Keltiké makhaira

On a La Tène Type Sword from the Sanctuary of Nemea

Abstract

A two-edged iron sword was unearthed in a well in the sanctuary of Zeus in Nemea (Greece) in 1979. Remains of a wooden hilt and an iron sheet scabbard with a gold inlay are preserved on it. The typology and technical characteristics of the sword correspond to those of La Tène swords from Central Europe, mainly with those of the early 3rd century BC. The scabbard is decorated with what resembles a crudely drawn pair of dolphins facing one another. It was very likely superficially inspired by the motif of dragons facing one another common on La Tène swords, albeit with no stylistic (and probably also ideological) link between them. The sword was deposited in the well sometime before the abandonment of the sanctuary in 270 BC and it is therefore very likely that it had already been in use in Greece before the Celtic invasion of 279 BC. Some peculiarities of the weapon and its find context make us believe that the sword was not brought to Greece from Central Europe but created and used in the Mediterranean by the locals, who were apparently already familiar with Celtic swords in the early 3rd century BC. The sword thus bears another testimony to quite close contacts between the La Tène and Mediterrranean worlds in the periods predating the major clashes documented by written sources.