Find spot: Sparta, Greece
Date: ca. 1500-1450 BCE
Clothing depicted: loin cloth, shoes(?)
Museum link:
a pair of golden cups decorated with scenes in relief, showing two different methods of capturing bulls, perhaps for the bull-leaping activities practised by the Minoan civilization of Crete, or for sacrifice. On one, with three scenes, a cow is used to lure a bull; they mate, and a rear leg is then roped; this is sometimes called the “Peaceful Cup” or the “Quiet Cup”. In the other, the “Violent Cup”, bulls are stampeded into nets, although one seems to escape, shoving catchers aside. The so-called “Violent Cup”, showing netting of bulls, bears a remarkable resemblance to the description of the beginning of the ritual of consecration for the laws of Atlantis described in Plato’s dialogue Critias, where bulls are captured for sacrifice, using no iron tools or weapons.
“Peaceful Cup” is thought to come from Crete.
“Violent Cup” is thought to be Mycenaean.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaphio
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