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A half circle with rings at the top.

A half circle shape with a border of concentric lines. At the top of the shape, from 3 holes punched into the border at the two corners and middle, three rings are attached. There is some damage to the bottom right edge, and between the middle and left ring there is a small diagonal slash or hole in the material, as if stabbed with something flat. The surface is mottled dark grey and green.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1991.46
Title
Mitra
Classification
Armor
Work Type
armor
Date
second half 7th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Crete
Period
Orientalizing period
Culture
Greek
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/303775

Location

Location
Level 3, Room 3620, University Study Gallery
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Cast and hammered
Dimensions
mitra: 17.3 x 23.8 x 5 x 0.1 cm (6 13/16 x 9 3/8 x 1 15/16 x 1/16 in.)
rings: 2.1 cm (13/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: XRF data from Tracer
Alloy: Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin
Other Elements: lead, iron, silver, antimony, arsenic
K. Eremin, January 2014

Technical Observations: The patina is mottled light green, with olive brown and dark gray spots in the more preserved areas of the surface and reddish yellow in the corrosion pits.

The mitra was made from a sheet of bronze that was formed by hammering. An x-radiograph of the object shows a broad, mottled pattern of hammer marks that runs parallel to the top edge. X-radiography shows that the metal is of relatively even thickness overall but is much thinner at the lines that correspond to the decorative ribs. The ribs appear to have been created by pressing or drawing a smooth-pointed tool along the back surface of the mitra. Numerous finer lines are visible in several of the grooves on the reverse of the ribs, evidence that these were created through repeated pressure with the tool. There is no evidence of hammering or punch marks that can be connected with this tooling. Discontinuities and areas where the tool slipped are very clear in the x-radiographs. The ribs are enhanced on the front surface with finer incised lines.

The rounded top edge of the mitra was formed by bending it outward, probably over a wire, and the edges of the rounded section were rolled inward over a finer wire, much like the other mitrai in Harvard’s collection (1). The wire is probably made of rolled copper alloy sheet. In this case, the wire is not visible in the x-radiographs, but the dark brown terminus of a wire, perhaps made of iron, emerges from the worn or broken end of the lower, curving edge.

The holes along the top of the mitra were cut through the decorative lines after they were formed. The rings in these holes were too dense to be penetrated by the x-rays, but they are probably hollow and formed from rolled metal wire. There is no weld at the join where the ends meet.

Most of the metal surface on the front of the mitra was originally highly polished, although restoration may account for some additional smoothing. Closer examination under the microscope shows a fine dendritic structure in many areas, which is evidence that the sheet was cast. The back surface is almost entirely obscured by corrosion and burial accretions. The green corrosion material comes off in powdering flakes, revealing a smooth black metal surface.

NOTES:

1. For additional mitrai that are thought to be related to Harvard’s group, see H. D. Hoffmann and A. E. Raubitschek, Early Cretan Armorers (Mainz, 1972) esp. 10, 20, and 54-56.


Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2000)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
From Afrati. Ex Norbert Schimmel Collection.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of the Schimmel Foundation, Inc.
Accession Year
1991
Object Number
1991.46
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This semicircular mitra is intact except for the loss of a small fragment of its lower border. It has a raised, rolled border around a molded section, which consists of plain sections framed by raised lines of varying thickness. This example is not inscribed. Three wire rings pierce the midpoint and corners of the upper border; this is the only example in the Harvard collection with three rings. A short, diagonal cut in the upper border, pierced from the exterior to the interior, may have been made by a weapon.

Harvard’s Cretan armor is part of a larger cache, portions of which are now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg; and the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. Many of the other pieces in the group are highly decorated with incised and repousse images. The objects do not appear to have been part of a dedication to a deity, given the inscriptions found on the pieces. Fourteen pieces of armor from the cache bear dedicatory inscriptions, naming several different warriors, and these seem to indicate that the group of armor was captured in battle and dedicated together as a group (1). It has also been suggested, however, that they perhaps were used for a war dance rather than for combat (2).

The term “mitra” is known from Homeric literature as a piece of armor worn near the waist; the same word was later used to refer to a type of headwear. No contemporary depictions of warriors show how these semicircular objects were worn (3). Semicircular pieces of bronze, like this piece, are often found in caches of armor, indicating that they were part of a warrior’s panoply, but they may not in fact be ancient mitrai.

NOTES:

1. See H. Hoffmann and A. E. Raubitschek, Early Cretan Armorers (Mainz, 1972) 15-16.

2. For a discussion of this armor cache being used for a war dance, see E. Simon, “Die Waffen von Arkades: Ausrüstung für die Pyrrhiche,” Anodos: Studies of the Ancient World 4-5 (2004-2005): 231-42, esp. 239-41; and M. Lesky, “4.b. Dance, G: Waffentänze in der griechischen und etruskischen Antike,” Thesaurus Cultus Et Rituum Antiquorum 2: 314-17.

3. For a possible reconstruction of how these semicircular bronze objects could have been worn as part of a warrior’s panoply, see Kriegswesen 1: Schutzwaffen und Wehrbauten, eds. H. G. Buchholz and J. Wiesner, Archaeologia Homerica: Die Denkmäler und das frühgriechische Epos 1.E.1 (Göttingen, 1977) E135-54, esp. E139, fig. 23.


Lisa M. Anderson

Publication History

  • Herbert D. Hoffmann and A.E. Raubitschek, Early Cretan Armorers, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1972), p. 13, no. M 14, pl. 40.3.
  • Susanne Ebbinghaus, "Men of Bronze--Cups of Bronze: Bronze in the Iron Age", Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes, ed. Susanne Ebbinghaus, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2014), 146-69, pp. 152-53, fig. 7.4.
  • Susanne Ebbinghaus, ed., Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes, Harvard Art Museum and Yale University Press (Cambridge, MA, 2014), pp. 152-153, fig. 7.4

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/04/2021 - 01/02/2022; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/31/2024 - 01/05/2025

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Related Works

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu