DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7476#0046
3o SHAFT-GRAVE JEWELLERY OF EARLY MINOAN ORIGIN
Mycenae jewels and those discovered by Seager in E. M. II and III tombs
at Mochlos, a great family resemblance is perceptible between the two
groups. The wealth of such relics in the tombs of what after all can have
been little more than a small provincial settlement of East Crete is itself
astonishing. The correspondence, moreover, in various categories of gold
objects strikes the eye. At Mochlos we see roundels and crosses,1 leaves
and flowers, bands and bosses of gold sheeting: if not the actual death-
masks, at least gold eye-bandages for the dead that may be legitimately
regarded as their ancestral representatives.2 Many of the most charac-
teristic contents of the Mycenae tombs are here foreshadowed. Among
floral forms we recognize a stellate type—the marguerite—well represented
in the later series.3 It is only by chance indeed that the Early Minoan type
of gold lily does not also recur in the Shaft Graves. As a matter of fact it
is found in the slightly later Mycenaean tJwlos tombs at Volo and Dimini.4
On the diadems of Mycenae are constantly repeated conventional rosettes ;
on a band from Mochlos we see the dotted outlines of two plain wild roses,
here, as elsewhere, shown with four petals.5 Even the embossed lion's mask
of gold foil0—probably destined to cover some small carving in woodwork—
from the oldest of the Mochlos interments, anticipates in miniature the
larger versions of animals' heads in precious metals, such as the gold lion's-
head rhyton of Grave IV at Mycenae.
Of indebtedness to the Minoan tradition of Crete the typical gold
signet rings of Mycenae, with the bezel set at right angles to the hoop,
themselves afford some of the best examples. The type, as I have else-
where shown,7 really originates in a form of bead-seal that appears in
Crete towards the close of the Early Minoan Age, with the signet-plate
set longitudinally on a tubular bead. The signet-rings were thus made
originally for suspension, which accounts for the fact, hitherto unexplained,
that in many of them the hoop is too small for the ring to have been worn
on the finger.
1 Compare the cross-shaped gold ornament
of plain ' orthodox ' shape. Seager, Mochlos,
Fig. 10, 2, and p. 32, with that from the Third
Shaft Grave, Schliemann, Mycenae, p. 194,
Fig. 295.
2 See above, p. 14, and Fig. 7 a, b.
3 Compare Seager, op. cit., p. 72, Fig. 42
(cf. P. of M., i, p. 98, Fig. 69, xix. 11), with
the star-flowers on the embossed gold plate
from the Fourth Shaft Grave (Schliemann,
op. cit., p. 253, Figs. 387-90).
4 See P. ofM., i, p. 96, Fig. G8, and compare
Seager, Mochlos, p. 32, and Fig. 10, ii. 29, a.
5 Compare Seager, op. cit., p. 28, Fig. 9,
ii. 3, and p. 29, Fig. 9, ii. 11 a.
6 Op. cit., p. 55, Fig. 25, vi. 2S.
7 The Ring of Nestor, pp. 47, 48, and see
P. of M., iii, § 74.
Mycenae jewels and those discovered by Seager in E. M. II and III tombs
at Mochlos, a great family resemblance is perceptible between the two
groups. The wealth of such relics in the tombs of what after all can have
been little more than a small provincial settlement of East Crete is itself
astonishing. The correspondence, moreover, in various categories of gold
objects strikes the eye. At Mochlos we see roundels and crosses,1 leaves
and flowers, bands and bosses of gold sheeting: if not the actual death-
masks, at least gold eye-bandages for the dead that may be legitimately
regarded as their ancestral representatives.2 Many of the most charac-
teristic contents of the Mycenae tombs are here foreshadowed. Among
floral forms we recognize a stellate type—the marguerite—well represented
in the later series.3 It is only by chance indeed that the Early Minoan type
of gold lily does not also recur in the Shaft Graves. As a matter of fact it
is found in the slightly later Mycenaean tJwlos tombs at Volo and Dimini.4
On the diadems of Mycenae are constantly repeated conventional rosettes ;
on a band from Mochlos we see the dotted outlines of two plain wild roses,
here, as elsewhere, shown with four petals.5 Even the embossed lion's mask
of gold foil0—probably destined to cover some small carving in woodwork—
from the oldest of the Mochlos interments, anticipates in miniature the
larger versions of animals' heads in precious metals, such as the gold lion's-
head rhyton of Grave IV at Mycenae.
Of indebtedness to the Minoan tradition of Crete the typical gold
signet rings of Mycenae, with the bezel set at right angles to the hoop,
themselves afford some of the best examples. The type, as I have else-
where shown,7 really originates in a form of bead-seal that appears in
Crete towards the close of the Early Minoan Age, with the signet-plate
set longitudinally on a tubular bead. The signet-rings were thus made
originally for suspension, which accounts for the fact, hitherto unexplained,
that in many of them the hoop is too small for the ring to have been worn
on the finger.
1 Compare the cross-shaped gold ornament
of plain ' orthodox ' shape. Seager, Mochlos,
Fig. 10, 2, and p. 32, with that from the Third
Shaft Grave, Schliemann, Mycenae, p. 194,
Fig. 295.
2 See above, p. 14, and Fig. 7 a, b.
3 Compare Seager, op. cit., p. 72, Fig. 42
(cf. P. of M., i, p. 98, Fig. 69, xix. 11), with
the star-flowers on the embossed gold plate
from the Fourth Shaft Grave (Schliemann,
op. cit., p. 253, Figs. 387-90).
4 See P. ofM., i, p. 96, Fig. G8, and compare
Seager, Mochlos, p. 32, and Fig. 10, ii. 29, a.
5 Compare Seager, op. cit., p. 28, Fig. 9,
ii. 3, and p. 29, Fig. 9, ii. 11 a.
6 Op. cit., p. 55, Fig. 25, vi. 2S.
7 The Ring of Nestor, pp. 47, 48, and see
P. of M., iii, § 74.