Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 2.djvu/322

 Animal Rei'kesentation. 269 view the countless clay simulacra from Mycena; in the light of presentations by humble people in lieu of real heifers and bulls. The splendid cow-head of silver with golden horns from the fourth shaft-grave at Mycence is exceedingly valuable (Fig. 391).' Ears, muzzle, and mouth preserve distinct traces of gilding. The form is good, especially the mouth and the thickness of the lips. The poverty of the donors cannot be invoked to account for the substitution which we find here ; and yet the same idea sug- "} Fiu. 39a— Cow-head. Cliiii from clay vase. gested the fashioning of this splendid head.- In their solemn sacrifices the ancients were wont to gild the horns of the victim to enhance its value ; the usage already existed in the time of Horner;^ why should it not lead back to the Mycenian period ? In this hypothesis the silver head, heightened with gold, would represent a choice victim whose blood had flowed before the altar, nay, perhaps an hetacomb expressive of the ' ScHLIe^'IANN, Mycente. '^ Tsoundas, Muk^i. ^ Odyssey.