Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
The surfaces of both sides of this lunate razor bear incised decoration. Near the interior curve on both sides, there are a series of lines, followed by a band of interlocking triangles. On one side only in the main field there is a large hatched swastika flanked on either side by a hatched Maltese cross; it is unclear if the less well-preserved field on the other side originally had similar decorations. The interior curve of the razor is elliptical rather than semicircular; the blade is thickest here, with a relatively high ridge, and the blade thins slightly from the interior toward the edge. There is a decorative knob on the inner curve of the razor close to the handle. The razor is intact aside from extensive chipping along the edge of the blade, particularly near the handle. The thin handle is also intact and is decorated with a crescent shape on either side of the suspension ring. The surface patina is dark green with areas of dark brown.
The razor best compares to V. Bianco Peroni’s type “Bennaci varietà B,” although the incised decorations in the field of the blade are best paralleled by an example of type “Vetralla.” Both types have a similar geographical distribution in central Italy, appearing in Bologna, Etruria, Umbria, and Picenum (1).
It is difficult to understand the use and symbolism of the bronze objects from Iron Age Italy that are classified as razors. Possibly used for trimming hair or beards, these razors seem to have had some symbolic value. They are typically found in male burials, and their inclusion in grave goods may indicate that the deceased was a man of mature age; or, in cases where they are found in female burials, they may be indicative of the owner’s elevated social status (2). Some razors have been found with fibulae fastened through the handle, demonstrating that they could be worn (3). Many examples have repaired handles, showing that the razors were important enough to fix if broken (4).
Razors are typically plain or covered with incised decoration, most frequently lines, bands of interlocking triangles, meanders, lines of dots hatched swastikas, and Maltese crosses. The two-edged examples, like 1987.135.28, more often bear incised concentric circles or have decorative perforations on the blade. Often there are decorative spurs, crescents, or volutes on the handles, depending on the type.
NOTES:
1. For type “Bennaci varietà B,” see V. Bianco Peroni, I rasoi nell’Italia continentale, Prähistorische Bronzefunde 7.2 (Munich, 1979) 139-52, nos. 899-934, and pl. 74; for type “Vetralla,” see ibid., 113-15, esp. no. 664 from Fermo. Bianco Peroni dates type “Bennaci” from the second quarter to the fourth quarter of the eighth century BCE, and she dates type “Vetralla” from the second half of the ninth century to the first half of the eighth century BCE.
2. See ibid., 178-82.
3. Compare ibid., nos. 156, 244, and 1042.
4. D. A. Caccioli, The Villanovan, Etruscan, and Hellenistic collections in the Detroit Institute of Arts (Leiden, 2009) 114; compare Bianco Peroni 1979 (supra 1) nos. 417 and 849.
Lisa M. Anderson
