Details

LOT 0228

Heniochi Dagger with Beast Heads

4TH-2ND CENTURY B.C.

11 in. (15 3/8 in.) (170 grams, 28 cm (753 grams total, 39 cm high including stand)).

A short iron dagger with triangular blade, short straight guard surmounted by a bronze pommel characterised by twinned beast heads projecting from each side; accompanied by a custom-made display stand. [No Reserve]

Provenance

Acquired 1971-1972.
From the collection of the vendor's father.
Property of a London, UK, collector.

Literature

See Gamkrelidze, G., Shatberashvili, V., Pirtskhalava, M., Charkviani, M., Weapons and Armor in Georgia (5th century BC – 4th century AD), Batumi, 2018, pls.X no.6, XI, no.11, for similar examples.

Footnotes

The tribe of the Heniochs, according to Artemidorus of Ephesus, existed during the 5th-1st century B.C., on the Black Sea littoral that is part of present-day Abkhazia. Aristotle describes the Heniochi as a group of people "ready enough to kill and eat men." The dagger shows similarities with the pommel of a sword from Akhul Abaa grave 4 with twinned beast heads. These weapons of subtype I, according to the classification of Gamkrelidze-Shatberashvili-Pirtskhalava-Charkviani, were popular not only in Abkhazia, but throughout the territory of west Georgia during the 4th-1st century B.C.