DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1021#0148
THE DWELLINGS OF THE DEAD 103
Among the furnishings of Grave IV. special interest
attaches to the great silver ox-head with golden horns, as
well as to its tiny gold-leaf replicas (as we may call them)
which were found with it to the number of fifty- silver Ox-
six. The silver ox-head is cast in a single mould G^ae™lth
while the horns are shaped out of gold-plate and Horna
fastened on. The head itself is further bedecked and the
features brought out by the application of gold — plated
not directly upon the silver, which appears to have been
beyond the Mycenaean goldsmith's art, but upon an inter-
mediate plating of copper. By this roundabout process a
splendid gold rosette (2| inches in diameter) is set on the
forehead, while mouth, muzzle, eyes and ears are accentu-
ated by gilding which has now for the most part disap-
peared. The head is hollow, and between the horns there
is a hole evidently intended to receive a double axe such
as appears in each of the gold-leaf replicas. This emblem
points unmistakably to their use: they are symbols of
sacrifices offered to the dead,1 in conformity with the well-
known ancient custom of offering to gods and heroes metal
or terra-cotta simidacra of real victims. The silver head in
particular appears as if expressly adorned for the sacrifice
in the fashion familiar to the Homeric student. In the Iliad
(x. 292-4), for example, Diomede, invoking Athene's aid,
makes this vow: " And to thee will I sacrifice a yearling
1 Cf. Milchhbfer, Anfange der Kunst, p. 116 f. Ohnefalsch-Richter, Kypros,
the Bible and Homer, text, p. 240 ; plates, xliv. : " Heads of oxen, cows and
calves appear very frequently as a symbol of sacrifice among; the monuments
of the copper-bronze period. Both the Kyprian and the Cappadocian ox-heads
recall the large silver ox-head from Mykenae belonging to the same period,
and the Kyprian example is not much below it in style and execution. ... A
striking analogy to our Kyprian ox- cow- and calf-head amulets and bronze
votive tablets in the form of an ox-bead, is found in the gold-leaf Mykenaean
ornaments in the shape of ox-heads with double axes between their horns, and
also in a terra-cotta votive plaque from Carthage."
Among the furnishings of Grave IV. special interest
attaches to the great silver ox-head with golden horns, as
well as to its tiny gold-leaf replicas (as we may call them)
which were found with it to the number of fifty- silver Ox-
six. The silver ox-head is cast in a single mould G^ae™lth
while the horns are shaped out of gold-plate and Horna
fastened on. The head itself is further bedecked and the
features brought out by the application of gold — plated
not directly upon the silver, which appears to have been
beyond the Mycenaean goldsmith's art, but upon an inter-
mediate plating of copper. By this roundabout process a
splendid gold rosette (2| inches in diameter) is set on the
forehead, while mouth, muzzle, eyes and ears are accentu-
ated by gilding which has now for the most part disap-
peared. The head is hollow, and between the horns there
is a hole evidently intended to receive a double axe such
as appears in each of the gold-leaf replicas. This emblem
points unmistakably to their use: they are symbols of
sacrifices offered to the dead,1 in conformity with the well-
known ancient custom of offering to gods and heroes metal
or terra-cotta simidacra of real victims. The silver head in
particular appears as if expressly adorned for the sacrifice
in the fashion familiar to the Homeric student. In the Iliad
(x. 292-4), for example, Diomede, invoking Athene's aid,
makes this vow: " And to thee will I sacrifice a yearling
1 Cf. Milchhbfer, Anfange der Kunst, p. 116 f. Ohnefalsch-Richter, Kypros,
the Bible and Homer, text, p. 240 ; plates, xliv. : " Heads of oxen, cows and
calves appear very frequently as a symbol of sacrifice among; the monuments
of the copper-bronze period. Both the Kyprian and the Cappadocian ox-heads
recall the large silver ox-head from Mykenae belonging to the same period,
and the Kyprian example is not much below it in style and execution. ... A
striking analogy to our Kyprian ox- cow- and calf-head amulets and bronze
votive tablets in the form of an ox-bead, is found in the gold-leaf Mykenaean
ornaments in the shape of ox-heads with double axes between their horns, and
also in a terra-cotta votive plaque from Carthage."