THE ‘SWORD BEARERS’: WOMEN BEARING SWORDS? RETHINKING A GROUP OF FIGURES IN MYCENAEAN PICTORIAL VASE PAINTING

Abstract

This paper focuses on a particular group of human figures attested on a number of Late Helladic (LH) IIIA2–B1 pictorial kraters which show specific attributes: they have long hair, wear an elaborate cloak-like robe and bear a sword on their chest. Furthermore, they appear in clearly peaceful representations like chariot or processional scenes. These accurately rendered ‘Sword Bearers’ have so far been assumed to be of male sex due to the presence of the sword; the interpretation proposed here, that they are women, is based on the presence of distinctive female traits as also found on female representations on pictorial vessels and other media of the same period. Particularly striking is the similarity with the enigmatic ‘Sword Bearer’ from the Cult Centre of Mycenae, who is the sole contemporary model of a female figure with a sword wrapped in a long cloak. Though not postulating that these figures are female warriors, attention will be drawn to the fact that weapons have a strong association to the female imagery as well to the sphere of ritual – a sphere in which women played, as is well known, a predominant role in Aegean culture.