DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7476#0097
EMBOSSED GOLD PLATES FROM THOLOI
81
Early Embossed Gold Plates from inside ' Atreus ' and ' Clytemnestra'
Tombs.
Among the fragments of small gold plates brought out from the ' Atreus '
doorway by Stamatakis.1 one, developed for me by Monsieur Gillieron, fils,
in Fig. 58, formed part of a fine spiral and papyrus pattern of the same class
as that which decorated -
the ceiling of the Orcho-
menos chamber. From a
fragment in painted plaster
relief found by the Queen's
Megaron at Knossos, it
would appear that in its re-
stored form it was covered
by a stucco ceiling of simi-
lar design.
The fragment of gold
plate and the ceilings of
Knossos and Orchomenos
show this spiral and papyrus design in its fine early form, also illustrated by
Eighteenth-Dynasty Egyptian examples. On the Tiryns frieze 2 it appears
in a form closely dependent on that of the Knossos Megaron.
On the whole it seems safe to place the embossed fragment from the
1 Atreus' Tomb within the borders at least of the First Late Minoan Period.
But some of the thin gold roundels found in this tholos have distinctly
earlier associations.
A small round plate of thin gold (Fig. ;")!), a)3 found by Stamatakis
within the vault shows a triple S pattern in a simple form that recalls the
tradition of Early Minoan seal-stones.4 It must be regarded as a suggestive
circumstance that it recurs in a practically identical shape on a series of
embossed disks from the Fourth Shaft Grave.5
1 Wace, B. S. A., xxv, p. 334, Fig. 74 £ op. tit., p. 354, Fig. 74, g.
2 Schliemann, Tiryns, PI. V, pp. 298, 299 ; 4 See p. 31, Fig. 17, above, and cf. P. of M.,
Rodenwaldt, Fries des Megarons, PI. VII and ii. Pt. II, pp. 196, 197, and Figs. 105-7. More
p. 43 seqq. Dr. Rodenwaldt rightly recognized developed forms of these S patterns are en-
Fig. 58. Gold Plate with Embossed Design of
Spirals and Papyrus. Restored by Monsieur E. Gil-
lieron, fils : about 2 diameters.
the close relationship of the Tirynthian design
with that of the Knossian fragment reproduced
by him, op. cit., p. 45, Fig. 14.
3 Drawn by Monsieur Gillieron, fils, from
the original, enlarged 2 diameters. Cf. Wace,
graved on some of the ivory disks from the
tholos at Old Pylos illustrated by K. Mtiller,
Ath. Mitlh., xxiv, p. 285, Figs. 7, 8.
5 e. g. Schliemann, Mycenae, p. 265, no. 409.
81
Early Embossed Gold Plates from inside ' Atreus ' and ' Clytemnestra'
Tombs.
Among the fragments of small gold plates brought out from the ' Atreus '
doorway by Stamatakis.1 one, developed for me by Monsieur Gillieron, fils,
in Fig. 58, formed part of a fine spiral and papyrus pattern of the same class
as that which decorated -
the ceiling of the Orcho-
menos chamber. From a
fragment in painted plaster
relief found by the Queen's
Megaron at Knossos, it
would appear that in its re-
stored form it was covered
by a stucco ceiling of simi-
lar design.
The fragment of gold
plate and the ceilings of
Knossos and Orchomenos
show this spiral and papyrus design in its fine early form, also illustrated by
Eighteenth-Dynasty Egyptian examples. On the Tiryns frieze 2 it appears
in a form closely dependent on that of the Knossos Megaron.
On the whole it seems safe to place the embossed fragment from the
1 Atreus' Tomb within the borders at least of the First Late Minoan Period.
But some of the thin gold roundels found in this tholos have distinctly
earlier associations.
A small round plate of thin gold (Fig. ;")!), a)3 found by Stamatakis
within the vault shows a triple S pattern in a simple form that recalls the
tradition of Early Minoan seal-stones.4 It must be regarded as a suggestive
circumstance that it recurs in a practically identical shape on a series of
embossed disks from the Fourth Shaft Grave.5
1 Wace, B. S. A., xxv, p. 334, Fig. 74 £ op. tit., p. 354, Fig. 74, g.
2 Schliemann, Tiryns, PI. V, pp. 298, 299 ; 4 See p. 31, Fig. 17, above, and cf. P. of M.,
Rodenwaldt, Fries des Megarons, PI. VII and ii. Pt. II, pp. 196, 197, and Figs. 105-7. More
p. 43 seqq. Dr. Rodenwaldt rightly recognized developed forms of these S patterns are en-
Fig. 58. Gold Plate with Embossed Design of
Spirals and Papyrus. Restored by Monsieur E. Gil-
lieron, fils : about 2 diameters.
the close relationship of the Tirynthian design
with that of the Knossian fragment reproduced
by him, op. cit., p. 45, Fig. 14.
3 Drawn by Monsieur Gillieron, fils, from
the original, enlarged 2 diameters. Cf. Wace,
graved on some of the ivory disks from the
tholos at Old Pylos illustrated by K. Mtiller,
Ath. Mitlh., xxiv, p. 285, Figs. 7, 8.
5 e. g. Schliemann, Mycenae, p. 265, no. 409.