DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1118#0518
863
MINOAN HELMETS ADORNED WITH BOARS' TUSKS
Fig. 857. Helmet show-
ing Rows of Boars' Tusks
and Horse-hair Plume. On
Fragment of Large Silver
Vase, Fourth Shaft Grave,
Mycenae.
illustrated, on a relief from the large silver vase of the Fourth Shaft Grav
(Fig. 857).l This late M. M. Ill b example in turn leads us to the design on
clay seal impression from Hagia Triada, Ficr. S5(; 2
where the transverse lines of tusks are clearly
shown. In this case a tufted, horn-shaped crest
appears, which, from its shape and rugosities may
be recognized as a ram's horn. The crest of the
helmet here recalls that of a warrior on a o-old
signet-ring from the Fourth Shaft Grave at
Mycenae. The Vapheio gem, Fig. S59, shows
two ram's horns.
Ear flaps—well known in Late Minoan repre-
sentations of helmets—already occur on another
Zakro sealing, Fig. 855 attached to a conical
helmet with a peak,3 a kind of Pickelhaube. A
similar type is seen on the painted goblet from
Tomb V at Isopata, of L. M. I b date.4 (See
Fig. 803 below.)
In the above we may trace the antecedent
of a whole series of Late Minoan helmets,
many of them already well recorded among the
remains of Mycenae and Mainland Greece.
One fact, moreover, should be specially noted.
The diagonal markings of the horizonal rows of
the head-piece seen on the Zakro sealing, Fig. 854
—as probably the sloping lines on a still earlier
type from a Mallia tablets—must be taken to
show that the. boar's tusk decoration, so common
on Late Minoan helmet types, goes back in Crete
well into the Middle Minoan Age. That they were
used for this purpose at Knossos is proved by
the occurrence in Tomb 55 of the Zafer Papoura
Cemetery—referred to the epoch, L. M. Ill'',
Dr. Doro Levi (Le crctule di Haghia Triada,
Fig. S58. Warrior with
Horned Head-piece : Fai-
ence Relief, Mycenae.
Fig. 80S). Vapheio Gem
with Ram'sHorns and Rows
of Boars' Tusks.
1 Reichel, Homerische Waffen, p. 121, Fig.
38. (In Fig. 857 above, the lower band of the
helmet is restored.)
- Halbherr, Man. Ant., xiii (1903), p. 35,
Fig. 27, where the figure was mistaken for a
kind of cornucopia and placed upside down.
(This has also been rightly recognized by
p. 2 r, Fig. 33.)
1 See P. ofM., i, p. 308, Fig. 227,*.
'' A. E., Tomb of the Double Axes,
p. 27, Fig. 2 7 //.
' See above, p. 689, Fig. 672, b.
MINOAN HELMETS ADORNED WITH BOARS' TUSKS
Fig. 857. Helmet show-
ing Rows of Boars' Tusks
and Horse-hair Plume. On
Fragment of Large Silver
Vase, Fourth Shaft Grave,
Mycenae.
illustrated, on a relief from the large silver vase of the Fourth Shaft Grav
(Fig. 857).l This late M. M. Ill b example in turn leads us to the design on
clay seal impression from Hagia Triada, Ficr. S5(; 2
where the transverse lines of tusks are clearly
shown. In this case a tufted, horn-shaped crest
appears, which, from its shape and rugosities may
be recognized as a ram's horn. The crest of the
helmet here recalls that of a warrior on a o-old
signet-ring from the Fourth Shaft Grave at
Mycenae. The Vapheio gem, Fig. S59, shows
two ram's horns.
Ear flaps—well known in Late Minoan repre-
sentations of helmets—already occur on another
Zakro sealing, Fig. 855 attached to a conical
helmet with a peak,3 a kind of Pickelhaube. A
similar type is seen on the painted goblet from
Tomb V at Isopata, of L. M. I b date.4 (See
Fig. 803 below.)
In the above we may trace the antecedent
of a whole series of Late Minoan helmets,
many of them already well recorded among the
remains of Mycenae and Mainland Greece.
One fact, moreover, should be specially noted.
The diagonal markings of the horizonal rows of
the head-piece seen on the Zakro sealing, Fig. 854
—as probably the sloping lines on a still earlier
type from a Mallia tablets—must be taken to
show that the. boar's tusk decoration, so common
on Late Minoan helmet types, goes back in Crete
well into the Middle Minoan Age. That they were
used for this purpose at Knossos is proved by
the occurrence in Tomb 55 of the Zafer Papoura
Cemetery—referred to the epoch, L. M. Ill'',
Dr. Doro Levi (Le crctule di Haghia Triada,
Fig. S58. Warrior with
Horned Head-piece : Fai-
ence Relief, Mycenae.
Fig. 80S). Vapheio Gem
with Ram'sHorns and Rows
of Boars' Tusks.
1 Reichel, Homerische Waffen, p. 121, Fig.
38. (In Fig. 857 above, the lower band of the
helmet is restored.)
- Halbherr, Man. Ant., xiii (1903), p. 35,
Fig. 27, where the figure was mistaken for a
kind of cornucopia and placed upside down.
(This has also been rightly recognized by
p. 2 r, Fig. 33.)
1 See P. ofM., i, p. 308, Fig. 227,*.
'' A. E., Tomb of the Double Axes,
p. 27, Fig. 2 7 //.
' See above, p. 689, Fig. 672, b.