Heraklion Archaeological Museum - CollectiveAccess System : Bronze objects : Bronze dagger with hilt terminating in male head [Χ440]

Bronze dagger with hilt terminating in male head

Χ440

Metal (Bronze)

Almost intact

Length: 29 cm.

Dictaean Cave (Cave of Psychro)

Upper Cave Altar

Late Minoan ΙΙΙΒ - Protogeometric period:

1300-800 BC:

Gallery:

XVI

Case:

162

Exhibition thematic unit:

Geometric - Archaic - Classical period (10th-4th c. BC). Trade. Cultural influences

Description

Bronze dagger with solid hilt terminating in a male head. The long blade is sharply bent. The head is that of a bearded man with beads for eyes and a prominent nose. It is secured to the hilt by a rivet running from under the chin to the flat top. The dagger was found near the altar in the Upper Cave of Psychro together with many others, most of them dated to the Late Bronze Age. They were probably produced by a local workshop but the closest parallels are found in Northern Italy, perhaps indicating contacts with that region.

Bibliography:

Hogarth, D.G., “The Dictaean Cave.”, Annual of the British School at Athens 6 (1899-1900), 94-116. Boardman J., The Cretan Collection in Oxford: The Dictaean Cave and Iron Age Crete, Oxford, 1961, 18. Tyree E. L., Cretan Sacred Caves: Archaeological Evidence, Missouri, 1975, 315, pl. 294.

Author:

S. P.

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