DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7476#0053
PAUCITY AND POVERTY OF ' HELLADIC' WEAPONS 37
the sixteenth or the later part of the seventeenth centuries b. c, to which,
as we know from their associations, some of these belonged, the sword itself
had not yet been evolved from the dagger on the Mainland of Europe.
Incidentally it may be further noted that the large bronze hunter's
knives from Mycenae, terminating in rings for suspension, and called by
Schliemann 'one-edged bronze swords', such as those from the Fourth
Shaft Grave,1 are enlarged versions of a smaller type of the same form of
which specimens occur in Cretan tombs. There can be little doubt that it
is a weapon of the same kind that is grasped by the footman in front of the
chariot on the Second Tombstone.2 The chariot itself has attached to it
a short sword of the typical early form, dependent on a Middle Minoan
blade.
But while, as we have seen, it is not difficult to find parallels to the
Shaft-Grave swords on Cretan soil and to trace back their prototypes to
forms of copper daggers going well back into the Early Minoan Age,
researches on the Mainland side have led to almost entirely negative results.
Dr. Blegen's recent careful exploration of Early and Middle Hellaclic
tombs and houses at Zygouries in the Valley of Kleonae only brought to
light a single dagger-blade 3 of a somewhat advanced type, also known in
the Cyclades and abundantly represented in the bee-hive tombs of the
Mesara. One other similar example was discovered by him in a Middle
Helladic tomb near the Argive Heraeum.4 The explorations of early
strata in the Peloponnese, indeed, argue an extreme poverty in weapons
and implements of metal. But in Crete, as is shown by the wonderful find
of royal arms made by the French explorers in the Palace of Mallia, a long
sword had arisen per saltum from a dagger type, on independent lines, as
early as the initial phase of M.M. I.5 This splendid Minoan ' Durendal'—
born thus before its time^—long precedes the date of any other European
swords.
The socketed bronze spear-heads from the Shaft Graves must in the
1 Schliemann, Mycenae, p. 279, Figs. 442,
442 a.
■ Schliemann, op. cit., p. 81, Fig. 140.
5 Carl W. Blegen, Zygouries (Harvard Uni-
versity Press, 1928), p. 182, and PL XX,
no. 25.
4 Zygouries, loc. cit.
5 See my remarks, P. of M., ii, Pt. I,
p. 273 seqq., and the illustrations there of
th e sword and dagger, by Monsieur Gillieron,
fils, Figs. 102, 1G3. The whole find was
magnificently published by the Fondation
Piot, 1926, p. 1 seqq. and Pis. I, II. The date
was, unfortunately, both there and in the
Comptes Rendus of the Acade'mie des Inscrip-
tions (1924, 1925) brought down to M.M. III.
Monsieur F. Chapouthier, however, had
from the first rightly recognized the real date
as M.M. I a.
the sixteenth or the later part of the seventeenth centuries b. c, to which,
as we know from their associations, some of these belonged, the sword itself
had not yet been evolved from the dagger on the Mainland of Europe.
Incidentally it may be further noted that the large bronze hunter's
knives from Mycenae, terminating in rings for suspension, and called by
Schliemann 'one-edged bronze swords', such as those from the Fourth
Shaft Grave,1 are enlarged versions of a smaller type of the same form of
which specimens occur in Cretan tombs. There can be little doubt that it
is a weapon of the same kind that is grasped by the footman in front of the
chariot on the Second Tombstone.2 The chariot itself has attached to it
a short sword of the typical early form, dependent on a Middle Minoan
blade.
But while, as we have seen, it is not difficult to find parallels to the
Shaft-Grave swords on Cretan soil and to trace back their prototypes to
forms of copper daggers going well back into the Early Minoan Age,
researches on the Mainland side have led to almost entirely negative results.
Dr. Blegen's recent careful exploration of Early and Middle Hellaclic
tombs and houses at Zygouries in the Valley of Kleonae only brought to
light a single dagger-blade 3 of a somewhat advanced type, also known in
the Cyclades and abundantly represented in the bee-hive tombs of the
Mesara. One other similar example was discovered by him in a Middle
Helladic tomb near the Argive Heraeum.4 The explorations of early
strata in the Peloponnese, indeed, argue an extreme poverty in weapons
and implements of metal. But in Crete, as is shown by the wonderful find
of royal arms made by the French explorers in the Palace of Mallia, a long
sword had arisen per saltum from a dagger type, on independent lines, as
early as the initial phase of M.M. I.5 This splendid Minoan ' Durendal'—
born thus before its time^—long precedes the date of any other European
swords.
The socketed bronze spear-heads from the Shaft Graves must in the
1 Schliemann, Mycenae, p. 279, Figs. 442,
442 a.
■ Schliemann, op. cit., p. 81, Fig. 140.
5 Carl W. Blegen, Zygouries (Harvard Uni-
versity Press, 1928), p. 182, and PL XX,
no. 25.
4 Zygouries, loc. cit.
5 See my remarks, P. of M., ii, Pt. I,
p. 273 seqq., and the illustrations there of
th e sword and dagger, by Monsieur Gillieron,
fils, Figs. 102, 1G3. The whole find was
magnificently published by the Fondation
Piot, 1926, p. 1 seqq. and Pis. I, II. The date
was, unfortunately, both there and in the
Comptes Rendus of the Acade'mie des Inscrip-
tions (1924, 1925) brought down to M.M. III.
Monsieur F. Chapouthier, however, had
from the first rightly recognized the real date
as M.M. I a.