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Later Aegean Bronze SwordsAuthor(s): N. K. SandarsReviewed work(s):Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 67, No. 2 (Apr., 1963), pp. 117-153Published by: Archaeological Institute of AmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/502611.
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a t e r
A e g e a n
r o n z e S w o r d s
N. K. SANDARS
PLATES 21-28
PART
1
In
an
earlier
article' I
attempted
to
sketch
the
origins,
and
the
range
in
time
and
space,
of the
first
Aegean
swords.
These
origins
led back
to
Asia
in
the later third and
early
second
millennium,
on
the one
hand,
and to
a
native
Aegean
invention
of the
Middle
Minoan
period,
on
the other. The
result of this fusion was the A type sword of Crete
and the Greek
mainland;
a
weapon
of
unsurpassed
size and
considerable
magnificence;
also
a
less
splendid
but
potentially
more serviceable
weapon,
the
B
type
sword concentrated
in
the
Argolid.
These were the
two swords
in
the
hands
of
the
sixteenth
century
Aegean
warrior.
The A
swords,
sometimes over
a
metre
long,
had
a
fatal weakness
in
the
hafting,
a
slender
tang
that
is often
found
snapped,
and would have left the
swordsman
unarmed,
with
a
useless hilt in his
hand. The
shorter,
stouter B
swords,
with
their
flanged tangs,
should have been less
vulnerable,
but there
too the
great
size of the
rivet-holes
left
the
metal
weak,
and almost
as liable to
snap.
An
attempt
was
made
to
protect
the
swordsman's
hand
from
an
antagonist's
blade,
in
close
fighting, by
the
adoption
of a horned
type
of
grip
on
A
swords.
This
was
a
fragile
attachment of
ivory,
faience
or
semi-precious
stone,
riveted to the
blade and
lower
grip;
the
splay
of the
shoulder
horns
being
de-
signed
to deflect
the
enemy's
point
from the hand.
The
pinched-up langed
shoulder
of the B sword
served a similar
purpose.
Both
these swords were still in use in the
Aegean
in
the fifteenth
century, though
finds
of
weapons
from the earlier
part
of the
century
are few. There
is no need to enter
into the
problem
of the bottom
date
proposed
for Schliemann's
grave-circle
at
Mycenae,
for
without
recourse to
it
we have
the
fine A
sword
from
Kakovatos
(LH
II
A),
and
swords
from
tholos
tombs
in
Messenia,
of like
date;
while evidence
for
survival
of these swords
into
the
second half of the fifteenth
century
is
provided
by
the
rather
untypical
A sword
in
grave
44
of
the
ZapherPapoura
cemetery
Knossos,
and a
quite
typical
B
in
the
King's
Tholos
at Dendra
(LH
IIIA
i final
date).
There is also less direct evidence
in chamber tombs
at
Mycenae
and in the Dodeca-
nese,
which will
be
discussed
below.
In
the earlier
article I concluded that
the evi-
dence
pointed
to
the
Argolid
as the home of the
B
type
swords,
while
the
A
type
were
produced
*
I
owe a
great
debt
of
gratitude
to the
Principal
and Fellows
of
St.
Hugh's College,
Oxford,
for
the award
of the Elizabeth
Wordsworth
Studentship 1958-61,
which
enabled me to travel
in Greece and
Turkey,
and
to
complete
the research
necessary
for
writing
this
essay.
I have received
very
valuable
advice and
a
number of
suggestions
from Miss Dorothea
Gray,
and from
Dr. Hector Catling, to both of whom I owe especial thanks. I
have
had
helpful
discussions with
others,
including
Mr.
M.S.F.
Hood,
Director of
the
British School
at
Athens,
Mr.
John
Board-
man,
Mr. A.
Snodgrass,
Mr.
George
Huxley,
Mr. V. d'A. Des-
borough
and
Mrs.
Maxwell-Hyslop.
In Greece I received
valua-
ble
help
from
Mr.
and Mrs. Karouzou at the
National
Museum,
Athens;
from
Dr.
N.
Platon,
the
Ephor
for
Antiquities
in
Crete,
and Mr.
S.
Alexiou,
present Ephor;
also from
Dr. S. Dakaris
at
Ioannina,
Professor Morricone in
Cos,
Dr.
P. Astrom
of the
Swedish Institute in
Athens,
Mr.
S.
Iakovides
of
the Greek
Archaeological
Service,
and from
the
Director
and
Secretary
of
the American School in Athens.
For assistance
in
Turkey
I am
grateful
to Mr. Seton
Lloyd,
then Director
of
the
British Insti-
tute
in
Ankara,
to
Bay
RacI
Temiazer,
Director of the Archaeo-
logical Museum, Ankara,
and to Dr.
Nezih Firath
of
the Classi-
cal Museum in Istanbul, to Bay Muzaffer Ramazanoglu and
Bayan
Seyyide
Celikkol
at
Adana,
and
to
the
Secretary
of the
Archaeological
Museum in
Jerusalem
and
the Director
of the
Damascus
Archaeological
Museum. I have
to
thank for
much
help
and facilities
Dr.
Marie-Louise
Buhl,
Keeper
of the
An-
tiksamlingen
of the National
Museum,
Copenhagen,
and Mrs.
H.
Salskov Roberts of that
museum,
also
Dr.
O. Vessberg
of
the
Museum
of Mediterranean
Antiquities,
Stockholm,
to
Dr.
Z.
Vinski
of
the
Archaeological
Museum,
Zagreb,
and to
Dr.
Gabrovec at Ljubljana;Professor Mikov gave me much help at
Sofia,
also Dr. Detev at Plovdiv as did Drs. Horedt and Rusu
of the
Archaeological Institute,
Cluj;
also Professor B. Brea
and Mrs. M. Guido
at
Syracuse.
Finally
I am
grateful
for
help
and
facilities
at
the British Museum to
Mr. D.
E.
L.
Haynes,
Keeper
of
the
Department
of Greek and
Roman
Antiquities,
and
Mr. R.
Higgins
of that
department,
and
to Mr.
R.
V. Nicholls of
the
Fitzwilliam
Museum,
Cambridge.
I am
particularly
grate-
ful to the
Directors
and
Keepers
of
all
museums referred
to for
permission
to
draw and
publish
the swords illustrated
on
plates
21-28.
I
also
have
to
thank Professor
E.
Vogt
of the Swiss
National
Museum,
Ziirich,
Mr.
J.
D.
Cowen,
and Mr. L. Grinsell
of the
City
Museum, Bristol,
for
advice,
and I
am
grateful
to
Mrs.
E.
M. Cox for the finished
drawings.
The
drawing
of the
horse-bit
(pl. 26:48)
is
by
Audrey
Corbett,
to whom I
owe
thanks.
1
N.
Sandars,
The First
Aegean
Swords
and
Their An-
cestry AJA
65
(I96I)
17-29.
-
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OKG
O
Ci
*
Cii
Add Greek
Mainland
L
Di
Add
Crete
5,
Rhodes
I,
France
?1
A El Add Crete 2
A Eli Add Greece 1
0
F
Add
England
XH
KG
Bulgarian pears
KG
Bulgarian
pears
Note:
untypical
D
i etc. swords not
shown;
in
addition to swords
Bulgarian spears
of
Aegean type
and Sia
-
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1963]
LATER AEGEAN BRONZE SWORDS
119
and
perfected
in
Crete,
though
later
adopted
on
the Mainland.
Although
at that
time
Aegean
for-
eign
relations were
widening,
especially
those
of
Crete,
touching Lipari,
Miletus,
the
Troad,
the
Levant and
Egypt
(MM
III-LM
IA),
yet
the A
swords have a very limited range, and are not
shown
among
Aegean (probably
Cretan)
gifts
in
Egyptian wall-paintings
of the
beginning
of
the
fifteenth
century
(tombs
of
Senmut
and
Amenu-
ser).2
Probably
their
manufacture,
requiring
as
it
did
immense
skill,
was
a
jealously
guarded
secret;
the
armourers
of
Egypt
and
the Levant could
pro-
duce
nothing
to
compare
with them.
In
the
following pages
an
attempt
will be
made
to
trace
the
history
of the bronze
sword
in the
Aegean
from
the fifteenth to the twelfth
century,
within the framework of a general classificationof
types;
but
without
detailed
descriptions
of
indi-
vidual
weapons.
These will be found
listed,
to-
gether
with their
references,
at the end
of
this
article.
As
before the
system
of classification
s based
on
the
shape
of the
grip,
since this shows both
greater stability
and more
readily
definable
char-
acteristics than the blade.'
Type
C Swords
The fifteenth
century
saw the invention of
two
new
swords
in which
the swordsmiths
attempted
to
combine the best
points
of both the
earlier
weapons.
The
result was the horned
sword,
which I
shall
classify
as
type
C,
and
the
cruci-
form,
type
D. The essential
characteristics
of the
horned
sword,
in
which it differs little from A
swords,
are a
slender blade with
a
high
midrib,
and
a
horned
protection
for
the
hand,
no
longer
as a
separate
attachment,
but carried
out
in the
same
casting
as blade and
tang.
The
tang
itself
is
provided
with substantial
flanges,
such as were
found on
some
of
the
B
swords,
from
which
they
were
probably adopted.
These
weapons
were
long,
but
they
never reached the
length
of
the most
ex-
aggerated
A
swords.
Strength
and a
deadly
slender-
ness
were
achieved
through
the
new
cast
grip,
and
the
high,
finely
ridged,
midrib. The
metal was
concentrated where
it was most wanted for the
thrust;
and these swords
always
feel well-balanced
in the hand. The area of their dispersal is proof
of their
success,
for
beyond
the
Aegean
they
are
found
from
Palestine
to the
neighbourhood
of
Plovdiv
in
Bulgaria,
and of
Skopje
in
Yugoslavia
(map).
In
so scattered
a
group
it is
not
surpris-
ing
to find variations
due either to
differences
of
date,
or
to
the
styles
of
different
workshops.
In
fact two
principal sub-types
may
be
distinguished,
a C i
and
C ii.
Ci
In their main characteristicsboth sub-types are
alike,
but C
i
has
invariably
two rivet-holes
in
the
blade at
shoulder
level,
or
rather
lower,
and
usually
from
one to
three in
the
grip.
There
is
also
usually
a
narrow
unflanged
extension at
the
pom-
mel-end,
with
a
small
rivet-hole
for
securing
the
pommel;
always
a
separate
unit. The relative
posi-
tion of
the
blade-rivets
and
the
end of the midrib
vary, being
either
on a
level with each
other,
or
one
higher
than
the other
(pl.
21:I-2).
The C
i
class
includes
a
group
of
outstandingly
large
and handsome
weapons,
three are
over
o.gom.
(Zapher
Papoura 36
and
44
and no. 12
in
the
King's
Tholos,
Dendra),
while
no
complete
sword is
less
than
o.6o
m.
(apart
from an unchar-
acteristic one from
Cos).
Splendidly
ornamented
hilts
are found on most of these
swords,
with
a
free use of
gold-plating,
elaborate
repouss6
spirals
and feather
patterns,
and
often
richly
ornamented
midribs.
Rivet-holes
tend still to be
large,
and
the
rivets
to
be
capped
with
gold.
These
princely
swords
come from
Knossos,
the
Zapher Papoura
cemetery;
(pl. 21I:i)
Phaestus,
and the
King's
Tholos,
Dendra;
this
tomb,
in
other
respects
also,
stands close to
the material
from Crete.
Rather
2
N. de G.
Davies,
BMMA
(1926)
2
The
Egyptian Expedi-
tion
1924-25, pp.
41-51
Tomb of Senmut
T
71
and
Amenuser
T
131;
Davies,
The Tomb of
Rekh-mi-fte
T
Ioo
at
Thebes,
2
MMA
The
Egyptian
Expedition 1935
(1943) passim;
see
also
J.
Vercoutter,
L'Egypte
et le Monde
tgean
(1956) 207-II.
I
have
used
again
the
Egyptian
dates as
given
by
E. Driotan
and
J.
Vandier
Les
Peuples
de
l'Orient
Mediterranean
II,
I'Egypte,
Clio
(1946)
with
Cambridge
Ancient
History
(1962)
Revised
Edit.
Vol.
I,
Ch.
II
Chronology p.
17ff,
W.
Hayes;
also M. Rowton
p. 67
and F.
Stubbings
pp.
69-77
for
the
Aegean;
in
particular
for
lowering
the date
of
LH
IIIC
from
Furumark's 1230 to ca. 1200.
3
Since
it
seemed
preferable
to include all
Aegean
bronze
swords
(except
the
Type
II
swords
already fully
described and
discussed
by
Dr.
Catling
in
ProcPS
22
[1956]
102,
and
An-
tiquity
35
[1961]
115)
in
one classified
system,
it
has not
been
possible
to
follow
that
adopted
by
A.
Furumark,
Chronology of
Mycenaean
Pottery
(1941) 93-96;
and
used
by
S.
Dakaris,
Arch-
Eph
(1958) 114-53.
Where the
systems
'overlap,
Furumark's
a
2
is
very
broadly
my
D
ii;
his bi is
Fii;
his
b3
is
Eii
and
his
c
2
is
G. I
have on the
whole followed
the dates of Chro-
nology
p.
10o
but
allowing
more
liberal
margins
and
some
lowering
in
the
13th
and
later
centuries,
see
also
n.
2.
-
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120
N.
K.
SANDARS
[AJA
67
plainer,
but
essentially
similar
C i
swords
come
from a
recently
excavated tomb at
Knossos,
found
with
a silver
cup,
and from
tombs at
Mycenae
(pl.
21:2)
and
Prosymna.
That
from
Chamber
Tomb 81 at
Mycenae
is
a
slighter,
slenderer
weapon,
with
small
rivet-holes,
therefore
typolog-
ically
later than
some,
since
the
reduction
in the
size
of rivet-holes
is
only gradually
introduced.
The illustration
given
by
Tsountas
shows
well
the
oval-shaped
opening
in
the
hilt-plate through
a discolouration of the
metal
(barely
visible
to-
day);
this
is a further
development
of the
kidney-
shaped opening
found
in
the
hilt-plates
of
some
A
swords.
An
incomplete
sword
with
ivory
and
gold
grip
from
Argolis
is
closer
again
to
the
Dendra
and Cretan
swords,
its
date will
be
discussed
below.
Where discoverable
the dates are
all middle
or
latter half of the fifteenth
century,
before the de-
struction
of
the
LM
II Palace at
Knossos. It is
possible
that
most
of
the
mainland
swords
are
slightly
later than the
Cretan,
falling
at the be-
ginning
of
the
fourteenth
century.
Chamber
Tomb
81 at
Mycenae
cannot be
dated,
but
the
sword
is
more
developed
than
that
from
Prosymna
T
37,
dated
early
LH
IIIA.
Blegen
has
suspected
the
presence
of
other
fine
swords
in the
Prosymna
cem-
etery
because of
the
number
of
large
detached
rivets,
some
gold-capped,
which
may
be debris
of
swords left by plunderers. The Dendra tholos is
the richest
unplundered
tomb
of
this date
either
in
Crete or
on the
Mainland
(apart
possibly
from
one
of the tholoi
in
Messenia,
Myrsenoch6rion
II,
from
which however few of
the
weapons
have
been
published,
only
some of
the
daggers).4
The
de-
scription
of
the
great
armoury
of
weapons
which
accompanied
the
Dendra
tholos burials
reads
more like
the
account
of the
fourth and
fifth
Shaft-
Graves
at
Mycenae
than
any
of the
later chamber
tombs,
there or
at
Prosymna,
or
even the warrior
graves
of the
Knossos
cemeteries.
The
objects
col-
lected
in the
large
burial
pit
with
two
skeletons,
called
by
Persson The
Burial
Gifts
of
the
King
and
of
The
Queen,
need not
all be
contemporary,
but are
in
any
case
remarkable
enough,
including
the
famous
octopus gold cup, gold
and silver
cups
with
hunting
scenes,
a
fine collection of
gems
and
the
arms.
Of
these
there were five
swords,
four
spears
and
two
small
knives.5
One of
the swords
beside the
skeleton is
a
perfectly typical
B
with
handsome
gold
covered
grip
(Persson's
No.
io),
providing
a link
with the
Shaft-Graves,
while the
technique
of
decorating
the
grip
with
minute
gold
bars,
attached to
the
ivory parts,
strengthens
the
link
both with
the
IV
Shaft-grave,
with Kakovatos
Tholos
B,
and
with
Knossos,
where
at
least one
sword
was decorated
in this
technique.
A
detailed
description
of the
technique
employed
has been
published recently
with
reference to
a
sword
from
Argolis.'
The whole
complex
of finds
suggests
the
later
fifteenth,
rather
than Persson's
fourteenth cen-
tury,
with the
IIIA
i
pots perhaps
dating
the
inter-
ments
but not the
manufacture of the fine
metal
work which
would then be
a
little
earlier.
The
swords
from the
Argolid provide
a
typo-
logical
and
spatial
link
with a
small
group
in
the
northwest: three swords were
found
in
Epirus,
two
in a
grave (pl.
21:3-4),
and
one
near
Skopje, Yugo-
slavia. These swords share the
peculiarity
of a
second
pair
of
rivet-holes
in
the
blade,
either
at
the
base
of
the
horns
(Perimatos
near
Ioannina,
and
Tetovo
near
Skopje)
or
in
the horns them-
selves
(Dodona).
The
break in
the horns
of the
Dodona,
and one of the
Perimatos
swords,
shows
that this was a fault
in
design:
with
one
exception
it
is
not found
elsewhere.
The
larger
of
the two
swords
from
Perimatos
(pl. 21:4)
must have been
an
exceptionally long
and
heavy weapon,
for
with-
out
the
grip
it
still
measures
o.85m.
The existence
of
such a tomb
not
far from
Ioannina
is
sufficiently
surprising,
and has led Dr.
Dakaris
to
an
extended
and
interesting
discussion of the
problems
of
north-
ern
relations. Still further north
is the
sword
from
near
Tetovo,
Skopje,
in
the
Vardar
valley,
not far
from
the
watershed
of the
Danubian
river
system.7
It
looks to
be
a
genuine
Aegean product,
and
typologically
closest
to the
Perimatos
swords
at
Ioannina.
It is
possibly
as
long
as
the
heaviest
from
Perimatos,
or
longer.
The
condition
of these
weapons
shows that
they,
at
any
rate,
had seen
4S.
Marinatos,
Excavations Near
Pylos,
Antiquity
122
(1957)
97-1oo;
also
ILN
(April
6th,
1957)
PP. 540-43.
5
Prof.
Persson
uses
a
different
notation
to
that
of
Karo,
which
I
followed
in
my
earlier
article,
Persson's
A
type
is
our
B,
his
B
is
our
D,
the C's are the same.
6
Kakovatos,
Tholos
Tombs,
AM
34
(1909)
298-99;
My-
cenae,
IV
Shaft-grave,
Karo,
Schachtgrdber
on
Mykenai (1930-
33)
no.
396, p.
97,
no.
435,
P.
103;
A.
Evans,
Palace
of
Minos
(1921-35)
IV, ii,
854,
for
Knossos;
see
also
ArchEph
(1897)
123;
and
see Prof.
Elisabeth
Treskow
in Ars
Antiqua
AG
Auk-
tion III
(1961)
p.
30.
7This
sword is
shortly
to
be
published
by
Dr.
Vinski
of
Zagreb
to
whom
I
am
indebted for
additional
information.
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LATER
AEGEAN
BRONZE
SWORDS
121
heavy
use,
unlike the
luxury
weapons
further
south.
Before
turning
to
the
next
small
group,
mention
should
perhaps
be made
here
of
blade
fragments
(there
are no
hilts)
from
Levkas,
in
the so-called
Royal-Graves. These I illustrated as class A in
my
earlier
article;
they
could
equally
well
be
C,
to
judge
by
the
finely
grooved
midribs;
but without
the
grips
it
is
impossible
to be sure
either
way.
There is a
still
stranger
extension
of
Aegean
traditions of
bronze-working, beyond
their usual
range,
in
a small
group
of swords and
spears
in
Bulgaria.
Though
diverging
much from the other
C
i
swords
in
the
grip, they
share
the
use
of
rivets
in blade and
grip;
while in one of the three swords
a
duplication
of the
pair
of
blade rivets links
it
more
specifically
to
the
Epirus
group
and
Skopje.
The two better
preserved,
from Dolno Levski near
Pazardjik
and Perushtitsa near
Plovdiv
(pl.
22:5,
7,
pl. 28:64,
61),
are
said to have
been found
in
graves,
and
were
associated with
spears
of non-
European, probably Aegean
types (pl.
22:6,
8,
pl.
28:65,
62).
The main difference between
these
and
all
other
horned swords is the
great length
of
the
horns,
giving
a width
of
up
to
iocm.,
or
exactly
twice
that
of
the
Mycenae
chamber tomb
81
sword.
They
extend
at
a
much
more
open angle,
in one
case not
far from
90o
degrees,
while
the
construc-
tion of the hilt is simplified. The bronze horns,
instead of
being
flanged
or
folded to secure
plates
of
perishable
material,
are cast
solid,
and the
per-
ishable
plates
could have been
simply
two
parallel-
sided
strips.
A
tendency
in
this
direction
existed
in
some
of the
C
ii swords
and it
reappears
in
an
altogether
later
group
(classes
G and
H,
see
infra).
Somewhat
eccentric
though
these
Bulgarian
swords
appear
when viewed
from
the
Aegean,
they
are
totally
unlike
the
native
bronze-work,
both
as to
the
quality
of
metal and the
form and
char-
acter of the founder's work; in particular the
grooved
midribs,
the
great
length,
strength
and
narrowness of the
blade.
In
some
respects they
give
the
impression
of
being
even
more
efficient
weapons
than their relatives further south.
The
horns are
stronger,
so is
the
grip,
due to the reduction
in the
amount of
perishable
and
fragile
inlay
material.
On the other hand the
angle
of the horns lacks
the
graceful
curve which seems to have been de-
signed
to
deflect,
rather than to
hold,
the
opponent's
blade.
Perhaps
these
more horizontal horns
needed
to be
tougher
to receive
the
jar
of
a
forward
thrust,
and the
design
was
adapted
for
the use
of swords-
men
less skilled
in the
finer
points
of
combat,
as
practiced in the Aegean?
The
spears
found
with
the
Dolno
Levski and
Perushtitsa
swords,
and two
other
single
finds
from Kritchim
near
Plovdiv
and Krasno
Gradiste,
Turnovo
(pl.
22:10-Il
and
map;
pl.
28:67,
63)
are
as
important
as the swords
for
European
archae-
ology.
Here it
must suffice
to
say
that
those
from
Perushtitsa
and
Krasno
Gradiste
are a
very
com-
mon
Aegean
and
Near Eastern
type,
and
absolutely
foreign
to
Europe,
especially
on
account
of the
slit
socket.
They
can
be
matched
in the
Ayios
Ioannis
chamber tomb
(A.J. 4)
and
the
Acropolis
tomb
at
Knossos
(with
C ii sword
pl.
23:14),
and in the
1929
hoard
from
Ras Shamra
(fourteenth
century).
The
spear
found with
the
Dolno
Levski
sword
has
a
faceted blade
that
is not
easy
to
match
in
the
Aegean,
though
similar
faceting
occurs
on
a
spear
of
a
rather
different
shape
in the
same
Ras
Shamra
hoard
and
on
a
spear
from
Cos.8
The
great
single
spear
found
at
Kritchim,
near
Plovdiv,
is
perhaps
the
most
interesting
of
all,
for it is
the
same
exceptionally
long
and
narrow
type
which
has
been
found
frequently
at
Knossos
(Ayios
Ioannis,
Chamber tomb, No. ii, Hospital Site II 4, III, 14,
V,
7
etc.)
and
the
Dendra
tholos,
all of which
are
between
0o.47m.
and
0o.57m.;
Kritchim
at
0.502
is
surpassed
only
by
one
from
Crete
(New
Hospital
II,
4,
0.46m.)
and
one
from Dendra
(No.
VI,
0o.57m.).'
These
three
spears
from
Bulgaria
are
identical with their
Aegean
counterparts,
but
fur-
ther discussion of
them
is better
postponed
to
an-
other occasion.
C
ii
Horned swords of the second sub-classare unlike
the
first
in
having
no
rivets in the
grip,
and with
one
exception,
no
pommel-tang
extension.
The
horns are
formed
by
a characteristic
folding
of
the
metal,
which
appears
to be beaten
together,
in
place
of the cast
flanges
more usual on C
i
swords;
the Silver
Cup
tomb sword is an
exception.
They
are
usually
of medium
length,
between
o.6om.
and
o.7o0m.,
nd the
midrib
is seldom so
pronounced
as
8
C.
Schaeffer,
Ugaritica
III
(I956)
fig.
224, 5
and
fig.
226;
for
Ayios Ioannis
see lists
infra in
Catalogue.
9
A.
Persson,
The
Royal
Tombs
at
Dendra
(1931)
King's
Tholos,
nos.
vI-vII,
pl.
20,
p.
37.
I
am
deeply
indebted to Prof.
Mikov of
Sofia
for
photographs
of the
Bulgarian
swords and
spears
and much
help
and information in connection with them.
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122
N. K. SANDARS
[AJA
67
in
the C i class.
The
folded
horn
brings
them
closer
to the
class B
swords of
Shaft-Grave
VI
at
Mycenae,
and
some from
the
Levant
and
Dodeca-
nese. 0
As
a class
they
are
simpler
and more
uni-
form
than
C i.
Only
two
come
from
Crete;
one
of
these,
fromthe
Acropolis
Tomb,
Knossos,
s one
of the
few
that
can
be
given
a
date
(pl.
23:13-15).
This
appears
o
have been
a LM II
warrior
rave
like
ZapherPapoura
36
and
44,
and
graves
in
the
New
Hospital
and
Ayios Ioannis
cemeteries.I
shall return
to
these
graves,
after
giving
some
ac-
count of the
cruciform
swords
which
they
held
(see
map).
Most of
the
other
C ii swords
are
uncertain
of
date
and
of
provenance,
nd this means
unfortu-
nately
most
of the
mainland
ones.
Many
have
labels of varying degrees of probability.The
Mount
Olympos
of a
fine sword
in
the
British
Museum s
suspect,
hough
a northern
provenance
is
made
rathermore
plausible
n view of
the
sword
from
Grevena,
which
s
very
ike
it
(pl.
23:17).
The
sword from
Thermi
is
in
poor
condition
and is
not
typical,
as it
evidently
had at
least one
rivet-
hole in
the
grip;
its
value is its
date,
for
it was
found in
a room
with
LH
IIIA
pots.
On
the other
hand a
sword
from
Gezer in
Palestine
(pl.
23:16)
is
quite typical,apart
rom
the small
pommel-tang
extension
which
is
shown in
Macalister's
drawing,
though
it
no
longer
exists.
The
range
of
possible
dates
is
unfortunately
much
wider. It
was found
in
a
pit
in
the floor of
the
large
and
often used
Tomb
30
n
the
Gezer
cemetery.
The
pit
held
a
rather
heterogeneous
ollection
f bronzes
and
some
pots,
mostly Cypriot.
The other
bronzes
cannotbe
dated
closely,
they
include
a
type
of
flesh-hook
which
is
Middle
Bronze
Age
in
Cyprus,
nd
a
large
and
fine
scimitar
or
harpe
which
is
very
close
to one
from
Ras
Shamradated
by
Schaeffer
o the
fourteenth
century;
but
these
objects
were
known
from at least as early as the RoyalTombs of
Byblos
(twelfth-thirteenth
dynasty),
and
one
is
carried
by
a
Syrian
ribute
bearer,
with
other
more
Aegean-looking
bjects,
painted
on
the
walls
of
the
tomb
of
Menkheperrasonb
t
Thebes,
a
little
after
1450.
The
Cypriot
pots
are,
with one
exception,
fourteenth
century
or even
beginning
of
thirteenth;
so the
range
of
possible
dates
covers
the
whole
fourteenth
century
and
extends
a
little
beyond
it.12
The other
Aegean
pottery
in tombs
at Gezer is:
a
very
little
LM
IB,
and rathermore
LH
IIIA,
so
that if the
bronze sword is to be connected
with
the
events which
brought
this
pottery,
it is
more
likely
to
be linked with
LH
IIIA.
The
rather
shaky
associations
point possibly
to
the
beginning
of
the
fourteenth
century,
the
same time
as the
Thermi
sword.
Schaeffer
prefers
a date a little
earlier
( be-
fore
1425
or
1400 ).
Two
swords from the
Dodecanese fit neither
in-
to the
C nor the
B classbut
lie
somewhere
between,
with
some
features of both. One is
from the
Asclepeion
site,
on
Cos,
but this material
is
un-
published.
The horned sword
is without
pommel-
tang
extension
and has the
same rivet
arrangement
as the B sword
in the VI Shaft-Grave
at
Mycenae
(No. 905), to which it stands quite close in other
respects,
as also
to its Levantine
forerunners,
with
shoulders
midway
between
the horned
and
the
merely
pinched-up.
The second
is
a
very
large
weapon
in New
Tomb
IV,
Ialysos,
Rhodes.
If
the Cos sword
had more
B
features,
this is
closer
to
a true
C,
only
differing
in not
appearing
to
have
flanges
on the riveted
tang,
and in its
great
size,
which
at over
a metre would
make
it the
longest
of all horned
swords.
This tomb
is
quite
exceptional
at
Ialysos
on account
of the number
of
weapons
it held, including a cruciform and a round-shoul-
dered
sword of
a later
type, along
with LH
IIIA
2
pots:
I shall return
to it
below.
A sword in
the Tomb
of
the
Tripod
Hearth
Before
leaving
horned
swords mention
must
be
made
of the
unique
short
sword
or dirk
in
the
Tomb
of the
Tripod
Hearth,
Zapher
Papoura
14
(pl.
26:45).
A
curiously
eclectic
weapon,
its
length,
0.42,
is
too short for
a
sword,
though
the
rivets
in the
blade
suggest
the
conventional
horned
C i; the midrib is high, but in place of the usual
section,
with
a smaller
ridge
or
rib
down
the
mid-
dle,
it has
two
ridges,
giving
an
almost
square
section.
The
horns
first
rise,
and
then
droop
in
a
downward
direction
which
suggests
the
otherwise
quite
different
(and
much
later)
swords of
Classes
G and H
(see
infra).
The
horns of
the
shorter
of
the
two Dendra
King's
Tholos
swords,
No.
15,
may
be rather like
it,
but
I
have not
handled
it,
10
Sandars,
op.cit.
(supra
n.
I)
pl.
I8
etc.
11
N.
de
G.
Davies,
The
Tombs of
Menkheperrasonb,
T 86
Egypt
Exploration
Society:
The
Theban
Tombs
Series
(1933)
pl.
I.
121
have
received
valuable
help
from
Dr.
Catling
with
the
difficulties
of this
tomb,
particularly
the
dating
of the
Cypriot
pots,
for which he has
emphasized
the
very
wide
bracket
possible.
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LATER
AEGEAN
BRONZE
SWORDS
123
and the
photograph'3
is
too
small
to
be
certain.
The
blade of
the
Zapher Papoura
dirk has
a
sharp
taper
to
the
point,
and
a
flanged
and
T-shaped pommel-ex-
tension
which,
in the
Aegean,
is
not known
to occur
before the fourteenth
century,
and which will
be
discussed later. The ivory
hilt-plates
of the grip
were in
place,
and
show
a
skeuomorphic
thong-
moulding, immediately
below the
pommel.
The
absence
of vases
has
made
close-dating
of
this
tomb
impossible,
though
it
is
the most
important
of
all the
Zapher
Papoura cemetery
on
account
of
the
great
collection
of bronze table and
kitchen-
ware
which it
held. The dirk was in
close
associa-
tion
with
a
one-edged
knife,
a
spear
and an
ivory
casket,
none
of which is
any
more
helpful,
but
the date is not
likely
to be
very
long
after
1400.
Considerabledoubt must attach to a sword, now
lost,
apparently
of
C ii
type,
said to
come
from
Adliswil,
Switzerland.
Class
D
Just
as
at
the
beginning
of
the
fifteenth
century
there were
alternative
swords,
A
and
B,
so too
in
the
second half of
the
century
there were alterna-
tives: the
usually
longer
C
horned,
and the
cruci-
form D
swords.
Like Class
C
these
too
can be
subdivided
into D
i
and
D
ii;
but in
this case the
division
is
chronological
as
well as
typological.
Only
D
i
is
contemporary
with
C.
Di
D
i
swords
are
fairly
uniform.
The
length
is
usually
between
0.60
and
o.7om., corresponding
to
the
length
of
the
shorter and
more
utilitarian
C
ii
swords.
The
only
exceptionally long
D
swords
are
in
the
same
King's
Tholos
at
Dendra,
that
held
the
very
long
C sword.
Five out of ten in the
Knossos
cemeteries are
between
o.6im
and
o.63m.
There is
usually
a
well-marked
midrib
and,
with one
exception, there are two rivet-holes, rather low in
the
blade,
as
in
class
A
and
many
class
C.
The
grip
and
shoulders are
always flanged
like
C
i;
but
instead of the
horns
the
shoulder
extension
takes
the
form
of
an
angular
or
lobed
broadening,
from
which
comes
the name cruciform.
In fact the
outlines
show two
opposite
tendencies.
One,
best
represented
in
the
Zapher
Papoura
cemetery,
is
for
very
rounded
projections
or
lobes
(pl.
24:19);
the
other,
found in the
graves
of the New
Hospital
site and
Ayios
loannis,
has a more
angular
outline,
and
may
be
slightly
earlier.
It
certainly
had a
shorter
life-span.
The width of the blade below
the
shoul-
der
is much the same as in the C
type,
usually
about 4 cm., but owing to the blade being shorter
the
D
swords
look
stouter,
and more
tapered.
The
small
pommel-tang
extension
is
almost
invariable.
The swords come from
Crete,
the
Argolid,
and
the Dodecanese
(see
map).
This is the sword
par
excellence
of the Knossos
cemeteries,
with
the
so-
called Warrior Graves
accounting
for ten of
the
thirteen Cretan
weapons,
the
other three are
with-
out
provenance;
against
this
the
mainland
has five
(from
the
Argolid
three others
are
uncharacteristic,
one
also
untypical
from
Attica),
and Rhodes
and
Cos have three between them. This class holds
some of
the
finest of
surviving
bronze
swords,
and
one
at least
(Zapher
Papoura 36)
is an
outright
masterpiece
with
naturalistic ornamentation of
the
gold
hilt
covers,
showing
wild
goats
and
lions,
in
a
style recalling
the
galloping griffins
and
horses
of
the
Mycenae
Shaft-Graves,
and
nearer home
the acrobat
looped
round the
gold
pommel-
casing
of an
A
sword
from Mallia. The
more
routine
spirals
of
the midrib and
flange
are
almost
identical
with those
on
the C sword
in the
same
tomb,
only
a
little smaller.
Larger spirals
are
on
the
midrib
of the
richest
of
the
New
Hospital
site
swords
(the
Shaft-Grave,
Tomb,
II,
3),
and
there
are linked
spirals
on
the
gold
sheet
that
covers
the
wood
of the
grip.
These
again
are found on
the
best-preserved
of
the
two
D
swords in
the
King's
Tholos,
Dendra
(No.
ii), 5
and
appar-
ently
on the
great
horned
sword
(No. 12),
where
only
a morsel of
ivory
remains. The outline
of
the
shoulder
projection
is
the
same
on
the
Zapher
Papoura
and Dendra
swords,
whereas
the
New
Hospital
and
Ayios
Ioannis
shoulders
are more
angular. Where the hilt-plates of these rich swords
survive
they
all
have
the same oval
opening,
as
do
a
number
of the
C swords. The
technique
of
gold-plating
over wood
is
so little
practical,
where
a
sword is to
be
jarred
with hard
use,
that
it
strengthens
the
general
conclusion that
these
weap-
ons
were
designed
for show
rather than for
blows.
As well as
the two handsome
Dendra
King's
Tholos
cruciform
swords,
that from
Mycenae,
13
Persson,
op.cit.
(supra
n.
9)
xx,
no.
v.
14
F.
Chapouthier,
Mallia,
Deux
Epdes
d'Apparat
(ttudes
Cretoises
5, 1938)
pls.
8-20.
15 Persson describes the opening as
kidney-shaped,
but if
we follow
the
distinction drawn
by
Evans
between
earlier
kid-
ney-shaped
and
later
oval
openings,
this
opening
is
certainly
oval.
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124 N.
K.
SANDARS
[AJA
67
Chamber Tomb
78,
is
well
made,
and
possibly
was
once
an
equally
grand
weapon,
since the
only
sur-
viving
rivet
was
gold-capped (pl. 24:21).
It
has
telltale
breaks
at two of the
large
rivet-holes in
the
grip.
The much
damaged
and
incomplete
sword
from Grevena
may
have been like
these,
but most
of
the mainland
swords
are uncharacteristic and
rather
poor;
some lack midrib:
Prosymna
Tomb
XXV
and
the
two much smaller
weapons
in
Mycenae,
Chamber
Tomb
91,
which
also
lack
grip-rivets,
and have sunk lines in
place
of
the
midrib,
like
D ii
dirks
and
daggers (see
infra).
An
incomplete
fragment
from
Corinth
without
midrib is
also
probably
D ii
(pl.
24:28),
but
if its
grip
was
originally
like
these
in Tomb
91
it
would
have
to be reckoned
among
D
i's.
A
short
sword
or dagger from Eleusis is only very loosely cruci-
form,
having slightly
lobed shoulder
projections;
but
the
rivet
pattern
is
quite
different
and
it
seems
to
belong
to another tradition of
flat,
broad-bladed
knives
and
daggers,
perhaps
related
to our
class
E
and
to
some
untypical
blades
in
Chamber
Tomb
82 at
Mycenae.
The
three swords known from
the Dodecanese
are all
very
much
alike,
short,
with an
angular
or
intermediate
shoulder,
and not
very
high
midrib
(pl.
24:20).
They
are
particularly
close to the New
Hospital
Tomb
V sword. The
link with Knossos
is
strengthened by
a
spearhead
from
the
Asclepeion
site on
Cos,
which
is
remarkably
like the
spear
A.J.
3,
found
with another
angular
D
i
in
the
Ayios
Ioannis
Shaft-Grave. Both
spears
have the
same
decorative
moulding
at
the
base
of the
blade,
and
the
same
section;
the
only
difference is
that
Ayios
Ioannis
has
sharper
wing-ends
to the blade.
Before
discussing
dates
and
workshops
there
are
two features of D
i
swords which
must be
re-
ferred
to.
First
there are
the
hilt-plates
of
semi-
precious
material,
unused
and
sometimes
even
un-
finished, which are found (rather surprisingly) in
tombs
as well
as
in
occupation
sites;
and second
the
skeuomorphic
thong-mouldings
which dec-
orate
these
hilt-plates
and
the bronze
grips
as well.
Chamber
Tomb
81
at
Mycenae,
which had a
C
i
sword,
also had
two cruciform hilt
fittings;
one of
veined
agate
is
unfinished,
hollows are
already
sunk for
the
rivet-heads,
but the holes
have not
been
boredfor
the
pins.
Gold
rings
with
granulated
edges
are
in
place
around
only
two
of
them.
Tsountas
ound another
hilt-plate
f
faience,
rather
more lobed
in
shape,
unassociated
n the
Acrop-
olis,
and
yet
another
very
like it
apparently
n
Chamber Tomb
io2..
A
crystal
fragment
was
found
at
Knossos,
while
separate
gold
sheet
cas-
ings
for B
type
swordswere found in the same
Chamber Tomb
81 at
Mycenae
where
the
un-
finished
agate hilt-plate
was
found,
and
another
in
the dromos to
Tomb
88. This last is
very
like
the
casing
of the
B sword in the
King's
Tholos,
Dendra,
except
for
having only
one rivet.
As
well
as
showing
the
overlap
between
lingering
B
type
swords
and
both
the
new
C
and
D i
classes,
hese
detached,
sometimes unfinished
fragments
pose
the
question
as to whether such
objects
of
skilled
and
luxurious
workmanship
were obtained
from
a few sources and then put by till needed,or
whether
they
were
plunder
from some
despoiled
workshop;
or
whether
again
a
traveling
craftsman
would
leave
the
spare
fittings
behind him
when
he
moved on to his
next
job.
We
know
so
very
little
about the mechanicsof
bronze-working
nd
other
allied
crafts
n
the second
millennium.
The detached
hilt-plates
and
grip-casings,
whetherof
agate,
aience,
crystal,
r
gold
on
wood,
as
well
as those found
in
position
on swords
in
the Knossoscemeteries nd
at
Dendra,
all
have
in
common
a
simulated
hong, usuallydouble,
at
the
base of the
grip.
The fine
hilt
of
the derivative
A
sword in
ChamberTomb
78
at
Mycenae
shows
what is
probably
an earlier
stage
with the
lowest
grip-rivet
placed
within
the
loop
of the
thong,
as
though
the latter
had
been hitched around
a
once
protruding
rivet-head.The
lily-dagger
n
the
V
Shaft-Grave
akes
us a
stage
further
back,
for
it
has
a
separate
gold
ribbon
n
place
of
the
natural
cord or
leather
hong. 7
he
lowest
rivet is
still more or
less within
the
loop
on
the D sword
from
New
Hospital
Tomb
II,
as also on
the shell
inlayfrom the Knossosthrone-room; ut in other
cruciform
words
the
rivet has moved
up
the
grip
and
the
loop
has
become
purely
ornament
(Za-
pher
Papoura
36,
i;
and Dendra
King's
Tholos
No.
I1).
Even
where the
hilt-plates
have
not
sur-
vived,
the
existence of
the
moulding
can be in-
ferred from
ripples
in the bronze
of the
flange
(Zapher
Papoura 55,
pl.
24:19).
This decoration
was
used
on
swords of much
later
types
also,
and
sometimes on
different
parts
of the
grip.
16
It
is not
certain that
all
the small
objects
came from this
tomb and not from one nearby, see JHS 24 (I904) 322.
17
Karo,
op.cit.
(supra
n.
6)
no.
764,
V
Shaft-Grave.
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1963]
LATER
AEGEAN BRONZE
SWORDS
125
It seems
very
likely
that the
origins
of
the
cruci-
form sword are
to be found
(as
Evans
thought)
in
those
flanged-hilted,
round-shouldered
long
dag-
gers
and short swords of MM III
and
LM
I,
found at
Knossos
itself
(in
the North House in-
complete) and at Gournia, the latter with a broad,
rather
flat midrib. These in
turn
grew naturally
out
of
the
flanged daggers
without
midrib,
like that from
the
Hagia
Triada tholos
and
various
stray
finds;
the
finely
decorated
dagger
from
Lasithi
with
fight-
ing
bulls and a
boar-killing
is
another.
Evans called
them the
typical
dagger
of LM
Ia'8
beginning
per-
haps
as
early
as
MM
II.
I
have
suggested
elsewhere
that
these
daggers
may
also have
had
a
part
in
the
formation of the
class
B
sword,
though
less influ-
ential than
Syrian
and Palestinian
flanged daggers
and short swords. However the absence of true
B
swords
from
Crete
makes it more
likely
that
they
were
the Cretan alternative to that
sword,
for
use when
a
weapon
shorter
than the
great
Cretan A
sword was
required.
The
protruding
shoulder of Gournia
brings
them much closer to
the D
type
than to
B,
while
the midrib
is more
advanced
than
the
Eleusis
weapon already
re-
ferred to.
On
the other hand this did
have
a
pom-
mel-tang
extension,
while
another,
otherwise
ex-
actly
like
it,
had a
T-flange,
which
reduces
the
likelihood
that
they
could be
ancestral
to cruci-
form
swords.
If the
Gournia
sword
is
probably
one
parent,
the
other
parent
of
the
cruciform sword is
quite
clearly
the
A
type,
from
which
it inherits the
long
fine
midrib,
the low-set
blade-rivets,
and the
hilt-
plate
opening.
These are
features also common
to
C
swords,
and
in
fact the two
types,
the
C
sword
and
D
i,
are
exactly
contemporary,
found
together
in
graves
(Zapher Papoura
36
and the
King's
Tholos,
Dendra,
and
the new
Argolis
find,
also
Chamber
Tomb 81
Mycenae,
horned
sword
and
cruciform
hilt-plates).
Both make
their
first
ap-
pearance
about
the
middle
of
the
fifteenth
century
and
last into the
fourteenth
century.
One
of the
latest
D
type
is
probably
that in
Mavrospelio
XVIII,
(pl.
24:22),
a
grave
without
pottery
but
with a
T-flanged
knife. The
sword,
not much more
than a
dirk,
is as
uncharacteristic
as the C dirk from
Zapher
Papoura
14,
it has no
midrib and is in
very
poor
condition. A
typical
D
hilt
said to come from
the
Rh6ne
requires
authenticating.
Discussion
Taken as
a
group
C i swords are more
variable
than
C ii. No two of the rich
and
princely
swords
from
Zapher Papoura 36,
Phaestos Tomba
dei
Nobili
8,
and the
King's
Tholos, Dendra,
are
quite
the same. In
spite
of over-all
similarities
they
vary
in
the details of
arrangement
and
placing
of
rivets,
in
length
and section
of
midrib,
and in
the
motifs of ornament.
Each one is an individual
piece
of skilled
workmanship produced
to
please
the taste
and
requirements
of some individual
pa-
tron
or
potentate,
and
seeming
to bear the
hallmark
of a
particular shop.
The sword
in the
Silver
Cup
Tomb,
Knossos,
the shorter of
the two
from
Dendra,
and the two
from
Prosymna
and
Mycenae
are more utilitarian
relatives,
which
may
or
may
not be from this shop. Nor is a date in the second
half of
the fifteenth
century
in
doubt
for
the
whole Cretan
group,
which
belongs
to the
last
epoch
of
the
LM
II
palace.
The
Epirus-Yugoslavia group
and the
Bulgarian
are utilitarian
weapons
from
two,
perhaps
several,
hands
or
shops. They
pose
a curious
problem,
for
it is
unlikely
that
workshops operating
in one
of
the
established
centres
of
Aegean
civilization
should
produce
a
particular style
of
weapon
for the north-
ern
barbarians.On the other
hand,
supposing
the
grave at Perimatos near Ioannina and those in
Bulgaria
to
have held
the bones
of
returned ad-
venturers,
or
temporary
exiles,
who had served
a
term
at one of the
Aegean
courts,
then it is difficult
to see
why
the
weapons
they brought
back
with
them should
have been
so unlike
any
in
use in
metropolitan
Greece or
Crete.
A
possible
alterna-
tive is that
both
groups
were the work
of
crafts-
men
trained in
one
or
other of the
great
centres,
Cretan
or
mainland,
selling
his skill in
the northern
mountains,
where in
the
course of time
he
may
have
fallen into
personal idiosyncrasy,
or
simply
have
tried
to
meet
the
special
demands
of
the bar-
barian;
this
is
only
surmise. The
Cretan
palaces
give
evidence
of
bronze-working
on
the
spot;
so
do
houses
at
Malthi
and
at
Trianda,
Rhodes. In
barbarian
lands there
is no
such
evidence,
only
the
scattered
finds
of
merchants'
hoards
and,
at a
much
later
date,
founders'
hoards.
The
existence
of some
link,
however
tenuous,
between
this
part
of
south-
eastern
Europe,
geographically
not
far
from the
watershed
between the
Aegean
and
the
Danubian
18
Evans,
op.cit.
(supra
n.
6) I, fig. 541,
p.
719;
IV
ii, p. 851;
see also
Sandars, op.cit. (supra n.
I) 22.
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126
N.
K.
SANDARS
[AJA
67
river
systems,
and
the centres of
Aegean
civiliza-
tion,
in
the
middle of the second
millennium,
is
fact.
Compared
with
the
idiosyncratic
C
i
swords,
the
unriveted
C
ii
look like the
product
of one work-
shop (except for an untypical sword labelled Den-
dra,
if that is its correct
provenance,
and the
two
from
Cos
and
Rhodes).
On the evidence available
it
is
not
possible
even to
guess
where
this centre
was,
unless the
influence
of the
predominantly
Mainland
B
sword
argues
for the
Argolid;
but too
many
of the
swords are
without
find
spots,
and
the
absence,
so
far,
of
any
from
Mycenae
itself,
makes
this
explanation
less
satisfactory.
The
Gezer
sword
is more
likely
to
be connected with
My-
cenaean
ventures
of
the
early
fourteenth
century
(LH IIIA) than with Cretan enterprise; the same
date
holds for
Thermi,
where
no
Mycenaean pottery
is later
than LH
IIIA and local wares imitate
LH
II. Some
mainland centre
might
be
thought
most
likely
to
have
produced
the
Grevena
sword,
and
perhaps
the British Museum Mount
Olympos,
but the
postulated
connections of the fifteenth
century
rulers
of
Thebes
with Crete could
provide
a
possible point
of
entry
for earlier Cretan
bronzes
to
Boeotia. 9
A
terminus ante
quem
for
the
C
ii
swords,
in
the middle or second
half
of
the fifteenth
century,
is
given
by
the
pots
in the
Acropolis
Tomb,
Knossos.
So
the earliest
dated C
ii
cor-
respond
well
enough
with
the
fine swords
of C
i;
the
peripheral
C i and C
ii
groups
may
be a little
later,
probably
the
first
half
of
the fourteenth
cen-
tury.
In
each
case,
where
approximate
dates can
be
advanced,
somewhere near the
beginning
of
the
century
is
preferable
for the
casting
of
the
C
ii
swords,
because
of their likeness to
the
one
from
Knossos.
In
summary,
the
position points
to at least
one
workshop
capable
of
producing
luxury
weapons,
working between 145o and 1400; and another,
contemporary
with
it,
producing
the
unriveted
C ii
and
perhaps
the
plainer
riveted
C
i as
well,
all
thoroughly
workmanlike
weapons
which found a
more
extended market
or
a more
enterprising
clientele.
The smiths who
produced
the
fine
Epirot,
Macedonian and
Bulgarian
swords must
have learned
their
trade in one of
these
metro-
politan workshops during
the
period
when
Class
C swords were in
active
production.
In
course
of
time
they
became
independent,
but
their work
is
not
likely
to have
found its
way
into barbarian
graves
much after
1350,
unless
kept
for
an in-
ordinate
time
as
heirlooms.
However,
the
evidence
of hard
wear
might
be
taken
to favour
a
fairly long
useful life.
If sufficient evidence for
tracing
the
style
of in-
dividual
workshops
be conceded
for
many
of
the
horned
swords,
the
same
would
hold
good
for
the
cruciform,
where in fact the evidence
is
stronger.
This is
particularly
the
case with the
swords
from
cemeteries
at
Knossos:
Zapher Papoura,
the New
Hospital
site
and
Ayios Ioannis.
I have
suggested
that
the
more
angular
shoulders,
as at
Ayios
Ioan-
nis and
New
Hospital,
were
slightly
earlier
than
those
at
Zapher Papoura.
Most
are well-dated
by
pottery, and there is nothing to suggest use
of
these two cemeteries
after the
catastrophe
to
the
LM
II
palace.
Zapher Papoura,
on
the
other
hand,
does seem to
have been
in use after that
event
and the tombs
are
harder to
date with
pre-
cision,
but there is
no
reason
to
think
that the
two
important
warrior
graves, 36
and
44,
were
later;
in fact
they
are
generally placed
within the last
years
in the
life
of
that
palace.
It
is
rather
that D ii
with
pommel flanges, typologically
the
subsequent
development,
is
always given
a
lobed,
not
an
angu-
lar
shoulder;
also the
probably
later
D
i dirks
without
midrib
are
lobed
(except
for
Mavrospelio
XVIII
which
also
appears
to
be
late).
The
workshop
that
produced
the
finest C swords
was
certainly equipped
technically
to
produce
the
best D i.
Although nothing
like
the
naturalistic
decoration of the
Zapher
Papoura
36
D i hilt has
been found on
a
C
sword,
hilt
plates
have
so
rarely
survived
that an
argument
ex
silentio
is
not
permis-
sible. The Mallia
workshop
that
produced
the
Acrobat was
certainly
equal
to
the
draughts-
manship
required
for
tracing
the
goat
and
lion;
in fact the acrobat is superior work, and probably
more
than
a
century
earlier.
Chronological
con-
tinuity
of
surviving
work
can be traced from
Mal-
lia
through
Mycenae, Myrsinoch6rion
and
Vapheio,
back
to
Zapher Papoura
and
New
Hospital,
Knossos,
on the
one
hand,
and Dendra on the
other. There are
particularly
close links
between
the
Dendra
King's
Tholos
and
Crete,
as Pers-
son,
Furumark and
others
have
agreed.
Persson de-
scribes the
gold octopus cup
as a
perfect
master-
19
LH
IIIA
i
floor
deposit
in the
House
of
Cadmos,
prob-
ably destroyedat the same time as the LM II Palace at Knossos,
A.
Furumark,
The
Settlement
at
Ialysos
and
Aegean
History,
OpusArch 6
(1950)
264.
-
7/23/2019 Sandars 1993 - Later Aegean Bronze Swords
12/46
1963]
LATER
AEGEAN
BRONZE
SWORDS
127
piece
of
the
finest
Cretan
workmanship
in
the
marine
style.
It
is
one
among
several
objects
probably
of Cretan
provenance.
He also
considered
that the
long
horned sword
probably
came
from
the
same
workshop
as that
from
Zapher
Papoura
36,though it is not clearwhy he thought this meant
both
were
manufactured
on the mainland.20The
unfinished
hilt-plates
of
semi-precious
materials
in
graves
at
Mycenae point
to
Mycenae
not
being
the
site
of
their
manufacture,
for
who would
treas-
ure
incomplete
and
unfinished
objects
if he
had
only
to
go
down the road to
procure complete
ones?
Perhaps
the hilts
did
not come from
the
same
workshop
as
the
bronze
swords.21
The finds of
crystal hilt-plate fragments,
and
others
with
gold
nail
decoration
within the Palace
at Knossos suggest that this work was done on the
spot,
as at
Mallia in
earlier
centuries,
and at
Tri-
anda in
Rhodes in
the fifteenth
century;
so the
great
workshop
at
Knossos
may
well have
been
destroyed
with the LM
II
palace
and
never
re-
opened.
After
the last of
the
splendid
horned
and
cruciform
swords there were
no
more luxurious
weapons.
A little
gold
sheet
casing
with the
simplest
of
ornaments,
or
a
gold
rivet-cap,
seems to
have
been the
most that
later
generations
were
prepared
to
spend
on their
weapons.
The Military Aristocracy
The
swords
themselves are
among
the most im-
portant
evidence
of the
high
standard of the fif-
teenth
century craftsmanship
and
metallurgy,
and
at
the
same
time
tell
us a
little about the
society
that
used them. It
is
a fair
supposition
that the
invention
of
a
new
weapon,
or the
radical altera-
tion
of an old
one,
only
happens
in
answer
to
military
need. One
may
well ask
what was
the
military
stress
which led to
the
invention
of
the
C
and D i swords? The
date for the
invention,
around
the middle of the fifteenth
century,
is
well
grounded,
linked with LM
II
pottery
which in
turn
can be linked
with
Egyptian
chronology.2
Mr. Hood, the excavator of some of the most
important
graves
of the
period
immediately
before
the destruction of the
LM II
palace
at
Knossos,
has
called them warrior
graves,
the burials
of a
mili-
tary
aristocracy
concentrated
on the court
at
Knos-
sos and
serving,
as Evans
believed,
a new
militarist
dynasty.
Whether
this new
dynasty
was of
Greek-
speaking
conquerors
from the
mainland,
or
thrown
up by
an internal
Cretan
political
revolution
with
mainland
support,
does not concern
us
here,
only
the
existence
of the warriors
and
their
weapons.
Whatever its origin the aristocracyseems to have
been
thoroughly
Minoanized.
It is
possible
also
that
the
change appears
more
dramatic
than
it
was,
for lack
of LM I
graves
leaves
a
gap
in
our
knowledge
of
personal
equipment
which
cannot
be filled from other sources.
To the
question,
what caused the rulers of Knossos to
surround
themselves
with a
military
caste,
the usual
and
most
plausible
answer is
that which connects
it
with the destructions
at rival Cretan
sites, Gournia,
Mochlos,
Palaikastro,
Phaestus and
Hagia
Triada.
The Phaestus
cemetery
is
poor
in bronzes
and
has
only
one
really
rich
military
tomb,
that with
the
C i
swords;
but
in the Knossos cemeteries
there
are at least fifteen
graves
with
swords,
so far
known,
of which
only
three
probably
date from after
the
fall
of
the
LM II
palace-a
fact
which
suggests
that
the
organization
of
the
military
survived
the
fall
of the
dynasty
which
it had served. This
in
turn
may
be
a
hint at a situation
well
known
in
the
history
of
empires,
from the
emperor-making
20
S.
Hood,
Late Minoan
Warrior-Graves,
BSA
47 (1952)
267,
n.
121;
Persson,
op.cit.
(supra
n.
9)
45-47;
see
also
A. Furumark, op.cit. (supra n. I9) 264.
21
If
the
suggested
interpretation
of
the tablets from
Knossos
(M.
Ventris and
J.
Chadwick,
Documents in
Mycenaean
Greekl
p.
360,
nos. 261
and
262)
so
many
swords:
5o ;
and
Kukalos
the
cutler,
3
swords
fitted with
(bindings?)
is
established,
this
might
refer
to
the
work
of
assembly
necessary
to
complete
sword-grips
of this
type
and
make them
usable. It is
however
well to
remember
Miss
Gray's
warning archaeological
com-
mentary
.
..
is bound
to
begin
from
ideograms
which
belong
to
the
same
physical
world
as the
monuments
(Institute of
Classical
Studies,
Bulletin
6,
1959, p. 55).
Some
of
the
sword
ideograms
from
Knossos,
which
according
to Evans
showed at
least
two
distinct
types
(Evans op.cit.
[supra
n.
6]
IV,
835),
are
clearly
meant to
represent
the
protruding
shoulders of
cruci-
form
swords
of
type
D,
but
others
are less
distinctive.
Miss
Gray
has