- The Nature and Function of Celtic Art -
thicket' first depicted in ancient Sumer (Figure 20.15). It is less certain that this
heraldic group represents, as has been claimed, a trinity of sacred elements of
Mediterranean origin which includes coral and the products of the vine (Kruta
1986, 1988). Equally, it is hard to interpret the meaning on early La Tene pieces
- but also again on much later coinage - of such foreign beasts as the winged griffin
or the sphinx, not to mention in at least one case a pair of lions. Do these simply
represent the continuing attraction of the strange and new to a society clearly
fascinated by the unusual and other-worldly?
Some motifs seem to be long-lived. Variations on the master of the beasts or the
ram in the thicket resurface throughout La Tene times. The so-called dragon-pair
scabbards of the fourth to second centuries Be certainly do not show dragons but
variations on the bird-headed lyre seen on the Ticino belt-hooks, but without the
central tiny figure (Figures 20.3 (left: 1,2),20.16; d. 20.15) (De Navarro 1972; Petres
1982; Megaw 1971; Megaw and Megaw 1989b, 1991; Szabo and Petres 1992). The
'inter-Celtic' currency of these symbolic scabbards occurs from Romania to the
Thames and even, in one locally adapted but clearly imported example, in Iberia, a
region which had its own particular iron age but partially Celtic culture (Lenerz-de
Wilde 1991: fig. 58:2). Whatever its origin, the dragon-pair sword may perhaps
be regarded as an apotropaic symbol of special significance to people in new lands
Figure 20.17 Swiss Sword Style iron scabbard with chagrinage and bird-headed triskel found
in a surgeon's grave at Obermenzing, Kr. Miinchen, Germany, Grave 7. W. C.4.8 cm. C.200 Be.
(Photo: Prahistorische Staatssammlung, Munich.)