is partly shielded by the front of the horses. With this element of
uncertainty hanging over the encounter, the startled horses and the bending
figure behind them, the whole composition is of a naively dramatic character.
The chariot and its fittings present special points of interest. The pole
itself is not visible; what is seen is what may be called the ' rod of support'
running out from the raised front of the car above the level of the horses' backs,
with connecting thongs that help to relieve the horses from the weight of the
pole. It is thus marked as belonging to the usual Minoan and Mycenaean class.
This feature indeed occurs already on the fragment of an old Babylonian stone
this case a bow, aiming an arrow at a personage in a chariot. A sheath,
however, attached to his belt shows that the young warrior also bore a sword.
No foot-gear is here visible, but otherwise his dress seems to correspond with
that of the youth on No. 11, and displays the sametasseled attachments to his
flounced ' trousers.' He stands immediately in the horses' path, in what,
from the rocks that frame the upper border, seems to be a rugged defile, so that
the horses come to a dead stop, and one of them throws back his neck, as if
startled by the onslaught. The man in the chariot is designated by his triple
helmet with flying crest as of superior rank, as in other cases where this
feature appears. He holds a larger bow and is aiming an arrow in his turn
at the aggressor, though his action cannot be so free, since his Tight hand
that pulls the string also grasps the reins. Once more it will be seen that the
Fig. 34.—Combat between a Bowman in a Chariot and another
on foot. Taken from the original Intaglio. (?)
phototype (Fig- 34), taken from the original ring and not the impression as seen
in Fig. 33, shows the manner in which the weapons were actually held. The
elder man is depicted as bending forward over the high front of the chariot
seat and using the horses' heads and necks to a certain extent as cover. His
costume consists of a corslet with openings for the arms at the shoulders, a
broad belt and the same flounced and tasseled coverings of the thighs. In
neither case is the arrow actually shot, so we are left in doubt as to the result
of the encounter. The odds seem to be in favour of the youth, but the older
man is partly shielded by the front of the horses. With this element of
uncertainty hanging over the encounter, the startled horses and the bending
figure behind them, the whole composition is of a naively dramatic character.
The chariot and its fittings present special points of interest. The pole
itself is not visible; what is seen is what may be called the ' rod of support'
running out from the raised front of the car above the level of the horses' backs,
with connecting thongs that help to relieve the horses from the weight of the
pole. It is thus marked as belonging to the usual Minoan and Mycenaean class.
This feature indeed occurs already on the fragment of an old Babylonian stone