DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0123
rhyton'
with
siege
scene
from
Mycenae.
import.
THE SILVER 'RHYTON' WITH SIEGE SCENE 8c
Silver 'Rhyton' with Siege Scene from the Fourth Shaft Grave at Mycenae
But much the most complete view of such a beleaguered stronghold is Silver
to be seen in the repousse reliefs of the tall silver ' rhyton' from the
Fourth Shaft Grave at Mycenae. Incomplete as it is, this vessel— siege
in all probability imported from a Knossian atelier-—has supplied much the from
most ' historic' representation to be found in the whole range of Minoan
Art.
This is not a conventional version of a traditional idea of a siege scene Graphic
in general, but a record of somewhat complicated episodes, either actually of jjesj„n.
witnessed, or as graphically described in some epic source. We obtain both
ethnographic and geographical items of information, with side incidents such
as the shipwreck and the appearances of the ' sea dog ' among the swimmers.
We see before us the barbarian attack on a civilized settlement inadequately
garrisoned, with every kind of dramatic contrast—naked or half-clad warriors
on the one side on a rock-girt shore, on the other a hill city, displaying
Minoan architectural features, with fashionably dressed ladies looking forth
from its battlements. This is a historic piece in the modern sense. The Historic
sensational incidents and picturesque local touches are very much those
that a special artist of our own day might seize upon, who had accompanied
an expeditionary force sent out to relieve the pressing need of some Colonial
outpost threatened by a native rising.
The silver vase-fragment from this Grave,1 representing part of the
beleaguered hill city and its defenders, was found to stand in relation to
other pieces of the same vessel.2 The reliefs themselves are executed in
repousse work on silver plate, and had been previously sketched in with
incised lines that do not always correspond with those of the finished
design.
Remains of the pointed extremity of the vase clearly proclaimed it to Restora-
be a 'rhyton'. Parts of the gold-plated bronze rim, with shield-shaped 'rhyton'
in coni-
1 This fragment was not described by Waffen (1894 ed.), p. 143, Fig. 17, b,c,d; calform.
Schliemann, owing to the bad condition of 2nd ed., p. 164 and p. 13. One of these (b)
the surface. The reliefs were first noticed by is that shown in the middle space of Fig. 50, c;
Kumanudes, and a drawing of the design when another (d) is the uppermost portion of Fig.
cleaned at the Athens Museum executed by 51 below. In another (17 c) Reichel thought
Monsieur E. Gillie'ron, pere, was first published that he made out part of a horse and chariot,
by Tsountas, '£<£. 'Ap^., 1891, PI. 2. 2 and but this has not since been recognized. Some
p. 11 seqq., but the lithographic copy is unfor- confusion with the scale work—of which
tunately inaccurate. Reichel was unaware—may have here misled
2 Three additional pieces were published him.
by W. Reichel in his work Ueber Homerische
with
siege
scene
from
Mycenae.
import.
THE SILVER 'RHYTON' WITH SIEGE SCENE 8c
Silver 'Rhyton' with Siege Scene from the Fourth Shaft Grave at Mycenae
But much the most complete view of such a beleaguered stronghold is Silver
to be seen in the repousse reliefs of the tall silver ' rhyton' from the
Fourth Shaft Grave at Mycenae. Incomplete as it is, this vessel— siege
in all probability imported from a Knossian atelier-—has supplied much the from
most ' historic' representation to be found in the whole range of Minoan
Art.
This is not a conventional version of a traditional idea of a siege scene Graphic
in general, but a record of somewhat complicated episodes, either actually of jjesj„n.
witnessed, or as graphically described in some epic source. We obtain both
ethnographic and geographical items of information, with side incidents such
as the shipwreck and the appearances of the ' sea dog ' among the swimmers.
We see before us the barbarian attack on a civilized settlement inadequately
garrisoned, with every kind of dramatic contrast—naked or half-clad warriors
on the one side on a rock-girt shore, on the other a hill city, displaying
Minoan architectural features, with fashionably dressed ladies looking forth
from its battlements. This is a historic piece in the modern sense. The Historic
sensational incidents and picturesque local touches are very much those
that a special artist of our own day might seize upon, who had accompanied
an expeditionary force sent out to relieve the pressing need of some Colonial
outpost threatened by a native rising.
The silver vase-fragment from this Grave,1 representing part of the
beleaguered hill city and its defenders, was found to stand in relation to
other pieces of the same vessel.2 The reliefs themselves are executed in
repousse work on silver plate, and had been previously sketched in with
incised lines that do not always correspond with those of the finished
design.
Remains of the pointed extremity of the vase clearly proclaimed it to Restora-
be a 'rhyton'. Parts of the gold-plated bronze rim, with shield-shaped 'rhyton'
in coni-
1 This fragment was not described by Waffen (1894 ed.), p. 143, Fig. 17, b,c,d; calform.
Schliemann, owing to the bad condition of 2nd ed., p. 164 and p. 13. One of these (b)
the surface. The reliefs were first noticed by is that shown in the middle space of Fig. 50, c;
Kumanudes, and a drawing of the design when another (d) is the uppermost portion of Fig.
cleaned at the Athens Museum executed by 51 below. In another (17 c) Reichel thought
Monsieur E. Gillie'ron, pere, was first published that he made out part of a horse and chariot,
by Tsountas, '£<£. 'Ap^., 1891, PI. 2. 2 and but this has not since been recognized. Some
p. 11 seqq., but the lithographic copy is unfor- confusion with the scale work—of which
tunately inaccurate. Reichel was unaware—may have here misled
2 Three additional pieces were published him.
by W. Reichel in his work Ueber Homerische