Two West Phoenician bronze horse bits in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York): On the function and iconography of the so-called Bronze Carriazo
<p>The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York, exhibits two bronze plaques which reproduce the iconography of the famous Spanish item known as ‘Bronce Carriazo’. They are considered as lateral cheeks of a horse bridle bit cast by a West Phoenician workshop around the 7th century bc. They pres...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca
2020-08-01
|
| Series: | Zephyrus |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://revistas.usal.es/index.php/0514-7336/article/view/23768 |
| Summary: | <p>The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York, exhibits two bronze plaques which reproduce the iconography of the famous Spanish item known as ‘Bronce Carriazo’. They are considered as lateral cheeks of a horse bridle bit cast by a West Phoenician workshop around the 7th century bc. They present some iconographic and, above all, technical differences with the Sevillian piece. These horse harness pieces represent the goddess <em>qudšu ’aštart</em>, a winged warrior divinity linked to the Phoenician royalty. The two heads of birds at the upper edges seem to configure the bow and the stern of a solar boat (the sun itself is symbolized in a central rosette). It would be the solar ship that sails through a water sky, depicting the trip to the otherworld in the extreme West. These Hispanic-Phoenician bronzes are inspired by the oriental repertoires and they reflect the assumption of a mythical and religious ideology, strongly rooted in Orient, by the western Iberian aristocracies throughout the Early Iron Age. </p> |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 0514-7336 2386-3943 |