Nos. 264, 265. Golden Ornaments. Sepulchre III. Actual size.
GOLDEN BROOCHES WITH STAGS.
I further found on the three bodies of the third sepulchre twelve ornaments of gold, each representing two stags lying down, with long three-branched horns, leaning with the necks against each other and turning the head in opposite directions, but so that the horns of both touch each other and seem intended to form a sort of a crown. The two stags repose on the top of a date-palm tree with three fronds, of which the two to the right and left extend below the bodies of the animals, whilst the third stands upright. Two of these ornaments, with double stags, were soldered together, and in the hollow thus formed at the lower end was stuck a thick silver pin, with circular horizontal flutings, which represented the stem of the palm-tree, and which was fastened by a pin. The hole through which this pin was stuck is seen at the bottom of No. 264, and part of the silver pin in No. 265, where we also recognise the horizontal flutings, which seem to have been intended to imitate the rough bark of the palm-tree. Thus we see before us a beautiful brooch, presenting on either side two stags lying on a palm-tree. But, the brooch being rather heavy, the silver pin was perforated, as we see at the lower end of No. 265, to be fastened with a thread or otherwise. Two of these ornaments had besides two perforations. Reckoning two such ornaments as one brooch, there were found in this sepulchre in all six brooches with a pair of stags on either side. There were also found two golden ornaments (see No. 266), representing a similar date-tree with three larger fronds, on which two lion-cubs sit opposite each other and are holding their muzzles together; the tails of the four cubs form spirals, just as the ornaments with the double stags. These two ornaments with the cubs were also stuck together, either by soldering or by pins, through the two perforations which we see in each of them; and in the hollow below was fixed a silver brooch, and thus this ornament, like the former, served as a breast-pin (πόρπη).
No. 266. Golden Ornament. Sepulchre III. Actual size.
Nos. 267, 268. Golden Ornaments. Women with Doves. Sepulchre III. Actual size.
GOLDEN WOMEN WITH PIGEONS.
I further found with the three bodies of the third tomb two golden ornaments, representing two women, each having a pigeon on her head. One of them (No. 268) has also a pigeon attached to each arm. Both women are of the same type and have a long pointed nose, which protrudes in a straight line from the forehead, and large eyes. The heads of both are crowned with a diadem. Each has a hollow in the left cheek, which is alone visible; both touch their breasts with the hands, and this must be a symbol of fertility or abundance. I call attention to the resemblance in the attitude of these women to that of the numerous terra-cotta idols of Aphrodite from Cyprus, as well as to the so-called statue of Niobe on the rock of Sipylos, which also touch their breasts with both hands. The four pigeons are represented with spread wings, as if they were flying. The first woman (No. 267) has four perforations and her bird has two, by which this ornament was sewn on the clothes or drapery. On the other hand, the woman with the three pigeons has evidently been fixed to something else with two small gold pins, the broad heads of which we see, the one between the knees of the woman, the other on her belly.
