Seal stone with a depiction of a duel
KOU_004 2
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Seal stone with a depiction of a duel
1599 BCE – 1400 BCE
Koukounara, Gouvalari tholos tomb 1, Messenia
Length: 1.6 cm
Seal stone made of amethyst with a depiction of two warriors dueling with four swords. It was found in a mycenaean tholos tomb at Gouvalari, Koukounara and dates to the 16th-15th cent. BCE. The duelers are naked from the waist up, they bear the scabbards at their waist and perhaps they wear helmets. Physical strength and military prowess were the main attributes of the male aristocracy of the early mycenaean period as a means of political and social authority. One of the most extensive mycenaean tholos tomb cemeteries of the Aegean world has been located at Koukounara village. The finds indicate that this was a very prosperous local ruling site of the early mycenaean period; it was later incorporated in the kingdom of Pylos, whose administrative centre was at the palace of Nestor at Ano Englianos.