Gold tritons
Archaeological museum of Chora
2636 C_1
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Gold tritons
1620 CE – 1550 BCE
Archaeological museum of Chora
Peristeria, tholos tomb 3, Messenia
Length: 4.7 cm
Gold patches in the form of tritons, from tholos tomb 3 at Peristeria the shell of the tritons is naturalistically rendered on a thin gold sheet. A hole was opened on each end, for the attachment to the garment of the deceased. Elements of the marine fauna were adopted by the funerary iconography of the early mycenaean period, which displays clear minoan influences. The decorative motifs depicting marine creatures are used as a kind of magical symbol for the protection of the dead and their smooth integration in the afterlife. The triton is connected with the sea, probably as a liminal point, between life and death, which has to be crossed by the dead before their rebirth.