•The Mistress of Animals, the Master of Animals: two Complementary or Oppositional Religious...

BUDAPEST 2010

The Master of Animalsin Old World Iconography

Edited by DEREK B. COUNTS and BETTINA ARNOLD

With the generous support of the Center for Etruscan Studies, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

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The Mistress of Animals, the Master of Animals: Two Complementary or Oppositional Religious Concepts in Early Celtic Art?

MARTIN A. GUGGISBERG

Under the infl uence of Mediterranean models, a fi gural imagery developed in Iron Age central Europe between the late sixth and fourth centuries BC that was signifi cantly characterized by a Master of Animals motif. During the Orientalizing period, the ancient Near Eastern symbolic theme of a human fi gure standing between two animals or mythical beasts, which are either clasped peacefully or grasped aggressively by the tail, feet, or head, made its way to Italy and from there moved into central Europe (BÖHM 1990; CHRISTOU 1968; KAHIL 1984:624–629; KRAUSKOPF 1984:776; MARINATOS 2000; TUCK, this volume). By the time this formula was taken up and independently developed by Celtic artists in the Early La Tène period, it had long ceased to be of interest in Etruria.

The transalpine transfer of the iconographic motif is best exemplifi ed by the famous Grächwil hydria, which most scholars agree made its way via various trade points in Picenum into central Switzerland (FREY – FREY 1998; JUCKER 1973; LÜSCHER 2002; LÜSCHER – MÜLLER 2004; SHEFTON 2004). The potnia theron is represented in prototypical form between animal fi gures on the open-work vertical handle of the vessel (Fig. 1), which was produced ca. 600 BC in the Mediterranean area and was deposited about a century later in a Celtic burial as a grave good. The fi gure of the potnia theron is iconographically as well as stylistically so closely related to later Early La Tène representations that one is inclined to assign it a key role in the genesis of Celtic art. Closely corresponding objects include the gold neck ring and bracelet from the Reinheim burial (Fig. 2) (ECHT 1999:especially 42–46; FREY 1992). The terminals of these two pieces of jewelry are decorated with human heads or protomes with bird-shaped headgear that seem to directly echo the Mistress of Animals fi gure from the Grächwil hydria. Two extremely abstract animal heads that project from the sides of the human heads can be formally compared to Greek lion prototypes. A similar relationship to Greek models can be recognized for the feathered wings of the two fi gures decorating the Reinheim bracelet. With their large, almond-shaped eyes, sharply defi ned facial contours, and “Archaic” smile on pursed lips, the anthropomorphic fi gures on the two rings share a close stylistic affi nity with the potnia theron on the Grächwil hydria. The apparent relationship between such pieces has led to the assumption that objects like the Grächwil hydria were already highly prized in the Hallstatt period, not only because of their exotic origins but also because of their fi gural ornamentation, in which their Celtic owners were able to recognize their own spiritual and religious worldview (FREY – FREY 1998:528).

Given this background one would expect that in the fi fth century BC, as this religious concept was establishing itself as an independent code within Celtic iconography, a female deity would dominate the Celtic pantheon (the term “deity” all too easily conjures up associations with the Graeco- Etruscan world; it must be emphasized that little is known about the nature of the Mistress or Master of Animals in Celtic art and religion. There is agreement only that these fi gures represent some type of otherworldly being [on the genesis of the concept of an anthropomorphic divine world among the Celts, see FREY 2004b, 2007]). In fact, the opposite is true. Of course, due to the abstract and stylized nature of the representations, it is not always possible to identify defi nitively the gender of anthropomorphic creations in Celtic art; however, among the identifi able fi gures, those that are clearly male dominate (see ARNOLD, this volume).

A particularly informative representation is the youthful warrior fi gure on the rim of the Glauberg Schnabelkanne (Fig. 3) (KAT. FRANKFURT 2002:242–245, Figs 233–236). He is sitting cross-legged

224 Martin A. Guggisberg

between two powerful sphinxlike creatures with the bodies of predatory animals and human heads. Although he is not touching these fi gures with his hands, we can identify the warrior as a Mediterranean-style Master of Animals based on the overall composition of the fi gures (for comparison, see the Gorgons on the handles of the krater of Vix, which, in the tradition of the potnia theron motif, are combined with snakes and lions, without touching the animals directly; the similar position of the arms points to an iconographic interdependence between Greek and Celtic representations [ROLLEY 2003:Figs 96–101]). Moreover, the Glauberg warrior is not unique. He is one of a whole series of fi gures, often signifi cantly truncated or alienated, found in the iconographical ambit of the Master of Animals. These fi gures raise the question of the nature of the relationship between male and female manifestations of this motif in Celtic art. Are the images of the Master and Mistress of Animals interchangeable versions of the same ideational complex, or do they represent specifi c differences with respect to their meaning? Before we attempt to answer this question, it is worth noting that this paper does not aim to deconstruct the religious symbolism of the Celtic Master or Mistress of Animals fi gure. Our knowledge of the ideational worldview of the Celts is simply too limited, and the variations among the representations of deities in Celtic art are too great. Rather, the iconological relationship between the two representational forms are

Fig. 1. Elaborate handle of the Grächwil hydria with potnia theron fi gure, ca. 600 BC. H: 26.4 cm., Bern, Bernisches Historisches Museum.

225The Mistress of Animals, the Master of Animals

investigated with reference to the corresponding iconographic traditions in the Celtic contact zones of the southern Alpine foothills and central Italy.

The Master and Mistress of Animals in Celtic Art

It is one of the defi ning characteristics of Celtic art that it did not simply imitate Mediterranean prototypes but rather transformed, stylized, and alienated them (see the recent summary by MÜLLER in KAT. BERN 2009:especially 96–105). Complete human fi gures, as in the case of the Glauberg warrior, are rare. A more common occurrence is the reduction of the human body to the head alone, although other forms of abstraction are also found. As a result, in addition to representations that formally correspond exactly to the Mediterranean potnia or despotes theron motifs, the discussion here includes images that are more freely conceived interpretations of these prototypes (representations of a god of animals have been analyzed especially by FREY 2004c:123, 2007; see also ADAM 2003). These include, in addition to axially symmetrical compositions in which the human component has been reduced to the head (see WELLS, this volume), those in which individual fi gures are represented in direct confrontation with an

Fig. 2. Reinheim neck ring, detail showing fi gural terminal, ca. 380 BC. Diam.: 17.2 cm.,

Saarbrücken, Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte.

Fig. 3. Glauberg Schnabelkanne. Details showing the Master of Animals on the rim of the vessel,

second half of fi fth century BC. H (warrior fi gure): 4.2 cm.


animal. However, iconographic representations of humans being devoured by predators or mythical beasts, which are also quite common in Celtic art, are not considered (for this motif in central Italy, see TUCK, this volume, especially Fig. 9).

A perusal of the defi nitive as well as probable representations of the Mistress and Master of Animals in early Celtic art quickly reveals that the latter are in the clear majority. At least 12 examples can be identifi ed as the male form of the deity based on external features such as a moustache, beard, or dress elements. (Flagons: Glauberg fl agon, KAT. FRANKFURT 2002:242–245, Figs 233–236; Dürrnberg fl agon, MOOSLEITNER 1985; Waldalgesheim fl agon, JOACHIM 1995:28–53, especially 39, Fig. 19. Ring and fi bula ornament: Erstfeld neck ring no. 3, GUGGISBERG 2000:37–43, Figs 33–38; Rodenbach bracelet, JACOBSTHAL 1944:Pl. 47, no. 59; Parsberg fi bula, JACOBSTHAL 1944:Pl. 159 f., no. 316; Kietrz fi bula, GEDL 1991:163, Fig. 6; Berlin-Niederschönhausen fi bula, JACOBSTHAL 1944:Pl. 157, no. 308. Axle nails: Unterradlberg, KAT. FRANKFURT 2002:283, no. 51. Belt hooks: Weiskirchen, KAT. FRANKFURT 2002:176, Fig. 144, 297, Kat. 92.3; Glauberg, Grave 2, KAT. FRANKFURT 2002:260, Fig. 256, Kat. 2.3.1.; Stupava, KAT. FRANKFURT 2000:204, Fig. 188, 283, Kat. 50.) In a few cases gender cannot be determined with certainty, either because the fi gures are extremely abstract, as on the perforated belt hooks, or because they have been reduced to a simple, beardless face. In only two instances – the gold neck ring and the bracelet from the Reinheim grave mentioned above (Fig. 2) – is a Mistress of Animals interpretation likely, based on the close iconographic affi nity of these fi gures with the potnia theron of the Grächwil hydria, even though defi nitive gender markers are lacking here as well.

Three Master of Animals examples are especially noteworthy. On the gold bracelet from the Rodenbach burial (Fig. 4), the human component has been reduced to three mustachioed, masklike heads, each antithetically fl anked by stylized reclining rams. The central head of the trio is larger than the two on either side and is further emphasized by a particularly elaborate head ornament in the form of six club-shaped projections. The second example, neck ring number 3 from the Erstfeld hoard (Fig. 5),

Fig. 4. Rodenbach gold bracelet, close-up view of male head between two rams, second half of fi fth century BC. Diam.: 9.37 cm., Speyer, Historisches Museum der Pfalz.


includes a representation of a helmeted, bearded Master of Animals that is combined with an incomplete horned human fi gure, creating a hybrid being. His hands grasp a bird by the neck and feet, which stabs him in the nose with its beak. Finally, the bronze smith who made the Weiskirchen belt hook (Fig. 6) placed the moustachioed head of this Master of Animals representation between a pair of sphinxes.

In these three examples, each Master of Animals fi gure is combined with different animal companions: ram, bird, and sphinx. The bird and sphinx representations are also found in the south framing the

Fig. 5. Erstfeld neck ring number 3, close-up view of a mythical creature with two human bodies gripping a bird, ca. 380 BC. Diam. 17.5 x 15.2 cm., Zurich, Swiss National Museum.

Fig. 6. Weiskirchen belt hook, Tumulus I, late fi fth to early fourth century BC. W: 7.5 cm., Trier, Rheinisches Landesmuseum.


despotes theron fi gure. There are, however, hardly any comparable parallels from the Mediterranean world for the ram, although Derek Counts (COUNTS, this volume) discusses the signifi cance of the ram in iconography related to the Master of Animals in Iron Age Cyprus. The ram also appears in Early La Tène art in other contexts, suggesting that it had specifi c signifi cance in the Celtic belief system (see ARNOLD, this volume, on the billy-goats depicted on the slightly more recent Fellbach-Schmiden fi gures [KAT. BERN 2009:238–240, no. 28]). By contrast, the lion, which is the preferred companion of the Master of Animals and his female counterpart in the south, is not documented in La Tène art in association with this deity, with the exception of the Glauberg bronze ring, where the predators are depicted, however, in a signifi cantly different way, devouring the central human fi gure (KAT. FRANKFURT 2002:205, Fig. 189, 265, Kat. 4).

Representations of the Master of Animals are found on objects with various functions: on gold neck rings and bracelets as well as fi gural fi bulae, on bronze vessels as well as wagon fi ttings. Expressions of this motif on belt hooks in weapon burials represent a special group. A good example is the well-known belt hook from Hölzelsau in the Tirol (Fig. 7, see also Fig. 1 in ARNOLD, this volume) (KAT. FRANKFURT

2002:282, Kat. 46, Fig. 300). The abstract stick fi gures found in this group of open-work belt hooks make it impossible to identify sex or gender with any certainty. However, because obvious female features are absent and because in the case of those belt hooks with more detailed mask faces (e.g., the belt hook from Weiskirchen, Fig. 6) male representations can be identifi ed, it seems reasonable to assume that even the stick-fi gure belt hooks depict the Master of Animals.

The distribution of these representations indicates that the symbolic concepts associated with the Master of Animals were widespread in the early Keltiké. The Champagne remains the only area without such representations, which may be because this

Fig. 7. Hölzelsau belt hook with a standing Master of Animals fi gure between two lyre-shaped animals,

late fi fth to early fourth century BC. H: 16 cm., Munich, Prähistorische

Staatssammlung.

Fig. 8. Bronze fi gure from Führholz, Kärnten, reconstruction showing a Master of Animals fi gure,

fi fth century BC. H: approx. 3 cm.


region was generally reluctant to adopt Early La Tène fi gural and especially anthropomorphic stylistic conventions. A concentration of the iconographic theme is represented by a total of 10 examples of open-work belt hooks depicting complete human fi gures in the circum-Alpine area (GUGGISBERG 2000:150 f.; GUGGISBERG – STÖLLNER 1996), a circumstance that is given additional emphasis by the Master of Animals representation on neck ring number 3 in the Erstfeld hoard (Fig. 5), again from the Alpine region. The small bronze fi gurine of a “runner” from Führholz in Kärnten, which combines infl uences from situla art with those of the Keltiké, takes on added importance in the context of the plastic decoration on the Glauberg fl agon and its interpretation as a Master of Animals representation (Fig. 8) (GUGGISBERG – STÖLLNER 1996; WEDENIG 1990; TERŽAN [1998:531] disagrees but does not offer a convincing alternative).

The preference for representing the Master of Animals as a whole human fi gure on these belt hooks may be due to the proximity of the circum-Alpine area to the artistic traditions of northern Italy. Furthermore, the concept of a god of the animals was equally fi rmly embedded in the symbolic vocabulary of the southern Alpine valleys and along the southern Alpine foothills; what we may be seeing here is a common ideological and cultural tradition.

The Mistress and the Master of Animals in the Alpine Region and Upper Italy

As a point of departure let us once again consider the belt hook from Hölzelsau (see Fig. 7), which combines in its decoration features with variable provenience. As far as the general scheme is concerned, this piece represents a continuation of earlier Celtic iconography, with a Master of Animals between two lyre-shaped creatures. The water birds that complete the composition on either side of the human fi gure are reminiscent of the older Hallstatt-period symbolic world, which is also true of the stick-fi gure stylization of the Master of Animals fi gure. Also signifi cant are the horse heads on the lyre-shaped animals, whose muzzles the human fi gure touches with both hands. This composition is very similar to the Mistress or Master of Horses motif, which is known in the southeast Alpine region on a whole range of votive sheet bronzes and has its origins in an ancient Near Eastern and Graeco-Etruscan iconographic tradition (EGG 1986; for the Master of Horses in Geometric Greece, especially the Argolid Plain, see LANGDON 1989; and this volume). The date range of the southeast Alpine votive sheet bronzes cannot be defi nitively determined because they are not found in closed archaeological contexts, but scholars generally agree that they span the period between the fi fth and fi rst centuries BC. The question of the gender identifi cation of these sheet bronze pieces, in principle, must also remain open, even though the clothing, if that is what is being depicted, seems to indicate female costume.

It is well known that the Master of Horses motif was popular in the Picenum region during the seventh and sixth centuries BC, in particular in the form of handle decorations on bronze hydriai imported from Greece and produced locally (JUCKER 1966, 1973; see also the ivory pyxis from Pitino di S. Severino Marche [end of the seventh/beginning of the sixth century BC]: KAT. FRANKFURT 1999:230, no. 344; ROCCO 1999:72, no. 177). The same region has yielded a group of presumably locally produced Schnabelkannen dated to ca. 500 BC distinguished by handles in the form of a naked youth whose arms touch the rims of these fl agons, typically rendered in the form of lion or panther fi gures, in a gesture of adoration. Is this fi gure also intended to represent a Master of Animals? If so, then it is perhaps no coincidence that fl agons of this type are also found in central Europe, at Bad Dürkheim and Hosty in Bohemia. A comparable example is the recycled handle, probably originally from an Etruscan vessel, of the Schwarzenbach fl agon in which the youth holds the tails of two lions in his hands. Otto-Hermann Frey noted the unusual characteristics of this group of vessels some years ago and pointed out their association with the close cultural links between Picenum and the northern Alpine region (FREY 2004a).


In addition to the groups already discussed, two more categories of representations are worthy of note. Abbreviated images of a god of animals are found as handle attachments on the so-called Tessin fl agons, although the gender of these fi gures is indeterminate (DE MARINIS 2000:390–396, Figs 28–32). This theme is also found on several pieces of situla art, including the well-known mirror from Grave 104 in the Arnoaldi necropolis at Bologna (Fig. 9) (MACELLARI 2002:220 f., no. 11, Pl. 19.143; SASSATELLI 1981:no. 1) and the Situla Boldù-Dolphin II at Este (FREY 1969:44, 107 f., no. 34, Pls. 76–78, Suppl. 2). In both of these cases the Master of Animals is shown as a warrior with helmet and a breastplate or a plaid tunic. Both these representations are signifi cant for understanding the reception of this iconographic theme on the periphery of the Graeco- Etruscan world. For the cultural transmitters of the situla art, however, the Master/ Mistress of Animals theme seems to have had only minor signifi cance, as is indicated by its relatively rare occurrence in the rich iconographic repertoire of the bronzes found in the Veneto and the southern Alpine valleys.

Especially noteworthy is the stylistic expression of the mythical beasts on either side of the fi gure blowing a horn on the Arnoaldi mirror. There are no parallels for their S-shaped, curved bodies in situla art. Is it possible that the bronze worker in this case was infl uenced by the lyre-like creatures of Celtic art, such as they are depicted on the belt hook from Hölzelsau, for instance (see Fig. 7)? In more recent publications the mirror is dated based on stylistic criteria to ca. 500 BC or the fi rst half of the fi fth century BC, that is, somewhat earlier than comparable Early La Tène pieces, which would seem to counter the postulated notion of a conceptual dependence on such pieces. However, the burial, which included the mirror, probably also contained an Attic Red-Figure krater of ca. 425 BC and therefore cannot be earlier than the last quarter of the fi fth century BC (MACELLARI 2002:218–222). In addition, stylistic criteria in situla art in general represent a rather uncertain basis for dating, which means that the timing of the creation of the mirror can only be very roughly estimated; a date toward the end of the fi fth century is therefore by no means out of the question. Frey (FREY 1969:24, 44) has dated the Situla Boldù-Dolphin II at Este to the same period, between the late fi fth and early fourth centuries.

The iconographic theme of a god of animals is so well represented in the material record of the southern Alpine region and the Picenum that the notion of a mutual exchange of this imagery and its associated concepts more or less suggests itself. However, due both to geographic distance and

Fig. 9. Bronze mirror from Grave 104, Arnoaldi necropolis, Bologna. A warrior with a horn is shown between two mythical beasts, fi fth century BC. Diam.: 14.9 cm., Bologna, Museo Civico Archeologico.


chronological divergences, any hypothesis regarding direct contact and exchange between these two cultural regions must be generated with a certain caution, just as one cannot automatically assume equivalence between the male and female versions of this symbolic representation. Rather, we seem to see an imbrication of different traditions and conceptions expressing themselves in either male or female form depending on the cultural preferences that dominate in each region.

In conclusion, two particularities of the god of animals tradition in the Alpine and southern Alpine region should be emphasized: fi rst, male representations appear to have played a dominant, but not exclusive, role here; second, the special popularity of the horse in this area has no parallels north of the Alps. The latter of these characteristics decisively illuminates the highly individual nature of the ideological conceptions expressed with the iconographically almost identical code of a god of animals on both sides of the Alps.

From the Mistress to the Master of Animals: The Transformation of a Conceptual Worldview

Despite all the detailed differences, the high percentage of representations of a male despotes theron in the zone encompassed by northern and northeastern Etruria is noteworthy. While the Master of Animals is not unknown in the Orientalizing art of Etruria (CAMPOREALE 1965), compared with the potnia theron, however, such canonical representations are relatively small in number (DAMGAARD ANDERSEN 1996; TUCK, this volume, argues convincingly for the signifi cance of the pair of the Mistress and Master of Animals within the ancestral ideology of the Etruscan elite, which might explain some of the interest given to similar themes in the evolving fi gural art of the neighboring people to the north, including the Hallstatt and Early La Tène civilization). What we have before us, then, can be described as two different conceptions of divinity: the cosmos of a female Mistress of Animals in the Etruscan core area, and that of her male counterpart in the areas to the north and northeast of Etruria.

While the Etruscan despotes theron of the Orientalizing period is usually represented in the form of a youthful, scantily clothed hero, his counterpart in the zone to the north and northeast of Etruria is preferentially depicted as a fully equipped warrior with helmet, breastplate, and weapons. The ideology of this fi gure has therefore been transformed; in place of the mythical hero who masters lions and fantastic creatures, we fi nd an aristocratic warrior whose status is on display in the form of weapons and the ownership of horses.

For a long time it was not possible to defi ne more closely the nature of the Celtic Master of Animals. The detailed representation of the helmeted “ Bird Master” on neck ring number 3 from the Erstfeld hoard (see Fig. 5) was considered unique for many years (GUGGISBERG 2000:37–43, Figs 33–38; WYSS 1975:14). Was the head covering on this fi gure intended to represent a helmet or a cap, and how was the short-sleeved tunic with its checked pattern to be interpreted? A comparison with fi gural representations from the south, but especially with the warrior on the Glauberg fl agon, indicates clearly now that the master fi gure on the Erstfeld neck ring was also conceived as representing a fully equipped warrior with helmet and breastplate. Both representations reinforce the idea of a martial conception of the Master of Animals in the Celtic world that cannot be understood without reference to the analogue iconography of the Alpine area and Upper Italy. Might it be possible that those who commissioned and consumed these images on the periphery of the Mediterranean world saw their own identity refl ected more accurately in this warrior fi gure than in the potnia theron so characteristic of Etruscan elites? The popularity of the Master of Animals representations on belt hooks in Celtic warrior graves appears to confi rm this hypothesis.


Finally, there remains the question of the signifi cance of the Grächwil potnia theron representation within the Celtic symbolic cosmos. One could fall back on the assertion that the unique nature of this piece prevents it from contributing to any conclusions regarding this question. It is impossible to determine based on this single example whether the Celtic owners of the piece viewed the goddess on its handle as anything more than a curiosity. The links between this piece and the evolution of Early La Tène art, discussed above, do leave, however, some room for the assumption that the Celts may have valued the vessel at least in part because of its unusual fi gural decoration and treasured it for such a long period of time because they were able to associate their own religious ideas with this representation.

Whichever side of this issue one might be drawn to, it is a fact that images of human beings in the religious iconography of the Hallstatt period were not limited to males or warriors. While anthropomorphic representations are generally rare during this time, under the infl uence of the south images that go beyond simple stick fi gures do appear here and there. Examples to consider include the unicyclists supporting the Hochdorf bronze “sofa” and the well-known female fi gure on the Strettweg wagon. Also worth mentioning are the numerous female fi gures represented on ceramic vessels in the East Hallstatt zone, some of which may have had a supernatural status as well (KOSSACK 1954; NEBELSICK 1992; SIEGFRIED-WEISS 1980; TOMEDI 2002). In the amulet category during this period, male and female fi gures are represented in equal numbers (PAULI 1975). In a few cases some of the representations mentioned here already tend toward the potnia theron iconographic category. Viewed against this background, the Grächwil Mistress of Animals seems to fi t harmoniously into an indigenous divine cosmos in which the female sphere appears to have played an important role

The shift in the fi fth century BC from a female Mistress to a male Master of Animals seems to have been an abrupt one, and its causes remain a mystery. It is probably no mere coincidence, however, that this shift occurs along the cultural boundary between the Hallstatt and La Tène periods, a boundary that was characterized not only by signifi cant social and cultural changes but also by profound transformations of a religious nature (ECHT 2004:especially 211 ff.; PAULI 1975:207–213). The new warrior elite of the Early La Tène period apparently quite consciously chose a religious concept that took into account the altered social and ideological parameters of their own worldview, in this case the martially equipped Master of Animals.

It is too simplistic to conclude that the Celtic warrior elites simply co-opted an already existing concept from the south. The temporal parameters in fact point to a development in the opposite direction. For example, the motif of the Master of Animals appears in Celtic art in the Glauberg burials in fully developed form by the middle horizon of La Tène A, that is, in approximately the second half of the fi fth century BC. In a burial at Gazzo near Verona, a Celtic open-work belt hook was associated with Attic pottery, dating again to the second half of the fi fth century BC (SALZANI 1982). On the other hand, the sheet bronze pendants of the Trentino region – like the fl agons found in the Ticino region – seem to appear only towards the late fi fth and early fourth centuries BC. Currently there is no evidence of a signifi cantly earlier date for these pieces. Dates for the two representations of the Master of Animals in situla art cannot be defi nitively determined, but their creation in the horizon between the late fi fth and early fourth centuries is certainly conceivable.

Only in the iconography of Etruria and Picenum are the Master of Animals and particularly the Master of Horses represented signifi cantly earlier, in the seventh and sixth centuries BC (for the Master of Animals in Etruria, see TUCK, this volume). There are, however, no identifi able iconographic links between either of these regions and the north Alpine realm at this early date. On the contrary, it seems particularly signifi cant in this regard that the Grächwil hydria transported from Picenum into the Hallstatt area not the Master of Animals concept, which was popular in the former region at that time, but rather the Mistress of Animals theme, which was accepted willingly into the iconographic corpus of the latter


region. The symbolic image of the potnia theron as such was therefore known in the Hallstatt world. That this fi gure was subsequently seized upon and reconfi gured in their own image as a male deity by the La Tène warrior elite is not surprising in view of the wide-ranging and fundamental changes that characterize the transition from the Hallstatt to the La Tène period (see ARNOLD, this volume, on the subject of the social identity of Celtic elites as hunters and leaders of their respective communities). The close ideological identifi cation of the new elites with a martially conceptualized divine cosmos is best exemplifi ed by the triad of the warrior burial in Grave 1 from the Glauberg with its martial equipment, the sandstone statues from the same context bearing shield, breastplate, and sword, and the Master of Animals fi gure on the bronze Schnabelkanne from the same grave outfi tted as a warrior (see Fig. 3).

Acknowledgments

I should like to thank Bettina Arnold for the English translation of my German text. To both editors, Bettina Arnold and Derek Counts, I am grateful for helpful advice and discussions on the topic of my paper.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments . ................................................................................................................................. 7

BETTINA ARNOLD – DEREK B. COUNTSProlegomenon: The Many Masks of the Master of Animals .......................................................... 9

SARAH COSTELLOThe Mesopotamian “Nude Hero”: Context and Interpretations ................................................... 25

JONATHAN MARK KENOYERMaster of Animals and Animal Masters in the Iconography of the Indus Tradition .................... 37

BILLIE JEAN COLLINSAnimal Mastery in Hittite Art and Texts ...................................................................................... 59

JANICE L. CROWLEYThe Aegean Master of Animals: The Evidence of the Seals, Signets and Sealings ..................... 75

ANNA SIMANDIRAKI-GRIMSHAWMinoan Animal-Human Hybridity ............................................................................................... 93

LOUISE A. HITCHCOCKThe Big Nowhere: A Master of Animals in the Throne Room at Knossos? ............................... 107

SUSAN LANGDONWhere the Wild Things Were: The Greek Master of Animals in Ecological Perspective ........... 119

DEREK B. COUNTSDivine Symbols and Royal Aspirations: The Master of Animals in Iron Age Cypriote Religion .............................................................. 135

MARK GARRISONThe Heroic Encounter in the Visual Arts of Ancient Iraq and Iran ca. 1000–500 BC ............... 151

BRYAN K. HANKSAgency, Hybridity, and Transmutation: Human-Animal Symbolism and Mastery among Early Eurasian Steppe Societies ....................................................................... 175

BETTINA ARNOLDBeasts of the Forest and Beasts of the Field: Animal Sacrifi ce, Hunting Symbolism, and the Master of Animals in Pre-Roman Iron Age Europe ....................................................... 193

ANTHONY TUCKMistress and Master: The Politics of Iconography in Pre-Roman Central Italy .......................... 211

MARTIN GUGGISBERGThe Mistress of Animals, the Master of Animals: Two Complementary or Oppositional Religious Concepts in Early Celtic Art? ............................................................... 223

PETER S. WELLSMeaning in Motif and Ornament: The Face Between the Creatures in Mid-First-Millennium AD Temperate Europe ............................................................................ 237

Index .................................................................................................................................................. 251

List of Contributors ............................................................................................................................ 259

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