Animals, Fantastic Creatures, and Humans in Martial Contexts

The Iconographic Evidence of the Bronze Age Aegean

Bibliographic Data

ID22432016
AuthorsFritz Blakolmer (0000-0002-3215-7534, University of Vienna, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume14
Issue2
Pages212-235
Publication date2026-07-02
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology & Heritage Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2166-3548 • E-ISSN: 2166-3556
PublisherThe Pennsylvania State University Press (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.5325/jeasmedarcherstu.14.2.0212
OpenAlexW7168283412
LanguageEN
References cited9

Minoan and Mycenaean iconography provides much information on the interrelations between animals and warfare, given the fact that animals were omnipresent in physical, material, and symbolic form in martial contexts. Aegean images of war present animals as “living weapons,” such as horses pulling chariots. Weapons often comprise animal components, such as boar tusks on helmets and bull hides as covers for shields. Animals and fantastic creatures like lions, horses, dolphins, birds, and griffins were depicted as emblems on daggers and swords with a martial connotation. Other examples demonstrate the metaphorical dualism of warriors hunting lions and lions hunting prey. A mural painting from Thera depicts monkeys in a sword fight. Based on these and other iconographic examples, this study provides a closer look at the interplay of animals, fantastic creatures, and humans in the ideology and imagination of the Aegean Bronze Age.

Bronze · Bronze Age · Creatures · Emblem · Iconography · Mythology · Serpent (symbolism) · SWORD · Ancient Near East History · Classical Antiquity Studies · Law, logistics, and international trade

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