Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This large, intact spectacle fibula retains its original springiness, as with many spectacle fibulae. The tip of the pin projects 2.52 cm beyond the catchplate. The wire is square in section and varies in thickness from 0.53 cm in the middle of the fibula to 0.28 cm at the tip of the pin and the catchplate. The spiral from which the pin begins has eight turns, while the opposite spiral, from which the catchplate emerges, has nine. The wire emerges from both spirals in the center to form two identical circular loops diagonally oriented in the middle of the fibula. Since using pairs of such large spectacle fibulae on costumes might present problems for human wearers, it seems possible that such fibulae were dedicated as votive gifts in northern Greek Iron Age sanctuaries, perhaps attached to costumes presented to the deity or even placed over a deity’s images.
These fibulae (1952.15, 1952.112, and 1986.516) represent the miniature and monumental ends of the scale of this type of symmetrical fibula, which was commonly termed a “spectacle fibula.” Each was fashioned from a single thin bronze wire, square in section, which was annealed and turned in order to create the symmetrical spiral patterns and the springy elasticity needed to close them. One sharpened end of this wire, forming the pin proper, fits into the other end, which turns up to form a catchplate. Spectacle fibulae were widely distributed throughout the Balkans and northern Greece during the eighth century BCE (1). Excavations of rich burials in the Iron Age tumuli of Vergina and elsewhere have shown that these fibulae occur in pairs, placed over the shoulders of skeletons (2). They also served as dedications in sanctuaries throughout northern and central Greece and the Peloponnesus (3). Thus, they seem to have served to connect the front and back halves of garments at the shoulders of the wearers. It would be interesting to discover whether the presence of pairs of spectacle fibulae in graves is an indicator of female burials, or if both sexes wore two. They also served as dedications.
NOTES:
1. J. Alexander, “The Spectacle Fibulae of Southern Europe,” American Journal of Archaeology 69 (1965): 7-23; K. Kilian, Fibeln in Thessalien von der mykenischen bis zur archaischen Zeit, Prähistorische Bronzefunde 14.2 (Munich, 1975) 132-48 and 234 (examples found at the sanctuary at Pherae in southern Thessaly), nos. 1567-710 (see esp. nos. 1567, 1574, 1576, 1627-28, and 1710), pls. 56-58; I. Kilian-Dirlmeier, “Bemerkungen zu den Fingerringen mit Spiralenden,” Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums, Mainz 27 (1980): 249-69; and ead., Kleinfunde aus dem Athena Itonia-Heiligtum bei Philia (Thessalien) (Mainz, 2002) 42 n.176, nos. 580-86, pl. 40.
2. M. Andronikos, Βεργίνα 1: Το νεκροταφείον των τύμβων = Vergina 1: To nekrotapheion tōn tymvōn, Vivliothēkē tēs en Athēnais Archaiologikēs Hetaireias 62 (Athens, 1969) 227-30, figs. 67-68 [in Greek].
3. For examples at Olympia, see H. Philipp, Bronzeschmuck aus Olympia, Olympische Forschungen 13 (Berlin, 1981) 295-301, esp. 299 nn.503-504, no. 1070, pl. 65.
David G. Mitten
