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‘Numerous Years of Joyful Life’ from Mycenae

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2013

Sp. Marinatos
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Extract

We must bear in mind two fundamental facts, which are basic to the theme of this paper: first, that Egypt more than any other land has influenced the Minoan-Mycenaean civilisation, and second, that the free adaptation and fusion of Egyptian motives is a typical phenomenon of Aegean art and mentality.

Something has already been written about Egyptian influence in the art of the Shaft Graves of Mycenae. I hope to show, in a forthcoming paper, that this connection is even greater, extending its influence not only in art (in just that point the influence is not great), but also and especially in material matters and in deep religious and funerary ideas. Here we will discuss a very well known and ‘curious’ object of early Mycenaean art, the gold and silver pin from the Third Shaft Grave (Fig. 1).

Type
Research Article
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 46 , November 1951 , pp. 102 - 116
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1951

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References

1 Prof. A. Persson has dedicated a special chapter (‘Mycenae and Egypt’) to this subject in his book New Tombs at Dendra, 1942, 176 f. Criticisms by Kantor, Helene, The Aegean and the Orient in the Second Millenium, 1947, 33 f.Google Scholar

2 Die Schachtgräber von Mykenae, 1930–33, 54–55, no. 75, pl. XXX. Thence our FIG. 1.

3 Val. Müller, , AM XLIII (1918), 153 f.Google Scholar The Aegina treasure, Marshall, BMC Jewellery, pl. VII 762 and p. 54. Most recent discussion by Prof.Nilsson, Martin, Minoan-Mycenaean Religion (and. ed. 1950), 367 and fig. 177.Google Scholar

4 J. Pendlebury, Aegyptiaca. I am glad to see that such an eminent authority as Prof. M. Nilsson propounds the same ideas, loc. cit. 8–9.

5 I must apologise for the almost complete lack of Egyptian books of reference in Athens. I can cite only a few books: Erman-Ranke, , Ägypten und ägyptisches Leben (1923), 396 and 424Google Scholar; Erman, , Die Hieroglyphen (1917), 15.Google Scholar The sign ‘millions of years’, e.g. double on the chair of Tutankhamen, Schäfer, H., Amarna in Religion und Kunst (1931) pl. 63Google Scholar (according to Carter-Mace, The Tomb of Tutankh-amen pl. 60); Egyptian Museum of Cairo, A Brief Description of the Principal Monuments (1946), Tomb of Tutankhamen, no. 378 (mirror case in the form of this symbol). Single, op. cit., nos. 6–9; Erman-Ranke op. cit., 396, fig. 371, thence our FIG. 4a below.

6 The figure and the chief elements of the description are from M. Rostovtzeff, A History of the Ancient Worlds, The Orient and Greece, 54 and pl. XIII 1.

6a Lotus and papyrus are interchangeable even in Egyptian art; sometimes the lotus-complex appears in hybridised forms of lily-shaped flowers. See, for instance, F. Poulsen, Der Orient und die frühgriechische Kunst 66, fig. 67.

7 The popular wish on anniversaries is χρόνια πολλά and in some districts the more archaic expression πολλἀ τἀ ἔτη These wishes are of Byzantine origin; see the recent work of Prof.Kukules, Ph., ΒυƷαντινῶν Βίος καὶ Πολιτισμός (Athens, 1949) III 315–16.Google Scholar In the Old Testament it is a rule to address kings with expressions like εἴς τὀν αίῶνα зἤθι. Δαρεῖε βασιλεῦ εἰς τούς αἰῶνας зῆθι etc. Cf. for instance Daniel v, 10, vi, 6 etc.

8 PM II 480 f., and figs. 287–297.

9 PM I 201, fig. 150b and e.

10 From PM I 705, fig. 528a–b and 700, fig. 524, this last is there drawn upside down; II 484, fig. 290g and IV 319 fig. 259.

11 PM II ii, coloured frontispiece and 786 f.

12 See the Priest-King relief he. cit., note 11, and gold petals from the Third Shaft Grave, Karo, Die Schachtgräber, pls. XXVII–XXVIII.

13 Cf. the naturalistic octopods, Karo, op. cit., pl. XXVII 30–31.

14 Op. cit. pls. CXXI and XXXIX.

15 Cf. for instance Karo, Die Schachtgräber, pl. 26, no. 46.

16 From Erman-Ranke, op. cit., note 5 above, 396 fig. 171. The god Thut holds the sign in honour of Rameses II; b and c in FIG. 4 are from Schaefer, Von ägyptischer Kunst, pl. 20.

17 Owing to present conditions it is impossible for the time being to examine the original, which is not yet on view in the National Museum of Athens.

18 (a) Erman, Hieroglyphen 32; (b) Erman-Ranke op. cit., 35, fig. 5, and Schäfer, Von ägypt. Kunst pl. 20; (c) PM II 776, fig. 504b (from the crown of the Priest-King); (d) 779, fig. 507 (from a bronze vase of the Palace Hoard).

19 PM I 603, fig. 443.

20 I found these frescoes (still unpublished) in a M.M. III–L.M. I villa at Amnissos, the harbour-town of Knossos. Our figure is a design from the photographs published by Evans, PM IV ii, suppl. pls. LXVIIa–LXVIIb.

21 Erman, Hieroglyphen 32 (‘Gewässer’, ‘Kanal’). Schäfer, Von ägypt. Kunst 154 remarks that the water is represented by black zig-zag lines on blue ground in Egyptian art. In Amnissos the lines are red, but the ground blue.

22 See Karo, Die Schachtgräber, pl. CXIII.

23 PM II ii, coloured frontispiece and 775, fig. 504 f.

24 PM IV 991, fig. 884.

25 Karo, Die Schachtgräber, pl. XXI 23, XXVII 79, XLIV 378 etc.

26 PM II ii, 779, fig. 507; BCH LIII (1929), 378 f.

27 PM II 480.

27a Cf. Karo, Die Schachtgräber, 258–9 for analogous observations.

28 In the chronological background of our pin, soon after 1600 B.C., the wish for union was an ardent one in Egypt, just after the expelling of the Hyksos. For the whole symbolical meaning in our pin and for the fact that even in elaborate Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions a whole allegory is sometimes hidden, which goes far beyond the signs employed, see the interesting remarks of Schäfer, Von ägypt. Kunst 266: ‘Symbolik … nicht … mit Worten wiedergegeben zu werden, sondern liegt für einen besinnlichten Leser wie hübsches Rankenwerk zwischen den Zeilen’. I must further add that, in a forthcoming paper, I hope to show further connections between the Shaft Grave dynasty and Egypt. The abundance of gold in Mycenae can be explained only by these connections, as well as a number of Egyptian beliefs. The kings buried in Mycenae fought on the Egyptian side against the Hyksos. As they became rich and glorious, they married Minoan princesses. Hence the presence of the strong Minoan element in the Shaft Graves.

29 I have pointed out this possibility already in 1928 in a note to my paper AE 1927–8, 37–41; cf. 30, note 1.

30 Minoan-Mycenaean Religion, 2nd ed., 360–68.

31 PM IV 171 and note 2. More generally they may be called horned sheep; they are frequently represented on Minoan-Mycenaean works.

32 One is mentioned by Nilsson op. cit., 364, fig. 176. I have added three others, AE 1927–8, 30, note 1 (inset). Cf. PM IV 174, fig. 136.

33 See the Knossos gem in PM IV 170, fig. 133a.

34 See his Royal Tombs at Dendra 56. It is interesting, however, that some lines similar to plait-work appear on stems of the Egyptian ‘Waz’-symbol; PM II 480, fig. 287c.

35 Nilsson, op. cit., 363, fig. 174. Cf. PM IV 169, fig. 132.

86 Some people believe that this curious treasure belongs to post-Mycenaean times, so F. Poulsen, Der Orient und diefrühgrich. Kunst 60. I am unable to decide, but the Mycenaean spirit seems still existent in this work.

37 H. Schäfer, Von ägyptischer Kunst 28 and 281, note 12, where further references on the subject will be found.

38 The literary tradition may prove helpful in such an investigation. Thus the double sign and the two rams on the Midea ring may be connected with the peculiar tradition of that town. The two kings, Atreus and Thyestes, inhabited Midea originally (Apollodorus II 4, 6). The story of a golden lamb is connected with them (see Cook, , Zeus I 407Google Scholar), and even in the time of Pausanias a ram or rams stood on the alleged tomb of Thyestes (Paus. II 18. Cf. the commentary of Sir J. Frazer in his Pausanias and in his Apollodorus, II p. 164 (Loeb).)