366-2 Bronze, Group ii

poor and limited in number (see p. 79), the chances are fairly probable that they had never

283-1 (P1. 80) 366-3 369-1 407-4

322-2 (P1. 81) 366-4 370-2 407-5

322-3 (Fig. 9, P1. 81) 366-5 403-1 (P1. 81) 415-2 (Fig. 9) 349-1 (Fig. 9) 367-1 405-1 (Fig. 9) 415-3 (Fig. 9)

357-1 367-2 407-3 (Fig. 9) 493-1

366-2 Bronze, Group ii

342-2 (Fig. 9) 359-1 (Fig. 9) 367-3 424-1 351-2 (Fig. 9)

Bronze, Group iii

344-2 (Fig. 9) 409-2 415-5 423-2

366-6 409-3 415-6 (Fig. 9, P1. 81) 424-2

386-2 409-4 415-7 (P1. 81) 428-3

386-3 411-2 (Fig. 9) 415-8 (Fig. 9) 428-4 397-1 (Fig. 9) 411-3 415-9 (Fig. 9, P1. 81) 438-1

397-2 412-1 415-10 443-1

401-2 412-2 415-11 X-90

407-6 (P1.81) 415-4 423-1

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Iron

262-4 442-2 458-1 494-1

277-1 44 446-1 459-1 495-2

367-4 447-1 460-2 D 54-a

404-1 453-2 481-1 X-91

410-1 453-3 492-1 X-92

442-1

Of the 79 strigils found in the North Cemetery, 58 are bronze, and 21 are iron.7 The latter are so very badly corroded that little can be derived from a study of them. The bronze strigils (Fig. 9), however, present a number of shapes which may be classified into several groups.

Strigils with Cylindrical Handles. The two earliest examples (262-4 and 277-1), both from grave groups datable to the decade 490-480 B.C., are iron, and both have cylindrical handles.

From grave 322, about fifteen years later, is a similar strigil, but of bronze (322-2): it is made in one piece, the upper part of the strip apparently rolled to form the handle; at the top is a flat disk surmounted by a small pierced knob.

Bronze Strigils with Flat Handles. Group i (Fig. 9). The second strigil from grave 322 ^(3),8 also bronze, differs greatly from the one just described. The blade is narrow, only a little wider than the handle, which has parallel sides; it narrows slightly but abruptly at the back, and terminates in a leaf-shaped tip. Most significant is the manner in which the handle is joined to the blade: a vertical member, curved at the bottom and straight at the top, forms the transi- tion between the curved blade and the straight lower edge of the handle. The whole is cut from a narrow thin strip of sheet bronze.

The vertical join is the distinguishing characteristic of the strigils of group i. Nos. 283-1 and 322-3 are typical of the earliest. The later variations appear chiefly in the handle. The front part is cut with increasingly curved sides, and becomes considerably longer. Where it is flared at the top, it is joined to the narrower back section of the handle in several ways: most common is a gradual curved transition; occasionally the front and back parts meet in sharp points at the sides of the apex of the handle; a third method is to attach the narrow back piece directly to the front with no transition except a slight rounding of the corners, a design of early origin. In the later examples, where the blade is wider and the handle narrower, the upper corners of the blade become very pronounced. All these variations seem to have been used throughout the second half of the fifth century.

The leaf shape was the most common form of handle termination, both for this and other types. At first it was a full, well-proportioned piece, with the point of maximum width rather high (e.g., 322-3). Later it underwent many changes, becoming elongated (as 415-2), or very stout and heart-shaped (as 366-5), or shrunken to a small triangle (415-5). Of the quite different forms, several are illustrated in Figure 9; there is also one shaped like a spade (407-3, Fig. 9) and one rather like a pruning hook (415-4).

Group i, the first example of which may be dated 480-470 B.C. (283-1), continued in di- minishing numbers down to the end of the century. It not only appears in earlier graves than either of the other two types of strigil, but the shape seems archaic in comparison with those

7 Two others, noted in the excavation records, were completely disintegrated: 351-1 and 412-3. There is some uncertainty concerning the association of the following with their respective grave groups: 262-4, 366-6, 412-2, 442-1, 447-1, and D l4-a.

8 Also in this grave was a small bronze object, probably a strigil cleaner.

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415-2

415-3

1-.--- .. L .\ u [,..al l!

322-3 349-1 405-1 415-2 407-3 342-2 359-1 851-2

GROUP i

GROUP ii

\... . .... ... ...

844-2 415-8 415-9 415-6 397-1 411-2

GROUP iii

5 1o

FIGURE 9. BRONZE STRIGILS

of groups ii and iii. In many of the strigils of group i the tip of the handle is riveted to the blade.

Rivets also appear in group ii, but they are used in group iii only on two examples, both with tips of unusual shape. The presence of rivets and the abruptness and angularity of the join between handle and blade in group i probably reflect an earlier form in which the handle and blade were made separately.9 No such strigil appears in the Cemetery, however. All the bronze strigils were cut from a single strip of sheet metal, and beaten over a form; the iron examples, so far as one can tell, were also made in one piece.

Group ii (Fig. 9). A set of five strigils may be transitional in shape between the first and the third groups. In these five, the outer corners of the blade are angular, as in the preceding type, but the top of the blade itself is curved. The handles are treated as the later examples of group i, with a narrow back piece widening abruptly at the top to join the broad front section. The most distinctive feature of these few strigils is the narrow flange which extends for a few centimeters down the sides of the blade from the upper corners, and then breaks off abruptly;

there is also a noticeable ridge where the curve of the blade meets the flat of the handle. The form must have originated in the use of two separate pieces for handle and blade, the latter being inserted between the side flanges wThich were cut in one piece with the handle. In two examples (351-2 and 359-1) the leaf-shaped tip of the handle was riveted to the blade.

Group iii (Fig. 9). In this group, the join between the handle and blade is a simple rising curve. The first example appears in grave ^344,about 450 B.C. There is a decided ridge where the blade joins the handle, the handle itself is a straight piece, and the blade is narrow.10 The curved join became prevalent in the full third quarter of the fifth century, its rise coinciding with that of the local white-ground lekythoi, group iii (pp. 142-143). The outlining ridge disappears, and the trend toward a long slender handle with incurved edges progresses in this as in group i.

The treatment of the top and end of the handle has variations similar to those found in strigils of the first group. Most of the unusual forms, such as the very narrow handle and the tiny triangular tips, occur in the collection from grave ⁴¹⁵(see catalogue). Only two examples of group iii (397-1 and 415-7) show the rivet holes for attaching the tip of the handle to the blade.

Iron Strigils. Apart from the early examples with cylindrical handles mentioned above, the most that can be determined from the incrusted fragments of the iron strigils is that they belong to group iii (excepting ^453-2 and X-91, both group i). A few have about the same proportions as the bronze examples, but most have a narrow blade tapering very gradually into the handle. A leaf-shaped tip of the handle is usual, though both examples from grave 453 have variant forms. The reason for the long gap between the two iron strigils with cylindri- cal handles of the early fifth century and the remainder of the series is not known, but an im- provement in the process of working iron may have occurred about the turn of the century.

Dating. The relatively early date of group i may be corroborated by evidence from other sites. The two fine examples from Aigina, differing from ours only in the elaborate handle tips, were found with a diskos dated 465-455 B.C."1 In Ithaka a grave was found containing two strigils of this type and an Attic kylix comparable to those in the Cemetery graves ³⁰⁶ and _308, about 470 B.C.12 Finally, the large series of strigils from the graves in Olynthos

9 An example in Boston, MFA 01.7478, found at Cumae, has an elaborately decorated handle attached by three long prongs to a simple blade; each part is of bronze, but of a different color and apparently of a different composition. A strigil from Cyprus has a handle of iron and a blade of bronze (B.C.H., LXXXIV, 1960, p. 268, fig. 41); typologically it belongs with the early examples of group iii.

10 This is the only strigil from the Cemetery which has engraved decoration other than the simple lines found on 359-1 and 41&-2.

11 P. Jacobsthal, Berliner Winckelmannsprogramm 93.

12 W. Doerpfeld, Alt-Ithaka, Munich, 1927, Beilage 77, grave P-2.

OTHER METAL OBJECTS AND TERRACOTTA FIGURINES 95

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