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Monumentum

Re-used Neolithic axe-head inscribed with a Tauroctony

According to Christopher A. Faraone, the axe-head from Argos belong to a category of thunderstones reused as amulets.
  • Axe head of serpentine

    Axe head of serpentine 

  • From Inscribed Greek Inscribed Greek Thunderstones as House- and Body-Amulets in Roman Imperial Times by Christopher Faraone

    From Inscribed Greek Inscribed Greek Thunderstones as House- and Body-Amulets in Roman Imperial Times by Christopher Faraone
    autor 

 
The New Mithraeum
20 May 2021
Updated on Jan 2022

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[This] large axe-head now in Athens is said to come from Argos. It is of green color (serpentine) and slightly shorter than the Ephesian specimen (10.3 × 5.2). One side was engraved in Roman times with two scenes.

In the lower half we see the standing figures of Athena and Zeus in a scene familiar from a gigantomachy like the one on the Altar of Zeus at Pergamon: the goddess is about to stab a tiny snake-footed “giant” with her spear, while her father looks on holding a scepter topped by an eagle, his usual attribute. There are, however, some eastern features: Zeus grasps a wilted

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