Part 8

=Early Greek Bronze Age.=--The first class consists of arms which belong to the Early Bronze Age in Greece, a period preceding the mature and extensive civilisation to which the name of Mycenaean is commonly applied. The general date of 3000 to 2000 B.C., which is assigned to the weapons of this period, serves rather to indicate their chronological relations than to give their precise age. In any case they stand as a definite beginning of the history of arms in Europe. In these early times the sword had not been invented, and short daggers or spear-heads only were produced by workmen with a still imperfect mastery of metallurgy. The most ancient form was a short thick blade, with rivets in the base, where it was fastened to the hilt or shaft. A more secure attachment was contrived by prolonging the broad base of the blade into a tang, which was let into the handle and held by a rivet through the end. But the greatest advance was the discovery that if a rib were left up the middle of the blade, the edges could be fined down and tapered to a sharp point without loss of strength. In the final development the stiffening rib and the tang were connected, so that the strongest part of the blade was continued down into the handle. Yet in spite of progress and improvements in design, the old patterns remained in use to the end of the Bronze Age, and even later, so that a chronological classification based on the forms of early Weapons is untrustworthy.

All the stages in the development are shown in these examples. The most primitive types are represented by a series of blades from Cyprus (No. =241=; fig. 94_a_), which, from material and technique, might be placed at a very early period; but they were excavated from Mycenaean tombs of the end of the Bronze Age. To the same island belong the narrow blades with long tangs, which are turned round at the end in a hook to hold the handle (No. =242=; fig. 94_b_). This type is said to have been found in graves of 3000 B.C. It is certainly a primitive shape, and peculiar to the pre-Mycenaean civilisation of Cyprus. Another local variety is known in the leaf-shaped blade with a sharp tang and two slits, one on each side of the midrib, through which the shaft was lashed in place (No. =243=; fig. 94_c_). The pattern is characteristic of the contemporary civilisation of the Cycladic Islands. Two pointed blades with no tang belong to the same early period. The smaller of the two was found at Athens (No. =244=; fig. 94_d_).

=Mycenaean swords and daggers.=--The next period was the close of the Bronze Age in Greece, occupying the second millennium before Christ. It has been called, from its best-known centre at Mycenae, the Mycenaean Age. In this period, by improvement in metal-working, the short daggers were lengthened into swords, which, towards the end of the age, were made even a yard long, and very slender. Such weapons were used mainly for thrusting, for they would break with a direct blow. Homer records many such accidents on the battlefield. At the same time the spear-head was differentiated from the dagger-blade, being provided with a socket for the shaft. Mycenaean weapons are represented here by swords and spear-heads found mainly at Ialysos in Rhodes, and belonging to the end of the period. The swords are short and heavy, and are made in one piece with the hilt. The guard is straight in the earlier specimens, and the pommel of the hilt was a round knob, of which the tang remains (No. =245=; fig. 95_a_). This is the form of the well-known daggers from Mycenae, which have the blades inlaid with designs in coloured metals, the hilts and pommels embossed and chased in gold. Electrotype copies of the Mycenae daggers are exhibited in the Gold Ornament Room Passage. A closer parallel to these is a blade from Cameiros which has the rivets still in place (No. =246=). In other swords the raised flange on the edges of the hilt is continued to form a crescent-shaped pommel. The hollow space was filled with an ornamental material for the grip. The rivets are usually in place, and on a small dagger from Karpathos a great part of the ivory mount is preserved (No. =247=; fig. 95_b_). The last form of this hilt appears in a heavy sword, formerly in the Woodhouse Collection (No. =248=; fig. 95_c_). The projection of flanges and pommel is accentuated, and the ends of the guard are curled up like horns. This type survived into the Hellenic period. Another late Mycenaean form is seen in a long and slender sword with a broad base to the blade, which contracts again towards the hilt (No. =249=; fig. 96_a_). At the other end of the hilt are two divergent tongues of metal, which are better preserved in another example, of heavier fabric, from Enkomi, in Cyprus (No. =250=; fig. 96_b_). The type is that in which the earliest iron swords of Greece were made (No. =263=; fig. 101_b_), and which was the prototype of the common bronze sword of the rest of Europe. The lighter specimen (No. =249=) is from Scutari in Albania.

=Mycenaean spears and arrows.=--The spear was in Homeric times the soldier's most important arm, a long and heavy weapon which was thrown with great force or used for thrusting. Mycenaean spearheads are illustrated in a series from Ialysos (No. =251=; fig. 97). They are skilfully made to secure the greatest strength with the least expenditure of material; in most cases the shaft runs far up into the blade, which is narrow and springs gently from the socket, some being wider near the point than at the base. There is considerable variety of shape, but all are characterised by the thin blade with shallow curves. Mycenaean arrowheads from the same site are of more primitive design (No. =252=; fig. 98). The best are large and heavy, and have long barbs; a tang and no socket to take the shaft. Others are curiously flat and weak, and are plainly metal reproductions of a stone pattern.

=Italian Bronze Age.=--The Bronze Age of Italy is represented here by daggers and spears which date from about the fifteenth to the tenth century B.C. Italian daggers are remarkable for the use of engraved geometrical decoration on the blades. The first class resembles the Mycenaean weapons in the form of the hilt with edges raised for inlay and crescent-shaped pommel, and the round base of the blade is also similar to an early Mycenaean type. The haft of one dagger is wound with bronze wire, another has an ivory handle bound with gold (No. =253=; fig. 99_a_), and a third has the pommel filled with ivory (No. 254). Some of the blades were made separately, and riveted to the hilt after the primitive fashion (No. =255=; fig. 99_b_). In that case the hilt was split to receive the tang, and overlapped the base (No. =256=). Some of these daggers diverge still further from the Mycenaean in having the blade with recurving edges which is characteristic of a cutting sword (No. =257=; fig. 99_c_). The sheaths are of peculiar shape, being made of a thin plate of bronze with an ornament at the end in the form of a large round knob or several discs on a peg (No. =258=; fig. 99 _e_, _f_). They are decorated with the same linear designs as the blades. A later variety of Italian sword, known from the horned extremities of the pommel as the _Antennae_ type, is represented by two specimens (No. =259=; fig. 99_d_). In the first, the horns are simply curved projections, in the other they are developed into large rings or spiral coils. The type is of frequent occurrence throughout Europe, even in the north.

Italian spearheads do not suggest so much connection with Mycenaean types. Some of them are narrow, but most have broad and strongly-curving blades which spring sharply from the sockets (No. =260=; fig. 100). A spearhead from Sicily is remarkable for its great size (No. =261=): it is thirty-five inches long.

The rest of the arms belong to the historical period. The usual weapons of the Greeks were the spear and sword. The bow was a special arm, which did not form part of the equipment of the ordinary soldier, and its use, like that of the sling, was practised by men of certain districts, who served as mercenaries to other states. The axe was a barbarous weapon, and is generally represented in the hands of Amazons, who brought their mode of warfare from the wilds of Scythia (see fig. 109).

=Greek swords.=--The earliest Greek swords in this collection date from the tenth century B.C., when iron was fast taking the place of bronze; but forms common in the Bronze Age were still reproduced in iron, just as those peculiar to stone implements were for some time preserved in bronze. This conservative tendency is noticeable in three iron swords, of which two are from Cyprus (Nos. =262=, =263=; fig. 101_b_). They reproduce the general form of the bronze sword from Enkomi in the same island (No. =250=; fig. 96). A short iron dagger is similar to the common Mycenaean type (No. =264=; fig. 101_a_).

The ordinary Greek sword of the fifth century B.C. is represented by three examples. The type appears frequently in works of art. On a vase in the Third Vase Room (E 468; Pedestal 6) there is a drawing of the combat of Achilles and Memnon, in which Memnon is armed with this sword. In the sheath by his side is another, so that it is possible to see both hilt and blade at once (fig. 102). The shape is entirely different from that of prehistoric times. The hilt is round and the pommel a small knob, while the guard is a plain crosspiece. The blade, which, being made of iron, is long and thin, swells from the hilt towards the point in the manner characteristic of the cutting sword. All these features are visible in the examples (No. =265=; fig. 104_a_, _b_). The swelling blade is best seen in the largest specimen, while the iron-handled fragment, which was excavated from a tomb near the Mausoleum at Halikarnassos, shows the original form of the hilt. The small dagger with a bone hilt and the bone end of the scabbard forms part of a group of weapons which were found on the battlefield of Marathon (No. =266=; fig. 103). The others are iron spearheads, arrowheads both of bronze and iron, and leaden slingshot, two of which are marked with a thunderbolt and the Greek name _Zoilos_.

Another common type of Greek sword is the heavy knife-like sabre with a hilt in the shape of a bird's head (No. =267=; fig. 104_c_). Its original appearance may be seen on the Athenian bowl already mentioned on page 80 (fig. 105). The classical name was _machaira_. Xenophon recommends it as a cavalry weapon, because of its heavy down-stroke. This example comes from Spain, where many similar swords have been found, but the origin of the type is Greek or even Oriental. The dagger with a cylindrical bronze hilt of which the pommel is a lynx-head, appears from the style of the decoration to be Graeco-Roman (No. =268=). Some models in terracotta from Naukratis give the types of the Hellenistic period (No. =269=).

=Greek and Roman spears.=--Classical spears are represented by a variety of heads both in bronze and iron. The earliest Greek type is an iron head found with pottery of the tenth or ninth century B.C. in a grave at Assarlik in Asia Minor (No. =271=). Those with three and four blades are a small class, examples of which came to light at Olympia, and suggest as a date the end of the sixth century B.C. (No. =272=; fig. 106_a_). To the same date may belong the decoratively modelled bronze spear from Kameiros, and another of plainer design from the same place (No. =273=; fig. 106_b_, _c_), with two from Olympia, and a large iron one (No. =274=) found with the fine Attic helmet (p. 78) in Macedonia. A curious spearhead, or perhaps a butt, from Olympia is shown among the Greek Inscriptions (p. 9, No. =14=, fig. 8). Spearbutts are not uncommon. Some are plain tapered ferrules (No. =279=; fig. 107), others end in two-pronged forks (Nos. =280=, =281=; fig. 107). The bronze forks are from Egypt, the iron one (fig. 107, bottom centre) was found on the bank of the Tiber with the spearheads mentioned below. The unusually long iron head, which was found in Spain with the iron _machaira_, is probably a later Greek form (No. =275=; fig. 106_d_). This example exhibits in a high degree the superiority of iron to bronze. Other iron spearheads are from Italy; some are from the Tiber (No. =276=). Three specimens, one with remains of the wooden shaft and the lashing of wire, were found near the village of Talamone on the west coast of Italy (No. =277=; fig. 108), where in 225 B.C. the Romans won a decisive victory over the Gauls, who had marched successfully to within a few days of Rome, and were returning home with their plunder. Like the helmets from Kyme and Cannae, and the arms from Marathon, these spears are relics of one of the famous battles of antiquity. The Roman soldiers of later times carried spears of a different kind. They had no thrusting lance, but an extremely heavy weapon, the _pilum_, which they threw with great effect at close quarters. The small iron heads from Licenza (No. =278=) have much the same shape as the head of the _pilum_. They probably belonged to light throwing-spears. The purpose of the long head was to bend and encumber the enemy after piercing his shield or armour.

=Roman swords.=--The collection of swords ends in those which belong to the Roman period. A fragment of a sword with a heavy iron blade seems too big for the natives of Italy, and may have been used by a Gaulish invader (No. =282=). The large sword with a flat guard and an ivory and bronze handle (No. =283=) is perhaps a Roman _gladius_, which was afterwards superseded in the army by a sword of Spanish pattern.

The later Roman sword is excellently represented by the so-called "Sword of Tiberius," which was found in a field at Mainz on the Rhine (No. =284=; fig. 109). The short iron blade is of the usual type, measuring twenty-one inches in length and two and a half in width at the base, from whence it tapers gently to a sharp point. The scabbard was made of wood covered with a plate of silver-gilt which is decorated with reliefs in gilt bronze. The plates of the bands which were hooked to the sword-belt are ornamented with wreaths of oak. At the hilt is a group which represents the Emperor Tiberius receiving his nephew Germanicus on the latter's return, in the year 17 A.D., from his victorious campaigns against the Germans, in the course of which he had recovered one of the legionary eagles which Varus had lost. The emperor, robed as a deity, is seated on a throne, resting his left arm on a shield which is inscribed +FELICITAS · TIBERI+--"The Good Fortune of Tiberius"--and holding in his right hand a small figure of Victory with wreath and palm, which he has just taken from his returning general. Germanicus stands before him in military attire, with his right hand stretched out. In the background is an armed figure, and behind the emperor a winged Victory brings a shield upon which is the legend +VIC · AVG+--"The Victory of Augustus." The middle of the scabbard is occupied by a medallion charged with a portrait of Tiberius, and at the point is a larger plate which is divided into two fields. The uppermost has a representation of a Roman eagle in a temple, and in the other is an Amazon armed with battle-axe and lance. It might not be wrong to connect the eagle with that of Varus; and the figure of the Amazon calls to mind the ode of Horace (_Carm._ iv. 4) celebrating the success of Drusus, the father of this Germanicus, against the Germans of the Danube, in which the poet expresses surprise that those barbarians should be armed with the Amazonian axe. Perhaps the next generation attributed this legendary weapon also to the Germans of the Rhine, and the Amazon is an allusion to the campaigns which the sword commemorates. From the contrast of the elaboration of the design with the cheapness of the execution, it would seem that the weapon is one of many copies which were turned out for some official purpose, probably a sword of honour presented to officers who had served with Germanicus.

Other remains of Roman swords are less complete. There are several fragments of scabbards, a bronze guard, two ivory pieces which may have been pommels of the hilt or caps of the sheath, and a good specimen of an entire hilt in bone (No. =285=). This is very similar to the classical Greek pattern.

=Sling-shot and arrowheads.=--Weapons which show little difference of form in Greek or Roman times are the sling-shot (No. =286=) and arrowheads. Sling-shot are mostly cast in lead, but some are of bronze and stone. The inscribed sling-bolts from Marathon have already been mentioned, and others similarly bear inscriptions in raised letters: a personal name, of the maker or the general or the slinger; or the name of the state from whose army it was shot--"From the Corinthians"; or a message to the bullet or to the enemy--"Strike hard," and "Take this." A large bronze arrowhead from Olynthus (No. =291=) bears the name of Philip, probably the father of Alexander the Great, the Macedonian king against whom Demosthenes wrote his Olynthiac and Philippic orations.

Some of the arrowheads have already been described, the Mycenaean from Rhodes (No. =252=; fig. 98), and those from Marathon (No. =266=; fig. 103). The large iron heads with knife-like blade and long tang are Oriental (No. =287=); those from Marathon were no doubt used by Persian bowmen. A similar group from Cyprus, but of bronze, shows long square heads (No. =288=; fig. 110, top, right). A bundle of six bronze arrowheads of broad leaf shape, found in a grave at Enkomi in Cyprus, has rusted together as the arrows lay in the quiver, remains of which and of the wooden shafts can still be seen (No. =289=). Greek examples belong to two classes; they are all made of bronze. The commoner class has sockets and blades like miniature spearheads; (No. =290=; fig. 110). Many of these have three blades; the large inscribed head from Olynthus (No. =291=) is of this shape, but barbed. Another variety, which always has barbs, is triangular with a central hole for the shaft. The second class consists of heavy heads with long barbs and tangs (No. =292=). These appear to be related to a Mycenaean form (see fig. 98), and as they are often represented on coins of Crete, they may perhaps be identified as the arrows of the Cretan bow. The Roman period is represented by six iron arrowheads from Xanten (_Castra Vetera_) on the Rhine. They show the spearhead and triangular shapes, and are all barbed (No. =293=; fig. 111).

Such is the regular series of classical weapons. Exceptional pieces are the bronze double-axe (No. =294=), if this can be called a weapon, the ridged mace-head from Rome (No. =295=), and the calthrop (No. =296=; fig. 112), a contrivance for disabling cavalry. This singular object, which was found at Kertch in the Crimea, is cut from a human radius bone.

The bronze weapons are more fully described in the _Catalogue of Bronzes_ under the numbers painted on the objects.

(269) _Cat. of Terracottas_, C 629 ff.; (271) _Journal of Hellenic Studies_, VIII., p. 64; (284) _Proc. Soc. Ant. Lond._, N.S. III., p. 358; _Cat. of Bronzes_, 867; (289) _Excavations in Cyprus_, p. 17, fig. 28; (296) McPherson, _Antiq. Kertch_, p. 101.

[Footnote 40: [Greek:

Targeioi anethen tôi Diwi tôn Korinthothen.]

X.--HOUSE AND FURNITURE.

(Wall-Cases 25-40.)

Cases 25-40 contain furniture, lamps and lamp-stands, cooking utensils, objects used in connection with the bath, and objects illustrating the methods of heating buildings and supplying them with water. With the house itself, its plan and its appearance we are not concerned in this work. It is enough to say that the fundamental distinction between the ancient and modern house is that the one looked inwards, the other looks outwards. The ancient house received its light and air either from the open courtyard, round which it was built, or else from a large aperture in the roof. The former was the prevailing arrangement in Greece, the latter (in the earlier period) that adopted in Italy. The outside of the average Greek house was probably very destitute of architectural ornament, presenting a wide space of blank wall broken but by few windows.

The Roman house in its final development assumed a form closely resembling that of the Greek house just described. At an early period it was based on the early Italian house. This consisted merely of an oblong chamber, with a small opening in the roof for the admission of light and emission of smoke. This chamber was called an _atrium_, perhaps because walls and roof were black (_ater_) with soot from the smoke of the fire. Gradually the opening in the roof became larger. Rain fell in the centre into a basin called the _impluvium_. The _atrium_ lost its character as a living room, and further courts and rooms in the Greek manner were added to it.

We may now deal with the internal arrangements and the furniture. The objects may be described as they concern (1) the general furniture of the house; (2) the lighting; (3) the kitchen; (4) the bath; (5) water supply; (6) the warming. (7) Annexed is a small type-series of vases.

=The Furniture of the house.=--In the nature of things, wooden furniture rarely occurs outside Egypt, except in South Russia. Thus we have a wooden table leg: a dog springs upward, from an acanthus leaf, surmounting an animal's leg (No. =300=). This comes from Kertch in the Crimea. In general, the remains of furniture shown in this section are the metal accessories and fittings. These are for the most part of Roman date, but Roman furniture was so largely derived from the Greek, that they may be regarded as illustrating Greek furniture as well.

Some remarkable examples of bolster-ends in bronze, bronze inlaid with silver, and ivory, are shown in Cases 27, 28. They usually terminate above in a head of a mule, or of a duck, and below in a medallion bust.

The seat (No. =301=) is incorrectly put together. It is composed of the parts of one or two couches which should be restored as in fig. 113.