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Minoan Bronze Shield
Bronze shield, Crete, Geometric period, 8th-7th century BCE.
Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Crete.
The bronze tympanon/shield found in the Idaean Cave is a votive offering from around the 8th century BCE. It is decorated with a bas-relief image of a male god climbing on or jumping over a bull, a spectacle of physical prowess seen in the Minoan wall-painting. The god holds a lion above his head and has two winged daimons on both sides who shake their tympana, perhaps in his praise. Sculpted images of the royal lion hunt and griffin-like deities have gigantic parallels in Assyrian art. The composition, decoration, and iconographic symbolization of Zeus and the kouretes in this carving, on the other hand, reflect the local Greek culture that succeeded, and profoundly absorbed, the Minoan civilization in Crete. Artistic and religious artefacts found in the Idaean Cave, including oil lamps, drinking vessels, altars, and votive gifts of gold, bronze, faïence, and ivory, link this Cretan location to a range of Mediterranean and Near Eastern influences coming from the Egyptians, Syrians, Palestinians, and Phoenicians, among others.
Questions & Answers
What are the oldest weapons in the world?
- The oldest weapons in the world are spears, specifically the spears found in Schöningen, Germany in 1995 dated to c. 400,000 BCE
What were weapons originally made of?
- Weapons were originally made of wood and stone.
What is the oldest gun in the world?
- The oldest firearm found to date is the Heilongjiang Hand Cannon from China, dated to c. 1288.
What are the oldest swords in the world?
- The oldest swords in the world were discovered only in the 1980s at Arslantepe Mound in Turkey and date to c. 3300 BCE.
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Based on Wikipedia content that has been reviewed, edited, and republished.
Original image by Archaeological Museum of Heraklion. Uploaded by Nathalie Choubineh, published on 26 February 2021. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Public Domain. This item is in the public domain, and can be used, copied, and modified without any restrictions. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.
