Брадвичка с протомета на животни от музея „Фондация Павлос и Александра Канеллопулос“, Атина. Към въпроса за предназначението на „култовите брадвички“ в Тракия през ранната желязна епоха
Miniature Axe with Animal Protomes from Museum “Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos Foundation”, Athens: On the Purpose of the “Ritual Axes” in Thrace during the Early Iron Age

Summary/Abstract: The following paper discusses an unpublished miniature bronze axe with three animal protomes kept in the museum “Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos Foundation” in Athens (Fig. 1). The artefact is preserved but fragmentary (length 5 cm, height 2,8 cm). On the heel three plastic protomes are modelled: of a bull, a ram, and a goat. Two openings for hanging identify the object as a pendant. Presumably the axe was found north of the Chalcidice peninsula (Fig. 7: 1). Parallels can be found with three examples from Inner Thrace and the Artemision of Ephesus (Figs. 2–4). The chronology of the find, which is without context, is based on a stylistic comparison with more precisely dated specimens (Figs. 5–6). It can be placed between the middle of the 8th and the first half of the 7th century BC. The analysed object and related exemplars, together with anthropomorphic clay plastics, are among the few examples of figurative images in the art of Early Iron Age Thrace, which is dominated by the principles of geometrism and aniconism. The axes in question are notable for their zoomorphic protomes which follow an analogous species sequence – bull, ram and goat (Figs. 1–5). Adherence to this arrangement is defined as “canonical” and the species featured are preferred sacrificial animals. It could be assumed that the artefacts symbolise sacrificial rituals of animals in which the axe plays an important role. The provided archaeological, written and pictorial sources give additional arguments in favour of this idea.

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